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Doctrine & Covenants 124 Part 1 • Dr. Liz Darger • October 27 - November 2 • Come Follow Me
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- [00:00]
A
Coming up in this episode on Follow Hip.
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B
Right now I serve on the NCAA Women's Basketball Committee, which is a committee of 12 athletic administrators from around the country. Last year during March Madness, we're on the road pretty much that entire month. We finish selections, we choose who makes it to the NCAA tournament. Then we go right into being sent to the different sites to oversee the tournament. You get a few days off in between, but truly you're on the road for about four weeks straight. I knew that there would be some responsibilities that would fall over Sunday.
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A
Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of Follow Him. My name is Hank Smith. I'm your host. I'm here with my co host John by the Way, who the Lord loves because of the integrity of his heart and because he loves that which is right. John by the way, I read that it's actually about hyrum Smith, section 124, verse 15, but it fits you.
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C
Oh, I think it fits Hiram better, but thank you. I'll take it.
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A
I've known you a long time, John. You love that which is right. Especially anything the Wright brothers. Bill, you also love that.
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C
Yeah, I like those rights too. Wilbur Norville Hey John.
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A
We are honored to have with us Dr. Liz Darger. Liz, welcome to Follow Him.
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B
Thanks for having me.
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A
I've been looking forward to this for a long time. She comes highly recommended by someone I love. John, before we talk about Liz, let's talk about Nauvoo. The Saints have now come out of Missouri. They've been driven out of Missouri. We talked about the darkness of Liberty Jail Last Week with Dr. Holland. Now things are hopefully going to improve a little bit. What do you think of when you think of Quincy moving to Commerce, becoming Nauvoo?
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C
It's a place, it's an era, it's a feeling, it's an experience. I know that Elder Hafen once talked about the Kirtland Days of our Lives and the Nauvoo Days of our Lives and how they're different. So there's just all of that comes together in Nauvoo and in section 124 today.
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A
Yeah, does. Liz, as you've prepared for today, what are you looking forward to?
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B
I am looking forward to being with both of you. First of all, I feel this is really a privilege and an honor. I'm excited to talk about Nauvoo. There are a few things that have really stood out that I am excited for us to focus on. One is this idea of having confidence in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others. Doing it in normal and natural ways, then that dwellings matter to God, our dwellings, others dwellings, and his dwelling, his holy house. And then that God endows us with power in his house and functioning with God's power in our lives as we make and keep coming covenants with Him.
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A
John, you and I know Liz, but I don't know if our audience knows Liz. Do you have a background on her? Have we done any digging?
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C
I'm so glad she's here. I met Liz when she was serving with President Bonnie Cordon on the Young Women Advisory Council. I was serving with President Stephen Lund on the Young Men's Advisory Council and we got to actually do a training together that then we found out we have a common member of our Hero hall of Fame in Brother John Pay up there in Boise area. So that was really cool to hear that. But Liz is a Senior Associate Athletic Director at BYU where she works with, these are her words, the most remarkable student athletes in the world. In the past 10 years she served as the sport administrator for men's and women's cross country. They've made some noise recently. Track and field, women's soccer, women's gymnastics, the cheer squad and the Cougarettes dance team. She's a member of the Big 12 Conference Executive Committee and serves on the NCAA Division 1 Women's Basketball Committee where she was recently voted chair for 20262027 season. Liz serves on several campus roles, including Sorensen fellow for BYU's Sorensen center in Moral and Ethical Leadership, a member of the University Belonging Committee. She is a Utah Woman Leadership Project Ambassador, serves on the United Way of Utah County Board of Directors. She's also a member of the NCAA Common Ground Leadership Team, which is tasked with exploring how representatives of a faith based and LGBTQ communities can work more cohesively in college sports and higher education to model respect for all. She has a bachelor's degree in Family sciences, a master's degree in school counseling, a doctorate in Educational leadership, all from byu. I want to mention her dissertation, it was on Latter Day Saint Women and Leadership in Higher Education. Liz is passionate about the influence and impact women can have in families, in the workplace and communities, in the church and in the world. But this is my favorite part and in your bio, Liz. She grew up in Boise, Idaho. She enjoys watching musical theater, cheering on nieces and nephews, playing pickleball with friends. All of which are even better if she's doing them at Bear Lake.
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B
True story.
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C
Which we can call that Bare Bochmire Lake. This weekend there we go.
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B
I like it.
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C
We're really happy to have you with us, Liz. I'm so excited for the perspective you'll bring to this part of the Doctrine and Covenants.
- [05:28]
A
This is exciting. Before we move on, I think our listeners would be interested in a couple of things. One, let's talk about your dissertation and two, let's talk about life in the NCAA. That's a high paced 247 thing, isn't it?
- [05:40]
B
It really is working in athletics right now. In college athletics. It's a little bit wild and woolly. There have been a lot of changes over the past number of years. I'm really grateful to work at a place like BYU that's very mission driven as the rules continue to evolve and the ways that we compete continue to evolve. I'm grateful to be grounded by our mission at BYU and to be tied to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. But it's also a really fun and exciting time at the NCAA and at BYU in particular. There truly has never been a better time to be at BYU and be a student athlete. There really hasn't. Competing in the Big 12 is outstanding. Looking at our teams and how successful that they've been, it's a really fun time to be a part of that and fun to be able to represent BYU in the various ways. Big 12 in the NCA. Then my dissertation. I absolutely loved my dissertation. It's a qualitative study. I was able to interview 15 of the coolest women at BYU that either were currently functioning or had recently retired as vice presidents or associate vice presidents or deans or associate deans about their leadership journeys. There were some really neat threads and patterns there of women in leadership that matched up very well, actually, with some research that's been done in the past 20 years by a woman named Karen Longman, who's a professor, actually recently retired professor at Azusa Pacific University. She'd studied Christian women in leadership in Christian higher ed. And I found some patterns that very much matched her patterns and really actually matched my own life in terms of many women. Latter Day Saint women in higher ed don't plan on leadership as part of their life journey. Many of them didn't plan working outside the home as part of their life journey, but felt nudged in some way. Many were nudged by a boss or a mentor or a friend or some directly through the Holy Ghost. Nudged to consider something that they wouldn't have on their own. Nudged to consider an opportunity to serve or a leadership position or to explore or get more education in Thinking through that nudge, really not feeling like it's something they would want to do, but then feeling a sense of relational responsibility, feeling responsible for other people, feeling responsible for students, feeling responsible to the person that nudged them, feeling responsible to represent women, praying about it, getting spiritual confirmation that they should accept this leadership role or should go after more education or should explore this opportunity, even though it wouldn't be something that they would have done on their own without the nudge and perhaps something they didn't even want to do. That pattern, I think, is really instructive not only for Latter Day Saint women, but women and men in general in terms of following through on nudges we receive through others and nudges we receive through the Holy Ghost. That sense of relational responsibility, I believe is part of us and our covenants. We live in a world that tells us to be selfish, yet our covenants tell us otherwise. It's that we are to all help one another. That relational responsibility we feel, I believe is divine. It was really neat to study these women and again, to feel that pattern also have played out in my own life. I've seen some really interesting ramifications from it in terms of how we teach young women and how I interact with our student athletes. Trying to be someone that is always nudging, always nudging young women and young adult women to use their gifts and talents to consider more than maybe that they had thought before that they could contribute to the world.
