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!

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.