Good Books

" Read good books. They can be your best friends." Jessica’s father

Jessica is new in our ward. She is married to sandy-haired Joel Hoffman. She is a beautiful young woman. I like her a lot. She is embarrassed about her English but I understand her very well, on many levels. (She does not need to apologize, she speaks 5 languages. Spanish, Portuguese, English, Mayan, and I think another Indian dialect.) When she has a comment to make, I listen carefully because she is very insightful. A week ago she shared her feelings about the Book of Mormon. When I joined Art for Sunday School after Relief Society I was still feeling tender about her testimony. He asked me if something was wrong. I tried to explain but it wasn’t until she was asked to share her story again in Sunday School that he understood and there were tears in his eyes, too. Jessica was born in Guatemala–her father an attorney, her mother a stay-at-home mom. Because her father was a reader, books meant a lot to her. When she was 17, she was given a Book of Mormon. At that time she was living with her grandmother. She was afraid to have it known that she was reading this book. Still, it drew her. She tried to put it down but couldn’t stop reading, finishing the book in one day. There was power in that book for her. That power radiates from her to this day. I believe her father’s words about books. I am glad that they led to her knowing the Book of Mormon to be true. When she was a little girl she always wondered why Jesus couldn’t have been in Guatemala instead of Palestine. Now she knows that he was in both places. I am glad she is in our ward and feel blessed I am getting to know her a little better.