Kristen's Father's day talk

When president Uchtdorf was a deacon his branch president pulled him into a class room and told him that he wanted to talk to him. President Uchtdorf’s first thought was  “what did I do wrong?” But his branch president wanted to meet with him because we wanted to extend the call of decon’s quorm president  “he spent time with me and helped me understand not only the what of my assignment and new responsibility but, much more important, the why.”

In order to fulfill our work in the church we must understand a few things:

1.       Understand my relationship with the priesthood.

a.       Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained the companionship role of the priesthood and women: “In the true Patriarchal Order man holds the priesthood and is the head of the household, … but he cannot attain a fullness of joy here or of eternal reward hereafter alone. Woman stands at his side a joint-inheritor with him in the fullness of all things. Exaltation and eternal increase is her lot as well as his.

b.      “as a marriage and family therapist in Victoria, Canada, I counseled with a couple, bob and mary, who often had disagreements when they tried to make decisions together. During one meeting bob said to me, “I try to preside and get things done, but when I come up with ideas of what we need to do, she wont sustain the priesthood!”
from this comment I could tell that he did not fully understand what it means to preside.  when couple marry, they form an equal partnership in which they strive to make decisions together in a spirit of unity.

c.       Husbands and wives are equal partners and The priesthood was put upon this earth to benefit men women and children. The priesthood helps to strengthen faith and increase righteousness. Strengthen families and homes and is used to serve God’s children.

2.       Ways I can sustain and magnify the priesthood in the church.

a.       “Brothers and sisters in order to truly sustain and magnify the priesthood in the church we much devote ourselves to God’s work which is here in the church. When I think about ways that I can magnify the priesthood I think about home teaching and visiting teaching.”

b.      Sister Julie b beck said this about visiting teaching but the same can be applied to home teaching as well.

                                                               i.      “Visiting teaching becomes the Lord’s work when our focus is on people rather than percentages. In reality, visiting teaching is never finished. It is more a way of life than a task. Faithfully serving as a visiting teacher is evidence of our discipleship. We demonstrate our faith and follow a pattern established by the Lord as we report on our assignment every month. If our watchcare were primarily about reporting that every sister in the ward heard the Visiting Teaching Message printed each month in the Ensign and Liahona, it would be much more efficient to read it aloud to everyone in a sacrament meeting. Our reports are most helpful to the bishop and the Relief Society president when we inform them of the spiritual and temporal well-being of sisters and how we have been able to serve and love them.”

In president Uchtdorf’s talk Called the Why of the priesthood he says:

“The what is important in our work, and we need to attend to it. But it is in the why of priesthood service that we discover the fire, passion, and power of the priesthood.

The what of priesthood service teaches us what to do. The why inspires our souls.

The what informs, but the why transforms.”

We need to instill in ourselves the passion and love of service. We must understand the basic principles of the gospel and use them to fuel our fire to serve others. Develop a love for god’s children and work hard to serve them.

“We need to be constantly reminded of the eternal reasons behind the things we are commanded to do. The basic gospel principles need to be part of our life’s fabric, even if it means learning them over and over again. That doesn’t mean that this process should be rote or boring. Rather, when we teach the foundational principles in our homes or in church, let the flame of enthusiasm for the gospel and the fire of testimony bring light, warmth, and joy to the hearts of those we teach.”

General conference is always a good time for both hearing and doing. We can develop a renewed vigor after hearing the inspirational talks during conference. When we listen to what the brethren have said and choose to act according to what we are taught we are choosing to sustain our priesthood leaders and heavenly father.

If we are in tune with the spirit we will be able to receive inspiration in order to know what we need to do in our personal lives in order to improve ourselves to be more like Christ. We can also receive revelation on how to better serve others even though sometimes what the lord asks of us is very difficult.

I would like to share a personal experience of when I followed the spirit’s prompting. When I was newly married and lived in Rexburg I had a hard time making friends and feeling comfortable reaching out. I felt so alone. I was raised with boys so it was really difficult for me to feel comfortable around girls. One day while expressing my loneliness to heavenly father I received the prompting to start a craft club. I pushed the thought aside for a long time and I used excuse after excuse thinking “people wouldn’t want to come”  “people don’t know me well enough to want to come to my house”. Soon I realized I was being a bit ridiculous so I offered to have a craft club at my house. Only a few sisters came, but I became friends with those sisters. After a couple of meetings one sister who was very shy and quiet came to me and told me that she was feeling very lonely and prayed that she would find some friends in the ward. We were both in need and because I was willing to follow the spirit both of our prayers were answered.

Most of the time heavenly father uses us to answer each other’s prayers and if we do not listen to the spirit’s promptings then we are in jeopardy of losing that relationship.

Our heavenly father has given us so much and we are so blessed to have the priesthood upon the earth. I know that if we strive to love his children and serve those who are around us. And I  say this in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.