Hi, everyone--I'm Connie Gonzalez.
Thank you for joining this worldwide devotional
with Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
and his wife, Sister Susan L. Gong.
Elder Gong presides at this meeting.
Due to the pandemic, we are still
following the guidelines of local leaders
to social-distance, wear masks, and stay
at home where possible.
Some of the music for this broadcast
will be recorded music from previous broadcasts,
with various conductors and accompanists.
We express our appreciation for their talents and service.
Our opening hymn will be "I Need Thee Every Hour,"
sung by three siblings: Rachel, Adam, and Rebekah Hartshorn,
with videography by their brother Joseph.
The Hartshorns are from Lehi, Utah.
After the hymn, Sister Clarissa Taylor from Ogden, Utah,
will offer the invocation.
Our dear, kind, gracious Heavenly Father.
We are so very thankful for this day
and we are so very thankful for this Sabbath afternoon.
Heavenly Father, at this time we ask Thee
that we can be receptive to the Spirit,
that those individuals across the world
can feel Thy love and feel the things that they need
to work on and improve as we listen
to an Apostle of the Lord.
We are so very thankful, Heavenly Father,
for Elder and Sister Gong.
Please bless them.
Please bless that they can feel of Thy Spirit
and know what to say and know what words
they need to address.
As we listen to this devotional, Heavenly Father,
we ask Thee that we can have a memorable time
and that we can remember the words of Thee
and that we can carry on the things
that we learned throughout the week and throughout our lives.
And this we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
This evening a virtual choir will
share a special musical number.
Our choir is made up of Church members living in the Salt Lake
Valley who represent cultures and countries
from around the world.
They will sing "All Are Welcome."
After the musical number, we will
be pleased to hear from Sister Susan L. Gong.
She will then be followed by Elder Gerrit W. Gong.
Elder Gong is from Northern California, where
his parents met at school.
Sister Gong is from Taylorsville, Utah,
where her pioneer ancestors homesteaded property.
Elder and Sister Gong first met at the Missionary Training
Center, where Elder Gong was teaching Chinese culture
to missionaries.
Sister Gong was one of those missionaries.
Later, the couple courted across the Atlantic Ocean
in two different countries on two different continents.
Elder Gong says it's why he can honestly
say he earned a PhD in "international relations."
Elder and Sister Gong are parents of four adult sons--all
about the ages of the group participating in this
devotional.
This week the Gongs are celebrating their 41st wedding
anniversary.
Elder Gong and Sister Gong talk about "chapters"
in their lives, including living in Oxford, England;
Washington, DC; Asia; Provo; and now Salt Lake City.
Elder Gong's roles include being a brother, student,
missionary, husband, father, foreign policy analyst,
diplomat, university administrator and teacher,
grandfather, and now full-time service
in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Sister Gong has been a daughter, student,
missionary, researcher, wife, mother, graduate student,
language educator, graduate student (again),
grandmother, writer, and now, unofficially,
a full-time volunteer in the kingdom.
In each chapter of their lives, Elder and Sister Gong
have prioritized family and gospel service.
You may be interested to know Elder Gong loves
telling "dad jokes," and Sister Gong says she loves him anyway.
At the conclusion of their remarks,
we will show a recording from the Logan Institute Choir
singing "Let Us All Press On."
They were directed by Allen Matthews
and accompanied by Linda Margetts.
The benediction will then be offered by Brother Brenden
Bowman from Ogden, Utah.
We will now hear the special musical number.
Thank you for that beautiful music!
It makes me want all the more to be together again face to face.
Dear brothers and sisters, what a joy to be with you!
We are gathered virtually from every inhabited continent
and from the isles of the sea, united in a love of our Savior
Jesus Christ and in our commitment
to help build His kingdom.
You give me hope for a better world.
And of course there are millions more good people
with whom we can gather and partner
and from whom we can learn.
"Hope," says Bishop Desmond Tutu,
"is being able to see that there is light despite all
of the darkness."
Our greatest hope is in Jesus Christ, our Savior.
Through Him we find joy and peace.
He knows the end from the beginning,
and He promises, "Search diligently, pray always, and be
believing, and all things shall work together for your good,
if ye walk uprightly."
But we don't see the end from the beginning.
We only "know in part."
Perhaps our lives are unfolding in ways different from what
we had hoped for.
We can still "press forward with a steadfastness
in Christ [and] a perfect brightness of hope"
because we know that our loving Heavenly
Father has a plan for us.
During the stay-at-home orders that have been occasioned
by the COVID pandemic, I've been working on a new
skill--it's called paper-piece quilting.
It's a way of turning scraps of fabric into intricate designs.
At first the process is counterintuitive.
You sew pieces of cloth together upside down
and backwards to how they will appear in the final pattern.
It's hard to see how these bits of color
will resolve into the coherent pattern.
But, gradually, as you stitch and patiently
cut and press over and over again,
a beautiful design emerges.
We may feel the plan for our lives is not yet clear.
That does not mean that we are waiting for life to begin.
These are invaluable years, no matter where
you are in your life.
This is a season to develop talents.
President Nelson teaches, "Education
is the difference between wishing
you could help other people and being able to help them."
The good and useful things you learn now
will shape and bless your whole life.
This is a season to seek out wise and righteous
mentors--parents or grandparents, teachers,
friends, Church leaders, and, most importantly,
Jesus Christ--to help us build meaningful lives.
Create meaningful relationships with those who
can help you learn and grow.
This is a season to be anxiously engaged in good causes.
Heaven is not waiting for the pandemic to end,
for me to lose 10 pounds, or for you to be married to the person
of your dreams for us to become true disciples--to keep His
commandments, especially the commandment to love the Lord
and our neighbors.
If we want greater hope and deeper meaning in our lives,
we might begin each day with a prayer of gratitude
and a sincere plea: "Heavenly Father,
let me be an instrument in Thy hands today.
Open my heart.
Give me wisdom, imagination, strength, and courage
to do what I can."
Then look for opportunities to be a truer friend, a kinder
sister, a better son, a more generous neighbor,
a more inspired minister, a more patient parent.
Leo Tolstoy wrote, "Though it seems to men that they
live by care for themselves, in truth
it is love alone by which they live.
He who has love, is in God, and God is in him,
for God is love."
And heaven is not waiting for us to be perfect
or for us to arrive in the next world to bless us.
If we do "works of righteousness,"
we "shall receive [our] reward, even
peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come."
Christ's love is sure.
The Apostle Paul teaches:
"Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
"Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
May "the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace"
as you trust in Him so that you may
overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is true.
It is powerful.
It is beautiful.
And it is important!
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Amen.
Thank you, honey.
Dear brothers and sisters, here is a beautiful wish for a new
year--sung in Spanish: "A hope, the world rejoices / The light
of a new day is born."
Thank you, Abish.
Sister Gong and I were surprised and concerned
when we tested positive for COVID-19.
Thank you for your messages and prayers for our full recovery.
Though in isolation, we did not feel isolated.
Now Sister Gong and I pray even more
for all who suffer pandemic hardships.
In the world, there are some 1.47 billion adults
ages 18 to 30.
In our Church, 2.3 million adults ages 18 to 30
live on 6 continents in some 180 countries and territories.
You read the Book of Mormon in over 114 languages.
Sister Gong and I love meeting you, whether in Rexburg, Idaho;
in Manaus, Brazil; in Bogotá, Colombia; across the world;
on every continent; in every circumstance.
Do you know we now have a North Pole Alaska Stake?
We gather today via technology.
I pray the Holy Ghost will make us one in faith,
touch your heart, and open your path in these challenging
times.
Dear brothers and sisters, God lives.
Please come feel His love and His power to grow and change.
Let Him encircle you "in the arms of safety"
with His assurance you are enough.
You have immense divine capacity you can develop daily.
Today I share three invitations that
have helped inspire me, first, to deepen
my relationship with God; second, to change
the future now; and, third, to become a better me.
I pray, taken together, these invitations
will strengthen your faith and draw
you closer to God and those around you
as you find enduring joy on His covenant path.
First invitation: with profoundly inclusive love,
Heavenly Father promises, "Be still and know that I am God."
I grew up in the city but love backpacking in the mountains.
Free to explore, my friends and I
hiked all day, then camped by wilderness lakes
under heaven's expanse to the night song of the wind.
Recently, Sister Gong and I drove
to a place so dark and beautiful we could see the Milky Way.
It was almost as bright as this photo.
The Milky Way is the stuff of myth, marvel, and mystery.
In Chinese, "Milky Way" is "Tian He" ("the river of heaven").
In Belarusian, Estonian, Finnish,
it's the "way of the birds."
Some call the Milky Way the "road to Santiago."
In Cherokee, it's "the way the dog ran away"; in Hebrew,
"the river of light."
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. ...
And God saw that it was good."
God is knowing, powerful, and good.
The purpose, elegance, and harmony of His creations
witness His infinite love and His plan of happiness
for each of us.
Alma testifies, "All things denote there is a God; yea,
even the earth, and all [the] things that are upon the face
of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also ...
the planets which [do] move in their regular form do witness
...
there is a Supreme Creator."
It takes conscious effort to slow down and "be still."
It takes spiritual openness and humility to "know that [God is]
God."
Sometimes slowing down in things that matter less
helps us find the things that matter most.
An important way to know God is God
is to discern His signature in creations
made to gladden the heart.
We sing:
"For the beauty of the earth,
For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise."
Another way to know God is to see goodness and meaning
in divine relationships--in tenderness, serendipity,
reconciliation, forgiveness, sacrifice.
President Russell M. Nelson recently
noted art, literature, and music can enrich us.
So can the sciences, when understood with faith.
Here are two famous views of the night sky.
From science, a Hubble telescope Deep Field image
reminds us, as the great prophets Moses and Abraham saw,
that God's creations include galaxies on galaxies,
without number, even in places the night sky seems empty.
From art, Vincent Van Gogh captured Starry Night as oil
on canvas just before sunrise.
Astronomic recreation of the sky in June 1889
suggests Van Gogh's morning star is the planet Venus.
Great art inspires new ways to see God's goodness.
God's goodness can enrich our souls.
Today's noisy, cluttered, polluted world
can make it hard to "be still and know that [God is] God."
We don't remember how noisy the kitchen fan
is until we turn it off.
Superficiality, mirages, secular rabbit holes
distract and confuse.
Fear of missing out--FOMO--it's old news,
though we are still glued to our devices.
Some think multitasking 24/7 increases our value
or importance.
We position and frame life to be "Insta-perfect"
for that next Instagram post, even though we know
"Insta-perfect" is neither "insta-" nor "perfect."
We worry new filters, also unrealistic and unreal,
affect swipes or double-taps.
In the documentary The Social Dilemma, tech insiders warn,
"If you're not paying for the product, you are the product."
Some experts now fear social media unexpectedly
hurts societies and personal well-being.
They worry social media algorithms
designed to optimize online use, sharing,
and monetized advertising profit also foster suspicion,
division, and even depression.
Perhaps most telling, these tech gurus
protect their family from excessive social media use.
To be still and reflective is not to be lonely.
Leonardo da Vinci said, "When I am alone, I am my own."
Slowing down declutters my head and heart.
Then gratitude and its twin virtue,
humility, can open my spiritual eyes and ears
to the evidences of His generous abundance all around us.
One Hebrew-language commentator explains the term "be still"
can mean "let go."
"Know that I am God" can translate
as "recognize His saving power in our lives."
In other words, to "be still and know that I am God"
is to let God prevail in our lives.
President Nelson says, "Nothing opens the heavens quite like
the combination of increased purity, exact obedience,
earnest seeking, daily feasting on the words of Christ
in the Book of Mormon, and regular time committed
to temple and family history work"--a covenant path
to enduring joy.
When we slow down and seek with faith, our perspective changes.
One preparation day as a young missionary in Australia, Elder
Marion G. Romney (later an Apostle and member of the First
Presidency) pondered section 76 in the Doctrine and Covenants.
"When he finished reading, he was
surprised to realize it was night.
He looked up into the heavens, where
the Southern Cross and other stars
shone with unusual grandeur.
As he gazed in wonder, he seemed to be carried beyond them
by the Spirit so as to see the things
he had been reading about.
In a miraculous manner, he was given
to know that those things were not fables but were realities
of the most profound significance."
His biography says,
"Thereafter he had an eternal perspective."
Eternal perspective can anchor us today.
As prophesied, "All things shall be in commotion."
The Lord says His voice is heard in earthquakes, tempests,
pestilence, waves of the sea heaving themselves
beyond their bounds.
In these times, some call good evil and evil good;
others say, "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die."
But spiritual light and truth chase the darkness
from among us.
The Lord assures, "Peace, be still."
"Stand still, with the utmost assurance,
to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."
Please, dear brothers and sisters,
"be still and know that [God is] God."
Now, our second invitation: build relationships
that change the future now.
Recently, I was grateful to thank someone
I have not met before but who changed my future.
Her name is Melba Oakes (no relation to President Dallin H.
Oaks).
When Melba was 21 years old, she was newly married and living
in San Mateo, California.
Melba and a 17-year-old new convert
named Jean became friends.
The only member of her family to join the Church,
Jean was attending school far from home.
Some in Jean's family hoped she would forget
the Church in a new place.
Yet, in small and simple ways, Melba and others
were there with Jean.
When Jean graduated from high school, Melba was there.
Melba Oakes, she still has Jean's wedding invitation.
Jean fell in love and married a wonderful man named Walter.
In fact, they were married three times--in a Chinese wedding,
an American ceremony, and were sealed for time and eternity
in the holy temple.
When they met, Walter had a strong Christian testimony
but did not yet know The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.
So Jean and others taught him the restored gospel.
He became a faithful Church member and stake patriarch.
As you've guessed, in marrying Walter Gong,
Jean became Jean Gong, my dear mother.
Today my mother is 94 years old.
Melba Oakes is 98 years old.
They have been friends in the gospel for 77 years.
Recently, I learned Sister Melba Oakes
lives in St. George, Utah.
I phoned to thank her for changing my future and that
of my family.
In helping Jean Gong when she was a first, fragile convert,
Melba Oakes blessed what are now four Gong family generations
on this side of the veil and 34 known Gong family generations
on the other side of the veil, stretching back to First Dragon
Gong, born 837 AD.
Sadly, others of my mother's friends
are no longer in the Church.
One left after some Church members excluded her
because of her race.
Another drifted when she felt she
had to choose between Church and non-Church friends.
A third let worldly pressures create doubts
about Church teachings.
Of course, you face even more intense challenges today.
I am eternally grateful to Melba Oakes and everyone
who helped my mother when she was new in the gospel.
I also credit my mother.
She has been steadfast in her faith and valiant
in her testimony.
She and my father determined to belong strong
in God's true Church.
They succeeded despite societal prejudices and some Church
members with racial prejudices.
Brothers and sisters, there are Jean Gongs and Melba Oakeses
all around us--in our apartment, workplace, ward and branch,
in our circles and associations.
No one wants to be a project.
We each look for socialities and opportunities to contribute.
We all need a safe place to seek and ask,
a safe space to learn and live gospel doctrine and Church
culture.
We want to be seen as adults and to be responsible
and contribute as adults.
We want Church to be a place where
we don't judge each other, and we
repent if someone feels we are judging them in a hurtful way.
Our Guadalajara Mexico Temple matron
says the holy temple inspires her
to "judge less and love more."
She's right.
Please come as you are.
We need you.
As we become compassionate and inclusive
and invite others to do the same,
our gospel community becomes more open, vulnerable,
and inviting.
In a sense, we all become new converts,
returning members, new move-ins, each seeking our way.
In divided societies, disciples of Jesus Christ
can serve a common divinity and humanity greater
than any difference.
When we share that, we can bring things together.
In darkening, sometimes claustrophobic, times,
believers radiate His light and liberating truth.
Where there is spiritual famine in the land,
we celebrate Him as living water and the bread of life.
In a parched world, thirsty for a smile, hungry for a hello,
we can redefine our comfort zones.
Sit by someone sitting alone.
Include, compliment, encourage, in person and online.
Give the benefit of the doubt.
Listen, go, be there.
Minister with a timely thought or scripture.
Notice a tear or a smile.
Pray always.
Today, you help me.
Tomorrow, I help you.
We're here for each other.
That's what gospel friends and family do.
I know many of you are the only member or the only
active member in your family.
You are valiant and faithful, but often it is hard.
Please hold tightly to the iron rod--or,
as a young adult in Manaus, Brazil, put it,
"Feel the steel."
Determine you will be steadfast and immoveable,
a strong link in your generations.
It will be worth it.
It matters less if we are the first generation
or the sixth generation in the Church
than that we are valiant in our testimony of Jesus Christ.
Please plant, nurture, and protect
that precious seed of faith.
Let it take strong root and blossom
in you and your eternal family.
Please be a Melba Oakes or a Jean Gong;
build relationships today that change
the future for the coming 1, 5, or even 77 years.
This brings us to our third invitation:
become a better you by working with and beside the law
of the harvest.
As we learn to work with faith and diligence,
the Lord of the harvest, through the law of the harvest,
can bless us with "joy in the fruit[s] of [our] labors."
As we work hard and work smart, opportunities open.
What some call luck, we acknowledge as blessings.
We know humble prayer and earnest persistence
together bring miracles in His time and way.
The New Testament book of Galatians
describes the law of the harvest as "For whatsoever a man
[or woman] soweth, that shall he also reap."
We should "not be weary in well doing: for in due season we
shall reap, if we faint not."
Put another way, we harvest what we plant--good is restored
for good, as are righteousness, justice, and mercy.
London and Luke Brockbank, faithful returned missionaries
recently sealed in the holy temple,
say they learned the law of the harvest with their families
in the garden while growing up.
Well, we would get up bright and early before the bees
and before the heat and try and get as many weeds pulled,
as many plants planted, and try and keep things
growing with fertilizer and mulch,
and just maintaining everything in its own proper season.
I mean, everybody likes and enjoys picking the fruit--and
getting to eat some of it while you're picking it--but I'd say
probably weeding is the most challenging because you're down
on your hands and knees, and after a while you start
to ache.
And your hands are dirty.
We would stain the tips of our fingers
and our thumbs green from pulling.
That's why they said you had a green thumb.
Yes, you'd think it was because the plants grow well;
it's because the weeds are getting pulled.
London talked about how you just kind of do all the basic things
that you do to run a garden.
You know, you've got to fertilize and plant.
You can't just go to the garden once a week
and expect it to all be really good.
I asked London and Luke about our Savior
as the true vine who nourishes us spiritually.
When we are taking care of plants at the orchard,
we need to fertilize them so that they
have the proper nutrients to continue growing.
That's similar to our testimonies
in that we can't just live off of one spiritual experience.
We need that constant renewal of new experiences.
Remembering our spiritual experiences--they're wonderful
things to reflect on, but we do constantly need more.
The only thing we can have 100 percent confidence in
is the Savior.
And I think in that way He really is the true vine,
that we can always rely on Him.
And if we try our best to kind of align our will to His,
like it said--that He's in us and we're in Him--that
the Savior is the one that can really get you through.
I love the Savior, and I have a very strong testimony of Him
and what He's done for us, how He really does feel like a best
friend, like someone that's never going to leave your side.
Because I'm sure we've all had good friends
that have left our side, unexpectedly or expectedly.
Either way, it's not a fun experience.
But it's so wonderful to know that the Savior never will,
that He will always be with us, and that He is there to comfort
us and help us when we need.
Thank you, London and Luke.
London, Luke, and I talked about justice and mercy
in the law of the harvest.
We reap what we sow.
But God also adds His mercy to our efforts.
The Apostle Paul says, "I have planted,
Apollos watered; but God gave the increase."
When God gives the increase, He opens the windows of heaven
and pours out blessings, such that there shall not
be room enough to receive them.
Seen with spiritual eyes, the Lord's tender mercies
often generously exceed what our work alone may merit.
Sometimes life feels unjust and unfair, with hard, dark, lonely
moments.
With righteous desire and obedient effort,
we may feel we have done everything asked for us.
And yet things may have not worked
out the way we had hoped.
It's hard.
We may feel despondent, disgruntled, maybe even bitter.
In such times, please remember, in ways we cannot comprehend,
the "Son of Man hath descended below them all."
He understands because He's been there.
"Behold," our Savior says, "I have graven thee
upon the palms of my hands."
He promises, "All these things shall give thee experience,
and shall be for thy good."
We wait on the Lord with anticipation and sometimes
with anxiety.
But His promises are sure: "They that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength; they shall mount up
with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary;
and they shall walk, and not faint."
"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."
"Earth has no sorrow that heav'n cannot heal."
In His time and way, God will make right injustices,
sorrows, disappointments.
For the willing and humble, His is
a gospel of second and third chances,
to seventy times seven.
Those who keep God's commandments
are and will be "blessed in all things."
In our day, with immense suffering
and humanitarian needs everywhere, we
feel compelling cause and divine purpose
in offering Christian service.
For us, love of God and neighbor mean covenant opportunity
and covenant responsibility.
A recent Church survey indicates young adults are identifying
and addressing pressing humanitarian needs in Europe,
in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Asia, Africa,
North America, the Pacific, and almost everywhere else
around the world.
You and your friends
sew masks,
support women's refuge centers,
help with natural disaster cleanup and relief,
provide children nutrition,
build local communities,
and deliver food to food banks, to mention just a few.
In this COVID pandemic, our members, friends,
and our Church are delivering our largest-ever humanitarian
response, with 1,031 COVID-19 response
projects in 151 countries.
Those in need are receiving over 28.4 million
personal protective equipment (PPE) items, 3.5 million food
items, 1.8 million hygiene kits, and 1.07 million pieces
of medical equipment and supplies.
Thus far, from farm to table, over 700 truckloads
of food and other essentials have traveled 1.6 million miles
from our Church's bishops' storehouse system
to 380 food banks, homeless shelters,
and charitable agencies.
I asked what's in a typical 18-wheeler truck.
Typically, each truck brings 3,264 cans of beef or turkey;
7,488 cans of corn, green beans, or diced tomatoes;
6,528 cans of stew, soup, or chili;
and 792 jars of our famous--this is actually my favorite--our
famous Church produced peanut butter, full of nutrition,
energy, and goodwill.
Our trucks also carry fruit, legumes,
and puddings produced or processed at our Church's 19
farms, 3 orchards, 4 canneries, 1 dairy, and 3 livestock
operations.
Perhaps you live in a community where our Church
has partnered with local groups to provide
food and other essentials.
Global food relief and food security concern us.
The United Nations predicts COVID disruptions
may push an additional 130 million individuals
into chronic hunger.
While only a start, our humanitarian contributions
are ongoing, needed, and welcomed
in vulnerable areas such as Somalia, Yemen, the DR
Congo, Haiti, and Zimbabwe and in conflict regions in Syria,
Yemen, South Sudan, the DR Congo, and the Africa Sahel
region, among others.
Hungry children need food.
With one humanitarian partner, we
are delivering 30 million meals to school children
in nine developing countries.
Each meal plate includes 482 life-sustaining calories
of grains, protein, vegetables, and fruits.
As we have seen, our Church makes
global humanitarian donations and also provides
generous support in North and South America and other areas
where many Church members live.
Refugees and internally displaced persons
are a great humanitarian challenge.
Our Church is on the front line of multiple refugee crises.
With our partners, we provide food, hygiene, water
and sanitation, shelter kits, clothing,
personal protective equipment, and educational support
in Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle
East.
We fit and fulfill local needs.
We respect local custom and culture.
For example, the devastating 2004 tsunami in Indonesia
killed or left missing an estimated 228,000 individuals.
Our worldwide Church fast helped rebuild mosques,
buy sewing machines to make needed traditional clothing,
and reestablish homes and schools.
Our worldwide Islamic leaders told us,
"We fast, so donations from fasting
hold special meaning for us.
Your fast and sacrifice reflect your faith and love of God."
As disciples of Jesus Christ, our covenant
belonging with God and with each other
invites us to be good and do good.
As you know, our Church provides humanitarian assistance
without regard to race, religious affiliation,
or nationality.
Our humanitarian activities are not
used to proselyte our beliefs.
We work with partners of all faiths or of no faith.
We respond to immediate and long-term needs.
We stay while needs continue, long
after the news cameras have gone.
We foster self-worth and self-reliance.
We feel Heavenly Father's blessings as we express
our love of God in doing all possible for our brothers
and sisters--His sons and daughters--everywhere,
in every way we can.
Brothers and sisters, as you learn, grow, and serve,
and as you strive to be valiant in your testimony of Jesus
Christ, please be patient and understanding with yourself.
Too often we are too hard on ourselves.
The Lord invites us to come as we
are, to do all things "in wisdom and order."
He does not expect us to run faster
than we have strength, even as we are diligent and valiant.
Sometimes, we may feel less wanted or less committed
if the Lord has not asked us to do "some great thing."
Yet often what the Lord most needs
is for us to let our brightening light shine brightly each day.
Remember, Jesus is the true vine.
Your spiritual growth and happiness are precious to Him.
In summary, as this new year begins,
may I invite you to receive the full blessings of three
invitations:
"Be still and know that [God is] God."
Let His goodness, His creations stir your imagination,
calm and assure your heart, and testify He
waits ready to deepen your personal relationship.
Second, change the future now.
Nurture multigenerational relationships
that will bless you and those around you for years to come.
And third, trust the Lord of the harvest
to help you become a better you.
As you work with and beside Him in His vineyard,
the Lord of the harvest will give you an abundant increase.
His are the blessings of a joy which is full.
Three additional actions may help you strengthen your faith
and be valiant in your testimony of Jesus Christ:
Worthily hold a current temple recommend.
Please do so even if the temple is not fully open.
Please do so even if you may need to do and put in order
some things in your life.
Also, let your bishop or branch president know who
and where you are.
If you do not currently hold a Church calling,
please consider saying, "Bishop (branch president),
when the Lord has a calling for me, I
would be happy to serve in our Church."
We each need wings and roots--a wide circle of friendship
and sociality and a smaller circle where we can serve
regularly with peers and caring leaders,
including a bishop who holds keys.
Finally, as you knock, ask, and seek,
please create a personal environment
that nurtures faith and helps you keep God's commandments.
Given in love, God's commandments protect and bless.
Please live worthily so the Holy Ghost
can be your constant companion and help you find
what you most need and seek.
Do not let the world pretend to offer you things it cannot
deliver.
Dear brothers and sisters, God is our Eternal Father.
His Beloved Son is our Savior Jesus Christ.
Eternal ordinances, covenants, and doctrine
are found in His restored Church, called
in His name: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Restoration of the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ
continues, from the Prophet Joseph Smith
to President Russell M. Nelson today.
The Book of Mormon and holy scriptures testify, as I do,
that Jesus is the Christ.
Dear friends, let your light shine!
Continue faithful in your covenants and valiant
in your testimony of Jesus Christ.
May God cradle you in His compassion
and bless you in your righteous hopes and desires.
May you find covenant belonging and joy
in His gospel, place and space in His Church, which
is our Church.
In the sacred and holy name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.
Father in Heaven, we are thankful for the opportunity
in which we have had to feel of Thy love
and to listen to the words of Sister and Elder Gong.
Father, we pray for additional strength
as we go forward each and every day this upcoming year;
that we will be able to come to know Thee better;
that we can change the future generations
through our actions, words, and deeds;
and that we can be Thy hands and in turn make us better
each and every day.
Father, we are thankful for a loving
prophet here on the earth.
We pray for him--President Russell M.
Nelson--that he will be able to be led and guided to direct Thy
Church.
And, Father, most importantly, we
pray for added strength that comes
from the Atonement of Jesus Christ, each and every day,
that we can be lifted up and strengthened,
that we can be better.
Father, we ask of these things each and every day in the name
of Jesus Christ, amen.