Doctrine & Covenants 124 Part 1 • Dr. Liz Darger • October 27 - November 2 • Come Follow Me
00:00Coming up in this episode on Follow Him.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.
00:36Hello, everyone.Welcome to another episode of Follow Him.My name is Sank 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 Hiram Smith, Section 124 verse 15, but it fits you.Oh, I think it fits Hiram better, but thank you.
00:57I'll take it.I've known you a long time, John.You love that, which is right,especially anything the right brothers.Bill, you also love that.Yeah, I like those rights, too.Wilbur and Orville.Hey, John, we are honored to have with us,
01:12Dr. Liz, Darger.Liz, welcome to follow him.Thanks for having me.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 Navu.The Saints have now come out of Missouri.
01:30They'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 Navu?It's a place.It's an era.It's a feeling.It's an experience.
01:52I know that Elder Hafen once talked about the Curtland days of our lives and the Navu days.of our lives and how they're different.So there's just all of that comes together in Navu and in Section 124 today.Yeah, it does.Liz, as you've prepared for today, what are you looking forward to?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 Navu.
02:17There 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 ofJesus 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 uswith power in his house and functioning with God's power in our lives as we make and keepcovenants with him. John, you and I know Liz, but I don't know if our audience knows Liz. Do you havea background on her? Have we done any digging? I'm so glad she's here. I met Liz when she wasserving with President Bonnie Corden on the Young Women Advisory Council. I was serving with
03:02President Stephen Lund on the Young Men's Advisory Council. And we got to actually do a trainingtogether. Then we found out we have a common member of our Hero Hall of Fame in BrotherJohn Paye up there in Boise area. So that was really cool to hear that. But Liz is a seniorassociate athletic director at BYU, where she works withThese 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.
03:45She's a member of the Big 12 Conference Executive Committee and serves on the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee,where she was recently voted chair for 2026-27 season.Liz serves on several campus roles including Sorensen Fellow for BYU's Sorensen Centerand moral and ethical leadership, a member of the University Belonging Committee.She is a Utah Women 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
04:29cohesively 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 if families in the workplace and communities in the church and in the world.But this is my favorite part in your bio, Liz.She grew up in Boise, Idaho.
05:01She 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.True story.Which we can call that Bear Bachmire Lake this weekend.There we go.I like it.We're really happy to have you with this, Liz.I'm so excited for the perspective you'll bring to this part of the Doctrine of Covenants.This is exciting.
05:29Before we move on, I think our listeners 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 24-7 thing, isn't it?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,
05:58I'm grateful to be grounded by our mission at BYU and to be tied to the Church of Jesus Christof Lattery Saints.But it's also a really fun and exciting time at the NCA 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'vein. It's a really fun time to be a part of that and fun to be able to represent BYU in the variousways, the Big 12 in the NCAA. Then my dissertation, I absolutely loved my dissertation. It's a
06:29qualitative study. I was able to interview 15 of the coolest women at BYU that either werecurrently functioning or had recently retired as vice presidents or associate vice presidents ordeans or associate deans about their leadership journeys. There were some really neatthreads and patterns there of women in leadership that matched up very well actually withsome research that's been done in the past 20 years by a woman named Karen Longman, who's aprofessor, actually recently retired professor at Azusa Pacific University. She'd studied Christianwomen in leadership and Christian higher ed. And I found some patterns that very much matched herpatterns and really actually matched my own life in terms of many women, Latter-day Saint
07:16Women and higher ed don't plan on leadership as part of their life journey. Many of themdidn'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 positionor to explore or get more education.In thinking through that nudge,really not feeling like it's something they would want to do,
07:48but 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 explorethis opportunity, even though it wouldn't be something that they would have done on their own
08:11without the nudge, and perhaps something they didn't even want to do. That pattern, I think, is reallyinstructive, not only for Latter-day St. Women, but women and men in general in terms offollowing 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 livea world that tells us to be selfish, and yet our covenants tell us otherwise. It's that we areto all help one another, that relational responsibility we feel, I believe, is divine. It was reallyneat 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
08:54and 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 considermore than maybe that they had thought before that they could contribute to the world.Wow.John, we've been studying Zion and the Law of Consecration.Can't you hear echoes of that?Yeah.What Liz is talking about?
09:16Sometimes 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.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.
09:57Now, 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.
10:28It 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.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.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 regards, I didn't talk about my sister more.
