Stories from General Conference

Prize Possession of A Little Boy

Elder Costa in General Priesthood last night (April 4, 2009) shared the story of his seven year old son who was once taking a shower when the power went out. His mother yelled up the stairs that he needed to come down the stairs for family prayer and that he should bring a candle because it was pitch dark. To this instruction, the mother added that he must be very careful with the candle because if he dropped it, it could burn the house down. A few minutes later the little boy was hear clumping and clanging down the stairs. His mother asked him why he was making so much noise and struggling so much. The little boy said that he was carrying his scriptures with the candle. He further went on to explain that if the house was going to burn down, he wanted to have his scriptures with him. (Elder Costa is in the Presidency of the Seventy)



The Egg Salad Sandwich

President Monson told a story about Jamie's mission in this same conference session. He said that there was once a boy named Brad, who was a drummer in a Northern Utah High School Band. The Band was invited to play in the Calgary Stampede Parade in July where Jamie was serving on his mission. All of the band members were excited to compete in this contest because 350,000 watch this particular parade. The band members each did many fund raising projects to get enough money to take the trip from Utah to Calgary.

After traveling all day in the bus, the band stopped for the night in Cardston, Alberta (near where Great grandpa Robison was born in Aetna). Early the next morning the Relief Society in Cardston gave each band member a sack lunch. Brad was sitting in the back of the bus and because he wasn't hungry, just tossed his sack lunch on the rack above the seats. Little did he know that inside was an egg salad sandwich. If you leave an egg salad sandwich in the hot sun for several hours, bacteria will form and you will get food poisoning. Well, Brad's sack lunch sat in the sun for hours. Just before arriving in Calgary, Brad decided to eat his lunch. He grabbed that sack lunch, which was very warm by now, and gulped down his sandwich. Moments later, he was doubled over in pain from the food poisoning. He had to use the bathroom in the bus over and over again. Soon all the band members exited the bus to perform their very important musical numbers, but Brad was missing. Two of his friends searched for him and found him at the back of the bus lying on the floor, doubled up in pain. Both friends had just been ordained Elders so they gave him a blessing using the Priesthood. Instantly Brad felt better, they exited the bus, and the band won the contest. But more importantly, the two young elders had been found worthy to give a blessing on the spot. Oh, that we might always keep ourselves pure enough to call upon the priesthood at any time.



The faith of a Three-Year Old

Sister Barbara Thompson told the story in General Conference this morning of staying with her neices aged 3 and 5 in Boise, Idaho. For Family Home Evening, the Dad and Mom acted out (no not Adam and Eve) the story of Lehi's dream. The mom was the iron rod (the word of God) and had the children hang on to her tightly while the dad who was acting like the muddy water (the evil of the world) tried to pull the children away. It was a great and memorable lesson and they had fun. At the end of the lesson and refreshments, the mother asked the children to remember to pray for the Bishop who needed surgery on his eyes. The three year old little girl then prayed for the Bishop that Heavenly Father would fix his broken eyes. The next day was Sunday. In Church, there was the Bishop conducting the meeting. The little three year old and the five year old knowing looked at the bishop and then at each other and said to each other "Heavenly Father fixed the bishop's broken eyes."

Questions:

1. What was the little boy's most prized possession and why?

2. What makes a Priesthood blessing work and why should we follow that example?

3. What did the little three year old pray for and what was her reaction at Church? What should we pray for?

An Experiment In Human Behavior

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold December morning. He played 6 Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that more than 1000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule

A minute later the violinist received his first dollar bill--then a woman threw money in the open lid of his violin case and without stopping continued to walk. A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work. The one who paid the most attention was a three-year old boy. His mother hurried him along, but the boy stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all of the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All of the parents without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only six people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed he had stopped playing. No one applauded nor was there any recognition given.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth three and one-half million dollars. Two days before his little experiment playing the violin in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats cost $100.

This was a true story.



Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people. The setting for this test was in a common everyday environment at an inappropriate hour. One must ask this about us a society: do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musician in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things in life are we missing?

I remember a talk given by President Packer where a man in a busy city heard a bird chirping but noticed that no one else was paying attention. So the man tossed a coin into the air and let it land on the pavement. All of the sudden there was silence as people stopped and looked for the coin that had dropped.

Questions for Discussion:

1. What is the most important message in the world today?

2. How can we pay attention to that message?

3. What is our responsibility toward others with the message?

Great Stories From Family History - Honesty

Above is a picture of Greatgrandpa and Greatgrandma Robison. They have 4 children, 19 grandchildren, and 16 greatgrandchildren as of today. On Sunday, February 1, 2009, Greatgrandpa Robison and his oldest grandson Reid Justin blessed Justin and Lisa's twins, Henry and James. The photo was taken on the blessing day.

