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[00:00:00] Life lessons What are some of the life lessons that you learned at a young age? And by young, I mean like around 21 or 22, you know, when people officially declare you an adult. Now, for me, for instance, I had just figured out the repercussions of bouncing a check and that you need to have money in your bank account if you're going to write a check.
And for those of you who are young, you probably have no idea what a check is, but I'm telling you I'm glad we're away from checks. I just want you to consider the age of 2122 because that's the age of the prophet Joseph Smith. As we begin our study of Doctrine and Covenants sections three through five, and these sections, Joseph learned some very important spiritual life lessons that All of us get to learn from this week.
Welcome to the Sunday on Monday study group, a Deseret bookshelf plus original brought to you by LDS living, where we take the come follow me lesson for the week. And we really dig into the scriptures together. I'm your host, Tammy Uzelac Hall. If you're new to our study group, please follow the link in our description that will explain how you can best use this podcast to enhance your come follow me study.
Just like my listening friend, Eloise Colby from Arizona. Hi Eloise. Now my favorite thing about this study group is each week we're joined by two of my friends, so it's always a little bit different and I am so excited to introduce you to these two because we haven't heard from her for a while and I've really missed my good friend Katrina Maxton.
Hello Katrina. Hello, Tammy. How are you? I'm good. Coming all the way from Scotland. How exciting. Yes, yes, I am. And thank you for staying up late because the time difference is seven hours. So it's like that we're recording from 10 till midnight with our guests. And I am thrilled about who's joining us because it is Euan Maxton.
So Katrina, how do you know Euan? Euan is my wonderful son, and we have lived in this home together for 19 years. So Euan is 19 years old, and I'm excited that he's able to share this opportunity with me and with you, obviously, Tammy, but grateful to have him on. Oh, I'm grateful that Euan said yes. Euan, what did you think when your mom talked to you about being on the podcast?
Um, I don't know, I've, uh, we always listen to the podcast on, uh, Sundays, driving up to church. We've got a half an hour drive to church, so we always watch, well, listen to the first few segments on the way and then we'll listen to the rest on the way back. So yeah, I don't know, it's weird to be on that podcast that we listen every week, well, pretty much every week, so yeah, it's, it's an interesting experience, glad to be here.
Oh, well, we're thrilled to have you here, especially because you could have been like, what, that crazy lady? I will say, Tammy, when I asked him, I thought he would need a few hours to think about it, but he said yes right away. So that was it. He said, yes, I will. How much do I love your heart? You and thank you.
Here we are. Here we are. This is going to be a fun discussion because we're so varied in our ages that talking about life lessons and lessons we've learned throughout our lives and how the life lessons from these sections apply to us is going to be really fun. So I'm looking forward to what you guys have to say.
And if you want to know more about my guests, Make sure you check out their bios, which are going to be in our show notes. And you can find those at LDS living. com slash Sunday on Monday. And then you can see how lovely these two people are. So grab your scriptures and whether you're studying alone or with friends or family, we're just happy you're here.
So let's dig into doctrine and covenants sections three through five. Okay. You two right out of the gates. Here's my first question. What did the Holy ghost teach you as you read these three chapters? And we'll start with you, Katrina. Okay. Um, well, there was so many things I had to really hone it down to just this, this thought that came to me and it was in section three and it was right out the gates at eight, verse eight.
Yet you should have been faithful and he would have extended his arm and supported you against all the fiery darts of the adversary. And he would have been with you in every time of trouble. The reason why I, I, I don't know, it sunk deep with me, this verse, is because I've been in positions where, you know, if I have been bold and if I have, um, done that thing that I've been scared about, I've always found this verse to be [00:05:00] true.
Um, so for example, I had an opportunity to, I was invited to go to a faith event in my local town. My neighbors invited me to go. So it wasn't of our faith and it wasn't of our church, but I thought, you know, they've invited me to go, so I will go. There was people from many other faiths had been invited as well.
And the man that got up to speak was sitting right next to me. So, I wasn't, I didn't know him, and so he, he got up and spoke in this, uh, hall, and I was sitting, thinking to myself, I want to get something out of this talk, I don't want to sit here, and Look for the negative. I wanted to look for the positive in this man's talk.
So I asked the Heavenly Father if he could touch my heart with something in his talk. He, he shared a couple of things and they were great. So when the, the man came back to sit beside me, um, I turned to him and I told him how much I appreciated his talk. And I said it was, it was really lovely. Then I said to him, I recognized your name.
It turns out that I knew his wife. He was my son, Euan, who's here on the podcast with me. Um, he knew He was, she was his teacher at school, first teacher that he'd had at school. So I pointed that out to him, I recognized your name. She always spoke highly of him and told me that he was a minister. And I had said to her, to him, I knew your wife.
We were at school. I did a lot of voluntary work with your, with your wife. And then he asked me what church. Straight off the bat, what church do you belong to? What brought you here? And I said, I'm of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. And no sooner had that come out my mouth when he turned on me, he told me that my church was of the devil.
I was with my neighbors sitting beside me. And he told me that the things that I had been told were untrue and that I needed to, um, And I was just standing there thinking, Oh my goodness, my neighbors have just brought me here. I'm, I can't get leave and go in my car. They're taking me home. So I said to the man, Um, I I am finding this really difficult because it's a faith event.
I have faith. And he said, but what do you have faith in? What do you know about Jesus Christ? And I said, I know that he is the son of God. And that's all I said. And I felt this feeling of the fiery darts just melting from my body. And I felt peace and calm. And he was. Still, I want to be polite about him, but he was, he was very antagonistic and I suddenly found myself, um, he removed himself from me.
I didn't walk away from him, but he removed himself from me. My neighbors at this point were, come on, let's go through and get some refreshments because we were having something to eat. And I went through. He never came and apologized, but the peace I felt, because when I walked into this other room having refreshments, I recognized some people in the room that knew I was a member of the church and came to me and spoke to me.
And I just knew that the verse that I've just shared, that the fiery darts had just slipped off me. I didn't feel anything, but peace, calm in a moment where it could have been quite nasty. I know in a, in a, in a similar way how it must have been for Joseph and his family being surrounded by all of this because you do, you can lose your faculties when someone hits you with something unexpected like that.
It's, it puts you in a real turmoil to start with. But the minute I said Jesus is the Son of God. I could just feel myself just melt. So, that's my, that was my thought when I read that verse. I think that is a beautiful story. And I am putting your name next to verse eight, especially because you were faithful.
Isn't that neat? It's he's saying you should have been faithful. And [00:10:00] here we have Katrina is faithful. And then we saw fulfillment of the promise. He did support you against the fiery darts. That is so cool. Katrina, thank you for sharing that story. And I'm sorry that happened to you, but I love how you witness and testified of who the savior is.