10:58Jennifer, 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 one 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
11:24among the citizens of Quincy, Illinois. Guards had allowed Joseph Smith and other churchleaders to escape captivity in Missouri, and the church had just purchased land in Illinois wherethe saints could gather again. Yes, it was a swampy mosquito-infested land. But compared to thechallenges the saints had already faced, this probably seemed manageable. So they drained the swampand drafted a charter for a new city, which they named Navu. It means,beautiful in Hebrew, though it was more an expression of faith than an accurate description,at least at first. Meanwhile, the Lord is impressing his prophet with a sense of urgency. He had moretrues and ordinances to restore, and he needed a holy temple, where he could crown his saints
12:04with honor, immortality, and eternal life. In many ways, these same feelings of faith and urgencyare evident in the Lord's work today. What a great intro. Liz, how should we approach section124 in this whole lesson.Well, first, I think it's important what you said that I am not a scriptorian, I'm nota 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 Christtopically, but when it's about a block of scripture, that's a little more on the fringe
12:40of 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.
13:33That is definitely not my motive behind it, but we definitely appreciate the humility.We need a little more humility around here.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 back.through. That's a habit that I took on as well in my college years and beyond of listening togeneral conference talks, and I love the words of our living prophets. They come a little more easilyto me, but I love the scriptures. 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
14:39required to be able to clean from them. It's been a really neat preparation process. The last time Iwas in Navu, I was in high school. It was obviously well before the temple was rebuilt. So as we talkabout that vision of the temple and what that all looks like, for me, I love my experience in Navu,but there is a really important piece missing there. In some ways, perhaps that is how thesaints felt as they were rebuilding their lives as this revelation was received and as the prophetJoseph had been encouraging the saints saying, we need to build a temple. We need to build a templeagain. That's the Navu I know in terms of my own experiences without the temple. I'm excitedfor the day when I can go back and participate in ordinances in the house of the Lord there.
15:27As we think about that rebuild process, the saints have been rebuilding their lives a number oftimes now, planting themselves and doing everything they could to dig in and make it at homeand build a life and build the church, then they would be driven out and needed to move andrebuild. It reminds me a little bit of in athletics, sometimes you hear the term, it's arebuilding year for a team. When you think of that, what at least I have in my mind is a lot of seniorshave graduated or people have transferred. So there's a little bit different expectation of what'sgoing to happen in that year or that season because of having to start over in some ways.This is a time in Navu where there had been church leaders that had passed away and some that
16:13had apostasized and had been excommunicated.And this section, one of the things that it does is sort of build up the organization of the churchagain and is a rebuild in a way.Certainly a rebuild in terms of building their homes and then being commanded to build a houseof the Lord and also build the Nabu house.When we think about that and those times in our lives when we're asked to rebuild or thoseseasons in our lives where it's like, oh, it's going to be a rebuilding year, we lost someexperience, we had some momentum, but now we're going to start over a little bit. Those rebuilding
16:45years can also be some of the most rewarding experiences of our life. Teams I've watched atBYU that have been in rebuilding years, truly when you see the development of student athletesin the development not only athletically but socially with each other, the leadership that'sbeen developed in those rebuilding years and what those student athletes have become in rebuildingyears, it makes it all worth it. We recognize that sometimes that learning and growth happens themost in rebuilding years. Here in Navu was there rebuilding their lives, the opportunity for them tolearn and to grow and develop and be stretched individually, but also collectively as a body ofsaints. Speaking of athletics, the whole idea of weight training, it was always kind of counterintuitive.
17:32that you've worked to the point where you break it downso that you build it back up again, stronger.I think about getting kicked out of Kirtland coming here.I love what you're saying.I've got to build this back upand make it out of a swamp.Let's start in a swamp and build this back up.They do.
