The Word of God Answers Every Question - Mission Prep Series Class 4

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Lesson Number 4: The Word Of God Answers Every Question! In this insightful episode, we continue our mission preparation series with host Shawn and the "Hendricks triplets"—Lauren, Abby, and Braden Hendo—who share perspectives from their recent missions in England and Indiana1.

The core principle discussed is the immense power of using the word of God to answer people's questions. The conversation challenges the idea that the gospel is "simple," explaining that while it is inherently simple, its understanding requires diligent effort and agency to develop an individual relationship with Heavenly Father. Through an analogy of physical training, the discussion highlights that spiritual growth, like building muscles, is a process that builds character and requires discipline and effort, rather than quick fixes.

Key takeaways from the episode include:

•

The power of your voice is not nearly as strong as someone opening and reading the scriptures themselves, as scriptures are delivered by the Holy Ghost.

•

Receiving the "mysteries of God" and deeper understanding requires both desire and diligent seeking. This diligent seeking involves consistent prayer and "feasting upon the words of Christ".

•

Personal charisma or "selling" the gospel often lacks staying power because it doesn't spiritually convert; only the Holy Ghost does.

•

The episode shares powerful examples, including stories of "lukewarm Christians" who lacked desire and effort, and a remarkable account of a coal miner who overcame severe alcoholism by diligently reading the Book of Mormon daily, demonstrating the transformative power of God's word when applied consistently.

•

The discussion illustrates how specific scriptures, such as Moroni 8 for infant baptism and 3 Nephi 11 for the doctrine of Christ, can provide direct, powerful answers that resonate with individuals through the Holy Ghost.

•

Ultimately, the gospel is not complicated to those who desire and diligently seek; clarity and simplicity are received through spiritual means and the Holy Ghost delivers understanding to our minds and hearts.

Join us as we explore why diligence and consistency are paramount in our spiritual journey, leading to profound growth and understanding of God's guidance in our lives.

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
I mean, go through the New Testament, all the
disciples, there's no picnicstories in there.
It's all disciples that had tochoose Christ over and over and
over again, despite whatevercircumstance they were in, so
that they could become adisciple.

SPEAKER_05 (00:23):
Alright, welcome back to the Mission Stories
Podcast.
Okay, today's a good one becausewe're going to continue in our
lessons and we're going to dolesson number four that we
usually teach in our classestoday.
And not only do we have thebeloved old sister Lauren
Hendricks, but we also have twoother parts of you.
I don't know how to

SPEAKER_03 (00:44):
introduce.
Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (00:45):
How do we introduce them?
this, this crew right here.
Cause you guys are the tripletsof Belleville.
No triplets of Hendricks.

SPEAKER_00 (00:54):
The Hendricks.
Oh, the Hendricks triplets.

SPEAKER_05 (00:57):
The Hendricks triplets.
Okay.
Okay.
So we've got the Hendo's Lauren.

SPEAKER_02 (01:01):
Hi everyone.

SPEAKER_05 (01:02):
Low Hendo.
Oh, we've got Abby.

SPEAKER_02 (01:05):
Hi everybody.

SPEAKER_05 (01:06):
Abby Hendo.
And we got Brayden.
B

SPEAKER_00 (01:10):
Hendo.

SPEAKER_05 (01:10):
B

SPEAKER_00 (01:11):
Hendo.

SPEAKER_05 (01:11):
B Hendo.
So, so you've just gotten backfrom your mission in, In
England.
In England.

SPEAKER_01 (01:18):
Just

SPEAKER_00 (01:18):
got back.

SPEAKER_01 (01:19):
I just got back from India.
Well, just got back is astretch.
It's been three months, but gotback from Indiana.
Yeah.
And I held down the fort whilethey were gone.
You did hold down the fort.

SPEAKER_05 (01:30):
Good.
We're all back.
But this is great because we'lldo this lesson and we have all
kinds of different perspectivesand we'll do principle four and
it's awesome.
So this principle, again, forthe listeners is kind of context
is again, uh, My mission wasincredible.
I loved it so much.
And it was better than the threeof yours, two of yours.
No,

SPEAKER_00 (01:47):
it wasn't.
Uh-huh.
Do you have a good amount ofbeans and toast on your mission?
Because that was the dealbreaker for me.
Beans.
I saw beans on toast.
Beans on toast.
Best

SPEAKER_05 (01:55):
mission.
I didn't.
And maybe I don't know what I'mmissing.
But I know the two of you hadincredible experiences.
And I'm so passionate that if wego out and serve right, which
you guys did.
then we come home changed.
And you two are, you're changed.
Like I can see the light ofChrist in you.
I can see this foundation inyou.
So coming home changed, I justwant every missionary that's

(02:15):
serving to have the experiencewe had.
And so we're doing our best hereto try and share some principles
that will help them have abetter chance to come home with
that awesome mission.
So today's principle four is allabout The proper, I don't know,
proper, it's about using theword of God to answer people's
questions.
That's the idea, the principle.
Like your voice, yeah, you threeare super charismatic people,

(02:39):
but your voice is not nearly aspowerful as if someone opens up
the scripture.
Like if they have a question andthey open up the scripture that
you hand to them and they readit, the scriptures were
delivered by the Holy Ghost andso them receiving it will only
have to be by the Holy Ghost andthen it will be powerful.
So that's kind of what we'regoing to discuss today.
But let's start with a question.
for the triplets.
I feel outnumbered here.

(03:00):
I am outnumbered.
Okay.
Question number one would bethis.
I look at my own study of thegospel and I would say it took
years and years and years andyears, starting from a little
kid in primary and my parentsteaching me these basic but
important principles on upthrough like Sunday school and
classes and seminary andrequiring me ultimately to know

(03:22):
nothing.
Until I myself opened up thescriptures and started to study
and dive in myself is when Itruly started to learn things.
And I think it takes a long timeto learn because it's kind of
complicated.
Would you agree that it'scomplicated?
Or is it like straight up simpleto you guys?
It takes time.
It

SPEAKER_00 (03:41):
takes a lifetime.

SPEAKER_05 (03:42):
But if it was simple, it wouldn't take a
lifetime, right?
Why isn't it simple?
That's my first question.
Why not, like you have a phoneand you go to Instagram and you
wanna learn about Steph Curryand you go to his account and
within five slides, we knoweverything about Steph Curry.
He's a basketball, like it's sosimply displayed, right?

(04:03):
There's a way that God could dothat.
Why, why not?
Why not make it simple?
What do you think?
Why is it so complicated?

SPEAKER_00 (04:09):
Now, for the people listening, if you're preparing
for a mission, I feel like froma return missionary to a
pre-mission perspective, it'sgoing to be a lot harder before.
It's because you haven't put inas much effort as those who have
already went on a mission.
So if you're new to it, ofcourse it's going to seem hard.

(04:29):
So I would revert the questionsaying, how much effort have you
put in to actually get thatanswer?

SPEAKER_05 (04:34):
Okay, so I love that.
However...
However, and we've got a handraised.
We'll come in next.
But however, why does it have tobe so hard that it requires a
lot of effort?
Don't you think there'd be abetter chance for many, many
people to understand it than besaved if it was a lot simpler
and didn't require so much hardwork?
Why not make it simple?

