New Members

We hear much in the church about the importance of leadership, but less about what Roger Merrill calls followership. There is no point in having leaders if there is no one to follow, and followership is an excellent place for new members to provide service in the church. When we learn to effectively and humbly follow our leaders, we show respect for the Lord’s choices for leadership. Since we are all asked to follow the Savior, learning to follow righteous earthly leaders is good training for this.

Brother Merrill advises:

“A good follower asks what to do and is willing to receive and listen to counsel and advice from his leaders. The brother of Jared was advised by Jared and the Lord, and the sons of Mosiah were advised by their father, and by Alma, and they followed this advice.

A good follower must be willing to accept responsibility and to make recommendations that will be accepted by the leader. This means that a follower must try to learn about his leader’s ways. He should try to anticipate the leader’s needs in a creative way and seek constantly to do the things that the leader needs to have done. A follower needs to act on his own and to bring to pass much righteousness of his own free will. This implies that the follower must understand true principles so that the things he does will bring to pass righteousness and not wickedness. Many young people in the Church have great leadership potential, but in many cases, it will not be realized because they will not first learn to follow. A great leader is first a great follower. Become a great follower. Do what you are told. Ask what to do and listen to counsel. Accept responsibility; make recommendations, carry them out, and bring to pass righteousness because of your own free will. There are no shortcuts to confidence or righteousness. We must be willing to take them a step at a time and walk before we run. We must follow before we lead.”

Although this quote refers to people in callings, it is also good advice for those of us who don’t have callings, but are active members in a ward. Nearly every week our leaders give us counsel and advice, and we can accept responsibility for carrying them out. Has a leader asked that members sign up for building cleanup or participate in a community service project? Has he asked us to work harder on reverence in a meeting? Whenever a leader makes a righteous request, we’re expected to act on those requests. This allows us to learn to follow righteous counsel, and prepares us for future leadership opportunities.

When we remember that each leader is called of God, it becomes easier to follow our leaders and to show them respect. This builds our testimony, our humility, and our ability to live the gospel.

Since joining the church, you’ve probably become aware that we have a great need for leaders. There are many positions which require leadership, and most people get a chance to be a leader sooner or later. When I joined the church, I was certain I would not be one of them. I was most definitely a follower. It didn’t work out that way, of course. I was eventually called into leadership positions and had to learn to become a leader.

You can begin this process now, even though you’re new to the church and probably don’t have a leadership position yet. Even if you have no leadership experience anywhere, you can be prepared when the time comes.

Watch the leaders in your ward (congregation.) Notice how they lead a meeting, so you’ll understand how it’s done. When you attend an event, try to figure out what the leaders might have had to do to prepare.

President Spencer W. Kimball, a former president of the church, had this advice for women on leadership: “Do you think of leadership as telling others what to do, or as making all the decisions? Not so. Leadership is the ability to encourage the best efforts of others in working toward a desirable goal. Who has more significant opportunities to lead than a mother who guides her children toward perfection, or the wife who daily counsels with her husband that they may grow together? The tremendous contribution in leadership made by women in the auxiliaries of the Church and in their communities is likewise beyond measure.” Spencer W. Kimball, “Relief Society—Its Promise and Potential,” Ensign, Mar 1976, 2

Anyone, male or female, can practice this type of leadership. We all know people who need encouragement. We all know people who need help managing a complicated project, or even a complicated life, and who would welcome a helping hand.

We can practice organizing our own lives as well. When you have a large project, take time to think it through and to decide what steps must be done in order to complete it. Be sure to spend time in evaluation later. This practice will help you later when you’re put in charge of something important.

Become a good listener. Leaders often spend much of their time listening to others, and being compassionate. Get to know people who are different from you, so you can understand other lives and cultures, making you a more effective leader of others.

Study how the Savior led and begin using those skills in your daily life. For more on this, read “Lesson 29: Developing Leadership,” The Latter-day Saint Woman: Basic Manual for Women, Part B, 247. This lesson includes an analysis of the Savior’s leadership style, with suggestions on how we can apply it to our own leadership.

