August 11, 2024 • 30 mins
Can you imagine discovering the true purpose of missionary work or finding joy amidst feelings of inadequacy? Join us for a heartfelt conversation with Kenton as he recounts the pivotal spiritual experiences that continue to anchor him to Jesus Christ, including a miraculous moment at the Hill Camorra pageant and the joy of his baptism. Listen as Kenton reflects on how these early encounters set a foundation for his enduring faith and connection to the Savior.
Kenton also opens up about navigating his darkest times, overcoming pride, and the challenging journey of self-forgiveness. He shares how empathy and godly sorrow have reshaped his approach to missionary work and deepened his connection with others. We'll hear about his professional struggles, the role of divine guidance in his career changes, and how blessings helped him embrace new paths with faith. Kenton’s testimony serves as a powerful reminder of the Savior’s unwavering support and the tools available to draw closer to Him, leaving us inspired by the ever-present nature of Christ's love.
Please reach out to me if you are interested in sharing your story! I would LOVE to hear from you. :)
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Episode Transcript
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Lily (00:06):
Hello everyone and welcome to, more Than Coincidence,
remembering Jesus Christ in yourStory.
As the author and finisher ofour faith, our Savior writes
personal experiences into eachof our lives which can later
strengthen, empower and bring uspeace upon reflection.
This podcast is dedicated tosharing these anchoring memories
(00:26):
from everyone's unique storiesin order to collectively
remember and testify of thereality of Jesus Christ and his
presence in our lives.
I'm your host, lily, and I'mvery excited to share these
experiences together.
Good evening everybody.
Today we have Kenton with us.
How are you, kenton?
Kenton (00:44):
I'm good.
How are you?
Lily (00:45):
Fantastic.
Can you introduce yourself alittle bit for us?
Kenton (00:48):
Yeah, name's Kenton Erickson.
I come from the East Coast.
I was born and raised inMaryland, came over here to Utah
where I went to school at BYUand then met my wife, sarah, and
we just had our seven yearanniversary.
Lily (01:05):
Congratulations.
Kenton (01:06):
Thank you so everyone calls it the seven year itch,
but we haven't felt that so.
And then we have two kids andone's four, one's turning two,
so, and we're not done yet.
Lily (01:21):
So yeah, do you miss the East Coast?
Kenton (01:23):
I miss how green uh maryland is.
Yes, here it's very hot andit's not muggy, it's a.
It's a dry heat, but everythingis brown yeah I I love seeing
the mountains in the background.
I I like to snowboard and yeahI go a little bit with my
brother but yeah, I, I miss kindof seeing those green hills and
(01:45):
those green fields and rightand then the humidity isn't bad,
but in the winter it's bad,because not only are you cold,
but you're sweating, and thenyour sweat freezes and so
they're getting more cold.
Right, there's pros and cons,but yeah, I, I do like it out
here, but I, we don't have plansstaying here forever we want to
(02:06):
see other places yeah, yeah,yeah, I know.
Lily (02:08):
When we lived in virginia.
I remember because I grew upmostly in utah, and I was like,
oh my gosh, utah is green andthe mountains are so beautiful.
And then I go to virginia Ilived there for four years
actually see what greenery is.
And then I come back and I'mlike utah is just like a green
with brown.
It's like everything's just ashade of brown yep and I didn't.
(02:28):
I didn't realize it, and so Imiss it too.
I'm hoping at some point we cango back out to the east coast,
because it just I love it somuch so I'm really happy that I
have another east coast buddy tobe like.
Yes, we missed the green.
Kenton (02:40):
I missed the Atlantic Ocean probably more than
anything.
Yeah, because the Pacific is socold.
Yeah, by comparison.
So, looking forward to goingback to Ocean City, maybe.
Lily (02:51):
Yeah, that'd be awesome.
I hope you guys can make itback, but I'll just ask you the
question, kenton what memoriesdo you have that you reflect on,
that perk your heart inremembrance of our Savior Jesus
Christ and anchor you to him,and remembrance of our Savior
Jesus Christ and anchor you tohim.
Kenton (03:06):
Yeah, probably the first experience I ever had with the
Holy Ghost was at the HillCamorra pageant.
I want to say I was four orfive and we had just seen the
pageant and I didn't reallyunderstand what went on, because
I was four and the Book ofMormon just made no sense to me.
It was like old English.
Lily (03:25):
Right.
Kenton (03:26):
And so I would just make up stuff as a kid whenever it
was my turn to read, because Ididn't know how to read at that
point, but anyway.
So yeah, we were at the pageantand it was dark and there were a
lot of cars, and so at thispoint I lived in Pennsylvania,
so the pageant was in New York,so we were still a pretty decent
ways from home and so without acar, we also didn't have a lot
(03:49):
of money at that time, so therewasn't really an option to stay
at a hotel or anything.
It was.
You need to find the key sothat you can go home, type thing
, and so my mom and dad were,you know, frantically searching
and no luck.
And I had the thought to say aprayer and it just kind of came
(04:09):
out of nowhere.
And I remember I, I said theprayer.
I don't remember if it was outloud or in my head, but about 10
seconds later they found thekey no way and we were able to
go home.
So that was my first experiencewith the Holy Ghost.
At the time I didn't reallyknow what was going on.
Lily (04:27):
Yeah.
Kenton (04:28):
I just kind of followed the lessons from my parents and
the primary lessons.
Lily (04:34):
Right.
Kenton (04:35):
Kind of put into action.
But then my next experiencethat I think back on.
So I've always wondered what itwas like to be a convert to the
church, because I grew up inthe church.
Like, on my dad's side he'srelated to the pioneers, and my
mom's a convert, but I was, youknow, born in the covenant.
So I always wondered what itwas like going from, you know,
(04:58):
having no knowledge of thechurch and the plan of salvation
to then, you know, having kindof this aha, epiphany moment
where your life there's like astark contrast to how you were
before and how you were after.
And the only time I felt that alittle bit was during my
baptism.
I have a vague memory of justfeeling just really happy that
(05:23):
day.
I didn't understand fully whatwas going on.
I knew that I was being cleaned.
I didn't really know what thatmeant at the time, but I
remember just kind of jumpingaround going I'm so happy like
I'm all clean.
Lily (05:35):
Yeah.
Kenton (05:36):
And yeah, so that was probably my next experience.
But after that, I mean,especially when you grow up in
the church and you know whenthere's that expectation to be a
member, you kind of just gothrough the motions I really
like the talk of, I can teachyou the steps of the dance, but
(05:57):
you need to hear the music.
