Guided By A Prophet

[Music] when dark clouds hang and threaten our peace are these perilous times they are but there is no need to fear when natural disasters ravage our lands our hearts and our health have gone out to japan and economic turmoil disrupts our security as i have pondered the social and economic conditions which confront us today latter-day saints have known where to turn we speak not by way of alarm but by way of gentle counsel believing their greatest safety comes from following the word of the lord through his prophets i know as well as i know that i live that god lives that he hears and answers our prayers now as the world faces the challenges of a global pandemic the saints again look to a prophet divinely appointed and uniquely prepared to lead as a physician and surgeon i have great admiration for medical professionals scientists and all who are working around the clock to curb the spread of covid 19. president russell m nelson a man of science and a man of faith i know that during these challenging times we can be strengthened and lifted as we call upon god and his son jesus christ the master healer from fear and overwhelming loss to renewed faith and finding different ways to worship president nelson has guided latter-day saints throughout the world with his gentle counsel now my dear brothers and sisters it takes both faith and courage to let god prevail join us as we examine the pandemic through the lens of a people guided by a prophet [Music] as people around the world struggled to make sense of coven 19 and the pandemic life as we knew it vanished in an instant schools businesses and churches closed everything familiar changed and we faced lives that every day brought the unfamiliar fear accompanied loss but church leaders and members who looked for daily counsel found an informed fearless leader in president nelson president nelson is a remarkable leader as we know he's visionary i would add that because of his medical professional background for us especially in the presenting bishopric in taking care of humanitarian efforts of the church we were especially blessed because he has such a incredible understanding of the pandemic in january 2020 president nelson reached out to china and began sending protective gear when you talk to him about personal protective equipment he understands that and he also has an incredible knowledge of the world the variety of cultures the countries geographies people languages and and so he was especially suited and prepared i would i would say for this time in which we are under president nelson's direction church leaders carried off the unprecedented actions of suspending meetings directing the return of thousands of missionaries to their home countries and closing temples how difficult was it to make the decision to close the temples that was painful it was wrecked with worry i found myself asking what would i say to the prophet joseph smith and the other president signed up to president thomas s monson i'm going to meet him soon to close the temples would deny all for which all those brethren gave everything but we really had no other alternative the temples closed but temple construction went forward in 2020 21 temples ground was broken all over the world when the saints left nauvoo in 1846 in february they were eager to receive the blessings many of those people only went one time i'm not sure we ever think about that so part of the question is no we can't be in the temple but it's the temple in us are the ordinances and the covenants in us on december 2nd 2020 church leaders and members participated in a groundbreaking for a new temple in bengaluru india during his global ministry in 2018 president nelson chose a site for that temple and that is when we met raja and ursula ganabati who are now overjoyed to see prophecy fulfilled we feel very fortunate to live in the city where the temple of the lord is built out to be a monument of latter-day saints it would be a great privilege to participate in the sacred ordinance of the temple when that beautiful building stands out supremacity and there won't be any greater blessings than that we made a great deal of sacrifice to make it to the temple to get married and sealed we had to travel all the way to hong kong to attend the nearest temple to receive the sacred ordinances of the gospel we are greatly blessed by president nelson's invitation to be faithful in keeping the temple covenants as we strive to live the gospel of jesus christ in every moment of our lives throughout the pandemic messages from president nelson came consistently directly powerfully to the world and more importantly to each man woman and child i invite you to think deeply and often about this key question how do you hear him kate rose lee of bountiful utah turned to god in a moment of great anguish all these feelings and just cried and cried and cried and i remember saying heavenly father are you there days after an earthquake rattled the wasatch front in march 2020. and i have four little kids and it had really scared my daughter scared me to death too her father bob rose became the first utahn to die of covet 19. kate says she was terrified the rest of her family would also get sick and i just thought as i'm pouring my soul out to him he's doing the same thing to me and i'm feeling grief and he's giving love and it was just kind of this beautiful moment of realizing that you can feel both at the same time kate's mother connie says she found comfort in grief by remembering those daily acts of faith with bob we started our morning prayers every morning inviting the holy ghost to be our companion and i'm so thankful for that habit because that's continued and i know that's what's