Miracles and Angels Are Your Right - Mission Prep Series Class 5

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Mission Prep Class 5: Miracles and Angels Are Your Right!
In this episode, we dive deep into the enduring truth that miracles absolutely 100% still happen today—just as powerful, just as big. Drawing on scriptures and personal experiences, we discuss how the condition for a miracle is faith.
You'll learn why, as missionaries, you have a right to these miracles to perform the Lord's work of leading souls to Christ. We address common questions about why miracles might seem less frequent today, explaining that God is an unchangeable God of miracles as affirmed in Mormon 9:19-20.
We explore God's purpose in miracles, which is twofold:
•
To show His power, demonstrating that if He can grant physical salvation, He can certainly save our souls from sin and death.
•
To demonstrate His involvement and love in the lives of His children, showing that He is aware of our situations and willing to act. Miracles are powerful tools to build faith in both investigators and missionaries themselves.

Missionaries are encouraged to pray for miracles and seek them out with intention.

We reveal three clear principles that are the conditions upon which missionaries can "call down the powers of heaven" to witness or be a part of miracles to lead souls to Christ:
•
Aligning your will with God's will: This means seeking His will through scripture study and understanding that His will is to lead souls to Christ. When you speak moved upon by the Holy Ghost, you are speaking God's will and word.
•
Having sufficient faith: This faith can be simple, trusting that God can do what you ask, even if your ideas seem humble or "dumb" like the Brother of Jared's glowing stones. Faith is also expressed through obedience.
•
Humility: Missionaries must be humble in their efforts.

Throughout the episode, you'll hear incredible, faith-building stories:
•
Ancient miracles like Moses parting the Red Sea, the fiery flying serpents, and Samuel being saved from arrows.
•
A story of a promise blessing made to an investigator to help him find a job if he kept commitments, emphasizing the power of a missionary's word when aligned with God's will and faith.
•
Lauren's deeply personal account of fasting and praying with "all the energy of your heart" for a mother and daughter to return, culminating in their baptism in her final week.
•
Shawn's experience with Victor Ivanovich, a "cool-looking dude" who, through an unexpected encounter, was brought to the gospel and later baptized, despite initial setbacks.
•
Lauren's first mission transfer story of cancelled lessons leading to a miraculous divine appointment with a woman seeking help to overcome addiction.

As 2 Nephi 26:3 states, God "manifesteth himself unto all those who believe in him by the power of the Holy Ghost...working mighty miracles...according to their faith". This episode powerfully testifies that if you go out with faith, humility, and alignment with God's will, you will see miracles!

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Miracles absolutely 100% still happen today.
Just as powerful, just as big,and the condition upon a miracle
is faith.
And so if you as a missionaryhave the faith in Jesus Christ
and in your calling as onespecifically set apart to go and

(00:21):
lead souls to Christ, you have aright to these miracles to
perform the Lord's work ofleading souls to Christ.
But only if you have the faith.
So go out and believe in it andthey will happen.
Too many of us go out, don'tbelieve it, and therefore don't
see them.

(00:44):
Hey, hey, welcome back.
Mission Prep Podcast.
Mission Stories Podcast.
Hey, Lauren.

UNKNOWN (00:50):
Hey.

SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
This is a fun topic today.
And you're excited because,like, magically, you just
randomly were studying thistopic today and didn't know that
we were going to discuss thistoday, huh?

SPEAKER_00 (01:00):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00):
Yeah.
So you're excited because yougot lots of things queued up.

SPEAKER_00 (01:03):
Lots of things.
I wish you guys could see thetable right

SPEAKER_01 (01:06):
now.
It's all laid out and lots ofcolors and markings in these
scriptures.
Again, for those who are justjoining us, this is principle
number five in the mission prepclasses that we teach.
And just as a background, thisis a fun one.
This is a fun one because Ienjoy reading scripture.

(01:30):
I like the doctrine more than Ilike the stories, but the
stories are fine.
The stories are fine.
Do you like the stories, Lauren?

SPEAKER_03 (01:36):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:36):
Okay, good for you.
You're cooler than I am.
But sometimes when I read someof the stories about crazy wild
things that happen, like, Idon't know, someone standing up
on a wall and a bunch of arrowsgetting shot, and he should die,
but he doesn't, then he's saved,Samuel.
Or Moses parting this big, hugesea, Right down the middle so

(01:59):
they can walk through.
Like, I hear these stories ofthese big, huge things that
happen.
And in the beginning, I think,okay, this is to hook some kids.
Get kids interested.
They're good stories.
They make for good cartoons.
But then over time, I'm like, Idon't know that there's a point
in these unless they're teachingsome kind of principle.
Like, what principle does theRed Sea parted?
I don't know.
I never could really grasp whatthose principles taught.

(02:22):
Okay, but as we talk about thisprinciple...
what I want you preparingmissionaries to think about is
you are uniquely called in therestoration of the fullness of
times to go out and do a workthat is an ancient work that
very few people have had theopportunity to do.

(02:43):
And we are so blessed to be ableto do this.
The question you ask, do youthen, like if this is such an
important time, like you'recalled to do this before the
second coming of Christ.
All of the keys of the kingdomhave been gathered for the first
time, all together at once, tothe prophet Joseph Smith and
therefore to President Nelson.

(03:03):
Do you not have the right to thesame kinds of miracles or power
or mysteries that maybe they didin the past in order to do this
great work?
Maybe not.
Maybe you do.
Let's discuss it.
It's an interesting topic.
But as you're preparing for yourmission, I really want you to
understand this principlebecause it's a powerful one.
So, Let me give you a couple ofexamples, Lauren, of some

(03:25):
miracles in scripture that justkind of blow my mind.
The story of Moses as, I mean,the obvious one is right.
He's there.
They're the, the children ofIsrael are enslaved by Egypt.
He works this by commandment ofGod.
He works this amazing kind ofprocess and gets them out and
they're leaving.
And then Pharaoh starts to chasethem to kill them and they get

(03:48):
to the sea and they're stuck.
And then all of a sudden, thestaff, which represents Christ,
he holds it up, and the waterspart.
And literally, they walk throughon dry ground, and they get
through, and then the waterscollapse upon them.
Miracle.
Amazing.
Marvelous.
Amazing, right?
Okay, another one.
They're in the wilderness, andthey're not behaving very
faithfully.

(04:08):
And all of a sudden, okay, itsays fiery flying serpents come
and start biting them, and theystart to die.
Remember this story?
now what do you picture in yourmind as a fiery flying serpent
so i asked this in the class andi get varied answers well the

(04:29):
best answer that i heard one kidand i think this kid was very
very serious he's like was thata dragon that's a dragon right
that was a dragon right they haddragons coming at them right
what do you think is a fieryflying serpent

SPEAKER_00 (04:43):
Probably Mushu from Mulan.
That's what he

SPEAKER_01 (04:45):
thinks.
I'm sure that's what he had inhis mind.
Honestly,

SPEAKER_00 (04:51):
I haven't thought about that too much.

SPEAKER_01 (04:53):
I think it was a serpent because what was
something that resembled aserpent because they were biting
them and they were dying likevenom.
And I guess it was poison,right?

