This last Sunday (Nov. 4, 2012) we were so fortunate to have an apostle of the Lord come to our sacrament meeting. Elder Bednar was in town on some business and decided to come to the sacrament meetings in our ward building. It wasn't a stake meeting or anything. He went to the 9:00am meeting and to our 11:00am meeting (which was combined with the 1:00pm singles ward.) It was amazing to be with him in such a close and personal meeting. The following are some notes Ryan I put together from the things we remembered from his talk. (I also used a few things from a friend's blog about what she remembered.) I warn you, it's LONG!
Elder Bednar started
off by addressing the non members that were in attendance. He said it may
sometimes seems we are pushy when wanting to share the gospel, but it's really
the highest compliment we can give you.
He then went on to
tell a story about his sons riding their hot wheels tricycles. They loved to go
fast and do different tricks like turning really sharp so they fishtail. One
time their younger son was involved in a sharp turn gone wrong and crashed into
a parked car. Elder Bednar and his wife were about to run out until they saw he
was not seriously hurt, so they decided to watch and see what their older son would do. The
two boys came into the house, pulled a chair over to the sink and big brother
started cleaning up the scrapes on little brothers arm and face. First soap was applied and there was great "weeping and wailing and gnashing of
teeth". Then big brother applied 3/4 the tube of neosporin and
band-aids. After little brother was all fixed up, he then took the band-aids
and neosporin out and began fixing up his friends. He had been healed and
comforted and he wanted to share that with others.
So it is with us when
we want to share the gospel with you. We have been broken and bruised, but have
found healing and comfort and we want to share it with you. We might seem
pushy, but it is the HIGHEST COMPLIMENT we can give you.
Next Elder Bednar
began to talk about a first presidency letter that had just been read to the congregation by the bishop about family history. He thinks sometimes we take
these letters lightly just waiting to get through them to move onto the
sacrament, but we should realize these first presidency letters are the MIND, the WILL and the VOICE of the LORD. They are carefully and
prayerfully considered and we need to take them to heart.
He then went on to discuss in greater detail the things the letter addressed. We need to find the names
of our own ancestors and take them to the temple. It's not enough to just do
family history or to just do temple work. We need to do FAMILY TEMPLE WORK. He
discussed Joseph Smith History v.36-39
36 After telling me these things, he commenced quoting the
prophecies of the Old Testament. He first quoted part of the third chapter of aMalachi; and he quoted
also the fourth or last
chapterof the same prophecy, though with a little variation from the
way it reads in our Bibles. Instead of quoting the first verse as
it reads in our books, he quoted it thus:
37 For behold, the aday cometh
that shall bburn as
an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall burn ascstubble;
for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall
leave them neither root nor branch.
38 And again, he quoted the fifth verse thus: Behold,
I will reveal unto you the aPriesthood,
by the hand of bElijah the
prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of thecLord.
39 He also quoted the next verse differently: And
he shall plant in the hearts of the achildren the bpromises made
to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If
it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.
In verse 39 he
focused on "the promises made to
THE fathers and the hearts of the children turned to THEIR fathers".
It's not just THE dead we should be concerned for, but it is OUR dead we should
find and take to the temple. He said "we have a sacred responsibility to
do the work for OUR dead. We need a
renewed dedication to family temple work."
Speaking to our ward
specifically he said "Using names provided by the temple would be the LAST
thing you would do." It's good to do work for the dead, but it's better to
do work for OUR dead. If we are at a place in our family history where it's
difficult to move past, helping others find their dead is also what we should
be doing. He spoke about "not hoarding" names and there are some people
that have thousands of names, but they are holding onto them waiting to do the
work themselves. Stop hoarding names, you cannot possibly do them all.
He said that as we
find OUR dead and do the work for them in the temples our temple experience
will be GREATLY ENRICHED.
He read D&C
124:31-33 and focused on baptisms for the dead and how the people use to do
them in the river. The Lord told them to build a temple and gave them a certain
period of time to construct it and after that period of time the
ordinance would no longer be accepted in the river.