That was powerful. Thank you. Thank you. You and what about you? What verse stood out to you? The verse that stood out to me most, um, I was actually quite surprised to see it here because I forget it's so soon on in the doctrine covenants, it's in chapter four. I think chapter four is quite a lot of notable verses, so I thought, I don't wanna be vanilla, but I'm gonna pick one of them.
I think just chapter four, verse four stood out to me having, well. Most of my friends currently are out on missions, so it ties in with that. It's, for behold, the field is white, all ready to harvest. And lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store, and he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul.
And it's just one of the most important scriptures for the missionary work we do, and I think missionary work is one of the most important things our church does. So I mean, how could I not mention it? It's something that I think everyone should keep in mind. It's just, how could you not feel the spirit when you think of all the people out there working, um, finding these souls that are ready to be harvested, um, doing the work.
Uh, it's not easy, but it's the work that's there to be done. Um, I think we should all strive to do that work. Euan, I love that you said, I hate to be vanilla. When I love vanilla and I love this verse that you chose, because when you look at the very end, the blessing that comes for serving a mission or for preaching the gospel, it bringeth salvation to his soul.
I can't think of a better promise and you have friends that are currently on missions. Where are they serving right now? Um, Canada, uh, South Africa, Portugal, Brazil, uh, Hong Kong, all over the place really. Just got a few people back from, uh, Venezuela and New Zealand. So all over the place. That's incredible.
What are your thoughts about serving a mission? Um, I would love to do it. But it's a difficult situation I'm in where, well, I don't, how deep do you, you go on this podcast? I don't know. Is it as deep as you're willing to go? Well, I'd love to go on a mission, but me and mom in the church, dad's not in the church and that causes a bit of friction there.
I'm sure leaving for two years. There's stuff that I could be doing in those two years, and it's just, it's a difficult situation. I'd love to go, but I don't know. I'm just going to see what happens and just go from there. I love it. Well, I know the Lord would love to have you and you're doing great work in Scotland even right now.
And this is interesting in verse four where he says, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might. I mean, just that phrase to thrust with your might that read that right there to me says it's a lot of work. It is hard to serve a mission for sure, and a lot of decisions have to be made. And so I, I love that you're in the process of making this decision and you're no different than every single 19 year old boy and 19 year old girl in the church.
It's a decision to make. Like, am I willing to really thrust in my circle with all my might? And what does that look like for me? But. I love the blessing. No matter how you do it, no matter how you choose to do it, whether it's this full time mission, a service mission, it's just beautiful to think it will bring salvation to your soul and not just your soul, but the soul of everyone in your family.
I'm such a believer of that. So thank you for sharing your vanilla verse cause it was packed with a punch. That was awesome. Yeah. It's one of my favorites. Oh, it's so good. So in the next segment, we are going to then dive into our scriptures and we're going to learn one of the first spiritual life lessons that the Lord taught Joseph.
We'll do that next.
Segment 2
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Okay. So Katrina, I want to know, what were you doing at 21? What did your world look like at 21? Oh my goodness. I wasn't a member of the church at that point. So I was party girl, I think. Just having a great [00:15:00] time. I was working hard. I was saving up to come to America, which I did. I came out, uh, I spent a lot of time in LA, um, and became a nanny.
In LA for a quite four years I was there and that's where I joined the church. So wow. The LA fires and all that's going on just now, I know all these areas. I was around it and amongst it, and my heart goes out to the people that are going through this just now. Um, but I was there for four years. I joined the church in.
Thousand Oaks. Mm-hmm . California. And then after my baptism, I felt maybe about a year and a half in after that, that I wanted to serve a mission. Mm-hmm . Um, but I prayed, um, about it. I got on my knees and I asked, I fasted, and then I had the Lord. gave me an opportunity to have this beautiful dream and in the dream, I saw myself and I don't remember dreams hardly ever.
So it was quite profound and quite special. And in the dream I knew that I would serve. Um, and the worry that I had at the time was that I didn't know enough scriptures. I didn't, hadn't read, you know, the Book of Mormon enough. And all the worries and that all just was, um, resolved in the dream where every scripture that I needed would be put before my eyes.
And I could see that the scriptures coming up before my face in the dream. And I knew that that was not even going to be a worry. And I learned that the most important thing that you have to share is your testimony. And that's what I did. That's what I did my whole mission. I didn't really know the scriptures that well, but I shared my testimony an awful lot.
Well, that is a beautiful life lesson that you learned at 21, the gospel of Jesus Christ and to share your testimony. That's fantastic. I think there's something about 21, 22 where you really start to learn things. I mean, I joke, I really did learn how to do a checking account, which We did not do bode well for me because I bounced checks, but I also learned at 21 that I was going to serve a mission and I didn't know my scriptures either.
Not at all. And I learned how the spirit speaks to me because I was like, I'm not serving a mission. You and I did not want to serve a mission. One little bit. I'm not unlike you who does want to serve, but I do remember being at a crossroads in my life where I had to make a decision. Do I go to college?
What do I do? And I've been praying about it and I, the spirit spoke to me and I knew I needed to serve a mission. Absolutely. That was my life lesson. And I think it's really beautiful how the Lord teaches us life lessons because Joseph Smith, he's young. He is 21, almost 22. He just got married. Emma Smith is pregnant and he's about to learn a really serious life lesson.
So let's go into Joseph Smith history chapter one, and we're going to just going to look at two verses really quick because Joseph received the plates. He took Emma Smith with him. He gets the plates from Moroni. And when he finally is able to physically take the plates, this is Moroni's warning to Joseph Smith.
Joseph Smith history one 59 and 60. And when we get there, Euan, will you please read the warning that Moroni gave to Joseph Smith in verses 59 and 60. That I should be responsible for them, that if I should let them go carelessly or through any neglect of mine, I should be cut off. But that if I would use all my endeavors to preserve them.
Until he, the messenger, should call for them, they should be protected. And then listen to this, in verse 60, he tells us why he was given this charge. I soon found out the reason why I had received such strict charges to keep them safe, and why it was that the messenger had said that when I had done what was required at my hand, he would call for them.
And now listen to this, it says. For no sooner was it known that I had them than the most strenuous exertions were used to get them from me. And then he says every stratagem that could be invented was resorted to for that purpose. Now knowing that, okay, he's warned, like you've got to keep them safe and this is really important work that he's about to do.
So this is an 1827 then in the spring of 1828. Joseph has a friend come visit him. His name is Martin Harris. Joseph had done some work on Martin's farm, so they had known each other. Now, Martin Harris is older. He's 44 years old. And he comes to Joseph because he's hearing about these plates. And he wants to know, is this real?
Is this work from God? And he says to Joseph, I want to see the plates. And Joseph says, well, you can't, I'm not allowed to show them to anyone, but I'll let you lift the box up that they're in. And so Martin lifted up the box and he felt the heaviness of it. And then he's like, I need to know [00:20:00] if this really is the work from God or the work of the devil.