SPEAKER_00 (05:01):
So yeah, probably serpents.

SPEAKER_01 (05:02):
But why was it fiery and flying?
Was it literally flying throughwings, flying through the air?
Okay, anyway, my point is yougot these crazy stories that
we're reading about, andsometimes it's hard to associate
those with today, which is whymaybe it's hard for some of us
to go, yes, we can have miraclestoday, but I've never seen a
fiery flying serpent coming atme and would need a miracle to

(05:24):
save me from that.
So maybe it's hard to connect,but let's talk about it.
So in that story, Moses says,Lord, what do I do?
And the Lord gave him somepretty interesting instructions.
He says, hold up the staff.
We'll go over the details of themiracle later.
But he holds up the staff and hesays to them, turn your head and
look.
And all you have to do is look.
If you look at the staff thatI'm holding up, which again
represents Christ, you'll besaved.

(05:46):
You'll be healed.
And later on in the Book ofMormon, they talk about how some
of them didn't do it because itwas too simple.
Like I can picture myself beinga child of Israel, bit by the
serpent.
I'm dying.
I look over.
I'm like, give me some help.
And Moses says, just turn yourhead and look at the staff.
And I'd be like, why your stupidstaff?
Go get a doctor.
I've just been bit by a snake.

(06:08):
Like, look, it's bleeding,right?
Like, what are you talkingabout?
Look at, you know what I mean?
Like, I think I would have beennot quite as faithful and
perhaps would have been one ofthe ones that died.
But these miracles happen.
Samuel up on the wall and Iguess thousands of arrows coming
right at him and nothing hitshim, just flies right by him.
So there's all these miracles.

(06:29):
So my first question to you,Lauren, is this.
Do you think that today we haveas many or the same level of
miracles as they had as ourforefathers had in the past?
Or is that just something in thepast?

SPEAKER_00 (06:43):
No, absolutely yes.
Not, not, it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 (06:46):
Oh, what?

SPEAKER_00 (06:49):
It is something that happened today.
Absolutely.
A thousand percent.

SPEAKER_01 (06:54):
And then you put a big butt in there.

SPEAKER_00 (06:56):
What?
When did I put a butt in there?
Did

SPEAKER_01 (06:58):
you

SPEAKER_00 (06:58):
not?
No, I was trying to clarifybecause you said, is this
something or we don't?
And I was just clarifying.
My answer is a resounding yes.

SPEAKER_01 (07:07):
So you're saying that you have seen...
the, I don't know, the PacificOcean open up.
And as the saints in the earlydays were being killed, God
delivered them from being pushedfrom state to state.
And when the governor decided topass the extermination order,
some miracle came in and stoppedhis hand from signing that
document.
You're saying these big miraclesdid happen or do happen?

(07:29):
What about today?
Where are your fiery flyingserpents that you're being saved
from?
Like, you really do believe thatthey happened today?
These big ones.

SPEAKER_00 (07:36):
Yeah.
Big miracles happen.

SPEAKER_01 (07:39):
I don't know, man.
I don't know that we see them.
Do we see them?
Where have we seen them?

SPEAKER_00 (07:43):
I don't know.
Well, where are you putting yourfaith?

SPEAKER_01 (07:45):
What do you mean by

SPEAKER_00 (07:47):
that?
Something that I learned on mymission is that when you make
faith the focus of your diligentseeking, the miracles come.

SPEAKER_01 (07:58):
So you're saying that Moses or Aaron or whomever
of the children of Israel hadfaith enough to be delivered
from Pharaoh through that sea,and that's why it happened.

SPEAKER_00 (08:09):
So does that

SPEAKER_01 (08:09):
suggest then that you guys today, we today don't
have enough faith?

SPEAKER_00 (08:14):
No, I said miracles do happen.
Oh, that's right.
You did.
Sorry.
Think about it.
The people that saw the miraclewere the people that acted in
faith, right?
Like the people that diedbecause they didn't look at the
stuff, they never saw a miraclehappen because they didn't act
in faith.
Great point.
If people were afraid to crossthe ocean because they didn't
want it to like collapse onthem, they never got to be part

(08:36):
of that miracle.

SPEAKER_01 (08:37):
Okay.
That's a good point.
Okay, so you're saying thatthese miracles are happening.
However, if I don't have thefaith to either recognize it or
maybe call down the miracle,then I am no witness of them.
So you're saying miracles arehappening, but only if we
believe in them.

SPEAKER_03 (08:53):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (08:53):
Okay, you shared with me something earlier about
something you read this morningthat kind of answers this
question a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 (09:00):
Yeah, so I'm going through the Book of Mormon
again.
And I was reading in Mormon, andit's so crazy.
I know he said this at thebeginning, but it's so crazy
that I read this this morning.
But anyways, it talks about, inMormon 9, it's talking about why
God has ceased to do miracles,supposing that he has.
And he goes on to say, chapter9, verse 19,"'And if there were

(09:26):
miracles wrought, then why hasGod ceased to be a God of
miracles and yet be anunchangeable being?' So he kind
of poses this question because,you know, everyone like in the
Bible and it's like God is thesame yesterday, today and
forever.
So supposedly if you believe inthat, then how can he stop doing
miracles if he's an unchangeablebeing?

SPEAKER_01 (09:44):
So it looks like people back then, you know, a
couple thousand years ago werehaving the same questions that I
just posed today.
Well, wait a minute.
I read in all these scripturesthat all these great miracles.
Well, why don't we get toexperience those miracles?
So they have the same question.
Okay.
And then it answers it kind of.

SPEAKER_00 (09:58):
It says, and behold, I say unto you, he changeth not.
If so, he would cease to be God,and he ceaseth not to be God,
and is a God of miracles.

SPEAKER_01 (10:06):
Okay, so that scripture is blatantly saying,
no, he hasn't changed.
The miracles can be there.
So it's really just us eithernot calling down the miracles,
or it's us not being faithful tosee the miracles.
Is that right?
I

SPEAKER_00 (10:20):
think so.

SPEAKER_01 (10:20):
Okay, so that's awesome.
So...
I mean, we're going to breakdown some of these miracles, but
okay.
So if we're going to just go onthe premise and I'm going to
testify myself because of mymission and because of
experiences after, miraclesabsolutely 100% still happen
today.
Just as powerful, just as big.
And I think you're right.
The condition upon a miracle isfaith.

(10:44):
And so if you as a missionaryhave the faith to In Jesus
Christ and in your calling asone specifically set apart to go
and lead souls to Christ, youhave a right to these miracles
to perform the Lord's work ofleading souls to Christ.
But only if you have the faith.
So go out and believe in it andthey will happen.

(11:06):
Too many of us go out, don'tbelieve it, and therefore don't
see them.
And what a wasted tool andopportunity, right?
So it really is a matter offaith.
So then that begs the question,though, what's the point?
I'll literally study thesemiracles and go, well, you had

(11:28):
that question earlier.
What's your question?

SPEAKER_00 (11:33):
I was going to ask you, what do you think God's
purpose in miracles is?