(04:55):
Abby, what do you think?
I

SPEAKER_02 (04:57):
was just going to say, I think that the gospel is
simple, but I think it'sdifficult because of our agency
and because of...
your relationship with HeavenlyFather so individual.

SPEAKER_05 (05:10):
Interesting.

SPEAKER_02 (05:12):
So, like, nobody can develop the relationship that
you have with your HeavenlyFather for you.
Like, you have to develop it byyourself by doing certain
things, right?

SPEAKER_04 (05:20):
Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 (05:22):
And then, like, in order to develop and, like, be
able to feel the Spirit and allthese things, you have to do
certain things, right?

SPEAKER_05 (05:27):
So, you're suggesting that it's not
complicated.
It's just...

SPEAKER_02 (05:29):
We make it, I think, a little bit more complicated.
You just

SPEAKER_05 (05:31):
have to live it.
And if you live it, the lightand the knowledge and the
understanding will come.

SPEAKER_02 (05:35):
Well, it's agency.
Yeah, like, if we choose...

SPEAKER_05 (05:37):
I see.
And because we don't choose itall the time and we don't live
it the way that he's saying liveit, we don't understand it as
much.
Is that what you're saying?
It's not complicated.
It's just that if we would applyit, it would be simpler.

SPEAKER_00 (05:49):
In Patrick Curran's talk in General Conference, he
talks about receiving the gift.
Now, if you were to receive thisgift of whatever we're talking
about today, easiness of thegospel, or you could say
perfection, in order to use thegift, that's how you're
perfected.
So if we have this gift ofsaying, okay, we can, I want it

(06:10):
to be easy, but you're not doingit, it won't be easy.
It's because you're not puttingin effort for it to be easier.
It's just going to keep onstaying hard if you don't put in
effort.
Interesting.
Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 (06:22):
Back to your point, Sean, you had kind of brought up
the point that You know, it'sdifficult.
Kind of like what Brandon andAbby have been saying, that it's
not easy.
I mean, think about anything inlife where you're trying to
accomplish.
Let's say for the gym, right?
Because you're the strongestperson I know.
Thank

SPEAKER_03 (06:37):
you.

SPEAKER_01 (06:38):
So if I want to be as strong as you, I have to
dedicate time and I have todedicate discipline, right?
I have to be disciplined inachieving my goal.
So if I want to be as strong asSean Record, I have to go to the
gym.
I have to feel in some type ofway pain, right?
so that I can be able to pushpast it and reach my goals.

(06:59):
Without working out, I wouldn'tbe as strong as you.
Without eating healthy, Iwouldn't be as strong as you.
There's things and obstacles inour way that actually push us to
become better to reach our endgoal, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_05 (07:11):
That makes a lot of sense.
Great answer.
However, just for the sake ofdiscussion, why not just give me
an Ozempic pill and then I'lllose weight?
Why not just give me somesteroids and I'll just be
muscular without all the effort?
Why isn't that a better way?
Well, if the goal for me is tobe big and strong and muscular,
give me the pill.

(07:32):
And all of a sudden I'm big andstrong and muscular.
Why make me go through all thateffort and all the hard work and
all the discipline?
Why?

SPEAKER_01 (07:37):
The experiences that you have in the journey is what
builds your character.
Like, for example, I know formyself personally, bringing it
back to the gospel sense, Iwould not be the disciple that I
am today if I didn't have theexperiences that were hard for
me.
If I didn't have the experiencesthat tested me to use my faith,

(07:57):
that tested me to figure out howto apply the atonement in my
life, that tested me how torepent, how to grow my faith,
how to trust the Spirit, Iwouldn't have...
the same discipleship that Ihave today because I wouldn't
have had those experiences topush me to this point.

SPEAKER_05 (08:12):
So you feel like in the analogy of the working out,
you feel like the steroids, Imean, I guess the steroids
wouldn't even work if youweren't lifting, right?
It wouldn't like grow yourmuscles.
You still have to put minimaleffort in, but you're saying
it's the process of putting thediligent effort in that is
actually going to give you realsubstantial health and muscles.

SPEAKER_01 (08:28):
Yeah, I mean, something substantial.
I mean, you brought in Ozempic.
If we're using that, that's aweight loss.
That's a weight loss treatment.
That's not a muscle building,strength building treatment.
And so it's for an outwardappearance, right?
But we're not working so otherssee us and they're like, oh,
they seem Christ.
Like, we want to know to ourcore.
We want Heavenly Father to knowthat we are his disciples.

SPEAKER_05 (08:50):
Nice.
What do you think, Abby?

SPEAKER_02 (08:52):
I would just say, I think, going back to your
analogy, I think Ozempic is aquick fix, right?
Like, it's an easy answer, quickfix.
You're not necessarily reallydoing anything either.
Maybe you change your diet alittle bit, but the pill's doing
it for you or the shots orwhatever.
And so kind of putting it inperspective of what Lauren was
saying, like through thatjourney of learning to kind of
like work for yourself, you gainappreciation of doing all that.

(09:15):
And I think you understand theimportance of like being able to
work towards something andappreciating it more now when
you get to that point whereyou're like, hey, I did all this
work to get here to, strengthenmy relationship with God to, you
know.

SPEAKER_05 (09:28):
Okay, so Abby, to apply this then to this gospel,
so are you thinking or sayingthat the reason it's a little
bit complicated is because Godwants to make it, he wants us,
he wants to require that it'snot so simple that you don't
have to put an effort to workfor it.
You don't, he wants us toactually diligently put effort
into work for it because A, thatgrows us, but B, it kind of

(09:49):
proves our desire, right?
What do you think, Brady?

SPEAKER_00 (09:52):
It makes me think about what God's original plan
was versus Satan's plan.
Satan's plan was for us all tobe the same.
No agency.
Everyone be the same.
No

SPEAKER_05 (10:02):
one will sin, but everyone will get back to the
presence of God because no onewill make a mistake.
No one will sin because I willforce you to and you will have
no agency.

SPEAKER_00 (10:10):
And that

SPEAKER_05 (10:11):
seems easy.

SPEAKER_00 (10:12):
It does.
But God has a lot of pleasurewhen we choose him but also have
agency.
He wants us as children tomake...
good good choices and sometimeswe're going to make bad but that
allows us to grow which is theultimate purpose of life

SPEAKER_01 (10:29):
and that makes me think of also in addition to
god's plan you know you'resaying we have so many
scriptures there's so much stuffwe have to study we have to
study but Almost every singlestory in the Book of Mormon, in
the Old Testament, in the NewTestament, are examples of this
way of living.
I mean, go through the NewTestament, all the disciples.
There's no picnic stories inthere.
It's all disciples that had tochoose Christ over and over and

(10:51):
over again, despite whatevercircumstance they were in, so
that they could become adisciple.

SPEAKER_05 (10:56):
Watch this.
Watch this.
The three of your basketballplayers, you've been lifelong
basketball players.
You love basketball.
You're basketball freaks.
Yes?
Yes.
yes yeah yeah one one of you isa d1 collegiate basketball
player go ahead abby pull themic over question has it been an
easy run

SPEAKER_02 (11:15):
absolutely not no

SPEAKER_05 (11:18):
you've had an interesting story and an
interesting like path to thisand would you say on the scale
from one to ten how how aboutthis i'll ask you two difficult
questions scale from one to tenHow talented are you gift-wise,
height-wise, skill-wise when itcomes to basketball?
Are you a 1 or a 10?
What do you think?
Just guess.

