24: “Continue Ye in My Love” (John 14–17)

Tammy 0:00

It's Thursday evening. The Passover meal has come to an end, feet have been washed, hymns were sung. And then in the Garden, before what Elder Holland describes as - "the night of the greatest suffering that has even taken place in the world or ever will take place." The words found in John 14-17 have weighed heavily on my mind, thinking that during Christ's final evening with His disciples, Jesus Christ taught and comforted them. And this week His words will hopefully do the same for us.

Tammy 0:37

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. Okay, If you're new to our study group, we're greatful you're here and we just want to make sure you know how to use this podcast. So follow the link in our description. It's going to explain how you can best use this podcast to enhance your Come, Follow Me study just like my friend Hazel and Deseret Book Downtown Salt Lake City store who listens to the podcast and I was there and she came up and said Hi to me. So Hi, Hazel. I'm so greatful you said hello.

Tammy 1:11

Now another awesome thing and my favorite about this study group, is each week we're joined by two of my friends, so it's always a little bit different. And today is totally different. We have 2 newcomers, they've never been on, but they're listeners and I'm so excited. Okay. We have Erin Lewis Clark and her brother Jason Lewis. Hello you two!

Erin 1:28

Hello.

Jason 1:29

Hello.

Tammy 1:30

Oh I'm so excited. Okay, so, first of all, tell us where you're from and then I want to know a funny story about you 2 growing up, because you're the closest in your family, 16 months apart, so hit it. We'll start with Erin and then Jason.

Erin 1:43

Okay. So I live in San Antonio, Texas. Jason and I were like really, really close best friends when we were just really little, and then we were mortal enemies for a period of time. And then I think about when Jason got his driver's license we became best friends again. I don't know if that was a concidence or not but that's just kind of how it happened and I don't know, we've just been really close ever since. I don't know if I have any funny stories.

Tammy 2:10

All right. Well, maybe Jason will come up with one. Oh, but Erin, tell us: Are you married, do you have kids, what's that all about?

Erin 2:15

Yes. Married for over 20 years; we have 7 children, the oldest is 19, serving a mission in Brazil. And the youngest is 4, so it's a party at our house.

Tammy 2:28

Indeed. Oh, I can't wait. There's a part in today's discussion where Erin's experience with children is going to shine through. So, I'm excited, so we'll leave you on the ledge for that. Okay, Jason, tell us about yourself.

Jason 2:39

Yeah. My name's Jason and I live in Glendale, Arizona. I'm married to my wife Amanda, we've been married 6 1/2 years. And we have 3 kids, the oldest 2 are from her first marriage. They're 12 and 11. I don't call them my step kids, they're just my kids. And then we had our youngest is 5, Jake, we had him together and we love life here in Arizon. I left Utah not knowing exactly what it would be like and I just love Arizona. So

Tammy 3:14

Even in the summer?

Jason 3:15

That does get a little difficult, and I'll probably bring that up at one point.

Tammy 3:21

Oh, good, good. Yeah, then save it, for sure.

Erin 3:24

We do like to give our family a hard time, everybody who's up in Utah, especially this winter as you guys got pummeled.

Tammy 3:30

Oh, yeah.

Erin 3:31

It's been really nice to not have to deal with that.

Tammy 3:33

Um-hmm. Boy we got a lot of snow. I can't get over, our Spring was so cold; I didn't think it would ever get,,,,my poor daughter plays a Spring sport. You would have thought it was a Winter sport. We're out there in hats and gloves and blankets in April - WHAT? Yeah, no, we got hit. Okay, I can see why Arizona would be nice, but just not in the summer! Or Texas, Texas is hot, too.

Erin 3:57

Oh Texas is awfully warm.

Tammy 3:58

Really quick, I want to know Erin, though, why did you choose your brother when I gave you a choice to have a guest.

Erin 4:04

Oh, my gosh. No, it was not even, like I didn't even think about it for 2 seconds. I just knew that he was the one that I was going to choose; I've always looked upo to him. I think I've told him this once before. He is the reason that I always wanted to have a boy first cuz I wanted my girls to have a big brother. I just looked up to him and he's so just knowledgeable in the scriptures. I, I don't know. That's it. I love him.

Tammy 4:33

Well, this older brother.... I, if you want to have a funny story, I remember when we were in elementary school and since we're only a grade apart, we saw each other on the playground often and if anyone wanted to bully her I would go and intercede and stop that. Not so much because, you know, I, we were young. I just felt like that's my job. YUou can't bully her, that's my job, so knock it off.

Tammy 5:01

And I actually vividly remember that; as soon as you opened your mouth I knew that's the story you were going to tell. And I used to get.... I think that was maybe during our mortal enemy phase

Jason 5:10

Yeah.

Erin 5:11

I used to just get so angry. I'm like, Well why are you allowed to be so mean to me but they're not?

Tammy 5:17

Oh-ho. That's a cute story. "You're not allowed to bully her, only I am." Spoken like a true older brother. Wow. Well, I am really excited to have both of you on and I am looking forward to our discussion today. And for those of you listening, if you want to know more about my guests, you can read their bios and see cute pictures of them in our show notes, which are found at ldsliving.com/sunday on monday. So for today's episode, you are absolutely going to need something to write with and paper to write on. So go ahead and get that, or you have your journal, great, we're going to use that. So grab your Scriptures and something to mark your scriptures with, and Let's Dig In.

Tammy 5:53

Okay, we're going to back to how we started and we're going to look at some of the final words that Christ said to His apostles. So let's turn to John chapter 14 and just verse 1, and that's what we're going to look at. And we're going to mark how He started this discourse. K, John 14:1 and Jason, will you please read for us John 14:1.

Jason 6:12

"Let not your heart be troubled: ye belive in God, believe also in me."

Tammy 6:19

Thank you. Okay. Just right there out of the gates, here they are on their way to Gethsemane, they've just had the Last Supper as we explained earlier. I want to know from both of you what your thoughts are. Why would He have started out this way: Don't let your heart be troubled.

Erin 6:34

As I thought about that, I, you know we know that the Chapter breaks were not, we know that those were inserted modern day. And coming right off of Christ telling them like 'I'm going to leave and you can't come and like all the things that He told them, I can totally understand why they would be troubled by that.

Tammy 7:01

Excellent.

Jason 7:03

Jesus knows what's coming for His apostles and you know, He also even knows what's coming for us today. You know, the apostles are going to experience some pretty intense grief with His betrayal and His capture leading up to His trial and His crucifixion. And despite all those warnings He gave them, they never really fully expected what was coming. And we have the benefit of hindsight, but like them, I think we're still kind of semi-blind for how things are going to go leading up to His Second Coming.

Tammy 7:37

Absolutely. You know, Jason, one of the things I liked that you said was you included us in that, even things that are coming up to us today, things that would trouble us. And I want to do this very quickly. So grab a piece of paper or in your journal, and I'm going to give you about 30 seconds to do this. Here's what I want you to do. I just want you to list what troubles your heart today? What is something that troubles your heart, and just write a couple of things down, o k? 30 seconds, here you go, write. Okay, and stop. Now I'm sure for some of us you could have kept writing for much longer than 30 seconds. But I'm just curious. Would either one of you be willing to share maybe 1 or 2 things you wrote on your list - what troubles your heart today?

Jason 8:26

I can imagine what Erin's troubled about with having a son so far away from home.

Erin 8:32

That's on my list for sure.

Jason 8:34

And thinking about him every day. But for me it's the same thing, you know. My oldest is 12; the next one is about to turn 11, you know, they're starting to become more independent, or at least I guess they think they are. They want to do more things on their own, especially with friends. And the influence of friends starting at that age can be powerful. And I'm trying to do my best to not hover too much, you know, let them grow, but that's scarey knowing what's out there and how enticing the world can be.

Tammy 9:11

Wow. That IS troubling. Absolutely. What about you, Erin?

Erin 9:15

Yeah, you know, that's actually at the top of my list, too. I ask myself often, you know, if I'm doing enough to make sure my kids have the foundation that their foundation is strong enough to weather the storms that life is going to throw at them. There are so many unknowns. If I focus on that, the future can seem so scarey and heavy. But you know, if we focus on the Savior and put our trust there, then it doesn't feel as scarey and heavy. It's hard sending them out into a world that is so scarey in just all the crazy things that are happening. And Jason focused on friends and things and I agree 100%, but there'so so much like sending my daughter to high school that's 20 minutes away. She's on the freeway, like is she going to get in an acciddent? Like just, you know, so many things that could happen, and I try not to be that worrier, you know. I try to put my faith in the Savior, that He's watching out for them.

