Temple Bound
God's children are searching in greater numbers for answers and hoping for miracles as they look to Jesus Christ for relief. On 'Temple Bound,' hosted by Will Humphreys, explore how temples offer not just solace but also powerful tools for navigating these turbulent times through faith in Jesus Christ.
Tune in every Monday to hear Will Humphreys engage with guests who bring inspiring stories, profound teachings, and insights into accessing divine guidance through temple service.
Each episode promises to enrich your understanding and strengthen your connection to the Savior in unique and transformative ways.
Whether you're seeking answers, yearning for peace, or in need of a miracle, 'Temple Bound' is your weekly spiritual refuge, helping you anchor your soul to the Savior. Join us on this sacred journey to deepen your faith and discover the blessings of temple worship.
Temple Bound
What It Means to Truly Sustain: Lessons from Bishop Brock & Britt Booher
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In this episode of Temple Bound, host Will Humphreys is joined by Bishop Brock Booher and his wife, Britt, for a heartfelt conversation on the principle of sustaining—inspired by Elder Ronald A. Rasband’s General Conference talk, “Behold, I Am the Light Which Ye Shall Hold Up.”
The Boohers share personal stories, including their family’s pioneer journey to the Manti Temple, and expand the idea of what it means to be a pioneer in today’s Church. Together, they explore:
- How sustaining leaders and loved ones strengthens families and wards
- Why bishops and their families need trust, grace, and support
- The connection between seeking counsel from leaders and receiving revelation in the temple
- How living our covenants and sustaining the prophet helps us “hold up the Lord’s light”
- Practical ways the temple helps us discern truth from error
The episode also spotlights an upcoming humanitarian trip to Kenya, supporting Saints in attending the temple for the first time and raising funds for a local orphanage.
Whether you’re a new convert, lifelong member, or simply looking for inspiration, this episode will deepen your understanding of sustaining and its role in building faith legacies for generations to come.
Learn More & Connect
- Support Temple Bound: Learn about our humanitarian trip to Kenya and how you can help! Here’s a GoFundMe link to donate medical supplies, food, and shelter for a local orphanage - https://www.gofundme.com/f/templebound-in-africa
- Come with Us! We have a limited number of seats available for our humanitarian trip to Kenya from November 2nd-9th.
- Follow us on social media for daily updates from our trip.
Please leave us a review and let us know what topics you'd love to hear about next!
Temple Bound is going to Africa and we want you to come with us. November 2nd through the 9th, we have been asked to go to Kenya to help a local group of members of the church go to the temple for the first time, and not only are we looking to help them get to the temple, but we're helping raise money for medical supplies, food and even some shelter for a local orphanage. So if you'd like to join us, here's how you can do that. Number one follow us on social media. If you'd like to be a part of it remotely, you can check us out on a daily day basis. We're doing podcast episodes while we're over there. Secondly, you can donate. We're going to have a GoFundMe link in the show notes of these episodes over the next two months, or you can literally come with us. We have limited number of seats and we'd love for you to come join us in this effort of sharing this great good with members of the church overseas. So if you'd like to learn more, please reach out and we'd love to have you. Thank you so much for tuning back into Temple Bound.
Introduction to Bishop Brock and Elder Rasband's Talk
Speaker 1Today we're going to be exploring how the temple brings us closer to Jesus Christ by talking to Bishop Brock Buer and his wife Britt. They've blessed countless lives in our community through their faith and their leadership and their love of the Savior. And we're going to be reviewing Elder Ronald A Rasband's powerful general conference address. Behold, I am the light which ye shall hold up In it. Elder Rasband is going to the light which ye shall hold up In it. Elder Rasband is going to remind us how we can hold up the Lord's light when we hold fast to our covenants and when we sustain our prophets and each other. So we're going to explore what it really means to hold up or sustain in our families, our wards, in the temple, and how angels, covenants and even Christ himself strengthens us in our daily journey.
Manti Temple and Family Pioneers
Speaker 1Enjoy the show, all right. Well, guys, welcome to Temple Bound. I am so excited to be with both of you. Let's get right into this wonderful talk. Why don't you introduce the talk, brock? Please introduce the talk. What is the talk and why did you pick it for today?
Speaker 2I chose this talk because he mentions the Manti Temple, and the Manti Temple has special personal meaning to my family history and that's why I chose it.
Speaker 1So are you? Did your ancestors help settle that area the way he talks about with his and President Nelson's?
Speaker 2No, nothing like that at all. In fact, my parents didn't get baptized until 1958, I think it was, or 59. But here's a picture and I can send it to you. Yeah, we'll put it online for the people who are watching In front of the Manti Temple. In July 8, 1960, before I was born with my two oldest sisters oh my gosh, this is when they got sealed in the temple, and at that time they were in Kentucky and the Manti Temple was their temple district. So that's about what? 1,600 miles.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2One way to get to the temple.
Speaker 3How many hours would that be?
