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Transcript

I am excited about meeting each of you. Hello.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank...

Can you hear it? Okay, here we go.

I am so happy to be here in the Philippines meeting new friends. This is my new friend,

Tristan.

And Tristan is about to conduct a children's devotional. And now, brothers and sisters, let us hear. What do you do to follow Jesus? I follow Jesus Christ by partaking the sacrament. What is one way that you are following Jesus? By helping others. I follow Jesus by being kind, praying all the time, and helping people in need. What types of things do you do to help people in need? If they need to reach a shelf up, I could help them. Is that right? You’re so tall?

I guess. I follow Jesus by reading Come, Follow Me with my parents. How do you feel when you read the scriptures? I feel happy, I feel guided by the Holy Ghost.

Hey, Sister Wright. Well, hello, Louis. It’s wonderful to see you. Well, it’s great. To see you, too. Uh, what are you doing?

I'm preparing a very important lesson about who we are.

Oh. Oh! Hey, Gil.

Oh, Gilbert, it's wonderful to see you.

Thank you for helping me set up the classroom.

We're trying to figure out what to do today.

Is this part of your very important lesson? Yes, it is. It’s actually the theme of our lesson. Do you know what it is?

I don't read Tongan.

It's a verse found in the Book of Mormon.

In 3 Nephi 5:13, it reads, Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they may have everlasting life. That’s it. Gil, I know what we’re going to do today. Wait, Louis, where are you going?

I'm going to go learn what it means to be a disciple.

Okay, that's actually what we'll be talking about in our class today.

Followers of Jesus do nice things for others.

Hi friends! We’re here in Nashville, Tennessee, with the wonderful Kau family. Will you guys help me introduce yourselves? What’s your name? Daisy. Daisy, how old are you? Seven years old. Seven years old. Wonderful. What’s your name? Declan. Declan. Declan, how old are you? Four. We are so happy to be together. I brought a gift.

Will you help me share this gift with your family, Daisy? Yeah.

Come and sit next to me.

Daisy, do you see anyone that might look like she’s your age? Point to that.

That one.

This little girl? Absolutely. Who else do you see in this picture, Declan?

Um, me? You see you? Where do you see you?

Come and point to someone that looks like it might be you. Great job. Does he have a red hat on? I know, I love that hat. Mom, Dad, do you see yourselves?

Oh, yeah. Yes, I am holding a baby. You’re holding a baby. Dad, it looks like you’re supporting Mom. I’ll stay right there. Excellent. Wonderful. Daisy, what is this young girl right here doing? She's pointing at Jesus. She’s pointing at Jesus. Absolutely. Do you think she recognizes the Savior? Yes. How do you think she's come to recognize the Savior? Because she maybe has seen before Him give blessings to other people. Wow. Wonderful. Maybe she has seen Him give blessings to other people. Absolutely. Mom and Dad, what do you think about this young girl pointing

towards the Savior?

Actually found it interesting that she was the first one, like in front of them. Yeah, she’s in a position of leadership, right? One of the ways we can become like the Savior and learn to recognize Him is by following His example.

Daisy, are you going to be baptized soon? Yes. Yeah. When you are baptized, you are following the example that He set when He was baptized. Won't it be amazing that you will have access to the same power that your mom and dad has, because you’re going to keep your covenants at baptism? Yeah. Yeah. Well, I am so grateful that you are a strength in your family, Daisy and Declan. And it's important that you know that you can be a strength in your family. And I hope that you keep this picture. And remember that when you look at it, instead of seeing the people that are painted here, you can see yourself. Declan, remember, you've got the red hat on, right? And here is Daisy pointing her family towards the Savior, and Mom and Dad,

you’re there together. And this, as a family, is how we can come to learn

to recognize our Savior, Jesus Christ and everyone in our family can play a part in that.

Just dishes. No disciples.

What are you—what do you mean, stop and help?

They seem way too busy playing with that garbage bag to help us figure out what it means to be a disciple. We gotta keep going.

Clock's ticking. Come on. Gilbert. No, no, no. Keep coming.

Hi, friends. Today we're going to be making this beautiful flower so you can share it with a friend or a loved one. Let's get started.

The first thing we're going to do is trace our hand on the white paper. So lay your hand down and draw the outline of your hand.

Doesn’t have to be perfect. If you don’t have all these things at home, get creative and use whatever you can find. Now I'm just going to cut along the line.

