I am a convert to the church and was baptised in 2010. I am the only member in my family. It hasn't been easy, but I know that the gospel blesses lives and one day they too will come to cherish and embrace the truths that I know.
I continue to learn a lot in the church and as soon as I received a witness that what the missionaries taught me was true, I desired to share this with others. A few weeks after my baptism I decided to serve a mission.
I served in the England Leeds Mission in 2013 and 2014. My baptism and my mission are the best decisions that I ever made. I have been so blessed. I know the church is true.
I know that Heavenly Father knows me and loves me with an infinite love. General Conference this year was exactly what I needed. All the talks seemed to speak to me personally.
At the end of last year before December, I was retrenched from my job and was devastated. I felt helpless, upset and discouraged. I did not know how I was going to continue.
I remember studying Doctrine and Covenants 90:24 “Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another”.
That scripture became my blueprint. Heavenly Father blessed me in the coming weeks with a new job and also moving to a new town. I arrived in this new place and struggled to fit in, but I kept this scripture on my bedside table and followed the counsel the Lord gave.
I prepared myself for General Conference. When Elder Ulisses Soares shared his talk I felt the Holy Ghost testify to me that when we have unwavering faith in the Saviour Jesus Christ, all things do work together for our good.
As Elder Soares said, He listens to our prayers in our moments of happiness and in our moments of doubt, sadness, and desperation. I have felt all of those emotions and as I follow the counsel in the Doctrine and Covenants, I continue to exercise faith in Jesus Christ, for I know that He stands ready to help me.
All of us need to renew our determination to press on with steadfastness in Christ, and confide in God … unwaveringly. If we do this, I know that things will work together for our good.
Elder Soares:
I close my remarks today with the lyrics of the hymn “Not Now but in the Coming Years,” found in the Portuguese hymnal:
If clouds instead of sun spread shadows o’er our heart,
If pain afflicts us, never mind; we will soon know who Thou art.
Jesus guides us with His hand, and He will tell us why;
If we listen to His voice, He will tell us by and by.
Confide in God unwaveringly, and let Him us sustain;
Sing His glory endlessly, for later He’ll explain.
Read or listen to Elder Ulisses Soares' talk, Confide In God Unwaveringly.