I learned in the Church there is one universal language-that is the spirit of the Lord. I pray that the spirit of God be with us and that we may edify [one another] and communicate by the Holy Spirit. After thirty-four years of my ministry as a Seventy of the Church, I left the first acting service of the Seventy and now I teach institute class: the Davis County Singles Young Adult Stake, and this is my third semester teaching.
This semester I [am] teaching how to be an escort and how to be married successfully. I invite you to prepare for that but I challenge you first to serve a mission. I teach also Sunday School class in the ward and I work also at the temple as a temple sealer. But the second semester this year, a young man, a returned missionary, who serves as an assistant to the president and I won't say which mission, and [with] tears in his eyes, he said, "Brother Kikuchi, I have a problem. Since I returned from my mission my spirituality is really not what it ought to be. Would you help me so that I can get back to the spirit of the mission?"
I said, "Before I answer that question, could I ask something? What time [do] you usually sleep? What time [do] you get up? And what [are the] activities in the morning as you get up?" And so on and so on. And so I ask, "What time [are] you planning to go to bed?"
"That's about one o'clock and sometimes two."
"Are you studying?"
"Not necessarily."
"Then what time you get up?"
"Well, I have to take a bus to the school and I need to get up at least thirty minutes [before]."
"Can you freshen up within that few minutes and then catch the bus? Do you have a breakfast?"
"Well, most of the time I don't."
"Well, is there anything of the special things you do to communicate with Heavenly Father?"
"Well, I read the scriptures occasionally but not steady."
"Do you have a chance to visit with Heavenly Father often and in a steady way?"
He said, no.
"Well, you are a little far from Heavenly Father now. May I suggest the prescriptions for you if you are willing to listen to me?" He said, "I would do anything I need to [get the] spirit back again."
Then, I said, "When I became a General Authority and I was called, and one of the presidency of the Seventy trained me. [He told me] when he was called, he asked President David O. McKay, 'President McKay what should I do to deepen my spirituality?'" And [President McKay answered] pointing at five fingers and I hope you remember:
"I arise early. I wash my body and I put my new linen and those of us [who have] been through the temple the holy garment. Then, I subdue my spirit-number four-before God; I am kneeling before Heavenly Father. Number five," he said, "I wait for the inspiration of the Holy Father in Heaven. When I do that I come home, come back, and I am immersed into the scriptures daily."
Well, this man that trained me-he really, really taught [me well]-and he was convinced [by President McKay] that he really should do [these things]. And [in turn] he really convinced me and I believe that the best methods-[this] simple prescription-[are the best] methods I have heard. So my brothers and sisters-I did [them].
Then a few days later and almost a week later [the young man's] countenance was different and his demeanor [was] changed and this time it's different tears. He expressed profound, profound love for Heavenly Father and closeness to his Savior.
Doctrine and Covenant 88 section, verses 62 to 63 says, "This is a commandment I given unto you while I'm near." Listen to these words of the Lord. "While I'm near, draw near to me, I draw near unto you." I believe the Lord is always nearby us, but He asks us to initiate, to come closer to Him. He said, "While I'm near, draw near unto me, I draw near unto you."
My dear brothers and sisters, this is the most glorious principles of moral agency. If you and I can exercise our agency to take time and effort to come closer to the Lord I [have] found that the Lord comes to us. So [had] this young man, and he was a so appreciative. And he said, "I'll never forget."
I was in Stake Conference in the south from here-a little south almost to Utah-in Preston, Idaho. We [were] organizing the stake presidencies and I interviewed probably forty-eight priesthood brethren. Oh, my. Probably fifteen of them can be capable to serve, but I didn't feel good. So [I asked] my companion, Area Seventy Elder Fish, "Do you think we ought to continue to interview?" He said yes we would. The last three persons came in.
The first was the bishop. He was called only six months ago-a young man, forty-one years old, married, three children-and he was a bishop. Before he started talking to us, the Spirit of the Lord told us, told me, this is the man. So I said, "Brother so-and-so, tell me [about] your relationship with the Savior and your relationship with the Heavenly Father."
