Leavitt Ward Conference
2016
Bishop Austin Nunn
Brothers and
sisters, over the past few months knowing that this experience of speaking in
ward conference would soon come, I have reflected again and again on what I
might speak on, that might touch our hearts, that might cause the seed of faith
to grow within our hearts, that might increase our desire to do right. I have
sought input from family, our ward council, the youth in our Bishop’s Youth
Council, and of course, my good and loving wife.
Many topics
have been suggested. They include love thy neighbor, paying of tithes and
offerings, having the spirit of gratitude, commitment to the gospel, setting
goals for personal self-reliance (both physical and temporal), doing the
basics, keeping our thoughts and language clean. These would all be outstanding talks and we
would do well to consider them and how we are doing in each of these areas. I
hope and pray the message I have prepared will touch your heart and cause
personal and meaningful reflection and action.
Over the
past several years, I have read dozens of books on personal development and
achievement, how to reach goals, overcoming difficulties in life, and on
leadership and the skills it takes to be an effective leader. As I have tried
to relate these books back to spiritual matters, the overriding principle that
has come back to me is this: Our
personal relationship with Jesus Christ will and should guide everything we do.
As a 21-year-old returned missionary, I found myself taking on one of life’s
greatest challenges – university. I had arrived home from my mission on
December 20, worked until March, and then headed off to Utah State University,
only having enough money to pay for tuition and books. After that was paid, I
had $60 remaining. That $60 bought me what I needed to stay in school, a pair
of non-lace up cowboy boots, but that is a different talk.
I was living
in a small garage of my uncle’s that part of had been turned into an office. I
had a mattress on the floor, no running water, no cooking space, no bathroom. I
was alone.
One night
after the first few days of classes, I sat in my small room, asking myself the
question, “What am I doing here?” I am
broke, homeless and I know no one. Within a few minutes, I found myself walking
the almost silent streets of North Logan.
This was one of the first times I found myself having a conversation
with our Father in Heaven. I found myself speaking vocally asking questions and
feeling as if I was going to get a vocal answer. I am not sure how long I
walked and talked, but it lasted for some time.
When I
returned to my apartment, I found myself with a renewed desire to press forward
and accomplish the task before me. From this and other experiences, I have come
to understand and realize that the cure to many of life’s challenges can be
overcome by our personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Elder Rex D.
Pinegar said, “Each of us has that same responsibility and capability to
develop a personal, warm and loving understanding with the Savior – our Savior.
The One who came here to earth that you and I might have the potential of
realizing our greatest potential.”
In and
amongst the books I have read to improve as a person and professional are books
that address how to have good relationships. Although each book addresses these
in a different manner, they all have the same common themes. They include respect, valuing time together,
sense of commitment, communication, agreed upon expectations, and a shared philosophy
and trust. Although these are the world’s views of a healthy relationship, they
can and do fit into our personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
In October
1976, Elder James E. Faust spoke of establishing a positive relationship with
Jesus Christ. May I share the five elements from his talk that will bring us
closer to Jesus Christ.
First is a
daily communion with God in Christ’s name. For years our family has prayed for
my good sister-in-law and her husband to have children. We have often added
fasting to that prayer. After years of prayer, we attended the adoption
proceedings of one little 7-year-old girl this past summer. Later in the fall
the adoption process took place for her 4-year-old sister. In October my wife
attended the sealing of this family. Prayers are answered.
Although the
formal language of prayer is important to show reverence to our maker, it is
just as important that we talk to God. To the best of my knowledge, it is near
impossible to develop a relationship without communication. My good wife often reminds me of this when
she is saying, talk to me, what’s on your mind, say something. The Lord
probably feels the same way. We must talk to our Father in Heaven. We must talk
to Him. We need to share our concerns and our doubts, our sins and our joys,
and by so doing we will build a relationship with Him and our Savior, who knows
who we are. He has taken upon us our “pains and afflictions and temptations of
every kind” so that he can “succor his people according to their infirmities.”
Daily communion involving prayer will lead us to a more personal relationship
with God.
I have found
that when life becomes most difficult, most stressful, when at times I am in
great despair and wishing to draw on the powers of heaven that selfless service
to another has led to a stronger relationship with my Savior. The Savior’s life
was one of service. His final act of service being the Atonement. I have found
that in order to know someone better and understand them, we must serve them.
President David O. McKay stated, “Man’s greatest happiness comes from losing
himself for the good of others.”
