followers of my faith [Mormon Monday 23]

In August our Relief Society compassionate service committee issued a challenge for us to read the entire Book of Mormon by the end of the year. I did pretty well -- much better than the time President Hinckley issued the challenge my freshman year.

I timed it just right so that on the last day of the year, last Tuesday, I sat on the train (my preferred Book of Mormon reading location), finishing up the book of Moroni on my way to work.

In the last chapter, Moroni gives readers an exhortation from the bottom of his heart:

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

(The exhortation I'm discussing is actually in verse 4, but I just love verse 3 so I had to include it.)

I can't remember where I first heard it, if it was over the pulpit or at a Book of Mormon class (I've taken so many over the years), but someone once encouraged that every time I come to the end of the Book of Mormon I should pray and ask if these things are not true, even if I already know the answer.

So I did.

And guess what? I got an answer!

It is entirely possible to have a spiritual experience on a (not-all-that-busy) train.

What a great book.