Full Transcript for Grace Everywhere, Always: A Returned Missionary’s Journey with Morgan Bentley

feels like the talk you would want at the first of your mission. 00:04:40.701 --> 00:04:47.132 As a matter of fact, if anyone's listening, who has someone they love, who's at the earlier part of their submission, this is the talk to send them for courage. 00:04:47.994 --> 00:04:51.031 Because that's I mean, you were at the end of your mission, you were killing it. 00:04:51.031 --> 00:04:56.889 You know we were all cheering for you back here in Gilbert, going like she's coming home soon, and now it becomes. 00:04:56.889 --> 00:04:59.562 I see, now it's because you were able to relate. 00:04:59.562 --> 00:05:08.095 It's almost a gift to have those moments where we don't feel enough that we're intimidated, we're stretched, because it never leaves us if we stay humble. 00:05:08.920 --> 00:05:12.281 And so I think that's why this talk stayed with you is how it sounds to me is this idea of like. 00:05:12.281 --> 00:05:27.819 When you read it, you're like yeah, I, I'm right, I am, I am enough because he is, and and maybe it gave you that extra like energy towards the end of your mission to really go make a difference in Ghana, yeah, so yeah, I think people are listening right now, just realizing you just got back from Africa. 00:05:27.939 --> 00:05:28.060 Yeah. 00:05:29.663 --> 00:05:34.012 And so say something about the Ghana experience, how that's been for you. 00:05:34.012 --> 00:05:36.369 What a horrible question, but let's ask it anyway. 00:05:38.261 --> 00:05:44.113 When I first got my mission call, to say I was shocked is not even the level of emotion. 00:05:44.113 --> 00:05:48.764 To say I was shocked is like not even the level of emotion. 00:05:48.764 --> 00:05:50.711 But it was like I had that moment of like, okay, where's Ghana? 00:05:50.711 --> 00:05:51.795 And what the what's going on? 00:05:51.795 --> 00:06:02.646 But then, immediately right after it was like that's my mission, like I just felt so much like love and excitement already for those people and I still hadn't figured out where it was on the map. 00:06:02.646 --> 00:06:06.194 I knew it was Africa, but I was like where in Africa am I going? 00:06:06.194 --> 00:06:10.730 And still I remember crying because I was like that's where I'm going. 00:06:10.730 --> 00:06:14.870 I had immediate confirmation that that's my mission. 00:06:14.870 --> 00:06:23.672 And then, being there, being in the MTC I went to the Ghana MTC and just being in Ghana every single day was a reminder of why I was called there. 00:06:23.672 --> 00:06:27.624 It was just like I said it was perfect for me, are? 00:06:27.644 --> 00:06:28.245 you scared at all. 00:06:29.447 --> 00:06:30.630 Going or being there. 00:06:30.911 --> 00:06:31.713 Going or being there. 00:06:32.461 --> 00:06:45.233 I think I was only scared to the point like every missionary has those fears Like I've never done this before and I'm the oldest in my family, so I didn't have like a sibling to like they did that Right, Um, and so it was like I don't know what a sibling to like lean on, they did that right, um. 00:06:45.273 --> 00:06:48.245 And so it was like I don't know what to expect. 00:06:48.245 --> 00:06:50.889 But I'm grateful that and I'm excited. 00:06:50.889 --> 00:06:57.312 But there's those fears like I'm leaving home, I'm leaving my country, I'm leaving anything I've ever known. 00:06:57.312 --> 00:07:12.372 But then there's also that comfort that everything I've ever needed is with me, which is Christ and his gospel and his church, and so it's like there's always that that second thought of like I can do this. 00:07:12.372 --> 00:07:13.802 But then there's that second doubt. 00:07:13.802 --> 00:07:16.053 But I feel like going. 00:07:16.053 --> 00:07:20.004 I was like, okay, I'm just gonna go with the first thought, I'm just gonna go with God, I'm gonna go with trust in him. 00:07:20.004 --> 00:07:23.908 There were fears, but it never overcame me. 00:07:24.250 --> 00:07:42.247 It was always triumphed by God and trust and faith yeah, I love that and it, as you said, your love for the Ghana people started so soon, so quick and then, when you came home and bore your testimony in sacrament, it was like this real powerful thing, that that I felt your love for the people of Ghana. 00:07:42.247 --> 00:07:44.812 What makes the people of Ghana so so amazing? 00:07:45.733 --> 00:08:22.569 I think the thing that I've been consistently like describing them as is childlike and pure and innocent, like the exact way that Jesus Christ taught in third Nephi that we should be childlike, not to the point where they're like ignorant, but there's like that level of just pureness that they're not so much aware of some things that we are right, like you never see a child, or even like a young teenager with a phone, you know, and like things that people care so much about here that seem to be not super worth caring about. 00:08:22.569 --> 00:08:23.471 They just don't even have. 00:08:23.471 --> 00:08:25.216 That seem to be not super worth caring about. 00:08:25.216 --> 00:08:29.230 They just don't even have that option to care about there, if that makes sense. 00:08:29.370 --> 00:08:29.752 Absolutely. 00:08:30.060 --> 00:08:48.100 You know, like their status, with their clothing or their home or their social surrounding, like it's just they're there, they're loving everyone, they're in it together, they're kind of all at the same level and they incorporate God in everything. 00:08:48.100 --> 00:09:04.222 And that was my favorite thing to talk about in the talk you just mentioned, because it like changed my whole perspective and even my thought process and my vocabulary, like and I got to, it was super exciting learning their dialect with English. 00:09:04.222 --> 00:09:13.570 But learning their dialect, you really see how God is in their dialect, not just like what's an example. 00:09:14.451 --> 00:09:14.711 Yeah. 00:09:14.711 --> 00:09:23.677 So if you ask them like how are you doing, you'd say

etzazen, but then their response would be namiadom, which means by God's grace, I'm fine. 00:09:23.677 --> 00:09:27.139 By God's grace, it's kind of shortened, but by God's grace I'm fine. 00:09:27.139 --> 00:09:29.969 By God's grace, it's kind of the shortened, but by God's grace I'm fine. 00:09:29.969 --> 00:09:35.230 And that, like every single person you ask how are you doing, that's their response. 00:09:35.230 --> 00:09:37.001 You know, and it's just. 00:09:37.001 --> 00:09:43.182 And anytime you say like how are you doing and you say like I'm doing fine, then they'll say like we thank God. 00:09:43.182 --> 00:09:51.248 And it's not like a to-use-the-Lord's-name-in-vain type situation, it's like a true like praise, like we are so thankful. 00:09:51.248 --> 00:09:53.671 Even I shared this with my family. 00:09:53.671 --> 00:10:04.323 Flying home was hard, but my flight from Ghana to New York, there were some Ghanaians on the flight and they were in the aisle over. 00:10:04.323 --> 00:10:17.089 It was a mother and younger children and I looked over as we landed and she was like we thank God that we landed safe, you know and she was like teaching her children and like that's just so normal to them. 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:21.051 Their culture is so humble and driven to recognize God's hand in all things. 00:10:21.841 --> 00:10:22.464 And I even shared. 00:10:22.464 --> 00:10:27.610 Like God is like visibly there everywhere, Like his name is on every signboard. 00:10:28.131 --> 00:10:31.193 There was a, there was a store that you said, that cracked me up. 00:10:31.214 --> 00:10:33.889 It was like God is love electronics. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:37.287 That's truly how it is. 00:10:37.760 --> 00:10:43.989 God is love electronics or like you'll see, like a hair salon, like Jesus is King hair, like it's just. 00:10:43.989 --> 00:10:45.244 Like that's what it is. 00:10:45.244 --> 00:11:08.292 To be there for the first few weeks and see that for the first time, Sure, but then to get that to be normal, where you see Christ's name everywhere, not only am I wearing his name and teaching about him, but, like these people, they already know him, you know, and so it was super fun to point them in the right direction, to get to know him more. 00:11:08.860 --> 00:11:10.105 Cause they already in that mode. 00:11:10.105 --> 00:11:14.283 They're just looking for more light and knowledge and you were able to provide that, because they were already in that mode. 00:11:14.283 --> 00:11:18.687 They're just looking for more light and knowledge and you were able to provide that, and I'm guessing they just grabbed onto it when you were able to share it. 00:11:18.707 --> 00:11:21.811 Oh yeah, and I will say from my experience, they're pretty quick to believe. 00:11:21.811 --> 00:11:29.061 They have faith, which can sometimes be problematic if it's the wrong information, quick, yeah. 00:11:29.061 --> 00:11:35.854 But it's so amazing when you're bringing the right information, because they're just like yeah, that makes sense. 00:11:35.854 --> 00:11:39.250 Like yeah, it's right, it's true, I have faith. 00:11:39.250 --> 00:11:44.888 You're like you're not even going to question anything, like of course they have questions, but it's just like. 00:11:45.639 --> 00:11:47.461 Their faith is overriding to anything else. 00:11:47.461 --> 00:12:01.453 Oh for sure, man, what a wonderful, you know mention of grace, how everything is grace with God, and those types of items, and how things that are important to people in Africa I should say, the other way around, the things that are important to people in the United States it's not the same over there. 00:12:01.453 --> 00:12:04.296 I don't know if you know this, but my family was in Africa last summer. 00:12:04.296 --> 00:12:10.442 While you were there, we didn't get a chance to see you because we were a different part of the continent. 00:12:10.481 --> 00:12:16.006 People think of Africa as like a country, but it's a massive continent with, like you know, 30 countries, but that was a thing that I remember as well. 00:12:16.006 --> 00:12:44.033 Grace, using that word grace and that will be a good segue into this talk, because that's one of the major themes is the idea that we went to these really impoverished villages in Mozambique no-transcript all the children, all the people just are so open and loving. 00:12:44.033 --> 00:12:47.721 There's like this immediate acceptance and love, this grace. 00:12:47.721 --> 00:12:50.664 If you will, they just give it to you so freely. 00:12:50.664 --> 00:13:03.697 It's um and so what I, what I tell people, is that we understand financial poverty, but we are blind to our social poverty, and that's what they have in abundance in Africa. 00:13:03.697 --> 00:13:12.671 It's just this awareness of God, the acceptance of his presence in each other and how each other play into this thing called life. 00:13:13.413 --> 00:13:17.105 And Van, the very first day, you know my little Van he was. 00:13:17.105 --> 00:13:19.009 You know it was hot all day. 00:13:19.009 --> 00:13:21.403 You know something about the heat of Africa, you're. 00:13:21.403 --> 00:13:29.246 You know we're sitting there, we were digging the holes and stuff and I mean he was sweating through his shirt and he starts crying at the end, a little bit, not like sobbing, but just a little teary, and I'm like what's up, man, are you okay? 00:13:29.246 --> 00:13:31.188 I was like worried that he was getting too fatigued. 00:13:31.188 --> 00:13:34.052 He's like it's almost over, I don't want to go home today. 00:13:34.091 --> 00:13:39.022 This is the happiest I've ever been in my life and I mean that was such a shift for me. 00:13:39.022 --> 00:13:51.001 We were working that time and it was just this idea of, like, our generation of youth do not even know how socially impoverished they are culturally because of social media and these other items. 00:13:51.001 --> 00:13:53.890 So

this thing called grace is such a big thing. 00:13:53.890 --> 00:14:25.004 Because what we're really talking about, morgan, in my opinion, in this talk, and why it hit so hard for me personally, was this idea that, like, the adversary is working so hard in overtime to making people feel less than, by comparison, everything that we do is never gonna be enough and, frankly, even if I did create something on social media that looks so great that I get lots of likes and followers to me, I even questioned the validity of it, because that's just one snapshot of my life compared to the misery, mistakes and other things that happen in my world. 00:14:25.004 --> 00:14:28.572 So I love that this talk talked to you so much. 00:14:28.572 --> 00:14:32.065 What were some of the initial points that stood out to you in this talk? 00:14:32.785 --> 00:14:34.288 What were some of the initial points that stood out to you in this talk? 00:14:34.288 --> 00:14:34.649 There's so many. 00:14:34.668 --> 00:15:16.081 I remember my first time I just listened to it and then I finished it and I sat down within five minutes and listened to it again and wrote down everything I learned, and so this is actually one of my journals from my mission, of when I first wrote down all of my insights, with all of the scriptures that came to my mind and scriptures that are in the talk and just notes, but before I get to like these ones, of when I first initially, um, listened to the talk, listening to the talk this week, just preparing for this, I had just one thought and I wrote it down just how it came to my mind, and so I'll say it how it comes, but then I'll explain it. 00:15:16.081 --> 00:15:20.869 Um, and it says Jesus Christ is never an. 00:15:20.869 --> 00:15:39.270 And then, and I just wrote it down, and then I had to think about that and to me, like I really learned just this one time listening to this talk grace is never like earned, like we don't have to earn god's love. 00:15:39.854 --> 00:15:51.345 That's not something that we're working towards, that we finally get a stamp on our paper or a trophy right that jesus christ is never in, and then where I like. 00:15:51.345 --> 00:15:57.357 I think sometimes we have the mentality of when I have this, then I will be happy. 00:15:57.357 --> 00:16:02.032 You know, when I achieve this, then I will feel accomplished. 00:16:02.032 --> 00:16:07.052 When I make this covenant, then I will feel close to God. 00:16:07.301 --> 00:16:24.828 When I perform this action, then something happens, and that's when you're saying Jesus Christ is not a, and then Jesus Christ is throughout, always like, throughout, always like when we're in that moment of like looking forward, but also in that moment of looking back. 00:16:24.828 --> 00:16:36.990 You know, and that was something that I hadn't learned until this week and it like kind of changed my whole thought just for this one time of listening to the talk like jesus christ is with us always and forever. 00:16:37.552 --> 00:17:00.956 And one of brad wilcox is amazing and he has some of the best like statements, like sentence, like he just knows how to like pack it into, like yeah, his phrasing is so unique and, as listeners are going back to read this talk afterwards, it is such a powerful way he does this in a lot of his talks where he has almost this poetic way of contrasting things like that whole. 00:17:00.956 --> 00:17:06.002 And you basically reminded me of Bradwell Cox the way that you just said that right, there is no. 00:17:06.002 --> 00:17:08.240 And then with Jesus, it's a. 00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:09.605 What was the thing that you said? 00:17:09.906 --> 00:17:10.829 Throughout and always. 