Twenty-Two Month Mark

Wow! You would not believe the feelings in my heart and in the hearts of the Saints of India.

At 3 a.m. we were all awakened from phone calls and texts from members all over. President Hodges sent a text to us and all the missionaries were going crazy. I just can't express how happy we all are. A temple has been the dream for so long. So many prayers, so much missionary work, many many meetings, counsels, fasting and study, and every other work you can think of to spread the gospel in this country. It all is because of the temple, the dream is always the temple, to be sealed with families and to be in the Lord's house. It's the highest form of worship in our faith and the closest we can truly be to eternity with our families and our Father in Heaven on this Earth and it's all coming to Bangalore. In the scriptures it says that nations shall flow unto the Lord's house, as many do to the Salt Lake Temple and Hong Kong and other very famous temples that meet the needs of the many Saints in the World. But you have no idea how many people will be blessed from a temple in India.  Even if just this one nation, was all that flowed unto it, it will bless for eternity thousands and thousands of souls. We currently have 4 stakes, but by the time it is built I bet we have 7 or 8 stakes in India, the work is moving quicker each day. I will do everything I can to be on a plane and back for the open house or dedication, whenever that may be. 

I love this work, I love this church, and I love this missionary experience I have had. To see the church change lives and grow as an organization the way it has these last two years in India is the exact thing I needed to see in my life. If I wouldn't have come to this place at this time, I am positive my doubts would have overcome my faith, but Heavenly Father put me right where I needed to be, and luckily I was able to choose to follow the correct path so that this mission would have the impact on me that I think He intended it to have. 

I haven't heard all of General Conference, just the big changes, but I want all of you to know that I sustain our new first presidency and especially our Prophet, Russell M. Nelson, and I also sustain both of our new Apostles along with the others who have already been serving us. I sustain them not because I felt I had to, or because raising your right hand is what I have learned to do over time, but because I felt in my heart that they were God's chosen servants, and I cannot deny that feeling. I hope all of you will follow their counsel in whatever they say. I have been studying so much about Truth lately from the scriptures and I see people everyday who do not have it. We have it, and we should cherish it and live it and recognize that it comes from God's Prophets, who receive revelation from Him. 

I love you, and I want you to know that this work is true. 

Elder Armstrong