My brothers and sisters, family and friends, Aloha.
It is truly a pleasure for my eternal sweetheart and me to be here with you. Thank you to our young Tongan students for the beautiful music. Their culture embodies everything that I will discuss today. All of them are cherished friends. I especially appreciate the introduction from my wife. Finding out that we were cousins underscores the great blessing we discovered with her genealogy this past year. I always considered her a princess and this was confirmed when the Church presented us with Darlene’s genealogical lines. In addition to discovering she is Jewish, her ancestors go through all of the Royalty of Spain. One of the most enjoyable experiences we have shared as a couple was this past fall when we visited all of the ancestral sites in Northern Spain and began to do the genealogical work for the family we discovered there. I believe this blessing was the reward for Darlene’ many years of faithful dedication to the Gospel in spite of the personal persecution she has had to suffer as a result.
They say that behind every good man there is a great woman. In my case, I would consider myself an average man with a great woman who constantly leads the way. Sister Morris is a very accomplished person in her own right. In addition to her master’s degree in social work from the University of Denver and a distinguished career as a flight attendant with Delta airlines she has been a therapist for the LDS church. Something that has come in handy being married to someone like me. All that I personally have accomplished in life, I credit to my wife and my good Mother. Every day I consider myself privileged to learn from Darlene. She has been an exceptional mother, grandmother and wife. I thank her for her many years of sacrifice to be my partner. I further express my love to our children and grandchildren who continue to provide a shining light in our lives.
A few years ago, our oldest son Adam and I went to Natchez, Mississippi to hunt white-tailed deer with some good friends from the New Orleans area. Having hunted in Mississippi in the past, we were very much aware of what it took to be able to get close enough to the big bucks that we were hunting. Prior to traveling to Mississippi, we were careful not to wear any cologne or antiperspirant as it might project an unwanted scent during the hunt. (Not a good thing for those sitting next to us on the plane.)
Once we arrived at our hunting lodge, we went out to the forest to inspect the area where we would hunt the next morning. Confident that we knew where we would be sitting in the early morning hours the next day, we retired for the night. Adam and I awoke at 4 am and began our preparation for the hunt. The first thing we did was to take a shower using a special soap that would kill all of the human smell from our bodies. Then, piece by piece we started to layer on the camouflage clothing. With each layer of clothing, we would spray deer scent on the clothing to mask the human scent. Finally, when we were finished, we marked our faces with camouflage paint and hung tree scent capsules from our shirts.
It would be daylight at 7 am, so at 5 am Adam and I walked to different locations to find our pre-designated location where we would sit and wait for the deer. 15 minutes later, I found the ladder to the tree that had my perch high up in the branches. I climbed the 20 feet up into the tree and once seated, I covered my legs with a curtain of camouflage and pulled a green camouflaged veil over my face. I then settled in for what was going to be a long wait. After about 30 minutes, I could hear the movement of what appeared to be the deer walking all around me. I sat ever so still, not wanting them to discover where I was.
Soon it was daybreak and not only could I hear the deer, but now I could see them, but in my camouflaged condition high in the trees, they could not see me. I knew that I was waiting for the large male deer with a large set of horns, so I passed on all of the smaller bucks and the female animals.
After about two hours in the seat, I heard behind me the sound of horns scraping against a tree. Slowly, I turned my head ever so slightly and could make out a large animal with a large set of horns. This was the moment I had been preparing for and so with the slowest motion possible, I lifted the rifle up to my eyes and turned toward the deer.
I moved the rifle until finally there he was, directly in the crosshairs.
I have reflected on that experience many times over the years. For my son and me, our objective was real and very important. So important, that we were not going to miss a single detail in our preparation for the prize.
I liken this story to each of you and in reality, each of us. Satan knows each of us personally. He was there from the beginning and has had thousands of years to perfect his craft. Much like the deer we were hunting in Mississippi, we are the prize and Satan will stop short of nothing in order to destroy us and our testimonies. Much like Adam and I in our preparation, Satan begins his preparation for us long before our alarm clock goes off. He has surveyed our environment and knows where he can best hide. He prepares with layer upon layer of camouflage in order to disguise himself, for if we saw him for what he is, we would truly find him repulsive and run from him. But, perched in a position of advantage, Satan looks down upon us. He does not show himself at first, rather he is patient. At the right moment, he will ever so slowly turn towards us and will lift his sight until There we are, in his crosshairs.
