Adult Session of Stake Conference
First Speaker
“All this won’t just happen in an instant. Great marriages are built brick by brick, day after day, over a lifetime.” (President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “In Praise of Those Who Save”, April 2016 General Conference)
Personal foundations are also built brick by brick, day after day, over a lifetime.
Helaman 5:12
12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.
“With apologies to Elder Neal A. Maxwell for daring to modify and enlarge something he once said, I too suggest that ‘one’s life … cannot be both faith-filled and stress-free.” It simply will not work “to glide naively through life,’ saying as we sip another glass of lemonade, ‘Lord, give me all thy choicest virtues, but be certain not to give me grief, nor sorrow, nor pain, nor opposition. Please do not let anyone dislike me or betray me, and above all, do not ever let me feel forsaken by Thee or those I love. In fact, Lord, be careful to keep me from all the experiences that made Thee divine. And then, when the rough sledding by everyone else is over, please let me come and dwell with Thee, where I can boast about how similar our strengths and our characters are as I float along on my cloud of comfortable Christianity.’” (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s modification of Elder Neal A. Maxwell’s text; see Neal A. Maxwell, “Lest Ye Be Wearied and Faint in Your Minds,” Ensign, May 1991, 88.)
2 Nephi 32:3
3 Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.
Prayer is a living discussion with our Heavenly Father.
“Even in turbulent times, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is gritty and resilient. It helps us sift through unimportant distractions. It encourages us to keep moving along the covenant path. Faith pushes through discouragement and allows us to face the future with resolve and squared shoulders. It prompts us to ask for rescue and relief as we pray to the Father in the name of His Son. And when prayerful pleas seem to go unanswered, our persistent faith in Jesus Christ produces patience, humility, and the ability to reverently utter the words ‘Thy will be done.’” (Lisa L. Harkness, “Peace, Be Still”, October 2020 General Conference)
“May we all seek and find the higher joy that comes from devoting our lives to our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son.” (Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “A Higher Joy”, April 2024 General Conference)
“With eternal power and infinite goodness, in God’s plan of happiness all things can work together for our good. We can face life with confidence and not fear.”
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“We increase faith and trust in the Lord that all things can work together for our good as we gain eternal perspective;”
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“When we trust God and His love for us, even our greatest heartbreaks can, in the end, work together for our good.”
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“within our stakes and wards, many faithful families and individuals confront difficult challenges, even while knowing that (without yet knowing how) things will work together for our good.” (Elder Gerrit W. Gong, “All Things for Our Good”, April 2024 General Conference)
“the foundation of our lives must be connected to the rock of Christ if we are to remain firm and steadfast. The sacred covenants and ordinances of the Savior’s restored gospel can be compared to the anchor pins and steel rods used to connect a building to bedrock. Every time we faithfully receive, review, remember, and renew sacred covenants, our spiritual anchors are secured ever more firmly and steadfastly to the ‘rock’ of Jesus Christ.” (Elder David A. Bednar, “‘Be Still, and Know That I Am God’”, April 2024 General Conference)
Dnc 90:24
24 Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another.
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Dnc 4
Dnc 80:3
3 Wherefore, go ye and preach my gospel, whether to the north or to the south, to the east or to the west, it mattereth not, for ye cannot go amiss.
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Dnc 109
8 Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;
“I promise you that all who faithfully attend to temple work will be blessed beyond measure. Your families will draw closer to the Lord, unseen angels will watch over your loved ones when satanic forces tempt them. The veil will be thin and great spiritual experiences will distill upon this people.” (Vaughn J. Featherstone, Mt. Vernon Wash. St. Conf., June1985; found in Royden G. Derrick, Temples in the Last Days, [1988], 103).
Ezekiel 47
1 Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar.
2 Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side.
3 And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles.
4 Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins.
5 Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.
If we only go to the temple once or a few times, you are only ankle deep in what Christ has to teach us. As you go more often you immerse yourself deeper and deeper in the pure waters that Christ has for you. Ezekiel then talks of those waters going forth and watering the desert and then proceeding far enough and being so many that the water can heal the Dead Sea. As more of us immerses ourselves in the temple, that water go forward to those that are parched for want of the truth. Later it goes on to heal truths that had been corrupted.
“My dear brothers and sisters, construction of these temples may not change your life, but your time in the temple surely will.” (President Russell M. Nelson, “Let Us All Press On”, April 2018 General Conference)
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John 14:6
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
DnC 6:36
36 Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.
Moroni 7:33
33 And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.
“We were talking about people who have difficult lives or troubles that come. But we all do. Everybody does.” (President Jeffrey R. Holland, multistake conference in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Sunday, November 10, 2024.)
Hebrews 11:1
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
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“It doesn’t seem possible to feel joy when your child suffers with an incurable illness or when you lose your job or when your spouse betrays you. Yet that is precisely the joy the Savior offers. His joy is constant, assuring us that our ‘afflictions shall be but a small moment’ [Doctrine and Covenants 121:7] and be consecrated to our gain.” (Russell M. Nelson, “Joy and Spiritual Survival”, October 2016 General Conference)
“As I have watched workers dig out old tree roots, plumbing, wiring, and a leaky fountain, I have thought about the need for each of us to remove, with the Savior’s help, the old debris in our lives.” (President Russell M. Nelson, “Welcome Message”, April 2021 General Conference)
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Mark 4:37
37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.
This is a piece of the account of Jesus sleeping during the storm on the boat that I have missed in the past. Not only was there a storm, but apparently the boat was filling with water.
2 Nephi 4
15 And upon these I write the things of my soul, and many of the scriptures which are engraven upon the plates of brass. For my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them, and writeth them for the learning and the profit of my children.
2 Nephi 4:20
20 My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep.
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