Power of the Priesthood

Matt tells of an amazing new contact this week.  He explains at the end why it was significant to tell of this man's race.  I'm so proud of Elder Blakemore's work as a missionary.  He is such a great example of goodness and faith.

Yes, I'm emailing on Thursday.  That is because Temple Day was yesterday so P-day was changed to Wednesday this week.  I love going to the temple.  I always learn so much.  So p-day was yesterday, but it was also Veterans Day so all the libraries were closed.  So I'm here today.  It's okay, we usually don't have much success with anything in the mornings anyway and we were counseled by the mission pres. to email either Tues. or today.

Yesterday was Temple Day.  We also had a couple of lessons.  One of them went really well.  We tracted into this guy (he's black) and he let us in immediately.  He is searching for the truth and he doesn't care where it comes from.  Awesome!!  I love prepared people.  His niece was there also and the first words that came out of her mouth were, "Can anybody join your church?"  HAHA!  YES!!!!  Nobody EVER asks that!   So anyway, we had some trouble the past couple of days getting back with him and setting a good time for our lesson.  We finally found a time that worked.  We brought our friend Dee Summers who has an AMAZING conversion and is one of the best people I have ever met.  He truly tries to follow the example that Christ has set for us.  Anyway.  We were talking to Jeremiah (his niece was not there) and he has a lot of questions, which missionaries love.  That means that we don't have to ask questions to see if he understands what we're talking about because he will ask them for us.  The spirit was definitely there.  He was telling of an experience when he was in jail and a guy that he knew woke up one morning and said that he had talked to God.  Jeremiah didn't believe him but he prayed to know if God still talks to people today.  He said that an overwhelming feeling of love swept over him one night and the Spirit called him by name.  He thought it was God but a lot of people told him that it was the Satan.  We were able to tell him that God does speak to us and that we believe that God was speaking to him that night in prison.  The only weird thing was that God called him Jeremy.  The story of Saul of Tarsus came to my mind where he was going the completely wrong way and his name was changed to Paul.  He was crying when we told about Joseph Smith and his vision.  amazing.

So his friend is hacking up a storm pretty much through the whole lesson and Jeremiah tells him to go to the hospital.  We tell him that through the priesthood, we are authorized to give blessings from God and to perform healings.  So Dee is giving Joe a blessing and he tells Joe to be healed.  When he said that, the Spirit rushed through me and I know that God honored that blessing.  Afterwards, Joe was amazed and he told us how good he felt.  We were able to tell them that if they were faithful that they would be able to receive that same priesthood power that we have.  I agree with Mom that one of the most important events in history was the day that a prophet of God received revelation telling the world that every worthy man is able to hold the priesthood regardless of race or background.  I think Jeremiah will be baptized.  I can feel it.

We have been seeing some other miracles too.  We have been having TONS of success from tracting, which usually is not successful at all.  God is in this work.  I know it.  I see it every day.  The things that come out of my mouth change people's lives daily and I know that I wouldn't be able to do it without the help of my Heavenly Father.  Thank you all for your support and letters.  I love you.
-Elder Matt Blakemore