As the parents of four and the grandparents of seven, my wife and I have spent countless days and nights praying and planning to provide a plan of defense for our family. We know Satan is real. We are not exempt from his temptations and whisperings. We have felt his powerful influence in our lives and as we grow older, we realize how powerful he is and how vulnerable our family is.
One of our favorite scriptures is found in Ephesians 6:11-18
In this scripture passage, the apostle Paul was feeling the same concerns that Darlene and I feel for our family. Paul of all people knew of the reality of Satan; he himself had been cleverly deceived by the devil. It was with his personal experiences in mind that Paul wrote to the Ephesians to warn them and to counsel them on how they might fight back and overcome the evil influences of the Devil;
Starting at verse 11:
11 Put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Note how in verse 11 Paul tells the Ephesians to “put on the whole armor of God”. In fact this is so important that in verse 13 Paul reiterates the need for the whole armor of God. Paul knows that a portion of the armor will help; but he also knows that we will need every piece available to us to truly vanquish Satan. The whole armor means providing protection for ourselves from head to toe.
Paul states in verse 14 to “Girt our loins with truth”. It is incumbent for each of us to seek out truth, that we might recognize falsehoods and the camouflage of sin when it appears. Each of us should work to recognize and embrace truth and live it in every aspect of our lives.
I mentioned that we are the Grandparents of seven wonderful grandchildren. When our oldest grandson, Gabe was but four years of age, we knelt with him one night for prayer. As Gabe began his prayer he said and I quote “bless me heavenly father to NEVER tell the truth, cause it’s not good.” Gabe had learned through some experience that telling the truth resulted in some unpleasant consequence. Telling the truth and living the truth can in fact at times create uncomfortable experiences. That being said, the sweet joy that comes from a clear conscience and an honest countenance, far outweighs any discomfort that comes from being honest.
As a runner most of my adult life, I would often leave my Layton, Utah home at sunrise and would run past the neighborhood along the base of the mountainside. One particular morning as I ran along the familiar path, I noticed that the earth had been moved and cleaned of the sagebrush and weeds that normally covered a particular area. It was apparent that someone was planning on developing this area for new houses. Curiously, each morning I would run by this area wondering when the development might begin. The days turned to weeks and after about two months, I came to a realization that whatever development was planned must have been delayed. For, what was once a clean and weed free area was now once again covered with weeds and sticker bushes. Amazingly, without a good seed planted in the cleared and fertile ground, the bad seeds had filled the vacant lot.
Our minds are much like this empty lot. If we are not continually filling our minds with the good seeds of truth, our minds will be overgrown with the bad seeds or the filth, perversions and lies that Satan is anxiously waiting to put in our way. As a people, we have become desensitized to the camouflage of evil; In fact, there is a movement that tries to convince all of us that the negative things we see and say and read every day do not have an adverse effect on our minds and actions. This is not truth. I know and bear witness that both the good and the bad have an effect on our minds and the absence of truth or the good seed makes way for all of the seemingly unwanted influences or the bad seeds of the Devil.
As a young swat team leader some years ago, I found this to be particularly true. On one occasion, our team was called to a house on the east side of Salt Lake City. This house was a notorious drug house and we were going to raid the house on a particular afternoon when we knew that there would be drug transactions taking place inside. As our team assembled and surrounded the outside of the home, I prepared to enter the front door. We knocked the door off of the hinges and I threw a flash bang grenade into the now open front door. Once the grenade exploded we rushed inside to the scrambling terrified people who were seeking refuge from the intruders. Noticeable, as we entered was the unexpected presence of women who were also running in fear. They were scantily dressed and it became immediately apparent that their purpose was not honorable.
In the corner was one woman who appeared no older than 18. She was visibly frightened and after we rounded up the suspects we had come for, we were faced with the dilemma of the young prostitute. We were not interested in arresting her and so I asked her if there was someone we could call who could come and pick her up. Her tears began to fall as she sat in silence for a few minutes and then she surprised me with her response. “Could you please call my young women’s leader,” she asked. I responded that I would be happy to call whoever she desired. She provided me with the phone number that she had memorized and I called the young woman’s leader. A woman’s voice was heard on the other end of the line. I explained the situation and gave her the name of the young woman we were holding that had requested assistance from her “young women’s leader”. Although this was in the middle of the afternoon, there was no hesitation in the voice on the other end of the line. “Tell me where you are,” she asked, and once I provided the address, she stated she would be right there. Within 30 minutes, the young woman leader entered the door-less front entrance. She quickly looked around the room and spotted her young woman huddled in the corner. In a sweeping gesture, she took up a blanket from a mattress and on bended knee she crawled to the side of the young prostitute and wrapped her in the blanket. As tough as a swat team may appear on the outside, most of the men that were with me shed tears as we watched this compassionate woman who, in the moment of distress, came to the rescue of one of those whom the Lord had given her stewardship. There were no words of condemnation and no looks of disgust as these two women cried in each other’s arms. Once the crying stopped, this leader pulled up her young friend and with the most kind and loving gestures led her from the house.