So he left Joseph and he went and prayed. And I love the book. Saints, because it has such a great description of this experience in saints. It says that Martin Harris felt a still small voice speak to his soul. He knew then that the plates were from God and he knew he had to help Joseph share the message.
So he actually ends up paying Joseph Smith, his debts. Joseph Smith is in debt about 50, which was a lot of money back then. And he pays off Joseph's debts. So that Joseph and Emma can go back to harmony and live with Emma's family because she's pregnant and she's about to deliver her first child. So they go back.
Martin followed them and went to harmony, Pennsylvania. And while he's there, he writes down some of the characters that are, that Joseph Smith has. And this is where we get the story where he takes the characters to New York, to professor Anthon and professor Anthon says, I cannot read a sealed book and thus fulfilling 29.
So Martin then returns back to Joseph. And he comes back and he becomes the scribe and Emma has a chance to rest before the baby comes and rest was not easy. I thought this was interesting that Martin Harris's wife, Lucy insisted on coming with him to harmony, but was really mad that Martin went to New York without her.
And to be honest, I might've been too. You went on a trip without me. So she says to him, I'm coming with you and I'm going to find out what's going on. And you're using our money to help Joseph Smith. I want to know it's being used in a good way. So she comes with him. And then soon it was time for Emma's baby to be born.
And as they were translating all of that time, the papers were starting to pile up. About 116 pages to be exact and Martin says if I could just show these papers to my wife She's going to believe that this truly is the work of God And I just can you just let me take some pages because Joseph said we're gonna take a break while Emma gives birth Well, Emma gave birth and she lost the baby The first pregnancy and she buries that little soul.
And so I just kind of want you to understand how sad Joseph is at this time because Martin's pressing him, please let me take the papers. And so Joseph goes to the Lord three times. The first two times the Lord says, no, you're not letting him take the 116 pages, sent him on his way. And finally, Martin just presses Joseph, Joseph, I need to show my wife the 116 pages.
And on the third time that Joseph prayed. The Lord finally just said, do as you please, like you already know my answer twice, but I'm just going to let you go. So sure enough, Martin Harris takes the 116 pages. Now, we know that he loses those. Let's go to doctrine and cabinet section three, and we're going to read verses four through eight.
And these verses right here are one of the very first life lessons. And after we read these verses, I want you to sum up the life lesson. Okay, here we go. Katrina, can you please read verses four through eight? For although a man may have many revelations, and have power to do many mighty works, yet if he boasts in his own strength, and sets at naught the counsels of God, and follows after the dictates of his own will and cardinal desires, he must fall and incur the vengeance of a just God upon him.
Behold, you have been entrusted with these things, but how strict were your commandments? And remember also the promises which were made to you, if you did not transgress them. And behold, how oft have you transgressed the commandments and the laws of God, and have gone on. in the persuasions of men. For behold, you should not have feared man more than God.
Although men set at naught the counsels of God and despise his words. Here's your verse Katrina. Yet you should have been faithful and he would have extended his arm and supported you against all the fiery darts of the adversary. And he would have been with you and every time of trouble. Okay. Well, you to look over those verses and tell me what pops, what pops out to you.
As life lessons that we can learn from these verses. What did Joseph learn in this moment? This is where my heart goes out to Joseph Smith a bit because he was in a, he was in a difficult situation, wasn't he? Um, he was reliant upon Martin Harris for financial support and, you know, he was a good friend.
He considered him a good friend because there wasn't many people around that did actually believe him and he was one of the very, very few at the time. who did believe, who had had a witness that they were true. So I, I look at this and, you know, he's been counseled, um, by God, [00:25:00] um, that he followed after the dictates of his own heart.
Didn't listen to the Lord and because of that, the vengeance of a just God was upon him. And so he felt the weight of doing the wrong thing, making the wrong choice, the consequences of his actions. He felt the whole weight of that upon his shoulders for a 22 year old young man. I cannot even imagine how that must have felt for him.
Heavy, huh? Very heavy. Euan, what about you? Um, I think in verse 7 where it says, uh, From behold, you should not have feared man more than God. I think that's something that's really easy to not do, you know? I think anyone that says they don't care what other people say It's just not telling the truth, and I think people get caught up with people's opinions are of them and what they're doing, and I think people make decisions that just aren't the right decision, but because they, they care more about, uh, the people around them than focusing on God, they end up doing the wrong thing.
You and I have a follow up question because like you said, it's so easy for us to say, well, you shouldn't worry about what other people think. And I've said that to my children. My parents have said that to me growing up. You shouldn't worry about what other people think, but you and tell me what the implication is when God says you shouldn't worry about what other people think.
What's the promise God's giving us? Well, I think any promise he makes, he tends to keep his end of the bargain as long as we keep ours. I just think that. The situations that people, well, the situations that I've been in, not, nothing too serious, but, it's just, when I've not had that focus on God. I've ended up in situations that could have easily been avoided, and looking back, I should have just kept my focus on him.
Yeah. Oh, that's so good. I like that. Do you know, Euan made, Euan made a great point last night when we were talking about, you know, comparing the Prophet and his age now. A hundred years old with Joseph. You know, you can't even compare the two, can you, really? When I think it's 58, how much I know, you know, you know a lot more and you're a lot wiser.
He was only a baby, really, he was. He's Euan. I feel that. He's Euan. Exactly. Making these big decisions and big decisions and a lot of them that the decisions he made were very very good Yeah, it's just but the pressure He must have been under terrible pressure. And isn't it wonderful that the first thing that God wants Joseph to know is me first Like, trust me, you're going to be a prophet, my prophet, and I'm going to use you throughout your life in so many different ways.
So the first thing I need you to do is just put your trust in me and I'm going to make sure everything works out. I wonder if Joseph came back to these verses as he was in Liberty jail and then as he was in Carthage jail, how scary it must've been for him, but he's going, I'm putting my trust in God more than I am man, and this is somehow going to work out.
It didn't save his life, but it did work out. So there's a lot going on and here's the Lord saying, just trust me. I get it. But if you will just fear me more than you do mankind, then we get to verse eight, which I love. And we, and Katrina, you shared that then he will extend his arm and support you against the fiery darts of the adversary.
Then he will be with you in every time of trouble. I just think that's a powerful message. So thank you to both of you. Well, that's not the end of it. There are more life lessons to learn. So in the next segment, we're going to learn the second spiritual life lesson at a young age for Joseph Smith. We'll do that next.
Segment 3
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Okay. So I want you to tell me right now, the two of you and you, and I'm going to have you go first with your answer. What are some typical thoughts or feelings that people might have about themselves after they commit a sin? Like what are some thoughts that pop into your head after you do something wrong?
I think Shane, tell me more about that. That's the, uh, when you do something wrong. You know it's wrong, and even little things, you, that You don't want to tell someone that you've, you've sinned that even if it's, [00:30:00] uh, like stealing biscuits. I used to steal biscuits from the biscuit tin all the time and mum would know obviously because she's in there all the time herself.
