Sweet Home Ellabama : Millionaires, Worts, and Questions of all Sorts! Week 45

Yesterday Sister Sheffer and I biked 6 beautiful miles to go to dinner at Jack Gauses home. Brother Gause is a great guy who doesn't go to church but has a son serving a mission, so he feeds us to show his support. We went through rolling hills of green trees, passed some classic roadkill, sweated a lot, and finally arrived at his precious trailor. As the meat was cooking we discussed The Book of Mormon and how it answers our questions.

We asked Brother Gause what his biggest question was in life and trying us, he snickered, "how do I become a millionaire?" We opened to Jacob 2:18-19, "before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God. And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches." He was shocked. We all laughed. We went to the next person and she asked, "why does God take young people?" We referenced Alma 14, talking about how the righteous were burned for believing in God. Amulek, a good guy, saw this terrible destruction and wanted to save the people by Gods power. However, he was instructed not to because "the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory". We learn that good and evil are both necessary, and justice will come to those who are wicked. We also learn that people are only taken from the earth when their work is finished (:13). Around we went, answering question after question. When asking one of the guys his question he was confused and asked, "why am I asking a question?" With countless options, we showed him 1 Nephi 15:11 and 2 Nephi 4:35. "If ye...ask...in faith...surely these things shall be made known unto you", followed by "God will give liberally to him that asketh". Another asked, "why do I have worts?" and we turned to Mosiah 17:13,16 talking about how Abinadi was scouraged with faggots. The questions were hilarious, and we all sat in amazement at how the Book of Mormon specifically addressed each of them.

This morning I decided to do the same thing for myself! Right now I am serving as a sister training leader, meaning I get to work with a lot of different missionaries. I don't know exactly what I'm supposed to be doing, so my question was, "how can I be a better STL?" I closed my eyes, flipped my fingers along the pages of The Book of Mormon, and randomly stopped on Alma 37. WOW! The Lord sure does answer prayers! I gleaned endless insight as to what the Lord would have me do! I need to teach the other sisters to be obedient, diligent, hard working, and humble. I need to be teachable and willing to change. We need to recognize when the devil is getting us down and kick him out! We need to pray hard and work for miracles. Most importantly, we need to go outside and share the joy we have experienced!

It was so cool to see how Heavenly Father answered all of our questions through the scriptures! I've heard this quote, "we speak to God through prayer. He speaks to us through scripture." This is remarkably true! I love The Book of Mormon with my whole heart! It helps us answer the practical and personal questions we each have. God cares about us and the details in our lives, and I am always filled with His love and happiness when I study!!!

I love my life more than I can express! Alabama is the best ever!!!

xoxo

Sister Madsen