2002 Prayer of Blessing

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.