followHIM - Doctrine & Covenants 30-36 Part 1 • Bro. Mark Beecher • April 7 - 13 • Come Follow Me

Episode Date: April 2, 2025

Should we set goals dependent on others’ agency? Mark Beecher explores the early missionary efforts of the Church and the Book of Mormon’s role in personal conversion.SHOW NOTES/TRANSCRIPTSEnglish: https://tinyurl.com/podcastDC215ENFrench: https://tinyurl.com/podcastDC215FRGerman: https://tinyurl.com/podcastDC215DEPortuguese: https://tinyurl.com/podcastDC215PTSpanish: https://tinyurl.com/podcastDC215ESYOUTUBEhttps://youtu.be/p_GdSb_OoQIALL EPISODES/SHOW NOTESfollowHIM website: https://www.followHIMpodcast.comFREE PDF DOWNLOADS OF followHIM QUOTE BOOKSNew Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastNTBookOld Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastOTBookWEEKLY NEWSLETTERhttps://tinyurl.com/followHIMnewsletterSOCIAL MEDIAInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followHIMpodcastFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastTIMECODE00:00 - Part 1 - Brother Mark Beecher03:02 St. Louis, Here we come!04:33 Bio07:46 Come, Follow Me Manual09:50 Background of Section 3011:15 D&C 30:1-2 - David’s 5 worries14:49 Who are you listening to?17:41 D&C 30:5-11 - Guide for covenant relationships20:11 D&C 31 - A Primary song about Thomas B. Marsh23:22 Background of Thomas B. Marsh27:01 D&C 31:3-5 - Missionary favorites29:23 Being called to be Missionary Leaders32:43 Callback to the “Million Dollar Missionary”36:13 A converted heart and the Book of Mormon38:45 Enduring conversion42:31 A mission story and father’s promise46:26 D&C 31:9-12 - Warnings to Thomas (and us)48:59 The wisdom of Stephen Harper50:32 D&C 31:3 - “Rejoice, the  hour of your mission is come”54:27 When we change souls into just baptisms!56:22 Preach My Gospel: Chapter 158:52  A dirty, little Irish kid1:01:05 The Lord plays the long game1:04:39 The Karate Kid Principle1:08:37 The mission that changed the world (just not at first)1:11:16 A way provided1:14:23 - End of Part I - Brother Mark BeecherThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Cofounder, Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsAmelia Kabwika : Portuguese TranscriptsHeather Barlow: Communications Director"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com

Coming up in this episode on Follow Him. And we got an email from Elder Patrick Kieran's secretary asking us to come in. It was sacred moments. I don't want to share anything that I ought not to. I'll share this portion. There's a lot of questions to be asked and a lot of thinking. Elder Kieran, I think we've all immediately fallen in love with him as an apostle. I mean we just adore him and his messages that he's given us already about the Church for Joy and and God is in relentless pursuit of you. And as I just sat in his office and my wife and I were going through these interview questions

he paused and he just said, I believe you know where we are in the interview process. Would you like me to continue or would you like a moment? Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of Follow Him. My name is Hank Smith, I am your host and I'm here with John, by the way, who has, John, accepted the gospel with singleness of heart? That's Doctrine and Covenants 36 verse seven. Describes you perfectly, John. I fulfilled all of my eligibility as a young single adult.

I did. Yes. And then entered the transfer portal and became a mid single. Well, John, you can be married and still embrace the gospel with singleness of heart. Oh, I like that. Yeah. Like single-minded, single-eyed. John, we are joined by our good friend, Mark Beecher today. A prolific teacher has done so much in his career. Welcome, Mark.

Thank you. It's great to be here with you too. This is exciting. The church is now well established. We're going to hit the road. We are going to go do some missionary work. So when you think of early missionary work, John, what do you think of? One of the things that's so inspiring to me is that these names that we know so well, like partly P. Pratt, Thomas B. Marsh and stuff, they're called on missions and they, what was it? He read 16 pages of the Book of Mormon and that was enough.

And how little they knew, but they were so filled with the spirit that they were willing to travel with knee deep in snow and everywhere and go on these missions. There was little missions happening, but this first big mission from Peter Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. Pratt, that's a ways away. It's like going to the moon.

I mean, it is so far away. Mark, as you've looked at these sections, where do you wanna go? What are you seeing? Thanks, Hank. There's so many, as you mentioned, early missionaries of the church, early names that we get exposed to here for the first time.

To be able to see them learn as they begin to follow the directions of the Savior to share the gospel. There's just such great, great content here. They're young and an experienced and I really think it gives all of us so much hope that we can accomplish whatever the Lord wants us to be able to accomplish. We all have daunting tasks in front of us. There's a lot of examples here that we can focus on today. And you do, you have a big daunting task in front of you as well. Wow.

Thanks for bringing that up. It's true. Yeah. My wife and I have been called to serve as mission leaders in St. Louis, Missouri. We're going to be heading out here in June and it feels pretty big. It really does. Yeah.

So all of our listeners out there in St. Louis, I bet we have a few. Make sure you welcome the Beechers when they join you pretty soon. John, quick story for you. I was speaking for a group of superintendents, school superintendents in St. George. I'm coming back up here to Provo.

I was feeling pretty good about myself. Haven't you done that, John? Like, oh, today is a good day. When my 10 year old truck that I love, but it is old, broke down on I-15. And it's been a but it is old broke down on i-15 and it's been a long time since I broke down on i-15. I ended up limping into Perowen, Utah and I just have to do a shout out John to Mark and Melinda Berg of Perowen, Utah who were kind enough to say, what's the problem here? I said, I don't know. Mark, just incredible guy, got under my truck and started

looking at it and he told me what was wrong. We took it over to a mechanic and these two, John, they drove me towards my wife who was coming down to pick me up. And so Mark and Melinda, thank you for taking this stranger in your car. It was really kind. I just have to say thank you. John, in fact, we were recording the next day, and I thought, I'm not gonna be there. I'm gonna have to record from Parowan. But I made it back because of Mark and Melinda Berg. Wow. So many good people out there.

John, Brother Beacher has not been with us before on the podcast. You and I have been friends with Mark for a long time. In fact, your wife has been friends with Mark for a long time. In fact, your wife has been friends with Mark for a long time. So can you give a little introduction to our listeners? Yes, and thanks for saying that, Hank. My wife, Kim, had seminary at Olympus High School, and Brother Beecher was one of her teachers. She speaks so highly of you to this day. Thanks for having that impact, and she was excited you'd be on today.

That's very kind and also very dating. Thank you. Yeah, that was a while ago. Brother Beecher grew up in southeastern Idaho. He served a Navajo speaking mission. And Hank, I don't know about you, but how often have you heard Navajo Finnish and I think Mandarin, some of the hardest languages to learn. Mark speaks Navajo, served in Arizona on his mission. Brother Beecher has degrees from Brigham Young University and the University of Utah. He spent his career teaching seminary for 37 years, retired a couple of years ago as a region director. He's worked with EFY and FSY and Education Week and he's now teaching third grade at American Heritage School in America. Wow. Shout out to my third graders at American Heritage. American Heritage School. He and his wife Kim have been married 39 years.