Tammy 10:25

Oh, I totally agree. Both of you; when I think about my list, too, top of the list is my family, the things that trouble me, and the world that they're in. And you're right, Erin. I think about my daughter's about to get her license and I am so scared. I'm excited and terrified, because like you said, driving. Please don't get in an accident. It's a scarey time, it's troubling. And it seems like the Savior gets that; not just for the disciples, but for US. Because there's a lot of messages of hope in these chapters we're going to study today. In fact, in 14:27 He kind of repeats this message again. Erin, will you read verse 27 for us.

Erin 10:59

Sure. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

Tammy 11:11

Okay. Now we just have to read this quote by Elder Holland who's specifically speaking about this verse, verse 27. I'm going to read it, and as I do, I want you two to just notice in this quote what strikes you as you hear these words from Elder Holland. Here's what he says, and this was given at a BYU speech in 1997. He also repeated it in a General Conference adress. He says this:

Tammy 11:33

"Consider for example the Savior's benediction upon His disciples, even as He moved toward the pain and agony of Gethsemane and Calvary. On that very night, the night of the greatest suffering the world has ever known or ever will know, He said: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." I submit to you that may be one of the Savior's commandments that is, even in the hearts of otherwise faithful Latter-day Saints, almost universally disobeyed. And yet I wonder whether our resistance to this invition could be any more grevious to the Lord's merciful heart. I can tell you this as a parent, as concerned as I would be if somewhere in their lives one of my children were seriously troubled or unhappy or disobedient, neverthless, I would be infinitely more devestated if I felt that such a time that child could not trust me to help, or should feel his or her interests were unimportant to me or unsafe in my care. In that same spirit, I am convinced that none of us can appreciate how deeply it wounds the loving heart of the Savior of the world when He finds that His people do not feel confident in His care or secure in His hands, or trust in His commandments."

Erin 12:47

That's beautiful.

Tammy 12:49

Every time I would teach this in Seminary or Institute, this was universally the quote that every student wanted a copy of to put in their scriptures. And in Gospel Docterine and everything. Cuz I think no one ever thinks that that's a commandment He's giving, in 27. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Who would have ever thought that'd be a commandment?

Jason 13:10

I've never read it that way.

Erin 13:11

Yeah, me neither.

Tammy 13:12

Never. No. So when you read it that way now, "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid", He's commanding you to trust in Him. And then to connect it to this idea of parents, which is what we've just been talking about, how does that affect the way you feel towards Jesus and the Father, when He says, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you."

Jason 13:35

So when I was living in Utah before my wife and I got married, I was in a leadership role, and a family in my ward had one of the most terrible things that could happen to a family happened to them. Their 9-month old son was in daycare and they went to pick him up and somethinghad happened while he was at daycare and he ended up passing away. And I had no idea what to say to them; I knew there was nothing I could say that would lessen the sorrow they were feeling. But when I got to their house, this was the only scripture that I could think of that would express my feeling of sympathy and that He's is the only thing we have to lean on. And grief can do crazy things to us. We make wierd decisions when we're experiencing grief. And now that I've read this differently that it's a commandment that we have peace, it takes some strength to put aside grief and feel peace and have assurance and trust that the Lord will make things right in the end.

Tammy 14:51

Jason, you beautifully summed that up, and that's a really incredible experience you had with that verse. Wow. Thank you for sharing that, that was so good.

Erin 15:00

And I think to add to that, to be able to trust that He will carry you through that grief. Because He has not left us alone in that. He doesn't want us to carry that alone.

Tammy 15:19

Yeah. I agree. And I love this idea that, I had never considered it would wound the loving heart of the Savior that we wouldn't trust that He would give us a peace. Cuz He really will. And He will give us peace for our troubled times. Everything you wrote down on your list that troubles your heart, I'll have you write in big letters, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you." It's a promise that comes by way of keeping that commandment, of just believing. So, thank you for both of your comments. So keeping this idea in mind to not let your heart be troubled or afraid will kind of be the main theme throughout our discussion today, and if you're unsure of how to do this, in the next segment the Savior's going to answer that and a very similar question asked by the Apostle Thomas that will help us get to the point where we can trust. We'll do that next.

Segment 2 16:04

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Tammy 16:21

All right. So I'm just curious to know from the two of you, how are you guys with directions? And using a map?

Erin 16:29

I love maps. I'm so good with directions.

Tammy 16:32

You really are.

Erin 16:33

I totally am.

Jason 16:35

With your technology?

Tammy 16:36

No, I'm saying without. Like,

Jason 16:39

Oh,

Tammy 16:39

We grew up in Utah, right? Mountains are on the east side.

Tammy 16:43

Right, right.

Erin 16:44

And then fast forward a couple years after we're married, we lived in Denver. It took me a little bit to have the mountains on the wrong side, but got it. And I feel like ever since then, wherever I am, I'm like, that way's North.

Tammy 16:59

You have the gift of interpretation, of maps and directions - I do, too. I always say that. I'm

Erin 17:04

An internal compass.

Tammy 17:05

Yes, I can get you anywhere. I might get you on the wrong day or the wrong time. But I will get you there. I'm not good with dates and times. What about you, Jason?

Jason 17:14

So I drive for UPS.

Tammy 17:17

You do?!

Jason 17:18

I drive the brown trucks around the neighborhood, and I am a Santa year round., takin' packages. That's what I do. I love it. And my wife has lived in Mesa pretty much her whole life and she knows all the streets, you know. We, that was the biggest transition moving from Utah with numbered streets, to Arizona - everything has a name. And I absolutely love it now. But as a UPS driver, I came to know not just the streets, but okay, this numbered house is going to be on this block between these two streets. And I I think I know Mesa better than she does now. And she's lived here her whole life.

Tammy 18:04

Oh, my gosh, okay. This is so awesome. I had no idea about the two of you knowing maps so well. So this is going to be perfect. As we talk, here's what I want you to do: be thinking about the benefits of maps, why maps are good and why our kids should be able to read maps. Or if they can't, why Google Maps are super helpful, all the good that comes from maps. K, because I'm going to ask you in a little bit to give me some of those answers. So before we do, let's go to John chapter 14, we're still here, let's read verses 2-5, because knowing how to get somewhere, specifically where Jesus wants us to go is very vital. And this is pretty cool what He teaches us. So here we go. Erin, will you please read for us verses 2-4, and then we're going to pause for a minute and then we'll go to verse 5.

Erin 18:48

Sure. "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 4: And whither I go ye know, and the way you know."

Tammy 19:12

Okay, now, first of all, verse 2, highlight the word "mansions". Because in Greek - every time I heard this as a little kid, I imagined a mansion. Like the most fancy mansion I could ever think of. And I'm like, I want to live in that. But now I like the word better because in Greek it actually just means r"ooms or abodes". Because like "in my father's house", there's so many rooms, there's plenty of room for everybody. Because I did also think there's probably not a room for a lot of mansions because there's a lot of acreage, I don't know, like, I just thought it would be overcrowded. So here He's saying, No, there's so many rooms and so many abodes where everybody can come. But then He says in verse 4 "And where I go, you will know the way, like the way you're going to know. Now Thomas - how much do we love Thomas, because he asks a question that we were probably all thinking in verse 5. So Erin, go ahead and read verse 5 for us.

Erin 20:00

"Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?"

Tammy 20:08

Thank you. I like how the NIV translates His words. It says 'Thomas said unto him, Lord, we don't know where you're going. So how can we know the way? We have no idea.' Okay, so then Jesus gives the answer. He's like, oh, it's easy, Thomas. Here's how you'll know the way. Jason read for us verse 6.

Tammy 20:26

6: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

Tammy 20:34

Okay. He tells us right there, oh, He is the way. Now, this is so cool. Let's go back to this idea, then, if Jesus is the way, that He's really the ultimate map, there is no better guide to get back to heaven. So help me connect this to why maps are so great, and why Jesus's way works? Do you see what I'm trying to do there? Like, for instance I thought, Well, when I use Google, the Google Maps, it always warns me about accidents and helps me divert my way so I can get around something that would cause me an accident. I think Jesus's way does that all the time. Let me help you avoid that. Go this way so that you don't end up in a, in quicksand is what I thought as a kid. Boy, I thought for sure I'd be in quicksand all the time, didn't you? In all the cartoons, everyone landed in quicksand in the cartoons. I haven't seen any in my life, but anyway, whatever. So I think, I think Jesus's way diverts us. Give me some more connections between maps and Jesus's being the way.

