Conference and Testimony

My dearest family,

 

With the pandemic we are currently experiencing, missionaries being sent home, churches being closed, temples being closed, needing to have a virtual worldwide conference, schools closed, graduations cancelled, limited numbers of people being allowed in grocery stores, toilet paper shortage, meetings of more than 10 people cancelled, all sporting events on every level have been cancelled, stock market crash, unemployment rate climbing faster than it has ever climbed in history, people having to work from home, kids can’t play with their friends, schools providing breakfast and lunch to help families in the community, flights being cancelled, cities and countries being on lock down, virtual school classes, virtual doctor visits, hospital protocols changing (no visitors and only the sick person being allowed in), all elective surgeries cancelled, hundreds of thousands of people worldwide wearing masks and being more diligent when they wash their hands and covering their cough, we all have to practice social distancing, etc, etc, etc.

I have some thoughts I would like to share with each of you. I wrote a letter to Monah with some thoughts I would like share with all of you. None of us know how long we will be allowed to live here on this earth, so I feel a need to share these thoughts with you today.

 

Many of our family members have been through very hard trials. Nine of you lost your father at a very young age and your mother lost her husband. Thirteen of you have parents who, for various reasons, found it necessary to get a divorce. One of you lost a brother to suicide. One lost both of her parents in less than a month. All of you have lost grandparents, three of you suddenly lost a sister to death and 2 have lost a daughter to death, three of our family have experienced miscarriages, many have had to have surgeries, many have broken a bone. The list goes on and on. We are not strangers to pain, sorrow or loss. However, as we look back on those pains and losses, we can see that we are stronger because of them. We have become more resilient, more compassionate when others go through similar times in their lives, more hopeful, and kinder. Two of you went back to school after your loss and changed your professions. Two of you were stay-at-home mom's and have found yourselves needing to find a job. Two of you were serving honorable missions when the pandemic began. One has returned home and the other is still trying to make her way home. One had cancer removed several years ago and is doing fine today. Another was recently diagnosed with cancer and is facing an unknown outcome.

When trials came, did we stop and say, "I can't do this!!" No! We found our new normal, our new way of looking at things. We pulled ourselves up by our "bootstraps" and put one foot in front of the other and moved forward in our lives. Hopefully, we learned the lessons we needed to learn. We should never give up or quit when hard times come. God didn't put us on this earth to fail or to quit. 

Carrie shared a great blog that is a special edition for missionaries who are coming home. It is quite interesting. They said that the youth of the church, especially those returning from their missions, should journal their experiences. You have to figure out how to make a new start. There are many examples from the scriptures and more modern times when people had to make a new start.

We have just witnessed an historic conference about the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ. Think of all the new starts that Joseph Smith had to make in his short life. What about Joseph of Egypt? What about the apostles of Christ? What about Job?

When Joseph Smith was in Liberty Jail being taunted by the guards, being fed terrible and sometimes poisoned food, and the Saints were also suffering terrible abuse and privations, he pleaded to God in prayer for relief. The answer that came was that all these things would give him experience, and would be for his good.

Think of Joseph of Egypt who was beloved by his parents. He was given a beautiful coat of many colors, which made his brothers jealous of him, so they took him and put him in a pit. Some wanted to kill him, but instead they sold him into slavery and then put the blood of an animal on his coat and told their parents that he was dead. He was brought to Egypt and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, bought him and he found favor in his house until Potiphar's wife had eyes for him and then lied about him to her husband, who then had him cast into prison. Because he was actually a righteous young man, even in prison he was good and kind to others and was given free reign over the prisoners, because the keeper of the prison trusted him. After interpreting a dream of the Pharaoh's chief butler and baker, he is summoned to interpret the Pharaoh's dream. Pharaoh then made Joseph second in the kingdom, only to himself. Because of this he not only saved the lives of hundred's of thousands of people in Egypt, but he was able to save the lives of his parents and brothers and their families. His righteousness in trials blessed a nation.

