From a study journal entry, January 17, 2006:
I have come to realize that the world, for the most part, has no concept of the true and living God.  They worship gods that I do not know.  For example, the Presbyterian Confession of Faith descibes a God that is "invisible, without body, parts, or passions . . . [and is] incomprehensible."  I know of no such deity.

The God I know is knowable.  "It is the first principle of the gospel to know . . . God" (Joseph Smith).  The God that I know is visible.  Prophets have seen Him throughout time, and I long for the time when I will see Him face to face.  The God that I know has body parts.  He has arms with which to hug me.  He has a mouth through which He speaks.  Perhaps more important, the God I know has passions.  He has emotion.  He weeps when He sees us suffer.  He smiles when He sees our triumphs.  I will even say that I have felt His sense of humor.  This is God.

I testify that God lives.  Literally, He lives.  He breathes.  He thinks.  He communicates.  Allbeit He is eternal, immortal, and perfect, but He is eternally, immortally, and perfectly alive.  He sent His living Son, who is in His express image, to Earth that we might know of Him.  And that Son did not come out of the Garden Tomb only to be killed by the creed of man which describes Him in such infinately dead terms.  He came out to live, and to show man that he too may live.

The prophets forsaw the day when the living God would not be worshiped.  Moses wrote, "the Lord shall scatter [Israel] among the nations . . . And there [they] shall serve gods . . . which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell" (Deuteronomy 4:27-28).  Constantly the Apostles centuries later were correcting and reproving the Church for false doctrines- false concepts of deity.  To the saints of Corinth who were doubting the literal resurrection, Paul wrote of the hundreds of perople who saw the Risen Lord.  "And last of all," Paul writes, "He was seen of me as one born out of due time" (1 Corinthians 15:8).  And yet despite such marvelous testimony, so many are caught up worshiping "the unknown God" (Acts 17:23).

We need to remember that we are literally the spirit children of God.  We were created in His image.  "Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to thing that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device" (Acts 17:29).  As far as men worship an unknown being defined by the creeds of men, they are worshiping "man's device."

There is a true, literally living God.  Of Him I bear solemn witness.  Of Him and His compassionate character the Prophet Joseph Smith said, "Our Heavenly Father is more liberal in His views, and boundless in His mercies and blessings that we are ready to believe or recieve. . . God does not look on sin with allowance, but . . . the nearer we get to our Heavenly Father, the more we are disposed to look with compassion on perishing souls; we feel that we want to take them upon our shoulders, and cast their sins behind our backs."

I testify of a God who has such shoulders.  Literally, He has shoulders.  And He loves us, and wants us each to find happiness.  He can and will carry our burdens and lift us up with His infinate compassion.  That He has done so for me is my testimony in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Attention Residents of California:
It is now time to remove all Christmas lights from their decorative holiday location. Please comply immediately because it is tacky to still have them lit.

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Greetings still from Sunland/Tajunga. Today is the start of my fourth transfer, my second in this area and with the same companion, Elder Whittier. I am excited because the work has really been picking up here. My companion and I have decided to start being successful, and I suppose that's all it took. We were tired of not being successful, so we just started acting as if we were successful, and bang- success.

These past two weeks have shown us to be bold and powerful. Our lessons are more spiritual. We resolved concerns and helped our principle investigator to commit to Church attendance. We taught a powerful lesson to a potential investigator and are now teaching her and her husband as new investigators. During the lesson she couldn't contain her happiness- and she told us so. We explained the Holy Spirit to her, and she told us that she felt that Spirit of God as we taught and prayed. She couldn't wait to watch with her husband the Restoration Video we left with her. Just last night we discovered that a less active couple we had been teaching the lessons to had quit smoking on the 4th. So far they've been successful and are thrilled by the resulting outpouring of the Spirit. We have been leaning on the inspirations of the Spirit more. We are more in tune to its subtleties and more prone to follow its promptings. In our knocking we have been happier, more enthusiastic, and bolder. We are getting more people who ask us to come back and teach more. The ward members in this area trust us more. They complement us for the testimonies we bore. (One asked me for my parents' address so he could write them). They are asking us to visit people they know. The more we work together with them, the better our work becomes.

I am thrilled about these changes. When I first came to this area, all I could focus on were the weaknesses of this ward/area. Now all I can focus on are the strengths and the potential that is here. I testify that the Spirit of the Lord leads and guides this work. There is simply no other way we could accomplish what we are accomplishing. I testify of Him, of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of Our Father in Heaven. I proclaim without equivocation their prophet Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon he translated. I testify of Gordon B. Hinckley, the living prophet today. This I do in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.