Grandpa Robison was born 57 years ago next month in Delta, Utah. It was on the 27th day of March. Grandpa's mom and dad had been married almost a year and Greatgrandpa Robison had just been employed by the Farmers' Home Administration, a branch of the Federal Government that made loans to farmers.

Here is a story related by Aunt Elizabeth, who recently had the opportunity to talk to Greatgrandpa Robison about what it was like at the time he was hired:

"When he first started his job in Delta, the office would sent him out to hold office hours at different county field offices so borrowers could come in an ask him questions about their loans and the rules, regulations and climate conditions, crop advice etc. Most of the time no one came. So he was paid to sit there for hours and hours waiting.

What would you do with the time? Would you read a book, the newspaper, a magazine, the scriptures? Would you prepare a church lesson and justify that you were doing something religious on work time? Greatgrandpa Robison said the time did not belong to him. Greatgrandpa Robison felt it wasn't honest to do something non government related with the time they were paying for.... so he memorized the Farmer's Home Administration rule manual. No one else went to that effort. Whenever he was up for a promotion, they would interview him and ask him questions about the
agency, and he knew the answers right off the top of his head. He became the unofficial "rule expert" because he knew the rules and how to apply and interpret the rules without even looking them up. No one in the agency knew the rules like he did.

When Jim Lee, a big official in the head office came out from Washington D.C. the leaders of Farmers' Home Administration in Montana wanted to impress him so they assigned Greatgrandpa Robison to work with him. Mr. Lee realized what a gem Greatgrandpa was knowing the agency from start to finish and took him to Washington D.C. as a national rules expert."

This was all because greatgrandpa Robison did not "steal time" from the government by sitting idle while on the payroll. And he did not tell Aunt Elizabeth this experience. She dug it out of him because they were driving by one of the old field office territories in Fillmore and he said that he used to spend a lot of time here and Aunt Elizabeth asked why and finally got the story out of him.

Don't Judge Too Quickly

Probably, the best known of the scriptures on not judging is "Judge not, that ye be not judged" (3 Nephi 14:1, Matthew 7:1). We must hold back from making final judgments on people, because we don't have the knowledge and the wisdom to do so. We would even apply the wrong standards by which to judge people. Unfortunately, in this day and age, the way of the world is to make comparisons between winners and losers. The Lord's way of final judgment will be to evaluate us with his perfect knowledge of the law a person has received and to judge us on the basis of our our own circumstances, motives, and actions throughout our whole life (see Luke 12:47­48, John 15:22, 2 Nephi 9:25). My mission president's daughter spoke frequently at BYU devotionals. Her husband Rex Lee, was the president. She once said: "The Lord does not grade on a curve." He will judge us in terms of "qualities," not "quotas" (in Janet G. Lee, "The Lord Doesn't Grade on a Curve," BYU 1994­95 Devotional and Fireside Speeches [Provo: Brigham Young University, 1995], pp. 91, 93).

Look at each of the following video clips and notice everyday examples of how people judge innocently but how the people they are judging did not do anything wrong:












In the June 1991, Ensign, I remember a story about not judging shared by a BYU profess, Arthur R. Bassett. He stated that while teaching an institute class, “I was troubled when one person whispered to another all through the opening prayer. The guilty parties were not hard to spot because they continued whispering all through the class. I kept glaring at them, hoping that they would take the hint, but they didn’t seem to notice. Several times during the hour, I was tempted to ask them to take their conversation outside if they felt it was so urgent—but fortunately something kept me from giving vent to my feelings.

“After the class, one of them came to me and apologized that she hadn’t explained to me before class that her friend was deaf. The friend could read lips, but since I was discussing—as I often do—with my back to the class, writing at the chalkboard and talking over my shoulder, my student had been ‘translating’ for her friend, telling her what I was saying. To this day I am thankful that both of us were spared the embarrassment that might have occurred had I given vent to a judgment made without knowing the facts” (“Floods, Winds, and the Gates of Hell,” Ensign, June 1991, 8).

In the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin cautions us about judging without knowing all the facts:

Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just--

But I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this the same hath great cause to repent; and except he repenteth of that which he hath done he perisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God. . . .

And if ye judge the man who putteth up his petition to you for your substance that he perish not, and condemn him, how much more just will be your condemnation for withholding your substance. [Mosiah 4:17,­18,22]

Activity:

Discuss ways we can not be quick to judge.
Evaluate each of the video clips and recommend how the observer could learn not to judge.
Learn out to always assume the best of people. Remember this French saying: "it is a very thin crepe that does not have two sides." Discuss the meaning of this quote.

Follow Up Lesson to the Parable of the Ten Virgins

Lamps - lamp of testimony
Oil - oil of conversion

Reread the Parable of the Ten Virgins by adding those words and it gives new meaning

Lesson: They who were foolish too no oil with them.

Were the five virgins who had oil selfish?

Ponder this - oil of conversion can not be borrowed from someone else. The peace the gospel brings is seldomly transferred to someone else.

Each of us must get our own oil. The oil comes one drop at a time. There is no shortcut available. Line upon line. Precept upon precept.

We must come to a knowledge of the truth and be converted unto the Lord. In so doing, we will never fall away.

Preparing for Family Home Evening - Comp Study

Missionaries are supposed to study together for an hour every day.

We have tried and tried...

...just not possible!

But occasionally we hit it hard

Want to see what a Mom and Dad study session looks like?

Our topic was 'conversion'

We researched the question: What are we asking investigators to do for enduring conversion?

We looked at Lehi's dream:

Continually holding fast to the word
Fell Down
Ate Fruit
Heeded not the people mocking them

We studied Enos's story:

Words of Christ sunk deep into the heart
Cried for Soul - Repented
Received forgiveness
Began to Pray for Others

We then went to King Benjamin's Discourse

Prepared to hear as families
Gave thanks
Prepared by the king to listen to the words of an Angel
Fell to the earth
Viewed their carnal state
Asked for mercy through atonement
Received joy, remission of sins, peace of conscience through knowledge of God and the Atonement
Cared about others
Hearts were Changed
Made a covenant to Always remember Christ
Took their names - appointed Priests and Teachers to stir them up to remembrance

Then over to Alma the Younger:(also look at Alma Sr. - taught by revelation, realized he was wrong and went about the repentance process)

Almas the Younger was - Taught revelation by an angel
Fell Down
Tribulation torment, wracked with pain
Prayed for mercy
Remembers pain no more
soul filled with joy
Went out to help others

Studying the impact on the people Alma taught:

Heard words spoken by Alma
Humbled
Hearts changed
Trusted God
Faithful to the End

Now, look at the story of King Lamoni:

Inspired by Ammon
Ammon discerned his thoughts, taught him doctrine
King believes
Cries for Mercy
Falls Down
Dark Veil of Unbelief was cast away - Light comes

Finally - examine the story of King Lamoni's father:

Hard-hearted
Seeds the goodness of Ammon
Wants to learn
Taught doctrine and scripture
Repents Calls on Christ in Faith
Falls down

Whoops - one more: Anti-Nephi-Lehis:

Freely hear missionaries (learned doctrine and scripture)
Convinced of the wickedness of fathers
Brought to knowledge of the Lord
Believe New Traditions
Brought to Knowledge of God
Taught by Spirit of Revelation and Prophecy
Had Miracles in Them
Converted Unto Lord
Never Fell Away
Weapons Buried Deep

Now to make connections to all of these experiences, we need a framework on which to hang these points:

Look at the Description of Conversion in Moroni 8:25-26

Repentance brings baptism brings faith unto commandments brings remission of sins brings meekness which brings lowliness of heart which brings a visitation of the Holy Ghost which brings hope and love which brings diligence which brings prayer unto God with Love of God.

The other scripture that gives the pattern of all these stories to illustrate conversion is Helaman 15:8

Note also Alma 23:6 - converted unto the Lord, never did fall away











It kind of reminds us of that nice 'seminary study room' we had in Millcroft with all the chalkboards

We are going to have FUN with you at home!

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

In interpreting the parables of the Savior, we need to be careful to not put our own interpretations on display in such a way that might detract from what the Savior intended. However, we believe in prophets, seers and revelators. When they interpret scripture, we are on solid footing.

Today, Elder Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles addressed the saints of the Caribbean in a Regional Conference and spoke of the difference between testimony and enduring conversion. The Parable of the Ten Virgins is an excellent lesson to use in illustrating the importance of not living merely on the testimony of our conversion. In likening the scriptures to us, he added the words "of testimony" to references to "lamp' and "of conversion" to references to "oil."

1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps of testimony, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3 They that were foolish took their lamps of testimony, and took no oil of conversion with them:
4 But the wise took oil of conversion in their vessels with their lamps of testimony.
5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps of testimony.
8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil of conversion; for our lamps of testimony are gone out.
9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

Questions:

1. Were the 5 wise virgins being selfish in not sharing their oil with the 5 foolish virgins? Why?

2. Is conversion something that can be postponed, or do we need to be adding to it constantly? How?

Summary:

The oil of conversion cannot be borrowed from someone else. Each of us must earn it for ourselves. Oil of conversion comes one drop at a time. There is no shortcut available. We must learn line upon line, precept upon precept.