Speaker 2Oh, I don't know, the interstate system wasn't even around then, so they had to go two lane roads most of the way, highway 66, it's famous right and all that. So I know that they traveled several days to get to the temple. They stayed with a missionary couple, I guess, that had been there before in that area, and went to the temple and got sealed as a family, took out their endowments, and so it was a big, it was a big sacrifice on their part. So, yes, there were a lot of things, doctrinally we'll say that spoke to me, but not so much as just knowing that bit of family history and how it touched me. Because then I thought, okay, I'm in the same category with Elder Rasband and President Nelson having ancestors and a history with the Manti Temple, because my parents were pioneers with the Manti Temple too, but it's not in the same way.
Speaker 1Right, they were pioneers for your lineage.
Speaker 2Exactly.
Speaker 1Yeah, they were pioneers for that whole descendancy and it all goes to Manti. You know I have I feel very similarly about the Salt Lake Temple for that reason that's where my mom and dad were sealed. My dad's a convert and so I was the first, you know, member of my family born after they were sealed, and I remind my older siblings constantly about that. But it's a very special temple, because this is where our families get bound together, and so your parents were trailblazing, just in a different way.
Speaker 2And I think that's important for a lot of people, especially if they're new in the church. They think they've got to have some connection, some pioneer heritage. And no, you are the pioneer heritage. You're it, and so you're pioneering the future for your family, in a way, by going to the temple and setting that precedent and starting that chain of events and that chain, that literal eternal chain. You are a pioneer and I think that's why it struck me, because I had that thought process. Yeah, that's so beautiful. I think that's why it struck me, because I had that thought process.
Speaker 1Yeah, that's so beautiful. I think there's a lot of pioneers in the church that don't consider themselves pioneers. I think about service missionaries as being pioneers right now. Oh, absolutely, men, and women who are out there. You agree, Britt.
Speaker 3Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1Yeah, tell me about that.
Modern Pioneers in the Church
Speaker 3Well, I think there's so many opportunities for service missionaries especially. I think one thing I loved was when the missionaries that did the humanitarian work that we met in the Philippines.
Speaker 3I mean there's so many opportunities all over the world and locally, at every age level. Now, I mean, now, it's what an 18-year-old can go off on a service mission, you know, all the way up to someone in their 70s, 80s, however old you want it, yeah, and it's beautiful because there's different opportunities available. Right, it's not just proselyting, it's you can do, and serving the temple is one of them too. There's so many different options.
Speaker 1And they're taking this new frontier, so to speak, over, and there'll be a time where there'll be as many or more service missionaries as proselyting ones. I just love this discussion around what a pioneer really is, because it's more meaningful, again within the context of our family, than it is what we would consider the founders of the church pioneers, and there's nothing that we're taking from that.
Speaker 2No, we're not.
Speaker 1There are more versions of pioneers out there that are doing that. So, as you guys are all listening at home, I just want to challenge you to think about how are you pioneering the legacy of faith in your family and who are the pioneers in your family that have pioneered faith? And to help you.
Speaker 3Britt. Does anyone come to mind in your family history? Well, brock and I have talked because when he was in the military, we served in different. Well, we served in a different country we served in. When we lived in Texas we had to travel down. The nearest temple was Dallas, so for us, and when we were living in England, the London temple was closed at the time.
Speaker 2So Switzerland was the closest temple.
Speaker 3So so, like I just think about the things that we had to do, his, his family were converts. My mother is a convert, my, you know, I I felt like we were trailing the way for our family and the importance of attending the temple too, and now we live the temple's in our backyard now I can walk to the temple, except in the middle of summer.
Speaker 2Well, that's just dangerous, even for a second If you're out in the summer, unless you're intentionally cooking eggs on the asphalt.
Speaker 3There's different dangers. We do now. That's right, totally.
Speaker 1And it's so cool to think about that because, as we are so blessed in the United States to have the temple so close relatively not everyone's within a small walk like we are. The temple so close relatively Not everyone's within a small walk like we are, but as people now have these wonderful advantages to be able to go to the temple now we have the opportunity to help others who are truly pioneers in their own countries as we become a global church.
Speaker 3Absolutely, and I think it's important to tie in the youth, because I think we sometimes only think about our own personal endowments and going through for ourselves, but the opportunities to do the work in the temple for the youth is incredible. When I grew up in hawaii, and so the temple was on the other side of the island for me we only had one on one island at the time and even traveling because of just the two lane roads going around the island yeah, 45 minutes was a long way.
Speaker 2Yeah, 45 minutes is a stretch. That was an all-day event.
Speaker 3Yeah, but I mean, I even think like the opportunities I had for baptism of the dead I really didn't do it very much or some of the other endowments. There wasn't really the opportunities weren't there as like our youth have now, and how many temples we have and the work and the things and places you can go. You can go travel the world and have the opportunity of even going inside a temple.
Speaker 1Yes, and it's so amazing because the youth are taking this and running with it to the where their. Their constant attendance to the temple and baptisms is literally changing the architecture of temples, as they're now building temples with multiple baptism fonts to accommodate the demand. Who would have ever thought when we were growing up and the culture of going to temples was once a year, even if you lived nearby?