Don’t expect perfection the first time you lead. Leadership takes time to develop, but over time, you will find many opportunities in the church to develop this skill.

Have you found it difficult, since joining the church, to make some of the changes you need to make? Perhaps it’s time to focus on your thoughts instead of just thinking about your actions.

We seldom do something we’ve never even thought of doing. Before we sin, we’ve tossed it around our minds and perhaps imagined it. For this reason, learning to control our thoughts is very important to learning to live without sin.

Elder Dean Larson suggested this tactic: “In order to sustain constructive thinking, it’s necessary for us to have something worthwhile to think about, to have in reserve, … some items, some problems, some challenges, to which we can turn our minds, to think our way through to a solution.” (Quoted in “Lesson 9: Purity of Thought,” The Latter-day Saint Woman: Basic Manual for Women, Part B, 66.)

Elder Boyd K. Packer suggests memorizing church hymns you can sing when an inappropriate thought enters your mind. My mother used to help us memorize poetry we could recite during times when we needed to keep our thoughts moving in a good direction.

It’s helpful to have a plan in place for such times. Memorize things you can recite—poetry, hymns, scriptures—or make a mental list of topics to contemplate when you need your mind appropriately. Is there a problem to solve, a strategy to plan, or a fun activity to dream up? Can you think of people you know and what service you might give them? Give an imaginary talk or lesson in your head. I use times when I’m alone, such as when I’m doing housework or driving, to plan my writing for the day.

The secret is to have a plan. When the negative or inappropriate thoughts come to mind, you need to know exactly what to think of instead. When you don’t need to take time to figure out what to think of, your mind can go straight to work thinking and blocking out the negative thoughts.

Of course, it’s also important not to put yourself into a situation that might encourage inappropriate thoughts. Monitor your media, and your surroundings. Try to avoid people and places that will send your thoughts the wrong direction. When working in the home, put on appropriate music. Surround yourself with reminders of the gospel in your home and car. Keep a small picture of the Savior in your purse or wallet, where you can look at it when you need a reminder. This will help you keep your thoughts pure, which will make it easier to keep your actions pure.

Early in my church membership I discovered I sometimes felt like the new kid in school. Members often talked of a past I knew nothing about. They had lived under prophets I didn’t know and experienced church events I’d never heard of. One day, while shopping at the church owned Deseret Industries thrift store, I discovered some very old Ensign magazines. The Ensign is the church’s magazine for adults. I sifted through them until I found some that were published long before I joined the church and purchased them. At home, I began to get caught up. I read the words of David O. McKay, a prophet many church members remembered and loved, and began to understand the things he had cared about. I read news stories of past events. After a while, I felt I had a better understanding of the church years I had missed by converting as a teenager.

Today, of course, this process is much easier. Many old church magazines are now online at LDS.org in the Gospel Library. It can be fun to wander through the old magazines and learn about the churches history—recent to long time members, but unfamiliar territory for you.

Spencer W. Kimball was the prophet when I joined the church. He was a prophet for a very long time, so you may hear of him often. You can read some stories from his life in an article called, President Spencer W. Kimball:No Ordinary Man By Elder Boyd K. Packer. (Boyd K. Packer, “President Spencer W. Kimball: No Ordinary Man,” Ensign, Mar 1974, 3)

In this article, for instance, you’ll read this small story that shows you who he is:

“After his call to the Twelve he suffered a series of heart attacks. The doctors said that he must rest. He wanted to be with his beloved Indians. Brother Golden R. Buchanan took him to the camp of Brother and Sister Polacca, high in the pines of Arizona, and there he stayed during the weeks until his heart mended and his strength returned.