17:53I noticed that you were over cross-country.I think one of the most inspiring things I ever sawwas that Kenneth Rooks fall down.completely fall down in a steeple chase it was just unbelievable get up and actually win the raceso inspiring to watch to note that it's possible to come back and so much of the gospel isrestorative and coming back and being rebuilt through the savior's gospel so i love what you're sayinghere unbelievable unprecedented you hear the commentators talking about it they've never seenanything like it. Talking to Kenneth afterward, what's really fascinating and important part of that
18:34story 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 mygame plan? What would I do? He had a game plan for if he fell. When it happened, he went intoa 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 shipped awayand 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,
19:23his family was there. Similarly, in that race, he didn't fall, but he has a knack for having abig, 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 return missionary,Now, 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, if someone doesn't know what we're talking about, you can go to YouTube. We can put a link to this in our show notes.the video that the church did is called
20:19Falling is part of the process.Just get up.And of course, there's a number of other videosabout it as well.I don't know if Brother Rooks listens, butwow.Yeah, wow.It reminds me a little bit of like a forest fire,
20:33what 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 soonover time it rises up and it's beautiful the regrowth after a forest fire if you've ever seenit either of you it's beautiful like the phoenix rising out of the ashes it's pretty incredible towatch as we studied earlier sections of doctrine covenant sometimes we would have like two days
21:13between sections and this between 123 and 124 it's been two years for those who want to come overto our voices of the restoration series with dr garrett dirkmot he's going to fill in a little bitof what happens between liberty jail and navu because there's quite a bit that happens in two yearsthat would take us a long time to talk about that so you can find that on our channel onyoutube or wherever you get your podcast i just love the ideaof rebuilding. And one of the most fun, entertaining, and powerful talks I've ever heard my friend Hankgive was about the Provo Tavernacle, how it was basically burned from the inside out and like aphoenix was rebuilt. It's a jaw-dropping story. It's beautiful. I'm so glad they did that
22:06because I had an experience sitting in there once that I'll never forget. We're seeing that metaphorplaying out here, I don't know if this is important or not, but for me it was, oh, I always thoughtNavu was swampy because it was right next to the Mississippi River. What I didn't know is that actuallythere were springs in there that made it swampy. But it made the drainage easy if you just duga 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 something.some of those drainage.So they took what they had,
22:46they took this swampand turned it into something beautiful.It's just part of another beautiful story.Liz, what do you want to do next?Let's actually start in verse one.It's always a good place to start.It's always a good place to start.The starting line.
23:05John, would you be willing to read verses one and two?Be happy to.Okay, so we're in.section 124 verse 1 and 2 verily thus saith the lord unto you my servant joseph smith i am well pleased with your offeringand acknowledgments which you have made for unto this end have i raised you up that i might show forth mywisdom through the weak things of the earth your prayers are acceptable before me and in answer to themi say unto you that you are now called immediately to make a solemn proclamation of my gospeland of this stake which I have planted to be a cornerstone of Zion
23:43which shall be polished with the refinementwhich is after the similitude of a palaceI love that the Lord acknowledges Joseph heregives him that positive reinforcementsaying that I'm pleased with youyou're on the right trackyour prayers are acceptableI love that at the end of verse 1
24:03where he says that I might show forth my wisdomthrough the weak things of the earththat it's sort of thisis that a backhanded complimentor what whatwhen you think aboutJosephhumility
24:17really was one of hisincredible strengthsthe fact that he knewhe was reliant on the Lordmeant that he wasteachableand that the Lord could trust himto follow through on what
24:29he was askedhumility was an incredible strengthbeing called weakI don't think would have botheredJoseph at all, because he would acknowledge that. Sometimes we don't define humility in quite theright way. Sometimes there could be a false humility. We all have strengths that we've cultivated overtime. We all have spiritual gifts that God has endowed us with. To not acknowledge them or to dismissthem, I believe actually is offensive to God. It's not a matter of if someone were to give you a
25:05compliment or to say, you're really good at this. It's not a matter of dismissing. Like, no, I'm notor no, that's not accurate. Because I actually think that God can be offended by that. But it'sacknowledging 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'swebsite, if you look up humility, it says, to be humble is to recognize gratefully our dependenceon the Lord, to understand that we have constant need for his support. Humility is an acknowledgementthat our talents and abilities are gifts from God. It's not a sign of weakness, timidity, orfear. It is an indication that we know where our true strength lies. We can be both humble and
25:56fearless. We can be both humble and courageous. When I read that about humility, I think ofJoseph Smith. I think of his incredible humility. It is because of that humility that him beingcalled weak, really I think he's humble. That means that the Lord can use him. Can you imagine publishingthis? I mean, I like how you said is a backhanded compliment. It's almost as if the Lord issaying, look, I chose you so everyone would know it was me. I looked around to find the one guythat everyone thought, no way. Everyone will know. That's the guy.I chose. It's kind of like Navu, right? I'm going to find the one place that nobody wants to live.I'm going to find a swamp that nobody. 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 to 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.