I hesitate
to share the following story as I hope not to be seen as giving alms to be seen
of men. Some years ago I was appointed to the position of assistant varsity
girls basketball coach of a rather large high school in Utah. I was excited
about this opportunity. At the time, I was teaching at the junior high. The
girls basketball coach at the junior high had wanted the job, unknown to me.
During those years while I was coaching, this lady seldom talked to me or even
greeted me.
Four years later I was hired as the
vice principal in the same school. She remained as our junior high coach. On
one occasion she came to my office upset that her team had old uniforms and wanted
to know what I was going to do about it. I quickly realized that this was my
opportunity to serve and make a friend. Knowing that my last high school team
had just purchased new uniforms, I headed to the storage room and dug out their
old uniforms. I took the uniforms to a professional dry cleaner. Once the
uniforms were returned to me, I waited until she was gone for the night, and
using my master key I went into her office, neatly hung the clean, pressed
uniforms, and headed home.
The next morning the coach came to my
office with tears in her eyes, said thank you, and walked away.
Service must become a characteristic
of who we are. To know the Savior, we must serve. “Behold I tell you these
things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the
service of our fellow beings, ye are only in the service of our God.”
Elder Faust’s third point is to daily
strive for an increase in our Obedience. Recently I visited my brother who has
always had a love for working with dogs. As a teenager, he dreamed of running
the Iditarod, a long-distance dogsled race in Alaska. He trained for years.
Each night after school and on weekends, he would train and run his dogs for
hours. Over the years of training, his dogs got better and better. They would
listen to the slightest voice command and change direction, speed up, slow
down, stop, and move out all based on his voice command. His dogs would obey
every command. Obedience by the dogs to their master’s voice allowed for a
great experience and a lifetime of adventure.
The Master is training us. We are
being asked to be obedient to the commandments. If we are to build our
relationship with love and trust with Christ, we must strive for personal
improvement every day. “There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the
foundation of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated. And when we
obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is
predicated.” D&C 130:20-21.
President Monson stated, “Oftimes the
wisdom of God appears as foolishness to men, but the greatest simple lesson we
can learn in mortality is that, when God speaks and a man obeys, man will
always be right.”
The fourth way we can improve and
strengthen our relationship with Christ is by a daily acknowledgement of His
divinity.
Do we look around us and see Christ
in all we do, in all we are? Do we see Christ in our day to day interactions
with people? Do we see people as Christ sees them?
C.S. Lewis stated, “There are no
ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures,
arts, civilization – these are mortal and their life is to ours as the life of
gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and
exploit… There are no ordinary people – no ciphers, no zeros – only potential
gods and goddesses.”
If we desire a greater personal
relationship with our Savior, then should we not look to treat each other with
Christ-like love and service.
Learn of me, is a commandment given
to us. In order to learn of our Savior, we must read of Him. The fifth way to
develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is to read the scriptures
daily. They tell of his humble birth, of his protective & loving parents,
of his temptations, of his baptism, of his love and ministering, how he healed
the sick, the blind, & the lame, his compassion & love of
children. It is a record of his trial
and his death. We must daily feast on the words of Christ. President Howard W.
Hunter said, “We must know Christ better than we know Him. We must remember Him
more than we remember Him.”
Brothers and sisters, if you are
struggling with personal fear or doubt, if you are unclear of the direction you
are going, if you feel that sin is weighing you down, if you are fearful of
your future, if you are concerned about your children, your marriage, your
family, if you desire to understand greater, start with improving your
relationship with Jesus Christ.
Sixteen years ago, I arrived early
one morning to rope with a friend of mine. As I walked toward the arena, I
noticed a horse standing in a pen with his head tied down between his legs. On
closer observation, I realized this horse had been tied that way for most of
the night. His mouth was bleeding. The reins ran between his front legs up over
his back and tied together. His front legs were rubbed raw. The muscles in his
neck were quivering from the stress of being flexed all night.
I quickly and quietly climbed the
fence and untied the reins. It was at this moment that our relationship and
bond started. It was my releasing him from bondage that this horse and I began
a relationship of trust and respect that began 16 years ago.
Our Savior Jesus Christ has untied
our reins of bondage. He has overcome death and sin. His arms of love are open
to all who wish to build a personal relationship with Him.
King Lamoni’s father “cried mightily
saying, “O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God;
and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away
all my sins to know thee…”
I pray that we will each have this
prayer in our hearts that we might know our Redeemer and Savior on a greater personal
level.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