One morning he was missing from camp. When he did not return for breakfast, Brother Polacca and other Indian friends began to search. They found him several miles from camp, sitting beneath a large pine tree with his Bible open to the last chapter of the Gospel of John. In answer to their worried looks, he said, “Six years ago today I was called to be an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I just wanted to spend the day with Him whose witness I am.'“

For a more organized study of church history, LDS.org has a section on the history of the church. Here you can get the story of the gospel from its restored beginnings, including the stories of all the prophets.

There is an entire website just on Joseph Smith you can explore, which includes images of original historical documents.

LDS.org is a wonderful way to catch up on the church’s fascinating history. You can search it in small bits as you have time, and soon you’ll understand all the references others make about our past.

When you began investigating the church, you followed a carefully created plan that would lead you to the right choices. You accepted an invitation to learn, studied with missionaries and perhaps other members, attended church, read scriptures and prayed for a testimony. You had an interview with someone to declare your worthiness for baptism.

To some extent, this plan was made by others, and you agreed to carry it out. Now that you are a new member, you are responsible for making your own plan to live the gospel. Without a plan, things may not go the way you intended and you may find yourself falling away.

Think of major events in your life that you carried out—a large party, a major school or work project, anything that took many steps. If you simply leaped into it without thinking it through, it’s likely the project or event didn’t go well. When you plan, you are more likely to remember all the steps and to be prepared for the unexpected.

The gospel is very complex. There are many new rules to keep, many new duties to accept, and many new truths to internalize. Without a plan, you can become overwhelmed. Without a plan, you will find yourself making mistakes that slow your progress unnecessarily.

You might begin by drawing your own straight and narrow path. In the Book of Mormon, the straight and narrow path represents the path we must stay on to return to our Heavenly Father. Draw one and label it with the major things you want to accomplish—baptism, the temple, and so on. Then decide what you have to be doing to reach each of those goals. For instance, a teenager might say, “I want to marry in the temple.” What do you have to do in order to make that happen? You might decide not to date anyone who wasn’t temple-worthy and to not take even the smallest step toward immorality. A parent who decided she wanted her children to have a testimony might choose aspects of gospel living to incorporate into her family life and to decorate her home with gospel pictures.

When you make a careful, detailed plan of how you will live the gospel, you increase your chances of success. You know exactly what needs to be done and where the potential roadblocks might be. You’re careful not to take small steps off the path, because this can cause you to lose your way.

Plan for righteousness by following God’s plan.

Often, members of the church associate self-reliance with food storage, so teenagers often think it has nothing to do with them. However, the commandment to become self-reliant involves far more than just food, and the time to become self-reliant is while you’re young. If you can achieve this as a teenager, your adult life will be far more successful and productive.

Self-reliance in your own life means to take responsibility for those things you should be in charge of. If you joined the church without your family, you have probably already taken responsibility for living the gospel. After all, your non-LDS parents are probably not going to remind you to pray or to do your seminary homework. It’s likely they won’t enforce the Word of Wisdom unless it was already part of your life.

Even if you did join the church with your family, you should begin to take responsibility for these things yourself. The gospel is individual and you are accountable for your own choices. You’re unable to blame your parents if you don’t stop swearing, for instance.

Make a list of the parts of the gospel and of your life you should be in charge of yourself. You should be getting yourself up for seminary, doing your chores without reminders, taking on additional chores whenever possible without being asked, and reading your scriptures, for instance. Taking responsibility for your own life gives you more control over it.

When you do your chores without being asked, your parents soon learn to trust you to do them. They won’t nag because they’ll know that if one day, when things aren’t going well, you are late, that you will still get to them that day.

When you read your scriptures and pray each day without reminder, your Heavenly Father learns to trust you. What a wonderful gift it is to be a person your Heavenly Father can count on.

“We must not be nearly dependable, but always dependable. Let us be faithful in the little things, as well as the big ones. Can I be depended upon to fill every assignment, whether it be for a two-and-a-half minute talk, home teaching, a visit to the sick, or a call as a stake or full-time missionary?

Remember, “… there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen?
“Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, …” (D&C 121:34–35), and they are not dependable.

