1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,980 Hey guys, welcome to Closer to Christ, a conference where two friends who love Jesus and His gospel 2 00:00:10,980 --> 00:00:13,240 share our own approach to general conference. 3 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:14,240 Thanks, Abbie. 4 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:16,240 First of all, thank you for being here. 5 00:00:16,240 --> 00:00:18,600 Thanks for listening and for joining us. 6 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:19,940 We love this time together. 7 00:00:19,940 --> 00:00:23,860 It's really brought us so much joy and we love imagining each of you sitting here with 8 00:00:23,860 --> 00:00:24,860 us. 9 00:00:24,860 --> 00:00:29,520 So today we're going to talk about Elder Jack N. Gerard and his talk, Integrity of 10 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:30,840 a Christ-like Attribute. 11 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:35,160 Okay, so Abby, what are some of the thoughts you have about this? 12 00:00:35,160 --> 00:00:40,160 As I approach this talk, I have to admit it's not one that I was like putting asterisks 13 00:00:40,160 --> 00:00:42,360 around and like lots of notes on. 14 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:49,240 I think at the very basic, at the heart of it, I thought, yeah, possess integrity, have 15 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:50,400 integrity. 16 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:52,760 How does integrity look in my life because it's a Christ-like attribute? 17 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:57,800 I think that was my take home from it, just a short little simple look, assess your own 18 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:05,520 life and do you demonstrate the attribute of integrity like Jesus Christ does. 19 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:11,960 And in preparing for the podcast, I took a pass at this and I thought, this is probably 20 00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:17,880 not going to be one of the top picks for a Relief Society lesson because it is one of 21 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:23,280 those that causes so much introspection and assessment in your life. 22 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:27,420 And I think the things that might come out in a Relief Society lesson could possibly 23 00:01:27,420 --> 00:01:35,280 be too deep and personal or be such a process to start working on having integrity and meshing 24 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:39,440 how he says a life of integrity requires us to be true to God, to each other, to our divine 25 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:40,440 identity. 26 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:42,920 That's like, that's three huge things that are all encompassing. 27 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:44,640 That covers a pre-mortal life. 28 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:49,040 It covers every drop of decision that we're making here and it covers into the future 29 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:50,480 forever and ever. 30 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:57,520 And I think this topic requires so much time for you to think on individually what you 31 00:01:57,520 --> 00:01:58,520 can do. 32 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:01,720 Maybe it will come up, but I thought, man, this would be a killer talk for sacrament 33 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:06,920 meeting because you would, if you're like me, you'll go through when it's in print 34 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:11,800 and I'll underline a sentence here or there and I'll think, man, that one sentence is 35 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:14,520 loaded with a lot of things to think about. 36 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:18,380 And so I've kind of made these little sidebar notes and scribbled, I pretty much filled 37 00:02:18,380 --> 00:02:22,960 every drop of my margins as I was doing a deep study on this. 38 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:27,080 And so when my initial pass at it would look like, ooh, this isn't long enough to really 39 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:29,800 make enough material for a Relief Society lesson. 40 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:36,160 What in fact it is, is a template for study for whatever you need, whatever piece in your 41 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:39,160 life needs to be your focus on integrity. 42 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:44,760 And just my conversations with Amy, what she really hit on in this, I'm hoping we dedicate 43 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:47,680 most of the podcast to that. 44 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:52,720 But all of the pieces of this are worth taking a little closer look at. 45 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:56,480 The quotes that he uses, you can tell that it's something he's been thinking about for 46 00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:57,480 a long time. 47 00:02:57,480 --> 00:02:58,480 Right. 48 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:02,680 And he put it into one document, but it's like, I think it's more of an invitation for 49 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:07,960 us to ask ourselves where we're at on that Christlike attribute and what we can do to 50 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:08,960 improve it. 51 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:14,600 So I mean, at the very basic, the question, as far as us more wanting you to ask the right 52 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:19,720 questions, as you're taking a pass through this talk, you might say, I'm preparing to 53 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:22,920 look at this talk on integrity at Christlike attribute. 54 00:03:22,920 --> 00:03:29,160 What's one area in my life that you could see me improve on the way that I exhibit integrity? 55 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:30,160 That's great. 56 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:32,760 Yeah, I love that. 57 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:39,760 So that really wasn't an answer of where I wanted to jump to, but let's go to this quote 58 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:46,680 by President Spencer W. Kimball, kind of in his opening explanation of integrity. 59 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:52,960 He says, President Spencer W. Kimball taught integrity is our willingness and ability to 60 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:55,420 live by our beliefs and commitments. 61 00:03:55,420 --> 00:04:01,040 And so that quote kind of encompasses the first two pieces, actually all three of what 62 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:07,040 he wanted to talk about, that you can remain true to God and still to each other in your 63 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:12,800 communities, in your families, in your church life, in your work life, and to your divine 64 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:19,920 identity, what you promise to do in the presence of Father and generations and generations 65 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:23,720 there as we were making this decision to come to earth. 66 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:27,920 So I felt like Senator W. Kimball was quoted a lot in this conference as we're going through 67 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:32,040 these talks a little bit more, I was like, we're onto something here. 68 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:38,320 I'll just say the first thing that I stopped and pondered on was about this experience 69 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:43,040 when Elder Uchtdorf came to reorganize the stake that Elder Gerard was part of. 70 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:45,760 Did you, that's who he was saying it was in his own, right? 71 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:46,760 Yes, it was. 72 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:50,960 And he was asked the question, has there been anything in your life that if brought to the 73 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:57,480 attention of the public would be an embarrassment to you or to the church? 74 00:04:57,480 --> 00:04:58,480 I don't know. 75 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:01,760 For me, I thought that feels like temple question language. 76 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:09,440 And so I, for myself, was impressed to go to the temple recommend questions, which are 77 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:13,720 published and you can type it into like a Google search bar and it'll take you right 78 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:14,720 to the churches. 79 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:17,040 I don't know if those used to be more secret. 80 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:20,880 I don't think that it is necessary for me to sit and list all of them because I think 81 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:24,580 that it's something you're going to want to slowly go over each of those. 82 00:05:24,580 --> 00:05:27,320 We get that opportunity every couple of years if you're a temple recommend holder. 83 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:30,760 But if you're somebody that's preparing that wants to go to the temple, it's not a secret 84 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:34,040 what it takes to recommend yourself to the Lord. 85 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:39,800 And so you'll access those temple recommend questions and you'll look at them and your 86 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:44,000 end of the day, what you get out of it may be a little different than me, but I feel 87 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:48,320 like at least half of those questions were directly related to the Christlike attribute 88 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:54,500 of integrity, how we interact with other people. 89 00:05:54,500 --> 00:05:56,440 Do we accept the teachings in the church? 90 00:05:56,440 --> 00:06:01,960 And then that also carries over into our personal life that we still have that integrity in 91 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:04,840 our personal life. 92 00:06:04,840 --> 00:06:12,400 The way that we treat the Sabbath day, does it look true to the teachings of the gospel 93 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:13,400 of Jesus Christ? 94 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:16,840 So like we're not going to sit and hash out like, oh, you do that on the Sabbath day. 95 00:06:16,840 --> 00:06:17,880 That's not right. 96 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:19,780 That's not our job to decide. 97 00:06:19,780 --> 00:06:23,920 Your job is to decide how you feel about the Sabbath day and then execute that all the 98 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:24,920 time. 99 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:30,960 And tithing, whatever parameters you have, yes, we understand it's 10%, but as I've studied 100 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:36,320 with Church History Matters, that's a really great podcast that I also listened to the 101 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:39,520 evolution of tithing when people didn't really just carry around cash, you had chickens, 102 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:43,000 like tithing looks a little bit differently, but once you understand the principle of it 103 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:46,480 and so you acknowledge like, yeah, I understand that principle and you practice that principle, 104 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:49,640 does it look all the same all the time or were you getting hungry? 105 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:52,360 You wanted one more party and you needed one more chicken for yourself. 106 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:56,800 And so then you kept that back from the Lord versus today that you're like, well, I didn't 107 00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:00,120 really, I mean, he doesn't really need that money or whatever. 108 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:04,040 I could go off on a million things, but I would just suggest taking a look at the temple 109 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:07,680 recommend questions more often than on that two year basis as we're entering the temple 110 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:12,900 so that it's a reminder, like even when you're preparing to go to the temple and you're holding 111 00:07:12,900 --> 00:07:15,800 that recommend, we admit ourselves to the temple now. 112 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:19,680 I don't know if that's a worldwide church thing, but like for me, I think it's a special 113 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:23,600 thought, not just the workers don't have to scan your temple recommend. 114 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:27,760 It's one more step of me saying I'm admitting myself into the temple. 115 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:32,360 Just a little thought and I'm not sure that it's always, but it just kind of came to me 116 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:33,360 right there. 117 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:38,360 So anyway, when I went through the temple recommend questions, I was like, integrity, 118 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:42,560 that's it, that's on integrity, that's on integrity until finally the last question 119 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:46,440 that were asked, do you consider yourself worthy to enter the Lord's house and participate 120 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:48,480 in temple ordinances? 121 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:56,080 And so preparing to enter the temple and then holding that current temple recommend, let's 122 00:07:56,080 --> 00:08:02,600 me know if I'm filling like true and honest heart in those questions, it lets me know 123 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:06,140 that to the best of my ability, I'm living a life of integrity. 124 00:08:06,140 --> 00:08:07,140 Can I slip up? 125 00:08:07,140 --> 00:08:08,140 Absolutely. 126 00:08:08,140 --> 00:08:12,400 Will I have to rely on the savior to make up the difference for when what I thought 127 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:14,640 was the right thing to do wasn't the right thing to do? 128 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:15,640 Absolutely. 129 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:22,920 And so I think out of it, he set the perfect example for what integrity looks like. 130 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:26,720 What initial thoughts came to you or did you kind of have the same experience when you 131 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:28,040 passed through this talk? 132 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:32,040 Like I actually did when I was listening to it, I was like, yep, integrity, this is awesome. 133 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:33,040 Great. 134 00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:34,040 I loved it. 135 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:35,040 Yeah. 136 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:36,040 Good. 137 00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:38,760 And then yeah, going through a second pass, I was like, oh my gosh, there's so much more 138 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:40,000 in this. 139 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:43,840 And so I prayed and I was like, Heavenly Father, like what's the thing for me? 140 00:08:43,840 --> 00:08:46,320 And this really stood out at me. 141 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:51,020 This is just one paragraph, but it's as the only begotten of the father, Jesus Christ 142 00:08:51,020 --> 00:08:55,840 had the power over death, pain and suffering, but he didn't shrink. 143 00:08:55,840 --> 00:09:01,120 And then it says he fulfilled the covenant he had made with his father and in so doing 144 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:06,320 manifested a Christ-like attribute increasingly important in the world, which we live and 145 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:08,040 the attribute of integrity. 146 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:09,400 That's what it is. 147 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:13,760 He remained true to God, to each of us and to his divine identity. 148 00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:16,280 When I read the divine identity, that's what pierced me. 149 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:18,440 I was like, okay, there's something there. 150 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:23,600 So that led to the question, well, what's my divine identity? 151 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:24,600 How do I identify? 152 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:25,600 Right? 153 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:33,860 And really it came down to my divine identity is that I look to God and I follow promptings 154 00:09:33,860 --> 00:09:35,920 and I just go on my way. 155 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:40,960 Some of them might say that my life looks different all the time, but I would say actually, 156 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:44,420 maybe the things I'm doing look different all the time, but what I'm really doing is 157 00:09:44,420 --> 00:09:48,000 I'm following impressions and I'm telling the Lord, I want to grow. 158 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:51,800 I want experiences and I want what I want for my family. 159 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:58,320 So I love that president Nelson, okay, so back to divine identity, like what does that 160 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:01,160 look like in your daily life? 161 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:02,280 Right? 162 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:06,600 So I love that president Nelson kind of gave as a wonderful prophet that he is, he took 163 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:09,520 that and he kind of told us what that means in our terms. 164 00:10:09,520 --> 00:10:15,000 He says, overcoming the world means overcoming the temptation to care more about the things 165 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:17,320 of this world than the things of God. 166 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:22,160 It means trusting the doctrine of Jesus Christ more than the philosophies of men. 167 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:27,240 Likewise, we resist the temptation to walk in our own way. 168 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:33,280 And one of my continued prayers for my kids is, you know, like, like all parents, happiness, 169 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:35,880 success, coming closer to Jesus Christ. 170 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:39,380 And so when my husband and I were praying a few years back, we were looking for something 171 00:10:39,380 --> 00:10:42,600 for our kids that would build character, consistency and teamwork. 172 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:46,680 We felt that was lacking because we moved so many times, four states in four years. 173 00:10:46,680 --> 00:10:50,640 Every time we'd move somewhere, we would like miss the cutoff for soccer or for whatever. 174 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:52,600 And so my kids weren't in things. 175 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:56,800 And I know that those things build those characteristics, you know? 176 00:10:56,800 --> 00:11:02,440 So when Gare had the idea to buy three goats, it sounded really strange, but I prayed about 177 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:03,440 it. 178 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:04,440 It felt good. 179 00:11:04,440 --> 00:11:07,840 And then we felt like we should get two livestock guardian dogs. 180 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:09,740 Gare didn't want to leave one of the brothers behind. 181 00:11:09,740 --> 00:11:13,960 So he came home with three brothers that were livestock guardian dogs. 182 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:18,000 So all of a sudden we have three goats and three dogs. 183 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:20,600 And to anyone around us, it looked a little bit crazy. 184 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:24,380 And to be honest, I was completely overwhelmed by this, which is kind of funny looking back. 185 00:11:24,380 --> 00:11:27,580 But my capacity was stretched to the limit. 186 00:11:27,580 --> 00:11:31,140 And is it true or not true you have the two bassets at this point too? 187 00:11:31,140 --> 00:11:32,140 Not yet. 188 00:11:32,140 --> 00:11:33,140 Not yet. 189 00:11:33,140 --> 00:11:34,140 Okay. 190 00:11:34,140 --> 00:11:38,800 But we felt this was a small answer to our kids being happy, successful and learning 191 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:39,800 teamwork. 192 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:43,800 So we worked as a family and we learned how to take care of these animals. 193 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:44,840 This was new to us. 194 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:46,520 We spent time troubleshooting. 195 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:50,480 We prayed about the decisions we made for the animals, for their health and their happiness. 196 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:53,080 And we did this together. 197 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:59,760 Then three more cute baby goats came and it was such a miracle to witness just new life. 198 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:02,400 A year later, we had the opportunity to buy a cow. 199 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:05,440 I said yes to one cow while she was a package deal. 200 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:06,440 Her mom came with her. 201 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:09,720 And then the day that we bought her, we found out she was expecting a cow. 202 00:12:09,720 --> 00:12:12,160 So one cow turned into, you know, possibly three. 203 00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:13,160 I will say they're Highlanders. 204 00:12:13,160 --> 00:12:14,160 They're not just any cow. 205 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:15,160 They're the cutest things in the world. 206 00:12:15,160 --> 00:12:16,160 So sweet. 207 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:18,120 We love them. 208 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:22,840 And nine sheep plus seven more goats that were rescues came with the cows. 209 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:24,620 So it really was a package deal. 210 00:12:24,620 --> 00:12:28,720 So now we're up to 27 animals with a calf expected in the spring. 211 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:33,160 So six weeks later, Garrett felt like we needed another livestock guardian dog. 212 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:36,880 Well, when he went to go pick him up was three brothers and then Garrett didn't have the 213 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:38,160 heart to leave the mom there. 214 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:42,320 So he brought home three brothers and a mom. 215 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:46,040 Once we got through the winter, then the sheep started having lambs. 216 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:50,280 And when the calf came a couple of weeks ago, she made 40 animals total. 217 00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:55,760 So from a family that literally just had one family dog, we are now up to 40 animals. 218 00:12:55,760 --> 00:13:01,960 This is a major investment in time, money, space, and from the outside looking in again, 219 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:02,960 we look crazy. 220 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:07,560 I promise things were said from family and friends about us and our growing number of 221 00:13:07,560 --> 00:13:11,560 animals and we totally knew that it didn't make sense to everyone, but it just felt right 222 00:13:11,560 --> 00:13:12,560 to us. 223 00:13:12,560 --> 00:13:18,280 So now fast forward a few more months and my 17 year old says he wants to be a vet. 224 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:22,080 We didn't know before what he wanted to do and he didn't know either. 225 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:23,520 But now it's in his heart. 226 00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:24,520 It's part of him. 227 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:29,840 He cares for the animals, seeing new life and also heartbreaking death. 228 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:32,280 He's navigated through it in such a beautiful way. 229 00:13:32,280 --> 00:13:35,040 He's a natural at caring for animals. 230 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,240 It's just very apparent and he thinks in creative ways. 231 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:41,880 He's gentle, strong and compassionate and very low key and the animals absolutely loved 232 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:42,880 him. 233 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:47,240 So then as I was thinking about it, I was thinking, you know, most likely without this 234 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:51,560 animal experience, my son wouldn't have known that he loved animals or that he was really 235 00:13:51,560 --> 00:13:53,360 good at taking care of them. 236 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:58,480 So he most likely would not have had the thought or the confidence to move through in this 237 00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:01,120 path. 238 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:05,720 So I know that all parents do this on a, on a, on a level, you know, you wouldn't be sitting 239 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:11,600 at the game or the recitals or the practices if you didn't feel like it was the best for 240 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:13,080 your kids, for their highest good. 241 00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:15,400 Cause it takes time and it's taking time from other things. 242 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:19,480 So you say what, what with this limited time we have is going to maximize those end goals 243 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:20,480 that we have the most. 244 00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:21,480 Totally. 245 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:26,400 And I would say too, that it goes into a natural inclination of what you like to do, right? 246 00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:28,640 Of what people's talents are and things like that. 247 00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:32,520 So every family finds their own rhythm and it looks different for everybody. 248 00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:38,880 Um, now I promise you that if I was like president Nelson said, um, if I was walking in my own 249 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:42,560 way, I would have said no immediately to those first three goats. 250 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:44,000 And I would have just nipped that in the butt. 251 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:45,840 I was not looking for more mess. 252 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:51,200 I didn't want to scoop poop and buy hay and look for sheep or sorry, goats tenders. 253 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:52,200 And we went on vacation. 254 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:53,200 You know what I mean? 255 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:54,200 That's a lot to do. 256 00:14:54,200 --> 00:15:01,320 So, um, I wondered at every single turn and every opportunity we had to get new animals. 257 00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:04,520 I wondered about it and then prayed about it and I felt peaceful that it would be a 258 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:06,020 blessing to our family. 259 00:15:06,020 --> 00:15:11,400 So I trusted that and I move forward again, divine identity. 260 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:15,520 You know what I want to say just because I know you and I know Garrett and I got to watch 261 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:21,120 the evolution of the little farm that you guys have the prayer in your heart may have 262 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:28,200 been along the lines of finding things that would be the best for your children to do. 263 00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:33,200 Let's be honest when he impressed the growth of the farm and grabbing these animals here 264 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:36,120 and there that didn't come to you. 265 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:40,640 Oh no, that came to Garrett when one is good 14 is better. 266 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:43,560 That's the way that Garrett rolls. 267 00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:48,480 And so the prayer of your heart was answered in your companion, right? 268 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:53,600 And because he did the prompting to start bringing the animals in and then your logic 269 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:55,200 side like where are we going to house them? 270 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:57,400 How, what are we going to do? 271 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:01,440 The combination of your skill sets really works well because he's the type that's like, 272 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:02,760 yep, we got the animals coming. 273 00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:06,640 So figure out the barn, figure out the hay, figure out the fencing and you guys work on 274 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:07,640 that together. 275 00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:14,000 But it's like such a, it's a good team effort because both of you created these children 276 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:19,320 and both of you had the desire for having the best things come to pass for them. 277 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:21,520 And in this scenario, it was the animal thing. 278 00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:26,120 And you did save right from the get go that that was the intention to, to teach some responsibility 279 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:28,780 and these things that you wanted for. 280 00:16:28,780 --> 00:16:31,360 And you've, you've stepped firm to that. 281 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:35,240 But in the end it's, it's led one of your child to realize that maybe they were a steward 282 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:38,300 over animals in the pre-existence or something. 283 00:16:38,300 --> 00:16:40,560 The way that it came about and to be like, yeah, veterinarian. 284 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:45,000 And when you look at your family history and you see that you had family in your family 285 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:46,920 line, there was also the veterinarian thing. 286 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:49,000 I think it's a really cool process. 287 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:55,440 We don't get to pick and choose when, when things become kind of copacetic with, with 288 00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:58,860 the things we're doing in our life, kind of meshing with the things that we must've committed 289 00:16:58,860 --> 00:17:02,640 to back in the pre-existence or the, or the way things are going to look in the life to 290 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:03,640 come. 291 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:07,720 We don't, we, if he said, oh, you're going to learn that skill and that's going to be 292 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:11,320 40 animals and it's going to be this much work, you might be like, I don't really want 293 00:17:11,320 --> 00:17:13,440 that thing that I'd promised you that I would do. 294 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:14,440 Let's backtrack on that. 295 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:18,360 But, but he knows and we know, and it's not like he's like, you have to be these things. 296 00:17:18,360 --> 00:17:22,600 I think we decide, we decided that in the pre-existence and he gives us opportunities 297 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:27,760 in this life to decide whether we're going to be true to what we wanted for ourselves. 298 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:29,320 So much agency comes into play. 299 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:34,000 But again, this talk, like who, who would think that this, this is the tangent that 300 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:37,080 this talk would go off and we're like, what are we going to talk about? 301 00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:38,960 There's a million things we could talk about. 302 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:42,320 That's why I'm saying like, I think I would be scared if I was like, we're going to do 303 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:43,320 this from really study. 304 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:45,200 I mean, it could go left field, right field. 305 00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:49,520 It could go, it could go anywhere, but there's so, so, so many good things. 306 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:55,560 But Satan, Satan is subtle and blatant in his efforts to distract us and cause opposition 307 00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:56,560 in our lives. 308 00:17:56,560 --> 00:18:01,400 And so sometimes that looks like a unintended fights with our Facebook friends or with our 309 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:04,080 neighbors when we disagree on certain things. 310 00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:08,560 But I can promise you that if you go back to what the truths are that we know to be 311 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:15,200 true that we have with God and we sit and reflect on the people that we are divine identity, 312 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:18,580 I don't think that we can ever really say the wrong thing to our neighbors and friends. 313 00:18:18,580 --> 00:18:22,280 We might not agree on everything, but it doesn't mean we can't have integrity in the things 314 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:23,840 that we say. 315 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:25,760 And any last thoughts? 316 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:27,480 And be loving and kind in it. 317 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:31,040 I don't think it, I don't think that that's going to be challenging or hard to do when 318 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:33,680 your heart's in the place that you're not trying to offend anybody. 319 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:34,680 I agree. 320 00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:39,160 Just because, you know, you may only be X amount of years old on this earth, but this 321 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:42,880 is not, this is not your spirit's first rodeo. 322 00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:47,460 You don't, I mean, we, we treated each other pretty good there. 323 00:18:47,460 --> 00:18:48,520 We trusted our savior. 324 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:53,200 We trusted, we trusted that he would set the example that we need to follow. 325 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:57,400 And as somebody that's the perfect example of what integrity looks like in public and 326 00:18:57,400 --> 00:18:59,840 private with his father in heaven. 327 00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:02,040 Yeah, that's all that we can hope for. 328 00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:03,040 I love that. 329 00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:08,720 So moving on, we're going to be next week, we're going to talk about a different talk. 330 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:12,640 And just at the very end of this, I just wanted to say what also caught my mind and caught 331 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:17,280 my heart was what Jesus covenant did to do with the father. 332 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:18,280 And like Abby said, 333 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:19,280 Spend some time on that. 334 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:20,280 That was crazy. 335 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:21,280 It was huge. 336 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:26,000 I think we knew that he was foreordained to do this mission, but then the very first paragraph, 337 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:29,900 Elder Gerard said he said he covenant to do that. 338 00:19:29,900 --> 00:19:30,900 Doesn't that ring true? 339 00:19:30,900 --> 00:19:34,560 Because I was like, Amy, it didn't have like a sub point of where exactly that it specifies 340 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:35,800 that he covenanted with it. 341 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:36,960 And what did you say to me? 342 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:41,120 And I agreed in my heart that rings true with my heart that it was by covenant. 343 00:19:41,120 --> 00:19:45,600 And I think so much so that we witnessed that we witnessed that covenant being made so that 344 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:48,440 we would be willing to do this hard earth life. 345 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:49,440 Right? 346 00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:52,520 We heard all the things that we were going to do or you say you're going to do that. 347 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:56,020 I believe you because I've always trusted things and I'm ready to follow you. 348 00:19:56,020 --> 00:20:00,520 But then I think when we can visualize the fact that that was done by covenant, we're 349 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:02,680 like, yep, he's going to do that for us. 350 00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:03,680 Yes. 351 00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:04,880 And it's because he had integrity. 352 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:05,880 We all believed him. 353 00:20:05,880 --> 00:20:06,880 I was on board. 354 00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:08,280 I was like, let's do this. 355 00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:09,280 Yeah. 356 00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:10,280 All right. 357 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:13,120 It was so fun to spend some time with you guys today. 358 00:20:13,120 --> 00:20:17,440 We hope that you have a blessed day and that there are some things that you can take, take 359 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:20,920 away from Elder Gerard's talk, not necessarily the things we've talked about, but maybe it 360 00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:22,040 will get your mind thinking. 361 00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:27,560 Maybe you'll spend some time thinking about the way that integrity plays out in your life 362 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:31,040 for thinking about the interactions you're having with others, maybe especially somebody 363 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:36,160 that you're struggling with right now that if you don't think that they're upholding 364 00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:38,960 their end of integrity, you really can't do anything about that. 365 00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:41,720 But what can you do for yourself? 366 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:43,640 What choices can you make on your own? 367 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:49,520 And that will demonstrate that you understand that that's a Christ-like attribute that you 368 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:52,440 want to possess or possess a more full measure of. 369 00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:55,040 So thank you for being with us today and we'll catch you next time. 370 00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:58,920 See you next time.