Erin 21:31

You know what it's interesting when you first said that I'm, I'm old school, I did not immediately think of Google Maps. And I thought of the paper map that I still have in my car,

Tammy 21:44

Sure.

Erin 21:45

And, you know, when we go on a road trip or something, I just, I like to look at the map. And you have to study it, you have to know, because, you know, the technology maps, it tells you where to turn, like right as you're upon the turn. And you just you have to study that map to know how long before you need to look at it again, you know how long you have before, before you need to turn.

Tammy 22:16

Oh, I added to yours, you have to pay attention constantly.

Erin 22:19

Oh 100%.

Tammy 22:20

If you go a little bit too far, you just passed the road. So your, those paper maps, you are always looking back and forth that, Oh, that's good. Study the map, study the way, pay attention, keep going. These are awesome.

Jason 22:32

So with my job, we have these devices that we carry around with us to scan packages and mark them is delivered and whatnot. But they also give us directions to the next point that we need to go to. But because it's a corporation, you know, UPS, they want mileage reduced as much as possible. So sometimes the shortest way is not the best way. And once you know an area and which houses you need to hit, sometimes I take the street the opposite way in the direction you want me to go, because it's going to make it easier for me to get out. Or I'm going to hit all these houses on the right side, which is easier to get out of my truck. And so you can follow the directions only so much. It takes knowledge of that environment to maybe say, oh, I can do this better.

Tammy 23:34

Oh, Jason, I wrote down "you have to have a knowledge for yourself. A true knowledge for yourself. Instead of the way you're being told to go." Oh, I like that. Oh, these are so good. Keep them comin'. What else?

Erin 23:48

Well, like Erin, I remember having that big map in, that was in the back pocket of the driver's seat. And I just like looking through it, you know, we would take summer trips to southern Idaho where our cousin lives. And I would just look through it, okay, here's how I get from Utah to Wyoming. There's Yellowstone National Park. And I just loved looking at maps. And now we, It makes us lazy that we can just put the address in. We can go on autopilot and we almost don't even enjoy the the journey, almost, because we're just on autopilot. We just go wherever it tells us to go. I don't know if that means anything, but.

Tammy 24:37

Well, I think sometimes are we ever sometimes on a spiritual autopilot?

Jason 24:42

Totally

Erin 24:42

For sure.

Tammy 24:43

Right?

Erin 24:44

For sure.

Tammy 24:44

We just kind of are gliding through, not really paying attention or enjoying the journey. Okay, that's so good.

Erin 24:51

And I think we can, I think if you have - going back to your map thing - we can develop a love for the map.

Tammy 25:04

Ooh I like that.

Erin 25:04

Because sometimes I think if you look at a map and you don't understand the keys, you don't know what you're looking at, and you have to learn to love that.

Tammy 25:14

I like how you just said you don't understand the keys. Going back to you really have to study the map. And the keys are what are going to help you understand what everything means on the map. Oh, these are such great applications. K, now here's what I thought of, because in that answer, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Jason in your job, how important is a map to you that it's truthful?

Jason 25:40

Oh, gosh, when I first started driving, we would print out our maps, we would still have our device, but printed maps were good. But we couldn't always rely on them. Because in Arizona, sometimes they have these little alleyways that go behind houses where they'll put garbage cans and things like that. And a big brown UPS truck cannot get through those alleyways. And I would see the directions on my device, and I'd be looking at the map and I would think, Oh, can I just go that way? And then I would try it and I go, nope, this is not gonna work.

Tammy 26:27

Okay, that is so perfect. Yeah, you want your map to tell you the truth. And I love how Jesus is saying, I am the way and I am the truth. Now look what the truth can do. If Jesus is the way, here's why we want Him to also be the truth. We're going to cross reference verse 6, to John 8:32. So right next to verse 6, just write John 8:32. And let's go there. Erin, will you read that for us, please.

Erin 26:53

"And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."

Tammy 26:57

Look back at that. Now, if Jesus is the truth, I want you to replace the word "truth" with "Jesus".

Erin 27:02

"And you shall know Jesus, and Jesus shall make you free."

Tammy 27:09

Thank you. And what do you think He makes us free from?

Erin 27:13

Oh, my goodness. You know, I love that so much because it's such a long list. He can make us, well, first of all, He makes us free from sin. We know that He has the ability to do that. But he can free us from these troubles, you know, we've talked about all these things that trouble us, and He can lighten that for us. Freedom from worry, freedom from anger and hurt. He can take those from us.

Tammy 27:44

Yeah, He definitely can. And He has for me, for sure. Wow, great answers.

Tammy 27:50

I'm gonna, I'm gonna bring in more UPS stuff. This is

Tammy 27:54

Great.

Jason 27:54

It's funny how things just pop up. And but Erin mentioned that sin can be something that chains us and holds us, binds us. And if you've ever seen a dog chained in a yard to a post, they have some freedom to move around. But they're really limited in their space that they go. I run into so many dogs as a driver. Most of them are in the house, and that's wonderful. I love dogs though, I have two of them myself. But when a dog is chained to a post, most of the time they're usually mean. And they're trying to get to you with everything they have. But they're stuck. And it's the same thing with sin. And I think about the exchange between Alma and Korihor, the Antichrist in the Book of Mormon. And Mormon closes that chapter by saying, "And thus we see that the devil will not support his children at the last day, but does speedily drag them down to hell." And I think about how clever he is at binding people. Each one of us, like none of us have skated through freely like the Savior has, but, and then he abandons us. He traps us and then he just abandons us.

Jason 29:29

And the Savior works exactly the opposite way. He sets us free by helping us cast off those chains. All it takes is a little humility, that we need Him, and a change in our behavior. And I just love how every time in the Scriptures when someone asks for forgiveness, they get it every time. There's no exceptions to that, where they, we can come back to Him again and again. And He's always going to set us free with compassion. He doesn't condemn, just like we read with the woman taken in adultery. He doesn't condemn, He just wants to set us free.

Erin 30:11

As Jason was talking, and I was thinking about the chains of Satan, you know, he really, he desires to bind us with the flaxen cord, you know, that thin, little, thin little flaxen cord. And, you know, those cords become the chains that bind us. And, you know, I really think for me staying on the covenant path and doing all those Primary answers every single day, really is what makes me feel free and brings me so much more joy in life than I really ever thought possible. I loved that you had us put Christ's name in that scripture. That's so powerful to me. And when, when we read it that way...

Erin 31:05

I just had this beautiful picture come to my mind, and I am not by any stretch of the imagination an artist. But if I were, I would sit down with a paintbrush, because it's so vivid in my mind. You know, when we go to Him with a broken heart, I picture Him lovingly, He's taking my hands that are bound with that flaxen cord. They're hurting, they're raw. And I picture him just gently unwrapping those cords until my hands are free. And it's going to take time. And it's going to be a little painful as we let Him slowly unwrap them. But I also kind of picture the tenderness in that, you know, maybe I would paint a tear slipping down His cheek, as we go through through that painful process. Together. He paid the price so that He could do that for us, because He wants to do that for us. And we just have to let Him.

Tammy 32:12

Thank you, Erin, you know, and as you said, the covenant way, keeping the covenant, that that is the way. Keeping our covenants is the way, and it is the way, it is the truth, and then the life. When those chains, when we become unchained we live. I love how you both brought in that talk about being chained and how unchaining us is how we begin to live. So that is so perfect. Thank you for both of your comments. That was awesome, especially the connection with UPS, that is so fun. You know the way and both of you know how important maps are. So as we continue on this way, and we're following the Savior - the ultimate map - we're going to need something and He's going to promise us something that we're going to use on this journey. And we're going to talk about that in the next segment.

Segment 3 32:54

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Tammy 33:09

Okay, so have you guys heard of the five different love languages?

Erin 33:13

Yep

Jason 33:13

Yes.

Tammy 33:14

Yes. What one are you guys? Do you know?

Jason 33:18

I know, I can remember one of them. It's the touch.

Erin 33:25

Touch. That's me.

Tammy 33:26

You're also touch, Erin?

Erin 33:28

I'm touch. Yeah.

Tammy 33:28

Okay.

Jason 33:29

My wife is not.

Tammy 33:32

Awww, bummer. (laughter)

Jason 33:34

It's okay. It's okay.

Tammy 33:35

Do you know what your wife's is?

Jason 33:38

Hers are words of affirmation.

Tammy 33:41

Oh, I like that.

Jason 33:42

She would rather hear, hear it than than feel it.

