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Welcome to Closer to Christ through Conference. We're two friends sharing our own approach

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to conference. Today we're going to talk about Jesus Christ as the center of our lives,

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and Elder Jose L. Alonso of the Seventy gave this talk. Welcome, welcome. We're happy

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you're here.

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We're so glad you're here. What a great talk.

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It was so good, wasn't it? Abby, so do you have any, like what was your takeaway quote

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or scripture that you'd want to share from this? What stood out to you?

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I'm going to quote him directly. I'm going to open by just reading some of his own words.

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Elder Alonso talks about how, and I quote, our darkest hours and highest trials have

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been addressed through the love of Jesus Christ. Through His infinite Atonement, we are offered

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a gift of hope, healing, and the assurance of His enduring presence in our lives.

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So good.

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It's such a good reminder, and it's a good reminder, especially when we're not in the

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middle of the trial. Like it's kind of like something you pack in your memory, in your

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mind, in your heart, in a good time, so that when the dark time comes, when the darkest

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hours and the darkest trials, the highest trials come, that we have that assurance.

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Yes, and that reservoir.

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He also says, when we encounter difficulties, we tend to concentrate on the obstacle. Our

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challenges are tangible and command our attention, yet the principle of surmounting them lies

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in our focus. So that word, I'm going to cut to a quote that he shares in his talk by President

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Russell M. Nelson in a talk that he wrote called Joy and Spiritual Survival. The quote

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he shares is, when the focus of our lives is on God's plan of salvation and Jesus Christ

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and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening, or not happening, in

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our lives. Joy comes from and because of Him.

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So true.

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So by placing Christ at the core of our thoughts and deeds, we align ourselves with His outlook

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and His strength. I love that every time that that talk is quoted by Elder Nelson, I'm taken

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back to a time when I taught at a women's conference and that was the talk to reference,

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and it gave me a chance to reflect upon, let's see, I was probably five years into motherhood

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at that point, which means two kids at CF.

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Wow.

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And I was done. I had finished my family because I had said two kids at CF, that was my agreement

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to the Lord.

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Right. You were quote done.

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I was done.

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Now you have five.

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I have five. Don't get rid of your baby stuff if you think you're done. That's a good way

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to have more babies. It was such a blessing. That might come up on the awesomeness of letting

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Christ's atonement make everything right and that my limitations on the Lord, He met them,

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He superseded them, He gave me way more in abundance than I could ever ask for in that

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particular part of my life. So this resonates with me because I'm like, yes, when I have

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allowed Jesus Christ to be part of that trial or that hard time, it has not fixed the problem,

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but it has made fixing the problem seem faster, easier, more manageable.

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Even doable. Right.

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Your life is free of trial and sorrow, right?

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It is.

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Yeah, right.

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Fancy free.

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I want to ask a question. What struggle do you want to acknowledge that you've experienced

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in your life that you've made Christ the center of?

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So today I want to talk about one of the aspects of cancer. So when I was first diagnosed,

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I had this amazing neighbor that was elderly, and neighbor Judy brought over this book.

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And I had never heard of it before. It is actually from Dr. Siegel. And the whole premise

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of it is that he's an oncology surgeon. And the whole premise was that he noticed that

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the patients who viewed their treatments as healing rather than poison saw much higher

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rates of recovery. And everything that he did, he really, from the music that he listened

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to and allowed in the OR to allowing a patient to have a window with an outside view, all

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of these things. As I was reading the book, I recognized that he was creating an atmosphere

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for healing. Yeah. And he also taught his patients to do the same. So I took that, you

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know, being newly diagnosed, I took that and I was like, okay, this is what I'm going to

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do. I am going to have every treatment that I do. That's any pill I take, any tincture,

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any T, any IVs and infusions and all of these things. I am going to take that and I am going

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to envision in my mind that Jesus Christ is touching it, that treatment, and he's sanctifying

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it for my good. And so that's what I did with every single treatment. And if I forgot

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during the day, like if my mind got cloudy or I was just in too much pain, then that

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night I would review the day and, you know, see in my mind's eye all of the treatments

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that I went through. And again, I would just see the hand, you know, Christ's healing hand

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touching in and healing me in the process. So…

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So did neighbor Judy come before even like one treatment, one opportunity for healing

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even presented itself?

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Before I even started, before I even decided on what my treatments were going to be. Yeah,

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she was like there the next day. She's since passed and she's my little angel. I love

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her.

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I love you, Judy. Thanks for keeping Amy here with us.

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So you know, when I'm thinking about like at night or during the day, whenever it was

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that I would in my mind's eye, I would do the finger of the Lord sanctifying these treatments.

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It brings to mind, but you know, one of the quotes that you shared is that through Christ's

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atonement, it offers hope, healing, and the assurance of his constant enduring presence

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in our lives. And he reminds us that this is truly available to anyone who reaches for

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him. So I love that. That was the way that I brought the atonement into my everyday life.

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Super valuable, especially battling cancer. And I mean, how many years are we post that?

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This weekend was five years since I started treatment.

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Oh, I don't love anniversaries like that.

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And four years since I was done.

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Well, that's good. That's a good one.

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That's a good anniversary.

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And I'm still here. That's even better.

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It is better. Sometimes, sometimes cancer treatments don't go that way.

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I know.

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But I've seen people testify as they're battling cancer. I've seen them still make Christ the

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center of the treatment. And he's also sanctified those treatments.

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The outcome isn't like longer immortality. But I've seen the blessing of what their trials

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and tribulations with still having joy as their Jesus Christ and having joy in their

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situation.

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Absolutely, regardless of the outcome.

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Regardless of the outcome, testifying of their Savior, like what a powerful witness to your

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last breath.

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Yeah. And testifying that He carried you through regardless. His mission wasn't to save us

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from every sad thing that happens. It was to walk with us through it.

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Isn't that nice? Because they used the quote about yoking ourselves. I've thought about

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that. We've had like different conversations about that. But His invitation to us is to

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come unto Him, take on His yoke. And my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And I always

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think like when I think of the things that Jesus Christ covenanted to do and executed,

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that isn't actually easy. That's probably the last word that I would use to do it.

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And when I think that we're allowed to... Yokes are such fascinating things. It does

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make the load equal to bear. And I know that He's already able and willing to carry so

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much more than I am. So, it's not... In my mind, it's not an equal yoking, but He doesn't

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care that it's not equal.

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No.

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He promised that the yoke would make it equal.

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Right.

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The yoke being His atonement.

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Yeah. And you know what I love at the end of this paragraph right here is where it says,

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ye shall find rest. Honestly, anyone who's in the middle of a really hard challenge and

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struggle and trial, you're thinking to yourself, how is this ever classified as rest? You know?

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And it's a different focus. It's probably an eternal perspective, but it's a different

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kind of rest. What would you say about that, Abby?

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I wanted to say there were so many pieces of His... When I read it back through, He's

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got such a beautiful accent, and it was beautiful to hear Him testify, but I'm kind of a visual

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person. And so, seeing things in print make a little bit difference for me.

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With the clarity too.

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Yeah. And it helps me to stop and pause, and I can write things in the margins. And so,

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when I was passing through this on my read through, there were so many little pieces

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that I'm like, that nods back to something else we've already delved into. So obviously,

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I thought back to Elder Bednar, be still and know that I'm God.

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Right.

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We already deeply went into what it can feel like to be still, not a physical movement,

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but just a general feeling of really allowing the Savior to be the one that kind of holds

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you in the chaos, holds you while the chaos is surrounding you to feel like you're in

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the most gentle of motions.

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Yes. So then the rest...

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We're resting.

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... would kind of be like a spiritual rest, not necessarily physical.

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Right. And I think that's what He wants to promise us, that it's like, no, I can't take...

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You've committed to coming down here, it's going to come with its trials and challenges,

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it's the way that I can grow you the best, but the growth that I'm trying to demonstrate

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to you is what it feels like to allow me to be that buffer.

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I love that.

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It's true.

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I don't know, I already said I'm a visual person, but I thought a lot about Christ as

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the center of our lives.

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That's a choice.

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We make Him the center of our lives, or I was thinking, I haven't really landed on my

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answer to this, but what does it look like if He's just to the left of center or to the

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right of center?

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It can look a lot of different ways.

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Right.

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None are more good.

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It's just like...

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It makes me think, I couldn't really put my finger on what does it look like when He isn't

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at the center.

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I haven't fully stopped and processed what that looks like, but I do know when perfect

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days happen and when He's the center of my day...

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Or your intention.

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Yeah, because we're talking lives, that's a lot such a spectrum.

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So yes, when my intention for the day is focused on Jesus Christ, that I prioritize the day

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and the things that I'm going to get done based on what's going to bring me the most

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growth, those days end.

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And I'm like, that felt like a great day.

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That day really, I felt like that day was as successful as it possibly could be versus

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days that I let other things take the priority and let's say those aren't my Christ-centered

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days.

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Well, it's interesting that you say that too, because if we just take it one day at a time

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and we have the intention to let Him be the center of it, maybe it didn't go perfectly.

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Maybe there are a lot of things that they helped us to grow, but they weren't necessarily

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like the most exciting things that we did.

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But in that way, again, I feel like He reaches out and He sanctifies everything to our good.

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At the end of the day, when we're reflecting on it and we process like, I didn't love how

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that conversation with my kid went, and we kind of replay that back and we say how you

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would do it if it was different.

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Do over.

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And then you really get a chance to put that into practice.

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That's where we see the accumulation of positive Christ-centered days cumulates to Christ-centered

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weeks and months and years.

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And what do we talk about all the time?

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Line upon line or small drops or doing small things repeatedly and often can change the

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course of a life.

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I love that.

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He talked about, He went into so many cool scripture stories.

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This man, I don't know why he's so good at all the scripture stories.

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I know, he was very good.

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But remember, remember, it is upon the rock of our Redeemer who is Christ, the Son of

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God, that ye must build your foundation.

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So again, nod to Elder Bednars.

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He didn't know what he was going to talk about, but then he says it in his own way.

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And this time, it wasn't like, oh, he's the rock.

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I am the foundation.

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I choose what I'm going to put it on.

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Again, just like awesome memories of all the things that I've thought on since Elder Bednars

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story and as we've studied it and brought it back to our remembrance.

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This is kind of off the path, but Matthew 14, he talks about John, his dear friend,

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John has passed and he kind of just wanted to be alone.

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But of course, nobody's going to leave him in his own grieving.

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And they're hungry and food's pretty far off.

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And they need to be spoken to.

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He's going to feed the crowd with very few things.

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Loaves and fishes, five loaves and two fishes.

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I have a loaves and fishes story.

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Love it.

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Tell me.

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You know that youth activity?

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Yes, the lasagna.

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You've got the lasagna.

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Did I tell you that?

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No.

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Oh my goodness.

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The youth committee decides we're going to have, they say like 25 kids.

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I'm like, there's 13 of you in this room, basically, and there's going to be 25 kids

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that show up to this activity.

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So I'm like, that's under shot.

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So let's say 50 kids, then it's all the laurels and priests, it's a stake activity.

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So then I'm planning on feeding the adults that come put their time in.

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It's a dinner.

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And so I think like probably 70.

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And then I probably did some church math and thought, no, I don't want anybody to go hungry.

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Maybe I'm maybe would have enough for 90 like backup planet.

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But but really, I think the number was like 70.

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So like I calculated how many pans these lasagnas would feed.

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I found I made made them all up.

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I asked friends to cook them.

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The night comes and I started with an appetizer had some like bruschetta and some like Alfredo

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something and then we had some like Italian sodas that was going to occupy time.

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I think we set up like eight chairs of eight.

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That's 64.

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Okay, that was that was planning on 50.

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But then having 14 extra seats, so nobody felt like oh, there wasn't room for them.

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Right.

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Oh, my goodness, the crowds just start coming in.

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If you offer food to youth, that is a missionary tool.

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Apparently, I think the final count was like 150.

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Oh, my gosh, you know how we have two stakes.

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That's more than double.

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I know this is Tuesday night and like was definitely our like our stakes thing.

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But like, hey, friend from X steak, which this other steak, not X steak, but the the

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steak next door, yes, they're inviting people in like they pull out more chairs and they're

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doing this thing.

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I'm like, well, lasagna.

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That's like something you plan in advance, right?

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It's cooked in advance like it was portioned for just so many.

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And all of the the men were kind of out like kind of work like helping the crowd, setting

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up more tables.

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And that so the priest leaders or whatever, whatever they're called, the bishops in charge,

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but whatever their men are called.

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And the women's side, like the young women's president, I pretty much had every representative

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of the young women's presidency there in the kitchen.

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And they're looking at me and they're like, what should we do?

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And the steak and women's president, she was gone.

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So she delegated to a counselor.

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So I was like, you're the boss.

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Like you tell me what you want from me.

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It's like, so I wasn't like taking her reins because my job was just to cook the food based

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on this number the youth council gave me.

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So anyway, we go in the kitchen.

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I'm like, we're stalling with appetizers.

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We're stalling with drinks.

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And we're going to figure out this thing.

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And I said, I have I have no way to I can't I can't manufacture food out of thin air.

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Like what we have is what we have.

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This is what we have.

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And literally I said, let's say a prayer.

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So we blessed the food.

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Abby, I kid you not.

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We had extra at the end of the day.

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It was my lasagna back.

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No, we did.

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We did have one mom.

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We hadn't we had to make some gluten free options.

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And so I was I was like, I'm going to be sending like six pieces of gluten free stuff out and

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like nine pieces of the lasagna back to the home of the gluten free family because like

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all of them need that.

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But we were using like everything.

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And then I was able to follow up the kids and like, were you starving?

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Like, no, it was so good.

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We ate whatever.

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But I mean, we had those olive garden salads.

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We mixed that up or whatever.

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And I was just like, use your best judgment.

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This is how many plates we're going to be shooting for.

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And then I did kind of whip up some side things.

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I had some extra spaghetti noodles, had some extra Alfredo sauce from the appetizer thing.

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And we're kind of worse.

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You did, Abby.

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But it was terrifying.

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And like, I was emotional, like in tears.

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And then to think because the laurels leader, the young women's leaders, they were like,

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that was incredible.

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And I was like, that wasn't me.

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And that wasn't you.

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That was feeding the 5,000 in 2024 for me.

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And so I loved that.

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I loved when he was hitting like one awesome scripture story to the next.

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And I'm like, yeah, I could testify of that.

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Like that was a bit of a trial for me.

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Yeah.

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In the moment.

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But then on the flip side, like what a testimony growth that he feeds the 5,000, the 150.

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The 150.

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The hungry youth instead of 70.

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In our day, like it is at the end of the day, if the kids are hungry, it's like that big

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of a deal.

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But in my heart, like, I don't like people to go hungry.

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I know you.

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Food's so important to me.

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And you are very, very meticulous and calculated.

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So that is awesome.

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That is a hard one lesson.

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No one's taken that from you.

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And I'm pretty sure the adults went home hungry that night.

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But maybe in the feeding the 5,000, there were some men that offered their food to their

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women and children.

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And in that way, like, you know, maybe their bellies were full, even if their mouths hadn't

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been fed.

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I don't know.

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That's just kind of a side thought.

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Because the law of the Atonement, it does work to fill in whatever gaps are necessary.

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Absolutely does.

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There was food left over, so I hope that they did take something.

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Any, do you feel like we covered what we were hoping to cover in this?

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I do.

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I'm hoping that as you reflect on this, whether you listen back or you read this one back,

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that you stop and you think how Christ made all of these stories just that much sweeter

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and how the Atonement make, you know, Alma healing like this.

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He's wracked with torment from his sins.

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Or the woman at the well, she comes to him and he offers her like the living water.

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There's just one story after the next.

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Maybe one will resonate more with you than the feeding the 5,000.

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But I'm hoping that as you're reflecting back on some of the stories that he brings up,

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or as you think back to, as he referenced Elder President Nelson's talk on joy and spiritual

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survival, that you know that each of those stories is intended to help you think, how

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did Jesus Christ make this story just that much better?

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Absolutely.

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I do love that with all the different aspects and parts that he shows.

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You are very easily able to see yourself in that story, and I think that's why he shares

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so many of them.

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In closing, I loved his quote that said adopting this Christ-centric perspective empowers us

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with the fortitude and insight to turn our trials into victories.

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And then I love this part because he says it reminds us that with the Savior, what seems

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like a major problem can become a pathway to greater spiritual progress.

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And I do know that with my cancer story and other stories like that, it truly became the

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pathway to greater spiritual progress.

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And some things that have happened in my life, we have referred to it as before this happened

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and after, because it's just a different person and you're not the person you were before

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because you invited Christ into your story.

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I love that.

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I know we're kind of at the time that we want to be at, but you had an accident where you

346
00:19:19,120 --> 00:19:22,520
were burned pretty severely with the chili situation.

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Now a couple years ago, my daughter, she was like doing a chore for our family.

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We have nebulizers that we sterilize for the cystic fibrosis treatment and she pulls it

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off of the stove top, it's boiling water.

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And the next thing I hear is just like the most blood-curdling scream.

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And so the handle came off and just like the hot water just came, just pouring down her

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feet, the tops of her feet were like literally just burned off.

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And that was challenging.

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That was the worst.

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I have picture memories of the progress of what it looked like in the moment or whatever,

356
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but I didn't really know what to do with it.

357
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I wanted to get out of immediate pain and didn't know, we're in a little valley and

358
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I'm not exactly sure what wound care would look like here and what we could do.

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And I knew that she's so anxious, like rushing to the emergency room, like, was that the

360
00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:14,640
right thing?

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So we took her to prayer, my husband gave her a blessing and we asked that, we appreciated

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her body alerting her to pain, but we were like, wanted her body to know she's out of

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immediate danger.

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If you can calm the pain down for her because we are aware that the pain's great, right?

365
00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:35,280
It tells you something's wrong, we got you out of the immediate danger.

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They needed to cool the wound down, just pouring, pouring, pouring cold water on it and bringing

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the heat out of it.

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But I don't know, she had something that was Saturday night and she ends up going to church

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the next day, but she couldn't wear shoes.

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At 9am and gave a talk.

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Is that what she had something?

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I know she did.

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I happened to be in primary.

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00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:53,640
Yeah, you did.

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That's how I saw it.

376
00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:56,640
It was such a blessing because I'm like, I don't know what the next step is, but I was

377
00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:57,640
kind of like, what's the next thing?

378
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I said, are you feeling like you can do church or whatever?

379
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And she's like, yeah, I've got this talk and I'll go.

380
00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:07,800
So we go and in that primary presidency was Amy, who's had severe burns and knows we don't

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00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:08,800
care for that.

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00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:13,960
And then Kathy was there and she was like, hey, you've got this certain salve.

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Do you have that?

384
00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:17,520
I'm like, I don't have it in abundance, but it's something that I'm pretty passionate

385
00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:18,520
about.

386
00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:19,520
It's something that I would want.

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But I was kind of as the mom, maybe not the most like, I was just kind of frantic in the

388
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situation.

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I didn't know what the next thing was, but Heavenly Father's like, well, Kathy and Amy

390
00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:27,600
know the answer.

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00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:29,680
So if she gets to church, then the right people will be.

392
00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:32,760
So then you reached out to me and then you were able to use your traumatic experience

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00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:37,600
from wound care stuff and get me the right materials and then show me the process of

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00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:43,760
what it looks like to involve Heaven with the process of what's the next best treatment

395
00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:44,760
for her?

396
00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:45,760
Are we deriding the skin?

397
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Are we wrapping this?

398
00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:49,040
Are we putting the sootment on?

399
00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:50,040
That was special.

400
00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:54,380
And I'm able to go to those pictures now without like trauma and looking at them and show this

401
00:21:54,380 --> 00:22:00,960
particular daughter and say, you know, look at how you healed and look how we involved

402
00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:02,720
the Savior in this really hard thing.

403
00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:05,200
And so it's not like a terrible bad memory.

404
00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:08,320
It's more, it's not a fond memory, but it's a learning experience.

405
00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:09,440
It was.

406
00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:13,360
So thank you for your trauma that you were able to share with me to help us with our

407
00:22:13,360 --> 00:22:14,360
trauma.

408
00:22:14,360 --> 00:22:17,280
And I can see that, you know, all things can be made.

409
00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:18,280
Sanctified.

410
00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:19,280
Sanctified.

411
00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:21,240
That's perfect.

412
00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:25,160
So I don't know, let's wrap it up.

413
00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:27,200
Yeah, we'll just put the questions in.

414
00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:28,200
Yep.

415
00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:29,200
We'll type them up.

416
00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:30,200
We'll type up the questions.

417
00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:31,200
I do.

418
00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:32,200
I hope that that helps you guys.

419
00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:35,820
I hope that you have a chance to look at those, but just so that it's also in verbal in case

420
00:22:35,820 --> 00:22:37,960
you don't see them in the show notes.

421
00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:41,580
How does it look for you to invite Christ's atonement into your daily life?

422
00:22:41,580 --> 00:22:43,440
How's that making a difference for you?

423
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:47,000
And maybe how can you acknowledge your struggle and look to Christ in the midst of them?

424
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:51,360
And that's kind of the question that I asked Amy to open into her cancer story.

425
00:22:51,360 --> 00:22:52,680
We know you all have your own stories.

426
00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:58,960
We know you all have your own learning experiences and things that have been difficult hours,

427
00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:01,360
difficult trials, difficult things that have been put in your life.

428
00:23:01,360 --> 00:23:05,760
But we do know that through Jesus Christ and His infinite atonement that you too can experience

429
00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:08,920
the hope, healing, and assurance of what He's done for us.

430
00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:09,920
Love that, Abby.

431
00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:12,840
Thanks for being with us as we strive to be closer to Christ.

432
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Catch you next time.

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Have a good one.