SPEAKER_01 (11:40):
Yeah.
See, that's a great questionbecause it's not enough just to
go, oh, the Red Sea parted orthe flying serpents killed
people and then they brought himback to life.
Or let's take big ones likeJesus Christ raising Lazarus
from the dead or healing theblind, right?
All these many, many, many, manymiracles.
Part of me goes, wait a minute,he raised Lazarus from the dead,

(12:02):
but for some reason choseLazarus and not the trillions of
other people who have lost lovedones.
So what was the point ofbringing Lazarus back?
Was it because Lazarus was morespecial than someone else?
Was it because, did that haveanything to do with salvation?
I believe that the work of JesusChrist is for salvation and

(12:23):
exaltation.
So what is the point of thesemiracles, of all of them?
So you ask me what I think isthe point.

SPEAKER_00 (12:29):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (12:30):
Okay,

SPEAKER_00 (12:30):
well.
One, A, what is the point?
But B, what's God's purpose indoing so?
I guess that's like the samething, but you could answer it a
little bit differently.

SPEAKER_01 (12:38):
Okay, I've got two interesting scriptures.
Luke 5, 23.
Whether, this is the Lordtalking to the Pharisees, and he
had just told someone, I thinkit was the woman who was washing
his feet.
I don't remember exactly who itwas, but he said, go that way,
your sins are forgiven you.
And these Pharisees freaked out,like, whoa, whoa, whoa, you just
said you can forgive sins?

(13:00):
God can only forgive sins.
Who are you?
Like, that's blasphemy.
And then he says this, whetherit is easier to say thy sins be
forgiven thee or to say rise upand walk.
Like, which one is easier?
Like, if I'm standing here, man,and I look at this person who is
lame, can't walk, and I look atthis other person next to him
and say, who's a sinner, likeall of us, he says, which one is

(13:22):
easier, for me to say your sinsare forgiven and they're
actually forgiven, or for me tosay your legs are healed, stand
up and walk?
But they, oh, sorry, and then itsays this.
But that ye may know that theSon of Man hath power upon earth
to forgive sins, he said untothe sick of the palsy, the man
who couldn't walk, I say untothee, arise and take up thy

(13:42):
couch and go into thine house.
So he literally said, youquestion whether or not I have
the power or authority toforgive sins.
Well, what's easier for me to dothat or to raise a man from the
dead or to heal the lame?
And I'm sure in their mindsthey're saying, well, there's no
way he's going to heal thatperson.
And he's claiming to forgivesins.

(14:03):
So Jesus decides to teach them.
Well, look, if I'm going toeasily heal this man, I'm going
to prove to you with thismiracle that I have the power to
heal our spirits.
And so he tells the man to riseand walk, and he did.
And what a powerful lesson.
Now, to your point, in theabsence of faith, I don't
understand how those Phariseescouldn't look at that and go,

(14:25):
whoa, whoa.
But they didn't.
They did not.
And it's because of your point.
There was no faith.
But back to your question, whatis the purpose?
I think this reveals one of thepurposes, right?
Purpose one is, is to show,look, if God has the power to
spread the sea, to save thephysical lives of these children

(14:46):
of Israel, then the promise thathe makes throughout all of
scripture that I will save yoursouls can also be true.
So it helps us put our faith inthe power of God, not just for
physical temporal salvation, butfor the real purpose of
salvation of our souls, toovercome sin and death.
I don't know, what do you think?

SPEAKER_00 (15:07):
No, I agree.
I think it shows his power, butI also think it shows that he is
involved in the I mean, you hearstories all the time from people
that have had big miracleshappen in their lives, and they
often follow that miracle bysaying something along the lines
of, and at that moment, I knewGod was watching me, or I knew

(15:28):
God was aware of me.
And I think it shows theinvolvement that he has in our
lives.

SPEAKER_01 (15:33):
So you think miracles are a show of love?

SPEAKER_00 (15:35):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (15:35):
That's how our Father in Heaven shows that he
loves us so much.
He's showing how aware, that heknows my name, he knows my
situation, and he's willing todo things that I don't
understand.
in order to express his love.

SPEAKER_00 (15:47):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (15:48):
Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 (15:48):
Not to say, though, that those who don't see
miracles aren't loved byHeavenly Father.
That's not the point that I'mtrying to make.

SPEAKER_01 (15:55):
But to the faithful, it's one way he shows his love.
I won't read it, but I rememberSamuel being saved from those
arrows and jumping at something.
I don't remember the words, buthe jumps off the tower.
And I remember thinking, whatwas going through his mind?
Like, holy cow, did that justhappen?
Like literally those were arrowsare like whizzing past my face.
I didn't get hit by a singleone.

(16:16):
And the Lord told me he wouldpreserve me to deliver the
message of the son of God beingborn.
And I just did it.
Like, like I'm sure he felt sospecial, so loved.
So that's a great point.
Maybe that is part of the reasonfor the miracles as we
participate in them.
It is proof, I guess, that Godreally does love us.
We feel that in our hearts.

SPEAKER_00 (16:35):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (16:35):
Okay.
That's interesting.
That's interesting.
Okay, so I guess if that's onepurpose, you listeners going on
missions, would it not be agreat tool to be able to perform
or be a part of miracles, A, inorder to show the investigators
how much God loves them?
Wouldn't that grow their faithand lead them to Christ?
And B, to show them that if Godcan heal this or perform this,

(17:00):
then he can easily forgive sins.
And that helping yourinvestigators have faith in that
leads them to repentance andunto baptism and so on and so
forth.
How great are these tools tobuild the faith of our
investigators and ourselves?
To me, they are.
I saw them.
To me, they were.
They were faith building.

SPEAKER_00 (17:17):
Absolutely.
And I think something that'simportant to remember is that
faith always precedes themiracle, especially as a
missionary.
My mission president used tosay, You know, elders and
sisters, pray for miraclesbecause it's your right, like
this principle, it's your rightto see miracles like you've been
called to see them.
Pray and ask for them.
Seek them out.
Place an intention behind thatrighteous desire and go find

(17:41):
one.
I promise the Lord will blessyou with one.

SPEAKER_01 (17:44):
Can I give you a quick story about that?
Of course.
All right, so we were inDnepropetrovsk and we were
working and I met this man.
I've told this story a littlebit before.
But we got into his house andthe guy sits down and he had an
interesting quirk about him.
He would sit down in this loungychair and he would put his
fingers up on his forehead andgrab a forehead roll and just
play with it.

(18:04):
And I immediately noticed thatabout this guy because I could
tell it was like a nervous tickor something.

SPEAKER_00 (18:10):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (18:11):
And as we would talk with him and teach him, he would
feel the spirit and he would getexcited and he would stop doing
his little nervous tick.
Yeah.
And then as we would kind of getback on talking about life, he
was obsessed with, guys, I don'thave work right now.
At that time in Ukraine, it wastough.
Post-communism, tough to getwork.
They were all coal miners andthey would get fired.