Awesome work. Now you should have a little hand cut out. Next step, we're going to roll it into a cone about like this. So it's in cone shape. And we're just going to tape it right there so it stays.

Perfect. Now we’re gonna take our pencil and we're going to curl over each finger. So you're just going to roll it around the pencil. And these are going to make the petals of our flower.

See that? you’re going to do that with each finger.

Oh, looking good.

Great work. So there we have our flower.

Next step, we’re going to take our yellow and green paint.

Get a little bit of both. I'm going to take the stick. And I'm going to do a small part at the top yellow. And the rest of it green.

Okay, now we're gonna let our stick dry for a minute before we move on to the last step. Now that my stick’s dry, I’m gonna move on and add my flower to the stick.

So I'm just going to feed it through the top of it. Beautiful. And I’m going to line up my flower so it ends about where the yellow ends and lines up right there.

And your flower might stay on the stem pretty well, or you could add a little tape.

And then the very last step, we’re just going to cut out some green leaves.

I'm just going to draw a couple of teardrop shapes and cut those out.

Here are my leaves. Now with the tape, just going to attach them to the stem.

Gonna curl them out with my pencil. Roll them down. Cute. When I’m in nature, or when I walk through a garden and see flowers, I feel Heavenly Father's love, and it reminds me that He takes care of all His creations, especially us. You can give this flower to a friend or someone who needs to be remembered, and that will help them feel Heavenly Father’s love, too. See you next time.

Followers of Jesus think of others’ feelings.

I wish I could stay and help, Gil, but I’m on the Lord’s time.

Besides, I think being a disciple of Jesus means doing something big, like moving a mountain, or parting a sea,

or filling a boat full of animals.

Let's go.

I can do it high or low. I can do it fast or slow.

Do as I’m doing. Follow, follow me. Do as I’m doing. Follow, Follow me. Thank you.

Boys and girls, that song reminds me of an experience I had several years ago while serving as a stake Primary president. Now in our area, we had a multi-stake activity during the week for children with disabilities,

and one day I attended this activity and it was obvious that the children were a little more restless than usual. But a wise music leader decided to sing a wiggle song, and the song she chose was Do as I’m Doing. Now, after several children had had an opportunity to choose an action while we all sang, the music leader decided to invite one more child to choose. This child’s name was Eli and no sooner did I hear her say Eli

than I heard this soft humming sound coming from behind me. So I turned and looked over my shoulder. And do you know what I saw? A little boy in an electric wheelchair, gradually making his way to the front of the room,

and as he slowly turned around, the very first thing I noticed about Eli is that he had a great big smile on his face. The music leader asked, Eli,

what action would you like to choose? And without hesitation Eli said, Jump!

Now, as you can imagine, this warranted a few giggles from Eli’s Primary friends because it was obvious to them that Eli could not jump. But no sooner did he say “jump” than little Lexie,

a girl with down syndrome, sprang from her chair and yelled,

I will jump for him! She ran to the front of the room, grabbed onto the side of Eli's wheelchair, and started jumping as we all sang, Do As I’m Doing.

I have never seen such enthusiastic jumping in my entire life,

and it was really difficult to determine who had a bigger smile on their face, little Eli or his dear friend Lexie.

Now, I have thought about this experience a lot over the years, and the Holy Ghost continues to teach me that we are never more like our Savior, Jesus Christ, than when we do something for someone that they cannot do for themselves.

Little Lexie was following Jesus. Lexie is a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Followers of Jesus are helpful.

Oh, yeah, I do see her. She does look sad, huh?

She seems to be helping.

Oh. That's so sweet.

Well, I suppose those children are acting like followers of Jesus.

But what does that have to do with being a disciple? Focus, Gilbert. Focus.

Come on. Gilbert, come on.

I'm here with my new friend Francine. How old are you, Francine?

Five years old.

Wow, five years old. And what have we been doing today?

Helping the children and giving gifts.

What types of things did you pack up today to give?

Soap and, like, hygiene things.

What a special way today to follow Jesus.

I am President Dallin H. Oaks. And this is my wife, Kristen.

These are seven of our over 70 great-grandchildren, chosen because you are all still in Primary. Disciples of Jesus Christ listen to Jesus Christ. Sometimes He gives us a feeling, sometimes a thought. Sometimes we hear His voice.

President Nelson, our prophet, has asked us to listen to our Savior and hear Him.