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A
Wow, John. We've been studying Zion and the law of Consecration. Can't you hear echoes of that and what Liz is talking about sometimes?
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C
Hank and Liz, when I've been with a youth group, I'll ask the adults in the room, raise your hand if your life journey turned out exactly the way you planned. And nobody raises their hand. And the youth look around like, really, it's interesting how those nudges come. Something you didn't think you'd be doing, you end up doing. Comes back to our covenants. Thanks for that, Liz.
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A
When I invited Liz on John, she said, I'm not a scriptorian. Like, what do you want me to do? Bring your expertise. So here she has an expertise in athletics, her work there with students, and also in her dissertation work. I hope we hear about both of those today. Liz. Now, John, I said earlier that she comes highly recommended by someone I love. If I let this opportunity pass, I don't know if I'd be welcome back in her home. So my sister is Jennifer Johnson. She runs women's conference at byu. Among a lot of other things that she does there. When I was chatting with her about the show, my sister's face doesn't light up at every name she lists off, but I saw her light up when she said, have you thought about having Liz Darger on the show? And I said, tell me about Liz. It was about four hours later that I said, you can stop now. So Jennifer, I love you and I'm doing as I've been told by my older sister.
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B
Jen is a great nudger. She has nudged me a number of times with this opportunity and women's conference opportunities. I admire her a lot. She is a remarkable, remarkable woman and I'm grateful to be connected to her.
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A
I did a recent interview with the Comeback podcast where I got to talk about my life. I liked how it turned out, but my one regard is that I didn't talk about my sister more. Jennifer, we love you out there, wherever you are. Probably doing something important. Let's jump in the Come Follow Me Manual the lesson this week is A house unto my name. We are only in 1 section, section 124. Here's how the manual starts as difficult as the last six years had been for the Saints, things started to look better in the spring of 1839. The Refugee Saints had found compassion among the citizens of Quincy, Illinois. Guards had allowed Joseph Smith and other church leaders to escape captivity in Missouri, and the church had just purchased land in Illinois where the Saints could gather again. Yes, it was a swampy, mosquito infested land, but compared to the challenges the Saints had already faced, this probably seemed manageable. So they drained the swamp and drafted a charter for a new city, which they named Nauvoo. It means beautiful in Hebrew, though it was more an expression of faith than an accurate description, at least at first. Meanwhile, the Lord was impressing his prophet with a sense of urgency. He had more truths and ordinances to restore, and he needed a holy temple where he could crown His Saints with honor, immortality, and eternal life. In many ways, these same feelings of faith and urgency are evident in the Lord's work today. What a great intro, Liz. How should we approach section 124 in this whole lesson?
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B
Well, first, I think it's important what you said, that I am not a scriptorian, I'm not a scripture scholar. This is really outside my comfort zone. I feel a fair amount of comfort and even confidence in speaking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ topically, but when it's about a block of scripture, that's a little more on the fringe of what I'm comfortable doing. This has been really great for me to study leading up to this. I also feel like it's a testament to the incredible people that you've had on your podcast over the years. I feel like sometimes I'm a listener that's admired so many of the people that you've brought on. But I feel like sometimes we take for granted that week after week the remarkable gospel scholars that you have on. It's sort of like the Olympics where the level of competition is so high that sometimes we forget how unbelievable these athletes are. If we were ever to insert an average person into one of those competitions, it would remind us really quick that these are unbelievable, incredible, incredible, world class athletes. I actually feel like I'm serving that function today and grateful to serve that function.
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A
That is definitely not my motive behind it, but we definitely appreciate the humility. We need a little more humility around here.
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B
I want to be clear. I absolutely love the scriptures, but they don't come easy to me as I read them, as I study them. I've been drawn more to General conference talks. Even growing up, way back in the day, before you could just find them on the Internet, my dad would have a tape recorder. He would record them off the radio live so that then he would have all these cassette tapes. He would listen to General conference talks every morning as he got ready for work. You hear it coming from his bathroom. That's a habit that I took on as well in my college years and beyond of listening to General conference talks. And I love the words of our living prophets. They come a little more easily to me. But I love the scriptures. So sometimes we learn to love things more that don't come as easily. For me, I feel like that's been my adult years with the scriptures is I love them more and more, even as they continue to be challenging for me to understand. I think because the effort that's required to be able to glean from them, it's been a really neat preparation process. The last time I was in Nauvoo, I was in high school. It was obviously well before the temple was rebuilt. So as we talk about that vision of the temple and what that all looks like for me, I loved my experience in Nauvoo, but there is a really important piece missing there. In some ways, perhaps that is how the saints felt as they were rebuilding their lives. As this revelation was received and as the prophet Joseph had been encouraging the saints, saying, we need to build a temple, we need to build a temple again, that's the Nauvoo I know in terms of my own experiences without the temple. I'm excited for the day when I can go back and participate in ordinances in the House of the Lord there. As we think about that rebuild process, the saints have been rebuilding their lives a number of times now, planting themselves and doing everything they could to dig in and make it a home and build a life and build the church, then they would be driven out and needed to move and rebuild. It reminds me a little bit of in athletics, sometimes you hear the term it's a rebuilding year for a team. When you think of that, what at least I have in my mind is a lot of seniors have graduated or people have transferred. So there's a little bit different expectation of what's going to happen in that year or that season because of having to start over. In some ways, this is a time in Nauvoo where there had been church leaders that had passed away and some that had apostatized and had been excommunicated. And this section, one of the things that it does is sort of build up the organization of the church again. And it's a rebuild in a way, certainly a rebuild in terms of building their homes and then being commanded to build a house of the Lord and also build an Abu house. When we think about that and those times in our lives when we're asked to rebuild or those seasons in our lives where it's like, oh, it's going to be a rebuilding year. We lost some experience, we had some momentum, but now we're going to start over a little bit. Those rebuilding years can also be some of the most rewarding experiences of our life. Teams I've watched at BYU that have been in rebuilding years, truly, when you see the development of student athletes and the development not only athletically but socially with each other, the leadership that's been developed in those rebuilding years and what those student athletes have become in rebuilding years, it makes it all worth it. You recognize that sometimes that learning and growth happens the most in rebuilding years here in Nauvoo, as they are rebuilding their lives, the opportunity for them to learn and to grow and develop and be stretched individually, but also collectively as a body of saints.
