Follow Him: A Come, Follow Me Podcast - What Would You Give to Get There? • followHIM Favorites • September 14-20 • Come Follow Me

Episode Date: September 14, 2026

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Welcome to Follow Him favorites. This is where John and I share a single story to go with each week's Come Follow Me lesson. John, we are in the opening chapters of Isaiah, and you have a story. I do. Hank, have you ever felt like jumping for joy before? Sure, I guess. Have you ever felt like jumping for joy on a mission? That never happened to me, no. Although I did have good days.

I had good days. Around the world, what do you think is the mission rule for, what time to go to bed. Oh, I know this. When I was missionary and my son is a missionary, it's 10.30 p.m. in bed. I don't know if there's a rule about jumping for joy. This is what happened, Hank. In 2016, President Monton announced four new temples and some really fun things happened around the world. For example, we have some sense of the rejoicing, Elder Cook said, that is going on in Kito, Ecuador, Harare, Zimbabwe, Belin, Brazil, Lima, Peru, with both members and missionaries. Based on what happened in Bangkok Thailand a year ago,

Sister Shelley Sr., wife of then president of the Thailand Bangkok mission, David Sr., emailed family and friends to say. After she and her husband had listened to President Monson announced that temple, there had been 12 sleepless hours, lots of tears and happiness. Then they called a mission assistance at 11.30 p.m. and informed then. The assistants called all the missions at 1130, The report came back, the whole mission was awake in the middle of the night and jumping on their beds. So then Sister Senior said, please don't tell the missionary department.

They would be so upset. Yeah, we got to make a new rule about jumping on the bed. The deep spiritual response of the members in Thailand was strong. I'm confident there had been spiritual preparations in hearts and homes and manifestations from heaven preparing the saints, where these nearly announced temples will be located. Sister Sr. had some special mirrors made. This is a cool idea for her personal teaching, especially with the sisters.

There was the outline of a temple etched in the mirror with the words, see yourself in the temple. As people gazed into the mirror, they saw themselves in the temple. And the seniors taught the investigators and members to picture themselves in the temple and make the necessary lifestyle changes to meet this school.

My challenge this morning, Elder Cook said, is for each of us wherever we are to see ourselves in the temple. President Monson has stated, Until you've entered the House of the Lord and received all the blessings which await you there, you have not obtained everything the church has to offer. The all-important and crowning blessings of membership of the church are those blessings which we receive in the temples of God. Despite the lack of righteousness in the world today, we live in a sacred holy time. Elder Cook said, prophets with loving and longing hearts have described our day for centuries. Isaiah 2.2 shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house should be

established in the top of the mountains, and should be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. That is a symbol for the temple. So Hank, even if it's 11.30, I guess you could jump on the bed. Jumping on the bed with joy. I can't wait to see the new rules. coming out. No more elders jumping on the bed. Well, I have a temple story to match yours. You know who Vi Sikahama is. I do.

General Authority. NFL football player, a TV anchor, really wonderful man. Do you know that he was five years old when he first went to the temple? His family lived in Tonga, but the closest temple was in Hamilton, New Zealand. Hamilton, New Zealand.

Okay, John, this is the part I want you to hear. His parents, as soon as they were married in 1961, started saving money to go to the temple. Now, John, I might have to do that. I might have to say, okay, I'm going to go to the temple this Thursday. I better have enough gas to get there. I think it would take me a gallon of gas. Here we go. They saved for six years to go to the temple. They sold corn, melons, yams, even five-year-old vie had a job sorting melons by size to sell them. In fact, Vai says his father peeled the wooden siding off of their own house to sell so they could get to the temple. They take a boat from Tonga to Fiji, a bus across Fiji, a plane to Auckland, New Zealand, then another bus to Hamilton,

traveling with about 100 saints led by John Groberg, Koli Poki himself, Vai remembers walking into the ceiling room and seeing his parents in white, neither. at the altar. But John, they only had enough money to get there. They actually had to go back to work in New Zealand to get home. His father sheared sheep for three months to get back, something he did not know how to do. Six years to save to go to the temple and three months to earn enough to return home. Vi says, you know, someone might criticize them and say, oh, that was too much. Vye says, we had been sealed. And he says, this story's not unique. It was happening all over Fiji and Samoa, Maori people, all up and down the Pacific. And you might say, well, why would the Lord

want them to do that? John, look at your story. Look at mine. This is what the temple does to people. It's not necessarily exactly what happens in the temple, but what happens outside the temple when you are preparing and excited for it? Like, what happens to that family when they work together for years? What happens to their bond? Man, the Lord's pretty amazing. Both of these stories, John make me think, how do I feel about attending the temple? Yeah, that's exactly what I'm thinking right now. I should be jumping up and down, be willing to do what's necessary to get my family there and get those blessings. I can rearrange my schedule.

Yeah, I can share sheep. If I'm looking at these other saints, I should gain some inspiration. Not guilt. We don't want anybody to say, hey, pack your bags. We're going on a guilt trip. That's not what this is about. but it's about saying maybe they see something I'm not seeing or I once saw and now I don't. Yeah, well put.

Yeah, I love it. We hope you'll join us on our full podcast. It's called Follow Him. You can get it wherever you get any podcast. We're with Dr. Jeff Chadwick this week. Not only does he know Isaiah, he can read Isaiah in its original Hebrew. He's going to show you some things you've never seen before. John and I are blown away by it.

Then come back here next week. We'll do another Follow Him favorites.