The Lord speaks of the chosen few, and he means those who are fully dependable. Let us determine now to be some of those few.” N. Eldon Tanner, “Dependability,” Ensign, Apr 1974, 2

When your parents, teachers, and friends can depend on you, it is a marvelous thing, something that will nearly guarantee you a successful life. When your Father in Heaven can depend on you, you are guaranteed a successful eternity. Be sure, also, that you can depend on yourself to do the right thing. Being able to depend on yourself gives you peace of mind.
Begin today, however young you are, to be self-reliant. When you are on your own someday, food storage will never be a challenge, because self-reliance will be a habit.

When you joined the church, especially if your entire family joined, you probably became very busy. There were so many new things to add to your new life, and you still kept many of the activities and traditions of your old life as well. How do you fit it all in?

You can’t do everything all at once. You have to set priorities. Even though you may have felt your day was already as busy as it could possibly be, there are still ways to fit the gospel into your life.

A Young Women’s lesson has the following object lesson:

“Ask the young women to enumerate activities they must pursue daily (attend school, eat, sleep, do homework, and others). As these activities are identified, place a stone for each one in a pint jar or bowl. (The bowl or jar represents a twenty-four-hour day.) Fill the jar with stones. Ask the young women to name other things they need to do each day (travel to and from school, make beds, dress, bathe, clean room, care for pets, pray, study the scriptures, prepare clothing, practice music, attend Church meetings, and others). As these other activities are identified, add sand, rice, or salt to the jar of rocks until it looks full. (The sand represents these additional activities.) Acknowledge that the young women’s lives are as full as the jar appears to be. Then add water, explaining that even during an apparently full day there is time for meditation, recreation, and other uplifting activities. (The water represents these activities.) All of us should strive for a proper balance in the use of our time. Accomplishing all we need and desire to do takes careful planning.” Lesson 44: Using Time Wisely,” Young Women Manual 1, (2002),194

In order to live the gospel, we have to choose which parts of our life matter the most. Which have eternal significance? Which will improve our families and our lives? Those things should get priority in our day. As a new Latter-day Saint, you want to begin to create a gospel-centered home and to build your family’s new testimony. To do this, you probably want to make the gospel a priority. What has to change in the morning in order for you to fit in prayer and scripture study? Do you need to get up earlier? Do you need to do some tasks the night before, such as setting out clothing, setting the table, and making advanced preparation for breakfast?

When I first decided to begin a professional writing career, I had three young children and a husband who traveled extensively on business. When I looked over my schedule, I realized the only way I would find time to write was to take other things out of my schedule. You can’t put something into a full day until you’ve taken something out. I stopped watching television and began getting up earlier. I wrote from four in the morning until six, after my husband had left for work and while the children slept.

You can’t fit everything into your day, but you can fit the most important things in. You just have to identify what those things are and make them the top priority.

In the April 2008 General Conference, Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles told the following story:

Some years ago I met with a tribal king in Africa. When he realized that he was being taught by an Apostle of the Lord, he was deeply moved. He said that throngs of his people would be baptized if he were to give them such a mandate. I thanked him for his kindness but explained that the Lord does not work in that way.

The development of faith in the Lord is an individual matter. Repentance is also an individual matter. Only as an individual can one be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost. Each of us is born individually; likewise, each of us is “born again” individually. Salvation is an individual matter.”-- Elder Russell M. Nelson, Salvation and Exaltation.

Each of us must make our own personal decision about baptism. We mustn’t join because someone else is. We mustn’t try to make others join because we are joining. We can’t mandate a testimony for another and we can’t blame others if we’re unable to gain one.

It is, after all, not us who does the converting. It is the Holy Ghost and he only works one-on-one. In each heart that asks, he places a unique and personal testimony, especially designed to touch our hearts and work with who we are. It’s then our choice to accept or reject that testimony.

