Mortal Angels - Joy Zywocienski

Growing up in the Baptist faith I believed that there were no longer prophets on the Earth; that after Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven prophecy ceased and we were left with the Bible and prayer. I believed that the Lord could hear my prayers and work in His ways to aid me in times of need; however, I didn't believe that He sent me any tangible help. He no longer sent prophets and he definitely wouldn't send angels to warn or comfort me. Such was my belief until the Lord sent me six angels in the same year.

Throughout the scriptures there are examples of angels being sent to people for numerous reasons. Angels come to warn people, to comfort them and to bring exciting news. We see in Luke 1:28-33 that an angel came to Mary to bring her the news that she would be the mother of Christ. In Acts 12:7-11 the Lord sends Peter an angel to deliver him from Herod. In 1 Nephi 11:14-36 an angel of the Lord appears to Nephi and shows him the life, ministry and atonement of Christ, and in Luke 2:9-14 angels of the Lord appear to shepherds and "bring good tidings of great joy," that Christ is born. The hymn “Nearer My God to Thee,” tells us that angels are sent to beckon us nearer to the Lord. Angels are sent by our Heavenly Father for all sorts of reasons but it seems to me that most angels the Lord sends bring glad messages; they bring messages of Christ and the gospel and the restoration. Angels are often those who bring us the news of those things which will bring us salvation. They bring us news that is comforting, news that lets us know the Lord is with us and will not abandon us. Why would the Lord ever cease to send us His messengers of love?

We learn from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland that the Lord has not stopped sending us angels. He testifies that, "angels are still sent to help us, even as they were sent to help Adam and Eve, to help the prophets, and indeed to help the Savior of the world Himself." What wonderful knowledge! An apostle of the Lord has told us that the Lord has not ceased to send us angels and that the same angels that have been sent to prophets and even to Christ minister unto us even though we cannot always see them. Elder Holland does not stop at letting us know that we have heavenly angles to help us. He testifies of angels, "both the heavenly and the mortal kind." Elder Holland lets us know that there are angels who we, "walk with and talk with—here, now, every day." Mortal angels? Can there really be such a thing?

I have a personal testimony that the Lord sends us mortal angels today. I believe that angels are those who bring us glad tidings of Christ, who bring us news that helps us to gain salvation and let us know that the Lord will not abandon us. With that being said, the Lord sent me six angels in my sophomore year of high school. Like most students at BYU, I was very involved in my high school; I was varsity captain of the girls water polo team, was a peer mentor and took just about every AP class offered. During my sophomore year I developed a new set of friends; I met a girl named Megan in my AP European History class who later became my best friend, I connected really well with a girl named Hannah on my water polo team, and I was paired up with a girl named Talia in my peer mentoring group. These three girls became the best friends I had as the school year continued, and I started to notice strange things about all three of them. They all wore rings that said CTR. None of them used foul language and none of them were involved with the normal partying that went on at my school. I found that I loved spending time with them and started to ask about their religious beliefs. All three of them said they were, "Mormon." Whatever that meant. That same year I was taking a Spanish class with a teacher who definitely did not look like she spoke Spanish. Her name was Mrs. Garcia and about two weeks into the school year she told us that she learned to speak Spanish when she went on a mission for her church. She was the kind of teacher I could go to when things weren't going well at home or when I just needed someone to talk to. She had a love for people that is rare and real. These are my first four angels. As school wore on the three girls started to invite me to different activities at their church. I went to a road show. I went to church with one of them. And then one day one of them invited me to "youth conference" whatever that was. She said we would go up to the mountains for a weekend and have snowball fights and sing karaoke; that sounded like fun, why not? So I went with all of the Mormons to the mountains for a weekend of fun, but that weekend changed my life. As I sat next to Hannah during testimony meeting Megan stood at the front and simply said, "I want to tell my best friend, Joy, that I know that this church is true." At that moment I was overwhelmed by the spirit and knew that there must be truth in this gospel.

I went home that night and met my other two angels, Elder Beazer and Elder Fillmore. When Hannah introduced me to them I decided to talk to them about what I had felt at youth conference. So I continued like most "investigators" of this church, talking to the missionaries once a week and reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. It was not long before I had my own testimony and wanted to be baptized. You may ask how these six individuals can be considered angels, but to me, they are angels. All six of them brought me glad tidings of great news. They brought me to an understanding of the truth; they brought me news that will bring me to salvation and showed me that the Lord has not abandoned His children, that he still sends prophets and angels to the Earth today. Isn't that what angels do? Bring us comfort, bring us glad tidings, and give us those things we need to know which ultimately bring us salvation? That is how these six individuals can be considered angels.

In closing, I would exhort you as Elder Holland has that, "In the process of praying for those angels to attend us, may we all try to be a little more angelic ourselves." We can all be angles to those around us. Whether we bring comfort or glad tidings of great joy, let us try to serve as the Lord's mortal angels and to bring the Lord's message and His peace to all of our brother's and sisters who we meet.

Works Cited:

1.The Holy Bible. King James text: LDS version. Salt Lake: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1979.

2. The Book of Mormon. Salt Lake: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981.

3. The Doctrine and Covenants. Salt Lake: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981.

4. LDS Hymnal.

5. Elder. Jeffrey R. Holland. "The Ministry of Angels." 178th Semiannual General Conference. October, 2008.