Prosperity
Todays small step... Prosperity & garbage dumps. Living in South Africa, I'll never see garage the same way. How can we find Prosperity in the garbage dumps? I interviewed my friend Sister Nkuli, she tells her conversion story and her great hope for the African people. You're in for a treat!
Transcript
So bono my friends.
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:Thank you for joining me at the
creative spiritual journey podcast.
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:I'm Judy Cooley.
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:I'm your host for small steps where I
give you small steps to help you forward.
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:On this wonderful journey of life.
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:Today's small step prosperity.
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:Currently my husband and I are
serving a mission in South Africa.
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:I'm so grateful to.
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:Work with my sister and Ghia
in producing this podcast.
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:to share with you our
experiences on this journey.
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:Since I've been here, I will
never look at garbage day.
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:The same.
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:Because on garbage day, You see, man.
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:Walking through the neighborhoods.
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:Scouring through the garbages.
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:Pulling out.
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:The recyclables, pulling out food, and
then you witness for the next two days.
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:Men polling.
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:Loads and I'm talking.
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:Loads big bundles.
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:In shopping carts, dragging it in
tarps on balancing on their heads.
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:it is something we see every day.
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:We see the poor and the needy, the
hungry, the sick, the afflicted.
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:Those that feel.
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:Despair and despondent, forgotten.
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:And how do we fulfill our purpose?
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:Has missionaries to bring
them to Christ Finding hope.
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:And prosperity.
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:Overcoming.
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:The garbage.
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:I'm going to share with you an
interview with one of my dear friends
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:Okay, I'm here with Sister Nkuli.
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:Just for fun, tell us your whole name.
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:My name is Achesi.
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:Yeah, you can see why I have
a hard time with Zulu names.
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:And she's one of my friends here.
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:She's actually the Relief Society
president of one of our branches.
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:And an institute teacher.
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:And an institute teacher.
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:And she is delightful.
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:She's so fun.
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:She just has a smile that
just brightens up the room.
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:Oh, that's nice.
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:You do.
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:Okay, so I'd love to hear
your conversion story.
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:Okay, so, this one time I I see these
two guys walking in at my neighbor's gate.
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:They wearing white shirts and ties.
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:And I thought to myself, Hmm,
they probably selling insurance.
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:And then when I came inside, I had
a knock at the front door and then
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:I went to open and I see these same
guys, I'm like, huh, okay, insurance.
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:Then they asked if they could
speak with me, I was like, sure.
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:And uh, so we sat down and they
introduced themselves, who they are,
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:where they come from, what they do.
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:And I was like, oh, okay.
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:And then they gave me this
pamphlet, the restoration one.
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:Yeah.
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:Uh, they asked me if I could
read that, so that's when they
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:come back, we can discuss it.
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:And then, they gave me a
book of Mormon, and marked it
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:where they wanted me to read.
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:I was like, okay, cool.
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:I read the pamphlet, didn't
make that much sense to me.
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:I read the Book of Mormon where
they marked and asked me to read.
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:Then I was like, since I'm a
person who likes to love to read,
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:I was like, let me read this book
and see what is happening there.
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:I love books.
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:So let me read and I read and I think
I was just reading for the fun of it.
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:I enjoyed the characters in the Book of
Mormon, and you know, I could make my own
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:images in my head, which is something I
like when I, I like to do when I read.
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:And then, when I got to, I think it's
chapter 29 or chapter 30, where it speaks
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:about Bible, Bible, why do we need more?
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:Because, you know, people were
like, we were going to say that.
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:And I was like, I was like,
that's like, book of Mormon,
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:another testament of Jesus Christ.
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:But we already have a Bible,
you know, why do we need this?
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:And then, because they told me to
actually pray, I before reading, um,
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:I think having a father, you know,
was like, I think he opened my eyes,
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:the, and I went back, started, from
chapter one again, now reading with
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:the intention of understanding,
What is what was inside the book?
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:and When the missionaries came
back, I think I was in jacob um,
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:yeah, it's amazing and uh And yeah,
they were so impressed with it.
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:Like how could you read so much?
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:And I told them what I read and we
discussed it Yeah, they asked me to
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:To continue reading the pamphlets that
they sent They kept giving me every
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:lesson, and by the time I got baptized,
I had read the Book of Mormon twice.
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:That is just amazing.
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:Yeah.
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:That is awesome.
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:So, so yeah, that is how I
was converted to the gospel.
