Matchless

*This is probably the last email from Sister Briggs before she returns home! Things are busy at Temple Square and she is happy to be working hard right up to the finish line. Everyone is invited to meet her at the Redmond airport on Wednesday around noon. She will be speaking in her home ward the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. She sends her love, is glad to be working hard and excited to see everyone again.*

I want to share with each and every one of us, with every soul around the world who hungers, with every person who has felt in despair, with every one who feels in wanting of something, and even with those who feel they are content, that there is nothing greater, nothing to compare with knowing and following the Savior of the World, even Jesus Christ.  I love Him and am so happy and grateful for Him, my family, each of you! I have found Him again as I have served here. The feelings of the spirit that take place when a child walks into a room, comes from knowing that this child can learn and grow, fall and get back up because of Him.  The overwhelming love that pierces your heart when you see one of our brothers without a home on the street corner, comes from knowing that my Savior died and suffered for His sorrows and hunger.  The peace that comes from holding someone while they cry, and knowing that the greatest solace will come from humbly kneeling to pray. And certainly, there is nothing more humbling and awe inspiring, then having a Father look you in the eyes with questioning as he holds his son, and is asked by this small and beautiful child, "Where is Jesus?"

I testify that we know Him, we lived in His presence before.

"And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation." (Acts 17:26).

And today, He is here, working through each of us, bringing light to us through His restored gospel.

"That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us." (Acts 17:27).

Last night, I did experience the humbling glance of a curious Father as he held his little boy in his arms.  As I served with my companion in the North Visitor's Center, I saw a family over by the map of Jerusalem.  I walked over and approached the man and his little boy.  The little boy wriggled and squirmed in his arms, looking for something that it seemed he could not find. 

"Look!" I exclaimed.  He continued to wriggle more.  "No, really--look," I said once more as I reached down to touch the buttons that would cause lights to illuminate the map of Jerusalem below.  He quickly became in awe, reaching down to turn on the lights himself.

"This is where Jesus walked," I whispered to him.

Leaning against his dad's chest, he looked to him and said,"Where's Jesus?"

This father, with far more experiences than I most surely have had during my mortal time here, turned to me immediately and with confidence. I was struck as I truly felt the spirit testify to me in that moment of the divine reality that I represent the Savior of all mankind.  That I represent answers to the questions of the soul, and I can do all of this only through Him, my best friend and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.  That I, a 23-year-old girl from Bend, OR, am chosen by Him to answer the pleas of His family looking for Him.

"Where do you think Jesus is?" I asked this little boy.

"I don't know! I can't see Him anymore," was his honest and anxious response.

Brothers and Sisters, with all my heart, I know we lived with Him before.  We in reality have seen Him, and as we follow Him, the distance between us becomes closer and closer, and we may see Him again.  I have experienced this divine reality as His representative and am humbled by this experience.

I know that Joseph Smith has seen God and Jesus Christ.  I know this by the power of the Holy Ghost, and the promise of God is to ALL of His children, that we can know this too. I have come to know this for myself, and know that this knowledge has been given to me of God.  I cannot deny it.  Joseph Smith saw Jesus Christ, and as a miracle to the world, and divine evidence we may hold in our hands, we have been given The Book of Mormon--another testament of Him who He saw.  I know that The Book of Mormon is true, and I know that everything that comes from knowing this--eternal families, peace, revelation and personal relationships with God, the Priesthood authority, baptism in His very same way, and the gift of eternal life--all such is matchless, because His Atonement and His love is matchless. It cannot ever be replaced.

"...But behold, he has brought them into his everlasting light, yea, into everlasting salvation; and they are encircled about withthe matchless bounty of his love; yea, and we have been instruments in his hands of doing this great and marvelous work."(Alma 26:15).

I love each of you!

SHOUTOUTS: Mom & Dad, Bry & Case, Robert Donakey and family, Sister King, Grandma Jeanie, Nikky Lin, Jessica Helms & Matt ( congratulations!!!), Amber, Jacque