27:02this is what he publishes.John, didn't it start out this way?I think the very first revelation is section threethat the Lord pretty much says the same thing.Yeah.You have a lot of repenting to do.As you're right on it.Tells us something about Joseph Smith,
27:20just here in this verse verse.It reminds me of the very first meetingthat 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.
27:56She said, I want to encourage you to take your education, take your experience.take your experiences, take your ideas, take your opinions, and put them in a box, and put a bow onit, and put it on the shelf. I want you to open yourself up to the revelation you are going to receivein this calling. She said, sometimes that revelation that you receive from the Holy Ghost will tell youto actually take the box off the shelf and open it up and pull out an idea, pull out an experienceyou've had, pull out something from your education, pull out an opinion, whatever it is. But sometimesthe revelation you receive will have nothing to do with what's in the box. If you focus too muchon what's in the box, your own ideas, your own experiences, your own education, then you can miss out
28:38on the other revelation. But if you focus on receiving the revelation, you're never going to missout on when the Lord needs you to pull something out of the box and share it. I think that is suchwise counsel and here with Joseph, who again is so receptive to whatever needs to be done. And in someways perhaps his lack of education is a strength because he's not just going back to the wellwith what he knows, thinking that he knows at all. He is fully reliant on the Lord. Sometimes when wehave had opportunities for education or had a lot of unique experiences in our lives, perhaps wecan rely on those and not be open to revelation that we'll receive that may actually becounter to something that would match up with the education we received. We need to focus on
29:26that revelation. Focus on what we hear from the Holy Ghost. I remember when President Hinkley wouldtalk about the young Joseph Smith, he would say, the uncluttered mind of a boy, that the Lordwanted this, because maybe us as adults were a little cluttered in our minds. I'm thinking aboutall the times in the book of Mormon. I didn't do this after the manner of men, but I did this afterthe manner that God showed me. It was like, oh, that was different than what I would have done.I like what you said, Liz, 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.
30:06One 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.I know, I know.To the president-elect of the United States, to high-minded governors of the nation.
30:44I mean, that is fearless.Here's who I'm writing to.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 12 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.
31:29And it was written by Parley P. Pratt.The third proclamation was given in 1865.The fourth proclamation was giving April 6, 1980.Wow. I didn't know about all these.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 5th, 2020 by President Nelson.These official proclamations to the world, it's interesting to think there have only been that many.
32:08There have been three in my lifetime, two that have been a part, really, of my life as an adult,really have helped shape my testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.Going back to Joseph being asked to make this proclamation, in verse four, it says how he's being asked to give it.It 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-reesome
33:15restraint.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 themthat instruction to do it according to the Holy Ghost, not what he would want, not what he wouldthink 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 thatproclamation, which was reaffirmed by President Benson years later. So in October of 1975,
34:00he was the president of the Council of the Twelve Apostles. He gave a general conference talktitled A Message to the World. He quoted from this proclamation that Parley P. Pratt wroteI 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 prophetJoseph Smith and his brother Hiram had mingled their blood with that of the other martyrsof true religion, the Council of the Twelve made such a proclamation. They addressed it toall the kings of the world, to the President of the United States of America, to the governorsof the several states, and to the rulers and people of all nations.
34:40President Benson then goes on to quote from the proclamationI'll just read a little of itand to the rulers and people of all nationsand in it they saidknow ye that the kingdom of God has comeand has been predicted by ancient prophetsand prayed for in all ageseven that kingdom which shall fill the whole earth
35:00and which shall stand foreverand then it goes on and on and on and onit's really fabulous I encourageanyone that would like toto study that general conference talk by President Bensonbut then he goes on and after he quotes much from that proclamation he saysit seems fitting improper to me that we should reaffirm the great truths pronounced in this declarationand that we should proclaim them anew to the world then president benson goes on and he reaffirms
35:27in his own words the very truth i just want to read one part of that he's declared again thatthe truthfulness of the restored gospel of jesus christ is back on the earth and he saystherefore as humble servants of the Lord, we call upon the leaders of nations to humble themselvesbefore God, to seek his inspiration and guidance. We call upon rulers and people alike to repentof their evil ways. Turn unto the Lord, seek his forgiveness, and unite yourselves in humilitywith His kingdom. There is no other way. This is again another moment that we've had our showwhere 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 read it.