Tammy 33:46

Okay,

Erin 33:47

That's so funny. My husband is also not.

Tammy 33:50

Oh, he's not touch.

Erin 33:51

He would probably be service. Like because he's, he's always doing things for other people. Like that's how he shows his love.

Tammy 34:01

Okay. So I took this test years ago when it first came out and I wanted to know what I was, and I got my results back. And I was pretty even across the board. All five. Not one shine. But I was talking to my good friend, her name is Stacy Wooley. And she is like the love language guru. And I was talking to her a couple of days ago, actually, about this idea of love languages. And I told her that I'm like, I'm pretty even across the board. And she said, "Oh, that's interesting." And she started asking me these questions. I didn't know what she was doing at the time. But by the time we were done, I realized, Oh, she just figured out my love language. And I found out my love language is gifts, which shocked me because I don't necessarily like stuff. It's not that I want things, but I love surprises. And I love to surprise people. Oh my gosh, I want Christmas to be a surprise for everyone. If I have a party at my house, I want there to be surprises. Like you walk in and you didn't expect me to have a candy jar or, I don't know, I just love giving people little treats or things they didn't expect. Like, I do, I love surprises. And I didn't, I thought maybe that was like, service or, course I don't want it to be gifts.

Erin 35:08

Well you have me rethinking mine now because I also love to find like the perfect gift for someone.

Tammy 35:15

Yes, same! Oh my gosh, I pride myself on it. Yeah, that Christmas when I draw your name, I'm coming up with a theme for that gift. And I'm going to buy things all within that theme. And oh, I just love it. My husband's is not, like I would love for him to surprise me with a trip somewhere. He'll take me anywhere, I, it's just the element of the surprise that I love. So when I was studying for this specific segment, I kind of chuckled because I thought, Oh, I love gifts. And there's a really important gift that we're going to need as we travel on this way. In fact, here's what Joseph Smith said about this gift. I'm gonna give you two quotes. Tell me if you can tell me what gift this is. He said this: "We believe in this gift in all its fullness, power, greatness and glory." And then here's another one: "This gift is given to people who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ, been baptized, and been confirmed as members of the church." Now, what do we traditionally call something "a gift of" in our church?

Erin 36:10

The Gift of the Holy Ghost

Tammy 36:11

There it is. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if on my eighth, on my eighth birthday at baptism, I asked where the Present was when they said, You're getting the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Does it come in a box? Turn with me to John chapter 14, and we're going to read verses 16 and 17 and we're going to begin our discussion of the Holy Ghost. I have been looking so forward to this. So here we go, John 14:16 & 17. And we'll start with you, Jason. Will you please read those two for us.

Jason 36:36

Sure. 16: "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever; 17: Even the Spirit of truth; when the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."

Tammy 36:56

Now, the reason He says I give unto you another comforter is because up until that point, the Savior had been the comforter, He had been with them in person. This is interesting: We've talked a little bit about this year, but ,and this you will read in the Bible dictionary under the word Holy Ghost. It says, "For some reason not fully explained in Scriptures, the Holy Ghost did not operate in the fullness among the Jews during the years of Jesus's mortal ministry." Now, they did experience and feel the Holy Ghost, but the actual gift of the Holy Ghost was not present. And we don't know why, it just is the way it is. And it's actually in John 7:39 that says that. So now He's saying, I'm going to give you this gift, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and then He's teaching them. Imagine walking with the Savior to Gethsemane, and He is saying, Let me tell you all the things the Holy Ghost will do. So we're going to begin a discussion of the Holy Ghost. And here are a few of the things that the Holy Ghost can do for us, as we read from John 14, and John 15, and John 16. So here we go.

Tammy 37:57

We're going to start, we just read verses 16 and 17, and at the very beginning of 17, underline "the Spirit of truth," which we've talked about also. Truth. How important that is that not only can Jesus not lie, but neither can the Spirit. I like how in verse 16 it also describes that the Holy Ghost is a Comforter, and, boy, have I needed comfort in my life. The idea that something can comfort me and make me feel better? I also think of a big comforter on my bed. I love a good warm bed, especially in the winter, the feeling that it just wraps all around me. How awesome that the Holy Ghost can do that for us. Alright, let's go to John 14:26, and find out something else about the Holy Ghost.

Tammy 38:40

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." Jason, what should we underline in that verse that the Holy Ghost can do for us?

Jason 38:57

Teach you all things. Bring all things to your remembrance.

Tammy 39:02

Awesome. Okay, let's go to John 14:27, which we kind of read before, but now we're talking about the Holy Ghost. Erin, read it.

Erin 39:12

26: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be aftaid."

Tammy 39:22

Thank you. What can the Holy Ghost help us to feel?

Erin 39:25

Peace. He promises us peace.

Tammy 39:28

Let's go to John 15:26 "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from (me) the Father, he shall testify of me." And so I wrote "testify." The Holy Ghost will testify of truth, of the Father, of God, of all good things. I like that: testify. Ok, let's go to John 16:7 & 8. Jason, hit it.

Jason 39:56

7: "Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 8: And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement:"

Tammy 40:15

What could we underline in those 2 verses the Holy Ghost can do for us, specifically verse 8 - what He will do in verse 8.

Tammy 40:22

Reprove the world of sin

Tammy 40:24

Oh, yeah. Now I had to look up the word reprove, cuz I wanted to know really if there's another definition that makes more sense. And when I looked up reprove in the 1828 Webster's Dictionary, it said "to convince or manifest." So now it changes for me. He is come to convince the world of sin.

Jason 40:43

So it's not

Erin 40:46

Reprove, like we reprove our children

Jason 40:49

It is. But He's not like, thumping from the pulpit.

Tammy 40:53

Right. He's just convincing or manifesting to us what our sins are and of the righteousness and of judgement. Yeah.

Erin 41:02

Which makes it so much more clear that, you know, He'll prick our heart when we're doing something we shouldn't be doing.

Tammy 41:13

Oh my gosh, I mean, how many of us can relate to that, especially when you were a child and you did something wrong? You know that feeling where the Spirits's like, Eh, probably wasn't the best thing to do. Okay, who are we kidding? Even as an adult that's happened so many times to me. I'm like,

Erin 41:30

On a daily basis

Tammy 41:31

I probably shouldn't have said that.

Jason 41:32

Interacting with your kids where you go, Ah, I shouldn't have said that.

Tammy 41:37

That's the Holy Ghost manifesting to you, "Jason, you might wanna fix that." (laughter) Oh, that so good. Okay, let's go to the last one. Erin. John 16:13-14.

Erin 41:48

13: "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth,is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14: He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you."

Erin 42:13

Ok, Erin. Your verses were packed. Let's go through that, all the things the Holy Ghost can do. What'd did you get?

Erin 42:19

Oh, well He's the Spirit of truth, so that tells me He testifies of truth.

Tammy 42:23

And let's pause for a minute there. Cuz I loved when I learned we're not just talking about spiritual truth. Any truth. Truth in the capital, truth in a math class. Anywhere you're learning truth, the Spirit will manifest what you're learning is right, you'll feel good. And a lot of times kids are like, "Well, I'm not feeling the Spirit, I didn't have a burning in my bosom, I wasn't crying. But I try to point out to my kids, in the Book of Galations, all the ways you can feel the Spirit are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. If you just felt happy or you're feeling good or at peace in your class, that's the Spirit of Truth. Because you know the opposite, that feeling of agh, that didn't feel right. So truth can be anywhere. Keep going.

Erin 43:06

I love that cuz I didn't really uunderstand if you keep going, it says He will guide you to all truth. So that's, they're two different things now to me.

Tammy 43:18

Umm, tell me about that.

Erin 43:20

Well, you know, the way you described the Holy Ghost testifying of any kind of truth, and where that 2nd one, He's going to guide us to all truth. And, I kno't know, to me that does speak to more spiritual truth.

Tammy 43:39

Yep. I think so too,

Erin 47:27

I could be wrong.

Tammy 47:43

No. I think you're absolutely right. And I l ike the idea that it can guide us to all truths because I have a daughter who's in college and there are times where she'll be like, I'm hearing things that don't sit well with me. And that's the point of the class, is to really push the boundaries. And that is, right there, the Spirit's testifying to you of like, this is not truth. You can listen and you can hear what your professor's saying, but it's probably not truth. And I like that. Like spiritually, it's affecting her spitirually, because what they're speaking is against what she believes to her core. So, yes, spiritually speaking. Good job, Erin. keep going.

Erin 47:44

Well, it says in the end He'll show us things to come.

