Hello!
This week was
the week of Halloween. Because everyone was out trick-or-treating, we
had to go home early at like 7:00pm. Oh, it was kind of neat, earlier
that day we had dinner with some of the members in the ward, and we
went to this place called Shogun. It's like that Tepanyaki's place in
Provo. Anyway, they did a show, like they cooked the food in front of
you at the table. It was really neat, and really good food too.
While
we were in at seven, we had a kind of radio show that was playing for
all the missionaries because we were all in. That was really neat.
They shared various stories and things. I was able to share a story
from one of our ancestors. I chose to share the conversion story of
Mary Magdelaine Cardon Guild. That was a pretty neat story. I had one
of the sisters read part of it in first person; the part about the
conversion and the testimony. She did a really good job and it really
brought the Spirit. I thought Mary would appreciate her testimony
being shared for the other missionaries.
So that was
neat. I probably would rather have been out teaching the people
(haha), but everybody would be busy on Halloween. Being inside was
probably more for our safety, like people out partying on the
streets, or whatever. We got to go ice skating today. We had some fun
there.
There is a
pretty cool announcement here. In February we are getting 100 new
missionaries in our mission 50 of them are sisters. Right now
we have just under 150 missionaries including senior couples.
=D Virtually everyone will be training. I have no idea
how that will effect our mission, but we will probably send them out
into the villages and double up in wards and apartments. Normally
they get 700 applications per week, but after the announcement on age
changes it changed to over 4000 per week with just over half of them
being sisters. In the missions in the lower 48 they will be
getting 250 new missionaries each.
It looks like I
might be going to
Huslia.
There are some members out there who are doing some good work in
preparing people. We are going to finalize the plans here this week,
and head out to teach the people there.
[NOTE: We are not certain about the details of Elder Record's assignment in Huslia. We hope to find out more next week. Here are some web sites that talk about this tiny village about 270 miles East of Fairbanks. Wikipedia and Alaska Community Information Summaries].
We are keeping
busy and we are still teaching people. Life it good. The Lord
definitely has his hand in this work, and helps us be where we need
to be. I like
the
Book of Mormon. I like how much I'm reading it. It gives me a
bigger picture for everything and helps me have the Spirit with me.
I'm staying healthy. I'm not chubby (haha). I'm taking my vitamins,
especially vitamin D; so I'm combating the sleepiness of winter.
Fairbanks is snowy. The people are nice and friendly. We have a lot
of potential people we need to contact. There are a lot of good
people in the ward doing a lot of good missionary work and helping
other people. We had some less active people who normally don't come,
came to Church on Sunday. We were able to say “hi” to them and be
friendly. That's my favorite things, just being friendly and happy
with people, and associating with them and just trying to help people
do their best.
We'll see what
happens in the future. There are a lot of exciting things happening
and a lot on my mind. So we'll see how it goes. Anyway, talk to you
later, bye.
Love, Elder
Record
Testimony of Mary Magdelaine Cardon
Guild (1834-1914), daughter of Phillipe Cardon (1801-1889) and Mary
Tourn Cardon (1799-1873)
“I, Mary
Magdelaine Cardon Guild, desire to bear my testimony to the Gospel of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know that our Redeemer lives and
that His church and everlasting Gospel is re-established on this
earth for the last time. God has seen fit in this last dispensation
to reveal His marvelous light for the purpose of bringing about His
great work which will continue to increase until the end of the
world.
Now, my beloved
children, I feel my age coming on and my strength gradually leaving
me and, as a matter of course, I know or feel that my days for this
world cannot be many, as I am nearing now my three score and ten
years and though a few of us may live over four score, yet I realize
that the young may die. I must, therefore, discharge my duty to you
as a sincere mother and well-wisher. I am duty bound to bear my
testimony unto you all, especially to those of you who have not yet
embraced the Gospel and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I earnestly ask you, my beloved children, each one of you, to read
the New Testament through and find out for yourselves whether this
everlasting Gospel is true or not. I promise you, in the name of the
Father and of the Son, Jesus Christ, that if you will humble
yourselves and ask God with sincerity of heart to give you wisdom in
all things pertaining to your salvation and eternal life and future
happiness, and that you may know the true Gospel—I say unto you, my
beloved children,that you shall in due time receive and answer which
will enlighten your heart and fill you with knowledge and the wisdom
to lead you on the way to righteousness. It is true that God will at
all time answer our prayers if we will ask for the true path of our
duty, and we shall obtain the necessary knowledge to guide us through
our lives and prepare ourselves for the day of judgment. When we
shall appeal at the judgment seat of God and be seen just as we are,
whether good or bad, faithful or disobedient, our mission while we
lived on this earth will be seen.
