VIDEO: Come Follow Me Insights with Taylor and Tyler from Book of Mormon Central (Doctrine and Covenants 12–13; Joseph Smith—History 1:66–75, Feb 8-14) | #ComeFollowMe

Come Follow Me Insights (Doctrine and Covenants 12–13; Joseph Smith—History 1:66–75, Feb 8-14) – powered by Happy Scribe

I’m Taylor, and I’m Tyler, this is Booker Mormons Centrals, Come, Follow Me Insight’s Today Doctrine and Covenants, Sections 12 and 13 and Joseph Smith History versus sixty six through 75.

Today we’re going to be talking about ministering angels from both sides of the veil and how they come and minister to our needs to set the stage for what we’re going to discuss today in church history and in the Scriptures. I want to begin in a nonconventional way. I want to tell you a story that happened back in 2010. This is a story of Tim and Karen Turner, they lived in Oregon, they had six children, five of which had a physical and mental struggles in life.

And it was a full time job for Karen just to take care of these five younger children. In fact, Jessica, their oldest, she was the only one who didn’t have any special needs. In spite of all of the the struggles with the children’s health, Karen and Tim decided to take a Coast-to-coast church history trip. They lived in Oregon and they were in to work their way back east and then and then home again. They drove down to Utah, to Salt Lake to drop off their second daughter, who had credos syndrome and was in a wheelchair and couldn’t very easily go on the trip with the rest of them.

And then they continued their journey east. When they made it to Iowa, a torrential downpour hit and Tim was driving and their van hydroplaned and slammed into a cement barrier. This accident left Tim with a broken neck in five different places, a broken arm, severe concussion and other bodily injuries. It also created some life threatening injuries for their daughter, Jessica, and one of their other sons, Joshua. The doctors came into the emergency room to talk to him.

Here he is in pain and shock with a major concussion and feeling totally broken. And they informed him that his wife, Karen, did not survive the accident. At that point, you can imagine his world just crushing in upon him and gratefully there were some ministering angels for him and for his children. He had two sisters, Tracy and Trisha, who flew out from Salt Lake to Iowa to be with him and the children that were there. And his mother and father in law, Floyd and Carol Burnett, flew out after a few days.

Three of the children were taken back to Utah. And Tim and Jessica and Joshua were left in three different hospitals there in Iowa to work through their struggles. And Tracy stayed behind, as well as Floyd to take care of them. Tim’s condition just went downhill. His whole will to live was gone. He was facing a future of trying to deal with all of these struggles with these children and dealing with the emotional issues of losing his wife and beating himself up, feeling responsible for that and no desire to live.

And the doctors kept trying to work with him and feed him. But everything they fed him, he kept throwing up. After six days in the ICU with his deteriorating condition, his sister Tracy said, Tim, you have to live. You have to fight. Your children need you. And he said nothing sounds good. She said there’s got to be something that sounds good and he thought for a minute and he said the only thing that might stay down is banana bread, at which point she said, But, Tim, you don’t even like banana bread.

He said, I know, but it’s the only thing that sounds like it might stay down. At which point Tracy said, wait a minute. And she left his hospital and went over to to where she was staying. And she picked up a bag that had been dropped off just an hour before at the Ronald McDonald House where she was staying. And she brought it back to the hospital and she said, Tim, you’re never going to guess what happened.

And she handed him this this bag. And inside was a loaf of still warm banana bread. That bread had been delivered by a member of the church there in Iowa who had dropped this off. For no other reason than she said, I felt like I should bring this bread. To the Ronald McDonald House to to give to you she had no idea Tim opened that bag and that warm bread, the the aroma, he said, filled his soul.

He didn’t just see a loaf of banana bread. He saw the hand of God. He said he took he broke off a corner of that bread and put it in his mouth, and for the first time since the accident, food tasted good. It went down and it filled his soul, not just his not just his body, but it filled his soul with nourishment, with a desire to fight and to move forward and to live. Now, here’s the irony, there’s a a dear sister somewhere out there in Iowa back in 2010 who has no idea that on that day when she was inspired that morning to make banana bread and deliver a loaf of it to the Ronald McDonald House, she had no idea what that bread was going to do.

