Looking ahead to the Doctrine and Covenants in 2021

 15 Powerful scriptures from the Doctrine and Covenants

The Lord will do wonders among you

Read Elder Holland's talk here

https://youtu.be/6MnLVTO4oDA

This talk by Elder Holland came up on my itunes when I was walking yesterday.  I remembered I loved it at the time I heard it and I have read and listened to it many times,  but not for a while.  So when I listened to it this time, I was amazed all over again at what a great message this is.  So encouraging, so inspirational.  I love the message of this on so many levels.

Here are some sound bytes from his message.  Well, I guess they aren't really sound bytes.  The whole talk is worth quoting and rereading:

Keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever.

...none of us want tomorrow, or the day after that, to destroy the wonderful feelings we have had this weekend. We want to hold fast to the spiritual impressions we have had and the inspired teachings we have heard. But it is inevitable that after heavenly moments in our lives, we, of necessity, return to earth, so to speak, where sometimes less-than-ideal circumstances again face us.

Please remember tomorrow, and all the days after that, that the Lord blesses those who want to improve, who accept the need for commandments and try to keep them, who cherish Christlike virtues and strive to the best of their ability to acquire them. If you stumble in that pursuit, so does everyone; the Savior is there to help you keep going. If you fall, summon His strength. Call out like Alma, “O Jesus, … have mercy on me.”⁷ He will help you get back up. He will help you repent, repair, fix whatever you have to fix, and keep going. Soon enough you will have the success you seek.

“As you desire of me so it shall be done unto you,” the Lord has declared.

“… Put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously. …

“… [Then] whatsoever you desire of me [in] righteousness, … you shall receive.”

With the gift of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the strength of heaven to help us, we can improve, and the great thing about the gospel is we get credit for trying, even if we don’t always succeed.

Brothers and sisters, may a loving Father in Heaven bless us tomorrow to remember how we felt today. May He bless us to strive with patience and persistence toward the ideals we have heard proclaimed this conference weekend, knowing that His divine love and unfailing help will be with us even when we struggle—no, will be with us especially when we struggle.

April 2020 General Conference Jeopardy

General Conference Jeopardy

April 2020 Edition

(Remember to give your “answer” in the form of a question.)

Sat am session

1. This gave great comfort to Pres. Nelson’s soul.  (What is the tabernacle choir’s rendition of “It is Well With My Soul”?)

2.  According to M. Russell Ballard, Joseph Smith was particularly close to this family member.  (Who is his older brother, Hyrum?)

3.  Elder James R. Rasband says that all God’s children will be given the opportunity to do this with unobscured vision.  (What is to choose to follow Him and accept the great plan of happiness?)

4. This was the topic of Sister Joy D. Jones’ remarks.  (What are Women’s continued roles in the restoration?)

5. In one of the experiences that Neil L. Andersen told, after praying, a lady found this lost item in her hand.  (What are glasses?)

6.  Douglas D. Holmes quoted Pres. Nelson saying that this generation has the opportunity to do this if they want to.  ( What is be part of something big and great or make more of an impact than any other previous generation?)

7.  Pres. Eyring said that the enemy of the restoration will try to stop us from doing this.  (What is praying?)

Sat pm session

1. Elder Soares said that the translation process of the Book of Mormon was this.  (What is a miracle?)

2.  In Elder John A. McCune’s message, he said that as followers of Christ, we are not spared this.  (What are trials and challenges?)

3.  Bishop Gérald Caussé began his talk by telling about how a man changed the way he felt about the church when he saw this being put on the grounds of the Paris France temple.  (What is a statue of Jesus Christ?)

4.  This is the name of Elder Dale G. Renlund’s message.  (What is “Consider the Goodness and Greatness of God”?)

5.  Elder Benjamin M. Z. Tai told about a man who gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon when it hadn’t been translated into his native Burmese yet.  (What is studied the Book of Mormon Stories picture book every day by looking at the illustrations, using a dictionary to translate the English words, and taking careful notes of what he learned?)

6.  Elder Gary E. Stevenson’s remarks were centered around likening the foundation of this building to the foundation in our own lives.  (What is the Salt Lake temple?)

Sat evening session

1.  Elder Gerrit W. Gong said that with this, we celebrate the living Jesus Christ at this season of continuing Restoration and Easter.  (What is Hosanna and Hallelujuah?)

2.  These are the names of the 2 Timpview High school youth that spoke in this session of conference.  (Who are Laudy Ruth Kaouk and Enzo Serge Petelo?

3.  Sister Jean B. Bingham said that Satan incites this as a tool to create feelings of being superior or inferior, hiding the eternal truth that men’s and women’s innate differences are God given and equally valued.  (What is comparison?)