00:17:11.421 --> 00:17:12.261 Yeah, throughout and always through. 00:17:12.261 --> 00:17:12.903 Yeah, throughout and always it's. 00:17:12.903 --> 00:17:20.886 It's like that kind of uh juxtaposition between phrasing that illustrates the polarity between those, so that we can get a real idea and feeling of what it is. 00:17:21.608 --> 00:17:27.984 So yeah, well and I think, like this statement spoke to me, like I needed. 00:17:27.984 --> 00:17:43.230 This statement, like this answered a lot of questions, challenges I've had in my life, including on my mission, and I was telling you how, at the beginning, like sometimes it's hard to like feel like you need to live up to that standard of a missionary and figure out what that looks like. 00:17:43.230 --> 00:17:56.130 And I told myself, like okay, when I feel confident teaching, then I will be a good teacher, then I will have the spirit with me, and so it's just so cool, like Christ is never gonna be the. 00:17:56.130 --> 00:17:58.637 If you do this, then I'll be with you. 00:17:58.637 --> 00:18:03.929 You know, he does promise us that when we do certain things that he will be with us. 00:18:03.929 --> 00:18:06.820 But he's with us start to finish. 00:18:06.820 --> 00:18:09.067 And that's kind of what Brad Wilcox said. 00:18:09.067 --> 00:18:13.299 He um, he was comparing like a light in a tunnel. 00:18:13.520 --> 00:18:16.130 He was like sometimes we see like there's a light at the end of the tunnel. 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:19.529 He's like Jesus Christ is the light that gets us through the tunnel. 00:18:19.851 --> 00:18:20.131 Right. 00:18:20.200 --> 00:18:21.486 And that's so cool and so true. 00:18:21.740 --> 00:18:24.527 He's the light in the tunnel, like he's right there with us the whole way through. 00:18:24.567 --> 00:18:33.184 Exactly Like he gets us through the tunnel, and that was just a cool statement for me to learn and a cool truth for me to learn. 00:18:33.184 --> 00:18:43.760 Even if we feel like we're alone, never yeah, and it's such a powerful concept. 00:18:43.835 --> 00:18:49.324 I'm glad that you're illustrating that, because he starts off in the talk with a story about a young woman who's coming to him frustrated. 00:18:49.324 --> 00:18:51.142 And I related to this young

woman. 00:18:51.142 --> 00:18:53.840 Yes, so much so because we do understand. 00:18:53.840 --> 00:18:57.278 In James it talks about you know, it is grace that we are saved. 00:18:57.278 --> 00:19:01.679 After all we can do right, it's the after all we can do part that confuses us. 00:19:01.679 --> 00:19:04.042 After all we can do, right, it's the after all we can do part that confuses us. 00:19:04.063 --> 00:19:18.917 It confused me, this idea that like, okay, I've got to go this far, and then he takes it from there, kind of thing, and so it almost puts this like skewed perspective of the power, of the atonement, of like I can only access it if, kind of thing. 00:19:18.917 --> 00:19:28.484 And it kind of bleeds into a lot of other elements because in this life there's actual, there's truth in the way the world works, of like you have to do this, then that the whole way things flow. 00:19:28.484 --> 00:19:42.722 But in the case where this young woman came, he shared, he had her draw on a piece of paper you know, two dots and then asked if God is on one end of the paper and you're on one end, what's your contribution versus their contribute? 00:19:42.722 --> 00:19:43.925 His contribution, right. 00:19:43.925 --> 00:19:46.141 Can you share a little bit more of that story? 00:19:46.141 --> 00:19:46.583 Do you remember it? 00:19:46.643 --> 00:19:52.878 Yeah, I remember she like she drew like halfway up, I think, and like drew it all the way to the end. 00:19:52.878 --> 00:19:57.116 She's like okay, and he was like no, there is no line. 00:19:57.576 --> 00:19:58.458 There's no line. 00:19:58.818 --> 00:20:20.194 He is the entire space, the whole paper, you know, and she was like, oh, I knew, you know he was like making jokes, but it's so real Like we, we, we visualize that that worldly aspect of like tug of war, kind of like you make up this part, you know, and it's not like we're working against each other Like a partnership, almost that's right. 00:20:20.394 --> 00:20:22.419 It's like hey, I'm supposed to do my part, you do your part. 00:20:22.459 --> 00:20:23.780 Exactly he does all the parts. 00:20:23.780 --> 00:20:32.297 Exactly, and so when he was like the whole paper is filled, he fills all of it. 00:20:32.297 --> 00:20:38.661 I think I wrote down it says Jesus doesn't make up the difference, Jesus makes all the difference. 00:20:38.882 --> 00:20:39.022 Yeah. 00:20:40.135 --> 00:20:41.980 And that's so cool and it's so true. 00:20:42.299 --> 00:20:52.287 It's true, I think when I'm trying my best to do what I can, I think I forget that my best incorporates all the things that I know I can do, that I just sometimes choose not to. 00:20:52.287 --> 00:20:54.323 That's the part I think we forget. 00:20:54.323 --> 00:20:56.996 It's like, well, I didn't try my best so that I'm never going to be enough. 00:20:56.996 --> 00:20:59.800 It's like, no, no, no, there's grace in that too. 00:20:59.800 --> 00:21:03.627 There's no world, there's no element of

our life where there's not grace. 00:21:03.627 --> 00:21:11.595 His grace is so powerful that I think what we're confusing is what he talks about later is the transformation that occurs when we accept his grace. 00:21:12.016 --> 00:21:18.376 Because when we are changed, then our actions change, and so we confuse those actions Again. 00:21:18.376 --> 00:21:22.541 We start paralleling it with perfectionism, and that's not the way the savior works. 00:21:22.541 --> 00:21:28.176 He's the only one that's perfect, and his grace is so perfect that it finds and fills all those gaps in our lives. 00:21:28.176 --> 00:21:31.506 So I love that you, you're able to love that, uh, that part of it. 00:21:31.506 --> 00:21:32.977 What else did you like about the talk? 00:21:33.838 --> 00:21:38.969 Um, I loved the comparison that he made of piano practice. 00:21:38.969 --> 00:21:57.063 Okay, I, I mean, I did piano growing up and I really, really related to this story because he was like talking about the atonement right and our, our work, after all that we can do, where does it meet up with Jesus Christ and how do we? 00:21:57.063 --> 00:22:02.805 How do we I'm not, I'm not going to say like repay him, but how do we become worthy of that? 00:22:03.255 --> 00:22:03.455 Sure. 00:22:04.679 --> 00:22:19.298 And um, and he was like well, it's like when a mother pays for her child to take piano lessons, you know, and it's like how the child doesn't repay the mother by practicing and he doesn't even pay the piano teacher. 00:22:19.619 --> 00:22:19.881 Right. 00:22:19.961 --> 00:22:21.705 Right, and that's not what the mother's expecting. 00:22:21.705 --> 00:22:24.994 And he doesn't even pay the piano teacher Right, right, and that's not what the mother is expecting. 00:22:24.994 --> 00:22:35.461 She just expects that child to practice and to utilize and take advantage of her paying for the piano lessons, you know. 00:22:35.461 --> 00:22:42.500 And he makes all these comparisons throughout the whole talk that I just really loved of how sometimes we feel like we hit all the wrong notes, you know, and we're never going to be good enough. 00:22:42.500 --> 00:22:45.625 We're never going to do amazing at our piano. 00:22:45.625 --> 00:22:49.104 Relating to life, we all make mistakes. 00:22:49.104 --> 00:22:55.579 We're never going to be perfect, but it's our progress, it's the practice. 00:22:55.579 --> 00:23:01.207 If I'm making all the wrong notes, that doesn't mean I should just give up and throw the piano away. 00:23:01.207 --> 00:23:01.656 It means I need to practice more and work harder. 00:23:01.656 --> 00:23:07.711 The wrong notes that doesn't mean I should just give up and throw the piano away and get you know right it means I need to practice more, you know, and work harder with that. 00:23:08.412 --> 00:23:16.795 And so, like jesus christ, he's not expecting us to repay him in any way, because we can't it's impossible and no, never. 00:23:16.795 --> 00:23:30.308 But

