- For the many who have influenced and shaped my life, I am most grateful.
He thanks the many LDS people that have touched his life and helped to build him up:
- We love the Latter-day Saints everywhere! Your faith has increased our faith; your testimonies have added to our testimony.
He first message to the church as a new apostle is this:
- I’m confident that there is no choice, sin, or mistake that you or anyone else can make that will change His love for you or for them. That does not mean He excuses or condones sinful conduct—I’m sure He does not—but it does mean we are to reach out to our fellowman in love to invite, persuade, serve, and rescue. Jesus Christ looked past people’s ethnicity, rank, and circumstances in order to teach them this profound truth.
As Elder Rasband shares his testimony, he thinks about where his testimony first started. He says:
- I can’t remember not believing in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I have loved Them since I learned of Them at the knees of my angel mother, reading scripture and gospel stories. That early belief has now grown into a knowledge and a witness of a loving Heavenly Father, who hears and answers our prayers. My testimony of Jesus Christ has been built from many special experiences in which I have come to know His great love for each one of us.
And Finally, he shares his love for God, the gospel, and our dear prophet:
- I’m grateful for our Savior’s Atonement and wish like Alma to shout it with the trump of God. I know that Joseph Smith is God’s prophet of the Restoration and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. And I know that President Thomas S. Monson is God’s true servant and prophet on the earth today.
How grateful I am to have read and studied the talks by Elder Rasband as part of this blog. I got to see him speak to a group of youth several years ago and I came away with a sure knowledge that he loves the Savior and is a true disciple of Jesus Christ. I saw in his words and actions a pure Christlike love for the youth he was speaking to. I believe he truly understands his divine calling to be a special witness of our Savior and as I continue to see his interactions with those in and out of the church, I am confident that others will come to the same conclusion I have, this is a man of God and I will be a better man by listening to his counsel and applying it in my life. By doing so, I will become a better disciple of Jesus Christ.