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C
Speaking of athletics, the whole idea of weight training was always kind of counterintuitive, that you work to the point where you break it down so that you build it back up again stronger. I think about getting kicked out of Kirtland coming here. And I love what you're saying, gotta build this back up and make it out of a swamp. Let's start in a swamp and build this back up. They do. I noticed that you were over cross country. I think one of the most inspiring things I ever saw was that Kenneth Rooks fall down, completely fall down in a steeplechase. It was just unbelievable. Get up and actually win the race. So inspiring to watch, to know that it's possible to come back. And so much of the gospel is restorative and coming back and being rebuilt through the Savior's gospel. So I love what you're saying here.
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B
Unbelievable. Unprecedented. You hear the commentators talking about it. They've never seen anything like it. Talking to Kenneth afterward, what's really fascinating and important part of that story is that he had kind of practiced that. I don't think he physically fell down in practice, but he had the thought earlier in practice, what would happen if I fell? What would be my game plan? What would I do? He had a game plan for if he fell. When it happened, he went into new game plan mode. Didn't spend too much time worrying about what might have been. Just said, okay, and clicked into that new game plan and chipped away, and chipped away, and chipped away. Then before you knew it, he was at the front of the pack winning. I admire Kenneth so much. That was the U.S. championships. I was able to see him compete in the Olympics in Paris last summer, which was just an unbelievable opportunity to be there and support him. And his wife was there, his family was there. Similarly, in that race. He didn't fall, but he has a knack for having a big, big comeback at the end. He makes things very exciting. When he got that silver medal, I don't know that I've ever experienced anything like that, being in an international stadium, literally watching the best athletes on planet Earth. And there is Kenneth Rooks, a returned missionary, byu, member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The amount of good that has come from that race, I love how he uses that experience to spread the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. All of our student athletes are remarkable young people and how they do that. He's one of the best, John.
- [20:10]
A
If someone doesn't know what we're talking about, you can go to YouTube and we can put a link to this in our show notes. The video that the church did is called Falling is part of the process. Just get up. And of course, there's a number of other videos about it as well. I don't know if Brother Rooks listens, but. Wow. Yeah, wow. It reminds me A little bit of like a forest fire. What the saints went through in Missouri, where they are stripped of everything they own. Like you said, Liz, people are leaving the faith. Here they are, this burned out forest here, this growth starts, just a little bit of growth and pretty soon over time it rises up and it's beautiful. The regrowth after a forest fire, if you've ever seen it, either of you, it's beautiful. Like the phoenix rising out of the ashes. It's pretty incredible to watch. As we studied earlier sections of Doctrine Covenants, sometimes we would have like two days between sections, this between 123 and 124. It's been two years. For those who want to come over to our Voices of the restoration series with Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat, he's going to fill in a little bit of what happens between Liberty Jail and Nauvoo, because there's quite a bit that happens in two years that would take us a long time to talk about that. So you can find that on our channel, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast.
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C
I just love the idea of rebuilding and one of the most fun, entertaining and powerful talks I've ever heard my friend Hank give was about the Provo Tabernacle, how it was basically burned from the inside out and like a phoenix was rebuilt. It's a jaw dropping story. It's beautiful. I'm so glad they did that because I had an experience sitting in there once that I'll never forget. We're seeing that metaphor playing out here. I don't know if this is important or not, but for me it was. Oh, I always thought Nauvoo was swampy because it was right next to the Mississippi River. Well, what I didn't know is that actually there were springs in there that made it swampy, but it made the drainage easy. If you just dug a ditch to drain the swamp because it would just drain right into the Mississippi, some of those ditches are still there. I think you could still see remnants of some of those drainage. So they took what they had, they took this swamp and turned it into something beautiful. It's just part of the. Another beautiful story.
- [22:54]
A
Liz, what do you want to do next?
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B
Let's actually start in verse one.
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A
It's always a good place to start.
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B
It's always a good place to start.
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C
The starting line.
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B
John, would you be willing to read verses one and two?
- [23:10]
C
Be happy to. Okay, so we're in section 124, verse one and two. Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my servant Joseph Smith, I am well pleased with your offering and acknowledgments which you have made. For unto this end have I raised you up that I might show forth my wisdom through the weak things of the earth. Your prayers are acceptable before me. And in answer to them, I say unto you that you are now called immediately to make a solemn proclamation of my Gospel and of this stake which I have planted to be a cornerstone of Zion, which shall be polished with the refinement which. Which is after the similitude of a palace.
- [23:49]
B
I love that the Lord acknowledges Joseph here, gives him that positive reinforcement, saying that, I'm pleased with you. You're on the right track. Your prayers are acceptable. I love that at the end of verse one where he says that I might show forth my wisdom through the weak things of the earth. And it's sort of this. Is that a backhanded compliment or what? When you think about Joseph, humility really was one of his incredible strengths. The fact that he knew he was reliant on the Lord meant that he was teachable and that the Lord could trust him to follow through on what he was asked. Humility was an incredible strength. Being called weak, I don't think would have bothered Joseph at all because he would acknowledge that sometimes we don't define humility in quite the right way. Sometimes there could be a false humility. We all have strengths that we've cultivated over time. We all have spiritual gifts that God has endowed us with. To not acknowledge them or to dismiss them, I believe actually is offensive to God. It's not a matter of if someone were to give you a compliment or to say, you're really good at this. It's not a matter of dismissing, like, no, I'm not, or no, that's not accurate, because I actually think that God can be offended by that. But it's acknowledging where those gifts come from, and it's acknowledging that they come from God, giving him the credit for spiritual gifts, strengths that we work to cultivate. On the church's website, if you look up humility, it says, to be humble is to recognize gratefully our dependence on the Lord, to understand that we have constant need for his support. Humility is an acknowledgment that our talents and abilities are gifts from God. It's not a sign of weakness, timidity, or fear. It is an indication that we know where our true strength lies. We can be both humble and fearless. We can be both humble and courageous. When I read that about humility, I think of Joseph Smith. I Think of his incredible humility. It is because of that humility that him being called weak, really, I think he's humble. That means that the Lord can use him.
- [26:15]
A
Can you imagine publishing this? I like how you said, it's a backhanded compliment. It's almost as if the Lord is saying, look, I chose you so everyone would know it was me, right? Like, I looked around to find the one guy that everyone thought, no way. Everyone will know that's the guy I chose. It's kind of like Nauvoo, right? I'm going to find the one place that nobody wants.
- [26:37]
C
I'm going to find a swamp that nobody.
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A
We're going to make that beautiful. So the fact that you publish this, that tells you something about him. This opens up with, I chose you because you are the one that nobody thought could do this. And look at you, you're doing it. And your prayers are acceptable. Sometimes we get this picture of Joseph Smith from his critics, that he's this dictator, know it all, this is what he publishes. John, didn't it start out this way? I think the very first revelation is section three, that the Lord pretty much says the same thing. Yeah, you have a lot of repenting to do, Liz, you're right on. It tells us something about Joseph Smith just here in this first verse.