(18:31):
And he was so stressed about notfeeding his family, not having a
work.
Every time it came into hismind, he put his little hand, he
put his hand up on that littlelike...
forehead roll and just startplaying with it again.
And I knew, oh, this guy's sostressed.
He's so worried.
And that became a themethroughout our teaching him the
gospel of Jesus Christ, becausewhen he was focused on scripture
and praying and the discussion,he felt the spirit and he was

(18:52):
calmed.
But then he always went back tohis chaos in his life and his
stress, his hand went right backup to his head.
Anyway, so as we taught him, hewould feel it in the meetings,
but then we would commit him todo stuff that would build his
faith and And we'd come back,and he wouldn't do it.
He wouldn't read the scriptureswe asked.

(19:13):
He wouldn't pray.
And we'd ask him, why?
What's stopping you from doingthe things we're asking you to
do?
And his answer was always thesame.
I'm sorry, guys.
I really didn't intend to.
I'm just so stressed and worriedabout...
my job.
I just need to get it.
I need to provide for my family.
And it got to a point where somany times in days, we knew he
was feeling the spirit, but thenwouldn't follow up with his

(19:33):
actions.
So one day we're sitting thereand just, I'm so anxious to help
this poor man.
I just love them so much.
And I was praying like, how dowe help him?
How do we get him to keep thesecommitments?
I know that if he'll do it,he'll be blessed with the spirit
and it'll help him everywhere inlife, every category.
But then a thought came to meand you, you'd said before the
story, faith precedes a miracle.

(19:53):
This thought came to me.
Hey, you know, I heard thesetalks from this apostle Matthew
Cowley talk about performingmiracles on his mission in the
islands in New Zealand.
And he would always say, youknow what?
The Lord said to his apostles,greater things than these shall
you do with your faith.
And Matthew Cowley was like, whynot then?
Then I'm going to go try and doit.

(20:14):
And at that moment, I thought,I'm an authorized servant of
Jesus Christ.
Why wouldn't I have the powerand authority to offer this man
a miracle in exchange for him tocome to Christ, to build his
faith.
And so I did something that waskind of crazy and my companion
at first got mad at me aboutbecause I was like, okay,
listen, I'm a servant of JesusChrist and I have the authority

(20:37):
to do something with you and I'mgoing to make it to you now.
And I looked the guy in the eyeand I said, I promise you in the
name of the Lord that if youwill read the scriptures we are
asking you to read and prayabout them every night for the
next seven days in a row withoutfail, I promise you in the name
of the Lord, you will have a jobby the time we sit here in a
week from today.
And this job will be sufficientto provide for your family.

(20:59):
And my companion hits me and hegoes, what are you doing?
And I just looked at him andsaid, pray about it.
Pray about that, what I justsaid.
I said, I feel the Holy Ghostconfirmed to me that that is a
true promise that the Lord willnot make me a liar.
That I can call into this worlda miracle That wouldn't happen

(21:21):
naturally because I believe it.
And I loved the man so much.
I wanted, I could see hispotential to come to Christ.
And so my companion prayed andwas like, okay, here we go.
And so I made the promise and hewas kind of shocked, obviously.
And I says, we're not going tosee you or bug you in a week for
a week.
Please do this.
You have an opportunity here.

(21:41):
So we go away and Lauren allweek.
I'm so excited because I leftjust going, dude, I just called
down the powers of heaven andAnd not only did I command a
miracle to be performed, but Ifelt God's power in the Holy
Ghost confirmed to me that says,I support this miracle that
you've called down to perform.
Like it was so amazing andpowerful that my faith allowed

(22:06):
me to exercise a miracle to leadthe soul to Christ.
So all week we're just excitedand excited and excited.
So come back and knock on thedoor.
So excited.
He invites us in.
We sit down.
And the first thing he does whenhe sits down, his hand goes up
on that little thing on hisforehead.
And he starts playing with it.
And I immediately knew he didn'tdo it.
He didn't do it.

(22:27):
And I was so, so sad.
And I wish I had a better endingto this story.
But here's the truth.
He just said the same thing.
I'm sorry, guys.
I tried.
I was so stressed.
I just need to get this job.
And all I could do is testify tohim.
I testify to you that when youread the scriptures of God, when
you pray and ask for answers,that's the only way for him to

(22:49):
save you spiritually andtemporally.
And you need salvation in both.
Man, you need salvation from thehardships of life.
Why wouldn't you put your faithin these things?
And I testified to him that ifhe would have done it, he would
have had the opportunity.
And I said, please start doingit.
Just do it.
And then we left.

(23:09):
But I know, Lauren, in mydeepest of souls, it would have
happened.
He would have received a job.
It would have been a miracle.
And I know that because of somany other experiences when we
applied this again.
And it did happen.
But it makes me so heartbrokenthat he just didn't do it.
One, because this would havebeen a great ending to the
story.
But two, because this man, Iknow he would have felt the

(23:31):
power of God for this miracle.
So just all that story is toconfirm what you said.
His faith needed to precede thatmiracle.
His faith needed to justexercise a teeny bit to do what
we as servants of God asked himto do, and the miracle would
have come, and yet he did not.

SPEAKER_00 (23:51):
Follow-up question for you.
Do you think that promisedblessings like that have an
expiration date?
Do you think if he were to dothat right now, that same
blessing would come?
I

SPEAKER_01 (24:03):
think that the, I mean, the answer I think is yes.
But the covenant that existedthere, the conditions, right,
involved me.
But I have no doubt that hecould have opened up the
scriptures, read, knelt down andsays, God, if I am willing to do
what he asked and start readingevery day and praying, would you

(24:24):
be willing to give me a job in aweek?
Like, I have no doubt that hisfaith could have called that to
come to pass, right?
Yeah.
So I do believe that he couldretroactively apply that faith.
Absolutely.
But how much harder is it nowthat we're not working with him
for him to come to that faith onhis own?
He's not doing the things thatpromote and build faith.
He's not reading the word ofGod.

(24:44):
He's not praying.
He's not coming to church.
He's not seeing the sacrament.

UNKNOWN (24:47):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (24:49):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (24:50):
I think it's so important to understand that as
a missionary teaching otherpeople, but as for yourself, um,
that when you put in youraction, God can manifest his
power, right?
My mission president used tohold up like this little
slingshot thing at his ownconferences, and he'd pull it
back, and he'd make us, we allhave to say, my action, and then

(25:10):
he'd let it go, and we'd belike, God's power.
And it was like a funny littlething to do.
That's

SPEAKER_03 (25:16):
cool.

SPEAKER_00 (25:16):
It taught a really good principle that when we put
in action, God is able tomanifest his power through us
and through the work that we'redoing.
And I think one of the greatestexamples of faith preceding a
miracle is the story of thebrother of Jared.

SPEAKER_01 (25:31):
And

SPEAKER_00 (25:32):
I studied that a lot throughout my mission because I
wanted this, like how you said,you made him a promise blessing.
You made this man a promiseblessing that if he did A, B
would follow.
And I don't think missionariestake enough advantage of that
opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 (25:45):
Bingo.
And that is the principle we'repreaching here.
Go take the opportunity, havethe faith that miracles and
angels and the mysteries of God,they're your right.
Go take advantage.
Go use it with faith.
Sorry, I interrupted you.

