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Welcome to Closer to Christ through General Conference, where two friends who love Jesus

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Christ share our own approach to studying the most recent General Conference talks.

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This is Abbey and Amy.

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Let's jump into it.

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Today we get to study His Hands Ready to Help Us by Elder Juan Pablo Villar of the 70.

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His talk starts out with the story of literally being in over his head when he followed his

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two older brothers to swim on the coast in Chile and play in the ocean.

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He recalls the waves being much bigger than he anticipated, and he dragged them down under

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the water.

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The biggest thing is that he looked at the brothers and they were doing well in the waves.

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And so he assumed, oh, they're doing it fine.

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I can do it fine, even though he was half their size.

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Sometimes we don't realize what our size is until it's too late.

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That's a good point.

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So these waves come crashing, they drag him down, not once, but twice.

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His older brother reaches out his hand and he helped him.

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You know, he was flailing.

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He was probably not going to make it.

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So I was thinking of the question, pondering on this.

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I wonder if we've each had an experience where we felt in over our own heads, our own personal

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experience.

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We just weren't equal to the task.

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We've watched somebody navigating it, doing well at it, and we just think, oh, they're

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doing it.

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I can do that too.

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Or I want what they have.

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Meaning like the experiences, you know?

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So has that ever happened in your life?

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Have you tried to enter into a task that maybe you weren't yet equal to the experience yet?

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Absolutely, all the time.

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So I'm going to share this story.

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It's with my oldest sister.

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She's nine years older than me.

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So with almost a decade between us, she's more experienced and further along in life

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than me.

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At the same time, I've always looked up to her, both of my sisters.

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I've been able to see how they do life and handle tough situations in every stage of

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life.

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About 15 years ago, my family went to visit my oldest sister who lived out of state.

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I still had littles and her youngest is the age of my oldest child.

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Her youngest is the age of yours?

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So just to give a reference, right?

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Yeah, 10 years.

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That's enough time to raise a family.

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Yes.

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So looking into her house and the feeling there, the best way to describe it was it

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was more elevated feeling than my home had.

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I was still in the weeds, the toddler chaos and whatnot.

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And this felt a little more thought out and more calm.

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And if I had a word for it, more celestial.

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I had a wonderful visit and I remember thinking I wasn't quite ready for that kind of commitment

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to a more exalted life at the time.

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I drove back home to my state with my family and I kept those things in my heart.

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That's over 10 years.

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Happy or sad?

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Hearted.

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Happy.

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Okay, good.

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It was great.

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Like you were like, I don't have this feeling in my home.

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It's not where I was like, I aspire to that and there's a season.

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That's how I felt.

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You know, that's very mature.

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Well, that's how it was.

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Fast forward 10 years, my kids were grown a little bit more.

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We had the opportunity to move to her state.

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I remember kneeling on my bedroom floor asking Heavenly Father that if he allowed me to live

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in her state, I would love to learn what she was learning.

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My youngest was going to kindergarten, which gave me more time at that time.

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She was a family history social media missionary and she was teaching at Roots Tech.

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The way I felt when she shared experiences and stories filled my heart and I wanted that

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spirit and those blessings in my life.

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I did end up moving to her state just five minutes from her house.

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That was so amazing.

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We attended the temple together regularly.

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I caught the fire of family history work and worked little by little to learn about my

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ancestors and feel that they're real people.

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I learned to take family names to the temple and I too was called to be a family history

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social media missionary as one of her companions and then taught two years at Roots Tech.

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All of this was a big stretch for me.

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I'd never been a public speaker.

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It scared me to death to get up on that stage, but I felt prompted and I did it.

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You know the saying, there's no growth in your comfort zone and there's no comfort

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in your growth zone.

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My point in telling this story is that sometimes we're in over our heads and it's in the best

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way.

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Blessings are coming, lessons are being learned and progress is still being made.

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It can be a challenge because we are out of our comfort zone.

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So sometimes our challenges aren't the worst.

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They're just growing pains.

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Other times it is deep and dark challenges and the trials really are the hardest kind.

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Abby, I was thinking to myself, if I could close my eyes and point to each of our listeners

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out there, I bet that they are facing challenges, really, really hard ones.

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Elder Villar Villar reminds us that those malicious waves could jostle us from side

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to side, but do not forget who has power over those waves and fact over all things.

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That is our Savior Jesus Christ.

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He has the power to help us out of every miserable condition or adverse situation as we reach

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out to Him in faith.

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He will always be there.

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And in His time, He will be ready and willing to grasp our hand and pull us out to safety.

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It makes me think back to His beginning thing and picturing a little boy in the waves and

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trying to aspire to be doing what the brothers are doing.

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And I would say if this were my kids in the situation, my little kid was being tossed

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in the waves.

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We actually did.

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We did go to the beach on a crazy day and where we thought safety zone was wasn't really

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the case.

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And we kind of got rough and tumbled with some of the waves.

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But depending on the age and their abilities, I was comfortable with them being a little

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bit deeper.

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But my eyes were on the situation.

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So I'm thinking of this parallel that it's like our father with the scope of vision that

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he has in the view.

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He's going to let us enter some of those waves that we don't have the capacity to do.

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It wasn't the brother's responsibility to be looking after him for this little thing,

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but luckily they were.

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And I would say in what I'm thinking of particularly is church calling to have us filling in over

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our heads.

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Oh gosh, right.

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This was a church calling.

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Like I was a missionary, had a tag in everything.

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You're never going to come fully equipped to do these things.

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Like if it was going to be a growing opportunity, he's going to have to pick something that

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you're not naturally inclined to be good at so that you can grow that spiritual gift.

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And so that you know who it was that helped you grow.

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I guess what I'm seeing the brothers in this situation as is counselors.

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Or mentors.

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Or they're the president and you're a counselor.

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You're like whatever that really symbiotic relationship that you're doing for the same

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purpose and you all kind of have your pieces and parts.

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And when you kind of feel like, holy cow, I'm drowning.

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And you reach for that help.

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Like we're talking about reaching to the savior and helping him.

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You should feel overwhelmed by these things so that you have an opportunity to feel what

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it feels like to be rescued and pulled up by the savior.

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I think that's the best chance of growing.

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Any other comments on that cute little story?

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Scary but turned out good so it's cute.

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So we're going to move to the next point he makes.

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He said, if we think celestial, we will recognize Jesus Christ as a flawless example of ministry.

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So true.

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As we serve others, we can rely on guidance and inspiration of the Holy Ghost to discern

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what kind of help is needed.

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Whether it's temporal or emotional comfort, food, aid in daily tasks, spiritual guidance

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to help others in their journey to prepare, make and honor sacred countenance.

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So there's a whole list.

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What a neat opportunity to learn something about discernment for our own parts.

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If you have this lens and you're looking out and other people need you to stop and assess

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the situation and say, what could I do to help them that will be of the best use and

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need and help?

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Without overstepping and taking their opportunity to grow.

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Like am I doing the calling?

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Am I doing a calling for you because you don't really want to grow in the calling?

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You don't want to try?

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I would always rather kind of assess the situation and then as little overstepping as possibly

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can do.

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Make them feel the pride and like they've accomplished that with the Savior.

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Maybe he used my hands to kind of help further it or like maybe help him break it down into

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bite-sized pieces.

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I don't know.

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Ministering opportunities when you're thinking, how can I reach out to them?

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There's challenges in your neighborhood and you recognize the family's going through something

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hard that you're going to say, what's the best thing that I can do here without taking

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opportunities away from them to grow in this way?

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I love that.

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That's so good, Abby.

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And I love it too.

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It just says the inspiration like as you have ideas and as you counsel, the Holy Ghost is

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going to help you with inspiration, help you to discern what type of help is needed.

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That's the biggest thing.

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Maybe you've already answered the question that's coming to me, but it's like, have you

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ever had a time when you just didn't know what to do to help, where to start, what to

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do?

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I totally felt that before.

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I felt like you have like a paralyzed feeling.

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You don't know how to move forward.

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I actually thought of a couple of troubleshooting ideas for ministering.

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This could be for the first idea is there are times earlier, mostly earlier in life

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when we might not think we have any value to add, or you have decision fatigue and you

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just don't know where to start.

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So I would, I just had this thought, find one thing you can do, make cookies, make bread,

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make granola.

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Maybe you clean bathrooms or do laundry.

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Choose it and then decide that this is the way that you add value and then ask in prayer

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if that's something that you could do that day for your ministering sisters or a friend

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in need.

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And one of them is funny that the one cleaning bathrooms, like I just noticed when I was

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going through cancer and I lived in Utah, the women in my release society taught me

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so much about service because it was like each one of them just knew what they had to

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offer.

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One of them came in and just let herself in and just clean my bathrooms.

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Someone else let herself in and she just folded laundry and moved it over.

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It was like they knew themselves and it was like watching.

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I didn't really watch it because I was in bed, but as I heard and as I texted with them,

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it was like I had a front row seat to this beautiful, like well-oiled machine because

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women had discernment and asked in prayer and the Holy Ghost helped them.

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The second truck-

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That ties back to the last talk that we just talked about.

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Right.

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Extensions of our family or our wards being families or stakes being families.

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Totally.

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Somebody wasn't like, okay, Amy's your ministering sister and you go in there and you get her

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laundry done, you cook for her and you do this.

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They all came in with their little piece and part that they could help with and all got

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to help fill some satisfaction in the relief that it gave you in your time when you felt

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like you were drowning.

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It was truly miraculous.

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Truly miraculous.

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Honestly, if we're thinking of ourselves, sisters, who doesn't have time to walk into

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someone's house, change their laundry over, fold what was in the dryer and leave.

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Do you know what I mean?

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It's beautiful, but we all know what it feels like when you forget.

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I'm going to share my address right now.

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Maybe you don't know, but I know what it feels like when you forget your wash in the beginning

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of the day.

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It throws the whole day off because everything's behind.

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Do you know what I mean?

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Just those small things.

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The second troubleshooting idea is what if you're burned out or feel gun shy because

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of a past experience?

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What if you felt guided by the spirit, but then things don't end up the way you thought

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they would?

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My advice, take a deep breath and start over again and recommit yourself.

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It's okay to go back to the Lord and ask him to help you see the situation clearly.

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Did I make a mistake?

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Did I hear you correctly?

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What would be the next best step at this moment?

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Because learning to listen to the spirit and then acting as a talent or a spiritual gift,

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it takes practice.

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Sometimes this means trial and error.

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In fact, for me, it always means that, but I promise that a pattern will begin to emerge

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as you practice this and you will start to make more right moves than mistakes.

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You will grow into the spirit of revelation and you will recognize the spirit when it

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moves you.

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Like Elder Villar said, the Holy Ghost will help you discern.

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You will begin to learn and recognize that you are not responsible for the outcome of

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your impression.

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God doesn't judge you for the result.

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What you are responsible for is that you act when and in what way the Lord impresses on

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your heart and mind.

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I love that.

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Did you notice this part?

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Elder Villar teaches us that if we think celestial, we will realize that our Savior will be there

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as many times as necessary to provide help if we want to learn, change, overcome, cope

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or succeed in whatever will bring true and everlasting happiness in our lives.

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So the word that's coming to my mind is finite.

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It's not like you only get 10 help me's.

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There's no limit.

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It is in fact infinite, the help that he can offer us in any given situation and we have

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to just opt in, invite him and believe that that's true.

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Because as humans, we kind of do have like a threshold.

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I've asked him too many times.

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Or I'm done.

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I'd be so annoyed at myself at this point, but that's not the case.

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So what extends out to you in that quote that I just shared?

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You know, when you read the if you want to learn, it totally reminds me of Elder Bednar's

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from last conference, how he talked about if we will talk about all the things that

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would happen if we will.

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So for me again, it's the ever present agency.

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It's always at the heart of our progression.

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And as we choose to move forward, the Savior is there with help every time.

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Like you just said, the finite thing is not a thing.

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It's infinite.

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Our life may be filled with missed opportunities.

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Sometimes people say lost opportunities.

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In my mind, it's missed opportunities because with God, nothing is lost.

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He can bring back around those opportunities.

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They may look different, but those will bring growth and blessings and prosperity.

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If we want to learn, change, overcome, cope, or succeed in whatever will bring true and

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everlasting happiness in our lives.

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Right.

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That's the caveat.

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Totally.

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Like it's not going to be, he's not going to reach out and help us if it's something

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that's not worth our time.

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He honors our agency too much.

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It's not going to bring happiness into our lives.

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Oh, right.

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We might feel like upstream with no help in those endeavors that we're pursuing that don't

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bring us closer to him.

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We're not celestial things.

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Totally.

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That's fair.

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Yeah, it is fair.

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Right.

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The second thing that came was in footnote eight, in the talk show notes, sorry, in the

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talk.

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I know it's so good.

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Why were you impressed to go there?

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To truly, because I was just like, what else does he have to say about this?

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Because it really stuck out.

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When I saw it, it was like, there's something here.

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So I loved it.

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To truly understand happiness, we need to understand the role of blessings in our lives.

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The definition of blessings helps to clarify this concept.

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A blessing is to confer divine favor upon someone.

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Anything contributing to true happiness, well-being or prosperity is a blessing.

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So I just think that we see it more rightly when we understand that that really is worth

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our time.

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Yeah, I'm going to have to take a moment here to let that sink in.

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Give me a second.

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A blessing is to confer divine favor upon someone.

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I'm trying to sort that out.

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We feel the most blessed when we aid in somebody else receiving his favor or is that for yourself

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too?

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It says someone.

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I think it's us blessing someone.

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That's what I'm thinking too.

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Like administering, serving.

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That's what I think he's saying.

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I do think that's true too.

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Not like I've done this thing for myself all year.

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I am more invested in a prayer on behalf of somebody else.

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I know you are.

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Well, no, I mean, that's everybody.

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That's not me bragging.

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No, I'm saying like whenever I've asked you, what can I pray for you?

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And you say, this person's having a challenge or this person and I pray for them too.

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Yeah, but there's probably somebody out there that recognizes my challenges before me and

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they're having the same prayer.

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That's true.

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What do you have for closing?

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Any more thoughts?

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So yeah, you know what?

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I just love this part.

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He talks.

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So essentially the whole title of the talk is about his hands, right?

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He talks about hands through the whole thing, whether it's our hands in serving, whether

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it's Jesus Christ's hands, whether it's his brother's hand in helping to save him.

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The most important is this.

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The scriptures immortalize the symbol and significance of the Savior's hands.

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And then he paints this picture so beautifully.

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In his atoning sacrifice, his hands were pierced by nails to affix him to the cross.

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After his resurrection, he appeared to his disciples in a perfect body, but the prints

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in his hands remain as a reminder of his infinite sacrifice.

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His hand will always be there for us, even if we cannot see it or feel it at first, because

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he was chosen by our heavenly Father to be our Savior, the Redeemer of all humankind.

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I'd invite people to look at the art that we use for the episodes.

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We bought this off of a senior in high school last year.

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Yes, you did.

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And that one, if you spend some time looking at it, is just a beautiful depiction of his

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bruised and battered hands that remind us of the atonement, the great and infinite atonement

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that he did perform for us and that daily we can tap into the blessings that he's offering

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to us.

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I love that, Abby.

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Because it's a picture that goes both ways.

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It is definitely person reaching into his hands.

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Yes, it is.

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That's our challenge and our action item to you is to reach his reaching.

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Love that.

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Thank you so much for being here with us today.

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We will see you next time.