- [27:22]
B
It reminds me of the very first meeting that I had as a member of the Young Women General Advisory Council. It was called the Board. At the time of my call, President Bonnie Corden gathered us together and gave some counsel that I will never forget. She said, you know, you've all been called for a specific purpose at this time and how you've lived your lives up to this point. You all are well educated and you've had neat experiences and you have relationships and ideas and opinions. A lot of really good things that are going to help you in this calling. She said, but I want to encourage you to take your education, take your experiences, take your ideas, take your opinions and put them in a box and put a bow on it and put it on the shelf. I want you to open yourself up to the revelation you are going to receive in this calling. She said, sometimes that revelation that you receive from the Holy Ghost will tell you to actually take the box off the shelf and open it up and pull out an idea, pull out an experience you've had, pull out something from your education, pull out an opinion, whatever it is. But sometimes the revelation you receive will have nothing to do with what's in the box. If you focus too much on what's in the box, your own ideas, your own experiences, your own education, then you can miss out on, on the other revelation. But if you focus on receiving the Revelation, you're never going to miss out on when the Lord needs you to pull something out of the box and share it. I think that is such wise counsel. And here with Joseph, who again is so receptive to whatever needs to be done. And in some ways, perhaps his lack of education is a strength because he's not just going back to the well with what he knows, thinking that he knows it all. He is fully reliant on the Lord. Sometimes when we have had opportunities for education or had a lot of unique experiences in our lives, perhaps we can rely on those and not be open to revelation that we'll receive that may actually be counter to something that would match up with the education we received. We need to focus on that revelation, focus on what we hear from the Holy Ghost.
- [29:30]
A
I remember when President Hinckley would talk about the young Joseph Smith. He would say the uncluttered mind of a boy, that the Lord wanted this because maybe us as adults were a little cluttered in our minds.
- [29:44]
C
I'm thinking about all the times in the Book of Mormon. I didn't do this after the manner of men, but I did this after the manner that God showed me. It was like, oh, that was different than what I would have done. I like what you said, Lisa. President Corden saying, be open to maybe the way the Lord wants it done. Maybe sometimes you'll use your experience, but sometimes the Lord might have a different way. I like that.
- [30:07]
A
One thing I've noticed in studying these sections is that Joseph Smith changes after Liberty Jail. Alex Baugh said it this way. He said from 1820 to 1830, he's a little bit timid. From 1830 to 1840, he's courageous. Then he said, after Liberty Jail, from 1840 to 1844, he is fearless. As I'm reading this, this proclamation he writes, shall be made to the kings of the world.
- [30:38]
C
I know, I know.
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A
To the President Elect of the United States, to high minded governors of the nation. I mean, that is fearless. Here's who I'm writing to.
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B
I love that Joseph is asked to write a proclamation. When we think about proclamations to the world, the Church has made six proclamations to the world in its history. At least according to the Deseret News, the first proclamation was a proclamation of the First Presidency to the saints scattered abroad in January 15, 1841. So actually, really near the time that this Revelation was received. The second one was the proclamation of the Twelve Apostles issued April 6, 1845. That's the one that came as a result of this to Joseph, although it came after he had passed away and it was written by Parley P. Pratt. The third proclamation was given in 1865. The fourth proclamation was given April 6, 1980.
- [31:42]
A
Wow, I didn't know about all these.
- [31:44]
B
The sixth proclamation I hope we're very familiar with is the family of proclamation to the world which was given in 1995, and then the most recent proclamation to the world, the Restoration of the Fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A bicentennial proclamation to the World which was given April 5, 2020 by President Nelson. These official proclamations to the world, it's interesting to think there have only been that many. There have been three in my lifetime. Two that have been a part really of my. Of my life as an adult, really have helped shaped my testimony of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Going back to Joseph being asked to make this proclamation. In verse 4, it says how he's being asked to give, says let it be written in the spirit of meekness and by the power of the Holy Ghost which shall be in you at the time of the writing of the same. For it shall be given you by the Holy Ghost to know my will concerning those kings and authorities, even what shall befall them in a time to come. We talked a little bit about humility and talking now about meekness, that's a word that Elder Bednar has given some interesting instruction on. He gave an excellent talk in April of 2018 called Meek and Lowly of Heart. He says meekness is a defining attribute of the Redeemer and is distinguished by righteous responsiveness, willing submissiveness and strong self restraint. As we think about that, and Joseph being commanded to give this proclamation in a spirit of meekness, righteous responsiveness, willing submissiveness and strong self restraint. I think that's instructive to us. Joseph, who is very humble, also the Lord, giving them that instruction to do it according to the Holy Ghost, not what he would want, not what he would think necessarily, but to be open to the Holy Ghost in giving that proclamation, although it wasn't given until after he passed away. You think about then the result of that proclamation which was reaffirmed by President Benson years later. So In October of 1975, he was the President of the Council of the Twelve Apostles. He gave a general conference talk titled A Message to the World. He quoted from this proclamation that Parley P. Pratt wrote I want to read just a little bit of it. It's kind of a cool thing. In the spirit of this divine direction, on the 6th day of April, 1845, and shortly after the prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum had mingled their blood with that of the other martyrs of true religion, the council of the 12 made such a proclamation. They address it to all the kings of the world, to the President of the United States of America, to the governors of the several states, and to the rulers and people of all nations. President Benson then goes on to quote from the proclamation, I'll just read a little of it. And to the rulers and people of all nations. And in it they said, know ye that the kingdom of God has come and has been predicted by ancient prophets and prayed for in all ages, even that kingdom which shall fill the whole earth and which shall stand forever. And then it goes on and on and on and on. It's really fabulous. I encourage anyone that would like to. To study that General Conference talk by President Benson. But then he goes on, and after he quotes much from that proclamation, he says, it seems fitting and proper to me that we should reaffirm the great truths pronounced in this declaration and that we should proclaim them anew to the world. Then President Benson goes on, and he reaffirms in his own words the very truth. I just want to read one part of that. He's declared again that the truthfulness of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is back on the earth. And he says, therefore, as humble servants of the Lord, we call upon the leaders of nations to humble themselves before God to seek his inspiration and guidance. We call upon rulers and people alike to repent of their evil ways, turn unto the Lord, seek his forgiveness, and unite yourselves in humility with his kingdom. There is no other way.
- [36:01]
A
This is again another moment that we've had on our show where I am completely ignorant of something and slightly embarrassed. Yeah, I have done this for a long time, and I have never heard of this, nor. Nor read it, but I'm looking at a piece of it right now. Listen to this. He's talking to the kings and rulers of the people. You are not only required to repent and obey the gospel in its fullness and thus become members or citizens of the kingdom of God, but you are also hereby commanded in the name of Jesus Christ to put your silver and your gold, your ships and your steam vessels, your railroad trains and your horses, chariots, camels, mules and litters into active use for the fulfillment of these purposes. Wow, this is incredible stuff. John usually call it audacious.