Um, so she, she knows, she knows the layout of the biscuit tin. She can see when a biscuit's missing. Um, so I'd, I'd take it and then mum would come through and she'd be like, Euan, have you taken a biscuit from the biscuit tin? And I'd be like, no, no, no. Come on. Why would I take a biscuit from the biscuit tin?
Because I, the shame, I knew I shouldn't have taken the biscuit from the biscuit tin. And I think that's what gets you is the shame. And what does shame, how does shame make you feel about yourself?
Well, one good thing about shame is it kind of drives you to tell the truth in the end. The feeling will eventually outweigh the feeling you'll get when the truth comes out. And I think that's the interesting thing about shame, is it kind of forces truth. I'm writing this down. Thank you. Katrina, what about you?
Typical feelings that people have about themselves after they commit a sin, or maybe thoughts that pop into their head about themselves. I think I did get a feeling, a feeling of, you know, that shame of, you know, I've messed up. Um, I, I get, I get, it sits in my heart quite heavy and it weighs me down. It weighs me down to the point where, um, I just want it to go away.
I just want it to end. However, even after praying about something and, you know, it may not go because, you know, if you've done something that's hurt somebody, um, You know, it's difficult then because you're relying upon the Lord to forgive you. But does that resolve the thing with the person that you've hurt?
So, and I find that really difficult because I want to, um, resolve. I want to make peace. I'd rather have peace than contention. So, it, it just. perpetuates the feeling of, I just want this to be done. I just want it over. The feeling of relief to, to have it just be okay again. All is well with the Lord, but all is well with the person that you've, that's, you've hurt, or.
Yeah. And I put for me the feeling of dread, the feeling of feeling good enough. Satan's really good about making me think God doesn't love me anymore. I really messed up. In fact, there's a moment in section three of the doctrine and covenants you and I like how you said you stole biscuits and your mom always called you out on it.
We, we have a sort of a calling out of stealing biscuits moment for Joseph because the Lord calls out Joseph in verse six. Let's look at verse six. And it's short one you and can you read this? I like how you said that this is his being called out for stealing the biscuits moment by the Lord. And behold, how oft you have transgressed the commandments and the laws of God and have gone on in the persuasions of men.
Thank you. Right there. He's like, Joseph, look at this. How oft you've transgressed the commandments of God and gone on in the persuasions of men. I know what you've done. And so I'm, I'm thinking like it most likely will be that Joseph's feeling the shame. Like you said, Euan, the heaviness that you said, Katrina being this moment of dread being heavily weighed down, right?
And so we have the most beautiful verses of scripture that I, it's probably my favorite. But before we get to this verse, Katrina, I'm going to put up a quote. This is from the book saints, and this is exactly what Joseph said when the 116 pages were gone. This is how he was feeling about this moment. Oh my God, my God, Joseph groaned, clenching his fists.
All is lost. And how shall I appear before the Lord? His mother tried to comfort him. She said maybe the Lord would forgive him if he repented humbly. But Joseph was sobbing now, furious at himself for not obeying the Lord the first time. He could barely eat for the rest of the day. Thank you. I mean, that definitely describes some heaviness and some shame.
Let's go to section three, and we're going to read verses nine and 10. So I will read both of these verses. And after I read them, you and Katrina. I want you to tell me how you think Joseph must have been thinking about [00:35:00] himself based on the way the Lord speaks to him in these two verses. What thoughts did Joseph have about himself?
Here we go. Behold, thou art Joseph, and thou was chosen to do the work of the Lord. But because of transgression, if thou are not aware, thou wilt fall. But remember. God is merciful, therefore, repent of that which thou hast done, which is contrary to the commandments which I gave you, and thou art still chosen, and art again called to the work.
Based on those two verses, why do you think Joseph might have been assuming about himself before the Lord gave him that answer?
I would assume that Joseph felt that his soul was lost, that he had done the unforgivable, that there was no way back for him. And just the mere fact that the Lord Christ himself here calls him by name. I just think that's beautiful. Thou art Joseph. You know, so would that, would he not speak to us when we've done what we think is the unforgivable?
Would you, would we not hear his voice saying? Behold our Katrina, you know, and I was chosen to do the work of the Lord, you know, I love that he was chosen and he's going to hear, go on to be told that he's still chosen. And then the bit that says, but remember. But remember, you know, remember, it's such a powerful word.
We hear it a lot, especially last year in the Book of Mormon, but it's something that we hear every Sunday in the sacrament meeting and, you know, we need to remember that God is merciful and he forgives. He's a loving God, and he loves us deeply, and that there's always a way back. I'd written here at the side, um, just about, it was Boyd K.
Packer that said, you always hold the key of repentance. It's your key. And you hold the key to repentance. And I find that quite profound because, you know, we don't hold all the keys that, you know, some of the leaders of our church do, but we do hold that key. That's up to us. And all we need to do is unlock whatever we need to unlock and let the power of mercy take over, which, um, Joseph's case, that's how he felt.
He felt, um, forgiven. He repented. Oh, beautiful, beautiful commentary on that, Katrina. Euan, I want to hear from you. Tell me about what that, what you learned from those two verses. God's mercy is, uh, greater than our mistakes, you know. Uh, there's no mistake that can be done, uh, that we can't repent. If we repent sincerely, he'll forgive us and allow us to continue on.
I'm writing that down, Euan. I like how you just said, God's mercy is greater than our mistakes. And you can continue on. That was good. You're called again to the work. Yeah. How much do we love that? Because I'm thinking, I wonder if Joseph just thought, well, this is it. I, that was my chance. I'm done. He's, God's going to move on and find somebody else to do the work.
And how beautiful that God, and I've, I've, I'm grateful Katrina that you pointed out. He called him by name. Thou art Joseph, thou art Katrina, thou art Euan. It doesn't matter what you've done in the past. And I'm quoting Euan, my God saying, my mercy is greater than your mistakes. I've got this and, and how reassuring you're still called to the work you're still chosen.
So let's just clean this up and move forward. That's what we're going to do from here on out. And I'm going to still use you and that's powerful stuff. Oh, I like how both of you interpreted that. And to remember that we are all called to the work. We are all part of that. He's talking to, if we believe that he is talking to us, behold thou art Katrina, you are called again to the work.
So we're all, we're all in this, um, difficult. It's difficult. Um, life is challenging and Joseph made an error of judgment and he learned through his Repent, this repentant process. He learned a lot. You and I wanna know, knowing this about Joseph, how does this affect the way you view Joseph Smith, the prophet at this young [00:40:00] age?
He's so close in age to you. Yeah, it definitely makes him more relatable. Mm-hmm . You know, that like he faced trials, so it's normal that we are facing trials now, even though they're. Um, Oh, I think what you just said is true. Like he, he's, he's trying to figure it out just like you, just like all of us.