he's expecting us to utilize and take advantage of the greatest gift that's ever been given, and I think sometimes there's like that mentality that Jesus Christ has done it all so we can sit back and relax. 00:23:30.615 --> 00:23:32.201 Right, there's a polar opposite. 00:23:32.321 --> 00:23:36.445 Exactly Like there's two ends and neither of those are true. 00:23:36.445 --> 00:23:38.722 We need, like, the middle point, right? 00:23:39.075 --> 00:23:40.586 Yeah, we do the best we can because we love him. 00:23:40.586 --> 00:23:46.470 We're practicing, but practicing is not to be confused with repayment in any way, shape or form. 00:23:46.470 --> 00:23:50.744 I've got two boys in piano right now, cal and Van, and they're both crazy talented at it. 00:23:50.744 --> 00:24:01.109 And it's so funny for me, because I got this analogy so hard to Morgan like it hit me right in my heart, it feels, because it was like I know what it's like to pay for these lessons and the piano. 00:24:01.109 --> 00:24:08.441 Uh, just because I want them to have that, that skill, I want them to have the confidence that comes from being able to perform in front of people. 00:24:08.461 --> 00:24:12.477 There's so many things in this analogy that I could understand as a parent. 00:24:12.477 --> 00:24:25.038 And so when I hear them practicing and they mess up over and over and over again, oh my gosh, like I, it just it's not failure to me, it's like it's inspiring. 00:24:25.038 --> 00:24:48.942 And then when you see them perform they had a recital three days ago and it's really cute Cause Van gets really into it Van's really into it and he wears like a bow tie and like it looks like he's wearing a tuxedo and he stands up and he delivers like this professional, like this is what it is, and then he goes to tan on this piano and and that's great, you know the people who are listening to that recital are going to be like, wow, that's so good and yeah, whatever. 00:24:48.942 --> 00:24:51.655 Like I do love that he's gotten that proficiency. 00:24:51.655 --> 00:24:54.460 But that's, that's the end result. 00:24:54.539 --> 00:24:55.681 For me as a parent, it's. 00:24:55.681 --> 00:25:02.430 It's the journey of the failure and watching them never giving up like to me, and that includes the time where it's like I don't want to play piano. 00:25:02.430 --> 00:25:04.339 This is horrible and forget it. 00:25:04.339 --> 00:25:06.877 Like it's all of those things I will say. 00:25:06.877 --> 00:25:11.743 The less that they complain and the more that they get into it, the more I can see that they're getting benefit from it. 00:25:11.743 --> 00:25:14.842 But that's all Heavenly Father loves and wants us to have. 00:25:14.842 --> 00:25:26.121 Is the benefit of us practicing and recognizing that like, yeah, like all we're doing is is taking advantage of this huge gift that he's paid for For sure. 00:25:26.141 --> 00:25:44.907 Yeah, um, and that reminds me I think I I also wrote this down Um, like when we make all those wrong notes, instead of giving up, then we want to do better, and so practice is what makes us do better, and like this analogy kind of relates to everything that we could do in life. 00:25:44.907 --> 00:25:49.205 Right, if we want to pick up, like sports or a talent, we're not going to immediately. 00:25:49.205 --> 00:25:55.268 A person is never rarely I should say rarely, not never immediately good at it. 00:25:55.576 --> 00:26:02.867 You have those few exceptions, but for everyone it takes that practice to become better, regardless of where your starting point is. 00:26:03.555 --> 00:26:31.681 You know my starting point is different than yours or anybody else, but for either one of us to become better and it's a different type of better because we're at a different starting point we need that practice, and so that's exactly where the gospel of Jesus Christ comes in, and the temple, with faith and repentance, is what leads us to desire to change and we have that faith, it leads us to act right and repentance is what brings that true change in our, in ourselves. 00:26:31.681 --> 00:26:44.435 Relying on Jesus Christ, and then baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost and our covenants is the way that we change, and that's the temple and covenant path and Jesus Christ and everything. 00:26:44.435 --> 00:26:54.221 But then enduring to the end is the internalization of these changes over time, and so it's like when we Sorry, could you say that one more time? 00:26:54.261 --> 00:26:54.383 Yeah. 00:26:55.444 --> 00:26:57.116 All of it, no just the internalization. 00:26:57.718 --> 00:27:02.367 Enduring to the end is the internalization of these changes over time. 00:27:02.749 --> 00:27:02.929 Yeah. 00:27:03.695 --> 00:27:07.886 And I shared this in my talk that enduring to the end is also enjoying to the end. 00:27:08.075 --> 00:27:18.760 That was my favorite part of your talk, so I'm going to pause you there and, as listeners, she said this over the pulpit of you know, we talk about the five elements of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the fifth being enduring to the end. 00:27:18.760 --> 00:27:31.237 But you're like, I like this other component of enjoying to the end, and it just changed my perspective of the gospel, cause it went from this like beautiful thing that we've got to like, go through difficulty and figure out it's like no, I don't think that's ever been. 00:27:31.237 --> 00:27:34.424 The Lord's intention is there's, there's opposition in all things. 00:27:34.424 --> 00:27:37.961 Right, like that's actually no, no way, that's not coming. 00:27:37.961 --> 00:27:45.462 But like, and two things can be true at the same time we can go through opposition in all things but also find joy in the journey somehow. 00:27:46.586 --> 00:27:48.337 And when you said that it just it rocked me. 00:27:48.337 --> 00:27:49.299 It's so cool. 00:27:49.299 --> 00:27:50.884 So what does that mean? 00:27:50.884 --> 00:27:59.180 Like, how do

you, now that you're home from your mission, morgan, you're in a place where you're going through new opposition, how are you finding, how are you finding this joy in the journey? 00:27:59.180 --> 00:28:01.963 Or, I'm sorry, what's the wording? 00:28:01.963 --> 00:28:04.406 Again, Internalization. 00:28:04.646 --> 00:28:05.648 No, going back to the. 00:28:06.068 --> 00:28:08.500 Enduring and enjoying, yeah, enjoying to the end. 00:28:08.595 --> 00:28:12.346 How are you enjoying to the end at the beginning of this new transition for you? 00:28:12.494 --> 00:28:44.167 Yeah, I think and I can't take all the credit for making that phrase of enduring and enjoying to the end I heard like something that kind of pushed me in that direction, started at the MTC with one of my teachers, but then through my whole mission I really saw, like Adam fell, that men might be and men are, that they might have joy, and I think that's one of the most powerful scriptures and it's like two lines because we are all here by design. 00:28:44.167 --> 00:28:50.743 God has designed us to be here at this time, in this family, in this place of the world, all of these things. 00:28:50.743 --> 00:28:52.481 There's no such thing as coincidence. 