While serving as a mission president several years ago, I used to tell my missionaries that they came on a mission to help another person do what that person really wanted to do, but had not yet been able to do without some outside help. I watched missionaries help many people overcome addictions with tobacco, drugs, alcohol, and pornography. They found out what others wanted to do to make their lives better and then invited them to do what they really wanted to do but were having trouble achieving. This is how we edify each other--we build up another's soul. To edify literally means to build up, to lift one another.
A few years ago, while teaching a missionary prep class at BYU, I asked students to practice extending commitments every week of the course. I explained that I did not expect them to invite someone to be baptized, just help someone else do what that person really wanted to do but had not yet been able to do without some outside help. One student explained to me how she had called a non-LDS friend in her home state just to see how she was doing. Her friend told her that she had developed a drinking problem and that she was thinking of dropping out of school and returning home. She said that she had become so discouraged, she was thinking of taking her own life.
My student asked her if she wanted some help. Becoming emotional, her friend consented. My student then said to her friend:
In our Church we have the Book of Mormon. One verse we've been studying talks about some missionaries who got so discouraged they wanted to give up and go back home, but then they prayed and fasted and the Lord comforted them and said, "bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success" (Alma 26:27). I know that the Lord will help you. I know that he can help you overcome your drinking problem. I know He can help you succeed. Will you pray that He can do that?
Her friend agreed to pray. Later my student then said to me:
I can't actually believe I did that. I didn't know if she would be offended or if my invitation to pray would help her, but I felt that it would, so I did it. A week later my friend called me back and said, "I just want you to know that you saved my life. I'm getting some help with my drinking problem, and I've decided to stay in school. I'm not so discouraged anymore. You really saved my life.
This student was building up the soul of her friend. Moroni teaches that when we meet together, we should "speak one with another about the welfare of [our] souls."[1]
She was doing exactly what you do as BYU-Idaho students when you adhere to Principle Five of your learning model: "Learners and teachers at BYU-Idaho love, serve and teach one another." She taught her friend from the scriptures--but she was doing it out of love for her friend, not because she thought she might get a higher grade if she did it. No, she was doing it out of love.
By the way, in preparation for this talk, I re-read your learning model. It is inspired. It is powerful. If you make a concerted effort as students and faculty to follow it and to live it, I promise you that the Lord will bless you in unimaginably positive ways.
The reason you have this model is so that you can strengthen each other as learners and teachers. The model is a method to help us build up each other's souls. Most would not characterize my student's telephone conversation with her friend as teaching. We usually think of teaching as a formal thing that's done in classrooms. But when she quoted that scripture from Alma to her friend, she was actually teaching her the gospel pure and simple. She was bearing testimony of the Restoration without saying the words, "I want to bear my testimony."
Teaching happens every time we try to strengthen someone else. "And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren [and sisters]."[2]
We often quote the words I just cited, but the first of the verse is even more enlightening. This was a scene between the Savior and Peter.
The Savior knew that Peter was struggling in some way. He knew that Peter needed help.
So the Savior said, "[Peter], I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." The Savior was teaching Peter that conversion is not a one-time event, but a life-long quest.
He was trying to build up Peter's soul for what lay ahead, just as my student was trying to strengthen her friend who was on the verge of giving up on life completely.
We are all on the edge of failure or success every day. One minute things go well, and we think that life is great. Then the very next minute, something happens, and we feel negative for some reason. Discouraging thoughts gang up on us and try to pull us down. My hunch is that my student might have had discouraging thoughts herself, even right before she called her friend. But when she listened to her friend--really listened--and then felt her pain, that scripture from Alma popped into her mind--not by accident, not at all--but because her friend needed to hear those words right then. The Lord knew that, and He helped my student know that, and she shared what she had been inspired to share. It made all the difference.
I once conducted a training session here in Idaho and asked for a volunteer to help me teach a principle. A man about 35 years old came to the podium. I asked him, "Is there anything in your life you would like to improve?" He responded, "You mean in my Church assignment or work or what?" I said, "You choose. Whatever comes to your mind first." He said, "Okay, what I'd really like to improve is I'd like to spend more time with my family. My career is just taking too much of my time, and I need to do better." Keep in mind that he is saying this in front of about 500 people in the chapel. So then, I asked, "Would it help if you reported back to me on how you're coming with your goal?" He immediately agreed that having to report back to a general officer of the Church might help. So I gave him my email address and invited him to contact me whenever he felt that he was making progress on his goal.
About two weeks later, I received an email from this good soul. It was not a brief message. He gave a detailed account of what he had done to be able to spend more time with his family. He explained that our little conversation had helped him make some big changes in his life. He said that his marriage was better because of it and that he was happier than he'd ever been.
Think of this experience I had. It took about three minutes. All I was doing was trying to build up his soul. It took so little of my effort. I simply invited him to do what he really wanted to do but had not yet been able to do without some outside help. My experience had some similarities with that of my student who telephoned her friend. It did not take that much effort for my student to call her friend. And all she did was give her strength and encouragement to do what her friend really wanted to do but could not do without some outside help.
We came to this earth to prove ourselves. But we can't go through this test alone. We're in this complex, mixed-up world together. In that Great Council in Heaven before we came here, we probably had some premonition of how challenging mortality might be. But a loving Heavenly Father told us that his Only Begotten Son would save us from any calamity that might befall us. Any calamity. So we looked to the Lord and smiled. We knew that with His help, and only with His help, we would be able to make it through this life and return and live with Him forever.
From the very beginning we knew that mortality would not be a solo venture. We needed a Savior to atone for our sins, and a loving Father assured us that Christ would provide that atonement. But this was not all. Salvation is not a do-it-yourself project. It cannot be gained alone. Mortality is something we work on together. That is precisely why the doctrine of the eternal family is so central to all that we believe. We grow up in families so that we can gain the strength we need to reach out and help others.
President Spencer W. Kimball taught that "God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs."[3]
One of the most basic of all human needs is to feel loved. And one of the easiest ways to show that we care for someone is to thank them. My student's friend called her back to thank her for sharing a scripture and building her up so she could face her problems. Our notes of thanks may not be so dramatic. But we all have people in our circle of acquaintance who could benefit from a message of thanks from us.
Messages of thanks are easy to send--an easy way to build up the soul. Last November, when I spoke at the CES Devotional, I received a message of thanks from one of the brethren. Now you might imagine how wonderful that felt. Just to know that he was listening was blessing enough. But to know that he liked something I said--anything for that matter--gave me a real boost. Can you think of someone you could thank for something?
Now, I'm going to do something I've never done before in any talk I've ever given. I'm going to ask you to take your phone out of your pocket or your tablet or whatever device you might have. And if you're not into electronic devices, a pen and paper will work just fine. How many phones do we have here today? That's what I thought. I want you to look at this little device for a moment. Try to think of this, not just as a communication tool or a music player, but as a tool to build up another's soul.
So I ask you, can you pick up your phone--without checking one single message--and think of someone you might thank for something? I'll give you a minute to write a message of gratitude.
President Monson has taught us his whole life to reach out to each other. His life is a model of this. I love the title of a talk he gave in October general conference of 2012--"See Others as They May Become." He was counseling us not to focus on each other's faults or weaknesses, but to see how their gifts might grow stronger and stronger to help them become the person they are destined to be.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught that we should give more "deserved, specific praise." When we do this, we build up the soul. He also explained how people used to give him "prospective praise."
This is an interesting phrase. Perhaps only Elder Maxwell would have created it. But think about it for a moment. Prospective refers to the future. So Elder Maxwell was teaching that we can praise people for what they will one day do or one day be.
For example, some might have told Elder Maxwell in his youth that they just knew that one day he would be a great missionary.
These people were seeing Elder Maxwell as the person he was going to become, as President Monson taught. So we can all give more deserved, specific praise. We can all give prospective praise. These are simple ways to build up the soul. Can you think of someone who could use a word of praise? I will give you another minute to write a message of praise.
I hope you will come to see your phone as a way to give praise to others. Of course, you can do this in person face-to-face even more effectively. But I keep thinking of the messages that go back and forth. I read recently how we are sending about 300 billion emails per day. That's about 3 million per second. Americans who are 18-29 years old send on average 88 text messages per day. So I ask myself, how many of those messages are positive, helpful messages? How many of those messages truly edify? How many are destructive, damaging messages? And how many might best be called clutter--they don't build or destroy. They do almost nothing at all.
We can all send more messages of thanks and praise. But these phones can also be powerful tools to learn and teach. They are tools for you to follow the principles in your learning model here at BYU-Idaho. We can learn new things every day on our phones. We can read a news article or read the scriptures. We can read a poem or a whole book. Most like to read books on larger devices than a phone, but because my phone is always with me, I find myself reading books on my phone. This reading leads to learning.
Anytime we learn something new, we have an obligation to share it with someone else. You'll notice I did not say it would be a nice thing to share it with someone else. I used the word obligation. Let's go back to the Savior's message to Peter. The Savior did not say, "And when thou art converted, it might be nice if you have time to strengthen your brethren." The Savior helped Peter see that teaching is simply the other side of learning. Recently I heard that the word "ako" or "a'o" in Tongan means both to learn and to teach. Because we came to earth to build up each other's soul, we have a divine duty to share with others what we are learning. Learning is a sacred privilege, an act of wonder. It's a change that takes place inside us. When we learn something new--and I'm not talking about learning a simple fact like what temperature it is outside right now--I'm talking about real learning, the kind of learning that expands us spiritually, intellectually, physically, emotionally or all of the above.
We have a grandson serving a mission in the Philippines. In one of his letters he explained how he and his companion were teaching a man who had a drinking problem. They had invited him to quit drinking, but to no avail.
On the subsequent visit, my grandson described how he became quite bold and told the man that if he did not stop drinking, they would not be able to teach him anymore, because he was always drunk when they came to his home and he could not benefit from their message when he was drunk. The man agreed to stop drinking. And the next time the missionaries visited him, he was sober for the first time in years.
All of my five children read my grandson's letter. And then the fun began. We all started talking about how to help someone who is not like us. My grandson had never known an alcoholic before. So he had to reach down deep to know how to help him. He had to call upon the Lord. We have created a group email for our family so that my children who live in four different states can communicate easily with us and their siblings. Some began sharing scriptures, others shared experiences--all focusing on how we can relate more effectively to those with whom we don't have too much in common. It was a rich learning and teaching experience. My wife and I were learning from our children. They were learning from us. We were all learning from each other.
So one additional invitation I would like to extend to you today is to look at your phone as a tool for learning and teaching. Try using it in some new way to learn and teach. You might create an email group as we have done in our family. You might use a social media tool to do the same. Or you might invent a whole new way to increase learning and teaching.
Each morning my wife and I read the scriptures in Spanish. We've never had a formal class in Spanish, and we did not learn Spanish in the mission field. We began our study by using language software programs. And I had tutors who helped me so that I could then help my wife. We finished reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish last Christmas, and now we're reading the Pearl of Great Price and Old Testament scriptures for this year's Gospel Doctrine course.
A student who used to work for me developed an app that places the Spanish verse of scripture next to the English on the same screen, so that as you scroll, you see both versions simultaneously. Frankly, a brilliant piece of work. Why did he develop it? Because his wife--knowing that he was a good programmer--asked him if it wouldn't be possible to see on your phone or tablet both languages at the same time, so you could check your comprehension instantly. He took the challenge and created the app. We use it every day.
So for those of you who learned another language on your mission, I hope you'll keep it fresh. One of the best ways is to read the scriptures in your mission language. And for those of you who do not know another language, I would invite you to consider doing the same. You will need to get grounded in the language before jumping into the scriptures, but you can do that with free software right now. What could build up the soul in a more powerful way than reading the scriptures?
Here's a simple example of how reading the scriptures in another language can be enriching.
My wife and I were reading in Moses 7:18 where the "Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind. . ." In Spanish the word "mind" is translated voluntad. In other verses of the scriptures that talk about "one heart and one mind," or "with all your heart, might, mind, etc." the word mind is translated as the more common word in Spanish mente. So I asked myself why was it translated as voluntad in this verse--the very powerful verse describing what it means to be a Zion people. Voluntad in Spanish connotes will or volition. As I thought about it, I liked this Spanish word more than the English one mind because mind can mean so many things.
Enoch's people became a Zion people because they wanted to become a Zion people. They had the will or desire to do it. And the greater that will and desire became, the more they drew together. The more they built up each other's souls. Can you imagine how much and how often they praised each other or expressed gratitude to one another? Can you envision how intent they were to learn all they could from each other about God and his will for them? All because they wanted to. They had the voluntad-the will, the desire to be one and to have no poor among them.
My message to you today--and I'm saying this because I love you--is to do all you can to build up one another's souls. Seek every opportunity possible to thank, to praise, to learn and to teach. Reach out, as President Monson has so consistently counseled us to do. You can do all of these things without any electronic device at all. And I encourage you with all my heart to do that. The people of Enoch had no smart phones, but that did not stop them from becoming a Zion people. Hand written notes or cards are still as meaningful as they ever were. But now we also have these little devices in our pockets and purses, so I invite you to look at them in a new way. You can thank and praise and learn and teach wherever you are. You can lift others wherever they might happen to be-anywhere in the world. That's one thing the people of Enoch could not do. But we can, so I pray that we will.
We have an epidemic of cyberbullying. What I'm hoping for is that we can nurture a much stronger movement of cyberedifying. Remember, to edify means to "build up the soul." This is what the Lord would have us do. So keep looking at your phone as a tool to lift someone else. We can all think of someone--a friend, a family member, a member you baptized on your mission, a teacher, a student--who might benefit from a message that we are uniquely qualified to send. We can all send a message that will strengthen and build up another person's soul, a message that will make them feel more competent, more loved, more able to meet the demands of life.
I pray that we might hearken to the Lord's words that "all might be edified of all." You have more potential to achieve this than any other generation who has ever lived. You are children of the covenant. You have all of the truths of the Restoration at your fingertips. And you have the ability, the desire, and the tools to achieve what has never been done before. This is one way that each of us can help "Zion in Her Beauty rise." I know you can do it. I bear witness that the Lord lives and that He will help us build up the souls of His children, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Mononi 6:5
[2] Luke 22:32
[3] Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball (2006)