General Conference: Come Listen to the Prophet's Voice and Hear the Voice of God"
At one of our first zone
meetings in the Arkansas Bentonville Mission, our mission president, President
Rick Collins, invited us to consider how we wanted to feel and to be when we
were leaving the mission field. President
Collins was helping us visualize the end to motivate us to work toward achieving
those desired outcomes. The desires of
our hearts are so critical in our lives and as disciples on the covenant path.
The first thing I thought
of was the first day we were in Ft. Smith, Arkansas. We had unpacked our car into our new apartment
and then we had gone with the Ritters—the missionaries we were replacing-- to
Institute class. It was a farewell party
for them. What I remember is the love
that was felt between the Ritters and all those involved in Institute and in
the YSA branch. There were hugs and tears and more hugs. I wanted to feel that when I left…that I had
loved fully the sweet young adults in Ft. Smith Stake. Mission accomplished—we have left a piece of
heart in Arkansas forever.
The second thought I had
was about this moment—the giving of the talk—formerly known as the “homecoming”
talk. We had recently given our talks
marking the end of our first mission at the Utah Salt Lake City Headquarters
Mission and both Gary and I felt after we spoke that our mission was truly
completely done then.
This idea traveled with me
for a few weeks after zone conference as I tried to imagine what the end of my
mission would look like and feel like and I added two more things—
I decided I wanted to
follow some counsel given us by President Doug Holmes, our second mission
president in the Headquarters mission.
In our exit interview, he invited us to seek an “exit interview” with
our Heavenly Father and render an accounting of our stewardship. That had been a good experience, and I
determined that I would do that again near the end of our time in Arkansas as
well. And it again was amazing. And I realized that I should have done this
my entire life, each time I was released from a calling—I should have sought an
“exit interview” with my Heavenly Father.
That is my first invitation—do “exit interviews” each time you are
released from a calling. God loves to hear your report and to confirm once
again how much He loves you and loves your service to His children.
And the final piece—I
wanted to feel changed. Not in some grand
way, noticeable to the world but I wanted the service I gave in Arkansas
Bentonville Mission to change me for good…that is part of the natural outcomes
when we are engaged in the Lord’s work and I have been changed…..just like
probably every other calling I have ever had has allowed me to make changes. What
a blessing all callings are in our lives for good. And I testify that I am changed because of
serving this mission.
Let me give you a little
context so as we share our remarks you might understand our mission
service. The three of us served in the
Arkansas Bentonville Mission which covered Northern Arkansas, southern
Missouri, and tiny parts of Oklahoma and Kansas. When Gary and I were first married, we lived
in Springfield, MO for 10 months which is part of this mission. It was great to do back. Northwest Arkansas
is a beautiful place- green, with rolling hills, beautiful skies, and great
wildflowers. We were assigned to serve in the Ft. Smith YSA branch in the Ft.
Smith AR Stake. Ft. Smith is a city of
about 90,000 people on the Oklahoma/Arkansas border just south of 1-40. It is called the grandfather stake in the
area because it was the first in western Arkansas. Another claim to fame is the Elder Bednar
served as stake president here many years ago and many people have their
personal “President Bednar” stories.
They love him. Our assignment was
to teach Institute twice a week in Ft. Smith and Clarksville, AR, 65 miles
east--which included preparing meals twice a week. In addition, we supported our branch…by
cooking food, teaching, or whatever they needed us to do. We also had other assignments from the stake
leadership. We served with the young missionaries. We met with them for weekly mission meetings,
had weekly zone calls and chats with them, provided transportation to save
their miles, did P-day things with them, taking care of them when they were
sick and yes, feed them.. We attended
baptisms, did apartment inspections, and took care of other assignments from
our mission leaders. Jena has a special
assignment to make a personal birthday card for each of the missionaries in our
mission—about 190 young missionaries and 20 senior missionaries. This was an
amazing assignment for her.
When I was a student at BYU in
the 1970s, I was sitting in my apartment watching General Conference when a
speaker made a statement about “Elders, sisters and senior
couples.” Senior couples? I had never heard of such a
thing. I asked my roommates, and one had some vague recollection of their great
aunt and uncle going somewhere and doing something when they were very old but no
details. Despite little information at that moment, I knew that was
something that I would do with my “future-unknown” spouse. Three
years later, when Gary and I got engaged, I told him of this plan, and he
agreed. Since we both turned 65 in 2020, we made some vague plans that we will
leave on a mission in October 2020 after we both were 65.