Tears are streaming down from his cheeks. All those [other] 40, 50, or 60 people, they [were] all wonderful. Wonderful leaders. Capable leaders. But [these were] the first time humble tears came, and he couldn't tell his feelings about the Savior and Heavenly Father. The Spirit born witness to me again, this is the man I have chosen. I almost heard the Lord's voice. So finally he controlled his emotion and then said he has been trying to wake up in morning, early. He has been to the Provo MTC, went to the Barcelona Spain mission and now he's serving and married and [runs a] very successful car and tire business. He said, "I've been doing this to cultivate my spirituality every day."
And I said, "Who taught you how to do so? Your mission president?"
"Yes, he did, but you know that man who came?" He was joking. I'm [in] a serious meeting. "This bald headed guy came and his name was Brother Kikuchi. You are the one [who] shared the Sacred Grove [experience] that I should have. Since that day, I've been doing those things."
My dear brothers and sisters, I humbly today [offer] a simple formula: follow President McKay's suggestion. Arise a little early, and then, wash and freshen up. Then put your new linen on, then jeans, [which is] fine-you don't need to dress in Sunday clothes. Find your secluded place. You don't need to go [to the] backyard. You don't need to get in between the trees on the snow, however, that [is a] very wonderful secluded place. Kneeling before God, communicate with Heavenly Father through the holy name of the Savior, Jesus Christ. I promise you in the name of Jesus Christ, I humbly promise you in the name of Jesus Christ your lives will be changed. The Spirit of God [will] come to you always [and be a] companion to your wonderful life.
President Eyring of the First Presidency lives in our stake in Bountiful, and Brother [Henry J.] Eyring here-he looks like his father. And President Taylor, Brian Taylor, our stake president, asked one time when he went to President Eyring's stake, while they were waiting for the sacrament and President Taylor whispered [in] his ear, "What would you suggest, President Eyring, [that I do] as a Stake President to serve effectively?" President Eyring whispered back "[Come unto] Him again, then connecting, help the saints to connect with the Savior Jesus Christ."
And about two weeks before that, [when] I was a still an Acting Seventy, [President Taylor] came to my ward and whispered to my ears the same thing. "What can I do to serve effectively as a Stake President?" I said, "If I were you, I would help the brothers and sisters to come closer to Heavenly Father." My dear brothers and sisters, President Eyring is right. Let us more connect with the Savior and Heavenly Father.
Our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, when he was called as a young man as a bishop, his Sacred Grove [was] his chapel at a [the] pulpit, beneath the pulpit, [when] no one [was] around. That is his Sacred Grove. He [was] always kneeling, begging and pleading to Heavenly Father to help him. My dear brothers and sisters, my dear brothers and sisters, I humbly offer to you, [that] you and I could have own version of our Sacred Grove. Thus that you can commune with Heavenly Father; thus that you can communicate with the divine fellowship with Holy Father in heaven, daily, daily, [which] will cause us to communicate [better with Him].
And I believe that morning is a symbol of the resurrection. I repeat morning is the symbol of the resurrection. How many mornings [do] you spend with Heavenly Father? Through the Savior Jesus Christ I know it [is] determined the degrees of glory, of happiness, of our own resurrection. My dear brothers and sisters, I humbly offer to you that you and I could have that personal Sacred Grove. Now that the Sacred Grove is not only for this young man that I taught after my class at Institute or the Stake President who is serving in Idaho.My dear brothers and sisters, the Sacred Grove story is effective [for] non-members also and brothers and sisters all over the world. I want to share, before I sit down, the story of Joseph Smith's Sacred Grove experience that affected his life.
It happened in Japan some fifty years ago-almost fifty-four or -five. I, my dear brothers and sisters (four kids), mom and dad-[we] were happy. They [were a] Buddhist family. War broke out. Father was called to serve. Two weeks before the war ended, he became sick and came home. [He] found no food in his home. [All the] workers [were] gone. He took young people, and boys and also older people to catch fish. By two [o' clock], his engine boats [had] caught a lot of fish. And they [were] heading to harbor and on the way-two weeks prior to the war ending-Americans and Marines bombed and killed these eight people except for one. A fourteen-year-old boy helping [catch fish], caught the debris and spent a day and a half to reach to the seashore. He told everything that [had] happened. This father left behind the four kids and of course the faithful wife and mother, who became poor.