She was simply acting on an impression. Brothers and sisters, that their sister was a ministering angel to one of God’s children who needed to know that he had not been forsaken, that somehow some way God was going to help him work through all of those struggles and accomplish what needed to be accomplished. That bread didn’t solve Tim’s problems. It didn’t bring his beloved wife back. It didn’t fix his broken neck. It didn’t help the other two children in the hospital or comfort the three who were back in Utah at the time.

But it was exactly what Tim needed to get through that next step of his life to move forward. And since then, in the ensuing 10 years since then, Tim’s life hasn’t been easy. He’s had a myriad of problems to continue to wrestle with and work through. But talking to Tim yesterday on the phone in preparation for this, he said, God has been so good to me, I feel nothing but blessed because he’s he’s given me what I’ve needed at each phase to be able to move forward.

Brothers and sisters, today’s lesson in the doctrine and covenants and in church history is about ministering angels from both sides of the veil. And what do they do? They minister to our needs. What do we need right now to be able to move forward and progress on the covenant path? If you turn to Section 12 Doctrine and Covenants Section 12, you’re introduced to this character in church history named Joseph Knight. And while the emphasis of Chapter 12 is on Joseph, let’s not forget his his dear wife, Polly, who is completely supportive and with him and probably even encouraging him in many of the things that are going on.

If you look at a map, Joseph and Polly Night live up in Colesville New York. It’s a long journey from Colesville down to Harmonie, Pennsylvania, where Joseph and Emma are and where Oliver is with them working their way through the translation process of The Book of Mormon. Joseph Knight made that long journey on several occasions. And the amazing thing about Joseph Knight is, while others are persecuting and finding fault with Joseph Smith and what’s going on with the translation, Joseph Knight trusts him.

He he supports him and he never arrives empty handed. He’s always bringing food or money. And on one occasion, he even brought lined paper to help aid them in the translation process because money was short and they they were struggling. I love the fact that Joseph Knight doesn’t show up and say, hey, if you need anything, just let me know. What does he do? He acts on impressions and he does good things. He brings them things that he knows they’re they’re going to need whether they ask for them or not.

There’s a beautiful principle there for us today. The the Lord is going to give us thoughts and feelings and impressions of how to minister to people’s needs, and if we act on those thoughts quickly, then we’ll usually find that the Lord has a purpose for helping somebody through that act. Never suppress an urge or an impression to do something nice or do something kind for another person. Never suppress that. Just just act on it. You never know. You never know what a simple loaf of banana bread delivered to a stranger will do in the hands of the Lord.

You never know what a kind thought shared or a little bit of money left with somebody will do when you’re acting on an impression. And that is the story of Joseph and Polly night here. Now you’ll notice in Section 12 it he asks Joseph what he can do to help build the kingdom. And you’re going to you’re going to hear some repeat phrases. A great and marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men. We’ve seen this on a couple of other occasions previously, and he tells him, I am God.

Look, a verse three, behold, the field is white, all ready to harvest. We can read that in the context of Joseph Knight and Joseph Smith and the building up of the Kingdom of God back in the eighteen, twenty nine time frame. Or we can read that in the context of ministering angels on both sides of the velocity. You being a ministering angel, the field is white already to harvest. We are surrounded by people who need help.

I love I just absolutely love the concept that has been shared by President Henry firing on multiple occasions in general conference where he has asked the question, Lord, who needs me today? Who can I help that is such a beautiful concept, a beautiful question to ask, because the field is white already to harvest, therefore who so desires to reap, let him thrusting his sickle with his might and reap while the day lasts that he may treasure up for his soul everlasting salvation in the kingdom of God.

You’ll notice in the building up of the kingdom, it’s less about talking and more about doing it. It’s putting your best effort in. And my best effort might not look very good compared to what other people can do. But it’s my best effort. And if I put in if I thrust in my Sichel my effort as a missionary, as a leader, as a husband, as a father, as a teacher or whatever, whatever role I may be in as a neighbor, as a ministering brother or some of you as a ministering sister, you put in your best effort brothers and sisters.

The Lord is almighty, and he’s able to turn those best efforts into miraculous life changing at times events for people to inspire them to move forward and to try a little harder, to be a little better and to accomplish the things that they need to accomplish. I love these verses. Verses three and four. Behold, the field is white already to harvest. Therefore Whoso desires to reap. Let him thrust in his sichel with his might and reap while the day last that he may treasure up for his soul everlasting salvation of the Kingdom of God.