We want to tell you a story about your great-great-great-grandmother,

Chastity Olson, who listened to a heavenly voice.

This happened long ago, when Chastity was a young girl, about ten years old.

Grandma Chastity told me this story when I was a boy in Primary.

She lived in a small town in Utah.

She was the oldest of her brothers and sisters and often tended them.

In the summertime, they played in a dry riverbed near their home.

You can see it right here. No water.

One day when they were playing, Chastity heard a voice saying, Get the children out of the riverbed.

But Chastity was playing and she paid no attention. They were having fun. Then she heard the voice a second time,

but she still kept playing and didn't move the children. And then the voice spoke a third time.

Get the children out of the riverbed. Well, this time Chastity obeyed and hurried the children out of the riverbed. Can you see them climbing out as quick as they can?

They're hurrying, hurrying out.

Suddenly they heard a roaring sound, and were frightened to see a great wall of water coming down the riverbed.

It covered the place where they had been playing. There had been an unusual huge rainstorm in the distant mountains that sent this wall of water down the stream.

That was not expected in their dry desert town.

When Chastity followed the voice, she saved all their lives.

We love that story because she listened to the Holy Ghost.

Do you think it's important to listen to the Holy Ghost? Yeah. Why?

Oh, cause the Holy Ghost can save our lives.

He can warn us when there's trouble ahead.

Or what else can he do?

Guide us. Guide us.

Love us. Love us. Teach us. Teach us.

Spencer? And make us be happy. Make us be happy.

Always be beside us.

Always be beside us.

Warn us. Warn us.

That's so good. We're so thankful that you all came today so we could share our family story with the children of the world. And we love you so much. I want you to know that Jesus Christ will always

be with you. He'll always stay near you.

He'll always protect you and warn you.

He'll always love you, just like you said. And as we remember Him and we do what’s right, He’ll always be beside us.

And I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Amen.

What your Grandma Kristen has said to you is true, and I testify of its truth and invoke the blessings of the Lord upon you, my dear great-grandchildren.

And to all of the Primary children and teachers all over the world, I say that our Heavenly Father loves you.

He has given you parents and teachers who will guide you in the right way, and He will know of your righteous,

loving actions and He will bless you for them. And as His servant, I bless you

throughout your life to stay on the covenant path that takes you back to our Heavenly Father, and I bless you in the name of His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, amen. Amen.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

♪ I’m trying to be like Jesus; ♪

♪ I’m following in His ways. ♪

♪ I’m trying to love as He did, ♪

♪ in all that I do and say. ♪

♪ At times I am tempted to make a wrong choice, ♪

♪ But I try to listen as the still, small voice whispers, ♪

♪ “Love one another as Jesus loves you. ♪

♪ Try to show kindness in all that you do. ♪

♪ Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought, ♪

♪ For these are the things Jesus taught.” ♪

[CELLO MUSIC PLAYING]

♪ I’m trying to love my neighbor; ♪

♪ I’m learning to serve my friends. ♪

♪ I watch for the day of gladness ♪

♪ when Jesus will come again. ♪

♪ I try to remember the lessons He taught. ♪

♪ Then the Holy Spirit enters into my thoughts, saying: ♪

♪ “Love one another as Jesus loves you. ♪

♪ Try to show kindness in all that you do. ♪

♪ Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought, ♪

♪ For these are the things Jesus taught.” ♪

Well, hello, friends. How was your day?

Well, not very good. As much as I tried, I didn't have any chances to learn what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. I kept getting sidelined.

So what do you think being a disciple means?

I think it means to do something really big, like move a mountain or part the Red Sea.

You don't have to do something really big to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. It simply means that you follow Him.

Do you think that there are small and simple things that you can do to follow Jesus?

Well, yes I do. I think I could help someone take out the trash, or I could help someone who's sad feel better, or I could reach something that's out of reach. That’s right. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ means that you follow Him by loving and serving others, by doing what Jesus would do.

You see, Gilbert, it's so simple. Anyone could understand.

That's such a good idea, Gilbert. Let's go serve.

I want to go serve right now. You know what I want to go do? I want to go stack some chairs. Let’s go stack some chairs. Bye, Sister Wright.

Friend to Friend: Following Jesus

Description
This broadcast on March 9, 2024, features activities, music, and messages from President Dallin H. Oaks, Sister Kristen Oaks, and the Primary General Presidency. 
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