36:14But 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 becomemembers or citizens of the kingdom of God, but you are also hereby commanded in the name of JesusChrist 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.
36:45This is incredible stuff.John, you usually call it audacious?Yeah.Who are these people that are this little group next to the Mississippi that are making a proclamation to the kings and the president-elect and high-minded governors?Okay, everybody, listen up.Wow.Even this early.Yeah.
37:07Liz, 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 rest of the saints of this,that if you're going to write to these government leaders,this government so far has not helped you at all.You are driven out of your own property.You paid for it.You're driven away from it by gunpoint,
37:36and 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 themwith these insults.I know Joseph has a tendency to do this.I know Parley does as well.Maybe Brigham too.
37:51So control your emotions, maybe,when it comes to this.I like what Liz quoted the entry underwas a humility in the Bible dictionary.What did it say?You can be humble and fearless.You can be humble and courageousat the same time. I love that.
38:07Thinking about this proclamation and how does this apply to our lives, I have a niece and a nephewthat 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 lifethrough my nieces and nephews. And this is my oldest niece and oldest nephew. So I feel like I'velost 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 studyingSection 124. I asked her what it means to her to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, the restored
38:53gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to read what she sent back to me. To me, this opportunity to servefull time and devote everything to the Savior is such a priceless gift. It goes by so fast and this isthe only time in my life that I will be completely focused and devoted to serving the Lord andgathering Israel. Every interaction, every passing word, every smile to a stranger. I'm striving to be adisciple of Christ and bring others closer to him. My missionary purpose is to invite others to comeinto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ andhis atonement, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.Then she goes on to say, in the Colorado-Dumber North mission, we link our enthusiasm with the
39:38stability and loving efforts of the members. My job is to invite. Everybody has their agencyto accept or deny the gospel, but I can control my efforts in inviting everybody I possiblycan and helping to support them in exercising their faith and turning to Christ. And reading thatfrom my niece, Eva, and thinking about the young adults of the church that are going out inrecord number all over the world to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, the restored gospel ofJesus Christ. It just is inspiring to me. John, you talked earlier about, here's this little tinychurch 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
40:27to go out as representatives of Jesus Christand to proclaim that the gospel has been restored on the earth.I love that these young people go out and give their alland proclaim what the gospel of Jesus Christ means to them.I believe they also do it in meekness and humility.of all of us as disciples of Jesus Christ have been asked to proclaim the gospel.I love how Elder Uppdorf 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.
41:04I 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 semi-final game, the NCAA currently has a policy carve-out for usthat 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
41:46and 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 covenantsand 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
42:15about why it's so important to us.We're the only school in Division I 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 givento proclaim the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, to give our athletes the platform to proclaimthat on social media through holidays on the Sabbath day.We invite our student athletes to share their thoughts about the gospel of Jesus Christand to share their experiences from their missions.
42:52There 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 their religion.The conference happened over a Sunday, and our student athletes asked if they could be excusedfor an hour to go and attend church and partake at the sacrament,which brought up a lot of very sincere questions from people from the other schools.
43:23And 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 like to go and take it 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.
43:48Right 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 of we always attend church on Sunday.
44:23It 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 rowwhere I really don't have much control over my schedule.I was in Indianapolis working on selections.
44:46So 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.There's a woman on the committee who is Catholic.She's been on the committee a number of years.She and I've had some good conversations throughout the year.Early in the week, we were at a meal.I just felt prompted to ask her.
45:10and 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 assignedand talk to whoever she needs to talk to to see if she can sneak away for a little bit to attend Mass.And she just said, what about you?
45:39what 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 toget there on time and get back.We had this conversation and I explained to her, I was able to show her the app where Icould search for a church.
46:03I 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 willing to arrange for me to partake it 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.Wow.
46:32So that was a really neat experience.And then a member of the bishop 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 takeyour sacrament? I said, yes, and I told her a little about the experience. That bonded us in a wayof having our faith that's so important to us and opened up other conversations, again,in very normal and natural ways. While I is not a full-time missionary, not a prophet serialrevelator and not someone that's being asked to proclaim things on behalf of the church. But in my
47:12everyday life, I can proclaim the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I can find normal and naturalways to connect with other people. What I have found, especially in my NCAA service, the fartherway I get from Utah, the less familiar people are with the Church of Jesus Christ of LattertySaints, and the more intrigued they are by it, there's a lot of really intriguing thingsabout our church and about our beliefs.There have been some very meaningful conversationsthat I've been able to have with peoplewhere I've been able to express my beliefs
47:42in a spirit of and a space of respectand been able to proclaim to othersthe restored gospel of Jesus Christ.And that's something I think that we can all doin our everyday lives.Wow.What a fantastic story.With you chairing that committee,
48:00there'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 conferenceand 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.