Once we have that testimony, we alone are responsible for our progress in the gospel. Often we’ll hear people say, “It’s not my fault I do this. I was raised that way. I had bad parents. I didn’t get an education. I didn’t have the opportunities others had.” In other words, they try to push their responsibility onto others.

It’s true not everyone is born into the same type of home. Some are given a home that makes joining the church easy. Others are raised in a home where the values are intensely opposed to those of the church. Some were given many opportunities, but others were not. However, we all got off to the same good start—we lived with Heavenly Father and chose to come here. What happened here was a space in the journey, not the beginning. We were someone before we came to earth, and we brought that someone to earth with us—our personality, our gifts, our spirit. If the events of our childhood altered that a bit, we can, as adults, choose to return to who we once were and even to improve upon that. You have been given the opportunity to hear the restored gospel. No matter how bad your life has been to this point, you have the same access to a testimony as does everyone else. You have the same right to become the person you want to be. The person you are inside is entirely under your own control. You can’t always control what happens on the outside, but you can control how you choose to cope with it.

“A second truth about our accountability is to know that we are not the helpless victims of our circumstances. The world tries to tell us that the opposite is true: imperfections in our parents or our faulty genetic inheritance are presented to us as absolving us of personal responsibility. But difficult as circumstances may be, they do not relieve us of accountability for our actions or our inactions. Nephi was right. God gives no commandments to the children of men save He prepares a way for them to obey. However difficult our circumstances, we can repent.”-- Henry B. Eyring, “Do Not Delay,” Ensign, Nov 1999, 33

Many new converts have Primary-aged children and a few children even join the church on their own during the Primary years. These children present a special challenge and extraordinary opportunities for the teachers and leaders.

Some of the children, especially those who are preschool age, have no experience with organized activities. They won’t know how to sit quietly and they don’t have the nursery experience that prepares most children for Sunbeams. In my ward, newcomers often race around the room, overstimulated by the size of the Primary room and all the new children. They don’t know the songs and often don’t understand the teachings—we might as well be teaching in a strange new language.

The first priority is for the child to have a positive experience. This doesn’t mean you need to let him run wild. It’s easier to set rules from the start than it is to change them later. However, the new child may not be able to reach the level of behavior of the more experienced children. I’ve taught children who, after six months, were up to 20 minutes of sitting before they had to go for a walk.

Give the child as much assistance as possible by having him sit with you so you can help him behave or understand things. In class, be sure to keep your explanations very simple. I once taught the grandchild of a Baptist minister. For the several months he attended my ward, he struggled with the concepts of God and Jesus as individual beings, and of premortal life. Every week, we had to go back to the beginning, showing the pictures of the First Vision to remind him God and Jesus were two people, not one. Things you might take for granted are not easily understood by newcomers.

Be patient with their old traditions. My ward has many baptisms, and when the children are asked to draw pictures in sharing time, the pictures displayed around the room often contain crosses and other Catholic symbols. We say nothing about them. The children will learn soon enough how to draw LDS symbols instead.

Don’t correct a child who doesn’t follow correct prayer patterns. Instead, in future lessons, review how prayer is accomplished and let the children learn as they’re ready. It’s important not to embarrass them or they won’t want to return.

Stay in close contact with the parents, who may be a little nervous about letting you teach their child. Send home newsletters explaining what was taught and offering your contact information. Getting to know the parents makes it easier for you to trust them
See your role as one of a missionary, helping to bring your young students to the gospel or to build on the brand new testimony the child is gaining. Even the very youngest convert can begin to build a true testimony with your help.

The first article of faith is the center of all other believes. It says, “We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.”

You’ve learned something about this topic during your lessons with the missionaries. Most Christian churches believe in these three beings, but most have different ideas about the subject than we do. We don’t, for instance, believe they are all the same personage—the trinity. Instead, we believe that each member of the Godhead is a separate individual, but unified in purpose and teachings.