SPEAKER_00 (26:01):
No, that's okay.
I always used to say that.
I'm like, look, elders andsisters, we've been set apart
with the promise and with thepower to do this work.
And this work is a work ofmiracles.
God is a God of miracles.
Let's promise blessings.
Obviously, you don't want to goaround like just pulling things
out of thin air.
But if you're thoughtful andyou're prayerful about it and

(26:24):
the Holy Ghost confirms to youthat what you're doing and
praying and also that you havethe faith, obviously, can come
to pass, then it will happen.

SPEAKER_01 (26:34):
So actually, I believe that there are three
clear principles in Scripturethat are the conditions upon
which we as missionaries canactually call down the powers of
heaven to witness or be a partof these miracles.
I think there's three of them.
Okay, so I'm going to read youScripture.
This is idea number one of howyou missionaries out there, so
listen up, how you can actuallytap into these miracles to lead

(26:56):
souls to Christ.
Here's the first one.
You ready, Lauren?
This is Helaman 10, four tofive.
Blessed art thou, Nephi, hesays, for those things which
thou hast done, for I havebeheld how thou hast with
unwearyingness declared the wordwhich I have given unto thee and
to this people.
And thou hast not feared themand hast not sought thine own
life, but hast sought my willand to keep my commandments.

(27:17):
Repeat that, thou hast sought mywill and to keep my
commandments.
And to keep my commandments.
And now, because thou hast donethis with such unwaryingness,
behold, I will bless theeforever and will make thee
mighty in word and in deed andfaith and in works.
And even that all things shallbe done unto thee according to
thy word.
Let me say that again.
He says, Nephi, according to thyword, I will make it happen.

(27:41):
Okay, isn't that the story Itold?
It was according to my word ingiving this guy a promise that
he would have a job if he'd readthe scriptures.
And God is saying, I will makeit happen.
That is an amazing, amazingpower and a promise.
It says this, but then he saysthis, I'll read that again.
Even that all things that shallbe done unto thee according to

(28:01):
thy word, for thou shalt not askthat which is contrary to my
will.
What do you think from thatscripture?
What's the first idea?
that has to be involved for youmissionaries listening to call
down miracles to help lead soulsto Christ.

SPEAKER_00 (28:15):
I like that I mentioned at the end, aligning
your will.

SPEAKER_01 (28:18):
That's the first part, right?
If I was like, all right, I'mgoing to make you a promise, my
investigator, that$10 millionwill drop on your lap right now,
right?
I have to first be in tune withthe Lord's will.
I knew that the Lord's will wasthat he should read the
scriptures and say the prayers,right?
And so I felt comfortable comingup with something that he

(28:40):
desired in return.
But we've got to seek out God'swill.
But as a missionary, if you'redoing the right things and
working hard, you know his will,right?
Another one.
Whosoever, this is D&C 68.4.
Whosoever that, sorry,whatsoever they shall speak when
moved upon by the Holy Ghostshall be scripture.

(29:00):
shall be the will of the Lord,shall be the mind of the Lord,
shall be the word of the Lord,and shall be the voice of the
Lord, and the power of God untosalvation.
Think of that.
When you speak as a missionaryand you feel the Holy Ghost, you
are literally speaking Scriptureand the will and the mind of
God.
So because I felt the Holy Ghostwhen I made that promise, think

(29:21):
about this, Lauren.
It was Scripture.
It was doctrine.
It was true.
The Holy Ghost confirmed it.
That's what D&C 68 says.
Incredible.

SPEAKER_00 (29:30):
This is so crazy.
Okay, I wish you guys could seeright now.
I have a journal sitting infront of me that I expounded
upon these principles while Iwas in the field.
And this page, I think I haddone this principle before.
Maybe like July.
So it's been almost a year.
And

SPEAKER_02 (29:49):
the

SPEAKER_00 (29:49):
things that I say right here, the things on my
page is literally just whatyou're talking about right now.
I'm not even kidding.

SPEAKER_02 (29:55):
That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 (29:56):
I wrote down, like I had mentioned earlier, the
brother of Jared is a perfectexample of faith preceding the
miracle because, you know, heacted in faith and made it known
that he trusted in the Lord todeliver him to accomplish his
will.
And so I came up with two partsof the principle.
One, to seek to align your will.
And then two, to continually actin faith.

SPEAKER_01 (30:17):
Oh, okay.
So principle number two, let'sgo over it.
James 1.5.
So principle number one,missionaries, is you've got to
read your scriptures to knowGod's will.
Obviously, his will is to leadsouls to Christ.
So much of what you're going todo as a missionary is aligned
with his will.
Okay, so principle number two incalling down these miracles in
power is faith.
Your faith must be sufficient.
Listen to this in James 1.5.

(30:38):
And if any of you lack wisdom,let you ask of God that giveth
unto men liberally, andupbraideth not, and it shall be
given.
Now, he gives to men liberally.
What do you think that means?

SPEAKER_00 (30:49):
Like unconditionally, freely.

SPEAKER_01 (30:50):
Freely and much, right?
To give someone, like pour me aglass of milk, but be liberal
with it, that means you're goingto pour a whole bunch in.

SPEAKER_00 (30:57):
I'm giving you the gallon.

SPEAKER_01 (30:59):
Give me the gallon.
Be conservative with it, andit'll just be a little bit,
right?
And then he says he upbraids notif you ask him for these things.
Do you know what upbraid means?
He won't be like, that's astupid question.
That's a stupid request.
Sean, that's really stupid.
He won't do that.
And that's proven in the nextone in Ether 223.
Listen to this.
Ether comes to the Lord.
He's like, these boats areclosed, no windows, no light.

(31:20):
They're going to be underwater.
How do we see?
And the Lord says, why don't yougo solve it?
Tell me what you think we shoulddo.
And Brother Jared was soembarrassed because he was like,
okay, Lord, I've come up withsomething, but please don't be
angry.
Like, this is really dumb.
But the Lord promises that if weseek and ask in faith, he won't
upbraid.
He won't make fun.
He won't, like, chastise us.
So he says this, And the Lordsaid unto the brother of Jared,

(31:42):
What will ye that I should dothat ye may have light in your
vessels?
For behold, ye cannot havewindows, for they will be dashed
into pieces, neither shall yetake fire with you, for ye shall
not go by the light of fire.
And then in Ether 3-5 it says,And it came to pass that the
brother of Jared went forth untothe mount, called Mount Shelem,
and He did molten out of therock 16 small stones, and they

(32:02):
were white and clear andtransparent as glass.
And he did carry them in hishands to the top of the mount
and cried unto the Lord, Lord,thou hast said that we must
become encompassed by thefloods.
Now, Lord, please don't be angrywith thy servant because of his
weakness before thee.
See how he's just like sohumble?
For we know that thou art holyand dwellest in heaven and are

(32:22):
unworthy before thee because thefall of our natures have become
evil continuously.
But behold, thou hast smitten usbecause of our iniquity.
And then he goes down and says,O Lord, thou that hast all power
and can do whatsoever thou wiltfor the benefit of man, I know
that you can do this, isbasically what he says.
And then the Lord's hand isrevealed to him because of his
faith.
And he touches the rocks andthey become light rocks, I

(32:45):
guess.
And it is funny to me becauseit's like, yeah, that is kind of
a dumb idea.
Touch rocks and make them glow.
I mean, I guess today in today'scontext, a light bulb is kind of
a rock that glows, right?
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
But it is funny how he's so shy.
Like, I don't know what, I don'tknow how to do this.
This is a dumb idea.
But the point of the story ishis faith was so simple.