I feel greatly
impressed to write a few incidents which I will remember, the first
one in particular.
I was then but
a young child, between six and seven years of age. One morning, while
in bed, I had a wonderful dream, or vision, which has proved to be
one of the greatest blessings that my aged parents and family could
ever have received on this earth. I shall relate herein just what
happened, for the benefit of my dear children and for whom it may
concern.
It seemed to me
that I was grown up into young womanhood, instead of being a small
child. I thought I was out by my father's vineyard on a small piece
of meadow taking care of some of my father's milk cows so that they
would not go into the vineyard. I thought I was sitting down on the
grass reading a book, and as I raised my eyes I saw three men
standing before me and looking at me. I dropped my eyes instantly, as
they were strangers to me. I felt somewhat alarmed, and as I raised
my eyes again and looked them in the face, one of the strangers said
unto me. “Fear not, for we are the servants of God and have come
from afar to bring unto you and all who desire to be saved into the
Kingdom of Heaven the Gospel. We are sent to reveal the everlasting
Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is re-established upon the earth never to
be taken away, for that it should be re-established in its fullness
was revealed to the prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., a boy of fourteen
years of age, he being very desirous to know which of different sects
or churches was the right one. He asked God, in humbleness of heart,
that he might know the true religion, and while in humble prayer he
heard a voice speak to him, saying, “There are none that are right
at present, but the true Gospel will soon be revealed in its
fullness.” These three strangers spoke of many future things which
would come to pass. They handed me two small books, one with a pale
blue cover and the other a pale green and they asked me to read them
carefully and said that if I would obey the commandments of God, I
would be saved. They said the day was not far off when my parents and
family would embrace the Gospel of Christ, ye, and all of the House
of Israel would be gathered together. The first step to this Gospel
was faith, repentance, baptism by immersion, and the laying on of
hands after baptism for the gift of the Holy Ghost. They said many
things concerning our departure from our home and of our journey in
the wilderness and that God would be our guide throughout our journey
to Zion, and they then departed and disappeared out of sight.
I awoke and
felt...weak and somewhat strange. I walked into the kitchen where my
mother was busy getting breakfast. She looked at me and saw that I
was very pale...she tried in vain to find out what was the matter
with me, for I hardly knew what to say, but soon my father came in
and my mother called his attention toward me and asked my father to
try and find out what was the matter with me. He took me on his knee
and talked to me for awhile.
Finally, I told
him all that I had seen and heard and what those three strangers had
said to me. My parents were not learned for they had had no chance
for education, as they were a remnant of the Waldenses, who, on
account of their religion, had been persecuted and driven to the
mountains. In order to protect their lives, they lived in caves on
the Alps; therefore, they had no chance of education; but
nevertheless my parents both stored up every word which I told them.
But I forgot all about this as a child of my age naturally would.
When I was
between seventeen and eighteen years of age, I well remember my dear
father coming home early one Saturday, in the afternoon, and telling
my mother to get his best suit of clothes ready, for he had just
heard a man who had come from La Tour, a city quite a distance from
where we lived at that time. The man had told my father and my
brothers and the men who were then working for my father ( he was an
architect, then building a large house) that he had heard some
strangers preaching a very strange doctrine at La Tour and he told of
all he had heard.
My father knew
then that these men were preaching and teaching the very words which
I had heard when a child from those three strangers. He put his tools
down immediately and said to his men that he would go and find these
men. He instructed my brothers and the men at work what they should
do in his absence and he came home and got ready as quickly as
possible and started off on foot.
He walked that
afternoon and all night and the next morning, over the mountains and
down the valleys. He reached the Palais de la Tour in time to find
those men and to hear them preach.
After the
meeting he went to them and kindly invited them to come to our home
and make it their headquarters, and they gladly accepted my father's
invitation. They had been but a short time at the Palais de la Tour
and they were laboring hard to open the way and to succeed in their
undertaking. They had been allowed to preach on the streets without
being molested, but it was very hard to make a start.