God is literally the Father of our spirits. He created us and loves us. Like any parent, He has to make rules for us and enforce them. The various churches of the world have differing views on what type of being God is. We know Him to have a body that is like ours, but perfect. We also know Him to be a kind and loving God. He doesn’t take pleasure in punishing us and does so only because we've chosen disobedience over obedience, thus deciding for ourselves our path. He wants us to be happy, to learn, and to grow, and to eventually return home to Him.

Jesus is our Savior. The church is named after Him. He came to earth to become like us, to experience what we experience, and ultimately, to take our sins upon Himself.

The Holy Ghost is somewhat different from the other members of the “Godhead.” He doesn’t have a physical body, but without him, it would be nearly impossible to make it back to Heavenly Father for most of us. We depend on him to help us make choices and to provide comfort when life gets hard.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland wrote:

“Indeed no less a source than the stalwart Harper’s Bible Dictionary records that “the formal doctrine of the Trinity as it was defined by the great church councils of the fourth and fifth centuries is not to be found in the [New Testament].”

So any criticism that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not hold the contemporary Christian view of God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost is not a comment about our commitment to Christ but rather a recognition (accurate, I might add) that our view of the Godhead breaks with post–New Testament Christian history and returns to the doctrine taught by Jesus Himself.” --Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent,” Ensign, Nov 2007, 40–42

These three members of what we call the Godhead are the core of our earthly existence. Building our relationships with them should be a top priority as we begin our time as members of the church. When this relationship is solid, everything else about the gospel seems so much easier. It’s easier to live the gospel and to avoid temptation and persecution when we know Heavenly Father very well and can recognize the Spirit when it speaks to us.

When you’re not sure where to start in the gospel, start here, getting to know the Godhead in a personal just-for-you sort of way.

When you’re new to the church, it seems like there are so many things to learn you hardly know where to start. One fast way to get some of the basics in your mind is to study the Articles of Faith. These are thirteen statements written by Joseph Smith to John Edward, editor of the Chicago Democrat, who requested information on the church for a friend writing a history of the state. Learning them will give you a foundation on which to build. Choose one each month to memorize and to study, and you’ll find that at the end of the thirteen months, you’ll know a great deal about the gospel.

The articles of Faith are introduced to the children of the church as a way to help them learn the gospel. They are asked to memorize them before they leave the Primary (children’s auxiliary) at their twelfth birthday. L. Tom Perry wrote that when, as an adult, he decided to relearn them, he taped them to the bathroom wall to study as he brushed his teeth and shaved. If you wash dishes by hand, you might also try taping them over your sink. LDS.org has the songs online, as well, and it’s often easier to learn them by singing them. Search for the songs by the number as a phrase: “The First Article of Faith.”

Elder Perry explained:

“The Articles of Faith were not the work of a team of scholars but were authored by a single, inspired man who declared comprehensively and concisely the essential doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They contain direct and simple statements of the principles of our religion, and they constitute strong evidence of the divine inspiration that rested upon the Prophet Joseph Smith.

I encourage each of you to study the Articles of Faith and the doctrines they teach. They are “one of the most important statements of inspiration, history, and doctrine for the Church. … Each article is a positive statement [explaining] the differences between Mormonism and the [beliefs of other peoples of the world]” (Church History in the Fulness of Times, 257). If you will use them as a guide to direct your studies of the Savior’s doctrine, you will find yourselves prepared to declare your witness of the restored, true church of the Lord. You will be able to declare with conviction: “We believe these things.” L. Tom Perry, “The Articles of Faith,” Ensign, May 1998, 22

Although the Articles of Faith can be printed on a simple, small card, you’ll find that delving into them will give you a deep understanding of the foundations of our faith. I will be writing a series of articles on each one, designed for the new member looking for information on better understanding and living his religion.

General Conference has been adjourned until October, but we can continue to learn from it and to experience its blessings all year long.

Because you’re a new member of the church, there was probably a great deal in this conference that was new to you. The speakers might have been unfamiliar. By focusing on the teachings offered in this conference, you will be much better prepared for the next conference and be able to increase your knowledge of the gospel.