SPEAKER_02 (11:40):
Well, I'm 5'6", so I was not given very much talent
in that area.

SPEAKER_05 (11:44):
So what would you put yourself?

SPEAKER_02 (11:45):
For height?

SPEAKER_05 (11:46):
No, for talent.
For just natural talent forbasketball.

SPEAKER_01 (11:50):
God-given, like straight out the womb.
Probably like a 5.

SPEAKER_05 (11:53):
A 5?
Okay, interesting.
Now, on a scale from 1 to 10,when it comes to how hard you
have to work...
How hard have you worked on ascale from one to 10?
A

SPEAKER_02 (12:02):
10.

SPEAKER_05 (12:03):
Really?
15.
Yeah, I'd say 39.
We know your journey.
You have put in that effort.
And it's funny because like, Idon't know, a few months ago, I
remember the team was puttingout their team pictures.
Yeah.
And I remember you were likehighlighting one of these like
really cool high-end photos.
And I remember my wife and Ilooking at that photo and going,

(12:24):
my gosh.
goodness, she looks like abodybuilder.
Like what is going on there?
Like she's got the veins comingout of the like quads and the
shoulders are broad.
And we're like, that personright there is a developed,
powerful, amazing person.
But the truth is you were justblessed with that.
It just came.
It was easy for you.

SPEAKER_03 (12:45):
No.

SPEAKER_05 (12:47):
No.
So you became, have you become astronger, better person through
all the turmoil and all thelabor and all the hard work?

SPEAKER_02 (12:55):
1000%.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (12:57):
Yeah.
So what are your thoughts on howdoes that apply to this topic in
the gospel and spiritualstrength?
What do you think?

SPEAKER_02 (13:04):
I think baseline, just being able to have a
foundation has been the greatestthing for me, knowing that I can
always fall back on someone whowill always listen.
and is a constant comforter.

SPEAKER_05 (13:18):
Nice.
So there's a comfort there andit's kind of a guide.
You know when you need to grow,when you need to strengthen
yourself spiritually, you knowthat that foundation's there.
And do you feel like, I mean,that's kind of my question is
why, sorry, why do I need toput, like my first question is
rooted in why do I need to putall that hard work to know God

(13:38):
and to grow spiritually and tolearn repentance?
But I think you've all answeredthat.
It's because who do you become?
Now, let's just bring in ascripture.
Lauren, did you have 1 Nephi 10,17?
No.
No, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 (13:51):
I got it.
I have Romans 10, 17.

SPEAKER_05 (13:52):
Let me read this one, then you read that one.
Okay.
Okay, so what do you guys thinkof this?
Cana passed that after I, Nephi,having heard all the words of my
father concerning the thingswhich he saw in a vision, and
also the things which he spakeby the power of the Holy Ghost,
which power he received by faithon the Son of God.
And the Son of God was theMessiah who should come.
I, Nephi, was desirous...
that also that I might see andhear and know of these things by

(14:14):
the power of the Holy Ghost,which is the gift of God unto
all those who diligently seekhim, as well in times of old as
in the times that he shouldmanifest himself in the children
of men.
For he is the same yesterday,today, and forever, and the way
is prepared for all men from thefoundation of the world, if it
so be that they repent and comeunto him.
For he that diligently seekethshall find, and the mysteries of

(14:37):
God shall be unfolded unto themby the power of the Holy Ghost."
What do you guys think of that?
So it's basically saying who isentitled, who of us in this room
is entitled to have theknowledge and the mysteries of
God, to be happy, to be wise, togrow, to have everything

SPEAKER_00 (14:55):
we need.
You start in that verse.
It says you need a desirethbefore you diligently seek.
That's it.
It starts with a desire.
You nailed both

SPEAKER_05 (15:04):
of them,

SPEAKER_00 (15:04):
dude.
So what do you, okay.
So it starts with,

SPEAKER_05 (15:07):
I

SPEAKER_00 (15:07):
want it.
For Abby, for instance, if sheplayed basketball, She needs to
know where she wants to get to.
She needs to desire a team.
She needs to desire a role.
She needs to desire something.
And then once you have thatvision of what could be
possible, which through JesusChrist is a lot, then, okay, how
do I diligently get there?

SPEAKER_05 (15:27):
And now you need to apply the diligent seeking,
right?
And when it says, what do youthink it means the mysteries of
God will be unfolded to only tothose who have a desire and who
diligently seek?
What do you think that means,the mysteries of God?
What is he talking about here?

SPEAKER_01 (15:39):
surface level, the gospel is hard to understand.
It's difficult because it's socomplicated.
I think all those...
I think a mystery is like allthe unknown.
So the things that we don'tknow.

SPEAKER_05 (15:50):
And I think...
God being a spiritual being,right?
We being mortal beings, we don'tsee God.
We have faith in God.
And I think the greatest mysteryis, does God live?
Does he know me?
Does he love me?
What is our relationship?
And I think those are the keymysteries that need to be
revealed, but only to those whodesire and only to those of us
who diligently seek.

SPEAKER_00 (16:11):
One thing I saw in my mission a lot was there would
be people, a lot of people inEngland are very just like
cultural Catholics, right?
Oh.
So a lot of people, I would ask.
Casual.
Casual Christians.
Very casual.
I would say, hey, are youCatholic or Christian?
They're like, yeah, I'm aCatholic.
I'm like, oh, why?
He's like, oh, well, my great,great, great grandma was at

(16:32):
Church of England, so I am too.
Wow.
I'm like, name one book in theBible you probably can't.
But something interesting withthis concept of this lukewarm
Christianity is a lot of peoplewill say they believe in

(16:53):
something without ever puttingin effort.
Yeah.
Which is kind of sad.
It's like you say you believe insomething.
So one thing, for instance, is alot of people say, why do bad
things happen to good people?
I'd be like, well, do you evenknow who God is?
And I've seen such a strongthing about how those people who

(17:13):
seek will find those answers toknow, okay, God actually is real
because I've put in effort.
I've put in effort to know thatGod is real because I've prayed
about it.
I've looked at it.

SPEAKER_05 (17:25):
Did you find yourself, was it easy or hard to
get these people?
Would you say that that was alack of desire or a lack of the
diligent effort?

SPEAKER_00 (17:34):
Both.

SPEAKER_05 (17:34):
Both.
So did you find it difficult toguide people to Christ by
helping them develop that desireand that diligent effort?

SPEAKER_00 (17:41):
It's interesting because I think the first thing
when teaching someone is tellingthem that, Like let's say they
need to be humble enough toreceive it.
Before you teach, I think theyneed to be humble to receive it.
So the most influential peopleare the people I've been able to
teach and help to be baptized.
They're the ones that needed Godthe most.

SPEAKER_05 (18:03):
Because a need kind of turns someone's desires to
God, right?
Sometimes, I mean, I love thescripture that says you either
choose to be humble, which is aprerequisite of faith, or you
will be compelled to be humble.
So you're saying that oftentimesthe comfort level in life, the
pride in life was a barrier topeople's desires.
Everything's going good.
I don't have a desire to seekout anything better.

