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Good afternoon. I was asked to speak today on Elder Neil L. Anderson's talk from April conference titled Spiritually Defining Memories.

Along with the peaceful direction we receive from the Holy Ghost, from time to time, God powerfully and very personally assures each of us that he knows us and loves us and that He is blessing us specifically. Then, in our moments of struggle and difficulty, the Savior brings these experiences back into our mind.

Think of your own life. Many of us have spiritual experiences we hold very close to us and if you asked any Latter Day Saints all across the world, they could definitely name at least one strong, spiritual experience. This confirms beyond any question that God knows and loves each of us and that He wants to reveal Himself to us. These experiences may come at important times in our lives or in what may at first seems as uneventful happenings, but they are always accompanied by an exceptionally strong spiritual confirmation of the love of God.

In his talk Elder Anderson gives examples of different ways people are given spiritual experiences that create defining memories. I thought I would share some spiritually defining experiences that my brothers and dad had while serving their missions.

My brother Caleb served in the New Hampshire Manchester mission. While serving in the city of Boston Caleb had an experience that he will never forget. He and his companion were teaching two people from Tanzania about baptism. In Tanzania they speak Swahili. They had directed the people they were teaching to read 2 Nephi 31 but it wasn't going very well because of the language difference. Caleb was frustrated because these people really were eager to learn but the language barrier was preventing it. All of a sudden Caleb had a clear image in his mind of a Book of Mormon he had seen in the back of their trunk with foreign writing on it. He excused himself and ran to their car to look for it. He found it and was shocked to find that it was a Swahili Book of Mormon! He ran back and gave it to the people they were teaching and they were so happy. The resumed their lesson and went on to read the next verse they had been reading, 2 Nephi 31:3. They read "For my soul delighteth in plainness; for after this manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men. For the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding.' The people they were teaching were in shock! They were so excited that Heavenly Father would care about them so much that He would put a Swahili Book of Mormon into their hands and then explain to them why He did! It was always been a testimony to Caleb since then of how our Heavenly Father knows every single one of us and will do things like have someone remember a book in the trunk of their car to help our testimony grow.

My brother Colby served his mission in Guadalajara Mexico. He remembers one time when he and his companion were walking down a street and they saw a guy trying to push start his car by himself with his wife in the drivers seat. They felt inspired to help them and were able to help get the car running. Before they left they asked if they couple would want to learn about the Gospel of Jesus Christ sometime. The couple invited them over and a few months later the man, his wife, their four daughters and the daughters husbands all were baptized. Five years later, the man is now Bishop of their ward. This spiritual experience has always reminded Colby that even experiences negative like a broken down car have the possibility to turn into amazing things, and to remember that Heavenly Father wants the best for us, we just have to have faith in His timeline.

My dad served in the New York, New York mission. During the time that he served, the church had a television campaign, where people could call a 1-800 number and order a Book of Mormon. One day he and his companion received a referral to deliver a book to an area in Queens, that was predominantly older, retired Jewish people. I guess an area where its very unlikely two Latter Day Saint missionaries stand a chance of teaching. While delivering this person the Book of Mormon, just as they expected... the person had zero interest. They both laughed and commented what a waste of time it had been. When walking out of the apartment complex, my dad felt prompted to turn to his left and walk into an apartment building and straight up to a door and knock. His companion thought he had lost his mind! As they knocked on the door, a man in his 30's answered and looked about as shocked as could be. His mouth was dropped wide open and he blurted out... "How did you find me?" As it turned out, this brother had met with the missionaries for one lesson a year earlier and had to abruptly move after the first lesson and had lost contact. The night before my dad and his companion had knocked on this door, Marc was going through a major trial and had prayed and asked Heavenly Father to provide him with support, comfort and hope. The most amazing part of this experience was that Marc did not even live in this apartment complex and had just stopped by to water some houseplants while an older friend of his mom's was out of town. Marc provided his address and as it turned out, he lived on the opposite side of Queens and outside of my dad's assigned area. My dad was disappointed, but happy to have found a person so interested. Marc felt such a connection with my dad, that he called the mission president and told him my dad had to be part of the teaching process. Each time the other Elders met with Marc, my dad and his companion were present. Marc joined the church and a little over a year later, was called to serve as the Elders Quorum president, and following that served as a counselor in the Bishopric and years later, as a Branch President of a newly formed branch in Jamaica, Queens.

My dad has always viewed this experience as an example of how things that happen are not always coincidence and sometimes we get so distracted with the end result, that we fail to see there is another purpose in mind. (in this case the person who ordered the book was simply the cause that got them to visit an area, where they would usually not visit). The Lord had other plans that day. My dad has always referred to one of his favorite quotes when he reflects upon this experience. "Prayer doesn't change things, it changes people that change things."

Elder Anderson tells us "Embrace your sacred memories. Believe them. Write them down. Share them with your family. Trust that they come to you from your Heavenly Father and His beloved son. Let them bring patience to your doubts and understanding to your difficulties. I promise you that as you willingly acknowledge and carefully treasure the spiritually defining events in your life, more and more will come to you. Heavenly Father knows you and loves you!"

I look forward to the spiritually defining memories I will make over the next two years on my mission. I am excited to serve the people in Vancouver Canada and I'm also excited to find out where I will be temporarily reassigned, so I can serve the people there. I have already learned so much in just a few short days and can't imagine all that I have ahead of me to learn.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

What's up guys?

My first half week of online MTC has been mostly fun. My parents decked out a room in the basement and I'm living the good life down here. I probably have one of the nicest MTC classrooms in the country. I basically just get on zoom in the morning and afternoon for classes and sometimes I'll have a workshop I have to watch when I'm not in class. For the most part though it's pretty laid back and I have tons of free time. I've learned a lot in the past few days from my teachers and they're both dope.

My district is chill, they're all cool people. I found out I'm the only one in my district going to Vancouver though, so that was pretty sad. Almost all of them are going somewhere in Washington. They all got their travel itineraries like two days ago too, and I'm just here. Chillin. Not even sure if I'll make it to Canada on time. It's fine. My companion Elder Nelson is a funny guy, he's going to Missouri. There really isn't much else going on, it's been kind of a slow week, I'm sure it'll pick up next week though.