You whosoever will thrust in his circle and reap the same is called of God. I love the invitation, it’s to act, don’t wait, we don’t need to be commanded in all things. We don’t have to worry, like am I swinging the proper way that I cut that sheaf at the right height? They just get to work. There’s so much joyful opportunity to serve and to be served. And the beautiful thing is God has invited all of us wherever we’re at to participate in the work simply by loving and serving others.

You are part of building the kingdom of God. You don’t need an official calling. You don’t need position of privilege. It’s simply by using your righteous desires to help lift the life of somebody that may be in your life. It doesn’t take much. It could be a kind word. It could simply be, as President Hinckley often encouraged us, to try to be a little bit better every day. And as you do this, you will feel the joy of God’s love surging through your soul, and this is the purpose of the gospel.

This is the purpose of the restoration to all of us to participate in this great and marvelous work, whether our swing is mighty or less. So it’s just participate with God and in doing so, finding the joy. Look over for now, you whosoever will thrust in his second and the same is called of God, you’ll notice the order. He doesn’t say God calls you now you go thrust in your cycle. He said, whoever will thrust in his circle, the same is called sometimes instead of sitting there waiting for God to send you out to do something, try it on an occasion, try just doing something kind for somebody else and see what happens as as God then calls you to do more and to accomplish more.

What does this all end up resulting in? Look at verse six now, as you’ve asked. Behold, I see. And you keep my commandments and seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion. One of the things that that sets us apart is it’s not a competition, it’s the way that it’s described by Đinđić in the Book of Moses is Zion, as they were of one heart and one mind dwelt in righteousness and there was no poor among them.

So isn’t it a beautiful fact that as we. On the Covenant Path are invited to reach out and lift up other people. This is this is an insight that was shared with me by my good friend Wayne Dimmick years ago, taking things as simple as a fast offering, for instance. What is it you who are rich give away some of your money so that those who are poor might be lifted up. We become a little bit rich, a little bit poorer, so that they can become a little bit richer.

The insight being he who was the ultimate in richness, not in money, but in all things descended below fold so that we could be exalted. Every time you make an offering, whether it be in money, whether it be through the church, whether it be through a charitable organization, whether it be public or private, every time you give away something that God has has granted you, it becomes this symbol of what Jesus does with the atonement. Those who are rich become a little bit poorer to help those who are poor become a little bit richer.

It’s the cause of Zion. It’s to build this this unity in this oneness so that there will be no poor among us. And again, we said it before. It comes in all kinds of forms. I’ll never forget the the multiple occasions that a dear, saintly man in my ward would come up to me and shake my hand. And when he pulled his hand away, I’m holding a hundred dollar bill or at times two hundred dollar bills. And he just smiled and he said, Put those in your wallet and keep them tucked away because the Lord will let you know who needs them.

You’re going to run into somebody in the next month. Who that will be a little hug from heaven for them, so just keep it tucked there and and do some good with it. My family has been the recipient on so many occasions of people bringing a meal or my sister’s dinner or Penny or my brother Tad dropping off big bags filled with clothing from their children, that. It probably wasn’t a big deal to them, but it was a big deal to my family to be able to have so much just just given to us to help provide for the for the needs of the family.

So big or small, it doesn’t matter as long as we’re seeking to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion. Any of those efforts are helping us to progress along the covenant path and encouraging others to move along as well as they see the hand of God in their life. So as we talk about establishing the cause of Zion. Let’s talk about this word here for just a moment.

Well. Some of us may feel like, well, I’m not wealthy enough to establish the cause of Zion. I might encourage us to think a little more broadly that wealth is anything the Lord has given us, anything your time, your talents, your loves, your righteous desires, it doesn’t have to be money. So maybe you happen to have a particular skill. I remember as a kid growing up, I was so impressed with people who are good at electrical work or carpentry, where I grew up in Minnesota.

Our home didn’t have a finished basement. And I remember like this big Vord wasn’t really a word project, but many, many men and women from the war coming over and helping my dad finish off the basement. I was so impressed with the people had a wealth of knowledge about doing electrical work and carpentry. My mom, who was just an incredible teacher for years in the seminary system, early morning seminary in Minnesota, starting at five fifty five a.m. her desire to share her testimony for 14 years, early morning with those students who I was, one of them were a little sleepy, but still that testimony burned bright.