blessing me and helping me and she found strength in president nelson's council and we talked about being cheerful in the face of adversity i thought i am i can be there's so much good that's happened this year and our family is closer than it's ever been i just feel their love and concern for me bob and connie rose served five missions before he died this is a family that believes in serving still they were overwhelmed by the many ways people served them knowing that some of them were suffering through their own tragedies and hardships but if we could just be level and realize the pandemic never stops for people there's always a pandemic for somebody in this world and there's always a need i hope i am always the person that puts myself second and put someone else first still to come from china to ghana latter-day saints throughout the world share how guidance from the prophet helped them buena i invite you to join with me in a worldwide fast for all whose health permits to pray for relief from the physical emotional and economic effects of this global pandemic on march 26 2020 president nelson asked for all people to join him this was only the fourth time a leader of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints called for a worldwide fast twice in 1985 president spencer w kimball called for people to fast for those suffering from widespread famine in ethiopia then in 2005 president gordon b hinckley asked people of the world to fast for tsunami victims in southeast asia president nelson's plea in march of 2020 was broadcast by several different media companies all over the united states let us unite our faith to plead for physical spiritual and other healing throughout the entire world latter-day saints appreciated president nelson's messages including the shumway family living in tianjin china i'm very touched by president nelson's recent message to the world where he offered a prayer to people of all races all creeds all faiths wherever they may be seeking peace seeking understanding dr joseph shumway is the chief medical officer for one of tianjin's largest hospitals in china we've lived through a really unusual time with kovid last year the streets were deserted his wife marianne teaches music and art classes with their son elias who is autistic she says the long separation from the rest of her children living all over the world has been difficult we can serve one another in unexpected unprecedented ways i've been able to help people here in china and other people are compensating and filling in my gaps in my absence when i'm gone from my own children and i know that that god is working in different people's lives at this time to help us all take care of each other i'm grateful to president nelson for his urging for us to hear him in our lives to understand how the lord speaks to us individually what president austin has asked us to do is by reading the book of mormon each day and doing come follow me with my family on zoom and at home and what has helped me done that by it brings me joy with formal church services cancelled president nelson instructed families to worship at home for many members it became a spiritual lifeline my name is katie boardman my husband casey and i are parents of six kids living in lebanon new hampshire this past year has definitely had its struggles like many of you it's been really hard to have school-aged kids in a pandemic six laptops to keep track of emails from four schools irritation with school busy work and fears of my kids getting behind feeling completely overwhelmed i was so grateful our prophet president nelson asked us to do come follow me and that was it i rejoiced in the simplicity of our sundays we prayerfully considered what our kids needed and then taught them i love come follow me then a family tragedy hit and i had to face it alone casey was in new mexico assisting in the coven 19 response within the navajo nation i didn't have a single family member within 2000 miles and i couldn't meet with my ward family trapped in a house with noise and chaos i often found myself struggling to find calm to quiet my mind longing for peace i went in the mountains praying crying and even yelling at heavenly father i received great comfort in the words of elder holland because he was right i do want my personal red sea parted but as he said faith means trusting god and good times and bad even if that includes some suffering until we see his arm revealed in our behalf my pain is hard and real but i know we all must suffer sometimes in time as i wait upon the lord blessings and relief will come i've learned that these emotions of fear isolation and danger [Music] are best handled by immersing oneself in the care of other people the coveted 19 pandemic became the largest humanitarian project ever for the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints it seems like it's unleashing this great compassionate heart that people have would you say bishop jose that during this pandemic there have been miracles there have been many miracles last year the financial contributions to fast offerings and to the human entire fund of the church reached an all-time high 2020 was a record year i know that church members said to themselves this is a year we have to contribute even more because of so many people are suffering not only close to their where they lived but but also in many countries around the world but monetary donations are only part of it in 2020 there were 3 600 projects in 160 countries truckloads of food that went throughout the united states and canada and other countries as well to food pantries 800 truckloads what was new is we've never donated so much food to charitable organizations 150 increase in