- [36:51]
C
Yeah. Who are these people that are this little group next to the Mississippi that are making a proclamation to the kings and, and the president elect and high minded governors. Okay everybody listen up. Wow, even this early.
- [37:07]
A
Yeah. Liz, as you've been showing us this, I keyed in on that what you showed us. Let it be written in the spirit of meekness. And I wonder if the Lord is reminding Joseph and the the rest of the saints of this that if you're going to write to these government leaders, the this government so far has not helped you at all. You were driven out of your own property, you paid for it, you're driven away from it by gunpoint and the government did nothing for you and it's because of what you believe. So I think the Lord is saying let's not go right at them with these insults. I know Joseph has a tendency to do this. I know parley does as well. Maybe Brigham do so control your emotions maybe. When it comes to this, I like.
- [37:56]
C
What Liz quoted the entry under. Was it humility in the Bible dictionary? What did it say? You can be humble and fearless. You can be humble and courageous at the same time.
- [38:06]
B
I love that thinking about this proclamation and how does this apply to our lives? I have a niece and a nephew that are both serving missions right now and I didn't serve a full time mission myself. So receiving their emails weekly and hearing from them has been a really neat experience. And I have never been married and don't have my own kids. And so I really live my life through my nieces and nephews. And this is my oldest niece and oldest nephew. So I feel like I've lost my firstborn in a way having them off in these places. I asked my niece Eva recently who's serving in the Denver North Mission Spanish speaking. I told her that I was studying section 124. I asked her what it means to her to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to read what she sent back to me. To me, this opportunity to serve full time and devote everything to the Savior is such a priceless gift. It goes by so fast and this is the only time in my life that I will be completely focused and devoted to serving the Lord and gathering Israel. Every interaction, every passing word, every smile to a stranger. I'm striving to be a disciple of Christ and bring others closer to him. My missionary purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the Restored gospel through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His atonement, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. Then she goes on to say, in the Colorado Denver North Mission, we link our enthusiasm with, with the stability and loving efforts of the members. My job is to invite. Everybody has their agency to accept or deny the gospel. But I can control my efforts in inviting everybody I possibly can and helping to support them in exercising their faith and turning to Christ. And reading that from my niece Eva and thinking about the young adults of the church that are going out in record number all over the world to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. It just is inspiring to me. John, you talked earlier about here's this little tiny church saying we're going to make this proclamation and the audacity of it all. In some ways it's like the audacity of these 18, 19, 20 year olds as well to go out as representatives of Jesus Christ and to proclaim that the Gospel has been restored on the earth. I love that these young people go out and give their all and proclaim what the Gospel of Jesus Christ means to them. I believe they also do it in meekness and humility. All of us as disciples of Jesus Christ have been asked to proclaim the Gospel. I love how Elder Uchtdorf encouraged us to do it in normal and natural ways. Working in college athletics, there have been some neat opportunities over the years to do that. I see our student athletes do that. The fact that we don't compete on Sundays has provided some normal and natural ways to talk about the Sabbath day. Our soccer team a number of years ago had made it to the College Cup. The schedule from the NCAA would be that the championship game would be played on Sunday when we won our semifinal game. The NCAA currently has a policy carve out for us that if one of our teams makes that championship that they would move that game to Monday. That happened, which was pretty unprecedented. So on Sunday, as a team and I was able to be with them, we were able to attend church and attend a local ward in Northern California, participate with that ward, that opportunity to worship together on the Sabbath, to not even practice in preparation for a championship game the next day, but that opportunity to renew our covenants and then the opportunity to proclaim through how we spent our time that day, our belief in the Sabbath day, to be able to answer questions that people had about why it's so important to us. We're the only school in Division 1 athletics that does not compete On Sunday, those opportunities that our student athletes have as teams, but also individually, as an athletic department, we are working really hard to use the platform we've been given to proclaim the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, to give our athletes the platform to proclaim that on social media, through holidays, on the Sabbath day, we invite our student athletes to share their thoughts about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to share their experiences from their missions. There have been some really neat opportunities for our student athletes. I'll share one. We had a few student athletes that represented BYU at a Big 12 leadership conference. So there were student athletes from every Big 12 school. There were a lot of questions asked of our student athletes about diversity, religion. The conference happened over a Sunday, and our student athletes asked if they could be excused for an hour to go and attend church and partake of the sacrament, which brought up a lot of very sincere questions from people from the other schools. And then a student athlete actually asked if they could attend with our student athletes and so went and went to church. That's a normal and natural thing. They're not looking to make it a big deal, but they're just saying, hey, on Sunday, I'd like to go and partake of the sacrament. Could I be excused for a little bit to go do this? They were met with great respect and with very sincere questions and had opportunities then to proclaim their belief. Right now I serve on the NCAA Women's Basketball Committee, which is a committee of 12 athletic administrators from around the country. Last year, during March Madness, we're on the road pretty much that entire month. We finish selections. We choose who makes it to the NCAA Tournament. Then we go right into being sent to the different sites to oversee the tournament. You get a few days off in between, but truly, you're on the road for about four weeks straight. I knew that there would be some responsibilities that would fall over Sunday. My family has always felt very strongly since I was a little girl, if we always attend church on Sunday, it doesn't matter where we are in the world. If we're on vacation, we take the sacrament. That's been a priority since I was very young, really, for the most part, even when I travel a lot for work or other things, I've been able to make that happen. But I was a little nervous about this assignment being gone that many weeks in a row where I really don't have much control over my schedule. I was in Indianapolis working on selections. So they sequester you in a room at a hotel for a week with the committee and you are going through all the data, watching games and deciding who was going to make it to the NCAA tournament. It's a pretty intense process.
- [44:59]
C
Yeah.
- [44:59]
B
There's a woman on the committee who is Catholic. She's been on the committee a number of years. She and I have had some good conversations throughout the year. Early in the week, we were at a meal. I just felt prompted to ask her. I said, hey, tell me how you worship in the month of March. What does that look like for you? When we're on these assignments for a month and we're not really at home and we're. It's kind of 24 7. What does worship look like for you? She talked about how important it is for her to always attend Mass. She finds a way to see if she can attend Mass wherever she's assigned and talk to whoever she needs to talk to to see if she can sneak away for a little bit to attend Mass. She just said, what about you? What will worship look like for you? And I said, well, that's one of the reasons I'm asking you. I'm trying to figure out what that might look like for me. I said, this upcoming Sunday, we will be continuing in some of these responsibilities. There was not a local sacrament meeting close enough to me that I felt like I may be able to get there on time and get back. We had this conversation and I explained to her I was able to show her the app where I could search for a church. I explained that I was actually able to find a bishop and text a local bishop. And she said, you texted a bishop? I said, well, our bishops might look a little different than your bishops. And a sweet bishop in Indianapolis was one willing to arrange for me to partake of the sacrament, which was a really neat experience to go and do that. The men that actually blessed the sacrament for me, one of them was a new convert and it was the first time he'd ever blessed the sacrament.