Speaker 1Yes, and now it's like people are just there's so many and we're encouraging it that we are pioneering in our own way that new way of relating to the temple and going frequently.
Speaker 3You know who was it? The Hansons that we saw when we were just, we were in Rome. We were in Rome. We had gone to Italy on vacation, Brock and I and some friends, and we went to the Rome temple for a day to go visit a center and then go into the temple to do some work. And we entered the temple doors and we saw Drew and Penny Hansen.
Speaker 2They're from Gilbert oh how funny. In Rome serving a mission in Albania with a bunch of Albanian saints that they brought to the temple.
Speaker 3And they had saved all their money up to come across the border, to come to Italy, to Rome, to go to the temple.
Speaker 2And they were there the same day we were.
Speaker 3Yes, and we entered those doors and we hadn't seen Penny and Drew for a long time since they had left on their mission and we walked in there and here they were trying to get these couples, these people. How many people were there?
Speaker 2I can't remember, they had about 30, I think.
Speaker 3Yeah, and it was amazing them trying to orchestrate all that. As soon as they saw us, it was like a piece of home seeing us and we all embraced each other. Wow, and it was so neat to go to another temple to have that experience of home. I mean that's. They got tears in their eyes seeing us and one of the other couples they knew because it was. It was like home to them and they kept telling the other other families that were there. You know, these are our friends from back home and it's just one of the excitement kind of makes you imagine what heaven's going to be like.
Sustaining and Being Sustained
Speaker 1It's massive feeling of coming home and I love that surprise feeling of home that we get to feel when we're doing the right things. I love that temple. By the way, Rome is one of the most beautiful temples with that stained glass, so anyone who has a chance definitely hit the Rome Temple.
Speaker 3The Visitor Center is amazing.
Speaker 1So let's dive into this wonderful talk. Behold, I am the Light which he Shall Hold Up. See the reason I thought you picked this talk. You know you were telling me beforehand Brock picked this talk. And the reason I thought Brock picked this was because he's our bishop, and I thought, well, my goodness, this is such a great talk talking about sustaining church leaders.
Speaker 2Yes, I really need much more sustaining.
Speaker 1That's for sure. No doubt about that. This episode is a call for help, and if anyone's listening in the Gilbert area, please, I don't need just one under each arm, like three or four, to keep my arms up, but anyway, he needs to be crowd surfed with support.
Speaker 1I love, but I thought it was such a beautiful thing because you talk a lot about this. Talk is so powerful about how we uphold. There were so many different angles of upholding. It's talking about upholding leaders of the church obviously being the most direct reference. Was there any of that for you guys? When you read this, when you read this, did you have any thoughts about the being upheld?
Speaker 3The part that came to me was how the Savior sustains us in our life, and I think that's a part that I gathered and I yeah, I, you know in this talk. It was beautiful. He talks about sustaining our leaders and I did come to mind about, even as a wife to a bishop, sustaining him and his calling and sustaining all the different people on the ward level, the stake level and general as a church. But I also thought about how beautiful it was that Christ sustains us in this life. Yes, through, I think he said, the dramas of our life is what he said yes because I can relate to that is that you know, life is never coasting.
Speaker 3There's always challenges going on in our lives, and to know that the Savior is there to buoy us up and to sustain us, I think is important. And where can we go to get that?
Speaker 2well, people ask what's it like to be the bishop of the Stratton ward? And I say it's like being at the front end of a fast moving freight train. Yeah, you know, this ward is absolutely amazing and people just they're all doers. I mean, things just happen. It's like I turn around and I'm like what just happened? Oh, they took care of this and they took care of that, and so sustaining, you know, in our ward it looks a lot like. I just sometimes feel like I'm just like I'm getting the front end Because there's so much momentum and I think I think that happens in any area when you have members of the church who have just been around each other a long period of time.
Speaker 1I think that's what's unique is that there's this long history. We've all raised families and had kids at home and seen them left, and we've had disappointments and hardships and successes and we've gotten over, I think, a lot of the initial judgments that are normal within the human experience and just started accepting that and then, as a result of that, there's a great feeling of safety here. You know, one thing that you mentioned, britt, is this idea of upholding Brock. I always have seen the bishop calling as a dual folded. I feel like there's the bishop and his wife. Obviously, the bishop has that role on the stand, but I don't think of the bishop of the Stratton Ward as only Brock. I see it as the both of you, and I don't know how that lands when I say that, but like you're, heather, and I talk frequently about you guys behind your backs.
Speaker 3That's okay, because we talk about you guys, how awesome you guys are. That's exactly what we say about you.
Speaker 1It's a real shared admiration at least for us to you, and when we talk about what a great job you're doing, we talk about both of you and how you guys work together in tandem. So how does that work? As someone who's never been in that, calling. How does that work to sustain each other in this very oh man, I hope you're watching the video. What is that sustaining of each other and having allowing Christ sustain you in this type of calling? How does that look for you?