Right. At a young age, like your mom was trying to figure it out at 21. Isn't that great to know he was too. Yeah. And I like the fact that, well, I mean, I don't know if it was planned or not, but he's Joseph Smith and imperfect person, you know. And so are we, and it's not like, he's very different to Jesus, you know, Jesus is the guy who came down to earth, didn't make any mistakes, you know, but Joseph Smith made lots of mistakes and it's okay to make mistakes, they're there to help us grow and like refine ourselves in the gospel.
Oh, absolutely. You and I like the way you said that. In fact, that is a great way to bring up what we're going to do next in the next segment because you just said Jesus Christ was perfect and we're not going to be, we're going to make mistakes. I'm, I'm thrilled. And I like how you said that Joseph Smith wasn't perfect because I got to be honest, if I was compiling the doctrine and covenants.
And they were revelations that had been given to me. I would have kept this one out. I would have said, we don't really need to put section three in the talks about how I, you know, repented or I needed to repent. Like I would only want me to be shed in the best of light. And I so appreciate that Joseph's including these life lessons for us to learn from.
And you're right. You and Jesus Christ was the only perfect one. And so in the next segment. We're going to talk about a word in section three that I studied for a whole week that basically sums up what you said, Euan, and I'll show that to us next.
Segment 4
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Okay. Now this is an interesting question I have for you guys because I don't know if you have this in Scotland. So I'm going to show you something and you tell me if this looks familiar to you. I borrowed it from my husband. It's his. Okay. Does that look familiar? Scants. Oh, yes. It's a bandolo. It's what you wear when you earn your scout.
You guys have scouts in Scotland. Yes. OEuanwan, you've got one of these? Okay. It has all of my husband's merit badges on it. Oh, Euan's got one. Go get it.
Oh, look at that. Okay. You have it. Euan, this is so perfect because I'm going to ask you some questions. Oh, don't ask me anything about scouts. Yeah. Tell me about your experience with scouts. Did you have to earn merit badges? Yeah. Well, I don't know how you do it, but in here we got the. Um, aim of scouts is to get your gold scout award.
So you have to do, uh, nine, yeah, nine different challenges. It's like creativity, mature, achievement, tons of things you have to do. Do you remember, is there one in particular that you liked or one you didn't like that you had to get? Tell me about that. Um,
I don't. I actually remember taking any of these badges, looking at them, to be completely honest with you. I'm looking at these and thinking, what does that mean? Um, creativity, probably. I probably had to make something for that. That was not good. I guarantee it. Um, it's probably sewn on these badges, to be honest with you, because they're not really well sewed on.
I actually don't even think that is sewed on. I think that's glued on, to be fair. Glued on? That sounds about right. Um, we're gonna have to have you take a picture of that so you can put it in your bio. I want everyone to see how different your merit badge placement looks than the way we do it here. My husband, he said the easiest merit badge was swimming 'cause he was a swimmer and then the hardest was environmental science.
'cause he didn't care. He's like, yeah, I just learned what I had to learn to get that mirror badge. Yeah, I think it's, it's a little different. Mm-hmm . Like, uh, you get, like, sport, a badge for doing sports, and you get to do achievements. Because there's some stuff you have to do outside of scouts, or like, at least doing stuff outside of scouts helps.
So, yeah, I think camping was my favorite one because I always enjoyed the scout camps. Perfect. That's a great one. Camping. Okay. This is [00:45:00] so cool, Euan. So you fully understand what it's like to get these merit badges and to earn the merit badges and the work that goes into getting those badges that you have.
Now, I want you to apply that idea of merit badges to a verse of scripture because this is where my mind went to. Let's go to Doctrine and Covenants. We're in section three and there's a couple of verses I'm going to give you. So, Joseph just learns his life lesson. Okay. So here's a little bit more that the Lord wants Joseph to know.
Look at verse 16 because the Lord reminds Joseph of something and he says, nevertheless, Joseph, my work shall go forth for in as much as the knowledge of a savior has come into the world through the testimony of the Jews, which is the Bible. Even so shall the knowledge of a savior come unto my people.
And then he says in verse 17 and to the Nephites and Jacobites and Josephites, so he's saying, The testimony will come from the Book of Mormon as well. And then we get to verse 20 and I read verse 20 and it hit me and I was like, what does this mean? And I thought of scout. So look at verse 20 it says, and the Lamanites might come to the knowledge of their fathers that they might know the promises of the Lord and that they may believe the gospel.
And rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ and be glorified through faith in his name and that through their repentance, they might be saved. Amen. Highlight the word merits. In verse 20, I kept studying what are the merits of Jesus Christ? What? And I looked up and I studied that word and then I thought of merit badges and then I was like, Oh, that makes a little more sense.
Okay, hold on. We're going to rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ. So we're going to do a merits. chain. I love a scripture chain. We're going to do a couple of verses next to verse 20. So let's do this. We're going to go to next to verse 20. I want you to write this reference. Second, Nephi chapter 31 verse 19.
And Katrina, will you read verse 19 for us, please? And now my beloved brethren, after you have gotten into the straight and narrow path, I would ask if all is done, behold, I say unto you, nay, for you have not come thus far, save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.
So in that verse, we're going to highlight relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save. There's that word merits. And we're going to give another cross reference let's put next to that verse, Moroni chapter six, verse four. And it says, and after they had been received unto baptism and were wrought upon and cleansed by the power of the Holy ghost, they were numbered among the people of the church of Christ.
And their names were taken that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually watchful unto prayer. Now Euan, will you finish that last line for me? Relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and the finisher of their faith.
Perfect. So let's highlight relying alone upon the merits of Christ. Okay. Then we're at the end of that verse, you're going to put doctrine and covenant section three verse 20. So we can go back. That's our scripture chain. Let's talk about. What are the merits of Christ? So if we apply this to the idea of merit badges, Euan, and the badges that you had to earn and all the things you had to do for it, there are three badges.
That we all need in order to go back and return to live with our heavenly father. But we can never get them on our own. In fact, the only person that's been able to get these three marriage badges completely on their own is the savior Jesus Christ. And you and you talked about that. And here they are.
The first merit badge is sinlessness. Completely sinless, like he didn't commit any sin. We are never going to be able to do that. So the first merit badge he got was sinlessness. The second one was complete obedience. And then the third one was the resurrection. He was resurrected and all three of those we need, but we can't get them on our own.
We've got to have the help of the savior Jesus Christ. So now I want you to think about this because here's a life lesson for all of us. The life lesson about Christ, who he's earned these merits. Now, Euan, I want you to take this idea of having to earn merit badges. What does it mean to you if you know you have to get these three, but you can't get them on your own, and the only person that can help you is Jesus, how likely are you to get these badges then?
