Words from Elder Jeffrey R. Parker at our stake conference in a letter to Cameron

Just an aside, I have chosen to write and mail letters to Cameron, so he has them to read constantly--not just on P-day on a computer. Here is what I wrote him about today from my notes from stake conference. It was such a spiritual feast, I thought y'all would also like to know what he said.

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 2^nd 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 1^st demon says we can stop them by telling them there is no God. Then the 2^nd demon said, no, we can stop them by telling them there is no devil. Then the 3^rd 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 2^nd 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