December 2004 Ensign - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...
December 2004 Ensign - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...
December 2004 Ensign - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
10<br />
BOOK OF MORMON<br />
PRINCIPLES<br />
With great gratitude<br />
these many years,<br />
I have felt strength<br />
radiating from<br />
the words that<br />
are recorded in<br />
the book <strong>of</strong> Ether.<br />
How Could<br />
I Testify?<br />
BY ELDER HANS H. MATTSSON<br />
Area Authority Seventy<br />
Europe Central Area<br />
Many years ago my twin brother<br />
and I left our home in Göteborg,<br />
Sweden, to serve the Lord as fulltime<br />
missionaries in England. During our<br />
flight to London, numerous thoughts ran<br />
through my head. For one thing, my brother<br />
and I would have to separate in London, and<br />
for the first time in our lives we would not<br />
be together every <strong>day</strong>. But the thing that<br />
worried me most was that I didn’t know the<br />
English language well. At that time missionaries<br />
from Sweden did not receive language<br />
instruction or any other training; they were<br />
sent straight from home to the mission field.<br />
I thought <strong>of</strong> my twin brother, who was gifted<br />
in languages. My interests leaned more<br />
toward technical subjects, and for this reason<br />
I had not spent much time studying<br />
languages in school.<br />
After I arrived in London and then finally<br />
in Birmingham, the headquarters <strong>of</strong> the<br />
England Central Mission, the mission president<br />
and his wife greeted me with huge<br />
smiles and all possible warmth. Everyone<br />
I met at the mission <strong>of</strong>fice was happy and<br />
enthusiastic and spoke with me about things<br />
such as study guides, tracting, companions,<br />
and so forth. But I could not understand<br />
much because their language was new and<br />
foreign.<br />
Despite the kindness <strong>of</strong> the people<br />
around me, I felt overwhelmed. How could<br />
I ever testify <strong>of</strong> the gospel in this strange<br />
language? I spent much <strong>of</strong> that first night<br />
on my knees, asking Heavenly Father why<br />
He had sent me here and if there had possibly<br />
been a mistake.<br />
<strong>The</strong> following <strong>day</strong> an assistant to the mission<br />
president showed me a scripture—Ether<br />
12:27. I got out my Swedish Book <strong>of</strong> Mormon<br />
and read: “If men come unto me I will show<br />
unto them their weakness. I give unto men<br />
weakness that they may be humble; and my<br />
grace is sufficient for all men that humble<br />
themselves before me; for if they humble<br />
themselves before me, and have faith in me,<br />
then will I make weak things become strong<br />
unto them.”<br />
If anyone had a weakness, I did.<br />
Questions arose in my mind: Do you believe<br />
what is written in this verse? If so, do you<br />
have the courage to exercise the faith<br />
required? And can you humble yourself<br />
ILLUSTRATED BY GREGG THORKELSON