I wondered after they had left, what it was that had led these two women into each other’s arms. One had listened to the spirit and whisperings of the Holy Ghost and had followed it. She had embraced truth and recognized her stewardship when the call came. This young women leader had followed the admonition of Paul and had “shod her feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” The other woman in this story, much like the empty and weed-free field in my neighborhood had failed to plant the good seeds of righteousness and instead, had allowed her mind to be filled with the pleasures of man and had failed to girt her loins with the armor of truth and the breastplate of righteousness. While it was apparent that she, at some time in her past, had received the gospel of Jesus Christ; her actions demonstrated her deviation from that which she had known to be true.
In my profession of the past 40 years I have seen the influence of Satan. From city streets, to homes located throughout the United States and the countries where I have worked. I have seen and felt his influence. He has corrupted the minds of those who are not familiar with the guiding principles of the gospel, or have failed to embrace that which they once knew to be true. Failure to put on the whole armor of God makes us susceptible to temptation and without this armor we may surely fall, for to stand alone against evil is a difficult thing to do.
In verse 16 of Ephesians, Paul states that we should take up the shield of faith, wherewith we may be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked. I learned another valuable lesson on faith as a young missionary in Valencia, Spain. My companion and I were proselyting on the streets of the city of Valencia when a taxi sped up alongside of us and the driver exited the vehicle in an absolute panic. We were not sure what we had done, we were frozen with fear for just a moment. The Taxi driver asked if we were Elders in the Mormon Church; now we were really concerned, but having faith, we responded in the affirmative. The taxi driver said that he had frantically been driving the city looking for us and then he quickly explained that he had a daughter in the intensive care unit at the hospital. He said the baby was two months premature and wasn’t expected to live. He further explained that he had once been a Mormon and he knew that if Elders of the church blessed this baby, surely she would live.
I had just recently been made a senior companion and knowing that I had never given a lifesaving blessing, I hesitated for a moment surmising, that this was too serious of a blessing for a senior companion to perform. He saw the concern on my face and reassured me that I could do it. We climbed into his cab and he sped to the hospital on the other side of the city. Upon entering the room, we were met with suspicious looks from the doctors and nurses. The church was relatively new in Spain and at the time, Mormons were not held in high regard. His wife was there, as well, and she looked weak from childbirth and what appeared to be a continuous flow of tears for the small infant who was lying in the incubator with tubes in her chest and throat. We approached the little glass case where the baby lay. She was no bigger than my hand and her breaths were long and inconsistent. Not knowing for sure what I was supposed to do, I asked the doctor if we could put oil on the baby’s head. In disgust, he exclaimed that I must be crazy as there was nothing that was supposed to touch the baby’s skin. The doctor then tried to convince the father that the blessing was useless, as the baby would not last the night. He told the father that his time would be better spent by summoning a catholic priest to come to the hospital to administer the last rights for the baby.
In spite of this pressure, the father insisted that my companion and I were Disciples of Jesus Christ and we had come to save the child. Nervously, we approached this small incubator and with each of us standing on opposite sides of the glass, we reached into the rubber gloves that extended into the incubator and put one finger each on the tiny head of the infant. We bypassed the anointing, as we were forbidden to put the oil on the head. Then, mustering all of the courage I had, I began to utter a blessing.
Brothers and sisters, I have prayed many times in my life and have given many blessings, but in this instance it was different. For one of the few times in my life up to that point, I began to speak to God. I pronounced our priesthood and I began to bless the baby. These were not my words and as they flowed from my mouth; I remember being shocked at what I was saying. I blessed the baby that she would live, not for the night, but that she would live a full life; that she would be a testimony to her father and mother of the healing power of the priesthood. I realized that I was crying as I spoke and could not control the emotions that filled my soul. I blessed the baby that because of the great faith that her father had, she would be whole. There were many things that were said in that blessing, most of which I have forgotten over time. I will never forget, however, the way that I felt.