48:35President Corden said they knew almost nothing about the Church of Jesus Christand didn't understand Ella's desire to serve.She prayed repeatedly how to explain her mission call in a way that her teammates may fill 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.
49:08She 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 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.
49:36Her coach, Bob Bolden, not a member, said this.We were 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.
50:01Why don't I involve you in this?Liz, I think you're right on athletics.There are opportunities to share.I think you can maybe call it a sport light.You got the sport light on you.Spotlight.That's good.In some ways in the United States right now,
50:21it feels like sports is a little bit of a religion for some people.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 ofLatterty 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 Christof Laredi Saints to prominently promote the church to inspire others through competitive
50:50excellence 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 seeingBYU compete and hearing about a mission that somebody served or hearing about that somebody'smarried and has a child and as a father at a young age, and why, what that looks like,that they can learn what make our student athletes unique and learn why they have so many otherthings that they care about in their life beside their sport. At a time in their life, whenmost athletes are, their focus is absolutely, I'm going all in.
51:29just in my sport. And maybe academics, too. With our student athletes, there's this whole othercomponent of their family and of their faith. And we have student athletes have callingsthat are serving as Relief Society presidents. In addition to running on a nationalchampionship team, getting all A's in their classes, it's remarkable what they do. Thatintrigues people hearing about these student athletes and seeing the light in their eyesand saying, I want to understand that. That's interesting. I want to understand more about that.We had Noel here a couple of weeks ago, Noel Picus Pace, 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 Schill a decade and a half ago.
52:16This man's name is Jason Sheridan. This is who Aaron Schill 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 cattle.list. He started listening to President Hinckley, started watching BYU TV, then ended up gettinga copy of the Book of Mormon. He says, quote, I am sucked into this like it's the best thing
53:09I've ever read. He ends up being baptized. It's just incredible. What our influence can have when we doour best at our expertise, whether that be athletics or anything else, people say, what isthat. I want to know about that. And they go look into it for themselves. And then the Book of Mormontakes over. It's power. Earlier today, I was listening to the radio. I heard a replay of a portionof a Chad Lewis devotional. He gave it BYU. And I know Chad's a colleague of yours. Liz doesa similar thing. He's an associate athletic director too. Talked about sharing your light in thedifferent 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
54:01his vocabulary was religious vocabulary, but he was saying things like, I testify that Tom Bradythrows true passes, you know, so that's what it sounded like in Chinese. It was a great littleexcerpt to hear Chad Lewis talk about that normal, natural way in his circles, how he could sharein his circles, things that meant so much to him.Chad is an incredible ambassador of BYU and the Church of Jesus Christ to Bality Saints.That's actually part of our athletic department mission is that we want to help our studentathletes become ambassadors for good.Chad is a great example of one of those ambassadors for good that in his sphere of influence
54:49has helped bring more light.to the restored Church of Jesus Christof Latter-day Saintsthrough sharing his light.On a side note, John,who was it that told us the story of him?He was in like a national TVand they said,
55:04you can speak Mandarin Chinese?Yeah, we'll say something.And so he, on national TV,he recited section four of the time.Let me see.A marvelous work is about to come forthamong the children.That guy has a energy
55:17and a joy about him.I just love, Chad.It's so great.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 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 developand be great in all the ways and developing our gifts and talents. That includes athletics, that includescareer pursuits, that includes hobbies. He can use us in more ways when we are excellent at
56:14what we do. Our sphere of influence can grow. We can have the greatest student athletes on planetearth that are so good and so kind and have testimonies of the gospel. But if we don't competeat a high level to win, then the world won't be watching. The world is watching because our teams arewinning because our student athletes and our coaches are exceptional at what they do. That then helpsprovide the platform to give one of the big reasons why our student athletes and coaches aresuccessful and why they're different is because of our knowledge of the restored gospel of JesusChrist. And it really is that way with a lot of our areas of expertise. If we want to proclaim thegospel using that area, you'd better be excellent in that area, no matter what it is. That message
57:02speaks for itself, especially at BYU, Liz, where we decide, hey, we're going to do things differentlythan most universities. It better work. Kind of like Daniel's saying, no, I'm not going to eat the king'smeet. I'm going to do it this way and it works. It ends up being better. It better work or it doesn'tlook good as a message, right? We believe that really is our competitive advantage. That's ourcompetitive advantage is that we do things differently, that we do things aligned with ourprofits here's 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. I work forBYU as Liz does. I don't want to come out here saying BYU is perfect. We're not. It's not.
