Thoughts from Stake Conference

We had our regular Stake Conference today.  I just want to share a few thoughts on what I got out of it.

President Manwaring, one of the counselors in our Stake Presidency gave my favorite talk.  He talked about being a missionary in Brazil and how he became conceited and thought that they were having success because of him and how great he was.  It just so happened that one of the AP's was going home soon -- for those of you unfamiliar with missions, an AP is an assistant to the mission president.  I guess it could be considered the highest calling a missionary can have in terms of responsibility and status.

President Manwaring decided that he was such a great missionary that he would certainly be called to fill the vacant position of AP.  In fact he was so sure that he packed his suitcases in anticipation of transfers awaiting the call.  When he was told he was staying in the area and Elder Olson was called as the new AP, President Manwaring was certain that the mission president was not in tune with the Spirit and made a mistake.

He paid extra close attention to the job that Elder Olson was doing, fully expecting him to fail.  But to his surprise, and perhaps chagrin, Elder Olson did a wonderful job.  Through this experience, President Manwaring learned a valuable lesson.  Actually several lessons not the least of which was that the Lord's work would continue to roll forth with or without President Manwaring.  He had to decide if he was going to be a part of it or not.

The Lord chooses humble servants who rely on the Spirit and understand that He is our source of strength, not ourselves.  Are we going to reap the blessings of being part of the Lord's work and his Church?  Or will we choose to be on the outside looking in and one day wish otherwise.

President Manwaring went on to say that there are still many great important things yet to happen in this Church and in the world.  Great things that would rival things in history.  We can all be a part of these great things yet to come in helping to advance the Lord's work and His Kingdom. If we so choose.

Something that stuck out from the Mission President's talk was a quote from Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the quorum of the 12 apostles.  I couldn't find a transcript but I found an article from LDS news that I will quote from.  This is from a missionary broadcast given on January 20, 2016.

“Who are you? You are sons and daughters of God! Everything else you and I are is subordinate to that. Think of it! We are royalty—the sons and daughters of God!” 

And what are missionaries called to do? 

“You are not called to preach what is politically correct or personally comfortable,” he said. “You are not called to invite people to join a social club whose rules are made by its members. You are called to testify of Jesus Christ and to invite people to do what He has required to come unto Him and walk the path He has defined by His doctrine to reach exaltation in the celestial kingdom.” 

...Elder Oaks taught that it is critical that missionaries understand the role of Christ’s Atonement in their lives and in the lives of those they teach. The Savior came to redeem men “from their sins” upon the “conditions of repentance” (Helaman 5:11).

“When a person has gone through the repentance process, the Savior does more than cleanse that person from sin. He also gives him or her new strength. That strengthening is essential for us to realize the purpose of the cleansing, which is to return to our Heavenly Father.”

Missionaries, he added, do not preach and teach in order to bring people into the Church or to increase Church membership. They do not find and teach just to persuade people to live better lives. They offer something more. 

“The fundamental purpose of our missionary work is to teach the word of God that men and women cannot be saved in the highest degree of glory, the celestial kingdom, without faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ and that the only way to lay claim to the ultimate merits of that Atonement is to follow the commands of its author: repent and be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and the ordinances of the temple and endure to the end. Those who do this can be exalted in the celestial kingdom.” 

No one else can do this, declared Elder Oaks. Other churches cannot do it. Good Christian living cannot do it. Good faith, good desires, and good reasoning cannot do it.

“Only a man or woman teaching the fulness of the gospel with priesthood authority can teach this, and only a man exercising the priesthood of God can administer a baptism that will satisfy the divine decree: ‘Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God’ (John 3:5).”  -- Church News, January 22, 2016

 I put a little more on here than the one quote which I highlighted.  :-) I thought was excellent.

And just a few thoughts on President Wells' talk.  His talk was basically about being prepared ahead of time for things that will come when you don't expect them.

He used the example of when he was doing his medical residency.  He was having a meeting with all of the people over his residency basically all of his professors and mentors.  They were discussing the future of the residency program.  As chief resident he was invited to attend.

He suddenly became very uneasy as the topic turned to training residents to do abortions.  He said the person discussing adding this new training portion to the residency was very excited about it.  Then, the director asked for the chief resident's opinion on the matter.  President Wells said a quick prayer and then told them that one of the reasons why he chose that particular residency was because they did not perform abortions nor were they required to train in such.  He went on to explain why he was opposed to it.  He then stated that his fellow residents felt the same way that he did.

I thought that was a good example of always being ready to defend the Gospel and the Lord's doctrine at all times.  It does seem to occur when you least expect it.  That's why you always have to be ready.

Anyway those are just a few of my thoughts from our Stake Conference today.

On a side note, I ran into one of the Elders I served with on my mission.  I knew him from my mission because we were from the same town.  Graduated from the same high school even.  He is now serving as bishop in one of the wards in my stake.  It's a small world!