Speaker 2guys Usually lots of foot rubs and it goes like this I'll do something that you know rubs her the wrong way because I'm not sure how much I should share or what I should say, because I'm really cautious about that, because I don't want anybody thinking they can't come to me in confidence. And then she gets impressions like I'll have a long day and I'll sit down on the couch with a bowl of ice cream and she'll go. Have you talked to so-and-so lately? I've been worried about so-and-so lately. I'm like you're not gonna let me finish my ice cream.
Speaker 3Well, it is interesting though, because the spirit sometimes I'm like can you just let him deal with this and not tell me you know Right.
Speaker 2And I ask for that sometimes too. Yeah, he does.
Speaker 3I mean, I think it is a dance, because the confidentiality and the sacredness of the bishop's calling of being spiritually guiding people and some of the challenges that really shouldn't be no one else's business except between them and the Savior.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 3I don't know any of that. He's been very, very, very, very respectful of people that way and he knows I don't want to know that. But he also knows how much I love the people in this world.
Speaker 1I do well, it's overwhelming.
Speaker 3Yeah, I do love them.
Speaker 2Surprisingly, though and I heard this and we've lived it the being a bishop's wife is very lonely. It is Because the moment you get called as bishop, some of the ward members begin to look at the bishop's wife differently and put a fence around her, so to speak, and treat her differently. Maybe it's subconscious, maybe it's not, maybe it's culture, maybe it's not, but it is a real thing, and so this created between us. You know she wants to share in some things, and I'm like I don't know how much I should share. You know which obviously we've talked about.
Speaker 3Well, an example is I would say I'm very concerned and I've always been this way, actually even before his calling that I've been in tune with reading people's emotions and I've just kind of done it by myself and done something kind or charitable or reached out, whatever it would be. Now that he's bishop, I feel he needs to know. So then if I get a prompting, I would say I've had this prompting and I'm really concerned, I feel heartache there and he's like oh boy, how does she know that? I can read it in his eyes because he hasn't said anything to me but he can't confirm or deny. So he's learned some certain techniques of just saying you know, that's, that's really intuitive. You know, maybe they need to be loved on. You know he doesn't confirm or deny anything.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 3So, and then some people have mentioned to me I'm sure your husband's told you and I'm like no.
Speaker 1Not a thing.
Upholding the Light of Christ
Speaker 3Not a thing, but I'm here for you. So I mean it is a fine balance. I feel like in some things he asks generalities. One has been for counselors, sure, just because I have my background in psychology and so I know a lot of people in the industry.
Speaker 2And so he says you mean when you say counselors, not the bishop or counselors but like somebody like yes yes, someone who comes to me and needs professional counseling and we're trying to help and I go. Okay, who do you know in this arena, right? Not which counselor, should I pick you?
Speaker 3know, yeah, yeah, thanks for clarifying, but yeah so I mean he would ask me for resources yeah so and I think that's great. I think the number one thing we've loved being and doing together is being with the youth well, yeah, I mean, that's hands down.
Speaker 2You, we bought a soft serve ice cream machine for the youth. What was that for the youth or for us?
Speaker 1I can't anyway, that's like for the youth and you guys have different groups of youth over all the time yes, we do almost every and we keep trying to do more because I mean, that's that was our job.
Speaker 2But you know you're talking about, you know how it relates to the temple. Let me kind of bring this full circle circle with this. There is a special process. When a member has enough faith in the mantle of someone, in the call and I won't just say bishop, as relief society president, elders, quorum president, even sunday school teacher, youth leader, when somebody has faith in that mantle and enough to go and sit down with that person or have a conversation with that leader who has that mantle of authority, and seek advice and seek counsel, they're putting their faith in that mantle of authority, not in the person.
Speaker 2So that's a special process. And when they exercise that faith in that process, then the Lord gives inspiration to that leader that is needed for that person. And so it's this very unique process. And the same happens when we go to the temple with a question in mind. We are putting faith in this process that the Lord's going to answer our questions, and we're going to go to the temple with a question in mind, fully expecting to get an answer somehow, whether it's at the temple, after the temple, related to the temple, but through that process we're exercising our faith and by exercising that faith and we're able to come up or be blessed with the answer we need. So, whether that's so, they're kind of similar to me the mantle of authority for the person or simply the location and the blessings of the temple, but it's the same process.
Speaker 1Yes, it's beautiful. And this thing about upholding you know we use the word sustained, right, we sustain, we uphold. There's so many great quotes in this article that talk about that, and there's almost what I love about the way Elder Rasband does this is that he talks about whether we're talking. He uses the word uphold, obviously as the primary mover, but there's sustaining or support. He talks about how, first of all, in the beginning, in the talk, how we sustain church leaders and authorities. We also talk about how the Savior upholds us in this journey. That's right. And then we learn about later and we'll finish on that how even the Savior was sustained and held up at times during the atonement, and so it's a powerful concept to think about how these things are run Before we get into some really cool quotes. How have you guys felt sustained by members of your award and your calling?
