Sunday Report

The TFOT Lesson was given by Heidi Jo Mafi, substituting for Peggy Campbell. The talk that was featured, suggested by the Bishop, was given by President Henry B. Eyring, entitled Trust in God, Then Go and Do. Like all gospel principles, trust in God must be shown through our actions. We are all individuals with unique needs, great and varied. Because we are His children, God knows each one of us individually, our strengths and our weaknesses (which He has promised to turn into strengths if we bring them to Him), our circumstances and our righteous desires. He is constantly sending us messages of encouragement, correction and direction designed for us specifically, for our needs and concerns. Sometimes those messages come from His authorized messengers.

We must develop trust in God and His authorized messengers, that when we receive those messages, we will have the faith to immediately go and do, as did Nephi of old, or in other words we will go out and obey His counsel, for He has said that whether it comes from His voice, or the voice of His servants, it is the same. Lack of trust in God began in the Council in Heaven when many of His children chose to follow Satan because they had no faith in the plan designed to bring us home again. It has continued here on earth to this very time and season, where so many wander in fear and doubt and do not know where to look for support and counsel. We are so blessed to have the Gospel and the knowledge that we have. Now we must develop the trust that will allow us to go and do whatever it is that God knows we need to do for our salvation and to make us true servants to others.

To underscore this concept of trusting, then going and doing, Sister Mafi shared with us a moving video based on the life of John Tanner, patriach of a large and active family in the Church from the very early days of the restoration. It spoke eloquently to the theme that President Eyring was addressing. John Tanner, a wealthy man and a lay minister in the Baptist church, was afflicted with what had been diagnosed as a disease that would probably take his life. The story tells how he met missionaries of the restored gospel, read the Book of Mormon, was healed by the elders through his great faith and went on to do as the Lord inspired him, never questioning or looking back. Father Tanner, as the Prophet Joseph called him, stands at the head of a family of righteous posterity who have and continue to serve the Lord valiantly, including the Elder Tanner who served in the Cedar River Ward for several months earlier this year.

Read the conference talk by President Eyring and resolve to strengthen trust in the Lord through whatever action is required.

Next week will be the presidency message given by Sister Vach

Enjoy this week between holidays, before real life sets in again!

The Relief Society Presidency