57:43But these are good kids who are really trying to help BYU in its mission.They're young, and they are wonderful.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.Brigham Young said once,it is the duty of a saint of God to gain all the influence.
58:13influence 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 ofinfluence. For some of us, that's our home. For some, it's our neighborhood. For some, it'sour work, community, social media, whatever that sphere is. But how are we within our sphereof influence letting our light shine? Like that story you shared, Hank, of SisterPope opening her mission call at Ohio University, wherever you are. That's an influence for good.This conversation leads 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.
59:00But 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 hiswork. 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. And he gets to explain the wonderful role of a bishop. I love theway you took this. This proclamation with a loud proclamation. I'd never heard that quote fromBrigham Young. Get as much influence as you can and use it. Beautiful. Liz, we've had you for a whileand we're only seven verses in.What should we do next?Well, don't worry, there's only like 140 verses.
59:48So we'll be here for five or six hours.No, I'm kidding.I would love for us next to talk about the Naboo 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?You got it.All right, this is 124 verse 22.
01:00:09let my servant George, and that's George Miller from verse 20, and my servant Lyman, Lyman White,and my servant John Snyder and others build a house into my name, such as one as my servantJoseph shall show unto them upon the place which he shall show unto them also, and it shall be for ahouse for boarding, a house that strangers may come from afar to lodge therein. Therefore, let it bea good house, worthy of all acceptation, that the weary traveler may find health andsafety 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 shallbe appointed unto it shall not suffer any pollution to come upon it, it shall be holy, or the Lord
01:00:56your God will not dwell therein. I love it. We're going to build a hotel. So we're going to builda hotel in Abu for the weary traveler. What stands out to me about this? We're going to talk a little bitlater 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 and 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.
01:01:37It's about others as well.My mom growing up there 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 like 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, but 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 ownhomes here the nabu house having a place where visitors weary travelers can come and feel like they'reat home that they are safe that they are welcomed that they can contemplate the important things
01:02:27of the world in a place where they can be taken care of that's beautiful to think that that isimportant enough to the Lord that there really was equal work and effort put into building upthe Navu house in addition to the temple until the very end where it looked like they wouldn'tbe able to complete both and then the focus turned to the temple. But there was equal importanceput on both of those dwellings. Not every guest that comes to today Salt Lake City can go throughthe temple, but can we have a place for them where they feel at home?Temple requires or recommended things, but they can come.They can feel safe, like you said.
01:03:08It's a really interesting thought.I found a statement from Joseph Smith where he said,it is important that the Navu House should be finished,that we may have a suitable place wherein to entertain the great ones of the earthand teach them the truth.It's a place where we have a chance to share what we're all about.This almost feels like a how to win friends and influence people in this section.When people come visit Navu have a wonderful place for them to come and sit,
01:03:36then 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 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 Navu House, but they're treated very well.
01:04:05Of course, we want to beat them, but other than that, we want to treat them really well.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.There are 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 or people come and they know that theirhumanity is going to be respected. Even in the way that we treat the competition, the way we treattheir fans, we want it to be a place that we all can enjoy watching good competition and then
01:05:09be friends afterward. Yeah. And I know that BYU TV even makes a movie, I think, about somebodyfrom the opposing universityat famous alumni or athleteor something. It makes a feature filmfor them to honor and respectthem. And I thought, wow, look at that. That's prettygood. To that point as well,when we play on the road,
01:05:31we have service projectsfor the BYU alumni to helpthe communities where we are goingto visit. Trying tobe goodcommunity members that way as we entera community to help build that communityas well. So there are
01:05:47those things that make us stand out and be different. I think of our opportunity as well, and Ilive 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-monthopen house for the Salt Lake Temple. While I don't know if there are plans to build anyhotels necessarily, but there certainly are a lot of plans with the visitor centers that arebeing thought through, wanting to be a place where, when the world comes and has an opportunityto walk through that temple before it's dedicated, to be able to learn and ponder the importantthings in life, and to feel welcome and to feel safe, and to be able to learn more about
01:06:35what we do in the House of the Lord. Whether we live near Salt Lake City or not, what are wedoing to create that feeling of hospitality for those that visit. We say visitors welcome on ourbuildings. It's one thing to put it up on a sign. It's another thing for people to feel it when theystep 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 to the top? What's interesting is it sounds like lots of people are going to come toNavu. 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 Navu? They are welcomed there.