- [46:31]
C
Wow.
- [46:32]
B
So that was a really neat experience. And then a member of the bishopric said afterward, thank you for asking. That provided this brother an opportunity to bless the sacrament for the first time. It was this private occasion. I get back to meetings. My friend said, hey, were you able to take your sacrament? I said, yes. And I told her a little about the experience that bonded us in a way of having our faith that's so important to us and opened up other conversations again in very normal and natural ways. While I as not a full time missionary, not a prophet, seer, revelator, and not someone that's being asked to proclaim things on behalf of the church. But in my everyday life, I can proclaim the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I can find normal and natural ways to connect with other people. What I have found, especially in my NCAA service, the farther away I get from Utah, the less familiar people are with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the more intrigued they are by it. There's a lot of really intriguing things about our church and about our beliefs. There have been some very meaningful conversations that I've been able to have with people where I've been able to express my beliefs in a spirit of in a space of respect and been able to proclaim to others the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. And that's something I think that we can all do in our everyday lives.
- [47:53]
A
Wow, what a fantastic story. With you chairing that committee, there's probably going to be more opportunities. Everyone's going to who's our fearless leader here? They'll probably have a lot of questions for you. I bet this is a girl you know, Liz, at least have met Ella Pope. Do both of you remember when President Corden was speaking in General Conference and she talked about Ella Pope receiving her mission call? She decided to open her mission call in front of her Ohio University Bobcat teammates, none of whom are members of the church. President Corden said they knew almost nothing about the Church of Jesus Christ and didn't understand Ella's desire to serve. She prayed repeatedly how to explain her mission call in a way that her teammates may feel the spirit. Her answer? I made a PowerPoint, Ella said, because I'm just that cool. In her PowerPoint, she told them about the potential of serving in one of the 400 plus missions. She might have to learn a language. She highlighted the thousands of missionaries already serving. She ended with a picture of the Savior and a testimony. She said, basketball is one of the most important things in my life. I moved across the country. I left my family to play for this coach and with this team. The only two things that are more important to me than basketball are my faith and my family. She opens her mission call there with the team and if I remember, I heard her dad, coach Mark Pope, talking about this at an education conference. This wasn't a team that was very friendly to her at first about her faith. Her coach, Bob Bolden, not a member, said this. We are excited for Ella and happy for her. We knew that this was a possibility in the recruiting process and we encouraged it. This is something that is very important to Ella and we want what is best for her. We want all of our student athletes to follow their passions. What a courageous, very natural thing to do. This is my team. This is a huge thing for me. Why don't I involve you in this? Liz, I think you're right on athletics. There are opportunities to share. I think you maybe call it a sport light. You got the sport light on you.
- [50:16]
C
Spotlight. That's good.
- [50:19]
B
In some ways, in the United States right now, it feels like sports is a little bit of a religion for some people. Yeah. Hopefully it never overtakes our religion. For Latter Day Saints, we've got to keep those priorities straight. Because of that, there's this avenue for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at BYU athletics, we really do feel like we have a part of the gathering of Israel on both sides of the veil, playing our part within Brigham Young University and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to prominently promote the church to inspire others through competitive excellence by living the values taught by Jesus Christ. And because sports gets into homes that someone may not answer a door to some missionaries, but maybe they're turning on ESPN and watching a game and seeing BYU compete and hearing about a mission that somebody served, or hearing about that somebody's married and has a child and is a father at a young age and why and what that looks like that they can learn what make our student athletes unique and learn why they have so many other things that they care about in their life besides their sport. At a time in their life when most athletes are. Their focus is absolutely, I'm going all in, just in my sport and maybe academics, too. With our student athletes, there's this whole other component of their family and of their faith. We have student athletes have callings that are serving as Relief Society presidents in addition to running on a national championship team, getting all A's in their classes. It's remarkable what they do that intrigues people, hearing about these student athletes and seeing the light in their eyes and saying, I want to understand that. That's interesting. I want to understand more about that.
- [51:58]
A
We had Noel here a couple of weeks ago, Noel Picaspace. She talked about getting, what was it, the moment of the Olympics when she won. And there she had her Young Women's medallion on. John. Liz, I don't know if either of you read this article by Aaron Schiller a decade and a half ago. This man's name is Jason Sheridan. This is who Aaron Chill wrote about Jason Sheridan. He's a former Marine and a New York State trooper who Joins the church because his favorite team, the Miami Dolphins, selected John beck in the 2007 NFL Draft. He's a big time fan and he starts researching, who is this John Beck? John occasionally listens to the show. We've heard from John a couple of times. He said, obviously he didn't join the church because of John Beck, but that was the catalyst. He started listening to President hinckley, started watching BYUtv, then ended up getting a copy of the Book of Mormon. He says, quote, I am sucked into this like it's the best thing I've ever read. He ends up being baptized. It's just incredible what our influence can have when we do our best at our expertise, whether that be athletics or anything else. People say, what is that? I want to know about that. And they go look into it for themselves. And then the Book of Mormon takes over it's power.
- [53:32]
C
Earlier today, I was listening to the radio. I heard a replay of a portion of a Chad Lewis devotional he gave at byu. And I know Chad's a colleague of yours. Liz does a similar thing. He's an associate athletic director too. Talked about sharing your light in the different ways that athletes can. And it was really fun to hear. And I remember him talking about the chance to be a commentator on the super bowl in Chinese. And Chad Lewis said that his vocabulary was religious vocabulary, but he was saying things like, I testify that Tom Brady throws true passes. You know, that's what it sounded like in Chinese. It was a great little excerpt to hear Chad Lewis talk about that normal, natural way in his circles, how he could share in his circles things that meant so much to him.
- [54:27]
B
Chad is an incredible ambassador of BYU and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. That's actually part of our athletic department mission, is that we want to help our student athletes become ambassadors for good. Chad is a great example of one of those ambassadors for good that in his sphere of influence has helped bring more light to the Restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints through sharing his light.
- [54:59]
A
On a side note, John, who was it that told us the story of him? He was in like a national TV and they said, you can speak Mandarin Chinese. Yeah, we'll say something. And so he, on national tv, he recited section four.
- [55:12]
B
Let's see.
- [55:12]
C
A marvelous work is about to come forth among the children. That guy has a energy and a joy about him. I just love Chad. He's so great.
- [55:24]
A
Liz, I love this. I think all of our listeners will be excited to know that there's you and like minded People at BYU who know this is part of our mission, to proclaim the gospel in this arena.