(33:07):
And so like, I just know you cando this, Lord.
I don't have any great ideas,but I know you, brother, I know
you'll get a job.
You'll get a job if you readthese things, right?
It's such a simple thing, but myfaith was there.
I know it would have happened.
So yeah, the second ingredientis his faith.

SPEAKER_00 (33:22):
And I think that faith can also be expressed
through our obedience.
Like verse 2 of Ether 3, it'stalking about how the Lord, it
says, O Lord, thou hast given usa commandment that we must call
upon thee, that from thee we mayreceive according to our
desires.
And so I love this story becausealso when you, like how you were

(33:42):
just reading like kind of thecontext before the miracle,
faith is presented in the plansthat we present to the Lord.
And the brother of Jared wasvery intentional behind what he
was doing.
He didn't go and just find thefirst whatever plan.
Nice.
He was trying, right?

(34:03):
Yeah.
I think there's a commonmisconception that, oh, you have
to be like the best of the bestto see a miracle.
Like you have to be just themost obedient.

(34:24):
But I love that verse two istalking about like, don't be,
don't be angry with me.
Like the brother Jared knew thathe was weak.
He knew he wasn't perfect, buthe trusted in the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 (34:34):
And that principle in the area right there brings
in the third principle.
I'll read it in Mormon 9, 27,28.
He says, and then despise notand wonder not, but hearken unto
the words of the Lord and askthe Father in the name of Jesus
Christ for what things soever yeshall stand in need.
Doubt not, but be believing, andbegin as in old times and come

(34:55):
unto the Lord with all yourheart and work out your
salvation with fear andtrembling.
Humility.
Yeah, you have to be humble,missionaries.
You have to be humble.

UNKNOWN (35:06):
Humility.

SPEAKER_01 (35:07):
If you're humble, faithful, and you seek his will,
he will not make you a liar whenit comes to you doing things
that will lead souls to Christ.
And you have the right to pulldown the powers of heaven and
perform miracles so that peoplewill come to Christ.
But those elements have to beinvolved.

(35:28):
You have to be humble, superfaithful, and you have to make
sure it's aligned with his will.

SPEAKER_00 (35:34):
Listeners, I can promise you that That as you act
in faith with righteous desires,the Lord will present you with a
miracle.
And I have a story to share.
Please.
This is my favorite storyliterally of all time.
Oh, nice.
I don't think I've shared itwith you.
What?
When I came to report home tothe State High Council, I shared
this.
But in this context of miraclesand faith, there...

(35:58):
was my going into my lasttransfer I got a call from my
mission president he said you'regoing back to an area that I had
previously served in or itwasn't like the exact area
because the boundaries hadchanged a little bit but it was
the same ward and I looked Iasked my new district leader I'm
like okay send me the theboundaries I want to see
something and he sent me myboundaries and there was a lady
and her daughter that I havetaught that I had taught

(36:19):
previously that I saw were in myarea so right away I texted them
I'm like hey and when I was likeI'm coming back I want to see
you Just for context, one of myold companions and I taught
them, put them on date to bebaptized, and then the mom had
to start working every singleSunday so she couldn't come to
church.
How many

SPEAKER_01 (36:38):
months before?

SPEAKER_00 (36:38):
This was seven months before I went back.

SPEAKER_01 (36:41):
Seven months ago, you're teaching them, they're
ready to be baptized, and thenlife gets in the way and she
doesn't get baptized.

SPEAKER_00 (36:46):
Yeah.
And so I had to stop teachingher.
It was literally heartbreakingbecause she was just so ready.
And so I reached out to her andI was like, okay, I'm coming
back.
first week there, we meet withher again, and she's just
amazing.
And she was like, I know thatI've fallen off a little bit,
but, and we started testifyingabout the Book of Mormon and

(37:06):
how, you know, it preaches oursalvation, how we can receive
salvation, and she just lovedit.
And she was like, I had no ideathat the answer to all my
questions was right in front ofme the whole time.
She said she still wanted to bebaptized.
We set a date.
We were good a couple weeks pastmaybe two and a Saturday morning

(37:28):
we're gonna have a lesson withher and we confirm with her in
the morning and we go to show upat her door to have this lesson
with her and no one answers wecall her not an answer call her
two more times not nothinganswered like not a single text
like just off the face of theearth so we're like okay maybe
she got called into work sheworked at a hotel and she was

(37:48):
working crazy hours so we'relike okay maybe she just didn't
come we'll see you at churchtomorrow doesn't come to church
or her daughter a day passesdon't hear anything for her the
next day passes we go knock onher door again nothing we're
calling her we're texting herthree days past four days past
five days past and while this ishappening my companion and I
could feel like tangibly thedesire that she had to follow

(38:12):
Christ and be baptized so thiswas so hard for us but we knew
that that with whatever wasgoing to happen is whatever the
Lord wanted to happen and so wewere praying and fasting all
week like we're doing an Englishfast where we obviously only
speak in Spanish we were likefasting meals we were doing like
we were praying every hour onthe hour including her and her

(38:33):
daughter's name in every singleone of our prayers just pleading
with the Lord but in our prayerswe would say you know we want
this for them and we know thatthey want it but Like it's your
timing.
And so we trust you.
We want to put our faith in you.
And after a week of thishappening.
we went to stop by their housefor the last time before we
stopped teaching them.

(38:53):
And we're on the way there andwe were just praying like that.
It was like a 10, 15 minute carride.
They were just praying theentire time.
Just like, Heavenly Father,please just, cause we were kind
of worried for like if they weresafe or not.
Cause you know, immigrants inthe US have, and this was at the
time where like a ton of stuffwas going on politically and we
were worried for her.
We're like, is she like dead?

(39:15):
Like, cause she wasn'tresponding at all, which was
very unlike her.
And her daughter wasn'tresponding either, which was
also not like her and so we'repraying and praying and praying
just to see that she's okay andwe go and we knock on the door
and no one answers we knockagain and a boy comes up and
opens the door I say boy he'slike 18 or 19 and I'm like and

(39:38):
it looks exactly like our friendI'm like you're her son right
and he's like oh yeah like mymom's not home right now but
she'll be home later tonight atlike 6 30 like you can come by
So I'm like, okay, we're coming.
So we leave.
We go on with the rest of ourevening.
We have lessons.
We're out finding whatever.
And then we're like, okay, she'sback home now.
Let's go.
And we are just...

(40:00):
Sean, it says in the Book ofMormon, learn how to pray with
all the energy of your heart.
When I tell you this was themoment when I learned how to do
so, I'm sitting there.
It was my last transfer, so Icouldn't drive.
I'm sitting in the passengerseat, literally just out loud,
just like, please, HeavenlyFather, please, please, please,
please, please.
And I knew that we were going toget in contact with her.

(40:22):
I knew that we were going to beable to reach her that night.
She was

SPEAKER_01 (40:26):
going to be there.