Speaker 2has felt sustained by members of your award and your calling. You're looking at me, huh, okay Again. I just was sitting there in church looking out over the congregation today and going, wow, this group is amazing. Now I can sit there and say I know what's going on in their life. They're struggling with this or they're struggling with that, and that's all part of it. In any given day, you know half the congregation's struggling with something, they're struggling with that and that. That's all part of it. In any given day, you know half your half the congregation struggling with something. That's just life, right, I mean, this is the way it works. But I just sat there and think about how the amazing things and my amazing counselors, amazing people on the ward council and in any, any given time, the, the effort that they put into making things work in the ward just you know everything, everything from every little. All those details of putting the hymn numbers up I've not done that a single time. Somebody's gone up there on that put up the hymn numbers, so people doing their callings.
Speaker 2People doing their callings. It sustains you. I don't have to think about it. I can then focus on what I need to focus on most, which is the youth and helping people in temporal situations or helping people in worthiness situations and doing that. So I can't thank the ward enough. And if you're out there and you think that your calling doesn't matter because you're the hymnal coordinator, I got news for you you matter and it makes a difference when you magnify your calling. It makes a difference to the bishop and it sustains the bishop tremendously, Wow.
Speaker 1That is beautiful. There's this quote in here I'm going to read that relates to that Elder Rasband talks about. He quotes Nephi. My God hath been my support, he hath led me through my inflections, he hath filled me with his love. And what Elder Ransom says is that that love of our Savior is evident when we sustain one another in his work. I think that's the key thing to remember is that the Lord has a bunch of imperfect people doing the best they can with volunteer positions, who have various levels of professional or personal training in those roles.
Speaker 2Or time or resources as well, because that's different at different times in people's lives, everything, and you don't know, somebody that might have a lot of time at one moment has no time the next week, right, and vice versa. Or resources. So it varies and it goes up and down and all over.
Speaker 3Yeah, I think also, too, love and grace. I mean you asked how sustained I think people sustain us, not only Brock and his calling, but support me as his wife and in the callings I have in my ward by giving me grace and giving him grace and giving us love in what we're trying to do and the sacrifices that we do and love to do. So I think that's important. I know he also talks about that. I love that quote that you just said.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's a good one, you know it's interesting because, you know, I think the best thing I can tell on the receiving end of when I have felt sustained in my marriage by my children, by people in the ward, when I've got a calling, is to give me the benefit of the doubt.
Speaker 1I don't know if there's a better sustaining than just giving a mental benefit of the doubt, if there's a better sustaining than just giving a mental benefit of the doubt. As you guys know, I'm in the State Young Men's and we had youth conference in May and we're filming this in August, and during that time frame I had a bunch of professional things going on, a lot of travel, a lot of speaking arrangements and engagements and so normally, like if this was a professional thing, I think I would have been way more on the ball than organizing the faith walk at this particular youth conference. And so I remember kind of scurrying that last month, getting people together and asking a lot from a few number of people in a way that it wouldn't have shocked me if it would have, wouldn't have been a little irritating offensive and those types of things. Um, but I'm going to call these, these guys, out publicly. But I'm going to call these guys out publicly. But I'll never forget being down in the woods and having JD Dockstader and Doug Lindblom just show up
Speaker 1and they leaned into these real heavy coordinations.
Speaker 1We were building crosses to represent the crucifixion, we were reenacting the nativity scene, these huge production things that we wanted the youth all because we wanted the youth to have this special experience.
Speaker 1But I had not done as good of a job as I could have, so we were kind of scurrying and the way they showed up with all the benefit of the doubt and nothing other than like, yeah, this is just how it works. And they all just kept saying the same thing because I started freaking out. Honestly, they just said it's going to work out because this is the Lord's work and it's going to be fine and it turned out amazing and I just think that that was. I know that sounds silly, but that was something I'll never forget. I will never forget people just giving me the benefit of the doubt as I imperfectly executed the best I could in my calling and that's just one of the greatest testimonies that the church has the true and everlasting gospel within it is that it's all volunteers and we're still growing well, and it's not one person in charge either no I mean, I couldn't imagine.
Speaker 3I mean, and your whole team that did that youth conference. It was fabulous. And see, I didn't know the struggles you had there with, with some of the last minute things, but to me it looked amazing, reminds me. I'm sorry, go ahead. No, no, it's just it's perfect.
Speaker 2Reminds me of the last minute things, but to me it looked amazing, reminds me, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3Go ahead. No, no, it's just perfect.
Speaker 2Reminds me of the scripture Be like I mentioned, or be doers of the word, not hearers only. And you picked two doers.
Speaker 1Yeah, I mean you get picked a lot to be doers. They do yeah.
Speaker 2But that's but that didn't have the time and resources to do what needed to be done. So you asked for help and you got the help you needed, and sometimes we're in your position in that situation and sometimes we're in their position and we need to fill both those roles when the timing is ours and asking for help is, for me, the hardest thing.