Elder Bednar said,
"If I had it my way, which I don't, but if I did, I would stand up in
General Conference and say to all of the Family history workers 19 and older,
'Thank you for your service, you are released' and then I would give all those
callings to those between 12-18 years old." This group loves to feel the
spirit of Elijah. In general conference a year ago he talked about getting the
youth more involved in family history work and since then he has had a
wonderful response from the youth. He told a story about a teenage that wrote
to him and said how he use to play a lot of video games and he would fight with
his mom about staying up to play. He started doing family history work and
loves it... and he doesn't fight with his mom anymore about staying up to do
the work.
He
also talked about this past General Conference. He said he has never been
to a General Conference where so much was introduced to 'hasten the
work'. In regards to the new missionary ages, he said he was asked as to why it
was changed at this time. He simply said, "When the Lord wants to hasten
the work, He will hasten His work."
He
said on average they received about 800 missionary applications a week.
The
week after General Conference, they received 4500 applications.
The
week after that, 4700.
The
week after that 3000.
The
applications were split 50/50 of men and women.
He
said, that we are going to have a boom in missionaries in our areas. BUT, he
warns that it will 'all be for naught' if we as members do not find those to
teach. It is NOT the responsibility of the missionaries to find people to
teach, that is the responsibility of the members. He said, "If we do what
we've always done, we'll get what we've always gotten"
He also talked about
Mosiah 24:13-15 and said to substitute the word affliction with your own
struggle.
13 And it acame to pass that the voice
of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and
be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and
I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.
14 And I will also ease the aburdens which are put upon
your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you
are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand asbwitnesses for me hereafter, and
that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their cafflictions.
15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which
were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord didastrengthen them that they could
bear up their bburdens with ease, and they
did submit cheerfully and with cpatience to all the will of the
Lord.
He doesn't always get
rid of our burdens but he can make them feel lighter.
In
our efforts to find those for the missionaries to teach, we must share our
testimony of the atoning sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ. To help us
increase in our understanding of the Atonement, Elder Bednar then gave us
a Book of Mormon challenge to get a cheap copy of the Book of Mormon and while
reading it, highlight all mentions of the Lord strengthening people. "Strengthened
in" or "strengthened by" the Lord. After reading the whole book
go back and ponder on the things you marked and write a one page summary about
the things you learned.
The promise for doing
this challenge is that "You will learn things about the atonement that no
person could
teach you."
Elder
Bednar also recounted a time when he was visiting with the late prophet,
President Gordon B Hinckley. He said, "how do you do it all?" to
which President Hinckley replied, "in the next 17 days I have 22 major
speaking assignments. I have no one to write my speeches. I can't do it
all."
Then
he leans over to Elder Bednar and pats his hand saying, "David, in the
strength of the Lord you can do anything. This is the greatest season in the
history of the restored church."
We
all get overwhelmed...but we too can do anything with the strength of the Lord.
In
conclusion, he left us with an apostolic blessing, that we may have "eyes
to see, ears to hear, and the grace of the Lord rest upon you".
It was an amazing meeting! The spirit was so strong! What a blessing it was to be in attendance and have my own testimony strengthened. I know this is the only completely true church upon the earth today. I know the Lord has called apostles and prophets to act in his name. I believe in modern day revelation. I know my Heavenly Father loves me and is concerned about my day to day life. I am so grateful to be a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I love it and I live it!
Right after the meeting I rushed out to change Dylan's diaper before heading off to Primary (I was released as the 1st counselor and called at the primary chorister.) As I was headed back into the chapel to hand Dylan off to Ryan Elder Bednar was on his way out and Dylan got to shake his hand! Elder Bednar said to him, "He looks like a pretty chill baby" and that he is! :)
In other family news... Dylan is still CRAZY ADORABLE! I just love to watch him and all the amazing things he is learning to do! He is becoming such a big boy. Today we introduced rice cereal on a spoon and he took to it so quickly. (Tried to upload the video we took, but it won't let me)
Here's a cute one though of Dylan helping me with the laundry today.
