1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:14,860 Welcome to Closer to Christ through General Conference, where two friends who love Jesus 2 00:00:14,860 --> 00:00:19,080 Christ share our own approach to studying the most recent General Conference talks. 3 00:00:19,080 --> 00:00:20,760 This is Abbey and Amy. 4 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:25,280 Let's jump into it. 5 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:30,800 Today we're talking about The Triumph of Hope by Elder Neil A. Anderson of the Quorum of 6 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:31,800 the Twelve. 7 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:34,920 This talk started out conference and it was just fantastic. 8 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:39,680 He talked about hope as a living gift, a gift that grows as we increase our faith in Jesus 9 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:40,920 Christ. 10 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:44,640 Elder Anderson promised through his servants, we will feel the guiding, directing, and comforting 11 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:48,760 influence of the Holy Ghost, and our faith will be strengthened as we listen to this 12 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:50,160 conference. 13 00:00:50,160 --> 00:00:54,720 It really summed up perfectly how we felt for this conference. 14 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:59,040 Do you want to share maybe your highlight or overarching theme, how you felt over conference 15 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:00,040 weekend? 16 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:01,040 Yes. 17 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:02,160 Loved it. 18 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:05,920 Something that really stuck out to me now, this was the very last talk. 19 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:07,680 It was from President Nelson. 20 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:15,280 I love how he said, use these talks from this conference as a litmus test to judge what 21 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:17,640 is true and what is not. 22 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:18,640 I love that. 23 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:23,040 It just showed me that you know what, spending time in conference talks for that six months 24 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:26,720 really is a great place to spend your time. 25 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:31,200 It helps us to remember what truth is, like he said, and it helps us just to keep things 26 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:32,400 top of mind. 27 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:37,600 Things meaning covenants and promises and faith and hope in Jesus Christ. 28 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:38,600 I love that. 29 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:41,900 And you know, we're on the other side of conference weekend and so we're getting ready to deep 30 00:01:41,900 --> 00:01:46,560 dive and to look at these like with a magnifying glass under a different lens. 31 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:51,280 And he promised, Elder Anderson promised, we will feel the guiding, directing, and comforting 32 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:53,160 influence of the Holy Ghost, and we certainly did. 33 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:54,980 We can look back and say we did. 34 00:01:54,980 --> 00:01:59,800 And then like you're saying, jump clear to the end of the last Sunday session, and that 35 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:02,120 was the prophet's recommendation to us. 36 00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:04,960 And so we're going to take that challenge to its fullest. 37 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:06,440 We are going to look at all of these. 38 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:11,360 We are going to use them as a litmus test of truth and see what we can gain from it. 39 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:16,080 My overarching, I'm just going to still write from the next paragraph of Elder Anderson's 40 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:17,080 talk. 41 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:22,500 And President Russell M. Nelson began conference three years ago with these words, pure revelation 42 00:02:22,500 --> 00:02:26,560 for the questions in your heart will make this conference rewarding and unforgettable. 43 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:29,900 If you have not yet sought for the ministering of the Holy Ghost to help you hear what the 44 00:02:29,900 --> 00:02:34,000 Lord would have you during these two days, I invite you to do so now. 45 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:38,140 Please make this conference a time of feasting on messages from the Lord through his servants. 46 00:02:38,140 --> 00:02:42,840 So the two things that I love about that is that basically in that quote, he's saying 47 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:47,200 if you missed it, if you miss some piece or part of conference or you didn't have ears 48 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:49,600 to hear it, that that wasn't your last chance. 49 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:55,040 You've got plenty of time over the next course of history to go back and get what you can 50 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:56,240 from it. 51 00:02:56,240 --> 00:03:01,960 And then another thing is that I said, I certainly feasted, but eating has to come to an end. 52 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:06,100 At some point you feel uncomfortable, like you have more than you can handle if you've 53 00:03:06,100 --> 00:03:08,560 ever put that to the test on Thanksgiving or something. 54 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:13,800 But I certainly felt well fed over the weekend, but because of my experience from the six 55 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:20,560 months previous doing this podcast with you and enjoying each conference talk deeper on 56 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:27,160 a weekly basis, giving myself time to really comb through the words and seeing what messages 57 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:32,160 are there for me, I know that that feast didn't, it was not a one-time event. 