They have five children and 10 soon to be 12 grandchildren. And Hank, as you mentioned, soon to be a mission leader in St. Louis. That has a special place in my heart because my mission president, still alive, lives in St. Louis and has, Memlo Smith has had an impact on St. Louis, helping to get the land for the temple and some other things there. So we're just really glad to have you, Brother Beecher. It's great to join you today and all the listeners. Yeah, and I have to add one more thing. Mark and Rob Eaton, another guest that we've had on the podcast, wrote a book years ago called Becoming Great Gospel Teachers. And I have the book and the CD that really blessed my teaching, Mark and Rob. So I really want to thank you for that contribution. Very kind of you.

Mark, let's let you just do a quick message. Talk to the Saints in St. Louis. What would you say? They're going to greet you here in a couple months. Wow. I'll start with this. We have had an opportunity, my wife and I, to have a couple Zoom conversations with the current mission leaders there, present Sister McKay, and I'll just never forget at the end of that first conversation where they said,

we will ask the missionaries to begin to pray for you. It just hit me like so hard. And I've got to tell you, I've been feeling those prayers. We were blessed to have a niece who served in St. Louis in this mission. She just returned about a year ago. She knows the McKays and she just said, they are the finest Saints you'll ever meet anywhere. We're just thrilled to be able to have this opportunity to go to St. Louis. I've never been there. I've never seen the Arch. I've never done anything in that area. I've been to the church history sites. They're just outside the mission boundaries. But my goodness, it's an incredible blessing to be able to be

there and to meet these Saints and to rub shoulders with amazing people like they are. I bet they're looking forward to it. I bet it's fun to every three years get a new mission president and welcome them to the area. Mark, let's get started here. I'm going to read from the Come Follow Me manual and then let's get into these sections and talk about missionary work. It starts this way.

Parley P. Pratt had been a member of the church for about a month when he was called into the wilderness to preach the gospel. Thomas B. Marsh had been a member for even less time than that when he was told, the hour of your mission is come. Orson Pratt, Edward Partridge, and many others had likewise barely been baptized when their mission calls came. Perhaps there's a lesson in this pattern for us today. If you know enough to accept the restored gospel by baptism, you know enough to share it with others. Of course, we always want to increase our gospel knowledge, but God has never hesitated to call upon the unlearned to preach His gospel.

In fact, He invites all of us, open your mouth to declare My gospel. And we do that best not through our own wisdom and experience, but by the power of the Spirit." Oh, I love it. Man, these missionaries, can you imagine? You've been a member of the church for a whole week. Time to go on a mission. So Mark, with that, where do you want to go from here? It's not too different, honestly. My wife and I have had the opportunity to serve at the Missionary Training Center where I was branch president there for three years-ish.

Those missionaries, they walk in, and many of them have just decided, literally within the last couple of months, I'm going to go on a mission. And to watch them as they come in, I listened to section four that you taught, if you have desires to serve God, you're called to the word just to take that that desire and wow, the Lord magnifies that and to watch them change in

just a matter of a few days, most from there about 12, 13 days at the MTC, if they're speaking English and to watch them change. It was a phenomenal experience to watch this literally hundreds of times where they just had only a desire to serve and the Lord said, that's enough. I can take it and I can work with it. That's awesome. Do we need to catch everybody up in the history? Yeah, let's do take a few minutes here as we start section 30. These sections are a great focus on missionary work. Section 30 begins with originally was three revelations, right? David Whitmer, Peter Whitmer, John Whitmer. I think your section heading says by the time 1835 edition came around they were all combined into one. Sister Ulrich that you had when you did

sections 12 to 17 covered section 15 and 16 and just did a beautiful job teaching these sections. June of 1829 they're told that the most important thing you can do is to declare repentance unto this generation. And I heard you all expound on repentance and the beauty of it. And it seems that now we get to section 30, it's just a few months later, they're not doing that. They've not been following the directive the way they ought to have done. And so there's some correction from the Lord, which he's kind enough and doesn't pull any punches to give us. But we need that kind of correction to put us on the right track.

Little divine discontent, I think it's been called. It seems that as we begin section 30, that Hiram Page from back in section 28 has had quite an influence and has persuaded a little bit of David Whitmer's direction and focus. And so the Lord wants David and all of us to know about the problem of fearing man and not relying on the strength of the Lord and having our minds more on things of the Earth than on the Savior. Valuable counsel here.

Could we look at verses 1 and 2 of section 30? Absolutely. Behold, I say unto you, David, that you have feared man and have not relied on me for strength as you ought. But your mind has been on the things of the earth more than on the things of me your Maker, and the ministry whereunto you have been called, and you have not given heed unto my Spirit and to those who are set over you, but have been persuaded by those whom I have not commanded. In my scriptures, I have that broken down into these five things. One, you've feared man. Two, you've not relied on me for strength as you ought.

Three, your mind's been on the things of the earth more than on things of me. Four, you've not given heed to my spirit and what you've been called to do and to those who are set over you. And five, you've been persuaded by those that I've not commanded. As I look at that, I have to admit that it's something that I think all of us can fall into in a hurry. I mean, when you read those verses, you have to go, is he talking to me? That's exactly what I thought today. I'm going to share with a verse from the Book of Mormon. It's kind of one of my new favorite verses, Telemann chapter 4 verse 13 says this, and because of this, their great wickedness and

their boasting in their own strength, they were left in their own strength. That's a pretty sobering thought. Sometimes if you think I can just go it alone, and I think the Lord says, well, then go it alone and see how that works. The Lord's just saying, you've not relied on me the way that you ought to have done. I just find myself on a Sunday very committed to keeping my covenants. And as the week goes on, I get weighed down with the things of the world. And it's just not too far distant from who I am that I've got to be more intent on keeping my covenants. And I really think that's why President Nelson and his incredible messages on keeping covenants is just so pertinent

to all of us today. It's so funny that all three of us looked at verse two and went, that's me sometimes. I've lost sleep over financial concerns. I don't think I've lost sleep over things that I probably should lose sleep over, right? But it's easy to do that. I like this reminder. I think throughout the rest of my life I will need constant reminders. What did you say at the beginning Hank? Singleness to keep our eyes single to one thing. There's other things we've got to do on this temporal earth to take care of our families and our homes and house payments and everything. I'm reading this going, that's me. When I read it, I thought of the parable of the sower, where the Lord says, hey, the soil is good, but there's just too many other things competing. You've got weeds in there. You've got weeds in there.

It looks like you don't have time for me in this verse. The things of this earth, the persuasions of those who I've not commanded. You've got a good heart, David. You got a good heart, Hank, but you're not weeding your life. You've got to get some of that other stuff out of there. And then John, this last part,

you've been persuaded by those who am I have not commanded. Remind me of how Sherry put this last year. We talked about profits. She talked about how, think of all the people that you'd rather take advice from. John, can you remind me of that? I know you know it better than me. It was kind of a, who would you rather have

in charge of your life? You mean, you're looking at social media influencers, and I loved her little statement that, why not go to sources that only speak truth? There's so many that are out there that that might be true. There's a chance that's accurate, maybe. What if we went to sources that only speak truth? And yeah, seriously, who else would you rather have

in charge of your life than the influence of the Holy Ghost, the giving heed to the Spirit? Listen to this quote, My dear friends, this is Sherry, to whom do you listen? Where does the living prophet rank in the list of those you turn to for advice? How many blind guides whose myopic vision of life is no better than yours? Are you following on podcasts and TikTok? Don't let blind guides obscure your vision of seers who see around corners. I remember she talked about most every other person who has a voice wants something from you. Has an agenda.