SPEAKER_00 (18:23):
Yeah.
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 (18:25):
Yeah.
I mean, I think that's whymissionary work in certain
States, like here in Californiais very, very difficult.
There's a lot of satisfied,happy people who don't, who are
frankly prideful and who don'tthink they need.
And so there's no desire.
And so there's definitely nodiligent seeking.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (18:40):
And I think diligent seeking is one thing that I wish
I recognized as a key indicatorof someone who's willing to be
converted into Christ.
earlier in my mission becauseyou know you you extend
invitations to people chapter 11of preach my gospel is is great
at teaching us as missionarieshow to properly extend
invitations to people and youknow in the beginning there's

(19:00):
probably those lukewarm peoplethat have the motivation to do
it so for a couple days or aweek or two they'll read the
chapters that you give themthey'll pray but there's there
comes a point where motivationisn't enough and Discipline
outweighs motivation.
So if they don't have thatdiscipline, if they don't have a
true earnest desire, they'renever going to get anywhere.

(19:20):
There's so many people that Itaught while I was on my mission
that for a couple of days, for acouple of weeks would be like,
yes, I'm loving this.
I'm loving this.
And then they'd kind of justfizzle out because they didn't
have the discipline to keepgoing on the journey.
The

SPEAKER_05 (19:39):
desire may have been there.
The diligence seeking wasn'tthere.

SPEAKER_01 (19:41):
Yeah, and it reminds me, you mentioned faith earlier,
and there's a scripture inRomans 10, it's 17, verse 17,
and it says, so then faithcometh by hearing and hearing by
the word of God.
And I love this principle, theword of God answers every
question because it truly does,but it's kind of like an
equation where the word of Godplays one part, but then our

(20:03):
faith has to play another partfor us to be able to get the
answer.

SPEAKER_05 (20:05):
Beautiful.
Abby?

SPEAKER_02 (20:08):
I was just going to say, kind of going off of that,
There's a conference talkPresident Nelson gave in April
2018, and it's called Revelationfor the Church, Revelation of
Our Lives.
And I've had to make some biglife decisions right now, and I
feel like I've relied solely onrevelation that I get and

(20:30):
promptings and feelings andpraying every day and doing the
things that I can to get theright answer to make the right
choice.
And all we ever want to do ismake the right choice.
Right.
And sometimes there is no rightchoice.
And I think

SPEAKER_05 (20:45):
sometimes God leaves it up to you.
Make a choice,

SPEAKER_02 (20:46):
decide for yourself, which that's where the agency
comes in.
Right.
Um, but a good friend of minesent a little blurb from this
talk.
Um, And is it okay if I justread it real quick?
Yeah, go

SPEAKER_04 (20:57):
for

SPEAKER_02 (20:57):
it.
It says, pray in the name ofJesus Christ about your
concerns, your fears, yourweaknesses, yes, the very
longings of your heart, and thenlisten.
Write the thoughts that come toyour mind, record your feelings,
and follow through with actionsthat you are prompted to take.
As you repeat this process dayafter day, month after month,
year after year, you will growinto the principle of
revelation.
Does God really want to speak toyou?

(21:19):
Yes.
As well, might men stretch forthhis puny arm to stop the
Missouri River in its decreedcourse as to hinder the Almighty
from pouring down knowledge fromheaven upon the heads of the
Latter-day Saints.

SPEAKER_03 (21:33):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (21:34):
I don't know.
And I think that just was reallyimportant to me, at least for
this time in my life right now,where it was kind of like, he
hears you, he knows you soindividually.
And the gospel can be as simpleas, hey, I'm going to have a
conversation with you.

SPEAKER_05 (21:45):
Well, I think you bring up a great point, right?
The praying and the seekingrevelation is a part of the
diligence seeking.
And you won't do that unless youhave a desire.

SPEAKER_04 (21:52):
Totally.

SPEAKER_05 (21:53):
And so I think repeatedly throughout scripture,
there are two things that Godsays for us to do in order to
diligently seek him.
The first one is pray.
The second one is feast upon thewords of Christ, right?
2 Nephi 32 says, angels speak bythe power of the Holy Ghost,
wherefore they speak the wordsof Christ.
Wherefore I say unto you, feastupon the words of Christ, for
behold, the words of Christ willtell you all things what you
should do.

(22:13):
You've got some hard decisionsto make right now, Abby.
You're trying to decide what todo in your life.
You guys just got back from yourmissions.
You got about 3 billiondecisions in front of you.
I love that we can turn to theword of God and feast on the
words of Christ and trustcompletely because it says here,
they will tell you all thingswhat you should do.
And then to apply what you said,Abby, it says, now after I've
spoken these words, if youcannot understand them, right?
If we were looking in thescriptures and we're not finding

(22:35):
the understanding or themeaning, it says, if you can't
understand them, it will bebecause you ask not.
Neither do ye knock.
Wherefore, ye are not broughtinto the light, but must perish
into the dark.
And now, Abby, your point.
For behold, again, I say untoyou that if you will enter in by
the way and receive the HolyGhost, it will show you all
things what ye should do.
The word of God, feast upon thewords of Christ, and it will

(22:56):
tell you all things.
Pray for the Holy Ghost, and itwill show you all things.
And that double confirmation ishow the mysteries of God are
revealed to us.
And that is power.
But it does take, and you knowthat, Brayden, it takes desire
first, And then it takesdiligent, diligent feasting on
the words of Christ and praying,praying, praying, and learning
to recognize that Holy Ghost.
Yeah, so I think the answer tothe initial question of why is

(23:18):
it difficult?
I would agree with kind of thesentiment you all said, which is
it's not that difficult.
It's really not.
To those who desire anddiligently seek.
When we desire and diligentlyseek, We receive the clarity
through spiritual means.
I think to our mortal brainswithout the spirit, these
spiritual things may becomplicated and hard to
understand.
But to those of us who pray andread the scriptures, we start to

(23:41):
understand how God communicatesto us through the Holy Ghost.
And the Holy Ghost will deliverit to our brains, our hearts,
and our minds with clarity andsimplicity.
And that's why I think theanswer is they are simple.
To those who diligently seek,diligently really work at it.

SPEAKER_01 (23:58):
This principle really makes me think of 3rd
Nephi 11 when the people hearGod's voice in their And first
time, they don't recognize it.
Second time, they don'tunderstand it.
Third time.
And it took them a couple oftries for them to be able to
recognize who was talking andwhy it was so important.
And then after the fact, theywere able to have this
one-on-one experience with JesusChrist and come unto him and

(24:21):
know of his divinity.
And even though we don't havethe same opportunity as the
Nephites in that moment, westill have the opportunity to
tune our spiritual radio, so tosay, into being able to receive
these promptings, receive thisknowledge so that we can have
that one-on-one experience withJesus Christ and truly come into
him and be converted in himthrough faith, repentance,

(24:44):
baptism, receiving the gift ofthe Holy ghost and learning that
through the word of God.

SPEAKER_05 (24:47):
Nice.
I love it.
Quick story.
Can I tell you a quick story?
Okay.
So when I was in Mikheyevka,Mikheyevka, Ukraine, there was
this, we were contacting, andI've told this before, because
when, when you're contacting inUkraine and, and you see out of
the corner of your eye, someonecoming at you, you kind of...
It's not good because it's oneof three things.