58 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:38,480 That's going to happen for me weekly and certainly we'll be able to tackle these and be able 59 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:40,920 to get what we can from them over the next six months. 60 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:41,920 I love that. 61 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:46,620 Abby, this was the first time I didn't get to mid-conference and have that like really 62 00:03:46,620 --> 00:03:49,640 sad feeling that, oh my gosh, conference is over. 63 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:50,640 Every other time I felt that. 64 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:52,360 We have totally had that conversation in our walks. 65 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:54,600 And it's like, you look so forward, it's like Christmas Eve. 66 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:55,600 Exactly. 67 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:56,600 That's the fun part of the holiday. 68 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:58,000 And this time I never had that. 69 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,360 I was just like riding the wave. 70 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:05,200 I was on a high, like it was, and I think just like you said, it's because we've spent 71 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:10,880 the six months going back in, taking the time and remembering that it's not just that weekend. 72 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:15,000 It spans the whole six months and we can take time to look at each of the talks. 73 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:17,920 And having the metrics that we have from the podcast, the stuff that we gather, we know 74 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:20,380 that you're here with us and you're doing that same thing. 75 00:04:20,380 --> 00:04:24,680 You're showing that same commitment that you don't want conference to be a two-day event. 76 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:25,680 That was great. 77 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:28,720 We'll see in six months, like you're here with us because you have that same desire 78 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:30,280 to get all that you can out of it. 79 00:04:30,280 --> 00:04:37,240 And so let us just express our gratitude that you join us for this because kind of a selfish, 80 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:38,520 I love doing the podcast for me. 81 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:41,320 I feel like I can dedicate more time. 82 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:42,360 We've kind of had this conversation. 83 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:46,720 We had a walk this week and we were like, we've seen so many blessings come from it 84 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:51,960 that we've definitely been taught through the spirit that the time that we spend podcasting 85 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:57,080 is like, I don't know what worth its weight in gold to us because we're personally growing 86 00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:02,880 enough to justify any time that we put into it, but then to see that you guys have come 87 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:05,920 with us on this journey, make it even better. 88 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:07,720 Thank you for being here. 89 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:14,760 So today we are going to talk about the relationship with three common words in scripture. 90 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:18,120 Elder Anderson talks about faith, hope and charity. 91 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:22,600 Sacred and eternal hope is centered in Jesus Christ and the restored gospel and our confident 92 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:26,760 expectations of these promised blessings of righteousness. 93 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:30,920 So what about the first blessings that he discussed is our confident hope in eternal 94 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:31,920 life? 95 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:32,920 What do you have to say about that? 96 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:38,440 I love that he is going to help us understand this connection between faith, hope and charity. 97 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:42,480 If we know about eternal life, it's going to make every decision that we make in life 98 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:48,120 different, which now that I'm talking makes me think that's why the prophet asked us to 99 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:49,120 think celestial. 100 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:50,120 Right. 101 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:51,120 That's the case. 102 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:52,120 Celestial means thinking about eternal life. 103 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:56,000 And we've already discussed and I'm sure you've all had this thought in your heart. 104 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:59,320 How are you going to react in a certain situation if you're thinking celestial? 105 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:03,680 Often looks very different from what our natural man instinct is going to draw us to do. 106 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:07,880 So I want to dive into that, but I do want to say something that really, really helped 107 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:09,040 me with this talk. 108 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:10,960 I'm going to link in the show notes. 109 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:14,680 Neal A. Maxwell did a talk, 1994, brightness of hope. 110 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:16,420 My husband shared this with me. 111 00:06:16,420 --> 00:06:22,100 So I listened through that and it helped me get the visual of what he was saying. 112 00:06:22,100 --> 00:06:24,440 From him it says, if faith increases. 113 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:27,400 So that's the first step with do we increase our faith in something, something we have 114 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:32,000 no idea if there is or if there's going to be. 115 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:36,220 Hope will stretch correspondingly. 