Yes, and the first time I heardthat.
That's how I felt growing up,where I was taught the steps of,
like, reading your scripturesand praying and doing that
consistently and and I wasn'tdoing it super consistently but
I was, you know, going to churchmostly to appease my parents,
(06:17):
and you know.
I still lived under their house.
Lily (06:19):
Right, that's how I was as a teenager too.
Kenton (06:21):
Yeah, and so probably the first time I heard the music
was in the MTC, so before I hadan experience where I prayed to
know if it was true and Iremember getting a confirmation,
but that memory kind of fadesover time.
I got to the MTC and I'mashamed to admit that I didn't
(06:43):
know what the restoration was.
I knew who Joseph Smith was.
Lily (06:47):
Yeah.
Kenton (06:47):
I knew that, like he found the Book of Mormon, but I
didn't put two and two together,that the church was gone and
that it was gone for thousandsof years.
Lily (06:55):
Yeah.
Kenton (06:55):
And that it had to be restored.
And I remember just kind ofreading about it in the Book of
Mormon and we were going throughDNC at the same time and
putting the pieces together andfor me that was my aha moment
where all of us were togetherand we were kind of talking
about like the role that therestoration played and then also
connecting it to Lehi's dream.
(07:16):
So it was like taking it waskind of like a scripture puzzle
where you take all of thesedifferent stories and all these
different themes and it weavesthis tapestry and I'm just like
oh my gosh blown.
I didn't know any of this, butI've had this book the whole
time and I didn't understandwhat any of this meant.
But everything that's happenedin my life up into this point
(07:36):
has happened for a reason rightand that there's been this
divine influence that was justvery imperceptible but was
always there, kind of usheringme in this direction, that I
didn't know that I needed to gointo, and so that has always
kind of been a foundationalblock.
And then, going off of that, Ihad an experience on the mission
(07:58):
.
I feel bad sharing missionstories because I feel like
that's kind of the go-to is toshare your mission stories.
But mission is kind of a bigexperience and you kind of learn
a lot about Jesus on yourmission but I always feel like
if I don't have any story toshare besides the mission story,
then I'm not living right.
It's like I need to have more,more spiritual experiences.
I don't want to be that guy,but, um, I had a moment where,
(08:20):
so I never questioned whether ornot I should go on a mission
you know it was just kind of youdo what the six siblings who
came before you did you go?
on a mission, you go to BYU, youget married.
So it was, it was a checkboxand I mean I remember as a kid I
thought, okay, my mission's in10 years.
I, I guess I got to startpreparing.
Well, what does that mean?
Yeah and um.
(08:42):
So I never questioned, I neverprayed if I should go.
It was just, you know, kind ofgoing with the, the current yeah
, the norm of what everyone elsewas doing, yeah and you know I
remember being excited for mymission call and I remember my
face hitting the ground when Ihit mexico, because you know
(09:02):
it's that classic moment fromthe movie uh, the best two years
, when he's like that's not whatthey taught me in the MTC,
where the language just soundscompletely different and like
there was a kid four years oldwho was speaking Spanish and did
not sound like Spanish, itsounded like Korean.
So you you kind of get cocky inthe MTC and they puff you up
like you're gonna baptize theworld and you're gonna be so
great and like when people seeyou, they're gonna think you're
Jesus and all this, the world,and you're going to be so great
(09:24):
and like, when people see youthey're going to think you're
Jesus and all this stuff, andthen you get there and you're
just no, it's, it's not likethat.
Lily (09:29):
It's the real world.
Kenton (09:31):
Yeah, but if you put in the work and if you try hard and
if and also if you havereasonable expectations.
I had one moment where I couldsee that the lady we were
teaching really needed us, andat that point I still couldn't
really speak Spanish very wellbecause I'd only been out for
like maybe two months, so I wasstill technically in training
(09:52):
and I prayed for like 10 minutesthat I'd get the gift of
tongues.
I was like I have studied, I'vebeen doing all this stuff I had
all this time in the MTC.
She needs to hear what I haveto say.
Please let me have the abilityto speak with her.
Lily (10:07):
Yeah.
Kenton (10:07):
And it wasn't answered.
Lily (10:09):
Uh-huh.
Kenton (10:10):
And I remember just being really frustrated.
Yeah, I came home and I kind ofcried myself to sleep because
I'm just like I'm useless, Ican't talk with people In my
time of need.
Lily (10:20):
What am I?
Kenton (10:21):
doing here if I can't speak?
Lily (10:23):
Right.
Kenton (10:25):
And so and I had to kind of get over the woe is me
moment and you know realize thatyou can only control what's in
your life.
You can't really control thosearound you.
You can't control what happens.
All you can do is control whatyou do going forward.
Yeah, and so, once I kind ofstopped feeling sorry for myself
(10:47):
, a few months went by and I wasliving in a house with two
other missionaries and one ofthem we.
We entered the mission at thesame time but we were in
different MTCs.
Lily (10:57):
he- was in the.
Kenton (10:57):
Mexico one.
And he asked me he's like, whyare you here?
And at that point no one hadever asked me that question and
I had never really considered it.
And I my answer was like youknow, I'm here because I'm
supposed to, and my parentstaught me that I need to Right.
And he told me he's like, ifyou don't feel sorrow and pain
(11:19):
for all of the trials that themembers are going through, then
you need to pray so that youfeel it.
Hmm it was like if you don'tfeel, if you don't feel sympathy
or empathy for those who whoyou are teaching, if you're just
here to kind of check off thebox, then you need to reevaluate
why you are here and figure outsomething else.
(11:43):
Because I, the time I was there, I saw a lot of missionaries
that were, you know, like me.
They were going through themotions or they were there
because their mom told them thatthey were supposed to come.
Lily (11:51):
Right.
Kenton (11:52):
And I remember praying to to feel that, because you
know, I, like I mentioned beforewe started, that one of the
things in my patriarchalblessing is that I feel godly
sorrow.
And it got to a point where Iwas able to feel godly sorrow
not just for my actions but forthe actions of other people.
And the one experience that Iremember was we got a call that
(12:18):
a family who we had started tobecome really good friends with
in the ward the husband was likereally sick, and so I remember
a member came and drove us andwe just raced down to their
house to give him a blessing andI remember just feeling the
sadness that they were goingthrough all of this pain and
that I wasn't able to eithertake it from them or to help
(12:44):
lessen it, and then in thatmoment I realized that's what
the Savior feels for us rightand you know, because he's
already paid the price for allof our pain and but we have to
open that door to forgiveourselves and allow him to heal
(13:04):
us and Ifeel like opening the door is
always the hardest part and notfeeling like you can do it on
your own without his help.