If the saver is the only one who can help you, as long as you stick with him, it'll be easy, but, uh, sticking with them isn't easy. So it's a bit of a contradiction there. So, um, yeah, I think it just makes it easier. Oh, I think you said that so perfectly because they're going to be really hard to get. I mean, my husband thought environmental [00:50:00] science badge was hard.
I'm, I'm thinking sinlessness, obedience and resurrection, those, those are gonna be real, real hard to get on our own. And so now you can understand why they use the word rely in all the verses we read. You've got to rely upon the merits of Christ. So Katrina, tell me about that. What are you thinking in your brain?
Like what's coming together with that relying upon his merits and how does that help us?
I think that I cannot do any of these things by myself, um, and I know that relying upon the Saviour for, um, forgiveness when I fall down. When I make mistakes, when as a flawed human being, that he will forgive me. And I know that I will one day come forth in the morning of the first resurrection because of him.
I'm writing above that verse. When you said at the very beginning, going back to verse one, when you bore testimony that Jesus Christ is the son of God, that to me was Katrina's version of relying upon the merit of Jesus Christ. I love that because you, you know, that based on faith. And you're hoping it's true.
You're going to rely on the truthfulness of what you said. And because you said that you are counting on him helping make up the difference when it comes to when we commit sin, wanting to be obedient. And then of course being resurrected because we cannot do it on our own, but we need to do it to return to live with our heavenly father.
I love that Robert Millet teaches this. And so we'll have the reference in our show notes. But that, that made so much more sense to me because I just kept thinking, what are the merits of Jesus Christ? And then I realized, Oh, the only three things he did that we'll never be able to do. And those merit badges are big and I'm pretty sure someone sold them on nicely.
You and maybe they're not glued on to the savior's band below that he wears. I mean, he has every merit badge you could possibly get, and we can get them too. We can read our scriptures. We can say our prayers. We can get the baptism merit badge and the gift of the Holy Ghost merit badge, but to rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ, these three, we need to rely on him.
And I'm going to go back to what you said at you and earlier, because you said in a past segment, how important it is to just trust. To trust in God that what he said he's going to do, um, and I, I really like how you pointed that out when it comes to going back to how he, Joseph got called out. But that when he says, you should trust me more than you trust man, that really the Lord's going to do what he said he's going to do.
So he's going to help us to return to live with our heavenly father. We just got to rely on Jesus Christ. And you're right. You and easier said than done because it's hard, isn't it? What makes it hard? Is there something that you want to rely on right now in your life? That's maybe you're scared to, you're not sure if it's going to really work out.
Um, well, what do you mean in like, I don't know. I know. I don't know either. I was thinking that. Go ahead, Katrina. I was just saying that you and you know, I know that you're relying on the Lord to maybe make it possible for you to serve a mission.
Yeah, I guess because I know that you would, I know that you would want to serve. Yeah. Yeah. So well done. Thank you Joe. My plan is to apply to uni and if I don't get in, then I'll go on a mission. Okay, well that's a pretty scary thing. What if you switched it? So there's the reliance part. What if you just apply?
What if you just decided to go on a mission Relying upon the merits of Christ that it'll all work out if you do that instead of applying to uni That's a scary thing to rely on. Yeah, there's your big rely right there. Put your trust in God That's scary Euan. I don't know. Yeah, I'm just gonna see how it goes But, um, I would, I would have liked to be able to, it's a big risk to take to go away for two years.
Huge. Um, the big people have been at uni here the same age as me for a while, um, and I think, I think it would help me, but again, as I say, dad doesn't, so I'm just going to make sure that. And on both sides of the coin are covered because [00:55:00] I've applied to uni and if I don't get in, then it's unfortunate I don't get in, but dad can't complain about me going on a mission because what else am I going to do?
Kate, this is a great, you're such a great example to many people listening you and there's a lot of young men in your same situation. Like what do I do? I was you. I applied to uni at, in my home state where I lived and I thought if I get in, then I know I'm not going on a mission. And that was an interesting scenario because if you go back to this verse where it says relying upon the merits of Jesus Christ and be glorified through faith in his name, I mean, it takes so much faith to make the decision to serve and to rely on that is scary because for you, you, and there's a lot of hearts involved in that decision, isn't there?
Yeah. Yeah. But you will be glorified. But not just you. I think all the hearts involved for sure. I'm at, hey, you know, I, you have a, um, I want you to return. I want you to report. I want you to let me know what you end up deciding. Yeah. Wow. The thing is, you know, it's difficult when you're in a, like, we're in a very difficult situation.
However, if we rely on the saviour and really fully rely on him, everything will work out. Yes. I do believe that well, you and thank you. Thank you for being willing to let us have that discussion. I think it serves for all of us to really think about, do we really rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ? So I'm looking forward to seeing what happens and you better, you better let me know.
So when all is said and done, we want to know where you end up no matter what you end up. Here's what I love about you, you, and is that you do trust in God and you can rely on him. And going back to this verse in section in section three, verse seven, you should not have feared man more than God. And I don't think you do.
So I can't wait to find out what happens to you. Okay. So this is what we'll do then in the next segment, we're going to learn about some of the life lesson qualities that are going to help us rely on the merits of Christ and to serve him.
Segment 5
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We are in section four Euan, and this is where you pick the verse that stood out to you. Now, here's an interesting thing because section four has so many qualities that help us rely on his merits as well as serve him. So one of the things we know is section four is often used in the context of missionary work.
However, this is a fun fact. It was given through Joseph Smith to his father, Joseph Smith senior, who wasn't even thinking about going on a mission. He just wanted to know, how can I help? What can I do to serve the church? You guys, it hadn't even been established yet. People aren't going on missions yet.
And so we get section four, so it can be applied to anyone who wants to rely on the savior and get to work. Now, I asked the two of you to read through section four, and here's what I want to know. Talk to me about some of the qualities that stood out to you. Read some of the qualities for us in verses five through seven.
And faith, hope, charity, and love with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work. Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence. Ask and you shall receive knock and it shall be opened unto you. Share with me because you probably don't want to brag about yourselves.
So tell me what quality you wish you had more of when it comes to serving the Lord and relying on him. I would love to have obviously more patience and more temperance as well. I would like to have a more single, I single to the glory of God. Um, mainly because I think if I had my eye more single to the glory of God, then perhaps I would naturally have all of these, these, you know, attributes, um, I really do need to focus on them all though, if I'm totally honest with you, I have to focus on them all.
Euan, what quality would you like to possess a little more of? Um, I'd say, I'd say I've probably got enough of all of them, to be honest. Um, I'm just high up there, you know, um, I've got everything, however, maybe like a little bit of humility could do with a little bit of humility. Just a little bit. Yeah. Mm hmm.
I want to know this. You and Brag on your mom, look at all the verses right there. All the things that are listed. What one do you think your mom has? Um, I don't know, it's the one mom [01:00:00] says she wants more of, which is the one I think she already has. You're just always reading scriptures, listening to podcasts, um, teaching with the missionaries.