116 00:06:36,220 --> 00:06:39,560 So you can start with faith as small as a mustard seed, but you could also have faith 117 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:43,120 as grand as a mountain. 118 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:49,880 Just as this is right from him, just as doubt, despair and desensitization go together, so 119 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:52,520 do faith, hope and charity. 120 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:55,680 The latter, however, must carefully and constantly be nurtured. 121 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:59,880 Whereas despair, like dandelions, needs little encouragement to sprout and spread. 122 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:02,080 Despair comes so naturally to the natural man. 123 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:03,440 So that's what this life is. 124 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:07,600 It's a test to see what do we let grow, weeds and dandelions in the form of doubt, despair 125 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:14,000 and desensitization, or do we let hope, faith and charity rule our lives? 126 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:15,000 And so that is the question. 127 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:16,000 That's like a beautiful garden. 128 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:17,000 Yes. 129 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:20,080 So back to the question you asked me to make a connection between how these things relate 130 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:21,740 to our eternal life. 131 00:07:21,740 --> 00:07:27,020 Do we know that our Savior came to the earth, that He had His ministry, that He taught by 132 00:07:27,020 --> 00:07:33,960 example and that He was crucified, that He atoned for our sins and then He was crucified 133 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:38,400 and that He laid His body down and then He picked it back up three days later? 134 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:39,960 That is the question of life. 135 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:40,960 I do believe that. 136 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:41,960 I do. 137 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:48,640 So because I believe that, I believe the promises that were made to us that we accept Jesus 138 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:52,960 Christ and we get to live eternally with Him and our heavenly parents. 139 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:58,920 And so I guess I'm kind of circling back on it. 140 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:05,380 What a joy and blessing it is to have this earth life opportunity to prove in my actions 141 00:08:05,380 --> 00:08:08,920 that I believe that story to be true. 142 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:16,680 It's hearing this told through scripture and through now living prophets, testifying that 143 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:22,320 Jesus Christ came and that He atoned for our sins and made it possible to have eternal 144 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:27,720 life with Him and our heavenly parents again, if we believe that it can and should dictate 145 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:29,400 all the decisions that we make. 146 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:30,400 Absolutely. 147 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:33,480 And then when we get it wrong, that we know that was also part of the story. 148 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:35,880 There was a way His charity gets inspected. 149 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:39,680 You know what, Abby, I love that you say, you know, do we believe that that's true? 150 00:08:39,680 --> 00:08:44,020 Because it is the central part of the plan, like the whole reason that we're here on earth, 151 00:08:44,020 --> 00:08:46,200 there are so many things. 152 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:47,480 First of all, everything hinges on it. 153 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:55,040 And because of that, there are so many glimpses where the Spirit touches us and there are 154 00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:59,200 experiences where we've learned and grown line upon line where we know this is true 155 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:05,000 because it's been instilled into our hearts after we've done all these different things. 156 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:10,360 And everything that I do points that Jesus is the Christ and that He did do what He said 157 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:11,360 He did. 158 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:13,080 Do you know what I mean? 159 00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:14,080 Yes. 160 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:15,440 And then we just have to hold on to that. 161 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:16,440 Absolutely. 162 00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:18,480 Like right now in this snapshot of time, I'm like, I would never deny that. 163 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:19,680 I would never want to give that up. 164 00:09:19,680 --> 00:09:22,920 But that's part of that enduring testimony of Jesus Christ. 165 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:23,920 That's a great point. 166 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:30,280 What challenges, what parts of this life are going to come my way that caused me to challenge 167 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:34,880 that and re-ask that question and either get a more firm testimony in Jesus Christ or turn 168 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:35,880 away from it? 169 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:36,880 Love that. 170 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:41,560 Which he'll go into that. 171 00:09:41,560 --> 00:09:42,960 So this life is a test. 172 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:43,960 We know the plan. 173 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:46,360 We know that Jesus Christ is central to that plan. 174 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:48,300 How can we prove victorious in this test? 175 00:09:48,300 --> 00:09:59,480 That's a question that I thought came off of right from his words. 176 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:01,240 I love this quote from the Savior. 177 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:06,000 He said, in the world, the Savior said, ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, 178 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:07,000 keep a brightness of hope. 179 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:09,540 I have overcome the world. 180 00:10:09,540 --> 00:10:10,880 So again, we're trickling back. 181 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:12,120 Do we believe that to be true? 182 00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:15,040 Do we believe that Jesus Christ overcame the world? 183 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:16,040 Yes. 184 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:19,580 We're reminded in this talk that Heavenly Father and His beloved Son have eagerly blessed 185 00:10:19,580 --> 00:10:22,040 the righteous with the precious gift of hope. 186 00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:24,080 And then I put hope as a gift exclamation. 187 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:25,880 That living gift, I love it. 188 00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:27,780 It's such a good way to say it. 189 00:10:27,780 --> 00:10:31,600 It was first given to Adam and Eve, but that same gift is offered to us. 190 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:32,960 We've come to learn to trust the plan. 191 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:36,120 The reality of eternal life is illuminated. 192 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:40,240 So it's a great reminder that the deliverer of the gift of faith, hope, and charity is 193 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:44,240 the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, and our constant companion. 194 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:45,240 So that was beautiful. 195 00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:47,640 Amy, I'm going to ask you a question. 196 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:52,040 In a time of difficulty, have you ever felt the Lord's peace if you faithfully said, not 197 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:54,560 my, but thy, be done? 198 00:10:54,560 --> 00:10:56,360 Not my will, but thy be done? 199 00:10:56,360 --> 00:10:57,360 I have. 200 00:10:57,360 --> 00:10:59,480 I'm trying to think of one that's specific. 201 00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:03,280 I feel like it's happened a lot of times. 202 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:11,440 But one of them would be when we started doing this farm that we have now where we have 56 203 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:13,080 animals now. 204 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:16,080 And it kind of wasn't something I ever aspired to. 205 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:19,120 It's nothing I ever looked forward to. 206 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:21,400 But I have seen my family grow. 207 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:24,520 I have seen my own capacity grow. 208 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:30,160 Like when I look back at two years ago and we first bought our three dogs and three goats, 209 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:35,040 if you saw me on that day, I was like laying on the ground, completely overwhelmed. 210 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:36,480 Like what have we done? 211 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:40,580 And now fast forward two years and we have these, you know, 56 animals. 212 00:11:40,580 --> 00:11:45,880 And I just feel like that is a very small way to show because it's like, oh, come on, 213 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:47,240 you have a bunch of animals who cares. 214 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:48,880 I understand that. 215 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:54,100 But it is a physical manifestation of what the Lord has done with me spiritually. 216 00:11:54,100 --> 00:11:56,200 He has broadened my capacity. 217 00:11:56,200 --> 00:11:57,520 I have capacity for more. 218 00:11:57,520 --> 00:11:59,360 I have capacity for more love. 219 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:02,400 I have capacity for more because there's more love. 220 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:05,000 I also grieve when there's loss. 221 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:07,080 And it's just been a blessing in my family. 222 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:13,720 I also feel like we have my family has softened because we have animals. 223 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:17,200 That sounds kind of funny, but we used to not cry in front of each other when sad things 224 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:18,200 happened. 225 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:24,000 And now we pull our eyes out and we just, it's a healthy thing to cry when sad things 226 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:25,880 happen, you know, we just didn't do it before. 227 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:29,960 So I'm just noticing little things here and there and when those things happen, I definitely 228 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:35,000 say a quick prayer and I say, thank you, heavenly father for knowing what was best for me. 229 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:41,120 Yeah, because the initial prayer is for some direction or some growth or you don't really 230 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:43,200 know what you're asking for sometimes. 231 00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:44,200 Right. 232 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:46,320 Like you just, you know, like motions of a hidden fire. 233 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:49,920 Like there's something that you want, you want to grow in some way, but you're not exactly 234 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:51,280 sure how that's going to be achieved. 235 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:55,160 And for you and your family, a lot of that has been with this stewardship that you're 236 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:56,360 having over the animals. 237 00:12:56,360 --> 00:13:00,160 And you know, you started with a handful of them and that seemed overwhelming, but then 238 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:01,320 that became easy. 239 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:04,160 And then what happened? 240 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:09,540 Your capacity grew and then you were, you've been able to take on more animals and that's 241 00:13:09,540 --> 00:13:10,840 not sense overwhelming. 242 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:13,700 That's a visual representation of what he's trying to say. 243 00:13:13,700 --> 00:13:19,160 Faith can start in a small, simple way when you exhibit that you believe that it's more 244 00:13:19,160 --> 00:13:20,160 than just faith. 245 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:23,720 At that point, you have an actual belief in him. 246 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:26,640 You carry on in actions that demonstrate that you have hope. 247 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:31,800 And then it expands past the limits of what that original faith was. 248 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:33,920 And then we demonstrate we're ready for more. 249 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:34,920 I love that. 250 00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:38,520 And you know, it's so hard to articulate what we're saying, but it's like a cool little 251 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:43,560 picture and it's like, you know, like here's this dot on the paper and here's where faith 252 00:13:43,560 --> 00:13:44,560 is and here's where hope is. 253 00:13:44,560 --> 00:13:45,560 And it grows for me. 254 00:13:45,560 --> 00:13:46,560 It's like a water color. 255 00:13:46,560 --> 00:13:49,880 You know how watercolor you drop it and then like pebble in water. 256 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:50,880 Yes. 257 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:51,880 All of those things. 258 00:13:51,880 --> 00:13:56,760 And also for me, Abby, as you were talking like this, this came clearly to my mind. 259 00:13:56,760 --> 00:14:02,240 I've said this before that like I pray to heavenly father and let him know what my wishes, 260 00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:06,560 my dreams, my desires are, my goals for my family and for myself. 261 00:14:06,560 --> 00:14:13,040 And so whenever there's something that just let's say this farm or whatever we're doing, 262 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:15,720 there's a feeling that's just a nudge forward. 263 00:14:15,720 --> 00:14:21,240 I pray for confirmation, but in my mind, I know that he sees the big picture. 264 00:14:21,240 --> 00:14:26,560 He knows what I want and he also will help me in every single decision I make to make 265 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:27,560 that happen. 266 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:28,560 Right. 267 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:33,180 So I believe because you've chosen to include him in the process. 268 00:14:33,180 --> 00:14:35,160 So I know that when he, he's like, you know what? 269 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:36,160 Sure. 270 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:37,160 I can bless you with capacity. 271 00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:38,280 You want, you want animals? 272 00:14:38,280 --> 00:14:39,460 Let's do it with animals. 273 00:14:39,460 --> 00:14:42,580 If I'd chosen something else, he would have blessed me in that way, but animals seems 274 00:14:42,580 --> 00:14:44,280 to be something that's a thing for my family. 275 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:45,540 Do you know what I mean? 276 00:14:45,540 --> 00:14:51,600 So yes, I just, because I know that his will is for me to be my best and my happiest and 277 00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:53,040 same with my whole family. 278 00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:57,000 Then I move forward in the tiny steps when I feel it. 279 00:14:57,000 --> 00:14:58,520 I love it. 280 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:04,400 This, this, this talk has become very deep and personal to me for many reasons. 281 00:15:04,400 --> 00:15:09,080 But as I went to bed, considering the talk, because these, these, the physical words 282 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:13,680 posted like last night, we knew that we were podcasting today. 283 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:17,320 I went to bed thinking about the talk and like the emotion that I felt from it. 284 00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:21,320 Not necessarily when I look back at the words, I'm like the notes that I have in my phone. 285 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:23,160 Well, that's an interesting thing. 286 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:26,680 The notes that I have in my phone, they're not like verbatim word for word from what 287 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:27,680 he said. 288 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:31,560 So what's in my phone is the spirit testifying to me what I got out of the talk. 289 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:37,040 And my thoughts as I came kind of to consciousness this morning, that's kind of my revelation 290 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:38,040 time or whatever. 291 00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:42,040 If I go to sleep with the thought or pondering on something, I wake up and like what comes 292 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:46,920 to me is like, I don't know, confirmation or the answer to the thing that I kind of 293 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:48,160 went to bed on. 294 00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:51,480 I was in tears this morning and my husband was already awake and he was like, are you 295 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:52,480 okay? 296 00:15:52,480 --> 00:15:53,480 And I'm like, yeah. 297 00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:54,480 And he's like, what are you crying for? 298 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:57,040 And he's like, are you sad? 299 00:15:57,040 --> 00:15:58,760 Or I'm like, no, they're happy tears. 300 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:03,040 And I was just thinking of multiple experiences that he's given me. 301 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:12,640 He kind of woke up this morning with some bits and pieces of my life kind of on the 302 00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:13,640 slideshow. 303 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:20,080 Like cut, it was kind of like cut in a way for me to see like, this is where your faith 304 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:21,080 was. 305 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:23,440 This is where you grew. 306 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:25,420 This is where your hope grew. 307 00:16:25,420 --> 00:16:28,040 This is where your faith is now. 308 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:30,480 You know, multiple little snapshots. 309 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:35,040 And like, I don't know that there's any value in me sharing exactly what that looks like, 310 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:39,800 but I just so you're not curious. 311 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:45,880 Unfortunately, for my children, like their journey with cystic fibrosis or me becoming, 312 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:55,360 Adam and I becoming parents, knowing that we have this genetic marker for cystic fibrosis 313 00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:58,400 has grown me more than anything I can think of. 314 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:03,520 Or it's the thing that I'm like, that's where he's tested my faith and giving me hope and 315 00:17:03,520 --> 00:17:06,360 show me his absolute love, which is charity to me. 316 00:17:06,360 --> 00:17:08,160 That's accurate, right? 317 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:09,160 Charity. 318 00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:10,160 Yes. 319 00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:14,200 So it's been some of the darkest times. 320 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:16,920 You know, you get a bad test result, you get some bad news. 321 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:19,240 Kimball's liver gave us trouble for a time. 322 00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:23,600 Maddie cultured some pretty rotten bacteria in her lungs. 323 00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:26,920 You have an idea of like, what you think the outcome is going to be. 324 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:30,040 And you have obviously hope that something better will happen. 325 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:33,520 And so you proceed, you do treatments and you listen to what the doctors say, and then 326 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:35,680 you pray about things, you make decisions. 327 00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:41,360 But I guess what he showed me in this quick little screenshot was this like, I gave you 328 00:17:41,360 --> 00:17:45,760 the tools necessary to get through that thing and look at what you came out on the other 329 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:47,980 side of it. 330 00:17:47,980 --> 00:17:52,000 Another thing is like, thinking you were done after having one kid and just thinking that 331 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:59,800 chapter of our life needs to be closed, because I don't have faith that the next time what 332 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:04,240 would be any different and you feel guilty, like bringing these kids into a world where 333 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:08,200 you're blessing them with this health challenge, this chronic health challenge, right? 334 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:10,040 You don't really know what it's going to bring. 335 00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:11,720 And so I shut that down. 336 00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:13,680 But it was my patriarchal blessing. 337 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:18,120 And knowing there was a line in there that said, you know, one of my greatest blessings 338 00:18:18,120 --> 00:18:20,680 will be that of, you know, having my children or whatever. 339 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:21,680 And it was multiple. 340 00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:26,560 And so that was a, like, it was a, I don't know if I want to say that that was a bit 341 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:27,600 of hope. 342 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:31,320 The hope came in the line from the patriarchal blessing that I said, that's plural. 343 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:32,720 And I only have one child right now. 344 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:35,440 So there might be an opportunity for more. 345 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:42,400 But as time progressed, and we kind of got our feet under us, and life wasn't so shaky 346 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:47,520 anymore, financially, emotionally, whatever, all the things that it takes to have a child 347 00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:49,660 with chronic illness. 348 00:18:49,660 --> 00:18:53,760 And then Maddie asking for a sister, you know, all those things combined were just the bits 349 00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:59,280 and pieces that we need to hope for a better world or hope for a future and have the faith 350 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:02,600 that Heavenly Father would support us in the things that we needed to grow our family. 351 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:03,600 Love that. 352 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:05,800 So anyway, that grew, that grew to three children. 353 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:07,600 And I thought, well, that's more than one child. 354 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:09,720 And we filled that blessing and we're going to do it. 355 00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:13,040 But you know, I put my request into him. 356 00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:16,200 And you know, he's like, I've got a way bigger plan for you. 357 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:18,720 And then he blessed me with a fourth child and a fifth child. 358 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:22,440 And so I got the family that I always dreamed of, but never thought that I would have. 359 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:23,760 But it didn't happen all at once. 360 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:30,040 It happened over many years with a lot of growth and struggles and challenges in between. 361 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:36,240 But anyway, that little video that I saw this morning, I guess, is that that's a weird way. 362 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:37,240 It wasn't like a vision. 363 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:38,240 I wasn't like sleeping. 364 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:45,280 Like I just, it was just kind of memories were coming to me of things that were both 365 00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:52,600 joyous and sorrowful, but all weave together into this, for me, a demonstration of how 366 00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:56,880 he's grown my faith and my hope and in charity. 367 00:19:56,880 --> 00:19:58,440 And I don't think that he's done growing me. 368 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:02,520 I feel like my capacity is to a place where it's like, what do you want to throw at me? 369 00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:05,960 I will accept it because I do love the growth on the back end of it. 370 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:07,440 So that's beautiful, Abby. 371 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:10,920 Thank you for sharing that. 372 00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:13,720 You were talking earlier when we've talked about what we loved about this talk, you were 373 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:16,960 talking about the Prophet Moroni, he referenced that in this talk. 374 00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:18,120 Do you want to jump into that? 375 00:20:18,120 --> 00:20:19,800 I just love that part. 376 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:26,280 Anytime it talks about writing things down or ancestors or a family line, my ears are 377 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:29,560 always, my interest is piqued. 378 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:30,840 So Moroni says, I am alone. 379 00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:31,960 I have not whether to go. 380 00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:35,400 I make not myself known, lest they should destroy me. 381 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:40,320 And then I just love that Moroni, and we can also find peace in these words, if a man have 382 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:44,320 faith, he must need to have hope, for without faith, there cannot be any hope. 383 00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:45,960 What is it that you shall hope for? 384 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:49,520 You shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection 385 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:52,360 to be raised unto life eternal. 386 00:20:52,360 --> 00:20:59,720 And what I love is that his dad decided to write down the things that were most important 387 00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:00,720 to him. 388 00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:06,240 He wrote down his testimony of Christ, everything he said pointed to Christ and hope in him. 389 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:09,640 And I just love that because sometimes we don't have it in ourselves. 390 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:13,240 Sometimes like we've been so beat up by life that like it's just not coming to us. 391 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:18,080 And through the Spirit, through the Holy Ghost, you know, for some reason we find this passage 392 00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:24,080 in family, you know, text or whatever that talks about this and it just puts wind in 393 00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:25,080 our sails. 394 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:26,720 I love it. 395 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:29,640 And maybe that feels like the action item. 396 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:35,000 When you look back on your life and you find those pieces where you can recognize that 397 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:41,880 your faith was challenged, it grew, your hope expanded, you felt the love of Jesus Christ 398 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:42,880 in your life. 399 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:46,680 Take a minute to write that down for yourself, for your future self, for your posterity. 400 00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:47,680 Right. 401 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:50,800 And write it in the family tree app, that white one with the little tree on it. 402 00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:52,960 That's a great idea. 403 00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:56,840 Because you never know when those words are going to come in so handy. 404 00:21:56,840 --> 00:22:01,320 Lucky for Moroni, he had his dad's wise words to look back to. 405 00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:07,240 I think we're getting to the, let me just reiterate the key to this talk. 406 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:11,160 He says, hope is a gift that grows as we increase our faith in Jesus Christ. 407 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:16,720 I love the thought that hope is not this finite amount. 408 00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:20,560 It's going to be what you've got this limited amount of hope and you have to play off of 409 00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:21,560 that hope. 410 00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:25,000 It can expand and grow as we expand and grow in faith. 411 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:27,680 Faith is the substance of things hoped for. 412 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:33,120 We build the substance, the evidence blocks of our faith through prayer, temple covenants, 413 00:22:33,120 --> 00:22:36,920 keeping the commandments, continuing feasting on the scriptures and the words of modern 414 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:41,560 day prophets, taking the sacrament, serving others and worshiping weekly with our fellow 415 00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:42,560 saints. 416 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:43,560 Great list. 417 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:48,200 Do you have anything else for us, Abby, that you want to end with? 418 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:52,080 I have to strongly encourage people to read Brightness of Hope. 419 00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:55,160 I'll link that because it's so helpful. 420 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:59,760 And I think it would be sad to not mention, he talks about how temples, growing number 421 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:03,680 of temples dotting the earth increases our hope. 422 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:06,800 And I just thought on that for a minute and I said, that's absolutely true. 423 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:11,000 If this was the only thing there was, you just came to earth, you had your time here 424 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:13,340 and it didn't really matter what you did. 425 00:23:13,340 --> 00:23:15,680 There are people that function in that way. 426 00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:17,620 That's how they operate their lives. 427 00:23:17,620 --> 00:23:20,600 You and I believe that there is something more. 428 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:26,680 This life is a test and it comes with joys and sadnesses, like you couldn't even imagine. 429 00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:34,880 But the fact that temples, 150 plus another 17, got a mascot on this one, another 17 have 430 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:36,040 been announced. 431 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:43,560 And it for me is every time they announce a temple, that for me is God reaffirming the 432 00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:50,800 importance they place on covenants, finding places of peace, loving his children in all 433 00:23:50,800 --> 00:24:00,980 lands across the earth, having equal love for his sons and daughters. 434 00:24:00,980 --> 00:24:06,120 It also points toward the millennium and toward the future, which I think that's a big part 435 00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:08,800 of hope is hope for the future. 436 00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:10,400 It changes all of our actions. 437 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:15,520 If you don't have hope in the future, this is one thing they say kids have a way of increasing 438 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:16,520 our hope. 439 00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:20,420 If we continue to have posterity in children, then we hope for a better future. 440 00:24:20,420 --> 00:24:21,600 We also build a better future. 441 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:22,600 Yep. 442 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:24,240 So does gardening and so does building temples. 443 00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:25,240 Exactly. 444 00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:27,080 It's in that list and it makes perfect sense. 445 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:28,080 And so I love that. 446 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:33,640 I had to summarize that piece of the talk because it's like saying, if you don't think 447 00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:36,360 that there's something to come, why would you care about commandments and why would you 448 00:24:36,360 --> 00:24:37,560 try to keep them? 449 00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:43,480 But in the opposite of that, if you do believe that there is something more to come, like 450 00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:47,920 what we started this thing out with, the connection between faith, hope, charity and eternal life, 451 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:49,240 I do believe these things. 452 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:54,960 I do want to look at each of those building blocks of faith. 453 00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:57,080 My time in the temple matters. 454 00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:00,560 The things I'm learning in the temple matter because there's more than just this earth 455 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:01,560 life. 456 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:04,920 It helps me in this earth life, certainly brings me joy in this earth life. 457 00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:09,440 And I'm not just living until I die, like, well, I'm just going to get through this and 458 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:11,400 then finally, you know, I'll be worth it. 459 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:17,480 It can be worth it right in this moment, but all of these lists, if there's nothing past 460 00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:19,560 this life, then why crack your scriptures open? 461 00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:25,140 But every time that we take an extra look at general conference talk or we heard something 462 00:25:25,140 --> 00:25:28,040 that peaked our ears and we said, the prophet asked us to do this and we tried to do that 463 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:29,040 thing. 464 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:35,120 And we're demonstrating that we have faith in those things and those in the prophet, 465 00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:38,120 in the scriptures, in keeping the commands. 466 00:25:38,120 --> 00:25:42,720 We have faith in those things and it expands our hope and we demonstrate to Heavenly Father 467 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:43,720 that we get it. 468 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:48,320 We get that there is a celestial, we have a celestial level in everything that we do. 469 00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:50,320 I love that, Admi. 470 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:51,320 Okay. 471 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:53,320 Any last thoughts from you? 472 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:54,320 Love the talk. 473 00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:57,760 It was a great beginning to conference and it really kicked it off well. 474 00:25:57,760 --> 00:25:58,760 We'll see you on the next one. 475 00:25:58,760 --> 00:25:59,760 Thanks for joining us today. 476 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:00,760 See you next time. 477 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:29,760 And every time.