00:28:52.481 --> 00:28:55.463 That's another thing that I really really learned on mission. 00:28:55.463 --> 00:28:57.983 There's literally no such thing as coincidence. 00:28:57.983 --> 00:29:05.127 But when we're here, we're having this mortal experience and it's hard. 00:29:05.127 --> 00:29:06.397 It's supposed to be difficult. 00:29:06.397 --> 00:29:10.276 You know, jesus Christ had it the hardest and we're trying to become like him. 00:29:10.276 --> 00:29:14.144 So how can we expect to become like him without the hard? 00:29:14.144 --> 00:29:16.295 That's not going to happen? 00:29:16.315 --> 00:29:17.037 It's never going to happen. 00:29:17.096 --> 00:29:26.096 Right, but we are also supposed to have joy and so like interlocking those, it only happens when you look to jesus christ. 00:29:26.096 --> 00:29:51.178 And even if you look at that verse um in second nephi, chapter two, um, the footnote on joy is, I think they I can't quote the wording, but the footnote is like the potential to become like God, and so that's the covenant path, that's the temple, that's the gospel of Jesus Christ, that's what brings us the joy. 00:29:51.178 --> 00:30:03.903 So when we're having challenges that, like you pointed out, I'm going through opposition and changes and decisions, I can still have that joy that comes from Jesus Christ, regardless of anything. 00:30:03.903 --> 00:30:10.778 And I think we make that mistake sometimes to have the mentality that if I'm going through something hard, then God has forgotten me. 00:30:11.259 --> 00:30:11.519 Right. 00:30:11.621 --> 00:30:18.663 You know, and even I had a joke I spent nine months, half my mission, in one of my first area and that was not expected. 00:30:18.663 --> 00:30:19.626 I never thought. 00:30:19.666 --> 00:30:20.978 You spent nine months in your first area. 00:30:20.998 --> 00:30:31.244 Nine months I was trained there, and then I trained a sister there and spent a little extra time there even after that, and so it was like, okay, has my mission president forgotten me? 00:30:31.244 --> 00:30:32.478 Like you know? 00:30:32.478 --> 00:30:36.275 Like that was like kind of like, did he forget me at those transfer news? 00:30:36.275 --> 00:30:40.980 Did my name just get pushed under somebody else's, you know, but that never happened. 00:30:40.980 --> 00:30:45.678 Pushed under somebody else's, you know, but that never happened. 00:30:45.698 --> 00:30:48.904 Like I learned some of the most crucial lessons because I was there for nine months, you know. 00:30:48.904 --> 00:30:51.056 And so it's the same thing with god. 00:30:51.056 --> 00:30:52.178 He's never forgotten us. 00:30:52.178 --> 00:31:12.078 If we're going through something hard and it's been months or years or decades he's never forgotten us because the lessons that we are needing to learn are there, you know, we're learning them and we're trying, and he's showing us the joy through those trials, through Jesus Christ, you know. 00:31:12.078 --> 00:31:17.974 And yeah, so in enduring and enjoying can happen at the same time. 00:31:17.974 --> 00:31:29.077 I think sometimes I like to, when I, whenever I, whenever I hear the word endure, I think of a hike, like I feel like there's those first moments like okay, I've got this, this is fun, we get the fresh air. 00:31:29.138 --> 00:31:34.416 My body's moving, the adrenaline, the happy emotions and just excitement. 00:31:34.416 --> 00:31:36.402 And then you get to like the middle section. 00:31:36.402 --> 00:31:38.007 You're like, okay, it's fine. 00:31:39.056 --> 00:31:40.806 Yeah, my muscles are starting to get sore. 00:31:40.806 --> 00:31:42.173 Time is it is the sun coming up. 00:31:42.173 --> 00:31:42.816 I need some water. 00:31:42.816 --> 00:31:42.915 How? 00:31:42.936 --> 00:31:43.438 much longer. 00:31:43.438 --> 00:31:45.845 You know what I said, what did I sign up for? 00:31:45.845 --> 00:31:56.737 And then there's like that last section where you're like, okay, I can see the end, I'm gonna endure that's how I picture it like I'm gonna push through, I'm, I'm not gonna stop until I get to the stopping point, at the top and where I can enjoy. 00:31:56.737 --> 00:32:08.424 You know, and I think it's not like that, I think we can have the joy from the beginning, middle and end and we are enduring from the beginning, middle and end, if that makes sense. 00:32:08.506 --> 00:32:08.946 Absolutely. 00:32:08.946 --> 00:32:10.398 It's so interesting. 00:32:10.398 --> 00:32:15.363 As you were talking, I thought of a story I'll share just briefly, but it was my oldest son, ethan, when he was 12. 00:32:15.363 --> 00:32:24.709 We went fishing in Alaska and we are neither one of us are fishermen I don't know if you know this about me, but

I'm not very uh, you know good with that stuff. 00:32:24.709 --> 00:32:27.351 And so I decided though hey, we're in Alaska, let's go fishing. 00:32:27.891 --> 00:32:39.782 So we went on a charter boat out to the middle of the Gulf of Alaska, and the Gulf of Alaska has huge waves You're either looking at the sky or you're looking at the seafloor and it was three hours out like that, and everyone was getting violently ill. 00:32:39.782 --> 00:32:41.526 And everyone was getting violently ill and Ethan was 12. 00:32:41.526 --> 00:32:49.003 He was the youngest, skinniest, smallest guy on the boat and, um, it was. 00:32:49.003 --> 00:32:50.150 It was honestly one of the worst things I'd ever gone through. 00:32:50.150 --> 00:32:50.705 I'm not exaggerating. 00:32:50.705 --> 00:32:53.261 I've gone through some trials in my life and this was one of the most, even though it was only three hours. 00:32:53.261 --> 00:32:54.125 I just didn't know. 00:32:54.125 --> 00:32:56.337 I thought we were gonna have to call 911 at some point. 00:32:56.337 --> 00:33:00.846 Um, ethan would go out and throw up and cold waves would splash on him. 00:33:00.846 --> 00:33:02.809 He was shivering and the ear wasn't working. 00:33:02.809 --> 00:33:04.019 I thought he was going to get hypothermia. 00:33:04.019 --> 00:33:04.701 It was this whole thing. 00:33:04.701 --> 00:33:09.066 So we get out into the ocean and we're fishing for halibut. 00:33:09.066 --> 00:33:14.402 They're 50, 100-pound fish and anyway there's about 30 adults. 00:33:14.402 --> 00:33:18.516 And then there's Ethan and we're all in the boat and, sure enough, as soon as the boat hit the spot, the waves calmed. 00:33:18.516 --> 00:33:27.201 And, and as the boat hit the spot, the waves calmed and the sun kind of came out and warmed him up to the point where at least wasn't worried about calling 911, if you could even do that from the middle of the Gulf of Alaska. 00:33:27.201 --> 00:33:31.805 So he goes out there and he throws out his line and he catches a bite. 00:33:31.805 --> 00:33:36.989 It's a halibut, it's a 50 to 70 pound halibut and legally they can't help him pull it up. 00:33:37.409 --> 00:33:42.792 So, talking about your analogy of the hike and trials and grace, he was a skinny little guy. 00:33:42.792 --> 00:33:47.278 He'd been shivering, you know, he'd been sick and he just started cranking on this thing and it took him. 00:33:47.278 --> 00:33:48.343 None of us could help. 00:33:48.343 --> 00:33:52.145 We watched him for about an hour and all these adults stopped fishing. 00:33:52.145 --> 00:34:01.787 They all paid big money to be on this boat and they all put their lines down to watch this boy in the last 15 minutes of this and none of us knew if he was going to do it, but everyone was cheering him on. 00:34:01.787 --> 00:34:07.262 You know, everyone was just like you can do this, buddy, come on, hang in there. 00:34:07.262 --> 00:34:10.896 And every single turn I didn't know if he was going to just give up and have it come back, but he kept going and he kept going. 