Things like that, serving your calling. Katrina, what one does Euan have? Oh, I would say he has faith, a lot of it in bags. Um,
I would say that he has patience, a lot more than me. Um, I would say he's kind. I would say he's kind. I would say humble, but not after. What you've just said that he has all of them. Yeah. Mom, you just keep on listing them all. I know. Well, you, you, you just, you know, I just. You, I think you do have the most, the most of the good, the good qualities that I would expect.
No, not expecting a 19 year old. You have them. I think you're just lucky bias is nonetheless, she's your mom for sure, but my bias, it's just truth. I do think that for a young man of 19 growing up in a difficult. Um, where the gospel isn't quite so strong as in other places. I think you are amazing. What a beautiful compliment.
I'm going to record that display over and over and over. I want to know something though, because you guys are getting a temple in Scotland. Is that right? Yeah. Yes. Yeah. When will it be done? Do you know? We haven't heard anything recently about anything that's going on. Our bishop has said the minute they, they let us know where the field is, we are getting a bus and we're going to go down there.
That's what he said. And I know, I believe he will. He'll take us all there and we'll see where it's going to be. We don't know the location. It says, they're calling it the Edinburgh Temple. But we're not really sure where that is going to be. The London Temple isn't in London. As you maybe know. Mm-hmm . It said Sury.
It's quite a bit out of London. 45 minutes, but they call it the London Temple. Oh, wow. So we're, we're thinking a lot of people are speculating right now where it's gonna be, but I'm just hoping that it's just maybe an hour or two up the road. That would be a dream. Oh, absolutely. A dream. Yeah. Well, it's so exciting.
I thought of you when they announced that the temple would be built there. The thing about it was, when we watch conference live, if you sit up and watch conference live, which we were, you get to hear the announcements of the temple. So every time you hear the announcements, you're waiting, we always joke about, they're going to say it this time, but nothing prepared me for, from hearing.
The Edinburgh Temple. It was just, I jumped up. You jumped up as well. We're like, what? It was just amazing. Honestly, felt the strength of, we finally got, we're going to have one here. Wow. Yeah. Because we, right now we go to Preston, it's a four, five hour drive. You and I'll tell you, it's quite an event when we go to the temple here and, you know, they go for a week at a time.
Yeah, we have every October during the, I don't know if you have something similar, but we have the Thai holidays and it's like potato holidays for, it used to be for people who'd go out and pick potatoes in the potato field. It was a yearly event. So we had, Certain things planned that we do every time, so we'd go to a, um, a trampoline place.
I did almost break my neck in once and I had to go to hospital, but that's, uh, that's another story. Um, but we'd go in the temple every day and we'd get like a couple thousand baptisms done in the week because everyone would bring about a hundred names. So there was a lot being done and it's not great if you're baptizing people [01:05:00] because your arm does get a raccoon sore, but it's worth it.
It was a great experience doing it. Uh, we had One time we couldn't book the accommodation center and we had to stay on this farm. It was a converted farm into this kind of adventure area thing. It was basically accommodation surrounded by muddy fields. And, um, we still talk about it today. It was called Bibby's Farm.
And it's like, uh, whenever someone mentions Bibby's Farm, everyone just gets PTSD. No, we're not talking about Bigby's Farm because it was, it was not the best experience, but we, we always make the most of it. And it was just, it's always a really special experience to go down as youth in a place where, um, I know it's a lot different in America and some places where you'd have no youth in your neighborhood, here it's like, um, two hour radius almost.
Um, to be all there for a week in that year. Yeah. You know, you, and as you were describing your experience, it drove me, it drew me to a scripture in section five. So at the very end of section four, I'm going to give you a cross reference because here he lists all of the qualities that are necessary to rely on Christ and to serve him, which is all of us.
These are, these are the qualities of his saints, but put doctrine and covenants five verse 14 and just turn the page because verse 14 has a weird verse or kind of reference there that you read and you're, you kind of read over it. And I just wanted to point this out cause it reminded me of you and especially the saints in Scotland or anywhere who are going to the temple and who are relying on the savior.
Verse 14 says, and to none else will I grant this power to receive this same testimony among this generation in this, the beginning of the rising up of the coming forth of my church out of the wilderness. Clear as the moon and fair as the sun and terrible as an army with banners. I want you to tell you what that means when it says clear as the moon, fair as the sun and terrible as an army with banners.
According to Donald Perry in his book, understanding the signs of the times. This is what he wrote about that exact phrase. He says, The original scripture source for this phrase is at present unknown, but the phrase is ancient from King Solomon cited when he wrote the song of Solomon. The phrase here speaks of the church after it comes out of the wilderness of darkness or out of the apostasy.
So the restoration is what began. It's what's come out of darkness and it shines forth with greatness and power in the last days. Which is today, even as the sun shines in its greatness and as the full moon lights up the night, one can almost imagine mighty men gathered. I'm going to say women to mighty men and women gathered around a standard bearing weapon weapons prepared for war, waiting for the command to battle.
Such is the church in the last days. Prepared for battle against Satan and his troops of evil. And so I'm just picturing all of us as we attend the temple and we go in and come out clear as the moon fair as the sun and terrible as an army with banners. And we know from our prophet, we're given power when we attend the temple, priesthood power, and how fascinating that in last October general conference, the prophet made four references.
To the second coming of Jesus Christ. And he pointed out how important it was for us to attend the temple. And so I'm excited for you guys to have your temple in Scotland. That is thrilling. And for all of you saints to gather around that standard, gather around that temple, and you're just going, you're being prepared and it's so awesome.
So thank you for sharing that with us. So we're going to go back into our storyline now. Whatever happened to Martin Harris. He lost 116 pages. We've now gone through these verses. It has been about eight months since he lost 116 pages. So what next we'll discuss that in the next segment.
Segment 6
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So eight months have passed since Martin Harris lost 116 pages as well as his privilege to be a scribe. So in March of 1829, Martin Harris's wife, Lucy. This is fascinating. She filed a claim in court that Joseph Smith was deceiving the people and he was pretending to translate the gold plates. Lucy is not happy with Joseph or Martin, but Martin, he still wanted to help and he wanted a witness that the plates were real.
So he travels from his home in Palmyra all the way back to harmony. And I looked that up. It's roughly 278 miles or a five hour car ride one way. And he wants to know if Joseph is able to translate and does [01:10:00] Joseph have the plates? So in answer to his request, we get doctrine and covenant section five.
And here's what the Lord has to say to Martin. So Martin asks, can I see the plates? And the Lord is very clear with Joseph now. He can't, I've told you not to show it to anybody and you know that and we get that in verses one, two and three, but then he says this to Martin. So we're going to look at verse 11 Katrina, can you please read for us verse 11 and then verse 15 and in addition to your testimony, the testimony of three of my servants whom I shall call and ordain and to whom I will show these things and they will go forth with my words that are given through you.
