It has been over five years since we last came to this beautiful campus. There have been so many changes since we were last here. There are amazing physical changes like this new assembly center and the beautiful temple on the hill, shedding its light over all. Additionally, I feel a change in the way people think about BYU-Idaho. There is a powerful learning spirit on this campus that is reaching beyond the students attending school here in Rexburg. We have felt the effects of the education outreach ideas being developed here, in other cities, even as far away as Boston. How blessed we are to have men and women like President and Sister Kim Clark who see a vision of what changes are possible and have the energy to work until it becomes a reality. This campus is a witness of the tremendous growth that can come from inspired change and wise leadership.
When we were last here, we were days from leaving for an undetermined length of time in Africa. The effects of change were about to descend upon us. In March of 2007, President Monson called us into his office with the intent, we assumed, to tell us where our next assignment would be. After visiting with us for nearly an hour he stood, telling us how much he had enjoyed our visit and signaling that the visit was about to conclude. As we walked towards the door he said, "Did I mention where you are going?" We answered no; we didn't think so. "Oh, you are going to Africa." With those six words, he changed our lives forever.
Just to give you an idea of how big a geographic change this was to us, Sister Koelliker had never in her entire life lived outside her zip code. Now at age sixty-five, we found ourselves in Johannesburg South Africa. There isn't a zip code that is further from Salt Lake City than Southeast Africa.
Prior to Africa, we had lived in a world of temples for ten years, having worked with President Hinckley to build seventy-two new temples, for a total of 124 operating temples under the direction of the Temple Department. Our every waking hour seemed to be about temples. Now we were going to a land where there was just one temple. This was for us a total change.
Sometimes these changing moments present themselves suddenly and we find ourselves feeling uncomfortable as we are pulled or pushed into unfamiliar surroundings before we are ready. Maybe you felt some of that discomfort on your first day of attending school here or the first few days of being in the mission field. Initially, many of us resist change, and we find ourselves happy to stay with present conditions. On the other hand, recognizing and accepting change as being good and looking for positive aspects can allow for significant learning and progress to occur.
As we embrace change, we discover it to be a principle of growth rather than a trial. I've come to call change the principle of "continuous learning."
Being open to "continuous learning" has led to the discovery of other important principles. One of the significant principles contributing to our learning is the gift of agency. This gift of agency offers us the opportunity to choose the path we will follow to reach our foreordained destiny. The gift of agency is a wonderful privilege, but it comes with responsibilities and consequences. We have our agency to choose, but the consequences of our choices are generally fixed.
Choosing righteous principles and patterns to live by keeps us on the path leading to happiness. Choosing the plan of happiness gives us freedom and eternal life. The consequences of following unrighteous principles and patterns are equally certain. They will lead to misery that binds us with selfishness and loss of light. The effort of Lucifer is to distract and entice us to be relaxed and comfortable. Usually he attracts us in the most simple and seemingly innocent ways-a suggestive movie here or missing of morning or evening prayer there. His best line is: "There is plenty of time to change later. Let's have some fun for a while."
Fortunately, the Lord blessed us at birth with His light and offers to us opportunities to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. When we feel the light of Christ and choose to seek for his promised spiritual gifts, the Lord promises to give us confirmation that the path we are on is correct or that it is time to make needed changes. Being able to recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit is critical to our being able to choose truth over distraction.
Sister Koelliker and I have prayed that the Gifts of the Spirit would be here today to bless each of us with light. The scriptures call these kinds of experiences as being edified. To be edified is to feel of the light and learn from it. We have specifically prayed that you individually might be inspired in some specific way to know what the Lord would have you learn from choosing to be here in this devotional today. I know the Lord loves each of you individually and specifically, and my witness and experience is He will speak to you individually and specifically.
May I share with you a pattern that might help you as you listen to the message the Lord would have you hear today? This pattern works any time you are in a meeting such as this, or a classroom, or a sacrament meeting, or a conference, or similar setting where you have the opportunity to listen for spiritual promptings.
Take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the center of the page. On one side of the line list the important facts or comments made by the speaker or teacher that you want to remember. On the other side list the spiritual promptings or thoughts that came to your mind while you were listening. Then later in the day or evening, go back to your notes and find a scriptural reference or conference address that uses the word you were prompted to write. As you humbly ponder your thoughts and the scriptures, the Holy Spirit will expand your understanding regarding the thought you were prompted to write down during the earlier meeting.