President
Lorenzo Snow was one of the three elders who were sent to Italy to
open the first mission of the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, and, if I remember rightly, the names of (the
others) were Elder Stainhouse and Toronto.
At that time
(when they first arrived in that area), President Snow proposed to
take a walk up to a high mountain called Mountain Vandarin and there
fast and call upon the name of the Lord to open up the way before
them and to guide them to those what were honest in heart, and that
their journey into that faraway country might not be in vain, and
while in fervent prayer, as they were kneeling on a large flat rock
in humble petition to God, he heard their prayer and answered them
that their work should not be in vain, but that the way would be
opened before them, and that, inasmuch as they would call on him in
sincerity of heart, He would bless them in their undertaking.
President Snow then called the rock, on which they were kneeling at
the time, Mount Brigham, in honor to our president, Brigham Young.
They then returned to the Palais de la Tour, and at the next meeting
they held there my father met and brought them to our home.
When they
arrived, I was not at home, as it was part of my work to keep my
father's milk cows from our vineyard. We had a small meadow joining
the vineyard and I was keeping the cows from doing any damage to the
vineyard.
On the way from
the Palais de la Tour to our home, father had told the elders of the
vision which I had seen when a small child and said that he could not
rest one moment after he had heard of them from the man whom he had
just hired. He knew truly they were the servants of God and he was
very anxious for me to meet them, so he brought them where I was, and
as they came near where I was sitting, my father was the first to
speak.
I had not heard
nor seen them come, as walking on the grass made no noise, and being
quite interested in my book, I heard nothing until my father said to
the elders, “Here is my daughter who had that vision concerning the
three strangers, who appeared to her and told her that they were the
servants of God and that they were authorized to reveal the
everlasting Gospel of Christ to all the nations of the earth.”
President Snow and one of the other Elders handed each of us a small
book which contained the Articles of Faith of the Mormon Church, etc.
Just then, I
well remembered of seeing those books in my vision and the same three
men who called themselves the servants of God. I remembered may
things which I had heard them say to me when they had first appeared;
and under these circumstances I could say but very little to them for
I was not prepared for such an advent.
I had been
confirmed in what we called the Vaudois Church and had received my
certificate of honor, etc., and we soon went home. Mother had supper
ready. We all has supper together. Father, my four brothers, and the
three elders went into another room, while myself and mother did the
supper work. Then mother and I joined the elders and our family. My
sister, Catherine, was not at home, nor had she been for some time
past. She was living with our pastor as governess over his children,
as the pastor's wife was not in very good health at that time.
My parents and
brothers were soon converted and were baptized. I believe that my
father was the first member of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints in that country, but I felt rather backward in
being baptized. It was, of course, a great change of religion and it
seemed as though the whole country were now excited to the utmost
pitch of gossip and comments of all kinds. My father talked to me
considerably because I did not get baptized when he and my brothers
were baptized, but I was very serious on the subject and thought much
though I said but very little.
I took to read
the New Testament in great earnestness and when I read some passages
that I could not quite comprehend, I would ask God to give me wisdom
that I might understand what I read and obey his commandments and
overcome my weakness and not care whether my friends would scorn me
or not on account of my joining the Mormon Church. (Because of) My
reading, fasting, and praying in secret to my Father in Heaven I soon
realized and felt assured that these Elders held the Priesthood of
the Gospel of Christ which He had once more established on earth, and
I felt that each one of us were responsible for our own sins and
acts. That is, of course, we know that our Redeemer died for our
sins, but we must follow him in deeds and follow his footsteps. He
commanded us to repent and be baptized in the name of the Father and
the Son and the Holy Ghost.
After
going in secret and humbly asking my Heavenly Father to give me
wisdom and knowledge concerning the Gospel and doctrine that the
elders taught us, I received a testimony from God that these elders
were his servants and had been ordained to go among the nations of
the earth to preach the everlasting Gospel to all the world. I then
was ready to be baptized, but President Snow had been called away
shortly before that, and Elder J. B. Woodard, J.D. Kaiton, and Thomas
Marquets now came to relieve the first three elders who had come.
Elder J.B. Woodard baptized me into the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints and I felt thankful to my Father in Heaven that he
had caused me to live in this last dispensation, and for the great
privilege to have an opportunity to learn and obey the true Gospel.”
(Story recorded by Eva May Cardon who was granddaughter of Louis
Phillip Cardon, Mary's brother).