Yeah, that's definitely.
I can see why pride is thebiggest downfall in in every
story in the scriptures and evenin like.
If you go out of the scriptures, like in like the roman society
(13:25):
or or any dynasty like, thereason why they failed was
because of pride.
They, they got too big fortheir own good, they forgot
where they came from andultimately they, you know, just
went into chaos.
And so I I feel like my lifekind of heads towards that
direction, when I forget where I, where I come from, when I
(13:46):
forget all of the blessings thatI've received along the way to
get me where I'm at, and thatespecially happens when I hit
rock bottom and it's hard tojust like, stay constant and
just have that faith and thathope that he's, he's there and
no matter what it's quote goingto be okay.
Lily (14:06):
But it's more than that.
It really is going to be.
There's going to be joy,there's going to be goodness at
the end of the tunnel.
It's just like trying to seethat.
I think it's really hard andthe hardest thing.
Kenton (14:18):
Someone told me once um.
There was someone who Irespected quite a bit in the
church they said that there'skind of a baseline of
commandments that you have tofollow before you are worthy of
receiving the spirit, and that'salways played in my mind and I
mentioned that to someone andthey're like if you don't think
that the savior is, isn't therewhen you aren't doing those
(14:42):
things, then you don'tunderstand the atonement correct
and trying to kind of get intothat mindset that the Savior is
always there.
It's just that you're not readyto receive him, instead of he
won't come until you're worthy.
Lily (15:00):
Correct Right.
I feel like it's that door,it's that wonderful picture of
the door with him like knockingright without the doorknob it's
we have to let him in and I feellike sometimes you know,
talking with a friend the othernight, you know we, sometimes we
even push Christ away.
Kenton (15:16):
We close the door.
Lily (15:17):
Yeah, we're like, or for whatever reason for like I'm
angry, slam, or like I'm notworthy, Don't come here, right?
We all have our own littlereasons why sometimes we put the
pavilion over our heads, right,and we don't let him into our
lives.
But he's standing there like,okay, well, whenever you're
ready, like I'm right here and Ijust, I don't know.
(15:40):
It's something that even I amreally trying to get my mind
around, because for me, when I'mfeeling angry or worthless or
unworthy, I don't even want tobe around myself.
Kenton (15:52):
Yeah.
Lily (15:52):
So I have like a really hard time comprehending that
Christ still wants to be with me.
Yeah, he wants, he wants me andhe wants me in the the good,
the bad and the ugly Like he.
That that's literally the wholepoint of the atonement, like
you said, right.
So I'm really glad that youbrought that up.
Kenton (16:17):
Yeah, whole point of the atonement, like you said, right
, so I'm really glad that youbrought that up.
Yeah, the the thing that I'vestruggled with the most is
forgiving myself, and it's forme.
It's a very tough pill toswallow because I'm such a harsh
critic of myself and you know Ionly really focus on the
negative, the bad, in the hopesto improve it, and yes, I know
how that feels too and when Imarried Sarah, my first, one of
(16:41):
our first conversations afterour honeymoon was okay, what are
all the things that you don'tlike about me, so that I can
know and improve?
right and I was expecting likethis big laundry list of you
know you do this and.
But what she said has struck meand I feel like it's it's set
the tone for our, our marriage,going forward.
(17:03):
She said I don't want to focuson the bad, because then when I
look at you, that's all thatI'll see, because then when I
look at you, that's all thatI'll see.
And I think, very similarly,that's how the Savior is with us
.
We want to focus on the bad,especially just because of
(17:27):
growing up in the church.
There is that perfectionistmindset, yes, and you feel like
you will never be enough.
Yeah, but he's always there totell you that you are, even if
you're not willing to listen,but kind of going off of going
(17:48):
with that.
An experience I remember quitevividly and one that I haven't
really shared with a lot ofpeople when my first son was
born, I had a moment where Ithought Sarah was going to die
because she was bleeding out,she wasn't breathing and also
(18:11):
Tucker wasn't breathing.
And I'm just kind of sittingthere and I've never felt so
useless in my life becausethere's nothing I can do to help
my wife and there's nothing Ican do to help my son, and I've
never felt so useless in my lifebecause there's nothing I can
do to help my wife and there'snothing I can do to help my son.
And I saw that the doctors werevisibly worried, which that
usually is never a good signwhen when they can't hide their
(18:32):
emotion, and so I just kind ofhad to let everything play
forward and let them do whatthey could.
And luckily, you know, my wifedidn't die and my son is, is
healthy, and when I held him forthe the first time, I did the
uh the man of steel speech thattorrell uh does to superman and,
(18:56):
and you know, you have all ofthese emotions of like you know
I'm, I'm gonna be the, the mostperfect person for you, I'm
gonna love you, I'm gonna be thebest dad that I, that you can
be.
And then the next day was justthis overwhelming feeling of
inadequacy, of like I'm notready, I can't do this, what
(19:18):
have I done?
I'm not worthy of my son, he'dbe better off without me.
And it started to get into thesuicidal thought territory and I
don't know what it was thatpulled me out.
(19:39):
I was kind of in a funk for agood long while and there was a
lot of kind of.
There was a disconnect betweenme and my wife and I didn't
communicate very well with her.
And as a kid my copingmechanism was escapism and so
that was to either like games orshows, like just doing whatever
you can to get away.
(20:00):
But the healing finally camewhen I was one, when I started
to get a little more comfortablelike with you know, raising my
son, changing a diaper wasn'tforeign for me anymore, because
I grew up as the youngest.
I never changed a diaper before,and so everything was hard.
Lily (20:23):
Yeah.
Kenton (20:24):
And nothing came easy.
And I feel like, as a human,there's only so many problems
you can solve in a day, beforeyou kind of reach your limit.
Lily (20:32):
Yes, and so everything, especially with no sleep, yeah,
and a completely new environmentand crying babies and so
everything associated with myson was a challenge.
Yes.
Kenton (20:44):
But it was.
More of it was I was beingoverly hard on myself because I
felt like I wasn't performing itthe way that I should have been
, and so I don't really rememberwhat it was that pulled me out.
I wish I did.
I had told my wife a little bitafter.
(21:05):
You know that that was kind ofmy thought process.
But the best thing was she wentaway to her parents and brought
our son just so that they couldbe around him, because he was a
COVID baby.
So basically no one could touchhim and yeah, um, but while she
(21:27):
was gone, I then got to thepoint where I I missed my kid
and I, I missed my wife and I,because you you've probably seen
this with with Michael if yougo away, he, he's excited, and
then, like two days later, he'slike I'm so lost.
When are you coming home?
I don't know how to take careof myself anymore, right, and so
(21:50):
I realized at that point that Ineeded them and also that they
needed me, and I think thateveryone needs to get to that
point with their relationshipwith the savior that he needs us
as much as we need him, becausein a way, I feel like for him,
(22:14):
the atonement was the greatestaccomplishment for him and all
mankind, but without us hewouldn't have been able to do it
right right and without ourmistakes he wouldn't have been
able to to do that great thingwhich changed the lives of
everyone.
So right.
Lily (22:36):
That's actually really profound and I've never even
thought of the atonement thatway, in that, yeah, it takes two
.
He has there had to have beenmy sins and his.
You know, I think sometimes alot of the time we demonize that
natural man and we demonize,like, all of our badness and
(23:05):
that's what we kind of hold onto and like allow to bring
ourselves down, which, you know,we do need to try and change
and become better because that's, you know, the whole point of
the atonement.
But I think there is beauty inthe struggle, there is beauty in
the overcoming, there is beautyin in the making the mistake
(23:26):
but then being able to changeright.
So it is.
It is that opposition in allthings right and that's that's
just beautiful.
Kenton (23:34):
Thank you so much for sharing that yeah, I hadn't
thought of it that way until now, so we have both been
enlightened, thank you butthat's one thing that I've
definitely kind of come tounderstand.
Like we were talking before, uh,with my current situation where
I've, you know, I've beenwithout a job for a couple
months and the day after I gotthe notice that you, I wasn't
(23:58):
going to be an employee anymore,my wife fell and popped her
tendon in her knee and mythought was you know, now I got
to take care of you and takecare of the kids.
But at the same time it was ablessing because I didn't have
time to feel sorry for myselflosing my job because it
(24:20):
happened the day after.
I didn't have enough time toprocess right what is?
what is it that this means?
And so, for those next threeweeks, I had purpose again.
I was taking care of my wife, Iwas taking care of the kids, I
was taking him to activities, Iwas helping my, my wife, recover
, and, um it, it got very tiringand you know, it gave me a new
(24:42):
appreciation of what it is thatmy wife does, or how much she
does each day to take care ofthe kids.
But it was also perfect timing,because it was the lord's
timing, and so after thosecouple weeks passed, then I was
able to kind of come back withthe clear head and start
applying for for jobs and, youknow, update the resume and and
(25:06):
start trying to to makeconnections.
And it didn't work and.
I had interviews and iteverything seemed promising, but
nothing, nothing was happening,and and so I was getting more
and more frustrated.
You know cause, as a husbandand a father, your goal in life,
and kind of the, the onemotivating drive, is to provide
(25:28):
for your family, and I felt thatI wasn't fulfilling, you know,
that responsibility.
Um, and so I looked at mypatriarchal blessing, and one of
the promises is that I willalways be able to provide for my
family.
Patriarchal blessing, and oneof the promises is that I will
always be able to provide for myfamily and so my thought was
okay, I'm going to test you onthat if this is true and you
know, I was applying and goingthrough different stages of
(25:52):
grief, sadness, self-pity all ofthat.
And then I had this thought thatI needed to ask my dad for a
blessing, and in the blessing itsaid don't be afraid to try new
paths, new experiences, whichthat was one of my biggest fears
, because I spent four years incollege devoted to a specific
(26:13):
route, right, and I thought thatall of the skills that I
acquired needed to be applied inthat route Right.
And so, you know, with theinstruction and nudging of my
wife, she helped push me intoanother direction where now I've
found a career path and avocation, where I'm anxiously
(26:37):
interested in learning about itand in doing the problems for
the course that I'm working on.
Where, you know, I'm kind ofthinking about it constantly and
I felt bad.
The other day I was on a datewith my wife but I was thinking
about I need to, I need to fixthis, this problem that I'm
working on, and so I couldn't bein the moment and I had to pull
(26:57):
myself out of it, but my wifetold me that that's a good thing
that you're constantly.
Because with my other job Iwasn't like that.
I was so excited to be donebecause I was just so frustrated
with you know where it wasgoing.
And so now, looking back, I cansee all of the clues that were,
(27:17):
all of the different momentsthat were placed in my life to
lead me to this moment, and Idon't know how it's going to
turn out, because I'm still inthe middle of it and I'm hoping
that I can look back and say I'mso grateful for for this and
I'm much better off than I was,um, but you know, with that
there does come that patienceand long suffering that I guess
(27:38):
Heavenly Father feels I don'thave enough of.
So hopefully you know.
But if anything, thatexperience has served to me as a
witness of his desire for us tosucceed and how he's always
there, giving little promptings,little nudges, even if we don't
(28:00):
feel him A lot of times.
They're very imperceptible, butlooking back you can definitely
see like the definitivebreaststrokes that he's put in
your life and see the bigpicture, because he can see him
and heavenly father see the bigpicture from where they're at
(28:20):
and they know where you're goingto be at the time that you die.
But it's I.
I kind of think of those, um, Idon't know if you've seen like
those dot paintings yes so Ifeel like we can just see kind
of a few dots right, but theycan zoom all the way out and it
makes this this big picture yeah, so trying to to work on
(28:43):
shifting by perspective andmentality, to appreciate the
plan and to also, you know, letcooler heads prevail right,
right, that's wonderful.
Lily (28:55):
Thank you so much for sharing all of your thoughts and
if, if you have any otherthoughts, that's totally awesome
.
If you feel like you're good,would you just mind leaving us
with a testimony?
Kenton (29:06):
Yeah, I know that Jesus Christ is there Even when we
can't see him, especially whenwe can't feel him, but that he
is there when we can't feel him,but that he is there and that
he's laid out a clear path withinstructions and guidance on how
we can get to him.
(29:28):
And you know, with that pathcome the scriptures, come the
sacrament, repentance, templeattendance, everything.
He's given us all of the toolsto help us come close to him and
I am grateful to have thosetools in my life and I'm excited
for the moment when, all ofthose, when I'll be able to see
(29:51):
the benefits, looking back, youknow, at the end of life, of all
of those tools, of all of thosepeople who have been placed in
my life, of all of those tools,of all of those people who have
been placed in my life for thebetter.
I know that he suffered for us,I know that he feels our pain,
he feels our sorrow, heunderstands better than anyone
(30:12):
our weaknesses and I know thathe's constantly rooting for us
and I'm so grateful for him andI'm a witness of his love and
his mercy and say this in thename of Jesus Christ, amen.
