Another General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ has come to a quick close. As always, I am left thinking, "Darn. It's already over? How could it possibly be so?"
A lot of other things have been on my mind, too, of course. It may have something to do with all the wonderful talks and words that were heard all across the world. So many simple truths have been taught and learned these past two days. And I am simply overwhelmed by how much these past two days have helped me spiritually. I am beyond grateful to belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I know it is Christ's church. It's His, and there is no other.
That simple truth and belief of ours is found in the Fifth and Sixth Article of Faith:
5 We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.
6 We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.
A man must be called of God. He must be given the authority, the keys to preside over Christ's church. This is nothing new. We saw it again and again and again in the Old Testament in prophets such as Moses and in Abraham. They were entitled to know God's will for all of His children. They talked to God and received revelation straight from Him.
It is no different today. As Latter-Day Saints, we believe in a latter-day prophet who receives revelations straight from the Lord. We saw that this weekend when President Monson announced the new, younger age requirements for Elders (now 18) and Sisters (now 19). How awesome is it to recognize and know that such an announcement didn't come by chance? It is the Lord's will. We may not quite yet understand why the Lord needs these slightly-younger missionaries, but I can assure the world that there is a purpose behind it. It's not because "it makes more sense" or "it's more convenient"; otherwise, it would have been this way a long time ago. The Lord needs more missionaries, and He needs these younger Elders and Sisters.
Aside from the revelation that our prophet receives for us as God's children, I am grateful for the personal revelation that each of us can receive be listening to conference. As I listened to Elder Holland speak earlier today, he said something along the lines of (referring to being a true disciple of Jesus Christ), "The call is to come, to stay true, to love God, and lend a hand. I include in that call to fixed faithfulness every return missionary who ever stood in a baptismal font, and with arm to the square said, 'Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ...' That commission was to have changed your convert forever. But it was surely supposed to have changed you forever as well."
When I heard those words come out of Elder Holland's mouth, I couldn't help but start to tear up. It was a reminder to me that I need to do a better job of being a disciple of Christ. I wasn't only meant to be affected by my mission during the two years that I served. I am meant to let those baptisms and those mission experiences continue to change me.
I want to be a faithful Christian soldier. I cannot and will not stop--no matter the price.
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