00:34:10.896 --> 00:34:14.523 And finally, when it hits the water surface, they can help. 00:34:14.523 --> 00:34:19.420 And when that fish hit the water surface, the cheers on that boat it was. 00:34:19.420 --> 00:34:23.028 It was more important for them than any other fish that they had caught themselves that day. 00:34:24.335 --> 00:34:30.079 And the ship as a side note, something kind of cool the captain of the ship jumps over with his revolver and shoots it in the head four times. 00:34:30.079 --> 00:34:31.583 I wasn't expecting that. 00:34:31.583 --> 00:34:32.326 He's like coo, coo, coo, coo. 00:34:32.326 --> 00:34:34.864 And then they pull it on ship because then you can legally do that. 00:34:34.864 --> 00:34:38.378 And so it was a long day. 00:34:38.378 --> 00:34:40.501 We had three hours home and all this stuff. 00:34:40.541 --> 00:34:42.583 And the next day I'm just like hey, buddy, how are you feeling? 00:34:42.583 --> 00:34:44.505 He's like I feel really good. 00:34:44.505 --> 00:34:46.947 I'm like it's not like we're ever going to do that again. 00:34:46.947 --> 00:34:48.751 He's like oh no, can we please go do that again? 00:34:48.751 --> 00:34:52.864 Wow, and I think about life like that sometimes. 00:34:53.876 --> 00:35:01.628 I think sometimes it's like this thing where there's no way we'd ever want to do this again or go through some of these trials, the way that we do. 00:35:01.628 --> 00:35:08.365 But the Lord is with us, he is cheering us on and in this analogy that's not true is that he's helping us pull up that line. 00:35:08.365 --> 00:35:16.708 He is pulling up that line, but there's an element of effort that he wants us to go to fatigue and get to that burnout because we can't grow otherwise. 00:35:16.708 --> 00:35:24.141 So when you share that example of enduring and enjoying to the end, sometimes I think we think it's only at the end that we can find the joy. 00:35:24.141 --> 00:35:32.949 But through that whole process of pain there was definitely elements for Ethan and myself to where, yeah, we would want to go back, just because there's joy in the journey. 00:35:32.949 --> 00:35:34.592 I love that. 00:35:34.592 --> 00:35:37.914 So what? 00:35:37.934 --> 00:35:47.760 else about the talk spoke to you or did anything come to mind when I was saying that, um, I was actually thinking kind of the enduring in your story reminded me um of experience I had on my mission. 00:35:47.780 --> 00:36:12.916 Yeah, um, we the the ghana mtc is very close to the temple and so when I was there, I was there for like three, four weeks and I got to go twice to the temple wow and that was so cool and being in the temple, just like with missionaries, and when I was going, a lot of my fellow missionaries they were getting their own endowment and so it was just like so cool, spirit, so strong. 00:36:13.478 --> 00:36:15.402 And then I went after that. 00:36:15.402 -->

00:36:26.661 I went like 14 months without going to the temple and that was so hard for me and I totally had that and then mentality of like when I reach the temple I'll be happy. 00:36:26.661 --> 00:36:42.335 Only then, you know I'll, I'll feel God's peace, I'll feel God's grace and I will never I mean I will remember this anytime I'm ever starting to take the temple for granted, because I like had that ache that I've never had in my entire life before the temple. 00:36:42.335 --> 00:36:52.460 And the temple is so close to us now that I'm like okay, I can never let myself even go along without you know cause it's just like the ache is so real. 00:36:53.282 --> 00:36:53.402 Um. 00:36:53.402 --> 00:37:24.349 So then, when I got to go to the temple, I had been praying before I went and I just was asking God that I would have those experiences that I'm needing, but I would also be reminded that I can have them outside the temple, you know, because I was like, hey, I'm going to have this like super big, big day, this big moment that I've been praying for, looking forward to fasting for, but I was like I want to, I want to also be learning and reminded that it's not just today that I can have these experiences. 00:37:24.349 --> 00:37:28.045 And so it was so cool to see like God did answer me. 00:37:28.045 --> 00:37:30.664 I had those huge spiritual experiences in the temple. 00:37:30.664 --> 00:37:44.735 Even we got to go do baptisms and like just being at the font and like seeing what I've been teaching people for you know 14, 15 months, what I've been teaching people for you know 14, 15 months. 00:37:44.735 --> 00:37:48.614 And now I'm seeing it and I get to do a baptism for somebody else where that was just such a cool experience Wow. 00:37:49.175 --> 00:38:04.742 But then I had that kind of spiritual like nourishment and momentum and those answers to prayers that helped me get through the rest of my mission, but get through in a way that I was like, okay, the temple is still part of me, like my covenants are part of me. 00:38:04.742 --> 00:38:15.358 I don't have to just be in the temple actively participating in, you know, an ordinance in order to have those spiritual experiences, in order to feel God's love. 00:38:15.358 --> 00:38:26.594 And so it's like that, like I felt like I was stretching out and like enduring, but really it was reminding me and teaching me that we can have temple experiences outside the temple. 00:38:27.407 --> 00:38:28.391 What a powerful concept. 00:38:28.391 --> 00:38:31.925 I'm hoping as people are listening, especially those who are out of country. 00:38:31.925 --> 00:38:34.693 We have a handful of people in remote countries listening to the show. 00:38:34.693 --> 00:38:42.971 I have no idea how they got ahold of this, but the it's really interesting how, like there is such a blessing to go and like all the general authority talks, go. 00:38:42.971 --> 00:38:45.184 They don't say go once a week or go once a month. 00:38:45.184 --> 00:38:47.494 What they say is go as your circumstances allow. 00:38:47.494 --> 00:38:54.925 But that doesn't mean that they have less of those people who don't have access to the temple, don't have the same blessings. 00:38:54.925 --> 00:38:57.815 We can access those blessings and take the temple with us. 00:38:57.815 --> 00:39:02.329 Our homes can be a temple if we allow it to be. 00:39:02.329 --> 00:39:07.525 Our bodies can and are a temple, you know, but if we treat it that way, we can actually house the spirit in a similar way. 00:39:07.525 --> 00:39:10.110 And, of course, if we have a temple, you know, but if we treat it that way, we can actually house the spirit in a similar way. 00:39:10.110 --> 00:39:14.855 And, of course, if we have a temple down the street, like we do in Gilbert, like yeah, we should go as much as we possibly can. 00:39:14.855 --> 00:39:18.059 But it's cool that you're talking about that Again. 00:39:18.059 --> 00:39:26.346 That's where grace comes in this idea of like. 00:39:26.346 --> 00:39:29.210 There's no situation where the Lord can't reach us and help us find joy in the journey, no matter how horrible the circumstances may be. 00:39:29.231 --> 00:39:44.219 I had a patient who was dying of cancer back years ago as a therapist a physical therapist and she just would wear this big scarf around her neck because underneath it was all the tissue that had been excised from all the cancer surgeries. 00:39:44.219 --> 00:39:44.480 And she was. 00:39:44.480 --> 00:39:45.262 Her name was Marilyn. 00:39:45.262 --> 00:39:49.072 Marilyn would always just be so upbeat and positive about life and things, and she was. 00:39:49.072 --> 00:39:57.686 You know, she had six to eight months or something like that, and I would work with her through some very painful physical therapy because she had to in order to stay functional. 00:39:57.686 --> 00:40:01.922 And I finally said what is it about you that stays so positive here? 00:40:01.922 --> 00:40:05.969 I am a member of the church who's gone through the temple wondering just what is it about you, right? 00:40:05.969 --> 00:40:07.152 And she wasn't a member of our faith. 00:40:07.152 --> 00:40:07.652 She just goes. 00:40:08.353 --> 00:40:10.878 You know well, there's two elements of life. 00:40:10.878 --> 00:40:12.820 There's always a positive, there's always a negative. 00:40:12.820 --> 00:40:14.351 They're always running concurrently. 00:40:14.351 --> 00:40:17.994 Our joy is greatly determined upon which focus we have. 00:40:17.994 --> 00:40:18.985 She goes. 00:40:18.985 --> 00:40:20.572 I choose to focus on the good things. 00:40:20.572 --> 00:40:22.813 I still have days where I cry and I'm overwhelmed. 00:40:22.813 --> 00:40:25.914 That is, to me one of the greatest parts of the temple. 00:40:25.914 --> 00:40:45.893 I've always said this, that the temple to me is a physical manifestation of the grace of God, because it's a reminder of second chances and all the

things that we don't have that the atonement makes up for, either makes up for or in some way accounts for, so that we are made whole. 00:40:45.893 --> 00:40:50.588 And as you were talking about your stage of life, I just remember that, that phase. 00:40:50.588 --> 00:40:53.516 You know how's it been going to the temple since you've been home? 00:40:54.326 --> 00:40:57.076 Well, actually Wednesday was my first shift. 00:40:57.737 --> 00:40:59.043 Oh, wait a minute, you're a temple worker. 00:40:59.123 --> 00:41:04.393 I didn't know that I know and I well okay. 00:41:04.393 --> 00:41:14.797 So I got set apart, I think like a week before, and that was so cool to like be set apart again, you know, not as a missionary, but to be set apart in a way as a temple worker. 00:41:14.797 --> 00:41:29.235 And then when I went for my first shift, they handed me my name tag and we sat down and we sang um Gethsemane as our opening hymn and that's not a coincidence, because there's no such thing. 00:41:29.235 --> 00:41:32.809 That was one of my favorite hymns at the end of my mission. 00:41:32.829 --> 00:41:38.233 Oh, my goodness and I just sat there and kind of wept and like there were like sisters like do you need a tissue? 00:41:38.233 --> 00:41:47.512 I was like, yes, like I, just I was wearing a name tag, you know, and I was in god's house singing about j Christ. 00:41:47.512 --> 00:41:54.789 One of my favorite songs and it was just a huge. 00:41:54.789 --> 00:42:02.208 It was just what I needed, you know, and like everybody's asking me, how are you doing, how are you adjusting? 00:42:02.208 --> 00:42:07.005 That's like the most common thing I'm hearing right now which is reasonable, you know. 00:42:07.748 --> 00:42:09.092 Repetitive, but reasonable. 00:42:09.231 --> 00:42:11.766 Right and it's always like it's good. 00:42:11.766 --> 00:42:13.168 It's weird but good. 00:42:13.168 --> 00:42:37.871 But that moment in the temple I was, like I just felt so seen and so loved and you need like I've been learning since leaving Ghana, being released as a missionary you need that consistent reminder but also that consistent effort, looking for God's love as a missionary you have the structure. 00:42:38.525 --> 00:42:42.914 You're studying every day, you're praying 20 to 30 times a day. 00:42:42.914 --> 00:42:45.313 You're teaching about Christ in everything that you do. 00:42:45.313 --> 00:42:47.608 You wear his name visibly every day. 00:42:47.608 --> 00:42:55.833 But here now, even as a released missionary, as a returned missionary, you can still study every day. 00:42:55.833 --> 00:42:59.494 You wear him on you every day through your covenants. 00:42:59.804 --> 00:43:01.532 And your temple garments Exactly. 00:43:01.987 --> 00:43:07.213 And that was something my dad reminded me before I was released, because he was like okay, that moment's going to be painful. 00:43:07.213 --> 00:43:09.989 He was like, when they ask you to remove your tag, just be prepared. 00:43:09.989 --> 00:43:18.152 He's like but also remember, you will always have him on you physically, like a literal physical. 00:43:18.152 --> 00:43:26.030 You are wearing christ and those covenants and that protection and the spirit and I needed that before my release because it helped me. 00:43:26.030 --> 00:43:32.317 It was still painful, like don't, don't make me take it off, but it was still what I needed. 00:43:32.396 --> 00:43:35.181 And so I've been learning more and more each day. 00:43:35.181 --> 00:43:45.791 If you don't put in that effort, you know, if you don't try to look for God, if you don't pray, if you don't read and study, then you're not gonna have as much as that of that joy. 00:43:45.791 --> 00:43:55.981 You know, and like my mission, I always told people like that was like the happiest I've ever been, that was like the most joyful I've ever been. 00:43:55.981 --> 00:44:00.715 And so, leaving mission, I was so scared like, oh my gosh, am I going to come home and just be sad? 00:44:00.715 --> 00:44:03.628 Be like a person? 00:44:04.090 --> 00:44:04.911 What's wrong with Morgan? 00:44:04.911 --> 00:44:09.885 She came home from her mission Exactly Like a diagnosis wrong with Morgan. 00:44:09.905 --> 00:44:11.429 Uh, she came home from her mission Exactly Exactly Good diagnosis. 00:44:11.429 --> 00:44:17.146 But it's like that was a fear, like I just had the best 18 months of my life and it changed me and shaped me. 00:44:17.146 --> 00:44:25.608 But there's a reminder that the best is yet to come and everything that I've learned and had throughout mission is still here. 00:44:25.608 --> 00:44:32.239 You know, jesus Christ is not different for me because I was a missionary versus a return missionary in RM. 00:44:32.239 --> 00:44:40.536 You know, it's the same Jesus, it's the same me, and Jesus Christ is helping me through every stage of life. 00:44:40.536 --> 00:44:45.313 He's helping everyone through every stage of life, you know his grace is everywhere, always. 00:44:46.487 --> 00:44:47.391 His grace is sufficient. 00:44:47.724 --> 00:44:49.853 You know I'll share this as we're wrapping up. 00:44:49.853 --> 00:44:56.891 I can feel just the spirit kind of letting me know that the message has been delivered and I feel, as you're talking, it's so true. 00:44:56.891 --> 00:45:04.804 I was reminding myself of what that felt like to put up my name tag, as my second son recently got called to serve as a missionary in. 00:45:04.824 --> 00:45:05.065 Texas. 00:45:05.065 --> 00:45:20.498 I pulled my old name tag out and it's all dusty and whatever, and I was just kind of looking at that and seeing him put that name tag on made up for it, Like the best is absolutely yet to come. 00:45:20.498 --> 00:45:25.036 It's so great to serve a mission and it's so powerful to come home. 00:45:25.036 --> 00:45:26.405 All. 00:45:26.405 --> 00:45:46.974 For me, one of the great lessons of grace has been somehow, somehow, through my parenting Well, it's