Wants your money, wants your likes. The prophets, she said, they have one goal in mind, to bless your life. We often are persuaded by those who God has not called. So many great things there. Should we just say one more thing about the timing of this section as well? In 1829, these men were baptized, and now they are. Things have changed for them. So the Lord's saying, I'm expecting a little more from you. You've got to up your game just a little bit. This portion where we think about the covenant relationship that we have, I've been just completely blown away with President Nelson's talk that he gave. It's recorded in the October, 2022, Liahona. It's not a general conference. He gave it to leaders.

It's called the everlasting covenant. It's one of the most fabulous talks on covenants that I think we'll ever read. I'm just going to quote one paragraph from that talk. Once you and I have made a covenant with God, our relationship with him becomes much closer than before our covenant. Now we are bound together. Because of our covenant with God, he will never tire in his efforts to help us, and we will never exhaust his merciful patience with us. Each of us has a special place in God's heart. He has high hopes for us." This is so comforting to me to think about that with how the Lord feels about us in the covenant relationship. I'm trying to

change because of statements like that and others I've heard recently, I'm trying to in my mind not think of a covenant as a contract, but think of it as a relationship. Because you heard that phrase covenant relationship that's alive and that's living in a relationship involves loyalty. And a relationship means I have access to that other party's strengths. And that's so helpful to realize I'm weak. I'm not strong, but the savior is strong. The savior's maybe strong where I'm not. And if I have a covenant relationship with him, I have access to that strength.

Love that John section 84, where it talks about the oath and covenant of the priesthood, it starts with, for whoso is faithful. And oftentimes we think of that faithful as, oh, I better be more righteous. I need to obey better. But think of it instead, like you've just described it, John, faithful, like a spouse, to be loyal, to be true, to be committed to them. I think that's what the Lord's speaking of, is that we put him preeminent in our lives, even though we are not very righteous, even though we continually make mistakes, but my heart is given to him, I'm loyal to him, 100%. Sounds like that in verse 2, doesn't it? You could take this as the Lord is upset with David for not doing something where he might be saying, David, I want to bless you.

I want you to give heed to my spirit. I want your mind on the things of me so I can give you all that I want to give you. I've got all these blessings in store for you. Let me hand them to you. That's right. Verse five, that phrase to Peter Whitmer, fear not. Verse eight, be diligent in keeping my commandments. Verse 11, with all your soul, not fearing what man can do. I mean, this theme really carries throughout this section

of giving yourself over completely, of not being too concerned about the moment, but instead being able to have an eternal perspective and to keep it with us all times. The Lord wants you to have that and He'll magnify you as you keep Him at the forefront of your mind and your efforts. I noticed in verse 11, a little bit of a hint

to Peter Whitmer, your whole labor shall be in Zion. I don't think he knows, that's actually where he's gonna end up on this mission. Close to where you're headed on your mission, Mark. Close to where we're going, that's right. That's right. Your whole labor shall be in Zion. I'm sure Peter Whitmer's going, oh, that sounds great. And the Lord's going, you don't know actually. You don't know what that means.

But you will. Yeah. Yeah, verse 11 again. The scriptures use such strong words. Can you imagine if it said, and most of your labor shall be in Zion? No, it's your whole labor and labor with a high percentage of your soul. No, with all your soul. It reminds me, go back to section four, with all your heart, might, mind, and strength and how if you only with half your heart, half your mind, half your strength, then you'll stand half blameless. So it's an all in type of a message there, isn't it?

Really is. It makes me feel like I need to step it up when I read it. Yeah. Should we do section 31? Let's do it. Thomas B. Marsh, he was something. He's one of the great characters, I think, in all the scriptures. I really do appreciate Thomas B. Marsh.

He'd had some amazing opportunities. If he'd kind of continue in the direction he was going, we'd probably have to rewrite a little primary hymn. This is why I'm not a primary hymn writer. Latter-day Prophets are Kind Not Harsh, Joseph Smith and Thomas B. Marsh. He would have been number two. He was the president of the Quorum of the Twelve for a portion of his time. Instead of a Y on the mountain, there'd be this big M, right? Up there in Provo. That's right.

I think most people are familiar with the story of the strippings of milk that his wife was involved in. And I heard on one of your podcasts earlier this year, Hank, when you told the story of one of your colleagues that was funny, but probably wanted to forget that story. It wasn't a great moment for him. There's plenty of stories that I don't really don't want to have retold about me. This is maybe one that where we sometimes dwell a little

bit much on Tom Spiehmarsh and his wife and some mistakes that he made along the way, but I love him in so many ways because of his, his, his, his, his on Thomas B. Marsh and his wife and some mistakes that he made along the way. But I love him in so many ways because of his diligence. He accepted some really hard assignments. He did a good job with them. Yes, he had some problems, but he dies in the faith. Like most of these characters, we're gonna study it.

He's got some feelings, he's got some pride. The Lord's gonna give some pretty strong warnings to him in his life. For me, it gives me hope to say, some of these more gray characters in church history might sometimes be a little bit more like I am day to day. I know that I can be able to still have fine favor with the Lord and accomplish his purposes as frail and foolish as I can be from time to time. Mark, I think that is such an important principle and I hadn't even thought of it, but we do sometimes hang on to people's worst moments and

perpetuate those stories. Just a couple of weeks ago, Sister Ford was here, John. She said she learned this from Dr. Melissa in a way, but I love how Sister Ford related it that redeeming the dead in part can be saying good about them, talking good about them, not just doing their temple work, redeeming maybe some of the mistakes they've made. I think Mark showed us how to do that. What are we going to focus on when we think of someone? The idea of redeeming their reputation. The other night our family was trying to do our come follow me and we're talking about section 19. Of course, Martin Harris. Oh, what do we remember about him? We talked about, listen, this whole thing with the lost and Garrett Dirkmaat would say stolen manuscript happened before he was baptized.

Well, do we believe in baptism for the remission of sins? Or don't we extend some grace to these people, like we would like grace extended to us? Yeah. Mark, isn't there a reason that Thomas B. Marsh is called to be the first president of the 12th? Yes, I think there's some great reasoning behind this. Maybe just a little bit of background on Thomas B. Marsh, which I have to insert here. Four years ago on your podcast, the person who covered these sections was Robert B. Millett.

What are you thinking having me come here when Robert Millett did them four years ago? I could never fill his shoes. He's incredible. Yeah. Brother Millett is out in Southern Virginia University now. We don't know if he's listening, but Bob, we love you. We sure do, Brother Millett. Thank you. Thomas B. Marsh, he's born in 1799 or 1800, depending on what you read. He runs away from home at the age of 14, supports himself doing various odd jobs until he's married in 1820. And then he moves to Boston and joins the Methodist Church.