When we were finished with the blessing, I opened my eyes. There were six of us in that room, and the tears flowed from the eyes of every one of us. Even the skeptical doctor walked over and put his hand on my shoulder. He didn’t say a word, just squeezed my shoulder and walked out of the room for his emotions had also overcome him. That experience has stayed with me from that moment until this day. The baby did live. When I last saw her, years ago, she was about 13 years old; she was full of life; a beautiful and miraculous example of the healing power of faith, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and faith in his healing power through the Priesthood.
In addition to the exercise of faith, it is also incumbent on all of us to follow the admonition of Paul in Ephesians 6:18 and I quote: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
I believe one of the most difficult of all of the admonitions we receive, perseverance can be the most difficult. It is not enough to pray always, we must exercise faith and seek out truth. These are actions that are essential that will ultimately lead to happiness and eternal glory in the presence of our father in heaven; whereas, the failure to persevere and push forward on a daily basis can lead to unhappiness. When Paul exhorts us to put on the whole armor of Christ, he does not provide for any shortcuts. In my personal life, I have found that there are few shortcuts that are of value. This principle was brought to light when I was in high school. I had taken an art class in my senior year, because it seemed like an easy A.
When the teacher assigned each of us to sculpt from clay, our favorite figure, I decided in my state of consummate humility, to sculpt myself.....I chose an action pose of myself as a football player. I was excited each day to get to my art class to work on perfecting me. After a few days, what was once a large block of clay began to take form. There were few projects throughout my high school life that I spent more time on, as it was important to perfect this image. After all, I surmised, someday my children will observe this masterpiece and I want there to be no doubt that the small statue looked just like me. I took a few liberties, of course, and depicted the muscles to be a bit bigger and the facial features to be more handsome. I carved in my jersey number to leave no doubt as to who this masterpiece resembled.
Once the sculpture was complete, it was set on the shelf to dry. Within a few days it would be placed into the furnace to remove all of the moisture from the clay and harden the statue to resist the test of time. It was spring break and so the statue was left over the weeklong holiday on the shelf. When I returned, to my surprise, the small statue had hardened on its own. To the eye and touch, it seemed that it was hard enough and so I decided to bypass the oven. I began to paint the sculpture the school colors and painstakingly insured that every detail was covered. I was so proud of my work. The replica of me had actually turned out to be better than the original. I received a much anticipated A on the project and proudly took the statue home and placed it on the shelf in my bedroom. A few months later, as I was cleaning out my room in anticipation for my mission, I moved the statue to a different shelf. I was surprised when one of the legs fell off. I grabbed some glue from the drawer and attempted to glue the leg back on.
When I returned the next day and tried to check on the result of my glue job, I picked up the statue and both legs fell off. I was beside myself; how could my masterpiece be falling apart? All efforts to put it back together failed and along with the legs, eventually the arms fell off, as well. Sadly, and out of options, I ultimately took what was left of the crumbling figure that had once so wonderfully represented me and placed it in the trash can. I reflected then, and still do, on my consummate failure. I had put so much into this project and yet, I failed to follow one of the most important steps in the creation of my masterpiece. In spite of all my efforts, what seemed like a small omission led to the ultimate destruction of “me”.
In this particular case, my self-destruction was fortunately only figurative. Nevertheless, the lesson is a powerful one. In truth, my naïveté is not so much different than many of you. We do some of the work, but we fail to do all of the work and in the end, the results can be catastrophic. Putting on the whole armor of Christ means just that. Not just the helmet, not just the shield, and not just the sword. All means the whole armor as is demonstrated by my grandsons, Sawyer on the left is wonderfully dressed in royal attire and partial armor, however it is Miles on the right who is best prepared to deflect the fiery darts of Satan. Perseverance means: until the fight is fought and victory is complete.
In closing, it is my prayer that we follow another admonition of Paul when he declared in Philippians 4:13. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Much like the oven that hardens the clay, the Lord, Jesus Christ, strengthens us and hardens each of us and enables us to withstand the evils of our day. Without this step in our path to perfection, we will surely fall short of our intended ascension to celestial glory.
I bear witness that God lives and that true and lasting happiness is within our grasp if we will seek out truth, have faith, pray always and persevere to the end. It is my prayer that we will rise early and painstakingly put on the layers of armor necessary to fight the fight and finish the course in the bosom of Christ in whose name I testify. Amen.