Lily (30:27):
Amen.
Thank you, Kenton, for yourtime.
Kenton (30:29):
Yeah.
Lily (30:32):
Thanks again for tuning in to More Than Coincidence,
Remembering Jesus Christ in yourStory.
Please follow us on socialmedia or share us with a friend.
If you have an experience you'dlike to share, feel free to
reach out tomorethancoincidencerememberhim
at gmailcom.
I can't wait to hear all of theamazing memories you all have
of our Savior.
(30:52):
See you next time.
Hello everyone and welcome to, more Than Coincidence,
remembering Jesus Christ in yourStory.
As the author and finisher ofour faith, our Savior writes
personal experiences into eachof our lives which can later
strengthen, empower and bring uspeace upon reflection.
This podcast is dedicated tosharing these anchoring memories
(00:26):
from everyone's unique storiesin order to collectively
remember and testify of thereality of Jesus Christ and his
presence in our lives.
I'm your host, lily, and I'mvery excited to share these
experiences together.
Good evening everybody.
Today we have Kenton with us.
How are you, kenton?
Kenton (00:44):
I'm good.
How are you?
Lily (00:45):
Fantastic.
Can you introduce yourself alittle bit for us?
Kenton (00:48):
Yeah, name's Kenton Erickson.
I come from the East Coast.
I was born and raised inMaryland, came over here to Utah
where I went to school at BYUand then met my wife, sarah, and
we just had our seven yearanniversary.
Lily (01:05):
Congratulations.
Kenton (01:06):
Thank you so everyone calls it the seven year itch,
but we haven't felt that so.
And then we have two kids andone's four, one's turning two,
so, and we're not done yet.
Lily (01:21):
So yeah, do you miss the East Coast?
Kenton (01:23):
I miss how green uh maryland is.
Yes, here it's very hot andit's not muggy, it's a.
It's a dry heat, but everythingis brown yeah I I love seeing
the mountains in the background.
I I like to snowboard and yeahI go a little bit with my
brother but yeah, I, I miss kindof seeing those green hills and
(01:45):
those green fields and rightand then the humidity isn't bad,
but in the winter it's bad,because not only are you cold,
but you're sweating, and thenyour sweat freezes and so
they're getting more cold.
Right, there's pros and cons,but yeah, I, I do like it out
here, but I, we don't have plansstaying here forever we want to
(02:06):
see other places yeah, yeah,yeah, I know.
Lily (02:08):
When we lived in virginia.
I remember because I grew upmostly in utah, and I was like,
oh my gosh, utah is green andthe mountains are so beautiful.
And then I go to virginia Ilived there for four years
actually see what greenery is.
And then I come back and I'mlike utah is just like a green
with brown.
It's like everything's just ashade of brown yep and I didn't.
(02:28):
I didn't realize it, and so Imiss it too.
I'm hoping at some point we cango back out to the east coast,
because it just I love it somuch so I'm really happy that I
have another east coast buddy tobe like.
Yes, we missed the green.
Kenton (02:40):
I missed the Atlantic Ocean probably more than
anything.
Yeah, because the Pacific is socold.
Yeah, by comparison.
So, looking forward to goingback to Ocean City, maybe.
Lily (02:51):
Yeah, that'd be awesome.
I hope you guys can make itback, but I'll just ask you the
question, kenton what memoriesdo you have that you reflect on,
that perk your heart inremembrance of our Savior Jesus
Christ and anchor you to him,and remembrance of our Savior
Jesus Christ and anchor you tohim.
Kenton (03:06):
Yeah, probably the first experience I ever had with the
Holy Ghost was at the HillCamorra pageant.
I want to say I was four orfive and we had just seen the
pageant and I didn't reallyunderstand what went on, because
I was four and the Book ofMormon just made no sense to me.
It was like old English.
Lily (03:25):
Right.
Kenton (03:26):
And so I would just make up stuff as a kid whenever it
was my turn to read, because Ididn't know how to read at that
point, but anyway.
So yeah, we were at the pageantand it was dark and there were a
lot of cars, and so at thispoint I lived in Pennsylvania,
so the pageant was in New York,so we were still a pretty decent
ways from home and so without acar, we also didn't have a lot
(03:49):
of money at that time, so therewasn't really an option to stay
at a hotel or anything.
It was.
You need to find the key sothat you can go home, type thing
, and so my mom and dad were,you know, frantically searching
and no luck.
And I had the thought to say aprayer and it just kind of came
(04:09):
out of nowhere.
And I remember I, I said theprayer.
I don't remember if it was outloud or in my head, but about 10
seconds later they found thekey no way and we were able to
go home.
So that was my first experiencewith the Holy Ghost.
At the time I didn't reallyknow what was going on.
Lily (04:27):
Yeah.
Kenton (04:28):
I just kind of followed the lessons from my parents and
the primary lessons.
Lily (04:34):
Right.
Kenton (04:35):
Kind of put into action.
But then my next experiencethat I think back on.
So I've always wondered what itwas like to be a convert to the
church, because I grew up inthe church.
Like, on my dad's side he'srelated to the pioneers, and my
mom's a convert, but I was, youknow, born in the covenant.
So I always wondered what itwas like going from, you know,
(04:58):
having no knowledge of thechurch and the plan of salvation
to then, you know, having kindof this aha, epiphany moment
where your life there's like astark contrast to how you were
before and how you were after.
And the only time I felt that alittle bit was during my
baptism.
I have a vague memory of justfeeling just really happy that
(05:23):
day.
I didn't understand fully whatwas going on.
I knew that I was being cleaned.
I didn't really know what thatmeant at the time, but I
remember just kind of jumpingaround going I'm so happy like
I'm all clean.
Lily (05:35):
Yeah.
Kenton (05:36):
And yeah, so that was probably my next experience.
But after that, I mean,especially when you grow up in
the church and you know whenthere's that expectation to be a
member, you kind of just gothrough the motions I really
like the talk of, I can teachyou the steps of the dance, but
(05:57):
you need to hear the music.
Yes, and the first time I heardthat.
That's how I felt growing up,where I was taught the steps of,
like, reading your scripturesand praying and doing that
consistently and and I wasn'tdoing it super consistently but
I was, you know, going to churchmostly to appease my parents,
(06:17):
and you know.
I still lived under their house.
Lily (06:19):
Right, that's how I was as a teenager too.
Kenton (06:21):
Yeah, and so probably the first time I heard the music
was in the MTC, so before I hadan experience where I prayed to
know if it was true and Iremember getting a confirmation,
but that memory kind of fadesover time.