Like most of these people that we'll talk about today, they have a very strong spiritual inclination to try to figure out what does the Lord want for them and how can they go about it and many of them join other churches and have other pathways to get to the restored gospel. He still feels unsettled. He's been a printer's apprentice. He goes to these different churches. None of them just seemed to be preaching the gospel though that he found in the Bible. He had this belief that there would be a new church that would arise that would teach the restored truth. And so in 1829 Thomas felt led by the Spirit to travel hundreds of miles from his home from Boston to western New York. He stays in the area about three months before returning toward home, uncertain why he traveled so far. I just love that you know that he's just going all right I thought this is what I should do and maybe, maybe, maybe not. And then at a stop along

the way, he has a host that he stays with that asks him if he's heard of Joseph Smith's golden Bible. And Thomas told the woman that he had not, and then he felt compelled to learn more. She connected him to Martin Harris, undirected into Palmyra. And that's when Thomas B. Marsh goes there, right? And he goes and he actually finds Martin at Grandin's print shop. And not only there, but Oliver Cowdery is there as well. And the printer hands him the 16 pages of the book. If you've been to Grandin's press, there's this big sheet of 16 pages. So he gets handed these 16 pages of the Book of Mormon. And that's what he reads and that's what he joins

the church with. He's reading 16 pages of the Book of Mormon and shares them with his wife and she reads the pages and she believes they're the Word of God as well. And Thomas is baptized September of 1830. The power of the Book of Mormon just so amazing to me to see this and to be able to feel this incredible journey that he took to get his early start in the church. It's kind of also worth to note Elizabeth's story. Her determination grew out of her conversion. She believed the Book of Mormon was the Word of God, but she wasn't baptized right away. And after giving birth to a son in Palmyra, she asked the Lord for a witness if the gospel was true. And a short time later, she received that testimony and she joined the church. This quote from her I think is powerful as well.

There was a great change taking place with me, both in body and mind. I felt a desire to be thankful for what I had received and to still look for more." I think that's pretty awesome that they both start off this way right with enough to kind of step ahead but they're going to keep looking for more. It's enough to get me started but I've got to continue to press forward and keep going. Thus, we get this revelation in section 31 for Thomas where he's going to get more specific direction for him and his early faith since he's going to be asked to go out and to serve. Section 31 as it opens, verses 3, 4 and 5 might be some of the most frequently quoted

scriptures for all missionaries in this dispensation. We use them at the MTC frequently with missionaries. I know young missionaries as they go out. There's some power there. Hank, do you want to read 3, 4, and 5, and then let's just talk together about those verses and what they seem to give to us for all missionaries and really all of us as we have a work to perform in the Lord's kingdom. You got it.

Section 31, 3, 4, and 5. 1. Lift up your heart and rejoice, for the hour of your mission has come, and your tongue shall be loosed, and you shall declare glad tidings of great joy unto this generation. You shall declare the things which have been revealed to my servant Joseph Smith, Jr. You shall begin to preach from this time forth, yea, to reap in the field which is white, all ready to be burned. Therefore thrust in your sickle with all your soul, and your sins are forgiven you, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your back, for the laborer is worthy of his

hire, wherefore your family shall live." I have always loved verse 3. Now when I look back, I think more of that time. I don't think there's a day that goes by that I don't at some point reflect on something on my full-time mission to the Philippines. I more and more understand, hey, rejoice, the hour of your mission has come and it feels like an hour, it goes by so fast. I have a son who's just come home, Hank has a son who's just been called. And I think we've been thinking a lot about that, haven't we Hank? This little portion of your life where you get to devote full time to that. Mm-hmm. As I read these verses, Mark, I thought of how much missionary work blesses the missionary. I think it was President Hinckley who said, what appears to be a sacrifice ends up being an investment

that pays you dividends for the rest of your life. As the Lord talks about it here, there's not a lot about the people you're going to bring in, but what's going to happen to you as a missionary. You will be laid in with sheaves upon your back. The laborer is worthy of his hire. Your family shall live. Just blessings for the missionary.

Wow. I love all that. You are both just so spot on, I think. My wife and I had this incredible privilege of being called as mission leaders. We had a little pre-screen interview with the elder Takashi Wada, who's a member of the 70 and he asked some questions to us. It was fun. We got done. My wife said, so now what? And he said, well, you might hear in two days or in two weeks or in two months or in two years or never. So he said, okay, you know, you just wait and see. And we got an email from Elder Patrick Kearans Secretary asking us to come in. It was sacred moments.

I don't want to share anything that I ought not to. I'll share this portion. There's a lot of questions to be asked and a lot of thinking. Elder Kieran, I think we've all immediately fallen in love with him as an apostle. I mean, we just adore him and his messages that he's given us already about the Church for Joy and God is in relentless pursuit of you. And as I just sat in his office and my wife and I were going through these interview questions,

he paused and he just said, I believe you know where we are in the interview process. Would you like me to continue or would you like a moment together? And it was a pretty amazing moment. My wife and I looked at each other and said if it'd be okay we we just like a moment together. I thought of these verses because he left us in his office for just a few minutes. It was just so sweet. A lift of your heart and your joys for the hour of your mission has come. We had a lot of tears and thinking about what this was going to mean for us, I couldn't help but think of thousands, thousands of young men and young women and senior couples and people who make this decision

every year, every month, every week of their lives, every day to say I'm going to submit these mission papers and go. My wife and I have had a privilege of, we've already talked with a couple of people who are in our ward and they've already turned in their mission papers, they're going to come with us and serve in our office. And you're just like, wow, people just saying, yeah, we'll come if that's what you need. I'm just floored by this of people who just say,

I can lift up my heart and rejoice. I can trust that the Lord's call for me is to go and do his work and the blessings, the compensation. Well, jokingly you'll say, right, it's out of this world. The pay is out of this world. It really is phenomenal. I've already begun to feel it just a little bit. And anybody that I've spoken to who's done this as a mission leader just says, it's the most demanding and rewarding thing you'll ever do in your entire life. I just love how consistently in the scriptures, the gospel is described as glad tidings of great joy and glad tidings means good news and gospel means good news. I love how consistent that is. When critics speak of, oh, toxic perfectionism and legalism and all of that, but when the

scriptures speak of the gospel, it's the church of joy, isn't it? I think I choose to want to describe it that way, the way the scriptures do. I'm reminded, John, you could tell this story better than I can. I think we've done this for a follow him favorites. McKay Christensen, do you remember? Mm hmm. Yeah. Million dollar missionary. The million dollar missionary who's one of the best high school baseball players in the state of California is getting offers, not just from colleges, but from major league baseball teams, offering him a lot of money to come and play after high school.

And when he tells some of these teams in colleges, I'm gonna go on a mission, most back out, except for one team. Do you remember John offered him a million dollars. This is back in the 1900s, offered him a million dollars if he would give up the mission and come play for them. And do you remember what he said? It was just beautiful. He said, that's awfully gracious of you.

My mission is not for sale. Just an awesome statement from a young man who's doing what you said, Mark, making the choice. Here we go. And you guys both know brother S. Michael Wilcox. He has taught that the Lord tends to call us when the nets are full. So as soon as Peter gets the biggest catch ever, he's like, okay, drop it and follow me. McKay Christensen is an example of that. Brother Beecher is an example of that. And I don't want to forget those young men and young women who are not hugely accomplished perhaps and are even a little bit afraid. I'm not good at talking to people who are willing to go. For them, it's very difficult too because I used to think that maybe if we just talk about the

rightness of going on a mission or the doctrine of it, but then there's young people out there that are afraid they don't have what it takes. And for them, it's very hard to submit those papers. It is. Wow. And they do it. I think verse seven can give you comfort.

It's not your job to convert, right, Mark? I will open the hearts of the people. Isn't this amazing? And see this from a Book of Mormon perspective as the Lord sort of expands on this idea of him doing all the heavy lifting for us if we'll let him. Alma 16, 15, 16.

