Hurricane Barcala's Beginnings of Awesomness.

       Hello Everyone, I am Elder Barcala, A.K.A Hurricane Barcala, a nickname given to me by a friend back home shortly before I left on my mission! You might find yourself wondering just who I am, or why you should bother reading my blogs of awesomness. Well to start off; I am a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; a church which I joined nearly three years ago! It has been an interesting experience to say the least, but one that I have loved every single minute thus far. I'm going to break this post up into a few different part; to start with my introduction to the wonderful Church!

Now you may be wondering who this terryifing fellow is; well may I introduce you to the 'Destroying Angel of Mormonism' A.K.A Orrin Porter Rockwell. The reason I have this lovely Wanted Poster as part of my beginnings is because a good friend of mine, Peter Ferrin, loaned me a book about this wonderful role model of a man. You see, I was riding a bus for several hours a day, and Peter being a fine man to work with, saw that I was in need of something to do. So, he would loan me books and I devoured them, and he eventually told me about a guy named Rockwell; and I asked so what? What's so impressive about Rockwell? And he quickly replied well, you see Porter is a member of the Church ( I was not yet) and he once had enough guns to fire 86 times without reloding. So, being way into guns, I quickly agreed and I read the biography within a week. After reading through it, and learning a bit of the Church's history, I would talk with Peter a little bit here and there and he eventually extended the invitation to meet with the missionaries. I agreed, but only on the condition that he would provide a home-cooked dinner since he would always brag about how good of a cook he was. I met with the missionaries, a couple of fine young chaps like myself, and we talked for a little bit and I decided to ask them for a copy of the Book of Mormon, so I could read it myself! 

Halllejuah!!

            Enter the Book of Mormon, a record of Ancient Scripture comparable to the Holy Bible. I took a bad boy like this home and I took the promise contained in Moroni 10: 3 - 5 up.

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 ^amerciful 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 ^bponder it in your ^chearts.

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ^aask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not ^btrue; and if ye shall ask with a ^csincere heart, with ^dreal intent, having ^efaith in Christ, he will ^fmanifest the ^gtruth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may ^aknow the ^btruth of all things.

 

You see, that right there is a promise from our Loving Heavenly Father, one issued through his Prophet, Moroni (A man who was an utter champ, the last of his country)

                                   This is Moroni by the way.

So, I took up Moroni on his promise and read a little bit from the Book of Mormon and got on my knees and prayed to my Heavenly Father and asked for His Guidance, if this was the church that I needed to join, if it was the true church for me. I did not recieve any bright light, any revelation that night, so I retired to bed and decided to sleep on the prayer. When I awoke in the morning, I was filled with Joy, I had felt like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ had come down and given me a big hug. So I told my friend Peter and my missionaries that I was ready to be Baptized, and a month later on July 2nd, 2011 I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The next day, I was confirmed by Peter and was officially a member of the Church.

Where am I now? Well, I am rocking a White Shirt, a Tie and a Black Name Tag that says Elder for this awesome Church and helping those searching for the Gospel just like I was so short ago. I can promise anyone who comes across this blog that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the True Church here on Earth. I can testify that God the Father Loves us, that Jesus Christ has taken all of our sins upon us to allow us to return to our Heavenly Father's presence after this life is over. I can testify with all my heart that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God and that the Book of Mormon is true holy scripture. I can promise all of you, if you take up Moroni's promise, you will have an answer just as I did! I leave this with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Stay tuned for further tidal-waves!!