I got to the MTC and I'mashamed to admit that I didn't
(06:43):
know what the restoration was.
I knew who Joseph Smith was.
Lily (06:47):
Yeah.
Kenton (06:47):
I knew that, like he found the Book of Mormon, but I
didn't put two and two together,that the church was gone and
that it was gone for thousandsof years.
Lily (06:55):
Yeah.
Kenton (06:55):
And that it had to be restored.
And I remember just kind ofreading about it in the Book of
Mormon and we were going throughDNC at the same time and
putting the pieces together andfor me that was my aha moment
where all of us were togetherand we were kind of talking
about like the role that therestoration played and then also
connecting it to Lehi's dream.
(07:16):
So it was like taking it waskind of like a scripture puzzle
where you take all of thesedifferent stories and all these
different themes and it weavesthis tapestry and I'm just like
oh my gosh blown.
I didn't know any of this, butI've had this book the whole
time and I didn't understandwhat any of this meant.
But everything that's happenedin my life up into this point
(07:36):
has happened for a reason rightand that there's been this
divine influence that was justvery imperceptible but was
always there, kind of usheringme in this direction, that I
didn't know that I needed to gointo, and so that has always
kind of been a foundationalblock.
And then, going off of that, Ihad an experience on the mission
(07:58):
.
I feel bad sharing missionstories because I feel like
that's kind of the go-to is toshare your mission stories.
But mission is kind of a bigexperience and you kind of learn
a lot about Jesus on yourmission but I always feel like
if I don't have any story toshare besides the mission story,
then I'm not living right.
It's like I need to have more,more spiritual experiences.
I don't want to be that guy,but, um, I had a moment where,
(08:20):
so I never questioned whether ornot I should go on a mission
you know it was just kind of youdo what the six siblings who
came before you did you go?
on a mission, you go to BYU, youget married.
So it was, it was a checkboxand I mean I remember as a kid I
thought, okay, my mission's in10 years.
I, I guess I got to startpreparing.
Well, what does that mean?
Yeah and um.
(08:42):
So I never questioned, I neverprayed if I should go.
It was just, you know, kind ofgoing with the, the current yeah
, the norm of what everyone elsewas doing, yeah and you know I
remember being excited for mymission call and I remember my
face hitting the ground when Ihit mexico, because you know
(09:02):
it's that classic moment fromthe movie uh, the best two years
, when he's like that's not whatthey taught me in the MTC,
where the language just soundscompletely different and like
there was a kid four years oldwho was speaking Spanish and did
not sound like Spanish, itsounded like Korean.
So you you kind of get cocky inthe MTC and they puff you up
like you're gonna baptize theworld and you're gonna be so
great and like when people seeyou, they're gonna think you're
Jesus and all this, the world,and you're going to be so great
(09:24):
and like, when people see youthey're going to think you're
Jesus and all this stuff, andthen you get there and you're
just no, it's, it's not likethat.
Lily (09:29):
It's the real world.
Kenton (09:31):
Yeah, but if you put in the work and if you try hard and
if and also if you havereasonable expectations.
I had one moment where I couldsee that the lady we were
teaching really needed us, andat that point I still couldn't
really speak Spanish very wellbecause I'd only been out for
like maybe two months, so I wasstill technically in training
(09:52):
and I prayed for like 10 minutesthat I'd get the gift of
tongues.
I was like I have studied, I'vebeen doing all this stuff I had
all this time in the MTC.
She needs to hear what I haveto say.
Please let me have the abilityto speak with her.
Lily (10:07):
Yeah.
Kenton (10:07):
And it wasn't answered.
Lily (10:09):
Uh-huh.
Kenton (10:10):
And I remember just being really frustrated.
Yeah, I came home and I kind ofcried myself to sleep because
I'm just like I'm useless, Ican't talk with people In my
time of need.
Lily (10:20):
What am I?
Kenton (10:21):
doing here if I can't speak?
Lily (10:23):
Right.
Kenton (10:25):
And so and I had to kind of get over the woe is me
moment and you know realize thatyou can only control what's in
your life.
You can't really control thosearound you.
You can't control what happens.
All you can do is control whatyou do going forward.
Yeah, and so, once I kind ofstopped feeling sorry for myself
(10:47):
, a few months went by and I wasliving in a house with two
other missionaries and one ofthem we.
We entered the mission at thesame time but we were in
different MTCs.
Lily (10:57):
he- was in the.
Kenton (10:57):
Mexico one.
And he asked me he's like, whyare you here?
And at that point no one hadever asked me that question and
I had never really considered it.
And I my answer was like youknow, I'm here because I'm
supposed to, and my parentstaught me that I need to Right.
And he told me he's like, ifyou don't feel sorrow and pain
(11:19):
for all of the trials that themembers are going through, then
you need to pray so that youfeel it.
Hmm it was like if you don'tfeel, if you don't feel sympathy
or empathy for those who whoyou are teaching, if you're just
here to kind of check off thebox, then you need to reevaluate
why you are here and figure outsomething else.
(11:43):
Because I, the time I was there, I saw a lot of missionaries
that were, you know, like me.
They were going through themotions or they were there
because their mom told them thatthey were supposed to come.
Lily (11:51):
Right.
Kenton (11:52):
And I remember praying to to feel that, because you
know, I, like I mentioned beforewe started, that one of the
things in my patriarchalblessing is that I feel godly
sorrow.
And it got to a point where Iwas able to feel godly sorrow
not just for my actions but forthe actions of other people.
And the one experience that Iremember was we got a call that
(12:18):
a family who we had started tobecome really good friends with
in the ward the husband was likereally sick, and so I remember
a member came and drove us andwe just raced down to their
house to give him a blessing andI remember just feeling the
sadness that they were goingthrough all of this pain and
that I wasn't able to eithertake it from them or to help
(12:44):
lessen it, and then in thatmoment I realized that's what
the Savior feels for us rightand you know, because he's
already paid the price for allof our pain and but we have to
open that door to forgiveourselves and allow him to heal
(13:04):
us and Ifeel like opening the door is
always the hardest part and notfeeling like you can do it on
your own without his help.
Yeah, that's definitely.
I can see why pride is thebiggest downfall in in every
story in the scriptures and evenin like.
If you go out of the scriptures, like in like the roman society
(13:25):
or or any dynasty like, thereason why they failed was
because of pride.
They, they got too big fortheir own good, they forgot
where they came from andultimately they, you know, just
went into chaos.