John, do you want to read for us? And thus did Alma and Amulet go forth, and also many more who had been chosen for the work, to preach the word throughout all the land, and the establishment of the church became general throughout the land, in all the region round about among all the people of the Nephites. And there was no inequality among them, and the Lord did pour out his spirit on all the face of the land to prepare the minds of the children of men, or to prepare their hearts to receive the word which should be taught among them at the time of his coming." Hmm, the Lord prepares the heart. Yeah. He's the one who does, again, all the heavy

lifting. All I've got to do, we'll see right away here coming in section 33, is I have to open my mouth. But the Lord opens the hearts. He opens the minds, He prepares everything that needs to be done to have His work be accomplished if we'll just do our little minor part. I really love that because that can give you confidence as you move forward in your role and His role because maybe someone doesn't accept the gospel and you think what did I do wrong? It might be well that's not one the Lord was opening the heart of, at least not right now. But you continued to do what you do. We had a missionary in the MTC who was from the south and his dad had enjoyed as a non-member having the missionaries over and kind of hitting them pretty hard with some Bible passages and questions and asking them for proof and things like that. And he'd done this

with several sets of missionaries. The area was then, we would call it whitewashed. They changed out the missionaries, they changed out elders, they put sisters in. They arranged a time to come and meet with him and he gladly welcomed them, I, believing that he was going to have a similar experience with these sisters. They just simply said, as they sat down with him, they said, we know that you're very knowledgeable. We wouldn't even think to challenge you and your knowledge because you're so knowledgeable. We just invite you to do one thing.

Will you read the book of Mormon? Because we know you won't be deceived by anything in the book. You're wise and you're learned. So just give the book a try? Because we know you won't be deceived by anything in the book. You're wise and you're learned. So just give the book a try. It would never persuade you away from what you believe. Well, he literally read to first Nephi chapter eight and called them back and

said, I need to join your church. He was a seeker of truth, much like these early leaders and converted by the spirit. He had to put himself in a position where the Lord could then say, all right, now your heart, I can open your heart and the change will come as it needs to. Hmm. Mark, I'm glad that you brought in the Book of Mormon here. It's almost as if the Lord knew we were going to be doing a lot of missionary work because there is a lot of missionary work in the Book of Mormon. And for this book that's going to bring me to Christ, it sure shows me how

to bring others to Christ. The Book of Mormon is by far and away the most powerful tool. In fact, here in my notes, I'll just share a few thoughts with you from Preach My Gospel. I've got to tell you, as a mission leader, one of the things that you get early on is you get a missionary portal and it has, no joke, 85 tasks that you have to accomplish before you go. That's the number. And the minimum amount of time for each one is 20 minutes. There's some podcasts that use about 20 podcasts you listen to, but some of them are chapter three of Preach My Gospel, which is all of the lessons.

I mean, it's four or five hours of study, but one of these is to immerse yourself in Preach My Gospel. And there's a chapter there on the power of the Book of Mormon. One of the great things that Preach My Gospel teaches about the Book of Mormon is that it leads to lifelong conversion. So listen to these citations that I've discovered from Preach My Gospel. Page 42, studying the Book of Mormon is essential for enduring conversion. Page 113, the Book of Mormon combined with the Spirit is your most powerful resource in conversion. Page 114, an essential part of conversion is receiving a witness by

the power of the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true. Page 120, emphasize that reading the book daily is a key to progressing towards baptism and lifelong conversion. I mean, throughout you hear the power of the Book of Mormon in lifelong conversion. I just know that these missionaries, it's written as much for them as it is for people who are joining the church. As you stay close to the Lord, as you stay in burying yourself each day, immersion in the Book of Mormon, you are guaranteed lifelong conversion. I've seen it many times over and I've watched missionaries do it and the three of us all know that's completely true.

Was it Boyd K. Packer that talked about being out at a stake and the stake has all these problems, what should I do? And at the time someone counseling Elder Packer said, just tell him to read the Book of Mormon. And I discovered as a bishop too that the prescription for so many problems is get the Spirit into your life and the answers will present themselves and one of the best ways to do that is to read the Book of Mormon. It's absolutely true. Great power there. And the missionaries are taught that over and over again and preach my gospel and it has to continue throughout the rest of our lives That the Book of Mormon is a central message for all of us And the Lord himself doesn't he say this in 3rd Nephi?

We all love the first day that Jesus spends with the Nephites, but not a lot of us can quote that second day Almost the entire thing is about the gathering of Israel in the latter days, and he basically says this is the sign that you'll know the gathering of Israel has begun. This is the Book of Mormon, this is 3 Nephi 21, and it's the tool of the gathering. I just don't think that the role of the Book of Mormon can be overstated. We'd learn as missionaries early, your eye purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism by immersion, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. That doctrine is taught so

clearly in the Book of Mormon more than any other place. I've often wondered why would we start with a story that we do in the Book of Mormon, where it's about a family who's gonna leave, but first we gotta chop off this guy's head, change our clothes, and sneak out with the place. That story might be better buried in Alma somewhere. Right. Right.

But you can't think of a better way to start. You're gonna uproot your spiritual lives. We're gonna ask you as you join our church to leave behind everything, to give your heart over to God, to grab a hold of these plates and to let them become the thing that's gonna guide you in your wilderness as you step forward as a new member of this Church of Jesus Christ. The story is the perfect one for all of us. Being led by the Spirit not knowing beforehand that which we should do. Yeah, it's almost a stumbling block or a sieve. How badly do you want this? You hit that first roadblock and you go, do I really want to

keep going? Some say, no thanks, I don't want this book. But others, they venture into the book and they find out it's a mansion. I noticed in section 31 verse 9, and it does come up in the Book of Mormon as well, I think it's Alma 17, where the Lord says, be patient in afflictions. That's part of missionary work is going through difficulty and being patient. I got this story from a friend, Allison Jones. She says, during one part of my mission in Brazil, my companion and I were having a difficult time finding people to teach. That never happens, does it, you guys? It was my companion's last transfer and we

had gone many weeks with no success. On a certain day we had knocked dozens of doors with no luck. We were exhausted and discouraged. In frustration I turned towards the sky and half pleaded and half yelled at God, Please just send us one person. As soon as these words left my mouth, we saw a young man walking on the other side of the street with his head hanging down. We decided to go talk to him. We learned that his name was Matthew

and that it was his birthday. We agreed to come visit him the next day with a small birthday present. We began to teach him and fell in love with this sweet young man and his family. He was 16, but as there were no father in the picture, he was the man of the house and he had to drop out of school to provide for his many young siblings.

He was really interested in the gospel, carried his Book of Mormon around with him everywhere, and asked what he had to do to be baptized. We were overjoyed. When someone says, Can I be baptized? Well, I sure. One night as we left his home, we were halfway down the street when we heard a loud whistle behind us. We turned around and we were surprised to see Matthew running towards us. He looked emotional as he approached us. How do you guys do what you do? He asked. What do you mean?

We said. He proceeded to tell us that the day we had approached him, he was on his way to his own birthday celebration but was terribly distraught because he had just learned that his best friend had been killed in a motorcycle accident. Thank you so much. He said. You guys changed my life. I want to do what you guys do.

How do I serve a mission? She said, I was amazed when I walked away from that conversation, but even more so when my companion began to sob and told me through her tears. Remember, this is her last transfer. My dad came from a similar situation, she said. He worked from a young age to provide for his family. He found the gospel as a teenager and was baptized. Right before I left on my mission, my dad told me that I would find a young man just like him, whose life would be completely changed by the gospel the way my life's dad was.