- [55:38]
B
That we have, that really starts at the top for us. Brian Santiago, our new athletic director, from his very first discussions with our department, has talked about the importance of that. That we don't just align with BYU and the church, we prominently promote it, but also we have to be excellent. God cares about us and wants us to develop and be great in all the ways and developing our gifts and talents. That includes athletics, that includes career pursuits, that includes hobbies. He can use us in more ways. When we are excellent at what we do, our sphere of influence can grow. We can have the greatest student athletes on planet Earth that are so good and so kind and have testimonies of the gospel. But if we don't compete at a high level to win, then the world won't be watching. The world is watching because our teams are winning, because our student athletes and our coaches are exceptional at what they do. That then helps provide the platform to give. One of the big reasons why our student athletes and coaches are successful and why they're different is because of our knowledge of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
- [56:52]
A
And it really is that way with a lot of our areas of expertise. If we want to proclaim the gospel using that area, you better be excellent in that area, no matter what it is. That message speaks for itself, especially at byu, Liz, where we decide, hey, we're going to do things differently than most universities. It better work. Kind of like Daniel saying, no, I'm not going to eat the king's meat. I'm going to do it this way, and it works. It ends up being better. It better work or it doesn't look good as a message. Right?
- [57:22]
B
We believe that really is our competitive advantage. That's our competitive advantage, is that we do things differently, that we do things aligned with our profit seers and revelators and our university leadership. We're going to compete with the best, but we're going to do it in a different way. It's a neat time to be a part of it.
- [57:38]
A
I work for byu, as Liz does. I don't want to come out here saying BYU is perfect. We're not. It's not. But these are good kids who are really trying to help BYU and its mission. They're young and they are wonderful.
- [57:53]
C
I have a niece who is a cross country runner up at Weber State right now. They're good kids everywhere. Wherever you go, let your light shine where you are because that'll be a platform for you to let your light shine in normal and natural ways.
- [58:09]
B
Brigham Young said once, it is the duty of a saint of God to gain all the influence they can on the earth and to use it for good. To your point, John, wherever you are, be excellent and let your light shine. That influence will grow. Each of us have a sphere of influence. For some of us, that's our home. For some, it's our neighborhood. For some, it's our work, community, social media, whatever that sphere is. But how are we within our sphere of influence letting our light shine?
- [58:42]
C
Like that story you shared, Hank, of Sister Pope opening her mission call at Ohio University. Wherever you are, that's an influence for good.
- [58:50]
A
This conversation leans towards BYU because the three of us work, all three of us work for byu. And since we have Liz here, we're obviously going to talk about her expertise and where her job is. But we're talking athletes and every job everywhere, no matter the university, no matter the employment. I have a brother in law, Derek Booth. He is a secret service agent. When he is excellent at his work, others take notice and they want to know, what is he doing on Sunday? Why can't he work? Well, he's the bishop of his ward. He gets to explain the wonderful role of a bishop. I love the way you took this, this proclamation with a loud proclamation. I'd never heard that quote from Brigham Young. Get as much influence as you can and use it.
- [59:37]
C
Beautiful.
- [59:39]
A
Liz, we've had you for a while and we're only seven verses in. What should we do next?
- [59:46]
B
Well, don't worry, there's only like 140 verses, so we'll be here for five or six hours. No, I'm kidding. I would love for us next to talk about the Nauvoo house, which is a really, really interesting thought. Let's go first to verse 22. Hank, are you willing to read verses 22 through 24?
- [60:05]
A
You got it. All right, this is 124, verse 22. Let's my servant George, and that's George Miller from verse 20. And my servant Lyman White, and my servant John Snyder and others build a house into my name, such as one as my servant Joseph shall show unto them upon the place which he shall show unto them also. And it shall be for a house for boarding a house that strangers may come from afar to lodge therein. Therefore let it be a good house worthy of all acceptation, that the weary traveler may find health and safety while he shall contemplate the word of the Lord and the cornerstone I have appointed for Zion. This house shall be a healthful habitation if it be built unto my name. And if the governor which shall be appointed unto it shall not suffer any pollution to come upon it, it shall be holy or the Lord your God will not dwell therein. I love it. We're going to build a hotel.
- [61:02]
B
So we're going to build a hotel in Nauvoo for the weary traveler. What stands out to me about this, we're going to talk a little bit later about the temple is that the Lord cares about dwellings. The people have been building up their own homes here. The Lord says, build a house in a me, build a temple, but also build a place that visitors can dwell. The Lord really cares that people have a place where they can rest, where they can be safe, where they can seek refuge. It's not just about us. It's about others as well. My mom, growing up, gave a fabulous family home eating lesson about creating a home court advantage in our home or a home field advantage in our home. She knew we liked sports, so she went on that theme. What does that mean in sports? Having a home court or home field advantage? You're playing in a place that feels familiar or feels comfortable, where you feel welcome, where you feel like people are on your side, that they're cheering you on and encouraging you in sports. That's a real thing, that home court or home field advantage. How do we build that in our own homes? Here at the Nauvoo House, having a place where visitors, weary travelers, can come and feel like they're at home, that they are safe, that they are welcomed, that they can contemplate the important things of the world in a place where they can be taken care of. That's beautiful. To think that that was important enough to the Lord, that there really was equal work and effort put into building up the Nauvoo House in addition to the temple until the very end, where it looked like they wouldn't be able to complete both. And then the focus turned to the temple. But there was equal importance put on both of those dwellings.
- [62:52]
C
Not every guest that comes to today, Salt Lake City, can go through the temple, but can we have a place for them where they feel at home? Temple requires recommended things, but they can come. They can feel safe, like you said. It's a really interesting thought. I found a statement from Joseph Smith where he said, it is important that the Nauvoo house should be finished, that we may have a suitable place wherein to entertain the great ones of the earth and teach them the truth. It's a place where we have a chance to share what we're all about.
- [63:27]
A
This almost feels like a how to win friends and influence people section. When people come visit Nauvoo, have a wonderful place for them to come and sit. Then they can think about the many messages they're receiving while they're here. You think of weary traveler. That might not just be physical, it might be spiritual. People may be spiritually weary, and they. They find health and safety with the Saints. I really like that. Liz. I know we've been talking about BYU a lot, but we're a pretty good team to play when people come to campus. I know it's not the Nauvoo House, but they're treated very well. Of course we want to beat them, but other than that, we want to treat them really well.
- [64:10]
B
We take great pride in being hospitable and that we want to really roll out the red carpet for our visitors, let them see what we are about. They're the little things, like at a football game where our alumni association hands out ice cream to the visiting team fans between the first and second quarter to opening up our venues to take tours and have people go on tours when they come to visit. There are some jokes, a little bit about the amount of sweets that we have at our games between the Cougar tail or the mint brownie or whatever it is. But people, again, are intrigued by those things because they won't get a cup of coffee and we don't sell alcohol at our games, but we have these other offerings that we can give them. We feel very strongly that we want BYU to be a place where people come and they know that their humanity is going to be respected, even in the way that we treat the competition, the way we treat their fans. And we want it to be a place that we all can enjoy watching good competition and then be friends afterward.