You have wealth, you have love, you have kindness, you have a willingness to listen to others. You might know something that could benefit another individual in light in their lives. So there’s many ways to be a ministering angel today. And all of us can ask ourselves, what has the Lord blessed me with? What wealth do I have that I can then give to others? How do I magnify my talents by giving them away? And that is wealth, and that is sharing wealth and that is building the cause of Zion.

Other folks gave a beautiful conference talk some years ago about the principle of good, better, best. And I think that’s relevant to what we’re talking about here in Chapter or Section 12, seeking to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion. Now, all of us in our lives may be working to establish a variety of things a family, a household, a job, maybe a political cause. It could be some other cause. Again, there’s good, better, best.

If you think again about what Zion is, what we’re told in Moses, chapter seven, verse 18. The Lord called his people Zion because they are of one heart and one mind. So what’s the very best thing we can be doing? Being unified with others, seeking to understand, seeking to focus on building instead of dividing instead of causing contention so you might find a day is an opportunity for me to listen to somebody else and to find better understanding, unity, kindness, forgiveness.

Can you find unity in your own heart of forgiving something that maybe you did that you don’t feel proud of, the beauty, the gospel? Is that God’s atonement? Can overcome any problem and bring that unity, in fact, even the word atonement at one that is about Zion, it’s about bringing brought together. So we invite you to consider, as God ask us as we are reaping. As we seek to establish the cause of Zion, the small acts of kindness, the small acts of forgiveness and repentance that bring the unity that God has invited and seeking to do the best that’s out there of oneness and not just only the good that may be in the world around us, but the very best of unity and oneness with God.

So to finish this beautiful section given to Joseph Knight, this this ministering angel who who helped bring forth the The Book of Mormon in his own way, look a verse eight, no one can assist in this work work except he shall be humble and full of love. Having faith, hope and charity being tempered in all things whatsoever shall be entrusted to his care. It’s this this giving your life to the Lord, saying, here I am. Send me who needs who needs my help?

I love it in conjunction with president, hiring’s invitation to Asgard, who needs you? I love something that President Thomas Monson used to say. Along the lines of I wanted the Lord to know that if he needs an errand, run Tom Monsignore in that errand for him, I want I want my life to reflect that more. And you see that over and over again in so many people’s lives today as well as in church history. It’s a beautiful example.

Now we jump into Section 13. It’s the shortest section in the entire doctrine and covenants one verse long. And it’s simply the the words that were spoken by John the Baptist as he appears to to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdrey near the Susquehanna River as they were out in the woods, praying specifically to know what to do about this issue of baptism. They’ve been translating in the Book of Mormon. And when they come to third Nephi Chapter 11 with the appearance of Jesus to the new face of laminitis, they’re the very first thing he teaches them after all of the introductory experiences is he he gives authority to baptize to Nephi and then teaches them how to how to baptize, which leaves Joseph and Oliver scratching their heads saying, wait a minute, we how do we do this today?

It’s it’s clearly really important, but we don’t have that power and authority. So they go out into the woods to pray. And John the Baptist appears giving them the keys of the ironic priesthood, which is the gospel of preparation. It’s this ability to go and baptize. And then he invites them or instructs them to go into the river and baptize each other. So Joseph baptizes Alver and then Oliver baptized Joseph. And after each of them had been baptized, they came up out of the water and were filled with the spirit of prophecy and revelation.

You’ll notice that there’s a lot going on here. It’s May 15th, eighteen twenty nine, so we’re still a little under a year away from organizing officially the church when we now get the ironic priesthood given to them. And they are told if you read in Joseph Smith history, starting in verse 68, this is where the the back story is told about what happens in section 13, verse 70. He said this Sorona priesthood had not the power of laying on hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, but that this should be conferred on us hereafter.

And he commanded us to go and be baptized. So here’s John, who had been for ordained as the the forerunner, the the the one to prepare the way for the coming of Christ. So John the Baptist, his whole life and his whole mission is to prepare the way for the coming of Christ. You’ll notice he’s born six months before Jesus. What’s the significance to this map this out. So six months is one hundred and eighty days. If we make that degrees, that is a straight line.

Obviously, I’m not John the Baptist because I can’t draw straight lines, but we are told that he makes the way straight.