Conference materials are available online at LDS.org. You can listen to them now, and by Thursday, you will be able to watch them and read them as well. If you study two talks a week, you will finish them all by the time the next conference begins. Each week, choose two that meet your needs or that interest you and watch them again online. You can even download them to save on your computer or put the MP3 version on your player. Print out the written talk and tuck it into your briefcase or purse, to study as you have time.

Put a question mark by any part you don’t understand. Then you can research that topic and become more familiar with it. If you have specific questions, write them on the back of the printout so you can take them to someone you trust or look up the answers yourself.

Highlight any part that is especially meaningful or helpful to you. Often, I write a quote from a talk on a card and prop it on my desk, where I spend much of my day, to read often. This allows me to absorb all the layers of meaning from the quote and to think of ways to apply it to my own life.

Notice who gave the talks you are reading. After you read a talk, do a search at LDS.org for other talks by the same person. Does he have themes that seem especially important to him? What can you learn about him from the things he says in his talks? Study his picture so you will be able to recognize him when you see him on television in the future.
Choose one aspect of a talk you read that week and resolve to apply it in your own life for the coming week. This makes general conference personal.

And that’s what General Conference is. Although the same message goes out to millions of people, it is personal and just for you. On LDS.org we read:

“Mormons find that the same address can be understood in different ways by different people. Mormons ascribe this to a desire on the part of each person to receive uniquely relevant and applicable instruction and inspiration from sermons, with the help of God’s Holy Spirit. This form of tailor-made learning, experienced by people of all faith traditions who sincerely engage with sacred texts or in religious services, is something that must be experienced to be truly comprehended.

"For Mormons, general conference is an exciting time when large numbers gather to hear sermons, sacred music and news. But the most satisfying, profound and exhilarating thoughts and feelings of inspiration come when one person receives an answer to a serious personal question or is reassured by a connectedness to God and others.”

The solemn assembly you saw Saturday as you watched conference is likely to have been the first you’ve seen.

“We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.” [A of F 1:5]

The calling of leaders by God is a sacred part of our church. If we don’t believe our prophet is called of God, there is really no purpose for our church to exist. Being called of God is what makes our church what it is.

We were asked to raise our hands, not to vote, but to covenant that we will support, honor, and follow the prophet who was chosen by Heavenly Father to lead His Church. It is His church, so He is the one who chooses. Our task is to support that choice.

When President Ezra Taft Benson died in 1994, a solemn assembly was held to sustain the new prophet, President Hunter. At this time, Elder David B. Haight explained the assembly to the participants:

“A solemn assembly, as the name implies, denotes a sacred, sober, and reverent occasion when the Saints assemble under the direction of the First Presidency. Solemn assemblies are used for three purposes: the dedication of temples, special instruction to priesthood leaders, and sustaining a new President of the Church. This conference session today is a solemn assembly for the purpose of sustaining a newly called Church President and other officers of the Church….

When we sustain the President of the Church by our uplifted hand, it not only signifies that we acknowledge before God that he is the rightful possessor of all the priesthood keys; it also means that we covenant with God that we will abide by the direction and the counsel that come through His prophet. It is a solemn covenant. David B. Haight, “Solemn Assemblies,” Ensign, Nov 1994, 14”

The pattern used in the solemn assembly was established at the time of Joseph Smith himself. Each quorum stands, one at a time, to sustain the prophet and his counselors. Then, in this assembly, the Relief Society was invited to stand. Finally, the entire body of the church stood in unison, signifying we, as unified followers of our Heavenly Father, supported and honored God’s choice for the leadership of His Church.

It was a privilege and an honor to be given the opportunity to stand before God to make this covenant. The broadcast will soon be available online, so those who were not able to be present at the solemn assembly can take their turn, actually standing wherever they are, and sustain their new prophet.