I have been praying every day of her mission for that moment. She said, now I know the Lord has accepted my mission. Now I know. Isn't that just beautiful that the Lord says, be patient in afflictions. I will open the hearts of the people. It wasn't as if this is happening every day. What did she say? Many weeks with no success.

Be patient in afflictions. I think that applies to us as we go about our lives with work colleagues, with neighbors, with people that we've tried to work with, that perhaps we've tried several different ways or different times and things just aren't progressing. And so we just think, well, I'm not making any headway. And so why do I keep doing this? But the Lord, He'll open the hearts and we be patient.

We continually work on His timetable and we know that that timetable is His indeed. And it will open people's hearts as they're ready. Yeah. I think that's important, right? As they're ready. And I think maybe Mark, the Book of Mormon can show hearts as they're ready. Yeah, I think that's important, right? As they're ready. And I think maybe, Mark, the Book of Mormon can show you if someone's ready. If someone's taking the Book of Mormon seriously,

that might be an indication this person is ready for the message. And if someone's not taking the Book of Mormon seriously, however interested they might be in other programs of the church, that may be the indication that they're not ready. To your point, it can be a sifter, for sure. You know, Hank, a little further in verse 9, govern your house in meekness and be steadfast.

Thomas B. Martian has given some direction here. It even gives him a little bit more caution there in verse 12 to pray always lest you enter temptation and lose your reward Thomas is cautioned early on to just be careful of pride and to be more meek and to be more willing to do what the Lord wants and again sort of knowing the end of the story that there are some things with the brother Marsh that The Lord knows ahead of time is going to give him the right counsel and the right guidance He's got to be ready and willing to receive it in all circumstances The Lord knows ahead of time and is going to give him the right counsel and the right guidance. He's got to be ready and willing to receive it in all circumstances that day and into the future whenever that becomes even a little bit more pertinent like all of us.

There's counsel that I've received that became more clear years down the road and that's certainly true for Thomas B. Marsh as well. The Lord knows his weaknesses here. Section 112 is also given to Thomas B. Marsh. Verse 10, kind of a famous verse, be thou humble and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand and give the answer to thy prayers. Thomas B. Marsh is excommunicated in 1839 and it's not as simple as the strippings of the milk. There's some other events that come about. There's some fallout with Sidney Rigdon and the Salt Sermon, some things that

happen, a conflict at Gallatin in Missouri. These all contributed to Thomas B. Marsh separating from the Prophet Joseph Smith. It's kind of a hard road that he goes. He's out for a while. Thomas B. Marsh leaves but then he does come west to Utah. In 1857 he's rebaptized as he comes back. He spoke of his split with the Prophet Joseph. He says, About this time I got a beam in my eye and thought I could discover a moat in Joseph's eye. Though it was nothing but a beam in my eye,

I was so completely darkened that I did not think on the Savior's injunction. Thou hypocrite, why beholdest thou the mode that is in thy brother's eye when a beam is in thine own eye? First cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then thou shalt see clearly to get the mode out of thy brother's eye." All seriousness, third graders, I tell them all the time, worry about yourself.

You know, they're looking at somebody else, why does he get this or how come that? I'm saying, who are you supposed to worry about? Me. But as I tell them that every time, I honestly think, am I worrying about me and keeping my life and myself in check rather than trying to worry about something else that isn't my concern. What you just read was referenced in the Revelations in Context, which we've mentioned before, and our friend Stephen Harper wrote that book called Doctrine and Covenants Contexts also

that has things like this in it. I love that Thomas B. Marsh spoke about this later. I heard someone call it the Lord's Law of Learning, of learning by your own experience. You can tell people things, but some people have to experience before they learn it. Continuing where you were talking about the motes and beams, this is what Thomas Beemarsh said, I talked with Brother Brigham and Brother Heber and I wanted them to be mad like myself. And I saw that they were not mad and I got madder still because they were not. But I love the part that you said at the beginning, I overlooked everything that was right. I spent time in looking for the evil. And then when the

devil began to lead me, it was easy for the conal man to rise up. If you want to find faults in people, you can, you will. Of course, if that's what you're looking for. I love that Thomas B. Marsh came back and is willing to share with us. Yeah, I messed up. And that's such a hard lesson. It's sad to see, but it's also a hopeful lesson for those who have seen people walk away from the faith that Thomas B. Marsh, he comes back. I'm sure the Lord had his eye on Thomas B. Marsh the entire time, when he was in, when he was out, and when he came back. Mm-hmm. That's right. So, Mark, just a quick question for you.

Doctrine and Covenants 31 verse 3. Lift up your heart and rejoice for the hour of your mission is come. Your tongue will be loosed, you'll declare glad tidings of great joy into this generation. Mark, as you're preparing for this three year mission, you and your wonderful wife, Kim, what gets you excited? What are you thinking about that says the hour of our mission has come? Well, I'll tell you, one of the things honestly

that we have access to that I feel a little bit like cheating. I've listened to the 2024 Mission Leaders Seminar, so the one from this last June. 20 talks from our church leaders. It's an amazing amount of knowledge there of these leaders. The thing that I get the most excited about is thinking about these missionaries. I've been trained and taught a lot. The missionaries will be able to have their converts are the people that they'll be teaching. But for you, Beechers, your converts are going to be your missionaries. You're going to want to hang on to them and you're going to want to be able to do all you can to help them to stay in the gospel, to keep them firm in the faith and to keep them progressing forward.

It's exciting, it's overwhelming, it's a little bit much sometimes to think about it and go, wow, that's kind of a lot on your shoulders. But at the same time, those who've served missions, you all remember moments. I remember moments from my mission president, from just the experience of when you're out giving of yourself in the Lord's service and probably

for the first time in your life figuring out the world isn't all about me, the 18, 19 year old person, that there's a lot of other people out there who are way different, who have come from backgrounds that are so much more difficult than what you and I have experienced. And they have been searching and needing purpose and meaning that the gospel brings to them. That excites me and keeps me feeling like I'm thrilled to be able to have this opportunity to go work with the missionaries and watch them as they work

with people who join the church. The idea that you might wake up today and change a family tree for eternity, that'll get you out of bed in the morning. Today might be the day, and it might not be, and you might be tired and exhausted, and then you get up the next day, right, and go, I'm going to try this again. There's something tiring and wonderful about it. It sounds exhausting. You're on the edge of your seat almost the entire time. As I've been studying all these things that we've been

asked to be ready for for this mission, Preach My Gospel is laser focused on the missionary purpose throughout the book, throughout any of these seminar talks that I've talked about. They just continually talk about the missionary purpose to be able to invite others to come into Christ by helping them to receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ. This remaining focus on our commitment to Jesus Christ and to our missionary purpose, not the outward results, is what's going to bring that success, that feeling of comfort, that feeling of accomplishment. We've heard many times people, how many

how many baptisms did you have? What did you do? Right? I'll just share this piece from Preach My Gospel. Your success is determined primarily by your desire and commitment to find, teach, baptize, and confirm converts. Your desire and your commitment to do those things, not by others' agency, but by your desire and commitment. And that, again, thinking about that, Hank, as you mentioned, that's what gets you out of bed, right? The desire and the commitment to be able to say,

this is what the Lord wants me to focus on, and I know that's where I can have my successes. I continually keep that at the forefront of my mind. I love that the missionary purpose that you stated is bringing people to Christ. Do you remember Hank when we had Stephen Harper, we were talking about the worth of souls and he said how sad if we turn souls into just baptisms? And I think that's what you were saying there, Mark, is, no, our object is to bring people to Christ. The natural result of that, we hope, is that they'll be baptized, but our desire is to

bring people to Christ. To your question, Hank, you've heard the Jeremiah 16 verse, I'll send forth hunters and they shall hunt them and fishers and they shall fish them. What Mark just defined for us there, your success is your desire and your commitment. It's not a quantifiable goal of baptisms because, like we've joked Hank, if I could set goals for things that were outside of my agency, I would set goals that my favorite football team would win every game. How could that be my goal if I have nothing to do with the outcome? If my goal is to have my desire and commitment, that's something I have some control over. That's right. I love what you both brought up here. This is not about numbers.

It can't ever not about numbers. It can't ever be about numbers. I think you're gonna be frustrated as a missionary if it is more about numbers than about souls. We just talked earlier about covenants. Covenants are not about numbers. It's not about signing a contract. It's not about clicking a button and saying, okay, there's one more.

We are inviting people into a relationship with God. I think you're right, Mark. Many people want, they're missing that in their life. What is Joseph Smith right later? Many are kept just from the truth because they know not where to find it. Hank, I just love that. The scripture that you just quoted

is actually quoted, I think, on page one and two of Preach My Gospel. But this is how chapter one begins. You are surrounded by people. You pass them on the street and travel among them. You visit them in their homes and connect with them online. They are all children of God, your brothers and sisters. God loves them just as he loves you. Many of these people are searching for purpose in life. They are concerned for their future and their families. They need the sense of belonging that comes from knowing they are children of God and members of his eternal family.

They want to feel secure in a world of changing values. They desire peace in this world and eternal life in the world to come. That opening, you just say, that's what it's about, is being able to help people find the eternal purpose that they need here and that focus. It reminds me of the statement of the Prophet Joseph Smith, a man filled with the love of God is not content with blessing his family alone but ranges through the whole world

anxious to bless the whole human race. That's a different kind of motive. It reminds me too of the prayer of Enos who prays for his own soul and then his soul expands and I play for my brethren and then well I'm going to pray for the Lamanites and maybe even our enemies the way they'd been treated at the time and then it was well if they won't listen please preserve the records so that they'll read them one day. And you see that exact thing Joseph Smith talking about has expanded his love and care for the whole world. And that came from a man filled with the love of God, which is getting down to our best

motives for serving. I probably served for a variety of reasons. Well, my dad went and he joined the church when he was 24. I should probably go. My brothers went. I know I should go. I believe it's true. I believe it's wonderful. I love the Savior. I've heard that people will want to date you. All these mixed reasons for going. But then we can't just say, well, I'm going to wait until my motives are perfect before I do this or before I minister or anything because you'll never do anything. It's a great idea to go and have the Lord help you refine your heart and your motives. Yeah I think it's get yourself out there let the Lord do wonders with you. I think your motives

change over time. I've heard many missionaries say, I cried when I landed in that mission, and I cried when that plane took off to take me home. Again, from one of these talks that I just had been listening to from President Newkdorf in the 2024 seminar, Mission Leaders, he says, if the Lord's work appears difficult, don't worry. If you go and do, the Lord will provide a way. Remember, it is His work. There's another quote that may help with things start to seem difficult.

Start by doing what's necessary. The missionaries need to learn that too. Then do what's possible. And suddenly, you're doing the impossible. I just like that progression that you just do what's necessary and then maybe what you can, that's possible. And then all of a sudden, you'll find that you just do what's necessary and then maybe what you can that's possible. And then all of a sudden, you'll find that you're doing things that are impossible.

That's awesome. Move forward. The idea of God can't steer a parked car. Let's move forward in faith, whatever that faith looks like, as John said, whatever that motive looks like, get started and the Lord can do something about that. John, you're the one that introduced me to this story that I'm about to tell here a couple of years ago. I don't think we've told it in a while. I'll bet you'll recognize it really quick. This is from President Faust.

Those of us who have served missions have seen the miracle in the lives of some we have taught as they have come to realize that they are sons and daughters of God. Many years ago, an elder who served a mission in the British Isles said at the end of his labors, I think my mission has been a failure. I have labored all my days as a missionary here and I have only baptized one dirty little Irish kid. That is all I baptized. Years later, after his return home to Montana, he had a visitor come to his home who asked, are you the elder who served a mission in the British Isles in 1873? Yeah.

The man went on, And do you remember having said that you thought your mission was a failure because you had only baptized one dirty little Irish kid? He said, Yes. The visitor put out his hand and said, I would like to shake hands with you. My name is Charles A. Callis of the Council of the Twelve of the Church of Jesus Christ said Latter-day Saints, I am that dirty little Irish kid that you baptized on your mission. That little Irish boy came to the knowledge of his potential as the Son of God. This is

President Faust. Elder Callas left a lasting legacy for his large family, serving as a mission president for 25 years. Mark, that makes three years not seem so bad, right? Right. Serving as a mission president for 25 years and his apostolic ministry for 13 years, he blessed the lives of thousands. I feel privileged, Elder Faust says, to have known this great apostle of the Lord when I was a young man. This can't be about the things I see happening right in front of me. You don't know the seeds you plant and what they will turn into. I was teaching one of my classes and I mentioned my mission president, President Menlo Smith and something he had taught me. And this young man came up to me afterwards.

He was a Filipino and he said, my cousin's name is Menlo. And I said, what? You're in the Philippines? Yeah, my cousin's name is Menlo. He's named after Menlo Smith, the mission president. I said, really? How did you come into church? Well, my grandfather was taught by Elder Stoddard and we tried to, but we don't know how to find him. And I went, I've got Elder Stoddard's contact info right here. We both had a moment where he had been looking so that they could get in contact with Elder Stoddard. I said, he's right here. I just saw him at the Missionary Union and able to put those guys back together again.

It's almost like Hank, you've quoted Elder Maxwell talking about the Lord putting us in orbits. Right. We cross orbits. The same Lord who put the star above Bethlehem does the same thing with us. He puts us in our divine human orbits where we cross each other's paths. Mark, as I read all these sections, this is mostly about finding people who are not members of the Church to become members of the Church. They don't have really a reactivation work because there's no one to be reactivated. So what role have you seen as you've prepared in reactivation in missionary work? Does that count as missionary

work? Is going out and talking to those who are not active in the church who once were? It's a great question because it comes back to what we were talking about earlier. Are we only counting baptisms? Is that our only measure of success? We've seen people who need people to reach out to them over and over again. In fact, there's a couple of new key indicators that have been added over the last couple of years with the new Preach My Gospel that came out in 2024. It was just this last year. One of which is the tracking of a new convert at sacrament meeting for the first year. That's on the missionaries now. You're going to track that they're going to attend sacrament meeting and you want to be able to make

sure that they're still doing that and that you're connecting to the people and you're keeping them active and going. We care about souls. We care about people coming to Christ. If someone is less active, if someone is not attending church, we have every bit of an obligation and I believe the same missionary rewards for helping them to come back into the fold of the Savior. Luke 15 with the coin and the prodigal son and that all says go out and get them, bring them back. I think that's fantastic because in this day that we're reading about there's not a lot of that work happening. But in 2025, there is a lot of work to be done in that regard.