Speaker 1I think that's what's part about it. When you have a company and employees, it's different. When you are working with other volunteers in their busy lives, it's a different world. So sustaining means a lot of things. To read the quote from the talk to sustain means to hold up another person, to give them our attention, to be faithful to their trust, to act their words. They speak by the inspiration of the Lord. They understand the current issues, the moral decline of society, the adversaries' increasing efforts to thwart the Father's plan. In holding up our hands, we are committing our support, not just for that moment but in our daily lives. And so he talks about how we sustain our local church leaders, the prophet and all these different elements. So let me ask you guys when you feel Elder Rasman emphasized sustaining is more than just raising our hands. What does it look like to sustain the prophet for you guys in your daily discipleship?
Speaker 2For me it's trying to teach what he's teaching and think about prophetic priorities. I listen to what he says in general conference and the other general authorities over and over again and say, okay, what are the prophetic priorities here? And then am I repeating those, Am I teaching those to the youth and emphasizing those in our leadership meetings, et cetera? Because if not, I'm not really sustaining him. I've got my own agenda and my own little fiefdom and that doesn't work.
Speaker 1Yeah, we read in the DNC 88, you know, being a law unto ourselves. Right Like we are, we sustaining what we're being told, or, and that can be a challenge. That can be a challenge, especially as the worldview is shifting and all these different elements come into play.
Speaker 2Or if pride gets in the way, right, you begin to think, oh, I'm the bishop here and so I'm going to dictate this or that, and you're like, no, it's not, you've got to let go of that completely. I don't have that problem in this ward because everybody's much smarter and brighter than me and capable, so I don't worry about it too much but you know we've been talking about that.
Speaker 1I'm glad you're able to see that. Trust me, you don't have to tell me no, no, that's not true at all.
Speaker 3No, it's you know, um, you think about holding up and sustaining active. It's physical, almost, it doesn't. It's not complacent, it's not sitting still right. You talk about the doers, you know JD and Doug, and, like Brock, talks about the people in our ward, and so what does that mean? Sustain the prophet, and who is he? He's the mouthpiece of the Savior, really, and he teaches the things that we need to know and he gives us personal revelation. So what should we be doing to sustain him? Praying for him, actively engaged in doing what he asks us to do, because they're not frivolous things that he's not telling us to go pick daisies.
Speaker 1Yes.
Speaker 3So he wants us to be active, and that's how we sustain him doing what he's asked. So our Heavenly Father has told him to reveal certain things to us and teach us certain things.
Speaker 1Yeah, and it's something about trust. As you guys are talking, I'm getting really inspired, thinking about how sustaining actually builds other people, because we're giving our trust. My favorite business book of all time is the Speed of Trust by Stephen Covey's son, stephen Covey, and it talks about how that facilitates success in business. But in relationships is the main focus and it's interesting, as parents, how we can use this word sustain or hold up to look a little bit differently. Here's a different angle on that faith walk. Darren Barney, who's the stake in man's president, put me in charge of the faith walk and he really support. He sustained me by being a resource for help but really letting me hold the vision, and he said that multiple times this is your vision. This is your vision. That did something to me, empowered you.
Speaker 1It empowered me. It makes me remember that Christ wasn't looking for followers, he was looking to build leaders.
Speaker 3That's cool.
Speaker 1You know, and, and so, as Darren was with me, there's this one moment at the end that no one knows about. I'm going to share that. We were, we had, I had these five scenes. I did create a strong vision for it, even though execution wasn't my best that we were putting it all together. And all of this faith walk journey was about leading the youth through this experience of the Savior's life, ending where I wanted a big picture of the temple, because, if you haven't seen the podcast, I'm a little into the temple and so I was like, let's get the youth really focused on the temple. And so we were building everything out. We're going to have a big projector screen.
Speaker 1And Darren pulls me aside. He's just like hey, what do you think about having a picture of the Savior instead? To which I said no. I literally said yeah, I love that idea. I see why you're going with the Savior, but the reason being is I felt that by having a greater strength, the temple would find the Savior there, right. And he said, okay, it's your vision. And he just I was wrong, by the way, but he let me sit in that space of like, this is your choice, it's your vision. He trusted me, he sustained me, he held me, he agreed to do what I was in charge of doing, even though technically he was the president and I'm a counselor. And that night I prayed about it and I had a really strong, clear image no, it's Jesus. You need to put a picture of Jesus at the end, and we did, and it was so much better.
Speaker 1But boy, did I grow from that and so I think that's a lesson is that when we are dealing perfectly with each other, upholding each other sometimes means not just giving the benefit of the doubt, but staying with them because we believe that it will work out the way it needs to, even if and we don't see eye to eye on how things should execute.
Speaker 3Yeah, that happens as couples in a marriage too. Oh, really Is that right?
Speaker 1That's a great. That's actually really true. No, it is true.
Speaker 3And then try to do it when a marriage and it's your priesthood leader, you know your bishop.