Tammy 47:44

Right.

Tammy 47:44

I'm not sure what that one means. Maybe you can shed a little light on that.

Tammy 47:44

Oh, Jason, you're smiling. What do you think it means?

Jason 47:44

Well, I think about Sister Sheri Dew's talk "Prophets Can See Around Corners."

Erin 47:44

Oh, yeah, that was so good.

Jason 47:44

And President Hinckley giving that "The Famiily: A Proclamation." They saw what was coming; they knew it was coming. And it doesn't have to just come to the Prophet. Yeah, they needed that direction for the whole world, but I've had situations where I'll be just driving or doing whatever and I'll get a thought that pops in my head. It's not necesarily something I see, but it's a thought. And really quick after I see that coming, it happens. And it's just like Joseph Smith said: you'll get these little inclinations and you'll start noticing that that thing came right then, like soon after. And it's just little things that tell you, Alright, I'm in the right way. I'm not perfect, but I'm where i need to be because I can feel it.

Tammy 47:44

That is exactly what it is, Jason. In fact, the footnote down below, where next to the word "shew you things to come," (d) is revelation, it is exactly what it is. He will reveal to you things that you need to know that will benefit not YOU necessarily, it is not a selfish revelation, it is a revelation for HIS good: for family members, people you have stewardship over, that kind of thing.

Jason 47:44

Oh, awesome.

Erin 45:50

Yeah. Oh so good. K. Keep going. Anything else in verse 14?

Erin 47:45

Glorify me?

Tammy 47:46

Mmm. Yeah. That's just what it means, He will. He will glorify Him, to us in our hearts.

Jason 47:46

If I need a pick-me-up, I play Tabernacle Choir music, I'll play other good, uplifting music that I have on my phone that I've saved or whatever. And if I, if something's off and I need to feel better again, that's what I do.

Tammy 48:05

Music does glorify Him. That's awesome. Okay, so we have all these cool things that the Holy Ghost will do. I mean, there's, these are just some of them, actually. We didn't do an all-inclusive dig into the Holy Ghost, which you're going to want to do. We could have gone to Doctrine and Covenants and Book of Mormon, obviously. But just from these few New Testament scriptures, I asked you, if you either one of you had your own personal experience with the Holy Ghost that you'd be willing to share. And Jason, you shared one about music, but do either one of you have another one that you'd be willing to share with us where it did magnify it in your life, some of these verses?

Erin 48:39

So I do. This is a little bit of a long story. But it is just the one that came to mind. Seven years ago, my daughter was in the hospital at 10 months old. One day, just kind of out of the blue, I was holding her, I was sitting on the couch, and I noticed that her breathing was like really fast. And I thought it was a little weird. She had no other symptoms of being sick. And as I sat there listening to her, I felt impressed that I should call a friend of ours who is a doctor and just ask him what he thought. And bless his heart, he dropped everything and drove like 20 minutes to our house. He sat and he listened to her chest for what seemed a really long time. And he said, "She needs a chest X ray and I would take her to the ER." And I'm sure he was trying very hard not to scare me.

Erin 49:34

And so, long story short, a few hours later we were admitted to the hospital with some pretty intense pneumonia. I was up with her all night long just holding her as she struggled to breathe. And by the time the morning came, the doctor basically said her little body can't keep fighting for oxygen this way. She needs to be intubated. So to make a, sorry, make a long story a little bit longer, a day or two later, I was sitting in her hospital room. And when someone's intubated, they're given sedation medication. And so I couldn't hold her at all. So at this point, we're just waiting while her medications, hopefully do their job to get her better. So I was trying to distract myself reading a book. And I wasn't facing her bed directly, she was kind of off to my side. And my back was to the glass wall that was basically the door to her room. And her nurse was sitting behind me, facing her computer. She was, I don't know what she was doing, but she facing her computer.

Erin 50:37

And all of a sudden, she comes busting into the room. And it all happened so fast that now, like, in my mind as I think back on it, the whole thing is just in slow motion. The nurse immediately started working on her and before I knew it, there were four other nurses in there with her. The doctor came in and just stood there at the foot of the bed saying, talk to me. So what had happened was something had blocked the tube that was, that had gone down into her lungs. And somehow, we have no idea why, someone had turned off the audio alarms on her monitors. The nurse just happened to look up and see that her vitals were plummeting. And I don't remember the exact numbers. At this point, I knew enough to know that what I was seeing on those monitors was not good. Her oxygen levels were super low, her heart rate, everything was just alarmingly low. And it's completely unexplainable to me how I felt so calm, just completely calm. And I know that that was the Holy Ghost comforting me and just telling me, It's fine. Everything's gonna be fine. And in also in that moment, I knew that someone from the other side of the veil had tapped that nurse on the shoulder and told her to look up. And I know it.

Tammy 52:14

Wow. Oh, Erin.

Jason 52:16

You never told me that Erin.

Erin 52:18

Oh, man.

Tammy 52:20

Wow, what an incredible story. Thank you for sharing that. I believe that, I absolutely do, someone tapped her shoulder. For you to feel such peace. Thank you for witnessing of the truthfulness of those verses. Oh, gosh, that's great story. Thank you. Thank you to both of you. Great stories, great stories. Now I want us to go back to John 14:6 really quickly, I'm gonna have you circle a word. It says "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever." Circle the word "abide". This word is super significant because the Holy Ghost will abide with us forever. But in the next segment, we're going to find out what we have to do with the word ABIDE and it's really cool and I can't wait to show you.

Segment 4 53:04

.....

Tammy 53:50

Okay, let's go to John 14:31. Okay. Now and some scholars think in verse 31, it says, "But the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me a commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence." So some scholars think that when He said that, this is when He began His discussion with the apostles. So it could be that now they're leaving the house or they could have been standing outside the house, now they're on their way to Gethsemane. And I think that this is really cool, because as they're walking, what we know about the Savior is He's really good at using everyday average things to teach a parable. And I'm imagining they must have been walking past a vineyard when the Savior dives into this really cool analogy. So let's go to John chapter 15. And we're going to read this metaphor, analogy, parable, whatever you want to call it. And I'm going to have you mark some words and define them, and then we're going to read it.

Tammy 54:44

So here we go. Follow with me. In verse 15, sorry, in John 15:1, we're going to mark the word "vine", highlight vine. "I am the true vine", and I want you to put "Christ." Okay? So the vine is Christ. And "my Father" is the husbandman." So next "husbandman" I want you to put "God". Now a husbandman is a cultivator or a tiller of the ground. So that's what the husbandman will do in a vineyard - take care of all the ground. Okay, then we have in verse 2 the word "branch". And the word branch is "us." So just put 'us' or you can put 'me' next to it, you are the branch. And then in that verse, it says the word "fruit". Highlight, circle "fruit", it says it twice. Well, actually three times. The word fruit means "works," the works that we do. K, I have another word I want you to mark, it's in verse 2, and it's the word purgeth. It says, "He purgeth it." Now it is not purgeth. Actually, in Greek, the word is "purify." So mark that and put "purify" next to it. We got to get rid of purgeth because it changes the meaning completely. Okay, and now here's what I want you to do. Go quickly, through verses 4-7 and highlight every time you see the word "abide." Go real fast, tell me how many times you found "abide."

Erin 56:03

Seven

Tammy 56:04

Nice. Good job.

Jason 56:07

Well you were way fast Erin.

Erin 56:09

I already highlighted that.

Jason 56:10

Oh,

Tammy 56:11

She's an overachiever.

Erin 56:12

I love it.

Jason 56:13

I have told her so many times that she should be a Seminary teacher in her area. She's so ready.

Erin 56:19

It's a calling.

Jason 56:19

I know it is, but, if it comes up,

Tammy 56:22

If anyone knows someone in San Antonio, give Erin that calling. The fact that you already marked the word "abide"? Seminary teacher material right there. K. Seven times. Okay, this is so cool. Now, the word abide, you can look it up and it means "to dwell". But I really like what Elder Holland has to say about this word. So he gave a really great talk in General Conference 2004 about this specific word and this parable or metaphor, whatever you want to call it. So he says that he knew what the word abide meant in the King James Bible. And he says it's just not a word we use very much anymore and that he gained such an appreciation for this word when he was introduced to it in a different language. And it was in Spanish. So this is cool. Did either one of us serve a Spanish-speaking mission? Or do you speak Spanish?

Erin 57:07

You do not.

Jason 57:08

I served a mission in Chile.

Tammy 57:10

Jason, this one's for you. Oh my gosh.