Moses had many twists and turns in his life, but because of those experiences he gained faith in God and came to know Him personally. His faith enabled him to save the Israelites from bondage and lead them to the promised land.

Our trials can make us stronger!

We must remember that God is endless and limitless. He is bigger than all of this. He knows the beginning to the End. We must trust God and Jesus Christ to bring us and everyone else through this time and pray that we will all be stronger because of this trial. Read Exodus 3 where God is taking to Moses and reminds him that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In the blog, they pointed out that each of their circumstances were different, but God blessed them as only He can. Exodus 6 is where the Lord identifies himself to Moses. Read how many times He uses the word I. Read what He says about Himself. 

I have a strong hand.

I am the Lord

I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

I established my covenant with you.

I heard their groanings and remembered my covenant.

I will bring them out of their bondage and redeem them with my stretched out arm.

I will take them to me and they shall be my people and I shall be their God.

 

Is this not God also speaking to us? He is our God. We have made covenants with Him. He can and will bring us out of this bondage we are in and He will redeem us. We just have to trust Him and His timing. I hope you will all participate in the Worldwide Fast this coming Friday, Good Friday, and pray that this pandemic may be controlled, caregivers protected, the economy strengthened and life normalized. There is strength in numbers and unity.

I also want to share with all of you what I shared with Tyler’s family on Sunday at the end of the morning session of conference.

 

Temple Experience

After the morning session of conference, in which we all participated in the Hosanna Shout I shared my thoughts with the family. Traditionally the Hosanna Shout is only done at the dedication of a temple. I have been to 4 temple dedications and remember the experiences well. I think it was profound that our prophet and all the apostles decided to do it as a part of conference, while we are all isolated in our homes. Then I helped them understand that we had just been blessed to have a temple experience in our own homes today. Isn't it interesting that we all were able to have a temple experience, even if some have never been to the temple. Let that sink in for a minute. Active and inactive alike, if they were watching conference, were given the opportunity to have a temple experience yesterday. What a sweet tender mercy for all of us, since all the temples are closed right now. We are told to make our homes a temple. Wow! I love the gospel and the peace it brings in our times of trial. I know God lives and that he loves each of us and knows us by name. His arms are stretched out still, welcoming us into them. This is an opportunity for each of us to Hear Him and draw nearer to Him than we ever have before.

 

Someone on Facebook shared this beautiful insight about the Hosanna Shout.

Just a note about the Hebrew and symbolism in the Hosanna Shout that we’ll participate in during tomorrow’s Solemn Assembly. Hosanna in English comes from two Hebrew words. הושע and נא.  The first part הושע is the command form of the verb meaning “save” (interestingly it’s the same verb that Jesus’ earthly name comes from. Jesus means Salvation in Hebrew) and נא is a particle of entreaty meaning “please.”  We’ll wave white handkerchiefs or hands (palm branches in the New Testament at Jesus’ triumphant entry) in order to get God’s attention and to focus our own attention on what we are doing. As we repeat Hosanna we are asking God to please save us. Literally. Save us please! There is great power in communal acts of prayer and this holy act, usually only performed as part of temple dedications, in particular. I hope this helps you understand what it is you're doing as you participate in this holy act tomorrow.

 

I want to bear my testimony to you that I know God lives and so does his beloved Son, Jesus Christ. I know there is a Great Plan of Happiness that will bless our lives if we follow the plan and keep our covenants. I know the power of repentance and have experienced it in my own life and in the lives of others. Great peace can come after true repentance. I know that Christ’s arms are always stretched out to welcome us back and into His loving arms. One of the things I love about the Gospel is that there is a plan in place where everyone has the opportunity to return to live with God again, except the Son’s of Perdition.

It is my prayer that we can each humble ourselves and come unto Christ and Hear His voice calling you. We are truly sons and daughters of God. To me that is very humbling to contemplate. May God bless each of us that we will all make it safely through this pandemic and through our lives knowing of the great goodness of God and Jesus Christ. I have you all in my prayers each day. I love each of you so much and I am honored to be called mother and grandma.

Love always,
Grandma Allen