Prayer of Blessing
2002
A prayer offered by Brother Paul Lucero for the benefit of the work regarding the
Nephite records as the Hill Cumorah Expedition Team prepares for the 2002
expedition.

Please Stand.

Heavenly Father, Creator, we are very grateful and I am grateful for this
opportunity to offer and share this prayer and blessing for my brothers.  I thank
you for them, and I thank you for their desire and their efforts and the sacrifices
that they are making to go on this special journey.  We leave it in Your hands as
they move in response to faith; faith in the testimony that they feel in their heart
concerning this Book that You have brought forth for the world, that it might
receive the testimony of your Son, Jesus Christ, through His Eternal Father on
heaven and earth.  And out of that testimony, You said that He would be lifted
up; that He would draw all people unto Him, the one who gave His life as a
sacrifice, as an offering to the world, because You loved us so much and because
He loves us so much to die on the cross, that we might have eternal life and an
understanding to be noble sons and daughters of God.  So, we thank you for the
footsteps that were placed upon the land of the Americas; footsteps of Jesus
Christ; footsteps of the testimony of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.  And of the
writers and all of those who made the sacrifice for truth; for learning.  That this
land may be blessed, literally blessed—the soil itself; the trees, the hills, the
rocks, and the waters; all blessed through the testimony of our Lord and Savior.  
So, Lord we thank you for the sacrifices that have brought us to this point, for
Joseph Smith, for the prophetic power that you gave him, for Jeremiah, who you
named to be a Prophet.  We thank you for allowing us to live in this world and to
be able to hear your voice speaking through him, in words that may be translated
from another language into our language and many languages, that we might
know about You and understand Your ways more clearly, through the written
Word.

And so, I would pray Lord, to thank you for the spirit which has rested upon
each of our brothers here, for that testimony that they have felt, even if it has
just been a nudging of the excitement of adventure, and however You want to
speak with them or have spoken to them, to come and share in this journey.  
And, I pray that they will not be disappointed; that they will be blessed.  And,
even though there’s not a particular expectation of the lightning and the thunder
and the mystical, we’ve had those experiences often.  I do pray that they will each
have testimony of the truth of that which we seek; testimony especially of You;
that You will reveal Yourself to them in such a way that their very hearts will
burn and that they will have Your love with them, and their love for You, and
Your love for all people.  We pray that it will not be the same when they return.  
That they will come back with the same conviction that You had when You came
out of the wilderness after forty days of fasting and prayer, and You knew that
You were the Messiah and that You came for all people.  We pray their hearts
will expand many-fold and stretch and they will receive a double portion of Your
power from now on, that they can do Your will and follow the direction of Your
Holy Spirit.  Bless and protect them on this journey, watch over them, speak to
them, open their ears and hearts and eyes to know Your Spirit and Your voice
and to be sensitive to one another.  As planned, they go as a team, let them come
back as a team as one thinking together under the guidance of Your Spirit.  
Anoint them, I pray, Lord, and bless them.  And bless my brother Mark, that he
be opened to the movement of your Spirit as he receives that information to do
with it as You will.  We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.