Life is scary. Most of us like to know what lies ahead and what choices we should make. We like to know the results of those choices. The truth is, however, that most of the time, we don’t know any of this. We walk through life seeing what is immediately around us, but little more.

The best way to cope with the uncertainty of life is to develop a complete trust in our Heavenly Father. We can’t see the end of the path, but He can. He knows not only what will happen, but what is best. Faith is an abiding principle of your new religion.

“To exercise faith is to trust that the Lord knows what He is doing with you and that He can accomplish it for your eternal good even though you cannot understand how He can possibly do it. We are like infants in our understanding of eternal matters and their impact on us here in mortality. Yet at times we act as if we knew it all. When you pass through trials for His purposes, as you trust Him, exercise faith in Him, He will help you.

That support will generally come step by step, a portion at a time. While you are passing through each phase, the pain and difficulty that comes from being enlarged will continue. If all matters were immediately resolved at your first petition, you could not grow. Your Father in Heaven and His Beloved Son love you perfectly. They would not require you to experience a moment more of difficulty than is absolutely needed for your personal benefit or for that of those you love.” (Richard G. Scott, “Trust in the Lord,” Ensign, Nov 1995, 16)

The key thought in that quote is that God and Jesus love you perfectly. Perfectly! If you can hold on to that thought, you’ll never doubt he’s paying attention to you, planning for you, and doing only what is necessary for you to accomplish all He has planned for you.

Sometimes, when I feel most scared, it’s because I’m trying to see too far ahead, the way it hurts your mind to try to peer through the fog on a very foggy day. If I try to focus on just what is right ahead of me, I feel less frightened. Perhaps I can’t do anything about the big trial that awaits me next year, but right this moment, there might be something I can do. If I ask God to show me what it is, I can focus on the task of the moment, on just what He wants me to see and do. One step at a time, line upon line…and I reach the finish line successfully. All I have to do is follow the small steps given me, one at a time, by God, the perfect guide.

If you homeschool your children, you may wonder if your new church membership will affect that in any way.

The church is officially neutral on the subject of homeschooling. They consider the method of education of children to be the responsibility of the parents. It is, of course, necessary for parents to provide education, and to provide it legally.

Although the gospel never specifically mentions homeschooling, it certainly gives us guidelines we can use to be sure our homeschooling is gospel appropriate. Doctrine and Covenants 88:118-119 says:

“And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith. Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;”

Many LDS homeschoolers take this as their guiding principle for homeschooling. A house of learning certainly describes a good homeschool. Using the best books and teaching our children not just to receive an education but to seek knowledge will keep our house of learning gospel-focused.

Some states don’t allow you to count religious education in your required number of hours. However, you can still include religion in all your teaching. When teaching controversial topics, teach both sides, but then help your children find out what the church teaches on the subject. For instance, when I taught my children about evolution, I included creation as one of the options for how the world began, as well as evolutionary creation. We explored all the ideas of man and God and then went to the Institute of Religion manual for a definitive answer: “While it is interesting to note these various theories, officially the Church has not taken a stand on the age of the earth. For reasons best known to Himself, the Lord has not yet seen fit to formally reveal the details of the Creation. Therefore, while Latter-day Saints are commanded to learn truth from many different fields of study (see D&C 88:77–79), an attempt to establish any theory as the official position of the Church is not justifiable.”

There was more in the discussion, and we used it to help the children come to their own conclusions, but to point out the important part wasn’t how it was created, but who created it and why. This is something your children can’t learn in a public school, but fits nicely into a scientific study of the origins of the earth.

The church gives your children the opportunity to have experiences non-homeschoolers are likely to think your children need. They have the opportunity to learn from other adults, sit still in a formal classroom, attend social events, hold leadership positions as teenagers, and expand their horizons. Because the church is so extensive, your children can find many opportunities for growth outside the home.

Everyday gospel activities in the home can be counted towards educational experiences—reading scriptures, leading the music in family home evening, conducting family council and so on.

The restored gospel is an ideal foundation on which to build your new and improved LDS homeschool.