And so I I feel like my lifekind of heads towards that
direction, when I forget where I, where I come from, when I
(13:46):
forget all of the blessings thatI've received along the way to
get me where I'm at, and thatespecially happens when I hit
rock bottom and it's hard tojust like, stay constant and
just have that faith and thathope that he's, he's there and
no matter what it's quote goingto be okay.
Lily (14:06):
But it's more than that.
It really is going to be.
There's going to be joy,there's going to be goodness at
the end of the tunnel.
It's just like trying to seethat.
I think it's really hard andthe hardest thing.
Kenton (14:18):
Someone told me once um.
There was someone who Irespected quite a bit in the
church they said that there'skind of a baseline of
commandments that you have tofollow before you are worthy of
receiving the spirit, and that'salways played in my mind and I
mentioned that to someone andthey're like if you don't think
that the savior is, isn't therewhen you aren't doing those
(14:42):
things, then you don'tunderstand the atonement correct
and trying to kind of get intothat mindset that the Savior is
always there.
It's just that you're not readyto receive him, instead of he
won't come until you're worthy.
Lily (15:00):
Correct Right.
I feel like it's that door,it's that wonderful picture of
the door with him like knockingright without the doorknob it's
we have to let him in and I feellike sometimes you know,
talking with a friend the othernight, you know we, sometimes we
even push Christ away.
Kenton (15:16):
We close the door.
Lily (15:17):
Yeah, we're like, or for whatever reason for like I'm
angry, slam, or like I'm notworthy, Don't come here, right?
We all have our own littlereasons why sometimes we put the
pavilion over our heads, right,and we don't let him into our
lives.
But he's standing there like,okay, well, whenever you're
ready, like I'm right here and Ijust, I don't know.
(15:40):
It's something that even I amreally trying to get my mind
around, because for me, when I'mfeeling angry or worthless or
unworthy, I don't even want tobe around myself.
Kenton (15:52):
Yeah.
Lily (15:52):
So I have like a really hard time comprehending that
Christ still wants to be with me.
Yeah, he wants, he wants me andhe wants me in the the good,
the bad and the ugly Like he.
That that's literally the wholepoint of the atonement, like
you said, right.
So I'm really glad that youbrought that up.
Kenton (16:17):
Yeah, whole point of the atonement, like you said, right
, so I'm really glad that youbrought that up.
Yeah, the the thing that I'vestruggled with the most is
forgiving myself, and it's forme.
It's a very tough pill toswallow because I'm such a harsh
critic of myself and you know Ionly really focus on the
negative, the bad, in the hopesto improve it, and yes, I know
how that feels too and when Imarried Sarah, my first, one of
(16:41):
our first conversations afterour honeymoon was okay, what are
all the things that you don'tlike about me, so that I can
know and improve?
right and I was expecting likethis big laundry list of you
know you do this and.
But what she said has struck meand I feel like it's it's set
the tone for our, our marriage,going forward.
(17:03):
She said I don't want to focuson the bad, because then when I
look at you, that's all thatI'll see, because then when I
look at you, that's all thatI'll see.
And I think, very similarly,that's how the Savior is with us
.
We want to focus on the bad,especially just because of
(17:27):
growing up in the church.
There is that perfectionistmindset, yes, and you feel like
you will never be enough.
Yeah, but he's always there totell you that you are, even if
you're not willing to listen,but kind of going off of going
(17:48):
with that.
An experience I remember quitevividly and one that I haven't
really shared with a lot ofpeople when my first son was
born, I had a moment where Ithought Sarah was going to die
because she was bleeding out,she wasn't breathing and also
(18:11):
Tucker wasn't breathing.
And I'm just kind of sittingthere and I've never felt so
useless in my life becausethere's nothing I can do to help
my wife and there's nothing Ican do to help my son, and I've
never felt so useless in my lifebecause there's nothing I can
do to help my wife and there'snothing I can do to help my son.
And I saw that the doctors werevisibly worried, which that
usually is never a good signwhen when they can't hide their
(18:32):
emotion, and so I just kind ofhad to let everything play
forward and let them do whatthey could.
And luckily, you know, my wifedidn't die and my son is, is
healthy, and when I held him forthe the first time, I did the
uh the man of steel speech thattorrell uh does to superman and,
(18:56):
and you know, you have all ofthese emotions of like you know
I'm, I'm gonna be the, the mostperfect person for you, I'm
gonna love you, I'm gonna be thebest dad that I, that you can
be.
And then the next day was justthis overwhelming feeling of
inadequacy, of like I'm notready, I can't do this, what
(19:18):
have I done?
I'm not worthy of my son, he'dbe better off without me.
And it started to get into thesuicidal thought territory and I
don't know what it was thatpulled me out.
(19:39):
I was kind of in a funk for agood long while and there was a
lot of kind of.
There was a disconnect betweenme and my wife and I didn't
communicate very well with her.
And as a kid my copingmechanism was escapism and so
that was to either like games orshows, like just doing whatever
you can to get away.
(20:00):
But the healing finally camewhen I was one, when I started
to get a little more comfortablelike with you know, raising my
son, changing a diaper wasn'tforeign for me anymore, because
I grew up as the youngest.
I never changed a diaper before,and so everything was hard.
Lily (20:23):
Yeah.
Kenton (20:24):
And nothing came easy.
And I feel like, as a human,there's only so many problems
you can solve in a day, beforeyou kind of reach your limit.
Lily (20:32):
Yes, and so everything, especially with no sleep, yeah,
and a completely new environmentand crying babies and so
everything associated with myson was a challenge.
Yes.
Kenton (20:44):
But it was.
More of it was I was beingoverly hard on myself because I
felt like I wasn't performing itthe way that I should have been
, and so I don't really rememberwhat it was that pulled me out.
I wish I did.
I had told my wife a little bitafter.
(21:05):
You know that that was kind ofmy thought process.
But the best thing was she wentaway to her parents and brought
our son just so that they couldbe around him, because he was a
COVID baby.
So basically no one could touchhim and yeah, um, but while she
(21:27):
was gone, I then got to thepoint where I I missed my kid
and I, I missed my wife and I,because you you've probably seen
this with with Michael if yougo away, he, he's excited, and
then, like two days later, he'slike I'm so lost.
When are you coming home?
I don't know how to take careof myself anymore, right, and so
(21:50):
I realized at that point that Ineeded them and also that they
needed me, and I think thateveryone needs to get to that
point with their relationshipwith the savior that he needs us
as much as we need him, becausein a way, I feel like for him,
(22:14):
the atonement was the greatestaccomplishment for him and all
mankind, but without us hewouldn't have been able to do it
right right and without ourmistakes he wouldn't have been
able to to do that great thingwhich changed the lives of
everyone.
