Fireside

It litterally was a fireside and the guy that spoke to the YW/YM the other night was amazing. He had their and my full attention from the very beginning. He stood there trying to balance on his crutches the whole time with the fire crackling in the background. As a UHP, he is required to take a physical test twice a year, the last one resulting in a torn ACL and MCL. It looked like he was in pain. But, that didn't stop him from delivering a powerful talk. I was touched and thought I would share it with all of you. It's long, so read or don't read. But I think you'll find it very interesting.
This guy grew up on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Az as far away from civilization as you could get. Up until he was 8 years old, he had never seen running water, electricity, or any of the other modern amenities that we have. He slept on a dirt floor in a small hogan with the rest of his family. He was used the the crackling fire that burned behind him. His grandfather, who was a medicine man, would take him out hunting and taught him all about survival. His assignments when they went hunting were to track certain animals all day and then report what he had learned. He was also taught to listen to the spirit. His grandfather taught him that everything has a spirit, including the rocks, trees, and grass. He would sit with grandfather and meditate for hours, just listening. At the age of 8, he was put in a boarding school where he learned when you turned out the lights, you didn't have to blow them out. He was forced from then on to speak only English. The Navajos have a ritual for 12 year old boys. They are taken out into the wilderness and left alone for 7 days with only a knife to survive with. This was their initiation into manhood. He attended high school in Richfield and as a senior he found a Book of Mormon at the library while doing a research paper on medicine men. He didn't mean to take it home, so he was suprised when he found it in his backpack. He was drawn to it and found himself reading straight through the night and finished at about 9:00 the next morning. When he took it to back to the library that morning he wanted to know who wrote it. He was referred to the missionaries who answered all of his questions and when he demanded to be baptised, was told he had have the discussions first. He invited all of his friends to the discussions and 15 of them were baptised the next week.
He then told of his experience while reading the Book of Mormon. He said as he read, it was like a movie opened up in his mind. He saw it all and heard the voices of those writing letters. He heard the battles and recognized the stories. They were the same stories his grandfather would tell him when he was little. He felt the same spirit as he read those stories as he did when he would meditate with his grandfather, and he would tell those stories. His grandfather had never had an education, nor did he know how to read. The verse from Isaiah 29 comes to mind - 4 And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.
I wish I could have gotten copies of the stories that he'd writen down from his grandfather. As he read those stories to us, it was obvious what he was talking about. The first was of their father many years ago who had a lot of wealth. He was a very humble man who would pray everyday and thank the great spirit for his family and his earthly possessions. He was a visionary man, and one day he was warned in a dream that he must take his family and leave his earthly possessions because it was no longer safe to live where he lived. His two older sons were upset and rebelled but they went anyway. His younger son was like his father, humble and prayerful. At a certain spot in their journey, he blessed his two older sons that they would be like the mountains and the valley, firm and steadfast.
He told another story of a great battle, where his people killed every last one of their enemies. They won because they were the better warriors. There was one man, however that they could not seem to catch and kill. He seemed to elude the warriors. The great spirit would carry him off before they could find him.
Another story was about a great destruction and a darkness that covered the land for how many days no one could be certain. Then one day, there was a bright light and a person, the great spirit, standing in that light. This person taught them how they could return to live with him some day. He loved them. He chose people from among them and blessed them.
There were some other significant things he told us about the temple. He recognized things in the temple because at age 12, when he had reached mandhood, he had participated in some of the those same things.
At first his family disowned him for joining the church, but his grandfather told him that if he stuck with it for a few years, the family would take him back. After his mission, they welcomed him back to the family because they could see the church meant somthing to him.
He bore a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon. I, too would like to bear testimony of the Book of Mormon. I know that it is another testament of Jesus Christ. It stands as a witness, along with the Bible that Jesus is the Christ, our Redeemer. It proves the truthfulness of the Bible. I know that Joseph Smith translated the records that were given to him by the Angel Moroni through the spirit of the Lord. As an uneducated man, there is no way he could have made it up.
Isaiah 11 And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:

12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
I love the Book of Mormon and I know it to be true. I know it not because of these stories, or because I have had others bear testimony of it. I know it because I have received that witness myself through study and prayer.