not through my parenting and I've learned that actually, but somehow, as I've become a parent and put that name tag on, which is unseen, and I seen my son put that same name tag on Elder Humphreys and put that on. 00:45:46.974 --> 00:45:57.838 That to me was was, uh, another example of how, how the grace of Christ is in all things and how all these things are just precursors of better and better and better, and none of it's easy. 00:45:57.838 --> 00:46:01.010 Your family is the one that taught me that it's all going to be hard. 00:46:01.010 --> 00:46:01.994 Just be prepared. 00:46:01.994 --> 00:46:08.518 It's all going to be hard, but yet you know there's going to be a day where you're going to have a child. 00:46:08.518 --> 00:46:09.998 You know there's going to be a day where you're all you're. 00:46:09.998 --> 00:46:10.759 You're going to have a child. 00:46:10.759 --> 00:46:13.121 You know, if they choose to go on a mission, uh, that will put on a name tag. 00:46:13.121 --> 00:46:15.481 It'll definitely will probably be a different last name. 00:46:15.481 --> 00:46:19.188 I'm still pulling for a Humphrey's name tag for for your kids. 00:46:19.188 --> 00:46:23.237 I've got four boys listeners, so like, so that you never know. 00:46:23.237 --> 00:46:35.855 But it's, but it won't be a Bentley name tag, but it will mean just that much and then some as you go through that. 00:46:35.855 --> 00:46:38.284 Because what I didn't know, Morgan, is that sending a kid on a mission is a total trial as well. 00:46:38.284 --> 00:46:39.847 I remember you know those elements of that. 00:46:39.847 --> 00:46:41.532 But, yeah, the joy, it's worth it. 00:46:41.532 --> 00:46:43.034 It's worth it. 00:46:43.195 --> 00:46:44.717 Real quick last story, it just came to mind. 00:46:44.717 --> 00:46:47.047 I feel like I have to share it. 00:46:47.047 --> 00:46:53.773 There was a story that my wife heard in one of her study groups that your mother I may have heard as well. 00:46:53.773 --> 00:47:02.621 That there was this story of of a woman who didn't get the work done for her and she lived this really rough life. 00:47:02.621 --> 00:47:14.896 She suffered greatly, Like, like I don't know what, all the details of it, but it was one of those tragic life stories of someone riddled with disease, death and famine her whole life and then she died young kind of thing. 00:47:16.188 --> 00:47:29.378 And when the work was being done for her, the person initiating that work received revelation in the, in the form of a vision of this woman showing her a field of flowers and beauty, and just this clear message. 00:47:29.378 --> 00:47:31.360 It was all worth it. 00:47:31.360 --> 00:47:35.652 Christ's grace makes everything worth it. 00:47:35.652 --> 00:47:46.623 So I really can't thank you enough, Morgan, for being on the show, Remembering that we're not just trying to promote temples, but we're also promoting what temples represent, is that eternal connection to family. 00:47:46.623 --> 00:47:54.275 One thing that I ask at the end to everybody is knowing that this is not just going to serve our audience, but your generation of kids coming one day. 00:47:54.275 --> 00:47:58.737 They're going to hear you and see you at this stage in your life talking about this. 00:47:59.244 --> 00:48:02.896 What would you want them to know about the temple and the grace of Christ? 00:48:04.161 --> 00:48:04.481 Oh, wow. 00:48:05.126 --> 00:48:07.137 Yeah, it's a very light question at the end of the interview. 00:48:07.157 --> 00:48:10.253 Yeah, wow, yeah, it's a very light question. 00:48:10.253 --> 00:48:31.338 At the end of the interview, yeah, um, I think one of the things cause this came to my mind as you were wrapping up and so I was like, okay, maybe this is a good chance to share this, and I don't know if I'll be able to find it in my notes exactly, so I can't quote it, but in the talk it explains how heaven is heaven for those who choose it. 00:48:31.338 --> 00:48:40.681 Um, and that was another thing that was a common theme through my whole mission was choosing christ. 00:48:40.681 --> 00:48:43.246 We all have agency as an active choice. 00:48:43.246 --> 00:48:53.606 You know it's an active choice to see god, to see joy, to rely on Christ, and it's an active choice to go to the temple. 00:48:53.606 --> 00:48:56.271 It's an active choice to remember your covenants. 00:48:56.271 --> 00:48:58.255 It's an active choice to pray. 00:48:58.818 --> 00:49:00.208 You know we're always making choices. 00:49:00.208 --> 00:49:05.606 We will always have agency and we are promised that we'll never be removed of our agency. 00:49:05.606 --> 00:49:19.266 That's one of the things that Jesus Christ fought for for us was our agency and and so when we like on mission it was so hard for me Sometimes I would just kneel down and be like God. 00:49:19.266 --> 00:49:20.329 Why do we have agency? 00:49:20.329 --> 00:49:23.806 Cause we would be teaching someone and they'd be progressing. 00:49:23.806 --> 00:49:36.226 You'd feel the spirit with them and then they would choose to not progress, they would choose to stop and would choose to stop and you just like ache, you just hurt, like it's a physical, like it's a physical illness, like you just feel that like. 00:49:36.226 --> 00:49:37.989 But I know this is so. 00:49:37.989 --> 00:49:42.018 You're so close, just choose it you know, but you can't choose for them. 00:49:42.606 --> 00:49:51.519 You know, jesus christ has chosen to love us, to die for atone, for us, but now it's our turn to choose him. 00:49:51.519 --> 00:50:03.688 And that was my favorite thing that I learned at the beginning of my mission Jesus Christ chooses us, continues to choose us every single day, every moment of every day, so we can choose him. 00:50:03.688 --> 00:50:13.206 You know, and that's just kind of I feel like that kind of relates to everything, that's the gospel of jesus christ. 00:50:13.206 --> 00:50:37.710 You know, the covenant path, the temple, where we are putting ourselves on the covenant path, is it's our choice, it's our testimony and even if we feel like we don't have faith or we don't even have that testimony, it's the choice you, you know it's like, it's like, uh, alma, right, he explains that if you don't even have the faith but you have the desire to have faith, I think I'm right in saying that. 00:50:37.710 --> 00:50:46.492 But, um, when we have that choice, then that's when Christ can just come in and make everything, even when we don't have that choice. 00:50:46.492 --> 00:50:47.994 He will always be there. 00:50:48.034 --> 00:50:56.751 But just with your last question, if I could share anything, it would be choose Christ actively, choose, choose and then act upon it. 00:50:56.751 --> 00:51:05.373 Have that faith, but the temple will always be a reminder, a visible reminder and a spiritual reminder of who we are. 00:51:05.373 --> 00:51:09.724 We're sons and daughters of God, and he will always love us Again. 00:51:09.724 --> 00:51:11.648 We don't earn that, we don't earn his grace. 00:51:11.648 --> 00:51:22.815 And so, just for us to take advantage of the atonement, take advantage of the um what's the word I'm looking for? 00:51:22.815 --> 00:51:29.811 Take advantage of the advantages, take advantage of the advantages that God has given us. 00:51:29.811 --> 00:51:46.668 Our covenants, the sacrament, right His kingdom on earth, jesus Christ, a living prophet, the priesthood, the book of Mormon all of these were for there, are for us, you know, and so we just bring them in and act upon it. 00:51:46.668 --> 00:51:49.913 So that would in a long explanation. 00:51:49.913 --> 00:51:52.958 It would just be the short one is just choose Christ. 00:51:53.759 --> 00:51:56.369 I love that, morgan, the way I think of it is. 00:51:56.369 --> 00:51:58.673 I will always think about the temple. 00:51:58.673 --> 00:52:07.972 Now, because of today's discussion, I will look at it and I will remember that Christ and his grace isn't, and then it is everywhere, always. 00:52:07.972 --> 00:52:10.391 Morgan, thank you so much for being on the show. 00:52:10.391 --> 00:52:12.088 You've been such a wonderful guest. 00:52:12.451 --> 00:52:13.494 Thank you for having me. 00:52:13.494 --> 00:52:14.255 It's a pleasure. 00:52:15.246 --> 00:52:17.833 Thank you for listening to today's episode of Temple Bound. 00:52:17.833 --> 00:52:25.146 If you enjoyed today's content, please leave a review and share the episode with others so that people who are looking for this information can find it. 00:52:25.146 --> 00:52:26.646 Thank you again for listening. 00:52:26.646 --> 00:52:27.646 Until next time.