12/9/2018
Dear
Cameron,
What a feast
we have had in our stake conference! Our visiting General Authority was newly-called
area authority Jeffrey Parker. He was serving as a mission president in
Australia before his call, so much of what was said refers and is applicable to
missionaries. I will attempt to re-create the messages from his talk on Sat. evening
and Sunday that were important to me—I took lots of notes because Grandpa was
home sick.
Elder Jeffrey Parker—Saturday Adult Stake
Conf. 12-8-18
After
assessing the needs of a region of multiple stakes, differing in socio-economic
status, here were the stake president’s greatest concerns for their members:
“Apathy, casualness, lack of interest in meeting or hearing the prophet,
believing that what the prophet says is like a ‘smorgasbord’ of items that a
member can pick and choose what to do.”
When he was
a mission president, he would ask the missionaries what their greatest weakness
was. He said that quite a few would say, “I’m probably too casual”. He wondered
what they meant by that, but soon found out that ‘casualness’ equated to
disobedience of the Lord’s commandments. He quoted: “Casualness results in ‘casualties’.”
He talked
about the need for URGENCY. President Nelson is on the move. [Just as an aside,
he mentioned that Pres. Nelson, 95, had gone up the steps of the Church
building and was a little out of breath, then a little later his security guard,
45, came in huffing and puffing. He was nearly half of Pres. Nelson’s age and could
not keep up.] The time is hastening towards the 2nd coming. He quoted
Helaman 12: 2…”Yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do
forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One—yea,
and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity.”
He cited scriptural
incidences where people had been told to do something and they did it with
haste and urgency. Examples included David when he was told of Goliath and he
RAN to meet his brother’s army, the shepherds heard about the baby Jesus and
they came with HASTE to the manger, when the women told the disciples of the
empty tomb…Simon RAN to see, etc.
It is time
to go. We must do our best in our circumstances, but we must move as quickly as
we can. He cited CS Lewis’s story of The Screwtape Letters, where the 1st
demon says we can stop them by telling them there is no God. Then the 2nd
demon said, no, we can stop them by telling them there is no devil. Then the 3rd
one said no, we’ll tell them that there is a god and is a devil, but there is
no need to hurry.
Elder Parker
said we must hurry. We must have a laser focus on the covenant path. Pres.
Nelson has said more about the 2nd coming than all other prophets
combined. “ Behold, I will hasten my work in its time.” Now is the
time! Pres. Parker said instead of worrying about how our children are being
attacked for hours in school, we need to worry about how we are diligently
preparing them to resist and fortifying them in our homes.
He mentioned
that the missionaries follow the same pattern as President Nelson when he
teaches:
T—Teach correct doctrine
T—Testify of the doctrine
I—Invite, challenge to
participate
P—Promises blessings will result
He gave an
example of the above, by using the talk on using the correct name of the
church.
T—It is a commandment of the
Lord: “Ye shall call the church in my name. ..
T and I--The rest of his talk is testifying and
inviting all to participate.
P--"My dear
brothers and sisters, I promise you that if we will do our best to restore the
correct name of the Lord’s Church, He whose Church this is will pour down His
power and blessings upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints,17 the likes of which we have never seen. We will have the
knowledge and power of God to help us take the blessings of the restored gospel
of Jesus Christ to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people and to prepare the
world for the Second Coming of the Lord."
Another
example from Pres. Nelson is the challenge given to the youth in his fireside
to them, and his challenge to the women in the Sat. evening conference where he
challenged them to read the Book of Mormon before year’s end—highlighting all
references to the Savior, to fast from Social Media for 10 days and write down
their feelings during that time. The youth were to do that and also have a life assessment. Just
as the adults were asked to join in the youth’s challenge, Elder Parker
said that all these challenges to the women were meant for the men to do, too!
It is time
for exact obedience. Faith is a gift from God based on personal righteousness.
The time is not to be ‘casual’, but to ACT, not be acted upon!! And all these
things are urgent.
Elder Jeffrey Parker—Sunday Stake Conf.
session 12-9-18
What is the
difference in the lives of the following true examples????
A.
The Chinese non-members, who had never heard of
Christ and joining in droves a month in only a month’s time from hearing about
Christ, reading the Book of Mormon, getting the discussions, gaining a personal
testimony, joining the Church, then bringing a group of friends to Church to
hear what they have heard…with this same process repeating. (Elder Parker was
the mission president in Australia before he was called as an Area Authority).
B.
An elder returning from serving a mission and
emailing and calling every one of his friends and prospective missionaries
telling them that the Church is not true and they should not serve a mission.
C.
Another elder returning from serving a mission
and bearing testimony of the truthfulness of the Church, being called to leadership
positions and helping other prospective missionaries prepare for a mission.
The
difference is CONVERSION!!! Conversion is NOT checking the boxes off of a path
that your parents or Church tradition sets out for you. Conversion is NOT
attending sacrament meeting weekly. Conversion is NOT partaking the sacrament
weekly or even attending the temple frequently. Conversion is NOT a testimony.
Conversion IS being consistently true to
the gospel of Jesus Christ and having the gospel of Jesus Christ be the controlling
influence in your life.
Never forget our purpose. What is the
missionary’s purpose? (He read a paragraph which basically was to convert and be converted.)
He picked up the home manual, Come Follow Me and opened it to read its purpose…'to
bring about a conversion'.
Having the Holy Ghost with you constantly is the instrument and key
to enduring conversion. Conversion is an ongoing process. For a conversion to
endure, it must be more than a onetime occurrence. In Helaman 4 (read the whole
chapter) we read of the people who had at one time been converted, but lost the
Spirit. We read that they ceased to follow the commandments, so the Spirit
withdrew from them and ceased to reveal to them. An enduring conversion must
have obedience to the commandments and our covenants to have the Holy Spirit to
be with us.
Elder Parker
likened the Parable of the Talents to
our having the Holy Spirit with us. If we have the Spirit and do not
continue to enlarge and continue our experiences to frequent the experiences
where the Holy Spirit will testify, our light will be taken from us. If we
continue to seek to have and experience the Holy Spirit, greater revelation
will be given to us.
Elder Parker
apparently works as an eye surgeon. He compared the microcosm of the tiniest
hole in the retina leading to a detached retina, which leads to eventual
blindness, and finally complete darkness. And yet, that light can return if a
procedure reverses the process. He said the light is like the Holy Spirit and
the smallest of things can eventually lead to the loss of the Spirit if it is
not corrected.
He said that
it is time to set aside the things that don’t matter. Simplify our lives…get
rid of the ‘good’ and ‘better’ and only do the ‘BEST’.
I will write
the rest of the conference in a different letter.
Love, Grandma
Wideman