4.  In Pres. Henry B. Eyring’s message “He Goes Before Us”, he said that whether this conference will be memorable depends on this.  (What is each one of us?)

5.  In Pres. Dallin H. Oaks’ message on “The Melchizedek Priesthood and Keys”, he said men who hold the priesthood are not this.  (What is the priesthood?)

6.  Russell M. Nelson said this is the prime purpose of the church, in “Opening the Heavens for Help”.  (What is to help men, women, and children follow the Lord Jesus Christ, keep His commandments, and qualify for eternal life with God and their loved ones?)

Sun am session

1.  Elder Ronald A. Rasband said that we don’t know when the Savior will return, but we do know this.  (What is “We must be prepared in heart and mind, worthy to receive Him, and honored to be part of all that was prophesied so long ago”?

2.  Sister Bonnie H. Cordon told of an experience on her farm with this apostle.  (Who is Elder L. Tom Perry?)

3.  This was the subject of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s message.  (What is hope?)

4.  In Elder Bednar’s talk, “Let This House Be Built Unto My Name”, he said that this word is used over 1,000 times in the standard works.  (What is heart?)

5.  When President Russell M. Nelson spoke on “Hear Him”, he said that our Father knows that when we are surrounded by uncertainty and fear, this is what will help us the very most.  (What is to hear His Son?)

6.  Pres. Nelson said that the Hosanna Shout is a sacred tribute to the Father and the Son, symbolizing the reaction of the multitude when the Savior did this in Jerusalem. (What is the Triumphal Entry?)

Sun pm session

1.  When President Dallin H. Oaks spoke on “The Plan”, he said many of our members do not fully understand this.  (What is the Plan of Salvation?)

2.  Elder Quentin L. Cook issued a plea for us to do this to guide our lives.  (What is seek continuing revelation?)

3.  During his college years, this is a job that Elder Ricardo P. Gimenez had.  (What is he was part of the Santiago fire dept.?)

Bonus- he quoted Matthew 11:28-30

4.  Elder Uchtdorf said that practicing discipleship is the effort of a lifetime and it requires this.   (What is practice?)

5. These are the 6 countries Elder Clayton had been invited into the homes of Saints.  (What is Korea and Kenya, Philippines, Peru, Laos, and Latvia?)

6.  Elder D. Todd Christofferson told a story of a man named Jason who heard a voice say this, just as he was going to set the Book of Mormon on fire.  (What is “Do not burn my book” and then “Go to your room and read my book.”?)

7.  These are the 8 new temple sites announced by President Russell M. Nelson.  (What is Bahía Blanca, Argentina; Tallahassee, Florida; Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Benin City, Nigeria; Syracuse, Utah; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Shanghai, People’s Republic of China?)

Elder Bednar's testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith

I love this experience that Elder David A. Bednar shared 20 years ago.  It helps to strengthen my testimony of not only the Book of Mormon, but also of Joseph Smith and his prophetic calling: I want to begin with my testimony of the Book of Mormon. I will end with my testimony as well, but I want to begin by declaring that I love the Book of Mormon. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and want to take just a minute or two to describe a personal experience that relates to my testimony of the Book of Mormon. I know by the witness of the Spirit and by personal experience that the Book of Mormon is true.Before coming to Ricks College, I was a business professor for almost 20 years. As a part of my work, I wrote books. I brought with me today one of the books I authored with a colleague when I was a faculty member at the University of Arkansas. This book is 650 pages long, it contains 17 chapters, and it took us two years to write. The colleague with whom I wrote this book also has a Ph.D., which means that we each went to college for eight years or more--a total of more than 16 years of formal higher education between the two of us. It is a remarkable experience to receive a box of these brand-new books from the publisher. I was seated in my office at Texas Tech University when my box of books arrived. I opened up the box and thumbed through one of the books. As I did so, I looked out the window of my office and asked myself the question, "Why did you write this book?" When you really think about it, investing so much time and effort in a project that so quickly becomes obsolete is rather foolish. As I posed that question to myself and as I was pondering, the thought came to me, "Because now you know by experience that Joseph Smith could not have written the Book of Mormon." That conclusion clearly was influenced by the fact that for all of my professional career we lived in Arkansas and Texas. We, as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were the religious minority in the middle of the Bible Belt. We relentlessly were confronted by people of other faiths who said, "The Book of Mormon is not necessary; the Bible is all that you need. And Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon."With eight years of university training, with two years of very dedicated work, with an editorial staff, with personal computers, with spell checkers and thesauruses on-line, with the Internet and the other resources that are so readily available, when I picked up the book that I had written and opened it up, I still found mistakes. And within a matter of twelve months, this book upon which I had worked so hard and so long was obsolete and had to be revised.Brothers and sisters, you could take a team of the brightest people on the earth, as large a team as you might want, with all of the support staff, all of the computer technology, and all of the assistance that you can imagine, and such a team could not produce one page of a Book of Mormon. Consider the power of the following phrases: ". . . men are that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:25); ". . . wickedness never was happiness" (Alma 41:10); and ". . . press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope" (2 Nephi 31:20). We could go on for a long, long time quoting simple but powerful phrases that no one could have generated without divine assistance.The best summary I have ever found about the Book of Mormon is from George Cannon, the father of George Q. Cannon. This is what he said, "No wicked man could write such a book as this, and no good man would write it unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so" (LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, Andrew Jenson, Vol. 1, pg. 42).Well, brothers and sisters, intellectually I know the Book of Mormon is true; and I know it through personal experience as an author. And that type of knowledge is nice. But what is most important is the witness of the Spirit. And I know by the witness of the Spirit, I know intellectually, and I know as an author and by personal experience that Joseph Smith could not and did not write the Book of Mormon. COME UNTO CHRIST Religion Symposium January 29, 2000 Elder David A. Bednar