01:07:29The Lord has a long game in mind here when he says, let's bring the weary traveler to Navu.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 toand 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 ordinancesthat were revealed, the Nabu Temple was going to be different than the Kirtland Temple
01:08:07in terms of what would take place and happen there.Liz and John, wouldn't you both be just going, again, right?Yeah, let's do this again.We tried to build one independence, couldn't.We finished one in Kirtland.Far west, we started again.Lord was like, let's do it again.This is so important to him.
01:08:32I may be jumping ahead, but when you walk down the Trail of Hope,the road that you're walking down to go to the Mississippi to leave,I think of them turning back and seeing that temple, this incredible amount of sacrificeand to build that and having to walk away from it.They had to leave Cortland.Now they're here.They've tried far west.Wow.
01:08:58Let's do it again.Makes my trial seem a little easier when I think of building things and walking away from like that.John, would you mind reading verse 40?Yes, section 124.verse 40. And verily, I say unto you, let this house be built unto my name, that I may revealmine ordinances therein unto my people. This again is a little bit different than theKirtland Temple. There are these ordinances revealed, including baptisms for the dead. The Lordactually gave them a time period where it was acceptable to do baptism for the dead outside
01:09:36of the temple, a temporary time, but then said that he had a lot of an amount of time where theyneed 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 ideathat we can serve as proxy, is one of those tender doctrines, one that I should,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 BasketballCommittee. I'd never been to Philadelphia. When I got there, the hotel was literally across thestreet from the temple. I looked up the schedule to see and figured out I would be able to do a temple
01:10:29session while I was there. And I had a friend that came from New York to meet me, and so it was going to bea great thing. Well, one night, as a committee, we were driving to dinner. We drive right pastthe 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 timeswhere I've realized I'm explaining something that I know in my heart, but I haven't maybeverbalized in quite that way before. So I found myself explaining saying, temples are houses
01:11:14of the Lord. We make covenants at baptism. Then when we are older, we can choose to makeadditional covenants with God that bind us closer to him and receive ordinances. I told themthat I did that when I was 25 years old. Now every time I go back, I am able to participateas 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 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 thoseordinances. I actually showed them the name who I would be serving as proxy for the next day,
01:12:01showed him how we were connected. As I was explaining this, a member of the committee was very intriguedby that. That's really interesting, the way that you would be connected. Then I went on to talkabout ceilings that really to seal the whole human family together. There was another member of theNCA that I was speaking with about this who really appreciated that point of doctrine of oursthat we would be doing something on behalf of our ancestorsthat they couldn't do for themselves,our ancestors that have done so much for us.I explained that I really have pioneered ancestry
01:12:43kind of all over my family treeand the stories of faith and sacrificeand everything that they sacrificed in their timethat now has allowed me to be born in the covenantand had these opportunities of churches and templesin the Book of Mormonand prophets, Sears, and Revelators, because of their sacrifice, but that's a small way that Ican pay them back, is to do something for them that they couldn't do for themselves. And for my
01:13:08friend from the NCAA, that was so meaningful to her and very tender for her. She is someone thatcares deeply about us honoring the generations before and honoring the earth and the land on whichwe live. For her, that felt like great respect and a way to honor our ancestors was to serve themin this way through ancestral baptism. Navu is where that all started to think that we continue to havethat opportunity and that responsibility. But also, what an incredible double blessing that when wego to the house of the Lord, we not only are providing an opportunity for our deceased ancestors. So there's ablessing there, but we have the opportunity to be reminded of our covenants. It's this sort of doublebonus. And I love that that's how the gospel of Jesus Christ is set up and the plan of salvation
01:14:07and exaltation is set up, is that we all need each other. And when we help each other, we actuallyget 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.Coming up in part two.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.
01:14:40Teleprompters, 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.
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