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Transcript

I'm asked often if I have a favorite scripture, and that's really hard to determine. "You mean my favorite one today, or the one from last week?" And so my answer is, "My favorite scripture is the Book of Mormon." When I was a mission president, our mission was very rural. And so I drove a lot, and I listened to the Book of Mormon constantly. And one day I was driving down the road, and I was at the part where Moroni was lamenting that the people were not righteous. And they'd have been so blessed if they would have been righteous. I was overcome by emotion, and I had to pull off the freeway and collect myself before I could go on. I had the same feeling about the people in that mission. I wanted them to do what was right and to have the gospel, because I'd been listening to the words of Moroni in the Book of Mormon. As my life has progressed, the scriptures have taken on more and more meaning as I use them in different ways. In any leadership role I've had in the Church, the scriptures become everything in terms of counseling. I can share experiences of my own, but reading the scriptures always brings the Spirit.

I was the MTC president in Brazil, and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve came and spoke to the missionaries. I had been trying to help a missionary who was wondering if he should stay on his mission, because he didn't feel like he really knew the Book of Mormon was true. And this member of the Quorum of the Twelve said, "I want you to know, last night I prayed again and asked God if the Book of Mormon is true." And he said, "I already knew it was true, but I just wanted to have that feeling again." And so as I helped that missionary, I suggested he do what the Apostle had suggested. And he did and came back and said, "I really do know it's true, and I want to stay and share that with others." As I think about using the scriptures with young people, it's to build their hope and their faith and their belief in themselves. I give examples of people that God called upon when they were young. I'll say, "How old was Joseph Smith when he saw the First Vision?" And they all know that. And then I'll say, "And how old are you?" As you share spiritual experiences, as you share impressions about what you read in the scriptures, it brings the Spirit in. I remember a time when there was a person who had an addiction. And they were trying to overcome this addiction, and it was very difficult. And we read the scriptures together. But she started to cry, and she said, "I've always thought of the Savior as being the Savior of the world. But I've never thought of Him before as my Savior." And she realized that it was a very personal thing with her individually from the scriptures that we read. You can't have faith in Christ if you don't know who He is and what He did. And the best place to learn that is in the scriptures. I believe the scriptures are the basis for building faith individually for myself and helping others do the same.

Reflecting God's Love—What Scriptures Mean to Me

Description
A seasoned leader discusses the role of the scriptures in his personal life and callings over the years as he strives to reflect the love God has for his children.
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