love this book...

I have a vivid memory of my youth in which my friend Jen and I were in the car with my dad (I think he was taking us to our weekly dance class); and we were all discussing the joys of reading,as well as sharing with each other our love for good books. I can remember being filled with excitement as I began telling my dad about the book I had just finished reading for school. I didn't spare any details, and was thrilled that I had discovered this particular piece of literature. My memory has now become cloudy, as I do not remember the name of the book I had been reading, nor do I remember anything about the book that my friend shared with us; but I will never ever forget the way I felt as my dad began to describe to us the book that he was in the process of reading. "It's filled with love stories," he said "wars, adventure, kings and queens, spies, ocean voyages, secret organizations, betrayal, murders..." Wow! This sounds like The Princess Bride, I thought, and I remember feeling a desire to get my hands on that book. Jen and I were completely sucked in, and asked in unison, What's it called? To which my dad replied...The Book of Mormon. I remember feeling ashamed that I wasn't able to recognize the book which my dad spoke of...for I too, I had been reading that book. For years I had been reading it; but in that moment, I realized that I hadn't really been reading it. I determined that day, that I would begin, as President Benson admonished, a serious study of the book; and that I would never, from that day on, take a break from it. I must confess that I have not read in it every day since, I wish I could say that I have. But I will say that since that day, my testimony is stronger, my love for the Savior has increased, and I have a greater knowledge and understanding of the Gospel and of God's plan for His children. I can honestly say that I love the Book of Mormon. I just finished reading it last night; and I just started it over this morning. I don't know how many times I've read it... I've lost count. But that's not what's important. What's important are the words contained on the pages. What's important is the Spirit one feels upon reading, studying, and pondering it' s teachings. What's important are the principles contained therein. What's important is that is was written by ancient prophets...for us, for this dispensation.
I love the words of President Benson when he taught:
It is not just that the Book of Mormon teaches us truth, though it indeed does that. It is not just that the Book of Mormon bears testimony of Christ, though it indeed does that, too. But there is something more. There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path. The scriptures are called “the words of life” (D&C 84:85), and nowhere is that more true than it is of the Book of Mormon. When you begin to hunger and thirst after those words, you will find life in greater and greater abundance.
I testify that these things are true, for I have felt that very power of which he speaks. I have hungered and thirsted after the truths found in the Book of Mormon, and my life has been richly blessed.



I share in President Benson's vision...

I have a vision of homes alerted, of classes alive, and of pulpits aflame with the spirit of Book of Mormon messages.
I have a vision of home teachers and visiting teachers, ward and branch officers, and stake and mission leaders counseling our people out of the most correct of any book on earth—the Book of Mormon.
I have a vision of artists putting into film, drama, literature, music, and paintings great themes and great characters from the Book of Mormon.
I have a vision of thousands of missionaries going into the mission field with hundreds of passages memorized from the Book of Mormon so that they might feed the needs of a spiritually famished world.
I have a vision of the whole Church getting nearer to God by abiding by the precepts of the Book of Mormon.
Indeed, [we] have a vision of flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon.