WEBVTT

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Welcome to Closer to Christ, the General Conference,

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where two friends who love Jesus share our own

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approach to studying the most recent General

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Conference talks. This is Abby and Amy. Let's

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jump into it. Today's talk, Our Heavenly Guidance

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System by Elder Sergio R. Vargas of the Seventy.

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He starts out this talk by speaking about the

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beauty of God's creation in his home country

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of Chile. He said as he takes it all in, the

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beauty of the world, it's easy to see that all

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things denote that there is a God. Then he draws

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a comparison of the salmon in his home country

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of Chile to us as children of God. I quote, Salmon

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are born in the source of rivers. At some point

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in their lives, they need to swim downriver to

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reach the ocean, where they find the nourishment

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and conditions necessary for their development.

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However, the ocean poses dangers, like predators

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and fishermen. If they survive, salmon return

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upriver to their birthplace. facing various challenges.

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Researchers have found that salmon navigate using

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an innate magnetic map, a powerful guidance system,

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akin to our own personal GPS, allowing them to

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reach their destination with remarkable precision.

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We can all return one day to the heavenly home

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from where we came, and like the salmon, we have

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our own magnetic map, or light of Christ, to

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guide us there. Jesus taught his disciples, I

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am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh

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unto the Father but by me. I love how God can

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teach us such simple yet profound truths from

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our surroundings. We've talked about this before

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with just where we live in nature. There are

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so many things to go from that. So many lessons.

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From the family proclamation, we read that each

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of us is a beloved spirit son or daughter of

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heavenly parents. And as such, each has a divine

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nature and destiny. In the premortal realm, spirit

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sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as

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their eternal father. And they also accepted

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his plan by which his children could obtain a

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physical body. and gain earthly experience to

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progress forward and toward perfection and then

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ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs

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of eternal life um so then he starts talking

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about this about jesus christ he says before

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his birth and mortality jesus christ appeared

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to moses and he spoke to him on behalf of the

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father he told moses he had a great work for

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him to do during the meeting the lord called

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him my son several times we've talked about this

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before and we all know this story very well after

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the that experience satan came tempting him saying

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moses son of man worship me Abby, what was Moses'

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response to this attempt by Satan, the father

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of all lies? So Moses responds to the temptation

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by shutting him down, you know, to being called

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the son of man. He knows his divine nature. And

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he says, who art thou? For behold, I am a son

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of God. And that truth freed Moses from the attacks

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the adversary was trying to put against him.

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I love that. I feel like this teaches us and

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reminds us of the powerful truth that all truth

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comes from God. If it's not truth, it's not from

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him. One of the reasons I love to record and

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type out priesthood blessings is that when Satan

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sends his hooks of mortality, like Elder Vargas

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talks about in this, I can read God's truth on

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that very subject. And one season of our life,

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it felt like my husband would not find a paying

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job. When I'd hear Satan's taunting in my mind,

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that kind of felt like logic, you know? I would

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open my binder of blessings and I would read

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the words that God told me about our promised

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gainful employment and the monetary blessings

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that would follow. Referring to my priesthood

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blessings on the subject was my way of saying,

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Satan, who art thou? For behold, I am a daughter

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of God. And essentially, I care what he says

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about the subject. More than you. Not you. And

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then I love that he says this. He says, brothers

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and sisters, the hooks of mortality are real.

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They are often enticing, but they seek only one

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target to pull us out of the course of living

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waters that lead to the father and eternal life.

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He's so good with his stories. He shared a personal

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story in this talk. He said, I know how real

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the hooks of mortality can be. One Sunday as

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a new convert, I was teaching a priesthood class

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when an unsettling conversation arose. I struggled

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to finish my lesson. I took offense and felt

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that I was the victim. Without saying a word,

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I headed for the exit with the idea that I would

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not return to church for a while. In that very

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moment, a concerned priesthood holder stood in

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front of me. He lovingly invited me to focus

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on Christ and not on the situation we had experienced

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in class. As I looked back on the experience

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with him, he shared with me that he heard a voice

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tell him, go after him. He is important to me.

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Love that. We're all important to him. President

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Nelson taught that because of our covenant with

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God, he will never tire of... his efforts to

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help us, and we will never exhaust his merciful

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patience with us. So it really leads us to an

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action item. I wonder if each of us could just

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take a minute and look back and identify a pivotal

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moment in our own discipleship and ask, how did

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I choose to respond when I was offended at church?

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If you haven't been offended at church, you haven't

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been going long enough. No, I'm serious. But

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like, I know that I've told myself something's

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happened. I'm like, man, if I was the type to

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get offended, that would have done it right there.

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Yes. But, you know, but how did we respond instead?

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The Lord, you know, maybe you could recognize

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that the Lord sent someone like this concerned

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friend to help you in that moment of your spiritual

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need. Now that just can add a further testimony

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of his love, particularly for you. Yeah. I like,

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too, that it says, I mean, it was kind of the

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end of the story when he said, as I looked back

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on the experience with him, that's when the guy

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shared, this is what I heard. And you know what

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I mean? It just came full circle at that. I like

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that he had enough humility. It wasn't in that

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moment. It must have been years later. He's like,

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you know what? I was thinking about stepping

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away from the church all these years ago. You

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got in front of me. And he's like, you know,

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in that moment, I was told to stand in front

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of you and tell you what you're needed. So I

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love that he took the time to ponder because

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you're right. It wasn't in that moment. It was

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later. He thought, wait a sec. And he talked.

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about it with him and then he heard that part

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i love that he had the humility to circle back

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around and to have that conversation yeah it's

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good um just as salmon need to be nourished in

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the ocean to grow we also need to nourish ourselves

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spiritually to avoid dying by spiritual malnutrition

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and then he reminds us that prayer the scriptures

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the temple and our regular attendance at sunday

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meetings are vital in our spiritual menu Then

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he shares that in November of 1956, Ricardo Garcia

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entered the waters of baptism in Chile. He was

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the first member of the church in his country.

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And then one day before he died, he bore his

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testimony to his family and his friends. He said,

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many years ago, missionaries invited me to be

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happy along with my family. I am a happy man.

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Tell everyone in Chile. The gospel is happiness.

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This first member turned missionary was influential

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in Elder Vargas' life and indirectly, whether

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they realize it or not, in every member of the

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Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints

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in Chile since that baptism. We all stand on

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the shoulders of those that have gone before

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us. And this reminds me of a story of my dad's

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maternal grandfather. He's one of these people

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in my family and also in the country of Mexico.

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He was the first Mexican called to serve a full

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-time mission for the church. This was during

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the Mexican Revolution of 1910 to 1912. One day

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he was on a street corner with his companion

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and they were singing in the suite by and by.

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A crowd started gathering and they started yelling

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at him for singing a Protestant song. when he,

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quote, wasn't Christian. Soon they pulled the

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police to the corner, and my grandpa found himself

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with his companion in a Mexican prison. While

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he was there, he wrote the words to this hymn.

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He rewrote the words. The next day, this always

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cracks me up, Abby, the next day he and his companion

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were miraculously released from prison, and this

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is the part, that evening they sang on that same

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street corner. but now it was a different song

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when the crowd gathered and called for them to

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return to prison my grandpa let them know it

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wasn't the same song the words had changed he

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continued to sing god's truth through the lyrics

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the spirit had helped him write the night before

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And now, just this past week, this hymn has been

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sung over 100 years in Spanish. First as Desperida,

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and later as Placentero Nos Es Trabajar. And

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now it's translated in English and all of the

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other languages in the new hymn book. It's 1033,

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How Sweet Is Our Joy. And then... I'm going to

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jump back to the talk because I feel like the

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words that Elder Vargas used for the pioneer

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that he was talking about in Chile totally had

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the same sentiment for the words of my grandpa.

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He says, His first member, or sorry, the first

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Mexican missionary, who was my grandpa, he said,

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his example of discipleship has blessed generations,

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including me. The prophet Joseph Smith taught

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that a man filled with love of God is not content

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with blessing his family alone, but ranges through

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the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human

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race. Deep inside each of us, like the salmon,

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is that desire to return to our heavenly home.

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And Jesus Christ is our heavenly guidance system.

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He is the way, and his atoning sacrifice makes

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it possible for us to make safe covenants with

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God. And I love that he underscores that Jesus

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Christ is the heavenly guidance system. So essentially,

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that's the title of the talk, right? Right. Jesus

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Christ. Yes. He also underlines two ways that

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we can remember Jesus or make him part of our

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lives. And the first one is that through the

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sacrament we take each Sunday. He taught a principle

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we've heard before, maybe explained in a different

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way than we've heard it before. This is what

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I heard. Why do we remember our sins when Jesus

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himself said, I ever remember your sins no more?

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Jesus' atoning sacrifice allows our sins to be

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forgiven to the point that he no longer remembers

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them. We may not totally forget our sins as part

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of our mortal learning, so we will remember not

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to repeat them. I like how he said that. Because

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some people will be like, well, I'm not really

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sure if I'm forgiven for that thing because I

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still remember it. Well, you're going to remember

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it. Just shouldn't remember the shame or guilt

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or fear that attaches it. You should ideally

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get to the point that you remember. I know that

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those feelings existed, but I can look back on

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that and remember that he's helped me feel peace

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about it. I love that. Another question, how

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do we take the sacrament in a way that helps

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us become new creatures in Christ? So instead

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of remembering or hashing out our own sins and

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imperfections, thinking maybe we're not worthy

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for that offering, for that blessing that we

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have of being forgiven, we'll remember him as

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we take the sacrament at church every Sunday.

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So the question, how do we renew our body and

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spirit through the sacrament? He reminds us that

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we replace guilt for our own sins with remembering

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Jesus and taking his spirit with us. So another

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way you might say this is that we lay our sins

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on the altar. We ask for a Christlike attribute

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to take its place in our spirit and in our body.

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I love that, Abby. I really liked how he said

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to renew our body and our spirit because it did

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make me think like, what's he really saying?

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Because I do believe that physically. Like I

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believe it literally. You know what I mean? So

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I do like that it goes through and he was essentially

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saying just, I liked his process. Second is through

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the temple. He says we also remember him when

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we go to the temple, the house of the Lord. The

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temple gives us a deeper knowledge of Jesus Christ

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as the center of the covenant that leads us to

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eternal life, the greatest of the gifts of God.

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He then tells us about his two sons that have

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special needs. And he talked about how for him

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personally, what the temple is for him is that

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when he goes to the house of the Lord, he's able

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to find peace and kind of a reprieve. He said

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that they're going to need special care for the

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rest of their lives. And so I just thought that

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was a really good thing. He talked about it as

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being an unseen illness and how many people are

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struggling with an unseen illness. Do you know

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what I mean? I know your two children, when I

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look at them, they don't look sick. And yet.

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Like their condition occupies most every thought

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that I have. Exactly. And the doctor's appointments

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that are hours long and in another state, just

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all those types of things. You know what I mean?

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But someone who didn't know, we're in a small

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valley and most people know that. But you know,

00:12:36.360 --> 00:12:38.679
it's this kind of aside from this, but the next

00:12:38.679 --> 00:12:40.419
talk that we're going to close up the session

00:12:40.419 --> 00:12:44.429
with is on worship and something about it. Oh,

00:12:44.470 --> 00:12:47.330
it's because I went back to Elder Kieran's talk

00:12:47.330 --> 00:12:48.710
from the time before because he kind of happily

00:12:48.710 --> 00:12:50.549
references that. Yes, he does. And he talks about

00:12:50.549 --> 00:12:52.789
how like the sacrament as a time for renewal,

00:12:52.870 --> 00:12:55.309
rejuvenation and stuff maybe doesn't look that

00:12:55.309 --> 00:12:58.730
way when you're like wrestling like piles of

00:12:58.730 --> 00:13:01.230
little kids on your bench or for those who have

00:13:01.230 --> 00:13:03.549
kids with special needs that require like so

00:13:03.549 --> 00:13:06.149
much attention, but that he wanted them to remember

00:13:06.149 --> 00:13:08.289
that every act of service that they do on behalf

00:13:08.289 --> 00:13:10.950
of these, you know, children that are in their

00:13:10.950 --> 00:13:16.000
care is worship. amazing so yeah the temple it's

00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:17.980
it's special and spiritual and it's kind of like

00:13:17.980 --> 00:13:20.840
your own reflective time but also rethinking

00:13:20.840 --> 00:13:23.860
like you know everything that that he's doing

00:13:23.860 --> 00:13:25.399
in his life is he's caring for these children

00:13:25.399 --> 00:13:27.700
that he'll care for you know well into their

00:13:27.700 --> 00:13:33.039
adulthood is is maybe one of the mechanisms that

00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:36.279
is get is is his heavenly guidance system absolutely

00:13:36.279 --> 00:13:39.240
getting him back home making him more christ

00:13:39.240 --> 00:13:42.419
-like and Yeah. Helping him get through the weeks

00:13:42.419 --> 00:13:45.179
too. Do you have anything else, Abby? No. To

00:13:45.179 --> 00:13:48.879
add? Okay. I'm going to end with his testimony

00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:52.000
and invitation. He says, I invite all of us today

00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:54.480
to center our lives on Jesus Christ and his teachings.

00:13:54.779 --> 00:13:57.399
Doing so will help us avoid biting the hooks

00:13:57.399 --> 00:13:59.759
of temptation, offense, and self -pity. We will

00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:03.519
stand as temples, holy, firm, and constant. We

00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:05.340
will weather the storms and we will make it home,

00:14:05.480 --> 00:14:07.340
enduring to the end and rejoicing to the end.

00:14:07.539 --> 00:14:11.220
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Thank

00:14:11.220 --> 00:14:11.519
you.