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What others have experienced on Heritage Tours… “This has been the greatest three weeks. I have enjoyed so much getting to know so many great and spiritual people. I have also loved getting to go to all of the church history sites. I have never felt such a great feeling and spirit of peace.” **** “I don’t know if I can pick just one favorite spot that we went to. I really liked the John Johnson home because of Joseph’s example. I could also feel Heavenly Father’s love for me strongly there – to think that I was in a room where He appeared! It was so amazing. The Spirit was strong…I loved Adam-Ondi-Ahman! What an incredible spirit is there. I rededicated my life to make it back to Heavenly Father while we were there. ” **** “I have experienced many answers to my prayers. I have experienced the love of both my Father in Heaven and my Savior. I know that they know me. I have experienced the comfort and guidance of the Holy Ghost. I have experienced a special feeling of closeness to my ancestors as I walked where they once walked. But most of all I have experienced a love and solemn respect and testimony of and for the prophet Joseph. The experience that touched my heart most was the first time we sang to the prophet. He was so vividly pictured in my mind standing on those steps that I longed to run up and fall at his feet. I finally realized that everything in this life that brings me hope and light and joy and peace is because of that man…My heart has been touched and changed through the power of music – your music selections are perfect. The rules and standards are perfect – they all allow the Spirit to be present when followed…I appreciate the emphasis on missionary mindedness. I’ve learned so much and I’ve felt so much joy through many missionary experiences. I am glad that we have that third week as a part of the trip. I feel like this last week is where it all came together and that my relationships were strengthened most.” **** “This letter is to write you and let you know you have changed my life. This trip has been one of the most amazing spiritual experiences I have had in my life and at perfect timing too. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t really going to go on this trip and I tried talking my parents out of making me go. I needed to work and I wasn’t going to see my friends and I’m planning on playing lacrosse for BYU. I was going to miss out on workouts and practices and there is a good chance I may not make the team now. But I’ll tell you, I wouldn’t change my decision to come on this tour.” **** “Thank you so much for allowing me to go on this tour. I came on it wanting a change. I wasn’t sure of what specifically but I knew I needed one. I wanted to be happier and I wanted to be so sure of the church before I move out for school. I noticed a change in myself the second day. It wasn’t just all the places we went, it was what was said there and what was felt there. The talks we had about mothers and fathers and siblings changed me. I wasn’t close to my family. All those places and talks we had and the spirit felt at them made me want to make the change. I wrote letters to my family and when they told me they got them I knew the change has started. If I didn’t come on this and be open to everything I felt, things would still be the same with my family. Every little detail on this tour is perfect. I wish I could feel what I did at the sacred grove every day of my life. Thank you again for this tour! I’ll always REMEMBER it!” **** “I found that the more I felt the spirit the more I have felt the love of the Savior. The more I have felt of His love, the more I have come to know Him and the more I have come to know Him, the more I have come to know myself. I have felt the spirit so strongly both at the special places we visited and on the bus during scripture study.” ****
“This trip has meant so very much to me. I have been trying my very hardest to prepare for my mission, I really needed three weeks away from work and play in order to remember my priorities. I would not give up this opportunity for anything in the world. I was excited to be able to study the gospel constantly, do missionary work, and see all of the sites, but I had no idea of the things I would feel. I had no idea what it was like to look into the eyes of someone who has never heard the gospel, who desperately needed it, and bear my testimony to them that I know it is true. I came to this tour with a strong testimony, and a sense of my duty and plans in life, but my testimony has become stronger than I ever imagined, and I know that the Lord has a very specific purpose for me in this life. The part of my testimony that has grown the most is my testimony of Joseph Smith. In Vermont, at his birthplace, I asked him for forgiveness for my attitude and lack of testimony of him, in the years past. I now know that he is a true prophet of God, and the one person who could fulfill the mission he fulfilled… “On the banks of the Susquehanna river, I realized the responsibility I have to help my 16 year old brother across a river he has in his life. I also realized the power I have, and that I can heal my mother of a sickness she has struggled with. I can’t tell you how much these two realizations meant to me, I have never cried so much… “As I sung the commitment song at all of these sacred places I felt the power of this generation. Perhaps my most cherished memory of all was looking into the eyes of the people who were hearing the gospel for the very first time.” **** “Heritage Tours was everything I expected and so much more. Everything was perfect! I could turn around and do it all over again right now without even going home. That’s how much I loved it…Nothing else I do will ever compare to the experiences I had on Heritage Tours. It’s an amazing feeling to be surrounded by my peers who are also trying to do what’s right. I loved diving into the scriptures every day and having a lot of time to read and share. I was slightly hesitant about the long bus rides before I came, but they weren’t bad at all. I loved the time spent on the bus!…One of my all time favorites was the Sacred Grove. I can’t even explain the overwhelming feeling of love that came over me as I approached the trees. There is no doubt in my mind that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, in that place. I have never felt such a strong connection to the other side as I did that day. “One of my other favorite places was Adam-Ondi-Ahman. There is such a unique spirit there and it hit me how real the Plan of Salvation is. It was so neat to see where Christ will come again and I will make the commitment to be there…The other thing that really impacted me and strengthened my testimony was when we sang to Joseph Smith. When you asked us to picture him on the porch of the John Johnson Farm and to look at his picture in Sharon, Vermont, it made Joseph seem more real to me. I could really feel him there with us and feel his love for us. It was amazing. Especially at his birthplace when everyone stood and faced his picture it hit me so hard. I was in the very back of the room so I could see the faces of all my peers as they sang to the prophet. That is something I will never forget.” **** “At first I didn’t know how much it would change my life and I didn’t know why I felt that I needed to come with my daughter, but now I know. My family has been blessed and grown closer because of the sacrifice and I feel like it has prepared me for something that will be coming shortly in my life…The influences of HT has already reached outside of this trip and touched the life of others. Here is an example…My daughter has gained a strong testimony of Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith. She wrote a letter to her brother and shared her testimony with him. He is on a mission in France. He read her letter to a family that he has been teaching. Because of the spirit that was felt because of her testimony, the family agreed to be baptized.” **** “I’m going to go home and advertise your tour to everybody I know. It was so good. Not a single thing wrong with it. Whatever your reason for doing this all these years, I thank the Lord for it and I thank you for realizing it.” | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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