Testimony of Faith in the Savior, and Latter-day Prophet

I attended my new ward today and learned you have to be there at least fifteen minutes early to get the "soft" seats. I got there ten minutes early and we sat on the first row of the folding chairs. I was pleased to see so many families, and younger children the ages of Aislyn, Ella and Parker.

Since last week's sacrament meeting was canceled because of a snowstorm, we had Fast and Testimony meeting. It felt good to start my new ward with testimonies. There were so many who went up, starting with our new Bishop Payne. He attended President Hinckley's funeral and shared his testimony of our beloved departed prophet. He also bore his witness of President Monson as our new prophet, seer and revelator.

I knew I needed to bear my own testimony and fought it, but I remembered a line from my patriarchal blessing to "bear my testimony often among my associates and those who are not members the Church." I had that familiar feeling come over me that I had to get up.

I added my testimony of President Hinckley and how he impacted my life, and told of a few related instances, as my participation in the Perpetual Education Fund in Monterrey, Mexico in 2002. I recognized how the mantel of authority of a living prophet had descended upon Gordon B. Hinkley as he lead and managed the Church in the place of the Savior and how he would have himself. I have no doubt of that. I also know that President Monson has had that same mantel bestowed upon him as our new Prophet, Seer and Revelator.

In closing I mentioned that "I have a testimony of Joseph, the prophet of the Restoration of the Gospel. How when I first saw and heard the account of Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove in a diorama in the North Visitor's Center on Temple Square, I never doubted that it was true. I know I came with that testimony and had a recollection of it being true when I heard it. Then less than six months later the missionaries knocked on my door and those seeds of faith that had been planted in my heart (in Salt Lake City)I knew for myself that this was right and true to follow the Savior having found his true Church".

I believe it can be said that I went on the Road Less Traveled, and it has made all the difference in the world!

Sunday school was amazing. There were two classes offered and chose the one in the Relief Society room. Sister Mary Ellen Edmunds is our Gospel Doctrine instructor. She was so informative and a fun teacher. I don't think anyone could fall asleep in her class. She had several quotes that awakened and stirred our souls. She reaffirmed how we should write down significant thoughts we receive while attending our meetings. She reference Elder Henry B Eyring's suggestion as well; at the end of our class she gave out small spiral notebooks pocket sized to write down the thoughts. i wrote down a lot of her comments and will share them here.

Relief Society was wonderful. It was Visiting Teacher's Conference, so all the women in ward callings were in attendance as well. I sat next to Ella's new primary teacher. Aaron taught Aislyn's class to help out so all the sisters could go to R.S.

The ward was very warm and many came up to introduce themselves after sacrament meeting. Interesting as I was sitting in the meeting the first sister got up to bear her testimony after a couple of brethren. I heard the still small voice tell me she was the Relief Society president. I thought, OK? Then after she finished the lady next to me whispered to me that she was our Relief Society president. How cool was that? It confirmed what I was told previously and I didn't doubt it when I was first told. It was a witness to me to be sure to listen carefully and BELIEVE what I heard.

I count my many blessings and feel very loved by my Heavenly Father and his goodness.


His Influence Lingers On, A Legacy For Good


'Landmark' LDS leader was always predictable
By Jerry Johnston
Deseret Morning News
Published: February 2, 2008

He stood for something.

As a man he wasn't the irresistible force.

He was the immovable object.

As John Steinbeck said of Ma Joad, he was a citadel, the strong place that could not be taken.

We met in Bolivia 1969 when I was a missionary.

We met there again in 2000 for the temple dedication.

I was amazed at how little he had changed, and how much I had.

He had more resonance about him in 2000, more experience, more understanding. But he was the same man from 30 years before.

I had been all over the map — in the church, out, back in again. I'd had two marriages and a dozen false starts. Dead ends had been my specialty. And I usually found them by going the wrong way on one-way streets.

I was like Christian in John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress" — getting sidetracked by the Vanity Fair, slipping into the Sloughs of Despair, always looking for the Delectable Mountains. He was Evangelist, the calm and understanding preacher who showed up from time to time to offer direction and a word of encouragement.

And like Evangelist, he was always the same — in the best sense of the phrase.

He was, I remember thinking at the temple dedication, like the very temple he was dedicating. Temples are landmarks, set on hills and illuminated so lost souls can set a course.

He was like that. He was a "living landmark" — grounded, bright, unwavering. He was never hard to find. He always stood where he always had. And once you found him, you could often find yourself.

He was a lighthouse — sending beams across the waves to keep sailors clear of the rocks and direct them to deeper waters.

He was the beacon at the airport, calling travelers in for a safe landing.

In an ancient Christian poem — "The Dream of the Rood" — the cross of Jesus speaks to the reader. And the cross says:

Dared I not against the Lord's word

bend or break, when I saw earth's

fields shake. All fiends

I could have felled, but I stood fast.

He not only withstood the storms, but he also stood for the sunlight.

He stood for consistency, selflessness, humility, humor, trust, loyalty, kindness and other virtues.

He stood for standing — for steadfastness.

And now, as he is laid to rest, the good news is he stands here still. Maybe not in person, but in the memories of the thousands who met him and the millions who heard and read his words. He's gone, but the message he had still brightly beams with a father's mercy.

His candle may have gone out, but his light remains. And like one of his beloved temples, he remains — in death as in life — firmly grounded, sturdy, unshakable, while pointing the rest of us upward, to the stars.

E-mail: jerjohn@desnews.com