- [65:12]
C
Yeah, And I know that BYUTV even makes a movie, I think, about somebody from the opposing university, a famous alumni or athlete or something, and makes a feature film for them to honor and respect them. And I thought, wow, look at that. That's pretty good.
- [65:29]
B
To that point as well. When we play on the road, we have service projects for the BYU alumni to help the communities where we are going to visit, trying to be good community members that way as we enter a community to help build that community as well. So there are those things that make us stand out and be different. I think of our opportunity as well. And I live in Utah, but with the Salt Lake City Temple open House that will be coming shortly. The church is making great efforts to think through welcoming the world for a six month open house for the Salt Lake Temple. While I don't know if there are plans to build any hotels necessarily, but there certainly are a lot of plans with the visitor centers that are being thought through. Wanting to be a place where when the world comes and has an opportunity to walk through that temple before it's dedicated, to be able to learn and ponder the important things in life and to feel welcome and to feel safe and to be able to learn more about what we do in the house of the Lord. Whether we live near Salt Lake City or not, what are we doing to create that feeling of hospitality for those that visit? We say, visitors welcome on our buildings. It's one thing to put it up on a sign. It's another thing for people to feel it when they step inside our chapels. That's not just for visitors. That's for our own members of our congregation. We say, everybody's welcome. What are we doing when people step inside to walk that walk, not just talk the talk.
- [67:08]
A
What's interesting is it sounds like lots of people are going to come to Nauvoo. You might think, well, they didn't. Joseph Smith is killed and the saints go to Salt Lake. If you back up and have a longer perspective now how many people visit Nauvoo, they are welcomed there. The Lord has a long game in mind here when he says, let's bring the weary traveler to Nauvoo.
- [67:36]
B
The next section is about building a house of the Lord. At the end of verse 27, it says, and build a house to my name for the most High to dwell therein. Then in 28, for there is not a place found on earth that he may come to and restore again that which was lost unto you, or which he hath taken away even the fullness of the priesthood. It goes on. And we will talk about baptisms for the dead and then these higher ordinances that were revealed. The Nauvoo temple was going to be different than the Kirtland temple in terms of what would take place and happen there.
- [68:12]
A
Liz and John, wouldn't you both be just going again, right, like, okay, let's do this again. We tried to build one independence couldn't we finished one in Kirtland, far west. We started again. Lord's like, let's do it again. This is so important to him.
- [68:32]
C
I may be jumping ahead, but when you, when you walk down the trail of hope, the road that you're Walking down to go to the Mississippi to leave Nauvoo. I think of them turning back and seeing that temple, this incredible amount of sacrifice, and to build that and having to walk away from it, they had to leave Kirtland. Now they're here, they've tried far west.
- [68:56]
A
And wow, let's do it again.
- [69:00]
C
Makes my trial seem a little easier when I think of building things and walking away from like that.
- [69:06]
B
John, would you mind reading verse 40?
- [69:09]
C
Yes. Section 124, 40. And verily I say unto you, let this house be built unto my name, that I may reveal mine ordinances therein unto my people.
- [69:22]
B
This again is a little bit different than the Kirtland temple. There are these ordinances revealed, including baptisms for the dead. The Lord actually gave them a time period where it was acceptable to do baptism for the dead outside of the temple, a temporary time, but then said that he had allotted an amount of time where they need to build up the temple, that that's where those baptisms for our ancestors belong. The idea of opportunities for our deceased ancestors to be able to accept ordinances, the idea that we can serve as proxy, is one of those tender doctrines, one that I found has opened up some really neat conversations with those not of our faith. Earlier this summer, I was in Philadelphia for meetings with the NCAA women's basketball committee. I'd never been to Philadelphia. When I got there, the hotel was literally across the street from the temple. I looked up the schedule to see and figured out I would be able to do a temple session while I was there. And I had a friend that came from New York to meet me. And so it was going to be a great thing. Well, one night, as a committee, we were driving to dinner. We drive right past the temple, and I said, on your right is a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And I'm going to be able to participate in a session there tomorrow night with a friend. One of the staff members with the NCAA said, oh, that's great. Tell us more about that. What does that mean? Participate in a session? What do you do there? So it was one of those times where I realized I'm explaining something that I know in my heart, but I haven't maybe verbalized in quite that way before. So I found myself explaining, saying, temples are houses of the Lord. We make covenants at baptism. Then when we are older, we can choose to make additional covenants with God that bind us closer to him and receive ordinances. I told them that I did that when I was 25 years old. Now every time I go back, I am able to participate as proxy to participate again in those ordinances and make covenants on behalf of a deceased ancestor. I pulled up the family tree app and showed them the and said, there's a reason that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints care a lot about family history. Because we believe in giving that opportunity for everybody that's passed on to be able to accept those ordinances. I actually showed them the name who I would be serving as proxy for the next day. Showed them how we were connected. As I was explaining this, a member of the committee was very intrigued by that. Like, that's really interesting. Interesting that the way that you would be connected. Then I went on to talk about ceilings that really seal the whole human family together. There was another member of the NCA that I was speaking with about this who really appreciated that point of doctrine of ours that we would be doing something on behalf of our ancestors that they couldn't do for themselves. Our ancestors that have done so much for us. I explained that I really have pioneer ancestry kind of all over my family tree and the stories of faith and sacrifice and everything that they sacrificed in their time that now has allowed me to be born in the covenant and have these opportunities of churches and temples and the Book of Mormon and prophets, seers and revelators because of their sacrifice. But that's a small way that I can pay them back is to do something for them that they couldn't do for themselves. And for my friend from the ncaa, that was so meaningful to her and very tender for her. She is someone that cares deeply about us, honoring the generations before and honoring the earth and the land on which we live. For her, that felt like great respect and a way to honor our ancestors was to serve them in this way through ancestral baptism. Nauvoo is where that all started to think that we continue to have that opportunity and that responsibility. But also what an incredible double blessing that when we go to the house of the Lord, we not only are providing an opportunity for our deceased ancestors, so there's a blessing there, but we have the opportunity to be reminded of our covenants. It's this sort of double bonus. And I love that that's how the gospel of Jesus Christ is set up and the plan of salvation exaltation is set up, is that we all need each other. And when we help each other, we actually get the blessings. And our Savior is the perfect example of that in his teachings and in his life of the first shall be last, the last shall be first. Anytime that we serve others, we are serving him.
- [74:24]
A
Coming up in part two.
- [74:26]
B
I was serving in the Young Women General Advisory Council. I was at that session. I was actually sitting on the rostrum as President Nelson gave that talk. From where I was sitting, I could see the teleprompter. Teleprompters you see before they say what they're going to say. This talk changed my life. This is the talk where he absolutely took the scales from my eyes, at least, and I think a lot of other men and women in the church.