And remarkably—and a story
for another day, we did. I had not been
sitting in that Conference session seeking revelation about what I needed to do
when my future spouse and I retired. I
didn’t even know enough to expect personal revelation from General Conference.
Yet, in that moment, I received clear direction from the Holy Ghost about
something that would take place years in the future. Why—because I was there, I was listening and
taking notes….and despite my lack of preparation, revelation came and I heard
it.
In the recent announcement
of the upcoming General Conference next weekend, it says: “General conference
provides an opportunity to receive personal revelation as general Church
leaders give counsel and direction from the Lord. We encourage all to listen to, study, and
apply the counsel given. The messages
will be published in the Gospel Library App on Church of Jesus Christ.org and
the church magazines for further viewing and study.
Signed by the First
Presidency.
In Amos 3:7:
Surely
the Lord God will do
nothing, abut he brevealeth his csecret unto
his servants the dprophets.
In Ephesians 2:20, Paul in
discussing the growing Church stated:
And are
built upon the foundation of the aapostles and bprophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief ccorner stone;
However, because of the
Great Apostasy, prophets and apostles were not found on the earth until the
restoration of the gospel and the call to Joseph Smith as prophet, seer and
revelator.
In the Doctrine and
Covenants 1:38 the Lord reassures us:
“…though
the heavens and the earth pass away, my aword shall
not pass away, but shall all be bfulfilled,
whether by mine own cvoice or
by the dvoice of
my eservants, it
is the fsame.”
The
pattern is clear. Christ leads the Church and He directs His people
through living Prophets and Apostles with support from the other General and
Area Authorities and Officers.
Next
week, it will be our privilege to hear our prophet, his counselors, the
Apostles and other leaders speak. How
can we make sure that we are ready to receive the personal revelation promised
by the 1st presidency and that your Heavenly Father would like to
bless you with?
First, we
need to prepare for General Conference.
When our kids were little, that mainly meant that I was buying M&Ms,
creating bingo cards, and baking the traditional cinnamon rolls for Sunday
morning. Other than making sure I had
pages in my notetaking journal, I gave little other thought to personal
preparation. Not that those things aren’t useful if you still have young
children at home..and truth be told, we still nuts and M&Ms during
conference sessions, but there are other things we can do to prepare. We can study conference talks especially the
ones from last Conference. Another suggestion is to write down a thoughtful
question or two prior to the beginning of conference for possible answers and
direction. Pray prior to conference to feel the spirit as you listen.
Elder
Robert D. Hales said, “If you pray with a sincere desire to hear your
Heavenly Father’s voice in the messages of … conference, you will discover that
He has spoken to you to help you, to strengthen you, and to lead you home into
His presence”
Second,
make a sincere effort to watch Conference next weekend and to study the remarks
later. I remember that it is not always
possible to watch every session especially if your Saturdays are filled with
sports and dance and other activities but do your best and you will see
blessings. One Saturday, we were running
between activities in the morning but I made sure when we were in the car,
conference was playing on the radio...the advantage of living in Utah back then. I can remember heading home down Gordon and a
speaker said something related to the Second Coming of Christ which hit me so
powerful that tears came to my eyes—with my car filled with not so quiet kids,
I still was able to feel the spirit testify to me of truth. I would hope that I could have felt that
later when I read it in the Ensign, but at the time, I felt it was a pure
blessing to me for our efforts to hear some of Conference that morning.
Third,
then go and do! While General Conference weekends have become a treasured part of
my life...they are pointless if I don’t change or grow or be better because of
what I have heard. President Nelson just
doesn’t give great talks with catchy taglines, so things look good on social
media. He and everyone is trying to
direct us towards Christ and through Him back to our Heavenly home. We must go and do.
Let me
give some short examples—
In April
2020, Steve and Kathy Randall were listening to General Conference when
President Nelson reminded us to “Hear Him.”
They immediately realized that this was the message and theme was what
they wanted to share as they became the mission leaders in the Headquarters
Mission and actually our first mission leaders there. For the 18 months we served there with them,
we talked about this idea of listening to the Holy Ghost and acting upon our
promptings quickly. We heard talks about
it, we wrote and read stories in our monthly mission newsletter, and we were
taught by the Randalls and our mission presidency. Because they went and did, I
and many other missionaries got better at Hearing Him as well.
Fast
forward to June of this year, I awoke about 4:00 am to the sound of thunder and
rain outside, I thought “I should make chili tonight for Institute.” Now if you are familiar with Arkansas or
other humid climates, you know that summer rain just ratches up the humidity. When
I stepped out of the car later in the morning to buy the groceries, chili
didn’t seem like such a good idea. But it still felt unexplainably right for
the night. Gary loved telling everyone why we were having chili in June, and
everyone enjoyed a good laugh about it.
Then Sally arrived….she took a deep breath and said, “Chili” with a big
grin. She came near me and said, “You
don’t know this, but chili is one of my top five- all favorite foods. I know you didn’t know, but I feel like this
was personally for me as I leave for the summer.” She was heading to Wisconsin for her summer
job and won’t be back until the end of August. She continued, “It feels like a
sweet goodbye.” She is right, I didn’t
know, but Heavenly Father did, and He led me to act.
In
Institute, we taught The Teachings of Russell Nelson twice—once in Clarksville,
AR last fall and in Ft. Smith this past summer term. That was amazing to study and teach and
discuss many of the conference remarks from this amazing prophet. Near the end
of June on a Tuesday night, one of the talks we discussed was “Let God
Prevail.” It happened that Ken, a friend, who was scheduled to be baptized that
Thursday was able to attend his first Institute class. He shared the following story with the sister
missionaries. “The next day, some friends approached me at work and ask me to hang
out with them that night.” Now, his
friends had been somewhat supportive of some of his changes as he was preparing
for baptism, but he also knew what things were probably going to happen as they
hung out. He went on: “As I was trying
to decide what to do, the prophets words came into my head, “Ken, are you going
to let God prevail in your life.?” Immediately, I thought yes, and I declined
to go with my friends but remained at home preparing for my baptism.” Ken chose to let God prevail. Have you since President Nelson gave that
talk in October of 2020, let God prevail in your life?
One more
example: I told you that serving a
senior mission was a goal from the beginning of our lives together—A senior
mission. I really didn’t know that there
were many people and couples who have served two, three or even more senior
missions. In the spring of 2022, Gary
and I both started wondering about serving a second mission. We still had six months (at the time) left on
our current mission, but it made sense to us if we were ever going to do
another mission that we do it relatively close together, because that would be
easier with Jena. We decided to make
that our question for April General Conference--
President Nelson’s
opening remarks: Dear
young friends, …. Your decision to serve a mission, whether a proselyting or a
service mission, will bless you and many others. We also welcome senior
couples to serve when their circumstances permit. Their efforts are simply
irreplaceable.
All missionaries
teach and testify of the Savior.”
Next speaker-Elder M. Russell Ballard: “The Lord knows you. When you are serving your mission,
you will have experiences that will help you come to know Him better. You will grow
spiritually in serving Him. In His name, you will be sent on errands to serve
others. He will give you experiences with promptings from the Holy Ghost. ..You
can show Him that He can trust you and can rely on you.”
And the third speaker
was Reyna I. Aburto and she started by sharing her conversion to the
Church. At that point, Gary and I exchanged looks and I knew we were to serve a
second mission. In the first three speakers, our answer had come and although
it didn’t completely play out the way we first imagined it, we did make it to
the Arkansas Bentonville Mission on the day the Lord had planned all
along. It just took us some time to let
things unfold.
People ask us if we are
going to serve another mission. I don’t
know. And that is okay. President Kevin
Hathaway, our second and current mission leader in Arkansas charged us to be
eternally uncomfortable—acting upon spiritual promptings to guide our paths…so
we wait to see what the Lord has planned for us next. Let’s see what conference brings for all of
us…
I invite you to prepare for conference
this coming weekend…buy your own version of M&Ms, ---make time and a place
for watching, pray for personal revelation, and I promise you it will
come. Maybe not in the way you wanted or
expected, maybe it will even happen as you are driving home from a soccer game,
but “Come, listen to a Prophet’s Voice and hear the word of God” for you and
your family, your calling, and your life. I testify that our Heavenly Father
loves you, that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and it is He who leads
and guides His Church, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
through his prophets. The Book of Mormon
testified of Him and His great Atoning Sacrifice for each of us. President Nelson is truly His prophet for
this day and time. Please, Come, listen
to a Prophet’s voice…and hear your Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ reach to
you through the Holy Ghost. This I testify and promised, In His Holy name, even
Jesus Christ. Amen.
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