Speaker 2Yes, Well, you know, and I have had a conversation one time where I clearly made a mistake and I told the whole ward hey, if you think I've, if I've offended you, I made a mistake, do me the favor and come talk to me, right? So this member came and talked to me and I apologized profusely and but what had been done had been done and could not be easily undone, and I just said well, let's just pray that the Lord sanctifies my error. And this person was very gracious and said I've been in that position, let's just do that, Wow.
Speaker 1And there's that grace again.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1Sustaining. In that way, I think it actually shows upholding, because it came to you in love and directness.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1Yeah, I think there's probably an unhealthy way to do that, but I think that looks like sustaining the way you describe that Well.
Speaker 2an unhealthy way to do it is not say anything at all in my opinion, silence or violence.
Speaker 2I think that's very unhealthy for an organization, but particularly an organization like the church, because now you get bottled up emotion when you can clearly get in a room together and say this hurt my feelings, this offended me, and the other person has an opportunity to explain why perhaps they did it, or simply just to say I'm sorry, right, and that goes a long way of and I don't want to be part of an organization where someone feels like I'm just going to dictate everything as a bishop. I just don't want to be. I don't want to be that bishop, but I want to be part of that organization. I want them to feel like they have a voice. I want them to feel like they can come and talk to me and set me straight, because I'm not always right. I'm going in a direction 100 miles an hour, sometimes trying to keep up with everybody, and I make a mistake. So you've got to have a space for that and you've got to be very gracious with each other.
Speaker 1You know it's funny. In business it's so much easier because you can just say this is how we effectively communicate. But quite literally what they say is that's, the cancer of a company is when someone goes to anyone other than their direct report or the person that they have the problem with directly, if they go to anyone else at the water cooler. That's how we spread rumors, that's how we spread gossip, that's how we create a culture where people don't feel safe. But, to your point, that's what violence looks like. Silence is just as bad where we hold it in and we doubt ourselves, and so it's easier just to be resentful by the imperfect person on the other side of the table. So I love that description because, as you describe that, that looks like upholding too. That looks like some sustaining and upholding.
Speaker 1And as we're in this talk now, I'm going to pivot a little bit of what the meaning of sustaining and holding up, because he talks later about holding up our light. So we've talked about sustaining and upholding others. So we feel the love of the gospel. We're going to talk more about how Jesus sustains and holds us up. We're going to talk now about how we are supposed to hold up our light to the world.
How the Savior Sustains Us
Speaker 1So to the Nephites, jesus said quote hold up your light that it may shine into the world. Behold, I am the light which ye shall hold up. We hold up the Lord's light when we hold fast to our covenants. Here's the tie-in, here's another tie-in to the temple. We hold up the Lord's light when we hold fast to our covenants and when we support our living prophet as he speaks the words of God, and I think that's amazing. We are supposed to follow his counsel, teach his words and pray for him. For you guys, how does that look for you to hold up the Lord's light Like what do you guys do? What are the things that you think others do that help hold the Lord's light up for others to see?
Speaker 3I think I just share. I share about my love and my relationship to the Savior. I share about my love for the prophet. I share love about the temple. I share my personal experiences that I've had in the temple. Love about the temple I share, my personal experiences that I've had in the temple. I mean, I think for me, when we, when I think of the temple. If someone wanted me to say something about the temple it would be that's where I've seen. Probably the most personal revelation in my life is in in those walls. Yes, I've had some personal revelation outside of those walls but my most sacred ones that probably I have not shared to most, maybe just to Brock, have happened in the temple and when I talk about it, I can actually feel my heart right now, I can just feel it.
Speaker 3I think that's why the temple is so beautiful. You know, you can go in there, you can feel the light in there, and then it makes you want to share and emulate that and I I, you know, I think, having a personal relationship with jesus christ and sharing it with others yes, it's neat because it's almost like we're plugging, like we're batteries plugging back into the source when we go to the temple.
Speaker 1Agree, that's a good analogy we get that charge and then we go back and we shine and it talks about about how we're upholding the Savior's light when we live our covenants. That to me, just screams example, the example we set when we're living our covenants. And it's interesting because I think it shows differently when we're with members of our own faith, when we're out in the world being missionaries and when we're at the temple. But, britt, to embarrass you, you do that in our ward Before and after. I know this is going to sound like a compliment, so it's going to be awkward for her, but the idea being that before and after you are up and you are talking to people, you are hugging people, you are loving on people, you are going around loving people and I think that's when I read that quote earlier before this. I thought exactly of that, of how you do that. When I read that, quote earlier before this.
Speaker 3I thought exactly of that, of how you do that. Well, if my example I mean that is embarrassing, but I'll take the compliment and say thank you very much. It's true, but I think if people feel the Savior's love because of how I love others, then I think I will keep doing it.
Speaker 1Yeah, and it gives us purpose Again, we feel the Savior's love when we're sustaining others and upholding them.
