While we were in Washington recently, we had the chance to attend a youth devotional with Elder Bednar. Elder Gary Sabin was also there and they both answered questions that were texted in. These notes might sound a little disjointed because there was more than I could write down.
Q: What do I do if I distrust our current church leaders? How do I find time to study the scriptures and pray?
A: Elder Bednar: Go to work studying their teachings. Study their lives and what they do. The Church is not hiding anything. Don't just listen to the internet. Don't rely on what others tell you. You don't find time to read the scriptures, you plan it. If you don't "find" time to do something, it's not important to you. Reading your scriptures because you need to check it off your list is not motivating. Feasting on the scriptures is motivating. Study as an agent, not an object to be acted on. Take a question to the scriptures and the Holy Ghost will help you find an answer. You don't pray to tell God what you want; you pray to find out what God wants for you. It's not a grocery list.
Elder Sabin: If we know who we are, we don't care what others think. It's much easier to be fully converted than partially. The kingdom of God or nothing. All in.
Q: How do I feel OK about someone dying?
A: Elder Bednar: This is central to our message. Jesus Christ gave up his life willingly so he could overcome death. Resurrection is a free gift. Being born is a death in pre-mortality. Death here means birth into eternity. There is a celebration on the other side when we die. We will live eternally because of Jesus Christ.
Q: How do I prepare for a mission?
A: Elder Sabin: When I was serving as a bishop, a young man told me, Bishop, I don't want to serve a mission. I said, What does that have to do with it? I don't want to be the bishop. But I'm called to serve. You need to honor the commitments you have already made. The secret of success on a mission is what the Lord told Nephi in Helaman. The Lord told him he was blessed for declaring the word without ceasing.
Elder Bednar: Don't worry about preparing for a mission. Instead, worry about understanding the oath and covenant of the priesthood and prepare to receive the ordinances of the temple. When we sacrifice, we give up stuff. When we consecrate, we give up "me."
Q: How do we repent and overcome our feelings of guilt?
A: Sin is a spiritual wound. To overcome guilt, we have to ask, have we paid the price to really repent? Repentance is NOT a list. It simply means turning to the Savior, turning to the Lord Jesus Christ. It has to be done with real intent. We're here to live the gospel and help others live it. Repentance is about hope.
Q: How can I feel like God has blessed me as much as he has blessed other people?
A: Elder Bednar: What is a blessing? Is being pretty a blessing? Is being rich a blessing? Is being disabled a curse? If being pretty means we get by on our looks and don't develop our intelligence and ability to work and draw closer to God, then being pretty is not a blessing. If riches become our god, then being rich is not a blessing. If being physically disabled draws us closer to God, then being disabled is not a curse. Blessings are individually suited to us. Don't compare what you have to what others have. We will be blessed to have the things we need to become what we need to become.
Elder Sabin: My daughter had a double lung transplant and a kidney transplant and diabetes. Her brother had passed away two years before from this same disease. She said to me, "Isn't it great that a perfect person has a perfect plan for me?" This is the university of godhood and we can't take PE and lunch.
Q: How can I hear the Holy Ghost when everything is so chaotic and busy?
A: Elder Sabin: In D&C 8, it says I will tell you in your mind and your heart. We have to start with prayer and our prayers should mostly be gratitude. In D&C 11, it says the Spirit brings light and joy. We have to work for it. We need to ask the Lord, What lack I yet? We have to pay the price to have revelation. I had a friend whom I worked with. He came to my office and at the end of our meeting, I asked him, Jay, are you happy? He said no. So I gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and told him that reading it would make him happy. He looked at the cover where it says, Another Testament of Jesus Christ. He said Gary, I'm Jewish. I said, Jay, you're not anything. Would you like to be something?
A: Elder Bednar: He likes to play golf in his rare free time when he has a chance. He had an opportunity to play at a golf course where he had to have a caddy. So someone found a caddy for him who was a young man who was not active in the church. The caddy didn't speak to him until finally Elder Bednar said, What's your deal? The caddy said, I don't want to go on a mission. I want to play baseball and be a doctor. Elder Bednar said, You have it backwards. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all things will be added unto you. From the 13th hole to the 18th hole, he said the caddy wouldn't leave him alone. Elder Bednar told him, call me if you ever need something. After a few days, the caddy called him and told him, You're haunting me! I can't forget your words. The young man ended up going on a mission. He never played baseball again and he decided to do something besides become a doctor, but he has a wonderful family.
Q: Is it hard to be one of the 12 Apostles?
A: Elder Bednar: It's not hard to be one of the apostles but it's very demanding. He has a never ending feeling of jet lag. He'll go on a trip to Africa and be gone for two weeks. By the time he leaves Africa, he is just starting to get used to the new time, then he'll come home for a few days. Then he'll travel again to Asia and have to get used to that new time. He's constantly adjusting to a new time zone. He exercises so his body can handle the demands to travel. But he said that nothing is more energizing than to be out visiting the members.
Q: Can you know if you're going to make it to the celestial kingdom?
A: Elder Bednar: Yes, you can know. If you love to live the gospel, then after you die, you will be with people who also love to live the gospel. If you wish you were not a member so you didn't have to obey certain commandments, then you will be with people like that. You will live the law you obeyed in this life.
Elder Bednar invited the youth to take the following approach the next time they have to give a talk. Study, pray and ponder many days on the topic you are asked to speak on. Then write down on a post-it note, two or three things you really want to say, then speak from your heart. One of the people that minister to him is a 15-year-old boy. He asked Elder Bednar how to prepare a talk. So Elder Bednar told him to study, pray, and ponder, then speak from his heart. So the boy did that. It wasn't a polished talk but he said it was an amazing spiritual experience. When you act in faith, you will have God's help.
He also invited the youth to change the way they bear their testimonies. When he was president of BYU-Idaho, a stake came to have a youth conference there and invited him to participate in their testimony meeting. He said he didn't want to because the youth would just be getting up to show off. He instead invited them to simply give a statement of belief with no stories or "thank-a-monies", simply a statement of something they believed to be true. The youth did this and 84 kids gave their testimonies in 60 minutes.
Q: Did we choose our families in the pre-existence?
A: Elder Bednar: We don't know. It hasn't been revealed. You can know if something is doctrine if you find it repeated in the scriptures, in General Conference, in official proclamations from the Church, or if it's in the handbook. The doctrine is not hiding. I don't know when the Second Coming is. No one does. The scriptures say no one knows the hour of the Lord's coming. Anyone who says they know, doesn't know.
He ended by telling the youth to study the doctrine of Christ, read all the references to it and study Christ's life so they could develop a love for Heavenly Father and his Son. He predicted that the youth would live long enough to be influenced by people who are joining the church in remote places. He told us that the people in Africa are very poor and always hungry so the gospel means everything to them. When you have lots of stuff, the gospel become a part-time hobby.
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