So right.
Lily (22:36):
That's actually really profound and I've never even
thought of the atonement thatway, in that, yeah, it takes two
.
He has there had to have beenmy sins and his.
You know, I think sometimes alot of the time we demonize that
natural man and we demonize,like, all of our badness and
(23:05):
that's what we kind of hold onto and like allow to bring
ourselves down, which, you know,we do need to try and change
and become better because that's, you know, the whole point of
the atonement.
But I think there is beauty inthe struggle, there is beauty in
the overcoming, there is beautyin in the making the mistake
(23:26):
but then being able to changeright.
So it is.
It is that opposition in allthings right and that's that's
just beautiful.
Kenton (23:34):
Thank you so much for sharing that yeah, I hadn't
thought of it that way until now, so we have both been
enlightened, thank you butthat's one thing that I've
definitely kind of come tounderstand.
Like we were talking before, uh,with my current situation where
I've, you know, I've beenwithout a job for a couple
months and the day after I gotthe notice that you, I wasn't
(23:58):
going to be an employee anymore,my wife fell and popped her
tendon in her knee and mythought was you know, now I got
to take care of you and takecare of the kids.
But at the same time it was ablessing because I didn't have
time to feel sorry for myselflosing my job because it
(24:20):
happened the day after.
I didn't have enough time toprocess right what is?
what is it that this means?
And so, for those next threeweeks, I had purpose again.
I was taking care of my wife, Iwas taking care of the kids, I
was taking him to activities, Iwas helping my, my wife, recover
, and, um it, it got very tiringand you know, it gave me a new
(24:42):
appreciation of what it is thatmy wife does, or how much she
does each day to take care ofthe kids.
But it was also perfect timing,because it was the lord's
timing, and so after thosecouple weeks passed, then I was
able to kind of come back withthe clear head and start
applying for for jobs and, youknow, update the resume and and
(25:06):
start trying to to makeconnections.
And it didn't work and.
I had interviews and iteverything seemed promising, but
nothing, nothing was happening,and and so I was getting more
and more frustrated.
You know cause, as a husbandand a father, your goal in life,
and kind of the, the onemotivating drive, is to provide
(25:28):
for your family, and I felt thatI wasn't fulfilling, you know,
that responsibility.
Um, and so I looked at mypatriarchal blessing, and one of
the promises is that I willalways be able to provide for my
family.
Patriarchal blessing, and oneof the promises is that I will
always be able to provide for myfamily and so my thought was
okay, I'm going to test you onthat if this is true and you
know, I was applying and goingthrough different stages of
(25:52):
grief, sadness, self-pity all ofthat.
And then I had this thought thatI needed to ask my dad for a
blessing, and in the blessing itsaid don't be afraid to try new
paths, new experiences, whichthat was one of my biggest fears
, because I spent four years incollege devoted to a specific
(26:13):
route, right, and I thought thatall of the skills that I
acquired needed to be applied inthat route Right.
And so, you know, with theinstruction and nudging of my
wife, she helped push me intoanother direction where now I've
found a career path and avocation, where I'm anxiously
(26:37):
interested in learning about itand in doing the problems for
the course that I'm working on.
Where, you know, I'm kind ofthinking about it constantly and
I felt bad.
The other day I was on a datewith my wife but I was thinking
about I need to, I need to fixthis, this problem that I'm
working on, and so I couldn't bein the moment and I had to pull
(26:57):
myself out of it, but my wifetold me that that's a good thing
that you're constantly.
Because with my other job Iwasn't like that.
I was so excited to be donebecause I was just so frustrated
with you know where it wasgoing.
And so now, looking back, I cansee all of the clues that were,
(27:17):
all of the different momentsthat were placed in my life to
lead me to this moment, and Idon't know how it's going to
turn out, because I'm still inthe middle of it and I'm hoping
that I can look back and say I'mso grateful for for this and
I'm much better off than I was,um, but you know, with that
there does come that patienceand long suffering that I guess
(27:38):
Heavenly Father feels I don'thave enough of.
So hopefully you know.
But if anything, thatexperience has served to me as a
witness of his desire for us tosucceed and how he's always
there, giving little promptings,little nudges, even if we don't
(28:00):
feel him A lot of times.
They're very imperceptible, butlooking back you can definitely
see like the definitivebreaststrokes that he's put in
your life and see the bigpicture, because he can see him
and heavenly father see the bigpicture from where they're at
(28:20):
and they know where you're goingto be at the time that you die.
But it's I.
I kind of think of those, um, Idon't know if you've seen like
those dot paintings yes so Ifeel like we can just see kind
of a few dots right, but theycan zoom all the way out and it
makes this this big picture yeah, so trying to to work on
(28:43):
shifting by perspective andmentality, to appreciate the
plan and to also, you know, letcooler heads prevail right,
right, that's wonderful.
Lily (28:55):
Thank you so much for sharing all of your thoughts and
if, if you have any otherthoughts, that's totally awesome
.
If you feel like you're good,would you just mind leaving us
with a testimony?
Kenton (29:06):
Yeah, I know that Jesus Christ is there Even when we
can't see him, especially whenwe can't feel him, but that he
is there when we can't feel him,but that he is there and that
he's laid out a clear path withinstructions and guidance on how
we can get to him.
(29:28):
And you know, with that pathcome the scriptures, come the
sacrament, repentance, templeattendance, everything.
He's given us all of the toolsto help us come close to him and
I am grateful to have thosetools in my life and I'm excited
for the moment when, all ofthose, when I'll be able to see
(29:51):
the benefits, looking back, youknow, at the end of life, of all
of those tools, of all of thosepeople who have been placed in
my life, of all of those tools,of all of those people who have
been placed in my life for thebetter.
I know that he suffered for us,I know that he feels our pain,
he feels our sorrow, heunderstands better than anyone
(30:12):
our weaknesses and I know thathe's constantly rooting for us
and I'm so grateful for him andI'm a witness of his love and
his mercy and say this in thename of Jesus Christ, amen.
Lily (30:27):
Amen.
Thank you, Kenton, for yourtime.
Kenton (30:29):
Yeah.
Lily (30:32):
Thanks again for tuning in to More Than Coincidence,
Remembering Jesus Christ in yourStory.
Please follow us on socialmedia or share us with a friend.
If you have an experience you'dlike to share, feel free to
reach out tomorethancoincidencerememberhim
at gmailcom.
I can't wait to hear all of theamazing memories you all have
of our Savior.
(30:52):
See you next time.
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