I just think it’s fascinating that God just loves symbolism, that John is born six months or a hundred and eighty days before Jesus, which is one hundred and eighty degrees, if you think in geometrical terms.

So you’ll also notice that in the New Testament account, John was beheaded by Herod shortly before Jesus ends up being crucified. So he would have probably gone into the spirit world with the same message as he came into this world, repent, prepare the ways of the Lord, make his past straight for his coming, and now he’s doing that again. In the latter days, he’s coming to prepare the way for the coming of the Church of Jesus Christ and for the the unfolding of the restoration to continue.

What is it that he actually restored? Let’s look at that. He tells them. Upon you, my fellow servants, in the name of Massiah, I confer the priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the Ministry of Angel’s, just a really quick review. You have the Twelve Tribes of Israel, right? You have Ruman, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah Den Neftali Gad Asher is a car, zabulon Joseph and Benjamin for a moment.

Let’s focus right here. Levi Levi is the one who becomes the ancestor through whom Moses is going to be born, and Moses his brother Aaron.

So you’re going to get two names to this lesser priesthood, the it to Cole WAPs, the levitical priesthood and the ironic priesthood. You’ll notice that once we’re out in the wilderness with the 12 tribes of Israel wandering, it’s only the family of Aaron in the tribe of Levi, it’s only the Levites who hold the priesthood. It’s for the ministering of angels. You’ll also notice that out there in the wilderness, Moses tried to prepare all of the the whole family of Israel to be able to come into the presence of God.

And they didn’t want to come into his presence. They didn’t want to speak to him face to face. And they said, no, Moses, you go speak with him. And so what do we set up a lesser preparatory priesthood than this Melchizedek priesthood. So we call it the erotic priesthood. All of Aaron’s descendants in the house of Israel moving forward are the ones who administer the ordinances of the priesthood for all the other tribes. That’s why Levi wasn’t given land when they came into the promised land, because his descendants had to be scattered among all the other tribes to perform the priestly functions.

They were the go betweens, symbolic of angels. They were they were bringing things and both directions between people and God. Now, it’s interesting when you look at that symbolism, what do our deacons, teachers and priests, what does it mean to hold the keys of the ministering of angels today? What are they doing? Think about what happens every Sabbath day when people go to church and you see these these members of the erotic priesthood ministering to the congregation with the elements of the sacrament, they they have this errand to bring this heavenly gift to the congregation.

It’s as if they themselves are angels. They also have the keys for the ministering of angels. And through all of the other priesthood assignments that are given to them, they become ministering angels on this side of the veil and unlock doors for angels to minister from the other side of the veil as well. So if you go back to the Joe Smith history, the verses we read for this week, sixty six to seventy five, it’s all about the ministry and of Angels.

And significantly, I think in Joseph Smith history. Verse sixty five. What do we hear from Professor Anton? This is when he was asked for his certification about the translation of The Book of Mormon and when he found out The Book of Mormon was being delivered by the Ministry of Angels, he said there’s no such thing now as minister of Angels. And literally the very next section of the JOSIPA history is all about the Ministry of Angels. John the Baptist.

And later, Peter James and John later, Elijah, all these ministering angels. And yet the restoration is not yet complete, meaning there are still ministering of angels today. The work of God, the Ministry of Angels is alive and well, and we can take heart that it will be until the Lord returns. Let’s also just spend a moment thinking about the principal, the ordinance of baptism. Baptism means to be fully immersed. That’s what the Greek word means, so we might ask ourselves.

Sure, I’ve been fully immersed in the water as a symbol of being washed clean. But then what am I doing with my life? What am I fully immersing myself in and my fully immersing myself in social media, in the news, in chaos and anger and hurt, in feelings of frustration, or am I choosing to remember that when I chose to be baptized, it’s a choice to be fully immersed in the love of God. It doesn’t mean that all those other things don’t exist.

The bad and evil in the world. It’s all about the choice of what will we be fully immersed in. Every week at Sacrament, we are invited to actually immerse the. Love of God into our bodies by eating the bread, drinking the water, but it’s a reminder of the immersion at baptism. Every week we have an opportunity to ask ourselves, where are my choices taking me? What are the things that I’m surrounding myself with? So if you find yourself in a state of maybe not feeling as close to God as you want, ask yourself what are the things that I can cut off in my life to not be immersed in negativity or chaos or confusion or distractions, but instead be immersing myself in the love of God by choosing to accept of his forgiveness to me, of being kind to others, being kind to myself.