President Joseph F. Smith, the fifth president of the Church in this dispensation, applied this pattern in his own personal study process and received the marvelous vision he recorded in section 138 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Listen to the testimony he bore of this pattern: "As I pondered over these things which are written, the eyes of my understanding were opened, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me, and I saw."
Effectively applying this pattern will increase your capacity to hear God's messages for you. By receiving His guidance, your grip (hold) on the Rod of Iron described by father Lehi in the Book of Mormon will be more firm and you will be able to stay on the path that leads to the Tree of Life.
This is the ultimate goal to "change" ourselves from natural men and women to becoming worthy sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. In speaking of that Tree-of-Life path, Lehi warned us of the pitfalls that await us if we don't discover and live our lives according to the patterns prepared by our Father in Heaven.
The callings we receive often open the door to discovery of patterns and give us opportunity to make changes needed for us to build relationships that have eternal consequence.
As it turns out, our calling to serve in Africa led to four years of the most profound learning experiences of our lives. If you will forgive a few personal stories and references, I will try to share some of the principles and patterns we discovered that have blessed our lives and drawn us closer to each other as a husband and wife, to our family, both immediate and extended, and to our Heavenly Father and His son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We can with surety say, we have been blessed by change or being open to continuous learning.
One pivotal learning experience occurred in the central part of Africa in the Republic of the Congo. The village of Luputa is a community of about 250,000 people. There was no central water system to support the daily needs of the people. Missionaries found it difficult to teach people, because they were always walking to obtain water to meet their daily water needs. The women of the village walked about thirty-five kilometers (twenty miles) to a spring where they loaded a forty-pound water container and then returned home carrying the container on their head. It took about eight hours a day to obtain their water for cooking, washing, drinking, bathing and all other needs. There was precious little time left in the day to do anything else.
Seeing this commitment to provide clean water for their families, the Church offered to assist the villages by building a reservoir and distribution system for the community. The villagers would have to sacrifice their time and energy to dig the trench for the water line from the spring to the reservoir. The Church bought the pipe and built the concrete water stations. It took three years of hard work and sacrifice to dig the trench, but with the installation completed, the women now only had to walk an average of fifteen to twenty minutes to obtain their water.
Just think of the change that brought into their lives. Now they had time to care for their children, read, learn and serve each other. In changing their time commitment to obtaining water, the people of Luputa now had time to listen to the message of the gospel. Within one year of putting the new pipes in place, over two thousand people had joined the Church. In June of 2011 the tenth stake was organized in the Republic of the Congo.
Accepting change as a catalyst for growth usually causes a person to go through a time of struggle. Struggle is when we realize that it is hard to change and we wonder if it is worth it. To progress forward out of the experience of struggle, usually requires a willingness to sacrifice. To sacrifice means to forgo, to surrender, to give away, to let go of something we own or possess. It could be an idea, or an opinion or a belief, or a tradition. The people of Luputa were strapped with the means of providing water to their homes. To dig the trench, would be a significant sacrifice of time and energy. The only way their life would change was to make the sacrifice.
When we face significant change we are positioned for new understanding and potential growth. Sacrifice is the first principle we must learn and yield ourselves to, in order to really participate in growth.
Nephi had to deal with this principle on many occasions. At the direction of his prophet father, Nephi and his brothers returned to Jerusalem to retrieve the records of the Jews and the genealogy of the family. Laman and Lemuel became more resistant to the journey and the mission, while Nephi and Sam were willing to make every effort to do as their father had instructed. Laman drew the responsibility to go to Laban to retrieve the records. He was unsuccessful and returned to his brothers empty handed and with the followers of Laban close in pursuit. Laman was irritated with the results of his venture and proceeded to take out his frustrations on Nephi, which included hitting him with a rod. At this point I'm sure Nephi was in the midst of struggle. He must have thought, "How am I going to deal with my older brother?" let alone how was he going to get these records. I can imagine Nephi pleading with God asking him for help. At that moment of struggle when he felt he was to be sacrificed:
An angel of the Lord came and stood before them, and he spake unto them, saying: Why do ye smite your younger brother with a rod? Know ye not that the Lord hath chosen him to be a ruler over you, and this because of your iniquities? Behold ye shall go up to Jerusalem again, and the Lord will deliver Laban into your hands.
In an instant, Nephi's prayer in the midst of his struggle was answered. He had new knowledge and renewed confidence. His faith led him to an even stronger position with his brothers. And even though Laman and Lemuel had received the same vision of the angel, they had not grown but continued to murmur saying, "How is it possible that the Lord will deliver Laban into our hands? Behold, he is a mighty man, and he can command fifty, yea, even he can slay fifty; then why not us?"
Nephi on the other hand now had sure knowledge of his mission and responsibility. He responded by saying:
Let us go up again unto Jerusalem, and let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord; for behold he is mightier than all the earth, then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty, yea, or even than his tens of thousands? Therefore let us go up; the Lord is able to deliver us.
Nephi demonstrated that the will of his Father in Heaven was more important than his own life. The principle of sacrifice teaches us to place God's will ahead of our will or personal preferences or desires. Then are we able to clearly hear His voice and receive His guidance.
When facing trial or moments of struggle, we often ask, "Why am I in this situation?" Or worse, "Why has the Lord allowed me to suffer so?"
Perhaps one should ask a different question, such as "What should I be learning, or how will this experience help me or someone in my circle of influence draw closer to God?"
Consider what you might do if placed in this situation. Early one morning, one of our senior couples serving in South Africa was awakened by a loud knocking at his door. Upon answering the door Elder Packer found two uniformed, armed policemen. They instructed him to dress and that he needed to come with them. They arrested him and placed him in a holding cell with all of the men who had been arrested that night. Some were intoxicated; some had committed robberies and many other offenses. He remained in the cell some nine hours and amazingly was not accosted or hurt. While in the cell, he asked himself, "Why would the Lord allow me to be placed here? He must have something in mind." He decided to discover the reason, and so he began speaking with the men. He even persuaded some to begin singing a few hymns with him. He realized, though innocent, there was an opportunity to stop worrying about himself and begin worrying about those around him. In other words, he put the needs of others ahead of his own.
As the day concluded, the missionary was being called "Elder" by the prisoners. They not only sang the hymns but they defended the missionary from less-than-honorable jail mates. He befriended several who were as innocent as he was. Many were blessed by the Lord through Elder Packer's sacrifice; and Elder Packer was lifted to a new level of understanding and vision of how the Lord can use him, even in prison. Forgetting his own discomforts, he placed others ahead of his feelings and fears.
Satan will constantly seek to distract us and teach us to be self-centered in our thinking and seek to protect our rights and privileges. But that was his plan from the beginning as he spoke in the councils of heaven. We were all present as Father made His plan known. The scripture records this moment:
Satan . . . came before me, saying-Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.
But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me-Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.
At that moment we were all introduced to a foundational pattern that we should never forget and always seek to apply. As we learn how to apply this pattern, we are drawn into a thought process familiar to that of the Savior's. The Savior's words describe the pattern best:
Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you-that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me.
His whole purpose to come to this world was "to do the will of his Father." President Monson has also taught us this pattern. He speaks of a painting of the Savior that hangs on the wall in his office. Whenever he is faced with a decision of what he should do, he thinks of the picture and asks himself, "What would the Savior do?"
The scriptures both warn us and advise us of Satan's efforts to distract us. To preserve and protect us from these evil designs the Lord gave us the following instruction.
And again, I will give unto you a pattern in all things, that ye may not be deceived.
His counsel is very clear. He will give us patterns or guidelines in not just a few things but the scripture says "in all things," thus providing a template or a formula for staying on course.
And why do we need these patterns? The warning is equally clear, "Satan is abroad in the land and he goeth forth deceiving the nations." It is clear that no one is exempt from his design to cause us to think as he thinks.
The Lord gives us further instruction regarding His patterns that will protect us from Lucifer's plan.
Wherefore he that prayeth, whose spirit is contrite, the same is accepted of me if he obey mine ordinances.
He that speaketh, whose spirit is contrite, whose language is meek and edifieth, the same is of God if he obey mine ordinances.
And again, he that trembleth under my power shall be made strong, and shall bring forth fruits of praise and wisdom, according to the revelations and truths which I have given you.
In these verses we find the key actions that will lead us back to Him: They are to pray, be humble, submissive and to "obey mine ordinances."Our choice to qualify to receive His ordinances and keep the associated covenants allows us to pass through a door leading to the sacred halls of the temple where angels wait to nurture us and bless us with knowledge and power.
I mentioned there is only one temple in the Southeast part of Africa. The average member lives 2100 miles from the temple. That is the equivalent of Salt Lake to Chicago. To participate in these sacred ordinances is a major sacrifice for most people. They often come only once or twice in their lifetime. May I share a brief video with you of one of the groups of Saints who came from one of the closer countries to the temple? It only took them fifteen hours each way. Look at their eyes and faces.
[Video Clip Temple trip from Zimbabwe.]
Can you see the happiness in their eyes and faces for having made the sacrifice?
The second principle of growth is obedience. Our prophet leaders have taught us that obedience is the first law of heaven. Obedience reflects our outward commitment to our inner testimony. It is this inner conviction that expresses our pure consecration to being disciples of Christ and servants to all of God's children.
The Book of Mormon is filled with examples of those who have applied this principle, and thereby testify of the deep love the Lord has for us.
So it was with Nephi. His willingness to place the will of the Lord ahead of possibly losing his life brought Nephi to a new level of understanding. Being willing to yield his will to the Lord's led Nephi to this second principle of growth, obedience to God's commandments. Nephi's witness is very clear as he declared:
I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them. As the Lord liveth, and as we live, we will not go down unto our father in the wilderness until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us. And behold, it is wisdom in God that we should obtain these records, that we may preserve unto our children the language of our fathers; 20 And also that we may preserve unto them the words which have been spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets, which have been delivered unto them by the Spirit and power of God, since the world began, even down unto this present time.[1]
Aligning our lives with His standards opens the door of the temple to us. He promises as we come to this holy place, He will guide us and send us forth with protection:
That thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them. The third growth principle is the giving of service to others in the pattern of the Savior. The action word for love is service. The Lord's pattern of service is best exemplified in the garden of Gethsemane. There the Lord served each of us as He took upon himself the sins of all mankind. He suffered and paid the price for us purely because He loves us.
The love exemplified by the Savior's atonement for our sins cannot possibly be fully understood by our earthly limitations. Within these limitations we, nevertheless, strive to learn to develop and apply this Christ-centered pattern. The African culture has many traditions that are reflective of pure caring and love for family and for their fellow man. For example, no person would ever be turned away hungry from a neighbor or friend who had something to eat.
A father in a household would sometimes have to travel to far away countries to find employment enough to provide for his wife and children. I will long remember a street vendor in Johannesburg who was from Zimbabwe. We had need of some beaded animals for a charity function. One of our committee people approached this street vendor to provide the gifts. She ordered 60 beaded zebras. The order was so large it exceeded the vendor's supply of beads. The person placing the order agreed to loan him the money to buy supplies. He completed the project and she picked them up and paid for them. As she gave him his money, he began to weep. She asked him why and he responded that the money she had given him would feed his family and extended family for six months. He was leaving that night for the fifteen-hour bus ride home to deliver the earnings to his family.
Love of family is very strong in Africa. There is a strong belief in life beyond the grave. This in part comes from the high death rate in the population. Children will often have several mommas or women who lovingly care for them. Many mothers die in birth or from prevalent diseases and so orphanages are many and full. We often visited several orphanages near our home. Because of this special feeling for those who have passed away, there is a real sense of happiness when new members learn of the temple and the promises for their deceased love ones. They understand immediately the hope these temple blessings represent for their loved ones.
President Gordon B. Hinckley said the expression of love that is most nearly like the Saviors, is the love shown by those who search out the names of their kindred dead and then take their names to the temple and perform the ordinances for them. In this service, one performs an act of service for them, which they cannot do for themselves.
So often we think of service, like home or visiting teaching, almost as an obligation or a duty-something that if we do not do, we are somehow shirking our responsibility and we will be punished. The most powerful motivator for service should be our love for each other. When we act in love or out of charity, we serve in the pattern of the Savior. Serving out of love is the fundamental relationship in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The question every home and visiting teacher should ask his or her self is, "Have I shown love to my families this week or today?"
This leads me to the fourth principle in the growth process. It is to build relationships of trust and reliability, being trustworthy leads to learning about joy. Joy is a condition of happiness coming from righteous living. Joy is being an instrument in God's hand to bring some soul to make changes and to repent.[2] One of the scriptural patterns for building righteous relationships leading to joy is found in D&C 121. Here it describes relationships built on persuasion, long-suffering, gentleness and meekness, and love unfeigned, kindness, and pure knowledge, charity towards all, and unceasing virtuous thoughts.
One of the tragedies of self-centered relationships is the loss of trust. Anger and selfishness are at the heart of the plan of misery as authored by Lucifer. When we feel anger, we can be assured that it is not from heaven and we are in great need of change.
On the other hand, Joy is the ultimate purpose of mortal life. Nephi taught, "Men are that they might have joy."[3]
And from the Savior himself we learn the pattern leading to joy:
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.[4]
The fullness of joy is described as the eternal inseparable relationship of body and spirit, living in the presence of our Father in Heaven with our eternal companions-to me that is the meaning of bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
An experience that gave me a brief glimpse of joy occurred in the Johannesburg Temple. I will long remember Sister Angela of Mozambique. She and her husband were newly baptized members. They had a twelve-year-old son who suffered from muscular dystrophy and was wheelchair bound. We met them at a district conference just two weeks after their baptism. Their countenance was brilliant and they already looked forward to going to the temple to be sealed as a family. He had been called to serve as ward choir leader. Just two weeks after meeting them, Sister Angela's husband left early Sunday to rehearse with the choir. As he crossed the street near his home, he was hit by a vehicle and died at the scene. Their lives, which had been filled with hope, were suddenly shattered.
About elven months later, my wife and I were attending a session in the Johannesburg Temple. I looked around the room and saw Sister Angela sitting in the room. She was more radiant than I had remembered. She was there to be sealed to her husband and their son. She whispered, "I feel he is here with us today." In the tragic loss, she was blessed to see beyond her present state to glorious eternal view. With a perfect brightness of hope, she was in the temple to carry on the vision. The Lord does allow us to peek through celestial windows on occasion helping us to know of His love beyond the trials of life.
These principles of sacrifice, obedience, service, and trust are reflective of the covenants we make with our Heavenly Father that will lead us back to Him. The patterns of prayer, submissiveness, following the prophets, keeping commitments, and expressing love will help us "change" and thereby achieve our promised destiny. As we get these patterns correct in "our" own lives, then we must endure to the end. Elder Nelson has counseled us that enduring means looking beyond ourselves and helping others see the path home.
I had this thought burned into my heart on a dirt road in the middle of the Congo. Three days into a seven-day journey we stopped our vehicle at a bridge. As we stopped, a group of children ran up to our car and began their daily effort to sell us something or hope that we would share some food with them. One little girl seemed particularly attentive to us. She pressed her nose against our car window and spoke in her native language. I had no idea what she was saying and so all I could do was smile at her. The idea popped into my mind to see if she could mimic the words I might say to her. So pointing at my mouth I said, "you say what I'm saying". Magically she seemed to understand. So I said, "I" and she repeated "I". I said, "am" and she repeated, "am". I said "a child", she repeated "a child". I said, "of God" she repeated "of God." "I am a child of God" and she repeated "I am a child of God". The mission president with whom we were riding began to sing the hymn. She looked at him and seemed to be thinking. At that moment the bridge guard waved us forward, and we left the children standing there. We travelled about fifty feet and were stopped again. Instantly the same little girl ran to our window and as clearly as any little child could say she repeated, " I am a child of God".
I don't know if anything changed for her, but my life view changed and it will never be the same. For me there was a window of light that opened in my mind and I recognized that all of these wonderful people of Africa were also loved children of our Heavenly Father who had stood in that grand pre-earth council of heaven with their arms fully extended in support of the Fathers plan to bring us home. They too had sustained the Savior's proposal.
I realized more clearly the expectation of our brothers and sisters from that pre-earth experience, to find them and help them remember who they are. In the spirit of love we promised to find them or at a minimum do the work for them in the holy temple.
It is my witness to you that we are children of our Heavenly Father, whether here in the relative comforts of BYU-I or in the deepest villages of Africa. I know we have a responsibility to find and remind or at least find and perform the ordinances of salvation for our brothers and sisters.I testify that Jesus Christ is the literal Son of God who came to earth because of His total devotion to His Father and His complete love of us. It is in that spirit that He leads this His church today and encourages us to live in that pattern. The Father's plan teaches us how to love Him and His children.
Notes
[1] 1 Nephi 3:7, 15-16, 20
[2] Alma 29:9; D and C 18:15-16
[3] 2 Nephi 2:25
[4] John 15:7-12