Speaker 2And, as a bishop, one of the questions I often ask, anytime we're having a conversation with someone, is as I will go? Particularly, I know that it seems like such a heavy topic when someone says I need to go confess to the bishop, right, and it feels heavy when it really shouldn't be. But I ask the question. When people do come and have those difficult conversations with the Lord, we'll say, through me, as a bishop, I'll say how has the process of confession drawn you closer to the Savior? Because if it doesn't, if it doesn't shine a light on him and he's not shining light on them, you know, through that confession process, then it's wasted. Yeah, they need to connect to the Savior through that process by letting go of their pride, by letting go of their these sins that have held them back, letting go of any, any shame they may feel from that, letting the guilt change them Right, notice, I separated those two distinctly Not shame but guilt and that whole process.
Speaker 2it's fascinating to watch it unfold and watch how the Savior's light enters into that person's life through the power of repentance and through that confession process.
Speaker 1Yeah, so beautiful. It's amazing how light sometimes shines brighter by doing the things that feel harder, you know, confessing to a priesthood leader or giving the benefit of doubt, swallowing our pride. These are difficult actions, but they it's almost like they refine us, don't they, and allow us to shine brighter as the Savior loves us. I'm going to quickly pivot now into how the Savior can sustain us. President Nelson said there has never been a time in the history of the world when knowledge of our Savior is more personally, vital and relevant to every human soul. Imagine how quickly the devastating conflicts throughout the world and those in our individual lives would be resolved if we all choose to follow Jesus Christ and his teachings. I love this next part too.
Speaker 1One of our greatest challenges today is distinguishing between the truths of God and the counterfeits of Satan. That is why the Lord warned us to pray always that we may conquer Satan and escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work. Isn't that interesting that the Savior upholds us? And it's important for us more than ever to have that knowledge of the Savior and how he upholds us. But we also have to have this testimony of how the Satan and his work is being upheld by his servants, and how that works. How does the temple help you guys distinguish between truth and error in that way?
Speaker 2Well, when you're able to go to the temple and I remember and again going back to personal experience, like growing up, we didn't have the temple in the backyard Our first temple trip was from Kentucky to Washington DC.
Speaker 2It was an eight-hour drive, et cetera, so we didn't attend the temple a lot. The first time I went, right before I served a mission, I took out my endowment, so that was my first experience. But I went to the temple every week while I was in the missionary training center and when I got to the mission field I missed that opportunity so much that I would dedicate a little bit of time each week just to kind of ponder and try to kind of regain that sense of peace and reverence that I felt in the temple. And I think it just gives you a moment of clarity. You can turn off all the noise of the world for just a little bit. You can turn off all the noise of the world for just a little bit and then you can see just a little bit further in the darkness than you could see before.
Speaker 1I love that, that's beautiful.
Speaker 3I was thinking as you were talking. I just had come back a couple weeks ago. I had gone back home to Hawaii for my uncle's funeral. I had gone to the Tabernacle, which is the stake meeting house, and I had gone to one of the wards there with some friends and ran into some people I knew. But the most special thing that happened to me was there's a reflection pool in front of a mosaic, beautiful mosaic wall at the front of the tabernacle, the meeting house.
Speaker 2It's in Hawaii, yeah, in Hawaii, yeah.
Speaker 3And in front of it, the reflection pool, there's a bench, and as I stood there, I remembered that that is where I actively chose to follow Jesus Christ.
Speaker 3And as I was standing there you know, I'm a woman now in my 50s and I think I was 16, 17 age when I was sitting there and I remember sitting on that bench, in fact I took my phone out, took a picture of it so that I, you know, I could have it in my journal, but it just it reminded me and that quote you talked about, about that I actively chose to follow Jesus Christ at that moment and I think there has to be a turning point in each of our lives that we say I will follow him. I may be imperfect, I may not know it all, but I'm going to follow him. And then from there, the next step is I will make covenants with him and I will be obedient to those covenants. So I think when you were reading that, it just came to my mind about that moment, when I actually came to that conclusion that I will follow Jesus Christ, came to that conclusion that I will follow Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's a beautiful pattern to think about how we choose to follow the Savior and by so doing, make covenants, which results in us holding up our testimonies and his chosen leaders right locally here on the earth and in return, he can further sustain and hold us up. And it's this beautiful cycle Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you. So we have to draw near. But I know, just like you guys know, that there are angels, and it's talked about in this talk how there are angels, seen and unseen, that are constantly upholding us, even when we're just early in that process. You know it's such a beautiful thing to think about how there's this constant love. I think it will shock us when we pass on to look backwards and know how there were so many people and angels that they were there to sustain us. And even the Savior. The talk talks about how even the Savior required during the atonement to be sustained and upheld.
Closing Thoughts and Invitation
Speaker 1When you read that part, anything come to mind for you guys on the Savior's journey of having an angel sustain him. Thank you for listening to today's episode. We want to hear from you what additional show ideas would you like to hear about? What questions do you have in your heart that we can help answer? Please leave those in the show notes of today's episode or over on Instagram. Thank you for your cooperation in helping make this show the best it can be. Until next time.