Great Things....

In the "Don't Miss This" Study that I follow, they mentioned that we should watch for the great things that God showed the people.  When I searched "great things" in the Book of Mormon, this is what I came up with.  I know that all the great things the Lord shows us and the people in the Book of Mormon will not always come right out and say those words but this is a start.



2 Nephi 4:25-26https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/4.25-26?lang=eng&clang=eng#p24

25 And upon the wings of his Spirit hath my body been acarried away upon exceedingly high mountains. And mine eyes have beheld great things, yea, even too great for man; therefore I was bidden that I should not write them.

3 Nephi 19:36https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/3-ne/19.36?lang=eng&clang=eng#p35

36 Verily I say unto you, there are none of them that have seen so great things as ye have seen; neither have they heard so great things as ye have heard.

Ether 6:30https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/ether/6.30?lang=eng&clang=eng#p29

30 And it came to pass that Orihah did walk humbly before the Lord, and did remember how great things the Lord had done for his father, and also taught his people how great things the Lord had done for their fathers.

Book of Mormon Title Page of the Book of Mormonhttps://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/bofm-title?lang=eng&clang=eng#p1

An abridgment taken from the Book of Ether also, which is a record of the people of Jared, who were scattered at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people, when they were building a tower to get to heaven—Which is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever—And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations—And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ.

Ether 4:14https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/ether/4.14?lang=eng&clang=eng#p13

14 Come unto me, O ye house of Israel, and it shall be made amanifest unto you how great things the Father hath laid up for you, from the foundation of the world; and it hath not come unto you, because of unbelief.

Alma 62:50https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/62.50?lang=eng&clang=eng#p49

50 Yea, they did remember how great things the Lord had done for them, that he had adelivered them from death, and from bonds, and from prisons, and from all manner of bafflictions, and he had cdelivered them out of the hands of their enemies.

Words of Mormon 1:11https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/w-of-m/1.11?lang=eng&clang=eng#p10

11 And they were handed down from king Benjamin, from generation to generation until they have fallen into amy hands. And I, Mormon, pray to God that they may be preserved from this time henceforth. And I know that they will be preserved; for there are great things written upon them, out of which bmy people and their brethren shall be cjudged at the great and last day, according to the word of God which is written.

Mosiah 27:16https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/27.16?lang=eng&clang=eng#p15

16 Now I say unto thee: Go, and remember the captivity of thy fathers in the land of aHelam, and in the land of Nephi; and remember how great things he has done for them; for they were in bbondage, and he has cdelivered them. And now I say unto thee, Alma, go thy way, and seek to destroy the church no more, that their prayers may be answered, and this even if thou wilt of dthyself be ecast off.

1 Nephi 18:3https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/18.3?lang=eng&clang=eng#p2

3 And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and I did apray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord bshowed unto me cgreat things.

Ether 7:27https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/ether/7.27?lang=eng&clang=eng#p26

27 And there were no more wars in the days of Shule; and he remembered the great things that the Lord had done for his fathers in bringing them aacross the great deep into the promised land; wherefore he did execute judgment in righteousness all his days.

2 Nephi 1:1https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/1.1?lang=eng&clang=eng#p1

1 And now it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had made an end of teaching my brethren, our afather, Lehi, also spake many things unto them, and rehearsed unto them, how great things the Lord had done for them in bringing them out of the land of Jerusalem.

1 Nephi 16:29https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/16.29?lang=eng&clang=eng#p28

29 And there was also written upon them a new writing, which was plain to be read, which did give us aunderstanding concerning the ways of the Lord; and it was written and changed from time to time, according to the faith and diligence which we gave unto it. And thus we see that by bsmall means the Lord can bring about great things.