And the testimony of three witnesses will I send forth of my word. So the Lord is saying to Joseph, I'm going to need three witnesses in addition to your witness of the Book of Mormon. I'm going to need three more. So it's kind of priming the pump here for who it might be. And then we get to the instruction of, to Martin Harris.
So let's go to verses 23 and bracket off 23 through 28. And this is instruction and correction for Martin Harris. And we're going to read. Each of us take one of these verses. Okay. So we'll start with you. You win. We read verse 23 for us. And now, again, I speak unto you, my servant Joseph, concerning the man that desireth the witness.
And Katrina, you do 24. Behold, I say unto him, he exalts himself and does not humble himself sufficiently before me, but if he will bow down before me and humble himself in mighty prayer and faith, in the sincerity of his heart, then I will grant unto him a view of the things which he desires to see. And then he shall say unto the people of this generation, behold, I have seen the things which the Lord hath shown unto Joseph Smith Jr.
And I know of a surety that they are true, for I have seen them, for they have been shown unto me by the power of God and not of man. Now we're going to pause there for a minute. We have a life lesson right here. I want you to tell me Katrina and Euan, what is the life lesson that we've learned? That the Lord is speaking to this man saying he's not humble, and if he doesn't sufficiently humble himself and bow down before me, I mean, he's kind of rebuking him and he says he did some bad things and he can be a witness.
What's the life lesson there that he, he can be forgiven that he was forgiven for the things that he did and that he was called back to the work and you and who will the Lord use as a witness? Uh, anyone? Oh, I love how you just said it so simply like that. Anyone, anyone who wants to be a witness, the Lord will use.
That is so awesome for us to remember. That's one of the best life lessons, because if you continue to read these verses, the Lord comes down pretty hard on Martin and he says, look, he's, he has, he knows what he did, but if you'll humble himself, I will use him and I will use him to be a witness. And he asks that of all of us to bracketed off about Martin Harris, put these cross references.
Mosiah 18 verse nine, and then Doctrine and Covenants section 20 verses 77 through 79. And I'll tell you what these are in Mosiah 18 nine. It's the baptismal covenant that we make to witness. That we will be a witness of God at all times in, in all things, in all places. And then in Doctrine and Covenants 20 verses 77 through 79 are the sacramental prayers that again, we say that we will witness.
And so every one of us, every Sunday. We make a new commitment. We renew to humble ourselves and to become his witnesses. So you and I love how you said that everyone can be his witness. So I asked you to, to think about this and I gave you a couple of weeks to answer. This is my final question for you.
What is your witness of the gospel of Jesus Christ? And we'll start with you, Euan. Um,
I don't know. Yeah, well, I do know. I don't know why I started by saying I don't know. Um, I know that he lives. Um, through his atonement, we can find eternal joy. And along the way, we might make mistakes. But, um, we can find peace with him when we need it. And as we strive to follow him, uh, well, as I strive to follow him, I can feel his love.
And I know that he's guiding me in my life, and I can see that.[01:15:00]
Thank you, Euan. What about you, Katrina?
My witness of Jesus Christ is, again, as Euan said, I know he lives. Um, I am a witness of him because of the testimony that I have received through the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost has witnessed to me many, many times that he is my saviour. He is very, very personal to me. Um,
I I want more than anything to stand as a witness when I can, where I can, um, because I know that when I bear witness of him,
I'm doing what he's asked me to do. Um, I try to go out with the missionaries because I know that during these discussions with the missionaries, I can testify. To the people that we, that we come in contact with. And it thrills me to be able to witness and then feel the spirit. It just, it's amazing how they suddenly realise that what you have said is true.
And it comes over them, you can see the countenance change in them and I can feel that they are witnessing for themselves that what I have said is true. I don't think there's any better feeling in this world than that, to feel his love for somebody else and for them to feel. His love for them. It's a, it's a beautiful thing.
I never tire of sharing my testimony. Um, I may not be well versed in, I'm not a scriptorian, I may not be well versed in the scriptures, but when it comes to testifying about my saviour, I don't want to fall short. I want to be able to stand and You know, make myself available. So when the missionaries ask me to go, I try my best to go when I can.
Um, and I think that's something that we can all appreciate, that they need us in this work to be a witness, to stand. up for the Book of Mormon, to stand up for the things that Joseph Smith did for the church, to bring it to, to light, and that Jesus Christ is at the head of our church, and we belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.
We're, we're, we're so blessed, and it's nice to be able to witness that with someone. Um, thank you for asking me, Tammy. Thank you, Katrina. Thank you to both of you for sharing your witness. That was powerful. Well, we're done. That's it. That's the end of our episode. So gather your thoughts and think about everything we discussed.
And then my final question for you is, what is a truth that you learned or you were reminded of as we discussed sections three through five on the doctrine of covenants? I learned that we should fear God more than man.
That's the most powerful thing for me. Thank you. What about you, Eoin? I agree. I think that is something that stands out because it's something everyone can relate to. Um, I think there's a lot of focus on missionary work in the fourth chapter, but this one is more of a general sort of scripture, and I think that means it applies to more people.
I think it's just, it's true, and it's something that everyone needs to keep in mind of. Absolutely. Thank you. Both of you. For me, it was when Katrina up to Katrina, when you, when that preacher asked you, what do you believe about Jesus Christ? And you just firmly said that he is the son of God. That hit me hard.
It was a beautiful reminder of who Jesus Christ is. Absolutely. And then you, and I wrote this down, I loved when you said God's mercy is greater than our mistakes. That was a reminder of truth right there. Absolutely greater than our mistakes. So thank you both of you. Boy, I love you both. This was great.
Now you can go [01:20:00] to bed. It's midnight in Scotland. Oh, thank you, Tammy. It's been a really pleasure to come on here tonight. Thank you so much. Thank you. Love you both. Love you too. Love you too. Well, I want to know, what did you learn? What were you reminded of or what truth were you taught? Go join our group on Facebook or follow us on Instagram and share what it is.
You can even ask questions which are so fun and people love to answer them and I do too. Then at the end of the week on a Saturday, we post a question that comes from this specific episode. So follow the link and comment on the post that relates to this lesson and share your thoughts. You can get to both our Facebook and Instagram by going to the show notes for this episode at LDS living. com slash Sunday on Monday. And it's not a bad idea to go there anyway, because it's where we're going to have links to all the references as well as a transcript of this whole discussion. So go check it out. The Sunday on Monday study group is a desert bookshelf plus original brought to you by LDS living.
It's written and hosted by me, Tammy Uzelac Hall. And today are incredible study. Your participants were Katrina Maxton and Euan Maxton. And you can find more information about my friends at LDS living. com slash. Sunday on Monday. Our podcast is produced by Cole Wissinger and me. It is edited and mixed by Cole Wissinger and our executive producer is Erin Hallstrom.
Thanks for being here. We'll see you next week. And please remember that you are God's favorite.