During lunch at Youth Conference, Eliece Jenkins and I were joking on who would have to speak about youth conference in sacrament meeting...
Me. I got chosen.
I thought I was off the hook with that for at least 5 years with Darren being in the bishopric. I accepted the invitation with the stipulation that Darren would come down after the sacrament was passed and sit with the boys so I could listen to the talks and focus on mine.
I was remarkably calm and collected. I made an effort to have my talk all done by Friday of that week, so I didn't have to worry about it over the weekend. That was a smart move on my part.
For memory sake, I'm going to post my talk below::
I haven’t been up here in almost 4 years and thought I had 5 more...We were sitting around at lunch at Youth Conference speculating who might be chosen to speak. I felt pretty safe considering what I manage in the pews each week and Darren sitting up here, but Brother Huddleston found me. Truth be told, I’d consider speaking once a month if I got to sit up here and he down there and listen to the talks.
I’ve been preparing and pondering all week on the blessings we can receive by doing family history work. Ironically yesterday afternoon I received an email from the stake presidency informing us about a family discovery day this coming Saturday. It sounds like there will be access to some of the great things we did at youth conference at the family history center.
They mentioned some of the blessings that come from family history work
Increased testimony and conversion to the gospel
· Greater love and gratitude for our ancestors
· Personal protection from the influence of the adversary
· Power to heal that which needs healing
· More closeness and joy in our families
A couple of weeks ago we had a lesson in Miamaids on adversity. We discussed what adversity was-- difficulties and misfortunes. I had the girls come up and write numerous difficulties that affect their lives or those around them on the chalkboard. Depression, dating, clean language, cancer, divorce, drugs, pornography, gossip, bullying, and many others were listed up there. In the booklet “True to the Faith” it tells us As part of Heavenly Father’s plan of redemption, you experience adversity during mortality. Trials, disappointments, sadness, sickness, and heartache are a difficult part of life, but they can lead to spiritual growth, refinement, and progress as you turn to the Lord.
I like how it says “turn to the Lord.” That tells us that as we go through difficulties in life, he will provide ways for us to get through them. He doesn’t want us nor expect us to carry burdens on our own. God helps us.
We had the opportunity to tour the Conference center at Youth Conference. My favorite part is getting to look at all the original art pieces. My young women know that I have a love for a couple of LDS artists. Brian Kershisnik is one of them. He has an original piece that is hanging there. It is a of woman who has many angels above her. I had seen the piece before. But the tour guide mentioned that her interpretation is that this woman is doing family history work and those are her ancestors helping her. I was touched and inspired.
My sister in law, Heather, loves family history work. She’s really passionate about it, and it has definitely sparked my interest- which I definitely need. This summer they came from Oregon and we had the opportunity to do initiatories, endowments, and sealings back to back to back in one day for Darren’s family. Heather and I had confirmation that the two women we did work for, Lydia and Hannah, were very aware that we doing that for them that day and so grateful and excited. We were excited too. Heather has shown me through her testimony that our ancestors are our angels and they can help us with our adversities as we’ve made and keep our covenants with Heavenly Father.
In April 2010, Elder Holland was giving counsel on how to guard against temptation. He said “Ask for angels to help you.” As we keep our covenants we can ask for angels to help us. Not the fantasy angels with magic fairy dust to take our problems away. But we can pray to Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, for those on the other side to be “dispatched” (elder Holland’s word) to assist us. Perhaps that angel could be a departed loved one sent to help you with what you need. Someone you possibly did the work for...
President Joseph F. Smith declared “ When messengers are sent to minister to the inhabitants of this earth, they are not strangers, but from the ranks of our kindred (and) friends… In like manner, our fathers and mothers, brothers, sisters, and friends who have passed away from this earth, having been faithful, and worthy to enjoy these rights and privileges, may have a mission given to them to visit their relatives and friends upon the earth again, bringing from the divine Presence messages of love, of warning, of reproof, and instruction to those whom they had learned to love in the flesh.”
We’ve recently had a very difficult and tender situation with a family member. He was struggling with heavy things and his entire family was suffering- including us as his extended family. It was very difficult and heartbreaking to watch the adversary work so hard to destroy especially in families. Heather reminded us all that we can pray for our ancestors to help him and our family through this entire situation. They love and worry for him too. And I truly believe as intense interventions have taken place, that angels have been there to help them through their situation.
That’s what I love about families, it is just doesn’t stop with our individual family units of mother and father and their children. By doing family history work and helping our ancestors receive their covenants, we strengthen our family. Joseph Smith declared “The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead.”
One of our stops for Youth Conference was at the Family History Center. It wasn’t what a majority of the youth (or myself) were expecting. You walk in and receive your own iPad. It is a completely interactive and individualized experience. One of the fun experiences we had there was connecting our iPads and seeing who we are related to. Different categories then appeared: Church leaders, Presidents, Celebrities, and others in the room. There were connections being made of 10th cousins with people in the ward. We are more connected than we realize. It was exciting to see the kids engaged in such an important and fascinating work. Another station showed what happened the year you were born, what the number one song was, how many people in the US have your name, and many other fun tidbits. Another station shared stories of your ancestors. I loved watching Ian Walker completely enthralled in the stories he was reading. Take your family there, it is incredible.
I love what Elder Nelson says “While temple and family history work has the power to bless those beyond the veil, it has an equal power to bless the living. It has a refining influence on those who are engaged in it. They are literally helping to exalt their families.”
Emily Freeman is a Time Out for Women speaker and author. A couple of years ago my mom gave me a book called “Making it through the Middle”. It’s a great little book where she talks about the Middle. Often times we hear about the trial and then the end of it… what about all the stuff that happened in the middle? The VERY long middle. All of the life, growing, pain, laughing, joy, sadness, all of it. She tells one story of how she was very ill and was down with life. She was inpatient and felt like nothing was progressing. One day she had a phone call with her friend where after listening to her vent, she said “Emily, you are only looking at the peak, and you need to turn around and look at the pickup truck!” Emily responded with a “what in the world are you talking about?”
So she explained “Pretend you are on a hike. You are spending so much time looking at the peak, at where you want to be, that you can’t see how far you have come. Turn around every so often and look back at the pickup truck where you left it in the parking lot.”
How often do we just keep looking at the peak and not see how far we’ve made it up the trail? How often do we look at the other hikers passing you looking like they aren’t struggling one bit and you feel like you don’t have one more step in you? I know I have had these moments in life. Especially as a young mother.
Why is it important to remember the middle? And how can we do that?...
Record your story. And this doesn’t just mean get out a journal and pen...
You forget where you’ve been. You tell yourself you will never forget this moment, but you do or your forget parts of it. Or you only remember the peak, you forget all twists and turns to get you to the top. Recently I found journals from our first two years of marriage. I giggled reading some of the trials we went through back then, but also I remembered how real they felt at the time. I particularly loved reading about longing for children. Luke did not come suddenly for us, and reading my hopes for children helps me remember in those moments of motherhood where I want to run away and hide or jump in my car and head to Target and get groceries alone because I. Am. Done. But it helps me REMEMBER all those things I can so quickly forget.
I love to write. It is therapeutic for me. Do I have time to hand write in journals anymore, no? I’ve blogged for years and I absolutely love going back to years ago where I would vent and release feelings after a long day of food therapy with Luke. Or to rewatch that milestone where he said his first sentence after 3 plus years of waiting. It reminds me how far we’ve come. My boys also love receiving Chatbooks, they are books that automatically sync with my Instagram account, and come in the mail. It helps it so that all these digital photos we take don’t get lost in the cloud somewhere. My boys bring those down often and reminisce on fun and important memories.
I think it can be hard to comprehend how treasured your daily life can be, but it was a testimony builder for some of us to see at the Library on Temple Square Wilford Woodruff’s journal where he wrote in it everyday and where we’ve received lots of information regarding the church’s history. He was just one person, but helped make a huge impact for the church. It’s important to record your experiences. We are blessed with lots of different ways to do that now.