1 Nephi 7:11https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/7.11?lang=eng&clang=eng#p10

11 Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten what great things the Lord hath done for us, in adelivering us out of the hands of Laban, and also that we should obtain the record?

Alma 37:6https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/37.6?lang=eng&clang=eng#p5

6 Now ye may suppose that this is afoolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by bsmall and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

1 Nephi 15:3https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/15.3?lang=eng&clang=eng#p2

3 For he truly spake many great things unto them, which were hard to be aunderstood, save a man should inquire of the Lord; and they being hard in their hearts, therefore they did not look unto the Lord as they ought.

Relating to Lehi.....

When I read the Book of Mormon, I usually focus on Nephi and the children of Lehi and Sariah, or even Sariah, but I seldom think about Lehi and how he felt about all the events of his life.

  I have always identified with Nephi and the children in this story, but this morning I was realizing that I am the age now that Lehi was, or at least closer to his age than any of his children.  I started thinking about how I can identify with Lehi.  First of all, I love this scripture in 1 Nephi that Nephi included, which is the testimony of his father, Lehi.

1 Nephi 1:14,15:

14 And it came to pass that when my father had read and seen many great and marvelous things, he did exclaim many things unto the Lord; such as: Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty! Thy throne is high in the heavens, and thy power, and goodness, and mercy are over all the inhabitants of the earth; and, because thou art merciful, thou wilt not suffer those who come unto thee that they shall perish!

15 And after this manner was the language of my father in the praising of his God; for his soul did rejoice, and his whole heart was filled, because of the things which he had seen, yea, which the Lord had shown unto him.

Also, he received revelation through dreams and because of that, the dynamic of his family changed greatly.  I have had this experience too.  I had a recurring dream for a long time. Combined with other forms of revelation and inspiration, it culminated in my going back into teaching children with special needs when my kids were still all in school.  This changed my life and the lives of my family.  

It also reminds me that God usually will whisper, but if He really needs to make a point or emphasize something, He uses more than a whisper.  I still ponder over that recurring dream which consisted of my being either getting ready to go on a mission or being in the MTC and then telling someone, “Wait- I can’t do this.  I have a young family.”  It never gets resolved before I wake up.

I don’t know what correlation this dream had to my going back into special education and working full-time outside the home, but the dream stopped after I was obedient and I have always felt, because of the dream, that this was a “mission”.  I always thought I would understand why at some point, but it has been almost 12 years and I’m still not sure why this was an important component of my life.  I have had some hard and some great experiences, but nothing that would help me to understand why I needed to do this.  My plan had always been to be a stay-at-home mom and I identified with that.  This has had an impact on the lives of my family, too.  Some has been negative, but some has been positive.  My 3 youngest girls were all involved in some way, with the kids I worked with.

I want to look at this journey from Lehi’s perspective.  I don’t think I have done this before, in all my reading of the Book of Mormon.  He always seemed like an old man that was a prophet and I couldn’t find much to relate to with that. 

Also, the loss of the 116 manuscript pages, which was the Book of Lehi, is another example how life gets messy, and it doesn’t always feel like a plan.  But God  knows our strengths and weaknesses and works with us, and knows it is never a straight line in life from point a to point b and makes allowances for that.  The point isn’t to get from point a to point b quickly and efficiently.  It is to get to point b with a lot of experience, lessons learned, and wisdom and understanding.

I also liked the insight of the person who does Come Follow Me Daily: She posts on Instagram and Facebook.

Come Follow Me Daily

About two years ago, I lost my keys at the park.

I was locked out with two kids during lunch/nap time.

I knelt down and prayed. Got up, looked for two hours, and still didn’t find my keys.

The next day, after locking the house up and getting the kids in the car, I lost my husband’s keys—the only other set.

Kids were losing it.
I was losing it.

I told Michael he would have to walk home and I knelt down and prayed again. Thirty minutes later, I found Michael’s keys (in the door of the car 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️).
.
Then, Michael came walking down the street with my keys in his hand. He had found them on his walk home when he took a shortcut through the park.

Steve Jobs once said “You cannot connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”
.
This silly experience taught me a lot about God—things it seems Nephi also knew:

The Lord works in mysterious ways.

Why didn’t they just get the plates and Ishmael’s family when they left Jerusalem the first time?

Why did they have to back track?
Then, why did they have to go back and fail—then give away all their precious possessions and fail again?

The truth is, we don’t know the answers.
But God does.
And every step they took led them to eventually being successful.

Maybe Lehi’s sons needed to fail twice to eventually get the plates.
Just like I needed to lose the second set of keys to find my first set.

I would have never guessed it, but God knew.

God has connected all the dots.

So when the dots don’t seem to connect,
Keep acting
Keep praying
And don’t give up.
Eventually, all the dots will connect.

Art by @caitlin_connolly_