And actually, that may be the one of the most important ones that we often are much harder on ourselves than we would be on anybody else. And just know that is not how God would treat you. He would treat you as his beloved child. And so maybe this week the opportunity is to fully immerse yourself in God’s love by being kind to yourself, to know that you’re on the path you are progressing and it’s OK that you’re not yet perfect.

Now, to finish this section of Joseph Smith history, notice four seventy five. We had been threatened with being mobbed from time to time. And this, too, by professors of religion. You’ll notice that just because God is doing his work and there are ministering angels from both sides of the veil, helping Joseph and Emma and Oliver as they move forward, you’ll notice that it doesn’t come without opposition. It just because angels come doesn’t mean all of a sudden life gets easy.

There’s still intense opposition. And one of the ironies of what happened here in this particular story is that early on, Emma’s family, Emma’s father and other relatives were quite negative towards Joseph and his prophetic mantle and his the work that he was performing as a prophet of the restoration. But as the opposition in harmony ramps up and people start threatening mob action against them, it’s then that Emma’s family starts to defend them and to support them and to try to to push back some of that opposition.

So those who used to to maybe be part of the opposition now actually became part of the the army of ministering angels to help them notice says. And their intentions of mobbing us were only counteracted by the influence of my wife’s father’s family under divine providence, who had become very friendly to me and who were opposed to mobs and were willing that I should be allowed to continue the work of translation without interruption and therefore offered and promised us protection from all unlawful proceedings as far as in them lay.

What I see as I look back through the corner of time to these events and in the spring of 1829, is God performing his work, but once again, it’s messy, it’s muddy, it’s difficult.

It’s not it’s things don’t just flow freely. They have to seem to struggle through every step of this process. And it makes me wonder, why didn’t God make this easier for for them? Why doesn’t he make life easier for you? Why doesn’t he just solve all of our problems? Why doesn’t he just make it so that we don’t have to worry about money at all anymore or health or loved ones? Why does he take that all away? Brothers and sisters?

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of progression along the covenant path, the path that was laid out and marked by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And along that path, we are going to run into the mists of darkness. We’re going to run into steep sections. We’re going to run into terrible storms and dark nights. But to finish, let’s go to Oliver Cowdrey’s words here at the very bottom of Joseph Smith history. Notice says here Oliver Cowdrey describes these events.

Thus, these were days never to be forgotten, to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven awakened the utmost gratitude of this bosom.

Day after day, I continued uninterrupted to write from his mouth as he translated with the German Therman, whereas the Nephites would have said interpreters, the history or record called The Book of Mormon. And then he goes on to give you a lot more descriptions of what it was like to have not just a front row seat, but he was on the front line with Joseph moving this work forward. And he’s not focusing on the opposition. He’s saying these are days never to be forgotten.

It’s our hope and it’s our prayer that as we move forward that we can go to the Lord with the question, who needs me? And then get up and thrust in the cycle with all of our might, whatever that cycle may be, in whatever direction we feel like we might be able to do some good to establish the cause of Zion and to seek to bring forth the kingdom of God more fully in in our world around us. Who knows?

But what there isn’t somebody out there who will see a lot more than just some money or some clothing or some food. But your simple act or big act, whatever it may be, will cause them to see the hand of God. Now to finish, I heard Tim share his story one on one when he came to our ward in Providence, Utah, when we lived there, and he said this man in a neck brace and a cast and an arm sling telling me what he had gone through in the weeks previous to my conversation with him.

He was still broken. He still didn’t know what was going to happen in his future. He still didn’t know how in the world he was going to provide for the needs of his family and how to work through all of the issues with taking care of his children without his dear Karen beside his or beside him. But he knew that the Lord was beside him and he knew that he had not been forsaken and he was going to move forward in faith, as he has for these subsequent years.

Since then, brothers and sisters, God lives his in his heavens. I know there are times when heaven feels very far away. But the Lord is nearer, he’s closer than we’ll ever know in this life, and it’s our prayer that we’ll all recognize and be. Those ministering angels from this side of the veil, and we leave that with you in the name of Jesus Christ Mormon.