At Youth Conference, they encouraged us to post with the hashtag #onemorevoice to join in with our testimony of the gospel. I love that. One. More. Voice. Your voice and experiences and testimonies are powerful. That is one of the blessings I have found with sharing some of my experiences and our families through social media. It connects me in new ways. You might be THE voice for someone that needs to hear exactly what you shared. I have had multiple experiences where I’ve shared something we’ve gone through as a family on social media and it has connected me to someone that needed me. It strengthen them and me to know we are all in life together.
I’m sure it is hard for you to believe this, but Sunday’s can be long for me. I get up and try to get kids ready and wrestle them at church. I go home and Darren usually isn’t home for a bit and I may have some meetings too. And we have a child named Morgan. It’s near impossible to keep that kid out of trouble for more than 6 minutes. Last Sunday as we were trying to make it through the day, I was desperate and pulled up our “Knight 2016 Video” I made on my computer and surprised them with it on Christmas Eve last year. I pulled my favorite photos and videos and put them together to their favorite songs of last year. Suddenly, we have our entire family re-watching a video we’ve watched numerous times before but it always draws us in- and hey, it’s Family History. Morgan won’t watch a Mickey Mouse show or Paw Patrol episode to save my life, but this captivates him. I see Graham is planning his next trip to see Bommy (Darren’s mom) and Luke can’t wait for Lake Powell to go surfing with his dad. And the best part is Morgan is captivated for a full 40 minutes. He just sits there and watches US, our family. It reminds us how much we love to be together and all the memories we make in just one year. Just this week, I wanted to take a picture of the three boys but Graham wasn’t cooperating. I told him “Do you want to see yourself in this picture in the “Knight 2017 Video”? He jumped right in.
Tell your story.
I loved watching the Youth at the Family History Center learning the many different ways you can do that. It doesn’t have to be with a pen and paper anymore. We have so many resources to keep track of our history. It was fun to watch the Atwood family stand in front of a green screen and take a family photo. I loved watching Mateo recording himself speak in a studio. I also loved that Ireland and Jared Morton were late for lunch because they just couldn’t leave the History Center. Take your family there, you won’t regret it, I promise.
Last year, we challenged the youth to read the History of Joseph Smith by his Mother. President Arnesen came up with journal prompts for each of the chapters. One chapter asked to recall a family story and record it down in that journal.
I didn’t go too far back. I called my grandma who has been a widow for 9 years. I love her so very much. I love the life her and my grandpa had together. I called and asked her to share a favorite story she has with my grandpa. She went on to talk about early on in their marriage and my grandpa was in the Navy and had come home from World War two. He was now stationed in San Francisco for the Korean War. My grandma only had one baby at the time (she’d go on to have 5 more girls) and decided to pack up her and the baby from the small town Roosevelt, Utah and be with him. They lived in a tiny little apartment. The day came and an announcement was made that soldiers could be discharged if they wanted to get home to family. My grandpa was thrilled. That night as he came home and they knelt down in evening prayer, which I remember doing with them when I would stay with them as a little girl, he gave gratitude to Heavenly Father that they could head home. He told my grandma the news through prayer. And it touched my heart. That’s how those two have always been in life, they put God first. As my grandpa finished sharing the news, my Grandma gave him a good dead arm (as I would have done to Darren too) and it is a story I will always cherish and remember. It taught me to counsel and pray and love the Lord with your spouse. It also confirmed where I get some of my fiestyness from, and I wouldn’t have known, had I not asked.
Our family stories give us strength. It reminds us that our ancestors and families went through a middle too. They help us remember to turn and see the pickup truck waiting in the parking lot, but can also give us the strength to get out of the shade of the trail and make it to the peak.
I mentioned the angels painting at the beginning of my talk at the Conference Center, where the tour guide mentioned her interpretation of family history work. I don’t have that print in my house, but I have a different one by the same artist, in my entry way. It is of a mother with her head down and two children crawling all over her. There are also two angels shown in the painting. One in the corner and one with their hand on the mother’s head. After attending youth conference and studying this week, my testimony has grown that those angels are our family member sent down to help us. To help me make it through that hard day, week, month or year. It has taught me the importance of keeping our covenants and doing family history work to help our families be connected. This life is hard, it can be so hard, but I love that we don’t have to it alone. We have families.
Amen.
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