those donations and so we were present almost in every city church members were anxious to serve in utah the opportunity came with project protect a partnership between intermountain health university of utah health and latter-day saint charities we were contacted in the relief society offices by a pediatric cardiologist at primary children's who's named dr ron day the hospitals knew they would face shortages of personal protective equipment and dr day said the relief society of my church can help and at some point somebody said well how many masks do you think we can make could we even ask for a hundred thousand well the hospital systems go through fifty thousand masks a day you just need to know that and there was silence on the phone when the intermountain healthcare vice president said i think we should try for 5 million and everyone just kind of thought is that possible and i didn't hesitate i just said absolutely we can do 5 million because i have confidence in the relief society ten thousand volunteers a week from throughout the wasatch front picked up instructions and kits how the sisters have helped throughout the different things going on that have happened in the world and in history and so i think it's cool that i can now be a part of that car after car would drive up and they would hand off these masks and almost every time each person would say thank you and we want to say of course thank you to them but they were thanking us for the opportunity that's been the great thing about being here today this is true ministering just seeing that someone needs help and trying to help them and i know that we are trying to follow the example of jesus christ as doing as we are doing this and they did it all over the world in mozambique the government asked everyone to wear masks but few had the money to make them members of a latter-day saint steak stepped up to help traders in a market because in those places you know they need they need the food and people are still working in the markets they're selling their products but they didn't have any protection each family that wanted to help committed to make 100 masks what is interesting about this story is they don't have sewing machines so they made 100 masks for family by hand sewing them by hand both parents and the family and the mothers and the aunts and the little children all sitting around by kerosene at night you know making those masks that's a wonderful image to me and then you could see you could look through the market and all these traders had their their cloth masks on that's just one thing that has just recently happened but there are projects all over the world where relief society's sisters and their brothers are working together to address the needs during this coven 19 pandemic it's indicative of the spirit of how people are responding in their communities that it isn't just cloth and sowing its actual faith that's being transmitted unusual times can bring unusual rewards this is a statement given by our dear prophet president russell m nelson in the last october general conference it also summarized my experience during pandemic i met and got married and got sold to my eternal companion within a period of eight months with the covert restrictions with my visa issues and with lengthy quarantines and there are just so many many obstacles we were just standing in awe of all those miracles that happened throughout the whole journey i invite you just for the next seven days to turn social media into your own personal gratitude journal in november of 2020 president nelson delivered another message to the world about the pandemic via social media encouraging everyone to express gratitude i participate in president nelson give thanks challenge on social media it was an opportunity to reflect on the blessing i had in my life hi and my husband mattel have a bakery shop in american style and we have to close it momentarily why our son sam began to attend school from home my parents lives far from me and are alone prophet nelson has always spoken to house members quietly but always with a smile on his face he has encouraged us to hold on the higher road and listen to the advice he gave us social media was filled with so many comments and theories about the pandemic that even increased my fear and anxiety however when president nelson introduced the use of the hashtag giftax my fear turned into hope and this hope has increased my faith in jesus christ during this pandemic the prophet rasmonal sin has been a great inspiration and a great help to each and every one of us i myself i have come to be inspired through his messages that he sent us of hope and of encouragement even through this pandemic so many times latter-day saints asked for mercy and found hope through the words of a prophet he invites us to look forward to the future with enthusiasm and but he's a an optimist i would say there is unwavering faith in him and so every time you meet with him you will feel that positive attitude looking to the to forward to the future and having faith in whatever happens and that the lord is going to bless his people the prophet of the world expresses confidence because he says what the saints do now is ultimately preparation for the second coming the road ahead will always be bumpy but the destination will be serene and secure so fasten your seat belt hang on through the bumps and do what's right and your rewards will be eternal [Music] 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Channel: KSL News

Views: 22,664

Rating: 4.8683834 out of 5

Keywords: #KSLLive, KSL, Utah, TV, prophet, LDS Church

Id: WCNZlegcmMs

Length: 22min 28sec (1348 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 04 2021