(25:08):
A, it is a mafiosa, a Russianmafia guy, and they either love
you or they are going to try andkidnap you.
B, it's a policeman, which arelike 18, 19-year-old punk drunk
kids who are just like justpunks, and they're going to try
and rob you.
or it's C, a drunk guy, whichwas 99% of the time.
And typically what would happenwhen the drunk guy comes up to

(25:30):
you, when they get close enough,in slow motion, they will rear
back one arm and they will takea big looping swing at you and
then fall to the ground and getstuck on the ground for about
five hours.
So either of these three optionswas always like, great, what's
about to happen?
So I'm talking to someone, I seeout of the corner of my eye,
someone coming at me.
I'm like, oh man, get ready, getready, get ready.
I finished, and then he stopsand he just kind of waits.

(25:51):
I'm like, oh, that's acourteous, drunk man.
And then when I finish, I turnedto him.
I'm like, okay, what's up?
And this dude is actually reallycourteous.
He comes, he's like, look,you're a missionary for Jesus
Christ, right?
I was like, yes, I am.
He says, I need your help.
I need you to save me.
I was like, oh, that's a greatinvitation.
That's wonderful.
What's going on?
He says, look, alcohol hasdestroyed my life.

(26:12):
I am losing my family.
I'm losing my kids.
I'm losing my control.
I'm losing everything.
I'm going to lose my job,everything.
It's destroyed me.
Please come save me.
And we're like, well, what afaithful request.
We're like, of course.
What's your address?
We'll come by tomorrow.
We'll start teaching you.
Thanks, guys.
I'm ready.
I need to change.
I'm in dead meat.
Great.
Okay, so the next day we showup.
Knock on the door.

(26:32):
We open the door, and there heis.
But he's standing sideways, liketilted to the left, like almost
falling over.
Oh, boy.
Oh, boy is right.
We're like, oh, that dude's faceis very red and bloated right
now, and he's falling

SPEAKER_00 (26:46):
over.
He had a good evening.

SPEAKER_05 (26:47):
He had a great evening, yeah.
He's like, guys, come in, comein, come in.
We're like, hmm.
We smell it.
We see it.
How about this?
How about don't drink tomorrowand we'll come back because we
can't teach you when you'redrunk.
He's like, oh, I'm so sorry,guys.
Yeah, yeah, come back tomorrow.
Okay, no problem.
So we go back the next day,knock on the door.
Poor guy.
We're like, holy cow, this dudereally does have a problem.

(27:07):
Guy, we can't teach you.
Please don't drink tomorrow.
We'll come back.
I'm sorry, guys.
I'm sorry.
I won't drink tomorrow.
Next day, drunk.
We're like, what the heck?
We do it one more time and thistime a woman answers the door
and We're like, oh, hey, we'rehere for your husband.
Hey, she's like, he's drunk.
He won't talk to you.
Like, hey, listen, we are hereto help.
We can really help him.

(27:27):
Can you make sure he's not drunktomorrow?
You know what she says?
No, I cannot.
I can't.
I've tried for years.
I can't.
So we just go home and pray andpray and pray.
Please, please get us in thereone day that he's not drunk.
So we show up the next day,knock on the door.
He's not drunk.
One out of like six.
So this was crazy.

(27:47):
We were like, okay, we got towork cut out for him.
So we go in and we sit down andit took some convincing of the
wife and the two kids toconvince like, hey, this is the
solution.
And we had the faith, Lauren.
We believed as servants of Godthat this man who has the
desire, Brayden, was ready.
He was going to learn.
Was he willing to do thediligent work was the question.

(28:08):
So as we taught them and taughtthem and taught them, they were
broken down and humbled and theylistened and they learned, every
time he would ask them to dosomething, they would do it.
They were keeping commitments.
And then one lesson, I just feltthe Holy Ghost inspired.
And I looked at this belovedman, this poor broken man, and I
just had this revelation.

(28:28):
And I made him a promise.
I said, look, I promise you inthe name of the Lord, we are his
servants.
If you will open up the Book ofMormon and you will read it
constantly, nonstop, never putit down, then we promise you
within a week's time, Yourdesire, your body dependency,
the psychological, the physicalwill all leave your person.

(28:52):
But you've got to do thediligent work of feasting upon
the words of Christ.
And he looked at me and said,I'm going to do it.
I will do it.
Now, what was amazing is wewould spy on this dude because
we saw how determined he was.
We'd wake up early.
He was a shaktior, which is acoal miner.
And these guys' life is tough.
He would wake up early.
He'd walk to the bus station andhe'd get on the bus, go to work,

(29:14):
come back late at night, get offthe bus and go home.
We would sneak and watch.
He'd literally come out of hishouse with the Book of Mormon in
his face and he's reading as hewalks.
We watch him in the bus line andhe's reading the Book of Mormon.
He gets on that bus and his faceis in the Book of Mormon.
We'd come back that evening, seehim get off the bus.
The Book of Mormon's in hisface.
Day after day after day, we wereso happy.

(29:35):
We're like, he's doing it.
He's literally keeping thecommitment and he's feasting
upon the words of Christ.
I'm not kidding you guys sevendays he's gone he's done no more
alcohol like I don't know ifyou've known people who are
alcoholics that is a physicaldangerous you could die when you
consume that much to stop coldturkey like that so once we're

(29:56):
sitting in the room a week laterand he's like guys I haven't I
haven't had a drink in threedays like guys I'm doing this I
don't have the desire I feelstrong I feel healthy we
immediately looked at his wifeand kids and man they they just
fell in love with us.
Because like, I think you'vecured our dad of the thing that
was destroying our life.
And they got so, so, sointerested in the gospel.
And now they started keeping thecommitments and they started

(30:17):
reading.
And now they're doing it as afamily.
Warren, is there anything,Brayden, is there on the
mission, is there anythingbetter?
It's great to see someone,right?
Start keeping these commitmentsand feel the spirit and make
commitments.
But to see a whole family do it,it's like the greatest thing on
the planet,

SPEAKER_00 (30:34):
right?
Top one.
And

SPEAKER_05 (30:37):
so when I saw these guys doing it, man, it was
great.
And there's another part of thestory we won't go into now, but
I'm telling you that the powerof a diligent seeking of the
word of God, it has a power tochange your soul and to change
your life.
And it was really holding himinto power.
So what do you guys think thisprinciple means?
You have something, Braden?

(30:58):
Yeah, question.
How

SPEAKER_00 (30:59):
smart, like, how smart was that guy, the coal
miner?
Was he Albert Einstein or washe...
Oh, how intelligent was he?

SPEAKER_05 (31:07):
Yeah.
Nah, not really.

SPEAKER_00 (31:09):
And I think the interesting thing about that is
you could see thisnot-so-intelligent coal miner
and be like, ah, you give himthis promise, but maybe he's not
the best reader.
But the fact that you had a...
Spirit-led invitation, but alsothe desire.
It was easy for him because hehad the desire.
So how to make a, in the shortterm, to wrap that kind of up,

(31:31):
that question of why isn't iteasy?
To make it easy, do it.

SPEAKER_05 (31:34):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (31:35):
Just do a little bit every day.

SPEAKER_05 (31:36):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (31:37):
He was doing it all day, every day.
He really was.
From the bus to work, back tothe bus, back to home.
But to make that job easier toois just to literally just do it
every day.
Absolutely.
A little bit every day.

SPEAKER_05 (31:49):
And that's the diligent, right?

UNKNOWN (31:51):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (31:51):
We read that the misters of God and the power of
God comes to us when we desireand diligently seek and feast in
the words of Christ, and that'swhat was happening.
Lauren, did you have

SPEAKER_01 (31:59):
something?
I was just going to say, I thinkdiligence goes hand in hand with
consistency.
So I think of diligence onthis...
It's not like a one-and-donetype of thing, like a baptismal
covenant.
It's not like, okay, you'rebaptized, you're good to go.
It's a lifelong process.
And I love that you shared 2Nephi 32, because verse 3, when

(32:21):
it talks about, And there's afootnote attached to the word
tell, and it relates to thetopical guide, and it's the
section problem-solving.
And I love that because when ittells us the things we should
do, it's not like, okay, here'syour answer.
You're good.

(32:42):
You're set.
Just sit back, relax, and letthis revelation do the work.
It's a problem solving.
You have to act.
You have to be diligent.
And it's something that mighttake a little bit of time.

SPEAKER_05 (32:53):
That's a great point, right?
Because it's not like if, Abby,your current situation is,
should I marry this guy orshould I not marry this guy?
And if the scriptures say itwill tell you all things what
you should do, it's not like youcan open the book and it's going
to be like, Blank, yes, no.
But to your point, Lauren, Ibelieve 100%.
It does give us the principlesthat should guide how we can

(33:17):
solve problems, how we can getanswers, how we can make
decisions.
All of the principles are inhere to guide us and tell us
exactly what to do.
I've applied that my whole life,and I'm annoyingly happy.
I'm annoyingly happy because Ifeel the Spirit in every, like
the Scriptures really do provideme with the guidance and the
principles to be happy.
It works.
It does work.
So to, to, to apply this tomissionary work in this

(33:39):
principle of the word of Godanswers every question.
Here's what I kind of want tobring in here and get your
question or ask a questionabout.
I got to the point on my missionwhere I realized, oh my
goodness, the power of thescriptures is so, it's so much
greater than any, any tool we'vegot better than my charisma or
my voice, better than mylessons, better than anything.
So I just knew that if we canget the scriptures into the
hands and the minds of thepeople, that's going to change

(34:00):
them.
So I got to the point where Iwas like, okay, well maybe if
every answer is, or everyquestion that an investigator
asks, if I could just hand themthe book and they'll read it,
then they'll maybe feel theSpirit and it'll be more
effective.
And that's exactly what we did.
Back then, we didn't havephones, so I had this little
notebook.
And as I would study theScriptures in the morning, I
would be like, okay, that's aScripture about repentance.
Oh, there's another one.

(34:20):
And I would start making like atagged list of of all the
topics.
Okay, here's baptism.
Now before long, I've got 10scriptures for baptism.
I've got 30 scriptures forhumility.
I've got faith.
I've got 20 scriptures.
And every time we were out andabout and someone said, well, is
baptism a requirement forsalvation?
My instinct was, well, let'stalk about that.

(34:42):
But I knew the best thing was,hey, read this.
Tell me what you think.
Because every time they'd readit and I'd say, how does that
make you feel?
Most of the time they're like,oh, actually pretty good.
I like that.
Well, that's the Holy Ghost.
That's telling you the truth.
So this notebook became my mostvaluable tool because it was a
guide of tagged scriptures.
So can you think of someexamples?

(35:02):
Or maybe I'll tell you a storyand ask you a question.
Or what do you think of thisprinciple?
Brayden, what do you think?
Lauren, what do you think?
Abby, what do you think?
The Word of God is better atanswering questions than you are
or than I am.

SPEAKER_00 (35:15):
There was a lot of times where...
I'd be door knocking in a rain,muddy, cold weather of England,
and I'd try to just put on acharm.
So I'd just, oh, you cheekybloke, come here, let me give
you a story.
I would try and almost be like asalesman where I was super
charismatic.
Yeah, which you are.
With how I presented myself.

(35:38):
And they'd be like, yeah, that'sfun, that's fun.
I'll get their number.
I'd be ghosted because it'slike, yeah, that guy's a funny
dude, but what does he bring?
Wow.
What, what, what am I receiving?
That's long lasting.
And I was, I had to figure thatout throughout my mission is to,
okay, I can be cheeky.
I can be a little bit funny, butwhat am I leaving them with to

(35:58):
help them remember that fruit?
Dude,

SPEAKER_05 (36:01):
that's, that's amazing.
So what you're saying is ourcharisma, our personality,

SPEAKER_00 (36:09):
your

SPEAKER_05 (36:10):
story.
Yeah, it's a tool, but you'resaying that there's no staying
power in it because it's notspiritually converting.
It's only the Holy Ghost and theSpirit that converts.
And the tools to bring the HolyGhost and the Spirit are the
Word of God and prayer.
And so your charisma only gotyou so far.
Dude, that's powerful.
That's pretty awesome.
What about you, Lauren?
Do you have any experienceswhere the Scriptures were by far

(36:33):
the greater tool than your own?
A

SPEAKER_01 (36:35):
lot of times throughout my mission, I'd get
asked by a lot of people from...
I'd say like 99.9% of people inSouth America or Latin or
Central America have a faith inGod.
And every time I'd talk to them,word of God, obviously we
believe in the Bible, but weshared a lot about the Book of
Mormon.

(36:56):
One thing that my missionpresident and his wife always
said to us was give themsomething that they don't know
already.
Teach them something that theydon't know about or else what's
the point in talking to us,right?
We want to share a message aboutJesus and that he loves you.
I already know Jesus loves me.
What do you have to offer?
Kind of like what Brian wassaying.
Interesting.
And a lot of times these peoplewould ask me, they're like, hold

(37:18):
on, I have to translate it toEnglish.
They'd be like, if you believein the Bible, why do you not
carry it with you?
Why do you only talk about thebook of Mormon?
And I'd come to realize thatexactly what my mission
president said.
A lot of people already believein Jesus Christ, but they don't
know the extent to the role hecan play in their lives, right?

(37:40):
And I think that's the biggestpart.
about why we share about theBook of Mormon, about the Word
of God as missionaries, isbecause it's so powerful in its
way of teaching us who JesusChrist is, but also who we can
make him in our lives.
Something changes in you whenyou decide to make God the most
important influence in yourlife, and it's something that

(38:00):
changes your discipleship, andit comes through reading the
Word of God.

SPEAKER_05 (38:04):
Beautiful.
Love it.
Okay, here's a good practicalexample.
So I'm going to ask you guys thequestion, see how you'd answer
this.
beautiful couple that we wereteaching newlyweds pregnant
babies about to come they werepretty wealthy ukrainians it was
just a lovely situation we wouldbe in there and teaching them
and they just loved us and ourcharisma was there but they my

(38:27):
drug they were my drusya pluralthere you go good job but they
were just loving it and we werefeeling the spirit we're
teaching them after five or sixlessons we were pretty much
ready to like commit to baptismand go and they were ready Then
there was that day.
I'm sure you both tell me ifyou've experienced this.

(38:47):
Everything's going great.
You meet there for the nextmeeting.
You knock on the door.
You open it, and there's tears.
This lady is just in tears.
We're like, oh, we know whatthat means.
That means they're sayinggoodbye to us, right?
You ever have that?
Yeah, so we go in.
We're like, what's going on?
She's like, we can't meet withyou guys anymore.
What?
Why?
Why?
She says, well, cause we wereat, I was at a party with my

(39:09):
family and I mentioned thatwe've met you guys and we're
going to be baptized in the LDSchurch.
And immediately my sister and mymom and grandma just came at me
and they says, wait a minute,your baby's about to be born.
That means you're not going tobaptize your baby in the Russian
Orthodox church.
That means your baby will go tohell.
Your baby's dead.
Your baby will go to hell.
And they said, you cannot dothis.

(39:29):
You cannot do this.
And so it just rocked her somuch that she came to us and
she's like, guys, I, you won'tbaptize my baby.
Will you?
Okay, so here's the question foryou guys.
How would you handle thatsituation?
What would you say?

SPEAKER_00 (39:45):
First I'd be and say, well, give your baby a
blessing.

SPEAKER_01 (39:49):
I just,

SPEAKER_00 (39:50):
I wouldn't

SPEAKER_01 (39:50):
say

SPEAKER_00 (39:50):
anything.
Oh, wait, he fell for the trap.

SPEAKER_05 (39:52):
You didn't.

SPEAKER_00 (39:53):
No, I would say something.

SPEAKER_05 (39:54):
Okay, let's hear what you say.
So

SPEAKER_00 (39:56):
I would say, first I would ask him, besides that, do
you believe the Book of Mormonis scripture?

SPEAKER_05 (40:03):
Yeah, we like it.
We like it.
They said, we said, we like it.
Yeah, we do.
We love the time with you guys.
We love reading the Book ofMormon.
Yes.

SPEAKER_00 (40:10):
Okay.
Do you believe that it's fromGod?

SPEAKER_05 (40:12):
Yeah, I think so.
We feel that.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (40:14):
They'd say, yeah.
And then bang, there's ascripture about infant baptism.

SPEAKER_05 (40:20):
Okay.
So you couldn't help yourself.
You had to teach a little bitbecause that's just who you are
before you brought in the wordof God.
Is that what I'm saying?
That's what I'm hearing, right?
I

SPEAKER_00 (40:27):
think there's different ways to answer that.
Obviously for me, I'd, I'd wantto answer them.
but maybe the spirit in themoment would be different.

SPEAKER_05 (40:35):
So my temptation was the same.
I feel like I had a good answerfor that.
Like what would you, Abby, let'sput Abby on the spot.
Answer it.
Why can't, why shouldn't shebaptize her child, her baby, her
two month old?

SPEAKER_02 (40:47):
Why shouldn't she baptize her in the Russian
orthodox church?
Yeah, or

SPEAKER_05 (40:50):
just baptize her in general at two years old or two
months old.

SPEAKER_02 (40:54):
She doesn't get a choice to get baptized or not.

SPEAKER_05 (40:56):
Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 (40:58):
That's

SPEAKER_05 (40:59):
good.

SPEAKER_02 (41:01):
But, I also think that you can answer it, but I
think that in all reality,Heavenly Father answers it with
the Holy Ghost.

SPEAKER_03 (41:12):
Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (41:12):
Hand in hand.

SPEAKER_03 (41:13):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (41:14):
So like Brian's saying, like his approach would
be different than Lauren's,right?
And that's perfectly fine.
And I think that you can answerit, but I also think like, I
feel like your answer, and maybeI'm putting words in your mouth,
but I feel like your answerwould be like, read this and
tell me how you feel.

SPEAKER_05 (41:27):
That's right.

SPEAKER_02 (41:28):
And like pray for, sorry, go ahead.
I'm taking the words right outof your mouth,

SPEAKER_05 (41:34):
huh?
Let's do it.
Let's do exactly what it is.
So we, right, the temptationthere is.
Genius.
The temptation there is to useour words.
And there's nothing wrong withthat.
But this principle is all aboutuse the power of the Holy Ghost
through Scripture to teach themsomething.
So what we did is we sat down.

SPEAKER_02 (41:51):
Yeah, tell me what

SPEAKER_05 (41:51):
you did.
Okay, so we sat down.
And we says, look, we understandwhat you're going through.
And we understand that this is adifficult topic.
And the pressure you get fromfamily is horrible.
Can we read something realquick?
We opened up to Moroni 8 and Ihanded it.
Will you read, Abby?
Moroni, start reading in 10.

SPEAKER_02 (42:06):
Can I ask you something first?
Yeah.
Before I read this, did youalready, like, when she told you
this, you opened the door, like,did you already have this...
scripture in mind or did you getlike a prompting of this is what
we need to read

SPEAKER_05 (42:18):
great question so this was the point on my mission
where I knew and understood thatif I could answer every question
with the word of God the spiritwould change their hearts I had
to pull out my notebook thislittle stupid notebook and I
went to baptism and I had asection that said children and
baptism

SPEAKER_02 (42:31):
I

SPEAKER_05 (42:31):
love it and it was immediately it had four
scriptures and this was the topone I had a big star it was
diligence yes that's right

SPEAKER_02 (42:38):
okay I love it.
Do you want me to read all?

SPEAKER_05 (42:41):
Yeah, you're playing her role, and you're just going
to read those real quick.

SPEAKER_02 (42:43):
Okay.
Behold, I say unto you that thisthing shall ye teach, repentance
and baptism unto those who areaccountable and capable of
committing sin.
Yea, teach parents that theymust repent and be baptized and
humble themselves as theirlittle children, and they shall
all be saved with theirchildren.
And their little children needno repentance, neither baptism.
Behold, baptism is untorepentance, to the fulfilling

(43:05):
the commandment, unto theremission of sins.
But the little children arealive in Christ, even from the
foundation of the world.
If not, so God is a partial God,and also a changeable God, and a
respecter to persons for howmany little children have died
without baptism.
Wherefore, if little childrencould not be saved without

(43:26):
baptism, these must have gone toan endless hell.
Behold, I say unto you, that hethat supposeth that little
children need baptism, is in allthe gall of bitterness and in
the bonds of iniquity.
For he hath neither faith, hope,nor charity.
Wherefore, should he be cut offwhile in the thought, he must go

(43:51):
down to hell.

SPEAKER_05 (43:51):
What do you think of that?

SPEAKER_02 (43:52):
I've never read that before.

SPEAKER_05 (43:53):
What do you think of that?

SPEAKER_02 (43:55):
That's amazing.

SPEAKER_05 (43:55):
How does that make you feel?

SPEAKER_02 (43:57):
I've literally never...
Read that before.
How does

SPEAKER_05 (43:59):
that make you feel?
Do you feel like that's true?
Do you feel like that's, what doyou think?

SPEAKER_02 (44:02):
Totally.
I mean, me and Lauren have beennannying right now.
So we're around little kids allthe time, right?
And it's like we're babysittingone-year-olds, two-year-olds.
Those are babies.
I mean, at least I look at themand I'm like, you're so
innocent.
You don't know.
And so it makes sense where it'slike, sure, you quote-unquote

(44:26):
make mistakes, but it's likethey're babies.
And it's like, I don't know,I've just never, I don't know
what to think of that.
I've just never read thatbefore.
That's amazing.

SPEAKER_05 (44:35):
It's so powerful.
Yeah, it's so powerful.
And as she read it, and it'sinteresting because it's the
same message you said, right?
When I asked you, hey, describeit or explain it, you said
agency.

SPEAKER_02 (44:44):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (44:44):
And then you read this and it's like, whoa, that
is powerful.
And then so when she was readingthis, she'd keep looking up at
us and she'd read a script verseand look up at us and go, oh.
You could tell her face wasreally seriously contemplating
this stuff.
And then she got to 14 and itsaid agency.
He that supposeth that littlechildren need baptism is in the
gall of bitterness and in thebonds of iniquity.

(45:04):
For he hath neither faith, hope,nor charity.
Wherefore should he be cut offwhile in the thought he must go
down to hell.
And she stopped and looked at usand went, wow, that's true.
And I says, well, how does itmake you feel?
Like, what does your heart tellyou right now?
What do you feel?
And she said, yeah, I knowthat's true.
I know that's true.
So the scriptures were such apowerful way to help her

(45:27):
internalize the truth, the wordof God.
The Holy Ghost confirmed it toher.
I think there's a 50-50 chancethat I could have said it pretty
articulately.
That's

SPEAKER_02 (45:37):
a perfect scripture, though.
It's a perfect scripture.
That's so perfect to hersituation.

SPEAKER_05 (45:41):
And it changed her, and it helped her deal with this
hardship, right?
So what I'm contending and I'mreally preaching is, Every
single question that anyone has,there is an equally powerful
verse in one of the four of ourcanonized scripture that answers
just like that with just as muchpower.
I'll give you another example.
Three days ago, we were in amission prep class and what's a

(46:04):
common response to all therequirements that we have in our
church when people are like,hey, you know, you got to do
more.
What's the common response,Braden?
You're saved by grace.
You don't need any of that.
Yeah.
God just wants us to be good,man.
Just be a good dude.
Just be a good dude.
He's going to save us, right?

SPEAKER_01 (46:19):
God doesn't care if you drink coffee.

SPEAKER_05 (46:23):
Well, so we were in this mission prep class and this
young missionary, we weretalking about it and she kept
going back to that.
She kept going, but I think Godjust loves everyone.
Everyone's trying.
He just wants us to be goodpeople and that's enough.
And then I handed her a thirdNephi 11.
And 3511 talks about Christ.
He's sitting there preaching toeveryone, and he says, listen,
I'm going to teach you what mygospel is.

(46:44):
And then he says, this is mydoctrine, and there is no other
doctrine.
And if you preach more or lessthan this doctrine, it is of the
devil.
It is the wrong doctrine.
And then he proceeds to repeatfour things about 30 times in a
row.
Anyone take a guess what thosefour things are?
Faith,

SPEAKER_01 (47:03):
repentance, baptism.
Receiving the gift of the HolyGhost.
He

SPEAKER_05 (47:06):
literally, over and over and over again, our Savior,
in teaching this doctrine,saying that it's his doctrine,
says, to come unto me, you mustbelieve in me, which leads to
repentance, which leads tocovenants and baptism, and then
you will receive the gift of theHoly Ghost for sanctification.
And I handed that to her, andshe read it, and then I said
again, what is the requirementfrom God in order for us to be

(47:28):
saved?
And she's like, yeah, that's it.
Well, how does that make youfeel?
Yeah, I feel that's right.
The power of the words of Christconvinced people.
Not my words, not your words.
So missionaries out therepreparing, if you don't know the
scriptures, if you haven'tfeasted upon the words of
Christ, you're not going to beable to use them to teach people
the truth to the point wherethey will be convinced by the

(47:49):
power of the Holy Ghost thatthey need to come to Christ.

SPEAKER_02 (47:53):
Did her family get baptized?

SPEAKER_05 (47:54):
So I got transferred out and I don't know what
happened.
I know, it's a sad story.
Listen, I found that was my lotin life.
Many times I was there to findthem and to teach them And then
move on and find and teach andmove on and find and teach.
And then later on, yeah, you'dget a story that they got
baptized or they didn't getbaptized.
But I don't even know.
And I was terrible at followingup and keeping in touch with
them all because I was soexcited to just go out and find

(48:15):
and teach and find and teach andjust go because I was good at
it.
And I felt I was called to doit.
So I'm sorry that I have areally lame answer to that
question.
I'm

SPEAKER_00 (48:24):
sorry.
Don't track them down now.

SPEAKER_05 (48:27):
I would love to.
I would love to.

SPEAKER_01 (48:29):
I want to share a story to finish this episode.
Please.
Just kind of going along withthe theme of desire and
diligence, I wanted to share ascripture from Doctrine and
Covenants, section 4, verse 7.
For all you listening, you know,you're either deciding to serve
a mission or you're preparing.

(48:49):
For me, the biggest decisionthat I have yet to make, that I
have yet had to make in my lifeis the choice to serve.
And I remember April of 2023, Iwas deciding to serve or not.
And I remember asking God, I waspraying and praying and reading
and studying and read through mypatriarchal blessing and trying
to figure out.
I remember asking a ton of myfriends and family, hey, I'm

(49:10):
going to do a fast.
Can you please join me?
And I never got an answer.
But that didn't mean I stoppeddesiring and I stopped seeking.
And so for two years from thatpoint on, Every day I knocked.
Every day I saw it.
Every day I knocked.
I kept desiring.
I kept desiring to know if Ishould serve a mission, if that

(49:31):
was the right choice to make.
And it wasn't until the lastweek of my mission, the very
last week of my mission, I wassitting in a get-go gas station
in the middle of Speedway,Indiana.
And I was reading through Alma26 with my companion during a
comp study.
And the entire chapter is Ammontalking about his mission
experience.

(49:52):
And he talks about the joy thathe felt from helping his brother
and come to the Lord.
And in that moment, I got myanswer that I was supposed to be
serving a mission and that itdid everything that it needed
for me to become who HeavenlyFather needs me to become.
And it took two years to getthat answer.
But something that I recognizedis that every single day, I

(50:15):
prayed to Heavenly Father toknow if I was making the right
decision.
I was literally like...
two months and five months andsix months and 12 months and 15
months into my mission, I wasstill saying, you know, this is
what I chose.
Please help me to know that itwas the right decision.
And it wasn't until two yearslater that I got a confirmation
that I made the right choice.

SPEAKER_05 (50:34):
What I love so much about that is of the so many
people I know in my life, you'reone of my favorite people who
have changed so much because youhave fully committed to that
desire and And that diligentseeking.
You have feasted.
You didn't just nibble.
You didn't just read it.
You have feasted on the words ofChrist.
And you have prayed diligentlyfor answers.

(50:57):
And so maybe God's whole reasonfor answering you the way he did
was because he knew your heartand he knew you would go and do
all that work.
And it's what you've become now.
Right?
You are that bodybuilder nowspiritually.
Right?
Because you put in the heart.
You're that picture of yoursister Abby with those like
veiny quads.
But it's on the spiritual side.
Sorry.
It's just the spiritual side.

SPEAKER_01 (51:18):
Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 (51:19):
No, I think that's just amazing.
All right.
Well, that's lesson four,principle four.
So thanks for joining us.
Hendo twins or triplets, nottwins, triplets.
Yeah.
You guys are the best.
And listeners, come back andwe'll do principle five next
week.
Thanks for joining.