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:I feel like Heavenly Father had prepared
me for this, because, I'm a person who,
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:I've always been someone who is interested
about having a very good relationship
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:with God and, I was a churchgoer my whole
entire life, but when I read the Book
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:of Mormon and I came to church and I was
introduced to, everything that we have in
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:this church, especially the church books.
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:why I am saying having the
father prepared me is everything
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:just made sense, you know?
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:it was something, it was a very
different experience, to me, I understood
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:the importance of it, you know.
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:Why we here, what we are doing in this
church and why we even, you know, say
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:we the only true church upon the surface
of the earth, and, it's something that
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:I wish for, for all my African people.
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:we live in a continent Unfortunately,
there's a lot of poverty and all
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:these diseases and all these problems.
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:it looks like, or it feels like at
least to me when I look at people,
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:you know, It's like you leave, you
are born, you live this very miserable
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:life, you know, cause you are always
trying to make ends meet, you know.
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:Some people go days without food and
it's so difficult and then you live
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:this miserable life, you die miserable.
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:I think the gospel, uh, just brings that
element of, Hope, not having to live a
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:miserable life because as much as we have
all the problems that we have, I with
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:me, the gospel, helps me forget about all
of these things and it gives me so, so
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:much hope for, for, for a better future.
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:Whatever joy that Heaven Defies
the Promises has, you know,
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:I'm looking forward to that.
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:I don't know how to put it,
but I, I, I don't feel like
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:how other people feel here.
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:It's like people feel like God
just put them in a, in a dumpster
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:and he forgot about them.
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:And to me, it's like, I read, I love
this in Jacob, Jacob is one of my
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:favorites, prophets in the book of
Mormon, uh, where he makes the, what's
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:the allegory of the The olive tree.
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:And when this master, which is our
heavenly father, Jesus Christ, when
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:he, he plants some other plants in
the soil, that is not really, rich.
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:And.
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:When they go to visit or to see their
garden again, they see that it has
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:sprung and has brought good fruit, you
know, and I'm like, this is us, you
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:know, the gospel brings that to us just
because we were put in an unfortunate
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:state, you know, where we are faced
with all of the things that I mentioned.
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:It doesn't mean that we cannot see it.
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:do well when it comes to the gospel,
you know, because it's one thing
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:that really comes freely to us.
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:And it's, you know, I don't know.
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:It's such a, an amazing thing for me.
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:I'm always grateful to Heavenly
Father, you know, for, for this.
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:And, um, I wish people, everyone in
Africa could actually, if they, When they
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:receive the gospel, when the gospel gets
to them, they will actually receive it
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:well and embrace it and leave it, you
know, leaving the gospel is so much fun.
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:I feel, I know people think
it's the most difficult thing
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:to do, and to me it's just fun.
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:the Book of Mormon is wonderful.
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:The most beautiful book.
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:It's a wonderful book in the whole world.
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:It is.
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:It is.
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:It is.
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:Well, thank you for sharing that with me.
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:Thank you.
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:Isn't that a beautiful interview in
Cooley just radiates the light of Christ.
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:And she does so much good for her people
of, South Africa that she loves so much.
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:I want to talk about the word prosperity.
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:Prosperity in the Hebrew.
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:It is not a noun, but it is a verb.
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:It is an action word.
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:It means to push forward advance to help.
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:One on the road.
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:I love this action word in
helping others move forward.
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:In the Greek.
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:Translation of it.
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:to have a happy and successful journey.
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:So, this is the creative,
spiritual journey podcast, so of
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:course, That caught my attention.
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:That the word prosperity.
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:Is To have a happy and successful journey.
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:To push forward with a
steadfastness in Christ.
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:In the book of Mormon, we know that.
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:There's the promise.
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:On the, um, there's a promise linked
to the promised land that if you keep
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:the commandments of God, And also.
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:There's sometimes it mentions.
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:And if you're diligent and
searching the book of Mormon.
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:That you will prosper in the land.
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:I love.
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:this idea of.
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:Helping one another.
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:Out of the dumpsters of life.
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:Helping one another along this journey.
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:So we can prosper.
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:So just like He said.
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:The hope.
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:Came from.
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:Her reading the book of Mormon,
her joining with the saints
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:and church and all that.
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:Gospel of Jesus Christ had to offer her.
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:She had prosperity.
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:Prosperity.
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:Remember to help one
another along the journey.
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:To press forward with hope.
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:I invite you.
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:To look around.
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:See who.
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:May feel like they're in a dumpster.
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:Who need you to give them
this great message of hope
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:that's found in our savior?
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:Jesus Christ.
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:And help them along the journey.
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:And I will see you.
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:On the trail.