Jason 57:13

My Chilean spanish has gone downhill but

Tammy 57:16

Well, you're gonna love this because he's actually talking about the Chileans in this quote. So Jason, read for us what Elder Holland teaches us about the word 'abide' in Spanish.

Jason 57:25

"In Spanish, that familiar phrase is rendered "permaneced en mi". Like the English verb "abide," permanecer means "to remain, to stay," but even gringos like me can hear the root cognate there of "permanence." The sense of this then is "stay - but stay forever." That is the call of the gospel message to Chileans and everyone else in the world. Come, but come to remain. Come with conviction and endurance. Come permanently, for your sake and the sake of all the generations who must follow you, and we will help each other be strong to the very end."

Jason 58:08

Thank you. Okay, now that we know the definition of all these different words, we're going to read verses 1-7. And I want you to kind of just be thinking in your mind as we do this, like what comes to mind to you and how can we abide, as we read this parable? Alright, so I'm going to read these verses and I want you two to write down any notes that come to your mind about now that we have a new knowledge of the words and what the word "abide" means. Here we go.

Tammy 58:32

1: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2: Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he "purifies" it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3: Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4: Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5: I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6: If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7: If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."

Tammy 59:28

Okay. Tell me your thoughts. What did you mark or write down?

Erin 59:32

You know, I had a visual pop into my mind in verse 6 when He talks about the branches that do not abide in Him. Back in February we had a really intense ice storm here that covered everything in like an inch of ice. And branches were just breaking off of trees. And it was so much so that we did a service project where we, you know, we had some people in the ward who needed help cleaning up their branches. And so we put together some teams and we just put together all these branches on trailers and took them out to a guy's property that's in our ward. And by the time we were done gathering all these branches, this pile was about 30 feet long, 10 feet wide, and about 20 feet high. It was massive. And they burned down that pile. And it was, it took a long time. But that's, I just, that visual in my mind of, of that burning is so powerful.

Tammy 1:00:47

Right?

Jason 1:00:48

Wow.

Tammy 1:00:49

And the fact that those branches could no longer abide or stay with the tree they were in for whatever reason,

Erin 1:00:55

because they weren't strong enough

Tammy 1:00:57

Right.

Erin 1:00:58

They weren't strong enough to withstand the ice, the storm.

Jason 1:01:04

So good, Erin.

Tammy 1:01:05

I'm putting that, I'm writing that in my scriptures. So good. What were you gonna say, Jason?

Jason 1:01:19

Well, what's the alternative to "abiding in Him?" It's going out and dabbling in the world, seeing what it has to offer, testing out things that we don't need to be even concerned with. So I've just like, No. Stay right here. Don't go anywhere else, just stay here with Me. That's, that's what I think He's saying.

Tammy 1:01:45

Yeah, I agree. You know, and I think about the world we're in right now. Do you see among maybe family or friends, people that you know that it's getting harder and harder to stay? Or abide?

Jason 1:01:57

Yeah.

Erin 1:01:59

Yeah.

Tammy 1:01:59

Like, I think the timeliness of this is so profound in my own life. I just want, because I find myself crying often just saying to people I love, Just stay, please stay. You can do more good in than out. Please, abide or permanecer. I love how you said, you said it perfectly, Jason, by the way. Permanecer en mi.

Jason 1:02:21

I love this verse 7. If you do abide, and His words are in you, what's going to happen?

Tammy 1:02:29

Yeah

Jason 1:02:29

What you ask, it shall be done unto you. When you need something, and you need it desperately, if you're there with Him, you don't have far to go to get that help. It's so close.

Tammy 1:02:45

Yeah, cuz you're already connected.

Jason 1:02:47

Yeah.

Tammy 1:02:48

Wow. Oh, I like that connection, Jason. And the thing that surprises me about that is oftentimes I'll have seminary students say, 'You can pray for anything?' You can pray for anything. But the thing is, is if you, if you stay, if you abide in His words, you will know what to ask for. The Holy Ghost will reveal to you what is necessary. I mean, that is such a great scripture - Doctrine and Covenants 18:18. Pray and the Holy Ghost will tell you what is necessary for you, what you should pray for. So if you're already there, if you're already connected, that was so great, Jason. It's not far to go to ask the Father for anything. Oh, good stuff. Wow. Such a good discussion.

Jason 1:03:28

I hadn't planned on saying that.

Erin 1:03:30

Well, it was good!

Tammy 1:03:32

I like it a lot.

Erin 1:03:34

I didn't plan on the fire thing, either.

Jason 1:03:35

Oh, wow.

Tammy 1:03:36

It's so cool, I love when that happens. You know, I was thinking about this because a couple of years ago, we, I was going through this with some friends and this idea of "do we stay, do we leave?" And, and of course in my mind, I'm like, I'm gonna stay. But it was really weighing on me. And I was thinking about a lot of different things and a lot of questions. And Satan is so good about challenging your thoughts and your Truth, and really challenging your decision to stay.

Tammy 1:04:02

And I may have shared, I don't think I've ever shared this story before. I got called to the Primary. And we were learning a song in primary. And the song is "I Will Believe What I Believe," and I'd never heard it before. And the song leader's up there teaching us, and here are how the words go. "Living in this world with change all around. But with the Prophet's words, I'll stand on solid ground; even though it's still hard with questions that arise, every day I will (now the chorus says "every day, I will say), but here I am singing my heart out right? I am singing so hard "Living", I'm like, Yes, "Living in this world with change all around. And I try I'm trying to stand on solid ground" and then this part" "Even though it's still hard with questions that arise".

Tammy 1:04:49

I didn't hear the word 'say". I had, I heard the word "stay". And I screamed at the top of my lungs "Every day I will stay". And as I said the word "stay", it was like a Girls Camp moment. My heart exploded, I am sobbing, like tears rolling down my cheeks. The kids are looking at me like, Why are you crying Sister Hall? I'm like, because I'm going to stay, I'm really going to stay. And it just was such a powerful moment for me to sing, Jason, it goes back to music. For me to sing, "I will stay - Parmanacer en mi", I just think it is awesome. Like, I am going to abide, and it is hard. And things are changing all around us. And it is going to get, it is turbulent as we started in the very beginning. It's supposed to be; we are in the Second Coming: the signs, the seasons, all of it. And so with that, we just have to make the decision to stay. Everybody, stay; choose to abide. In fact, some of you listening right now, I just want you to take a second and write in your journals something you're going to do to stay. And I'm just asking you really off the cuff right here, Jason, Erin, give me one thing you're going to do to stay - what keeps you to stay?

Erin 1:05:53

You know

Jason 1:05:54

Temple

Erin 1:05:55

Oh, 100%, I love the temple.

Tammy 1:05:58

Great answer, Jason.

Jason 1:05:59

We just moved from, I don't know, 15 minutes from the Gilbert temple. And now we're 25 from the Phoenix Temple. And I think, you know, Oh I've never lived that far from a temple before. I've always been so close.

Erin 1:06:14

spoiled.

Jason 1:06:14

Well Erin, yours is not far down the road.

Erin 1:06:17

Not right now. But we've lived places where it took us an hour and a half to get there.

Jason 1:06:22

That's true.

Tammy 1:06:23

Some people, it takes days.

Jason 1:06:24

Yeah,

Tammy 1:06:25

A round trip airfare. Yep. That's awesome, though, Jason. Temple. Great answer. What about you, Erin?

Erin 1:06:30

The thing that keeps coming to my mind is something I heard someone say once, kind of in reference to family members leaving and, and this individual was like, I am not going to leave. Like she's saying this to herself. And, and she said that the Holy Ghost just said to her, "If you are not in the Book of Mormon every single day, you will follow them out." And it was kind of a slap in the face for her, like a wake up call, you know? And I hear that running through my mind often. If I'm not in the Scriptures every single day, I will follow them out. And when you're in a place where you're just feeling the spirit so strong and you're loving it, it's really easy to say, Of course I'm going to stay.

Tammy 1:07:22

Right.

Erin 1:07:23

But if we don't stay close to the spirit and stay in the scriptures and stay, you know, abide right here with Him, then, you know, it can happen before we even realize it.

Jason 1:07:38

So I like to keep this quote from President Eyring close. He said it in General Conference a number of years ago. And it's so profound that, "Faith has a short shelf-life. You have to feed it daily, or it's just going to go away."

Tammy 1:07:55

Absolutely.

Jason 1:07:56

It's not going to last.

Erin 1:07:57

That's great.