And we can't say, I don't want to go reactivate people. That's not missionary work. It is very much missionary work. It's gathering. Yeah. You know, maybe as we make a little transition now, we could go to section 32 because I think there's kind of a principle there along these same lines, Hank, even though it's dealing with people who are coming into the gospel for the first time rather than reactivating,

I think the principles kind of a neat one. In fact, I almost call it the spiritual karate kid principle where the karate kid thought he was doing, sanding the floor, waxing on or waxing off, but was actually learning karate in a bigger platform. Spiritually speaking, this is exactly what the Lamanite mission was in section 32. They go out and they think we're going to go out and we're going to gather the Lamanites.

They've read the Book of Mormon that talks about the gathering of these people. And they say, we need to go find those who are Lamanites, those who are descendants of Nephi and his family, and we need to bring them in. They are doing this, but they're, you know, the success of that mission. I think Hank, you've called it like the 24 hour

mission before, haven't you? Yeah. And when I teach this in church history, these four, that completely changes the church. Absolutely. But not in the way that they think it's going to change the church. Yep, that's exactly right. You've got Oliver Cowdery, Pardee Pratt,

Ziba Peterson, Ziba Peterson, however you wanna say it, and Peter Whitmer Jr., who believe, right Mark, as you said, they believe they're going to go out on the other side of the Mississippi River and teach the Lamanites. And they get to do that for a whole day. But it's what happens on their way when Pardee P. Pratt says, let's stop in Kirtland. I used to live here in Kirtland. Yeah, maybe someone will want to hear us here in Kirtland. Then what is it? A Kirtland. Yeah, maybe someone will wanna hear us here in Kirtland. Then what is it?

A couple of days and they double the size of the church. That's right, 127 converts, right? With Sydney and the congregation joining the church. It's pretty amazing to see. And so I guess sometimes we think I'm not doing the Lord's work. I'm not baptizing. My colleague that I've talked to about the gospel

seven times doesn't really wanna listen anymore. I feel like I'm not baptizing. My colleague that I've talked to about the gospel seven times doesn't really want to listen anymore. I feel like I'm a failure. But you don't know what's happening and what's what's going to come about with this. Because your job is to open your mouth and then let the Lord be able to make the changes that he's going to make the changes with. And this is certainly what happens to these people in Ohio. It's incredible that Parley P. Pratt, John, you probably know this story as well as anyone that Parley P. Pratt lives in Kirtland. He is a member of Sydney, Virginia's congregation, but then decides to go up to New England with his wife.

Awesome. First name. Thankful. Thankful. And then gets this impression. I need to get off the boat in this region for a while. I don't know why, but the Spirit has manifest that to me and comes across the Deacon Hamblin. And I love in the movie that the church made, How Rare a Possession. Are your views broad enough to accept ministering of angels.

And he ends in my Book of Mormon and Harley P. Pratt stays up all night reading it. Sleep was a burden to me, he says. Thomas B. Marsh got 16 pages, Harley Pratt stayed up all night, read the whole book, then wanted to go back and find his old minister, his friend, Sidney Rigdon. Mark, you're exactly right. They think, all right, here we're going to go out to the Lamanites,

not realizing that just on a stop, let's stop here for a week or two and maybe someone here in my old town of Kirtland will hear the gospel. And now, because of that, I go to Kirtland every summer, this incredible place where the church blossoms. I love that idea, Mark, that they think this is what they're doing and the Lord has completely other plans in mind. And you let Him do His work, just be open and available. Again, to the Book of Mormon, we know this is the case from the lost manuscript and then the small plates taking this, but maybe just revisiting Nephi's words, I'm going to look at 1st Nephi chapter 9 here, but just look at him as he's keeping two sets

of plates and what he says about this, and I think this is poignant for all of us. 1st Nephi 9 verses 5 and 6, Wherefore the Lord hath commanded me to make these plates for a wise purpose in him, which purpose I know not. But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning. Wherefore he prepare the way to accomplish all his works among the children of men. For behold he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words. And thus it is. Amen. A little bit of all in there, right? The Lord can do it all.

We sometimes would limit that or say, is this working? This isn't right. Or why am I doing this? Or how come this isn't coming out with the outcomes that I think I'd like. And the Lord's going, it's a wise purpose. And you just need to hang on and I've got a way to accomplish all that I need to accomplish. Hank, you mentioned earlier, the parable of the sower. I love the imagery of broadcast your seeds.

You know, broadcast doesn't come from radio and television. It comes from agriculture. You never know. Reminds me of, is it Mark chapter 5? Jairus says, come see my daughter. My little daughter lieth at the point of death. And on the way, what happens? They have the woman with the issue of blood. The woman with the issue of blood touches him. Boy, be open and available to things that might happen on the way,

because they might be important too. We thought we were going to the mission to the Lamanites. Well, wasn't it the government Bureau of Indian affairs that kind of shut off the missionaries' efforts and that's why it was a 25-hour mission? The Indian Removal Act, right? I think that's what it was all that they had to do that. Yeah. So they get out there for a whole day. They must've felt like, we just walked 1400 miles. Oh, and it was knee deep in the snow. Right. You've in the snow.

Right. You've seen the painting. It looks like we give them some snowshoes at least. Poor guys, you know. So much more was going on that they didn't know about. By the way, when they're told, hey, you got to go back and get a permit to teach Native Americans, you have to go to St. Louis. Mark, you have to go to St. Louis. Mark, they had to go to St. Louis. You go to that place?

Yep. And they had to talk to General Clark, who is the General Clark of Lewis and Clark. So as we wrap up section 32, I just had this thought from Elder Richard G. Scott. I have to just preface it before I read it by just telling you that if you pinned me down and asked me my all-time favorite quote of every general authority, it would be this one.

So no expectations, right? Set the bar high. I just love what he teaches. And I think it's so applicable of this idea that sometimes we think we're about doing this or about doing that. Just understand it's all part of the Lord's plan and you can rest assured that he's got a way of providing it forward for all of us, regardless of our situations. Here's what it says. It's from October of 99. The Lord has placed currents of divine influence in your life that will lead you along the individual plan he would have you fulfill here on earth. That's quite a line in and of itself.

Currents of divine influence to lead you along an individual plan. Seek through the Spirit to identify it and carefully follow that direction that the Lord has put in your life. Align yourself with it. Choose will and need to exercise your agency to follow it. Do not be overcome by concentrating solely on today with its challenges, difficulties and opportunities. Such preoccupations must not totally capture your attention so as to consume your life. Oh, how I would encourage you to weave deeply into the fabric of your soul the recognition that your life now is part of a much bigger plan the Lord has for

you. You lived part of it in the premortal existence, you were valiant there, and came here because you wanted to grow and enjoy greater happiness. What you decide to do now will affect how well you fulfill that divine personal plan he has for you. It strikes me to just see that all these things come together. The Lord's got it. He says in the Book of Mormon, I'm able to do my own work. I've got this, I've got it handled. You lean on got it. He says in the Book of Mormon, I'm able to do my own work. I've got this. I've got it handled. You lean on me. You were there in the pre-mortal life. It's here in mortality. It's all going to work together. You just keep going about doing what you know I'd have you to do and that plan will unfold as it needs to. Please join us for part two of this podcast.