Lisa's Special Sacrament Meeting

Since moving to Salt Lake back in January, I have had some amazing experiences that have strengthened my faith in the Gospel.

I am most fortunate to be in an incredible ward down here (Salt Lake) and to have a bishop that cares so much about his ward and takes a vested interest in every single member within his care, and even those outside of it. He also has some pretty impressive connections within the church. Before I left for Arizona this summer, our ward was priviledged to have a special speaker in our sacrament meeting, a close personal friend of Bishop Burt, John Bytheway. That was an incredible sacrament meeting and we all came away from it uplifted and so excited to have had that experience.

We were nonetheless very excited the other day when Bishop Burt told us all that we MUST be in attendance this coming Sunday and that we should probably be at least 15 minutes early. There was a lot of speculation as to who was going to be coming to our ward to speak to us. The possibilities were endless. My roommate Sheena and I actually arrived about 45 minutes early instead of the recommended 15, and we were not by any means the first ones there. The entire ward was assembled within 10 minutes of the starting time (which is 9 am).

We sat in stunned silence as he walked into the chapel. I challenge anyone to find a singles ward chapel quieter than ours was this morning as we looked over and saw Elder Jeffery R. Holland walk up and sit on the stand next to our bishop. It was such a tender mercy for us to have the opportunity to be taught by one of the Apostles of the Lord on this magnificent day. He spoke of Elder Faust and his family and of the incredible love that the Lord, the Prophet and all the Apostles have for each one of us. He spoke of the Holy Spirit and how it should be our greatest desire to have the Spirit with us always. He spoke with such power and authority and sweetness of spirit, you could not deny that he is a chosen disciple of Christ. He mentioned different Spiritual Manifestations that have taken place in the Gospel, such as with Moses and the burning bush, Joseph Smith in the Grove, and he said that they still happen, and far more often than we realize. Also that through prayer and reading the scriptures, we can have our own manifestations. He is such a sweet, intelligent and very funny man. I am so blessed to have been able to have this experience.