What a beautiful music. Thank you so much for bringing that sweet spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters, dear BYUH students, aloha!
We are so grateful to be here today. I cannot express the happiness we are feeling to be here. To be even more special, we have some of our returned missionaries here with us today who have served with us in Portugal. What a joy, what a joy to be here around you all.
I will share a brief testimony today before my husband's message. I want to share my testimony about prayer. When I was around thirteen years old back in Brazil, on a Sunday morning I went to church and went to my Sunday School class. My Sunday School teacher invited us to pray for 30 minutes that day. When he made that invitation, at first I thought, "Oh, we don't need to be timing, counting the minutes of our prayers. The prayers, it doesn't matter if it's five or twenty minutes; it needs to be made with our heart." But at the same moment, I had a big, a huge desire to accept his invitation.
So I went back home, and later in the afternoon that Sunday, I decided to go to my room, close the door, look at the clock, and then get on my knees and start to pray. Since I had a long time to pray, I started first by saying to Heavenly Father all the things that I was grateful for. Then I started to talk to Heavenly Father about my feelings, my desires, my fears, and who I want to become.
I felt during that prayer that my prayer made it to heaven. It was the first time in my life that I felt that. While the Spirit was so strong, after I finished my prayer, I looked at the clock and saw that I went over thirty minutes. After that day, I never again counted the minutes of my prayers, but I knew after that day, and I know, that our prayers can make it to heaven.
I know with all my heart that we have a Heavenly Father who listens. He hears our prayers, and He is waiting for it. I can promise you that. I would like to invite you, if any of you who are here today have never had that experience, never felt that your prayer made it to heaven, I invite you today, this afternoon or tonight, you can go to a silent place. You can get on your knees with no rush at all, and you can open your heart, and you can open a sincere prayer.
I love our Savior. I love my Redeemer. He is my friend. I have a huge desire in my heart to keep all the covenants that I made with Him and with my Heavenly Father. And that is the testimony I want to bear with you today, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.