SPEAKER_00 (40:27):
So we knock on the, and so we're like nervous.
We're praying, we're praying.
We have faith.
We go up, we knock on the door.
And from behind the door, Ihear, mama, alguien esta tocando
la puerta.
And it's the voice of herdaughter.
And she comes and opens the doorand she just starts sobbing.
And she's like, hermana, it'slike, I'm so sorry.
There was some stuff going onwhere with her family and just

(40:48):
some crazy stuff.
And she had to leave for alittle bit and she wasn't on her
phone, whatever.
And we finally got back to her.
And we got in contact with herand she just like hugged us and
she was like, I am so happy tosee you guys.
And she was explaining hersituation.
Obviously not going to go intodetail, but we had a lesson with
her that night.

(41:08):
So powerful.
So powerful.
And we're like, do you, wedidn't even actually ask her.
She was like, I still want to bebaptized.
Like, does this date still work?
The date that we had put her onfor, but she had, we had to like
teach her some more and we'relike, that can't work, but we
can do the week after, which wasmy last week in the field.
And I'm like, we can do it thisweek, but you have, we have to

(41:30):
be able to be meeting with you.
And she's like, of course, likeI will do anything to get
baptized.
So we start meeting.
Well, we keep, we keep meetingwith her.
She's, like reading through thebook of mormon she said that she
got a ride with someone to towork one day and she started
this lady that she was ridingwith started like bashing on the

(41:50):
church or something she was likehey you do not say that about my
church like let me tell you andshe's like talking about it like
before she's been baptizedanyways my last saturday in the
mission these two girls well amom and her daughter were able
to be baptized and

SPEAKER_01 (42:07):
That was the last experience you had on your
mission before coming

SPEAKER_00 (42:10):
home.
Yeah.
And it might not sound likemuch.

SPEAKER_01 (42:13):
Do you feel like that was a miracle for you or
for them?
For both, obviously?

SPEAKER_00 (42:17):
Both.
But for me, my testimony ofprayer grew so much.
Because I had never felt faithlike that before.
I had faith every day.
When I set a prayerful findinggoal and when I went out, I was
like, I know that this is whatHeavenly Father wants me to do.
I have faith.
I know without a doubt, like100% certainty, he'll help me do

(42:38):
whatever he needs me to do.
And I never doubted that.
But in this moment, it wassomething different.
Like, it was so powerful wherethe Spirit just confirmed to me,
Like this is a work of miraclesand this is where you needed to
be.
And because of your faith,you've been presented with this
miracle.
And so it was a miracle for me,but then they were able to get
baptized.

SPEAKER_01 (42:59):
That's the best miracle of all.
So D&C 18, 10 to 15 reminds meof you, Lauren, in that story.
Remember the worth of souls isgreat in the sight of God.
Wherefore you are called to cryrepentance in this people.
And by the way, you have theright to these miracles for that
purpose.
And if it so be that you shouldlabor all your days in crying
repentance in this people andbring, say, it be one soul unto
me how great shall be your joywith him in the kingdom of my

(43:20):
father and then later on he saysfor how many times you Joseph
have desired of me to know whichwould be of most worth to you
and to the church and then hesays I'll tell you what it is
saying to you the thing whichwill be of most worth will be to
declare repentance unto thispeople that you may bring souls
unto me that you may rest withhim in the kingdom of my father
forever amen your faith wasbased in in in You loved and saw

(43:46):
the worth of souls the same waythat God sees the worth of
souls.
And so you put so much prayerand faith into it that he was
willing to bring these miraclesto perform the salvation of
these souls.
It's so beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 (44:00):
God is so good.

SPEAKER_01 (44:01):
All right, let me tell one story.
So in Dnepropetrovsk, we wereout contacting, and there's, I
don't know why, I have a, Ireally like, I grew up in the
90s, and in the 90s, the biggestthing was WWF wrestling.
What the...
I know, it's weird.
But these dudes were these big,buff, cool-looking...
They're all just cool-looking.
And so me and my brothers reallyliked it, and we'd beat each

(44:22):
other up and fight and pretendto be them.
So whenever I see a cool-lookingdude, big, buff, cool-looking
dude, I just thought they werecool.
So one day we're out in the parkcontacting, and in the corner of
my eye, I see this big, buff...
Cool looking dude.
Huge, like head of white, reallywhite hair, just big, strong
dude.
And I'm like, that's the guy I'mgoing to talk to.
So I rush over.

(44:43):
We start talking.
His name is Victor Ivanovich.
And Victor Ivanovich was like,guys, this is really weird.
He pulls out of his pocket, alittle Bible.
He's like, I've actually reallybeen into religion lately for
the first time in my life.
I was a communist.
I never knew about God, but Ijust started to read the Bible
and I'm learning about thisstuff.
This is fascinating to me.

(45:04):
And then we're like, dude, wehave a message for you then.
And he's like, please tell me.
I would love to learn it.
And so we said, as we do, can wecome to your house and teach you
about these things?
He's like, ah, probably not.
My wife will not be for this atall.
But how about I'll meet you herein the park on Thursday and you
can teach me your lessons.
Yes.
Put it down in the boot planter.
I'm so excited.

(45:25):
This guy was just on fire.
Plus, he looked really cool.
So all week, I'm just stoked.
I'm just like, oh, I can't wait.
There's something special.
There's some spirit about ViktorIvanovich.
It was just awesome.
Some connection we had.
Almost like I was called to findhim and be with him and teach
him.
So the day goes by, and the nextday goes by, and all I could do

(45:45):
is think about Viktor Ivanovich.
And all these days go by, andthen it's Thursday.
And I'm like, yes.
So time comes, and we're like,hey, let's just go early to the
park.
Let's just contact around thereand just wait for Viktor
Ivanovich.
So we're out there working andworking.
Oh, it's almost 3 o'clock.
3 o'clock comes.
No Viktor Ivanovich.
That's okay.
He's a little late.
3.05.
No Viktor Ivanovich.
What?
3.10.

(46:06):
No Viktor Ivanovich.
Now I'm getting angry.
3.15, 3.20, 3.30, 4 o'clock.
No Viktor Ivanovich.
And I was so like, what?
Like, I know, I felt this, Iknow this man was looking for us
and we were looking for him.
I know this was supposed tohappen.
Ah, so heartbroken and just so,like, Lord, we're working so
hard and I know you're leadingme to these souls who I'm

(46:29):
supposed to meet with.
I know this man was one of them.
And yet he doesn't show up.
He dodged us, totally ditchedus.
So what do you do, man?
You just, in faith, go keepworking, right?
So we just, out of sadness, justkept working, right?
Went out and started contactingother people and just kind of
moved on.
All the while, I had to workthroughout in my head or my

(46:51):
heart.
I've got to have faith thatsomeday someone will find Viktor
Ivanovich, right?
Or that he'll find the church.
Because I just felt that thiswas a soul looking for the
truth.
So anyway, so we're out workingone day and just kind of
exhausted and tired becausethey're just working so hard.
And as I was talking to thisguy, I...