Tammy 1:07:58

So great. In fact, I think we're going to ask this question. I'd love to ask this on social media this week: What are some, what is one way you abide? What is one way that you stay? I'd love to know what the listeners have to write because everybody has different ways that they stay. So thank you both of you for your answers. Great ideas. I wrote them down: Temple and Book of Mormon, for sure. So what we're going to do in the next segment then is continue this discussion of staying and how long do we have to stay? The Scriptures are going to teach us that in the next segment.

Segment 5 1:08:27

.....

Tammy 1:09:35

All right, you two. I asked you ahead of time to go into John 16:15-20 and mark the most oft-repeated phrase in these verses. Okay, so go to John 16:15-20. And if you're listening, pause right here and go through and see if you can find what it is the phrase that is the most oft-repeated. What did you two mark?

Jason 1:10:00

Agh, I can't count how many there are, but it's all over the place - "a little while." It's everywhere.

Tammy 1:10:06

It is everywhere. That's the phrase, Jason. Good job. Okay, this is crazy. In verses 15-20. The phrase "a little while" is said 7 times. Now this is interesting. Why? Why is it even said? So, in verse 15 it says,

Tammy 1:10:21

"All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you." Then verse 16, says "A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father."

Tammy 1:10:35

So this phrase "a little while" is twofold. The first meaning throughout these verses is the resurrection. He's saying in a little while, you'll see me again, I'm going to be resurrected. But the bigger picture for all of us is the word "a little while" means mortality. Now, sit with me for just a minute. How does it affect your life and all of the tribulation you're going through to know that Jesus is saying, It's just a little while?

Jason 1:11:03

It's the same thing He told Joseph Smith and Liberty Jail, isn't it?

Tammy 1:11:09

Yes. Talk to me.

Jason 1:11:10

"But a small moment." And wow, same type of thing.

Erin 1:11:15

"And ye shall be exalted."

Jason 1:11:16

It wasn't a small thing. It was what, 5, 6 months imprisonment; that's not a short amount of time.

Erin 1:11:25

No, it's not

Jason 1:11:26

It's not gonna pass fast. It's gonna, it's gonna go so slow.

Erin 1:11:30

Especially if it's that uncomfortable, you know. I've, I've been to Liberty Jail, and to spend any amount of time in there would have been significant and felt long. I think that a lot of times in our liberty jail, it can feel so, so long.

Tammy 1:11:55

Well, Erin, you just said, "especially if it's uncomfortable." And now, Erin, I want to know your thoughts on this, because here's the Savior saying to the apostles,' It's just a little while. Don't worry. It's a little while.' In fact, in verse 20, He says, "Verily, verily I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned to joy." Don't worry, all these sad times will be good. And then we have verse 21: "A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world." Now talk to me about that, Erin. A woman who is in travail, who is giving birth. Is that a little while in perspective, like give me some perspective on that.

Erin 1:12:42

It is 1,000% true. It is so true. And you know, when I, when you first read that "a woman in travail," you think, oh, when she's in labor. Oh, no, no. That's a long nine months.

Tammy 1:12:58

Right

Erin 1:12:58

And it's longer for some than others, like some women have a really difficult pregnancy. I was blessed to have really fairly good pregnancies, but it was still really hard. And even having said that, like, I mean, it must have been easy to forget if I did it seven times.

Tammy 1:13:20

Right?

Jason 1:13:21

You were just remembering the joy that came after.

Erin 1:13:23

Oh, the Joy. Yes.

Tammy 1:13:25

In fact, read verse 22, Erin.

Erin 1:13:30

And ye know. Oh, sorry. "And ye now therefore, have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." So true.

Tammy 1:13:46

Yeah

Erin 1:13:46

I'm thinking of all my little babies. It's so true.

Tammy 1:13:50

The joy.

Erin 1:13:51

Yep.

Tammy 1:13:52

I just think, you know, Jesus is so wise in the way that He explains this to us. He uses this female imagery for us. "A little while," 'Like all the stuff you're going through right now, all of the tribulations, all the heartache, all the sorrow, it's just a little while, and you can do it. Because remember, I already said, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you." I'm going to be there. I'm going to help you through it all. And I will, and I'm giving you the Holy Ghost to help you through this little while phase, which seems a long while for sure.' And then He kind of winds this up with verse 33. Let's go to verse 33. And Jason, can you please read that for us?

Jason 1:14:30

33: "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

Tammy 1:14:41

Ah, thank you. I put a big smiley face next to that verse. This, this championing rally cry for me is that, "Be of good cheer." What does He mean "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." How do those two verse, those, how do those words connect?

Erin 1:15:02

What happier thing could there be, knowing that the Savior conquered all? He conquered death so that we can live with Him and our Father again? I can't think of anything more joyful.

Tammy 1:15:23

For sure. Um, Elder Oaks gave a great talk called "Be of Good Cheer." And Jason, can you read this quote for us from Elder Oaks about this phrase "Be of good cheer,"

Jason 1:15:34

"Tribulation and challenges are the common experiences of mortality. Opposition is an essential part of the divine plan for helping us grow. And in the midst of that process, we have God's assurance that in the long view of eternity, opposition will not be allowed to overcome us. With His help and our faithfulness and endurance, we will prevail. Like the mortal life, of which They are a part, all tribulations are temporary. In the controversies that preceded a disastrous war, United States President Abraham Lincoln wisely reminded his audience of the ancient wisdom that "this too shall pass away.""

Tammy 1:16:18

Thank you. So my question to you is, then, that phrase "a little while" and "to be of good cheer," how can this help us when we are drowning in tribulation and sorrow?

Erin 1:16:28

I think if we can look back at trials that have passed, and most of them for me anyway, they feel very distant. You know, going back to that, you know, having a baby. When I think back to that, almost year, it doesn't, it's like a blink. But when you're in it, it feels so, so long. But if you can just remember, Oh, that was just a blink. So I can do this, too.

Tammy 1:17:05

Yes. You know, Erin, especially when you're in that moment. I do remember being in that moment of labor pains, the only thing that got me through it was this isn't permanent. This will not last forever; it has to end at some point That was the only thing that got me through it. And I think that's true when we're in the thick of tribulation and sorrow like, this is not permanent. I will get past this, but right now, I'm gonna have to hold on. I have to double down on my covenants; I'm gonna have to hope and pray for this peace that I'm promised and let the Father help me.

Erin 1:17:40

That's the biggest thing, I think, is holding on to that knowledge of who can help you. And I have learned from personal experience that when we need that help, I don't think, sometimes He does, but I don't think that Heavenly Father will just hand it to us. Like we have to ask. When we get down on our knees and we ask, and ask for the right thing, like, not take this away from me. Because if it's, if we're supposed to go through it, we're supposed to go through it. But help me to know what I am to learn. Just find the right question and, and He'll carry us through those trials.

Tammy 1:18:23

Wow. Great insight, Erin. Thank you for bringing it back to that "woman travailing." Fantastic. What about your answers, Jason?

Jason 1:18:32

Well, Erin knows this about me, but I was single for quite a long time. I didn't get married till I was 37. And when you get off a mission and the typical get married, go to school, have kids, start your family, all of that weighs on your thoughts. You're like, what is going on here?

Tammy 1:19:04

Right.

Jason 1:19:05

And you're trying to do all the right things, you're thinking did I do something to prevent this from happening? You know, all those common thoughts that, you know, we know where those come from. And now, we had this conversation not long ago, Erin. I think back now and I'm like, Oh, I've been married for 6 1/2 years, but honestly, it feels like, I don't really remember the hard years of being single. And the only thing I could hold on to was I know this is true. I know Joseph Smith saw God. I know that the priesthood is on the earth and we have temples and sealing authority. And like Erin, I've been to Liberty Jail, and there's a painting of Joseph in Liberty Jail. He's on his knees and he's pleading. His, his head is lifted up and he's sobbing. He's just pleading with God. And I had those moments again and again, through the years of being single. I just, I was just like, Where are You? And I'm married now and I'm very happy. And I barely remember that time. Doesn't mean it was easy. Or that it didn't happen.

Tammy 1:20:35

Yep.

Jason 1:20:36

But He got me through it.

Tammy 1:20:38

Yeah. And just like you said, you're like, Huh, it was just a little while. I thought, Yeah. Oh, beautiful, both of you. Your answers were so great. Thank you. I think that gives a lot of people hope who were in the thick of tribulation and sorrow, that it will come to an end, that it's not permanent, it's just a little while. And for anyone who's just really feeling like they are drowning, then, there is so much hope. And it's found in John chapter 17, which I feel like is the life preserver for all of us. And we're going to talk about that chapter in the next segment.