The family [of] four, the boy, [the] third child, when he graduated from his junior high, [there was] no money to send [him] to senior high school. So he found a little tiny shop, a bean curd shop made with soy beans, [and started] working from 4 o'clock in the morning, making tofu. And [he] started selling in the morning for the breakfast, which everyone wanted. Then he would rest a little while and then make the tofu for the evening and rest, looking up at the stars. After 6, he changed, ate, and biked [to] the evening school. He came home at 10:30, and jumped into bed by 11.
One day he was found in a hospital bed, critically ill. His doctor could not diagnose anything. Brothers and sisters, [his] mother called, his big brother called, they said that they cannot make it; they could not help. Brothers and sisters, that night that little boy as a Buddhist boy, prayed, "God are you there? Buddha are you there?" No spirit, no angel, no lights-nothing.He fell asleep and next morning was very fresh; after few days he left hospital.
It was a Monday. Monday, [which was] missionary p-day, knocking doors p-day. They [were] knocking all day, however, no success. Then finally they decided to go home, but somehow, a young missionary from St. Anthony, Idaho, turned to [his] companion, "Can we knock few more doors?" They decided to knock a few doors.
[They] came to the little boy [who] was staying in the grandmother's home. [He had] left that tofu shop because he got sick. He saw Americans. He was told they came from America. The boy said, "You just go, I no like you guys. Americans, you kill my father".The missionary took [off his] gentleman hat, [the] young man from St. Anthony.
"How old are you, young man?" the young man said.
"I said leave."
My dear brothers and sisters, this young missionary [said], "We have a message for you. A message that your Heavenly Father came to a boy just like you and your Savior came to a boy just like you. We want to tell [you] a story."
The boy froze, "I give you 10 minutes then."
Missionary walked in and taught that little boy. That missionary taught so beautifully, "I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head above the brightness of the sun." The missionary started crying, telling about the brightness of the sun "which descended gradually until it fell upon me... When the light rest upon me, I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all descriptions...One of them spake unto me, calling me by name pointing to the other-This is my beloved Son, hear Him."[1]
You know what? That Japanese boy believed them. Embarrassed, [he] asked them to come back. Somehow [the] missionaries came back every day, [though they] almost didn't know where to go. [They] taught that little boy, my dear brothers and sisters. He wanted to be baptized, but he was too young and needed permission. [He] called [his] mother, "Mother I found a wonderful church. I want to join and be baptized. Two young men came from America." She hung up.
That missionary fasted and prayed and the boy did also. [The] next day he called, "Mother don't hang up. I've found a wonderful church. Please give me permission." Almost ten minutes back and forth, he was begging and she was pleading [him] not to. Finally, [his] wise mother said, "Son, you're too young to make a decision, but one condition, if you [do] not quit right in the middle, I'll let you join. Remember, don't you ever quit in middle." Missionaries took him the next day to biggest baptismal font, which [is] called [the] Pacific Ocean.
That young boy, that young boy was affected by the Sacred Grove [story] of Joseph Smith by [the] missionaries. My dear brothers and sisters, I have to sit down.
You may wonder who is that boy? Is that little boy still active in the Church? My dear brothers and sisters, I am, I am that little boy who said, "No thank you, go away." Thank God [for] missionary work. Now, I want to make straight-[the] gospel changed my nature. I love you. I love you beautiful American people. May God bless all of us. I know [my] Father in Heaven [said] "Behold this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name."[2] And [I know] Jesus stood in the Bountiful temple. "Behold I am Jesus Christ whom the prophets testified shall come into the world... I have drunk thy bitter cup which my Father hath given me"[3] for the sake of the world.
I love my Father in Heaven. I love my Savior. I love our prophet. And I love this Church. May God bless all of you to communicate with Heavenly Father more often is my humble prayer. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Joseph Smith-History 1:16-17
[2] 3 Nephi 11:7
[3] 3 Nephi 11: 10-11