(47:11):
looked at the corner of my eye,and who do I see walking
straight at me with the huge oldwhite head of hair?
It's Viktor Ivanovich.
And he's coming at me with abook in his hand.
And in that moment, I steppedback, I looked where we were,
and I happened to be, not onpurpose, I happened to be the
exact spot in that park wherethat stupid bench was where he

(47:35):
was supposed to meet us.
And I realized, oh, it's been aweek.
It's the next Thursday.
So in my mind, I simply wrotedown the wrong Thursday.
In his mind, it was like, I'llmeet you here the following
Thursday.
I got it wrong.
And yet, here we happen to be onThursday in the same spot, same
time, and Viktor Ivanovich comesup and is like, hey guys, I've

(47:58):
been excited all week to meetwith you guys.

SPEAKER_03 (48:00):
Oh my

SPEAKER_01 (48:01):
gosh! We sit down and we start teaching Viktor
Ivanovich.
Miracle.
Beautiful.
Keeps all the commitments.
This man's looking for thetruth.
We teach him.
He loves it.
We become best friends, likesoulmates.
And every time we see eachother, he's so happy and he
loves us.
He finally invites us to go tohis house.
We meet his wife.
Everything's just powerful andgood.

(48:21):
And then I get transferred.
Which is fine.
It's okay.
Because his biggest hardship wassmoking.
He couldn't quit smoking.
So he wasn't able to getbaptized when I was there.
And then, like six months later,this elder in the mission calls
me up.
He says, I gotta tell you whatjust happened.
He baptized Viktor Ivanovich.

(48:41):
He says he finally was able togive up smoking.
He's been baptized.
And he stayed true and strongthroughout the many, many years.
That, for me, was a miracle forboth of us.
I shouldn't have been there.
We didn't contact in that parkvery often.
I shouldn't have been there atthat time and moment.
The Lord did lead us therebecause of our faith, because of
our humility, because of ourdesire to bring souls to Christ.
It was God's will.

(49:03):
What'd she say?

SPEAKER_03 (49:05):
No, keep going, keep going.

SPEAKER_01 (49:06):
So this is the principle that we call principle
five.
The miracles to do the Lord'swork, they are your right.
You can call down the powers ofheaven to lead souls to Christ
if you are humble, if youbelieve in it, and if it aligns
with God's will, which it doesto lead souls to Christ.

SPEAKER_00 (49:22):
Oh, my gosh.
Wait, I have a really quickstory.
Can I tell it?
Oh, my gosh.
Okay, I'll go speed round.
So, first transfer.
I've been in the mission forlike three weeks, okay?
I'm brand new.
I have no idea what I'm doing.
I've loved teaching young women.
And this particular week in myfirst area, my trainer and I had
found like six young women toteach.
Just like in the streets, we'recontacting, we find these six

(49:45):
young women.
And one day it was, I think itwas like a Saturday.
And so we had like four lessonslined up, like back to back to
back with like these youngwomen.
And I'm so excited.
I'm like, yes, this is like,like my life calling.
This is an English too.
Yes.
An English word before I switch.
And I'm like, this is awesome.
I'm going to connect with them.
I'm going to help them feelloved.
I'm going to teach them thegospel.

(50:05):
They're going to get baptized,whatever.
Yeah.
First lesson canceled.
Okay.
Yeah.
No, that's fine.
Second lesson canceled.
Okay.
This is getting kind ofannoying, but like, let's go.
Third lesson canceled.
Okay.
Okay.
This is really like, but lastperson better pull through.
Canceled.
Oh, geez.
All four lessons canceled.
And I'm looking at my trainerand I'm like, really?
Really?

(50:26):
Is this really what my next 18months is going to be like?
But she, oh, she's amazing.
But she's just like, you justgot to have faith.
Like there's something else wegot to do tonight.
And for some reason we were onbikes.
I have no, we had a car.
I don't know why we're on bikes,but I don't know.
But we end up biking to thisrandom, like previously taught

(50:49):
person's house.
It takes like 20 minutes to getthere.
And we knock on the door.
Nothing.
Knock on the door again.
Nothing.
Knock on the door again.
Nothing.
We're like, okay.
So we go and we're about toleave unlocking our bikes and we
go to leave and a car pulls intothe driveway.
And so of course we're like,okay, we're on our way back.

(51:10):
And so we like leave our bikes.
We go up to the door and we'relike, hey, we're looking for
whatever the person's name was.
And she was like, that's me, butI don't live here anymore.

SPEAKER_01 (51:18):
Whoa.

SPEAKER_00 (51:20):
And we're like, what?
She's like, this is like just mysister's house.
I just came for the night.
Like I'm just here tonight tofeed the dogs and to spend the
night.
Oh, wow.
And we're like, what?
Are you serious?
And we start talking about themissionaries and she's like, I
loved the elders.
Like they were so awesome, but Ijust lost contact with them.
And it's crazy because allthese, and then we had an

(51:44):
amazing lesson with her.
We started teaching her.
And she actually couldn't stopsmoking either.
So she was unable to getbaptized.
But that night we connected sohard.
And she was like, I was prayingtonight because she had been a
recovering alcoholic.
And she's like, I was justpraying and praying because I
was going to come here to drink.
I was going to come here todrink.
And I was praying.
to God like I didn't want to dothat I know he didn't want me to

(52:06):
do it either but I just neededsomething and we're sitting with
her out on her back porch havinga lesson she pours out all of
her alcohol that she had in thehouse she just pours it out like
right in front of us and sheputs out her cigarette and we're
just talking and it's just soamazing like so joyful and on
the bike ride back me and mytrainer are just like screaming
we're like that was so awesomeGod is so good

SPEAKER_01 (52:28):
so all those failures or all those missed
appointments but led you towhere you're supposed to be
that's a miracle

SPEAKER_00 (52:33):
Yeah, and just the fact that we were never on
bikes.
Why were we on bikes?
But if we had gone earlier, wewouldn't have caught her.
If those lessons weren'tcanceled, we wouldn't have
gotten there.

SPEAKER_01 (52:43):
And it's all because of the faith you guys had.
The humility, the faith, andthen your will was aligned with
God because you were seeking outsouls to bring to Christ.
Yeah.
Look, story after story we couldtell, right?
I had...
we escaped the mafia multipletimes.
We were kidnapped and we'resaved from the mafia.
Miracles where people had night,we were at knife point.
Like there's all kinds of thesestories that are bigger and

(53:05):
crazier, but the ones thatreally matter to missionaries
are the ones where God appliedmiracles so that we could lead
souls to Christ.
So that's the principle.
And listeners, I promise youthat if you go out with faith
and humility and aligned withyour will to God and work as
hard as you can, you're going tosee miracles if you do it right.
And it's going to happen.

SPEAKER_00 (53:25):
I want to finish with this scripture.
It's 2 Nephi 26, verse 13.
Go for it.
And that he manifesteth himselfunto all those who believe in
him by the power of the HolyGhost, yea, into every nation,
kindred, tongue, and people,working mighty miracles, signs,
and wonders among the childrenof men according to their faith.

SPEAKER_01 (53:44):
Amen to that.
That was beautiful.
That's the perfect way to endit.
Okay, we'll see everyone nextweek.