Segment 6 1:21:11

.....

Tammy 1:21:44

So, I did say as we ended the last segment that for me, John chapter 17 is sort of like a life preserver. Have either of you ever used a life preserver to stay afloat?

Erin 1:21:54

Yes.

Tammy 1:21:56

Boy, you really need 'em, don't you?

Erin 1:21:58

You can just relax.

Tammy 1:21:59

Yeah, perfect. Yes, you can just re,,,sometimes that's all I want to do when I get in the pool with my kids is put the floaties under my arms and my legs and just leave me alone, right? Because I'm too cheap to afford a real floaty.

Erin 1:22:11

I have a floaty that my kids know is just my floaty, no children are allowed on it.

Tammy 1:22:18

Perfect. Okay. So John 17 is just your floaty, nobody else's, Erin. Not really, it's all of our's. I want us to go to John chapter 17. Because I just think this is such a cool chapter. It is our life preserver, and we're going to mark something in this. So I just want us to go to the section heading. It says, John chapter 17, "Jesus offers the great intercessory prayer." Now circle the word "intercessory." I looked up what this means and this is so cool. The word intercessory means "a prayer of solicitation to one party in favor of another." So now think about this. Jesus is offering a prayer of solicitation to Heavenly Father in favor of all of us. This is the prayer He offers before He enters Gethsemane, and He prays it on behalf of every one of us. So I asked my guests to take time to read John capter 17 and just come with what verse really spoke to you - what part of this intercessory prayer do you believe is for you? So Jason, you go first.

Jason 1:23:25

Okay, mine's verse 12. And it's the middle of the verse where Jesus says, "and none of them is lost." How, I just love how He, that's what He wants. He's not going to lose any of us. This, so many people, and I've done this in the past, I've worried about what happens if one of my kids just doesn't want anything to do with the gospel? You know. Jesus Christ's work, His work and glory is to bring to pass our immortality and eternal life. And He said numerous times in the scriptures, I am able to do mine work. He's capable, we are willing. He's capable of doing this. So we just have to leave it up to Him and trust Him. But I just love that He's not going to lose any of us.

Tammy 1:24:30

Jason, that was my verse that I picked too. And no, no, no, cuz I think it's great because my, what stood out to me was something unique in there. It says, He says, "I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept." But the word "kept" in Greek is actually "guarded". So He's saying, "thou gavest me I have guarded them, and none of them is lost." And you can also take the word "lost", and in the Greek translation, it's the word "perished". And none of them is perished spiritually. Yes, none of 'em, we're gonna die physically, but He's talking about spiritually. So it just goes back to what you said, like none of us are lost, none of us are going to perish. It is His work and His glory. I like how you connected it to that scripture. In fact, if you want to put cross reference to verse 12, just go and put Moses 1:39. Like that's where it is, His work and His glory. So good, Jason.

Jason 1:25:20

And it doesn't mean that we're not going to veer here, off here and there. But He knows where we are at all times. He always knows if we're in a difficult time, and we need Him or He's going to put somebody in our place, or in front of us that can help us, or He, He always knows where we are. We're not lost to Him.

Tammy 1:25:44

Let me write that down. That's good. Thank you, Jason. All right. Erin, what about you?

Erin 1:25:51

I think the one that sticks out most to me is in verses 15 and 16. He says, "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from evil. 16: They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." And the fact that Christ prayed for us not to be worldly is pretty powerful. For me, it kind of drives home the importance of keeping ourselves unspotted from the world, you know, and how, how do we do that? We do that by taking the Sacrament every single week. That is how we stay unspotted from the world. The Sacrament is the only ordinance that we repeat for ourselves. The only one.

Tammy 1:26:48

Yes. Well, Erin, as you just said that two, verse 17 connects perfectly to what you just taught us because He says, "Sanctify them. "That means to make holy, make them holy through thy truth, thy word is truth. And now that we know the new meaning of the word Truth, like through them, through Jesus, thy word is Christ. And just like that, taking the Sacrament remembering Him, you're totally right. It's an individual ordinance for us every Sunday to become holy and unspotted from the world. I like how you just taught us that, Erin. I'm writing that down. Holy and unspotted, Holy sanctified. Ah, so good.

Tammy 1:27:30

Yeah, John 17 is just that feel good chapter, when you consider that He's praying for you. Every one of the words that came from His mouth were for the benefit of all of us. And so John 17 is our life preserver. And we need it because we live in a world that is filled with turbulence and torment and sadness and sorrow as we read throughout the scriptures. But the great, just the good news of all of this is that we're offered peace. And we're offered the Holy Ghost. And that Jesus is the way, He's the perfect map, and He is the Truth. And He will set us free so that He, because He is the Life, and we will live. And so I just thank you to both of you for coming so well-prepared, and for this awesome discussion. I have felt the Spirit consistently as you've testified of these truths, and shared your personal experiences and stories. So thanks to both of you. That was awesome.

Erin 1:28:22

Oh, thanks for having us.

Jason 1:28:23

It was a joy to be here.

Erin 1:28:25

It was so fun

Tammy 1:28:26

Wow, so good. Okay, so just take a minute. Gather your thoughts, look through your scriptures. What is your takeaway or something that you learned from today?

Jason 1:28:35

I really enjoyed our discussion from John 15 about abide. I love that you taught us that word, what it really, what it means, and it has so much more depth now for me. But I especially love in verses 10 and 11. "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love;

Tammy 1:28:57

Ah, yes!

Jason 1:28:59

"even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. 11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." This is what I'm trying to teach my kids more than anything, is that Jesus has more to offer us than anything the world has. All we have to do is is follow Him, keep His commandments, do what He's asked us to do, and we're going to abide in His love and have a fullness of joy.

Tammy 1:29:34

Awesome. I'm so glad you read those two verses in connection with the word abide. Oh, that was good. Thank you, Jason. What about you, Erin?

Erin 1:29:43

You know, when we read chapter 14:4, and "whither I go ye know, and the way ye know." I love that so much; I put a little red heart next to it. Because He's saying here, like, 'I've showed you, it's right here. All you have to do is follow the things that I've said. And you know how to get to Me.'

Jason 1:30:13

Two different places and saying the same thing. I love it.

Tammy 1:30:17

I just put a little heart there, too. And then I wrote next to "the way", I put "it's me." Thank you, Erin. Gosh, I loved our discussion on the connection to how Jesus is the way and what maps can do for us, because I didn't know that Jason was a UPS driver. And that was so cool to just see all these good things. When He says He is the way, and then you connect it to maps. Like, it's just, of course, He's the way and it's, it's going to work. And it's just perfect. And for Erin to have the gift of interpretation of maps. When you said to really study the map, you studied it, you pay attention. And just that whole discussion really, for me, changed the way I look at The Way. And so thank you so much for connecting that beautifully. I really liked that discussion, so. So good. So thank you.

Erin 1:31:08

Thank you.

Tammy 1:31:09

You were wonderful. This was so cool.

Erin 1:31:10

Thanks so much, Tammy.

Jason 1:31:12

Thanks. I really had a great time.

Tammy 1:31:13

Alright, friends, love you both.

Jason 1:31:15

K, bye.

Erin 1:31:15

You, too.

Tammy 1:31:15

Bye.. Oh, gosh, okay, well, I just, I'm so excited to find out what you've learned and what your answers will be to our questions. So if you are not following us on Facebook or Instagram, go do it, because you can ask questions throughout the week or just share some of the things you're learning or some of the thoughts that you have from this discussion. And then on Saturday, we are going to post a question from this discussion today. You can get to both our Facebook and Instagram by going to the show notes for this episode at LDS living.com/sunday on Monday. And if you go there, you're going to find references. Sorry, if you go there, you're going to find the links to all the references that we used, as well as a transcript of this entire discussion and a glue-in for this episode. So go check it out.

Tammy 1:31:55

The Sunday on Monday Study Group is a Deseret Bookshelf Plus original brought to you by LDS Living. It's written and hosted by me, Tammy Uzelac Hall, and today are really great, so fun brother and sister study group participants were Jason Lewis and Erin Lewis Clark. And you can find more information about these friends at LDS living.com/sunday on Monday. Our podcast is produced by Cole Wissinger and me; it is edited by Hailey Higham, and recorded and mixed by Mix At Six Studios, and our executive producer is Erin Hallstrom. Thanks for being here you guys. We'll see you next week.

Tammy 1:32:25

And please remember, those of you in any type of tribulation and sorrow, remember that You are God's Favorite.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai