Testimonies

Our Mission office asked us to write our testimonies that will be in our Mission newsletter. We decided to include them here in our blog also. 

Elder W Patrick Traynor (WVCM Feb 6 2017-Aug 6 2018)

   I know that as we study the scriptures and listen to modern day prophets, we can learn eternal truths that God has revealed to His prophets. God has revealed all truth that is necessary for salvation to His prophets. If I prepare myself, by obedience to God’s commandments, and seek confirmation of these truths, the Holy Ghost will confirm these truths to me. I testify that among the eternal truths that have been confirmed to me on our mission are the following:

1. Heavenly Father lives and we are sons or daughters of Heavenly Father and He knows us personally and individually and He loves us. 
2. Jesus Christ is the son of God and is our Savior and Redeemer. Through the power of Jesus Christ, as manifested through His Atonement, Christ defeated death and He conquered sin. 
3. Joseph Smith was and is a true prophet who was called by God to open the last dispensation. 
4. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and is the most correct book on earth. 
5. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ’s true church on the earth. 
6. God designed a plan whereby our spirits are able to come to the earth, which was created by His Son, Jesus Christ, under the direction of Heavenly Father, and gain a mortal body and prove ourselves worthy, through obedience to God’s commandments and with the saving grace of Christ’s Atonement, including His resurrection, and eventually become like God and return to live with God.
7. Christ’s power, as manifested through His Atonement, enables and strengthens us, as we exercise our agency, to to trust Christ and have faith in His promises. I know that since Christ is unchangeable and that just as He kept His promises to the people I read about in the scriptures, I know He will keep His promises to me. 

Sister Traynor and I love all aspects of our mission. We love the warm, kind and loving people of West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. We have come to love the beautiful area where we serve. We treasure relationships we have made here and the eternal truths that have been confirmed to us as we have served in our mission. 

   I know that as I keep God’s commandments, I can feel the power of the Holy Ghost more frequently and more powerfully and I am strengthened in my efforts to trust in Jesus Christ and more fully obey His commandments. 

                                                                            

                                       Sister Sally Traynor (WVCM, Feb 6, 2017- Aug 6, 2018

  I am thankful for the opportunity to serve a mission with my husband. I have learned many things that have strengthened my testimony. 

   In the MTC, senior couples were promised that our families would be blessed as we left them in the Lord’s hands. One of my testimony strengtheners is that He knows our specific needs and promised blessings have been, and still are, being poured out to our family while we are away. I have a greater understanding that our Savior’s promises are real. He loves us and He is in the details of our lives.

  Our S & I (Seminary and Institute) assignment has also strengthened my testimony. As we prepared to teach our Institute lessons each Thursday night, we were blessed with the opportunity to study from the wonderful curriculum that has been prepared and provided by the Church for our Young Single Adults. These lessons, together with the scriptures and prophetic readings, have been inspiring. I have learned so much.

  My favorite lessons were from the “Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel” cornerstone lessons. Through these lessons I have gained a greater love for my Savior as well as I feel His love for me more deeply. I have a greater understanding of His role in the creation of the world and His power and glory, and that through His love and atoning sacrifice all mankind can be saved and have the opportunity to live with our loving Heavenly Father again. 

  This past semester we have been studying “The Eternal Family”. I have gained a greater appreciation for our prophets who are on the watchtower to warn the world, as in, “The Family, a Proclamation to the World”. Our prophets are inspired and courageous and warn us of coming calamities that could harm our families. How thankful I am for ancient and modern  prophets. 

  Lastly, my testimony has been strengthen by a deeper commitment to read and study the Book of Mormon. I am grateful for President Nelson’s challenge to study and gain for ourselves the knowledge of what the Book of Mormon is; what it affirms; what it refutes; that it fulfills biblical prophecies; what it clarifies; and what is reveals. My testimony grows as I study, ponder and pray to learn eternal truths. 

  

To our children, grandchildren, loved ones and friends, we are grateful for this consecrated time to serve the Lord and we  thank you for your love and support to us.

We are still going strong. We still love these good people and It's still Almost Heaven. 

Elder and Sister Traynor