America-land of promise

As members of the Church, we appreciate America more because we know it is a land of promise and that Columbus was lead here by the Lord. We know we are here by design.

D&C says that the Garden of Eden was in Jackson county and that when Adam and Eve were cast out, they went to Davies county. The City of Enoch was where the Gulf of Mexico is - the whole city was taken up, leaving just the Gulf of water. The Arc was built in North Carolina because of the fine wood that grows there. The Arc landed in the mountains of Ararat. 100 years after the flood ws Peleg when the earth was divided.

Why did God want to separate the continents? To reserve America for a special people. Scriptures say that none are brought here save by the hand of the Lord. The 1st to come were the Jaredites then the Mulekites, then Lehi. Those are the ones we know of. There may have been others whose records we don't have.

Isaiah saw America and called it the "mountain of the Lord's house" which is code for the temple.

Scriptures say "All nations shall flow unto it (America). The word Utah means "top of mountains".

That America is a "choice land" means it was chosen. It was chosen in the premortal life to be the headquarters:
*where the gospel would be restored
*Where missionaries (and the Gospel) go out from
*The cradle of civilization
*Where Adam and Eve started
*The cradle of the Gospel

In the Book of Mormon, it is stated "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall prosper in the land" 50 times. 1828 Webster dictionary says prosper is "to grow, to increase, to thrive".

And it says, "If ye keep not my commandments, ye shall be cut off.

America is a covenant land - it's like the Lord's rental: as long as we keep the covenants, we stay, if not, we're evicted. Jesus is the landlord - Ether 2:12 - Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written.

How bad do we have to be to be swept off? We have to be in the fulness of iniquity, like the people of Ether. The only one left (except for Ether) was Coriantumr. Ether might have been translated.

when the Nephites broke their covenants/commandments, they were all gone except Moroniand a few Lamanites to preserve the race. 

That contract is till in effect with us.

The first brought here were the Pilgrims - Puritans to Massachusetts. 2nd were the Quakers to Pennsylvania. 3rd were the Catholics to Maryland.

Catholics came because they didn't agree that they shouldn't be able to read the Bible. When people came over on the Mayflower, it was way too crowded. Most people were below deck. Each person had a space the size of a coffin. It was a 2 month journey - cold and damp. The waves were choppy, many people were seasick. Food was moldy biscuits and cheese. the water was rationed, but the worse was the swearing of the crew. After one month a sailor died and was thrown overboard.

They landed in Plymouth in December. They left the women and children on the ship while they cut down timber and built houses. On Sundays they kept the day holy and did not work. They were a very thankful people. the feast they had to celebrate began the most inspired holiday - the only day of the year where family members strive to gather and most give thanks before eating. Lincoln was the one who made Thanksgiving a tradition.

Other people wanted to be free but the King of England didn't want them to  leave - that caused the Revolutionary war. The colonists were humbled. General Washington called for a day of fasting when needed - about every 3 weeks! He also didn't allow any gambling or profanity in the troops. He said "We need God - not drunkenness." Sundays were prayer services. The Continental Congress made sure 20,000 Bibles were distributed to soldiers to inspire them to fight for freedom. (From The Bulletproof George Washington)

God fought on the side of Washington's troops. there were unseasonable thick fogs, great winds, hurricanes, icy roads, and even sent angels to help.

George Washing was foreordained. He was the closest thing that we had as a prophet. He was 6'3" - taller than everyone and had huge, strong hands. He could crack a walnut with one hand. His mother, Lucy,  taught him to pray and to be completely honest. He never had children; Martha had 2 from a previous marriage.

The Indians said he was protected by the Great Spirit. They called him Bullet Proof. He had a vision of an angel during the war, who called him "Son of the Republic" and showed the future of America - all of it. he saw angels fighting on the side of America. In the Washington Hypothesis, Washington talked of heavenly help in the war.

George W was offered to be king of the Colonies and was hurt by the suggestion. King George III asked George Washing what he would do after the war. He said he would go back to his farm. The king said, "If he does, he is the greatest man on earth. 

The Book of Mormon says there should be no kings on this land. The description of Captain Moroni in the Book of Mormon applies to George Washington.

Why did America need to be a free country? So that God could restore the Gospel here. 18 years after the Constitution was ratified, Joseph Smith was born. He grew up with a love of country.

D&C 101:80 says the Constitution is inspired and that who wrote it were inspired:
And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood."

The Role of Prayer: Benjamin Franklin gave a speech that God governs and made a motion that they should open each session with prayer. After that the constitution flowed. All writers were devout Christians and all were well read. They knew history and wanted a new order. All temple work has been done for the signers of the Declaration of Independence. They wanted their work done - George Washington was their spokesman of 150 in all, including John Wesley, Christopher Columbus and others source: Eminent men and women by Vicky Johanson) there were scientists, writers, statesmen, Benito Juarez, wives of the founding fathers, mothers of the founding fathers, signers of the Declaration of Independence. 

When they signed the Declaration of Independence, they knew that what they were doing was treason. 15 were captured and killed. 12 were tortured, 9 were injured in the war.

the name Columbus means Christ bearer. He left a book called "Book of Prophesies". His favorite writer was Isaiah. He felt he would play a part in finding the Isles of the sea that he wrote of. He felt he had a gift of navigation and that ti was a spiritual gift. He said, "Who can deny it; God led me." He is spoken of in the Book of Mormon.

Patriotism is waning; there is less religion. Roosevelt gave all servicemen a Bible and encouraged them to read it.

The alphabet used to be taught using the Bible. there used to be prayer in schools. Every school used to have the 10 commandments posted, and Old Testament used to be a class in school.

When they stopped prayers in schools and took down the 10 commandments
*the number of unwed mothers skyrocketed
*theft increased
*alcohol consumption increased
*there has been more violent crime
*there has been more divorce
*SAT scores went down

President Hinckley gave a book of Mormon to President Reagan. Later he gave a speech and used quotes from it.

In the Lincoln  Hypothesis by Ballard, it says Lincoln checked the Book of Mormon out of the library and kept it 8 months. Later he gave the Emancipation proclamation.  

We need to be good missionaries.
There are 7.6 billion people in the world and 75,000 missionaries. So to reach everyone, each missionary has to contact almost 87,000  people during their mission. That's 115 people every single day to reach. But if each of the 15 million members contacted just 6 people every day, we could accomplish the same thing. If we did that, we could increase missionary work by 2,000%.

the average person needs 11 separate positive impressions of the church before becoming interested in the Church. 

The missionary success rate is .13%

The steps of conversion for the average person are:
1. Awareness of teh church. Some people don't even know there are members around them.
2. Curiosity in what we believe.
3. Interest in what we believe
4. Conversion to what we believe.

There is a website #Share the Goodness. Bednar talks on how to share pictures and comments that might help the missionary effort.

In our prayers, we need to ask for success in our own personal missionary efforts.