Area Presidency Message
A Disciple’s Journey
Learning to be a disciple is undertaking a journey that lasts a lifetime. It is a journey that brings great joy to the heart when undertaken with diligence—despite the distractions that are always lurking along the way.
Every journey starts with a desire of the heart for the thing which is to be found when the journey is completed. Likewise, every endeavor begins with a firm determination that a worthwhile outcome will be realized when the labor is completed. Infused with hope in the future, the traveler makes haste on his/her journey, and the laborer diligently tackles one task after another.
My journey of discipleship with Christ started with a longing for connection with a power greater than me. Deep in my heart, I knew the power was there. But I did not know how to make the connection. Subconsciously, I began the search. I often stared in wonder and admiration at the majesty of the night sky with its numberless stars. I marveled at how the numerous forms of life on earth come to be and how each living thing is imbued naturally with intelligence that enables its existence and self-preservation. I noticed that even some plants knew how to entice birds and animals to eat their fruit and others how to crack their pods and release their winged seeds at the time when it was dry—and the wind was strong so as to spread their seeds over new ground and bring forth new trees. My antenna for the things of God was raised and ready to receive.
So, when, seemingly by chance, we met a senior couple missionary who told my wife, Gladys, and me about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—and invited us to join a congregation at their home the following day to see for ourselves—we responded immediately. As I sat in that small congregation of about twenty for the first time, what I heard being taught sounded true and felt good. I wanted it to become a part of my life. I shared these feelings with my wife and learned that she felt the same. We decided we would join the congregation again the following Sunday. We kept on doing so, and it soon became the tradition of our family to be at Church every Sunday. As we participated in the ordinance of the sacrament, I felt, and to this day continue to feel, a deep-seated sense of peace when I remember the Lord’s own words:
“Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
“Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
“For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
“He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
“As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me” (John 6:53–57).
A major paradigm shift (or repentance) happened to me when I learned about the strong emphasis on the family in the doctrine of the Church. I came to love the counsel that the Lord gave through His prophets throughout the dispensations including the instruction and promise given through Moses:
“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
“And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
“And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
“And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates” (Deuteronomy 6:6–9).
“Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey” (Deuteronomy 6:3).
We worked together—Gladys and I—to establish a daily tradition of family prayer and reading from and discussing the teachings of the Book of Mormon. We made effort to get together as often as we could every week for family home evening. When “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” was received in 1995, I rejoiced that I could bear personal testimony of the truths that the living prophets and apostles declared in the proclamation because I had witnessed it happening in my own family:
“Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities”.1
My faith impacted my work life as well. One time, a supplier of goods to my employer walked into my office and told me he had brought a “small gift” for me in appreciation for the purchases his company had received that year. I was then in charge of the purchasing department for all consumable supplies. I asked him if any of my staff had solicited the “small gift” from him. He said no one had done so but it was standard practice in other companies he dealt with. I asked him to convert the value of his “small gift” into additional goods and deliver them free of charge to the company store the following day. He was visibly shocked by this response but went away and complied.
The trial of my faith came to me at various stages of progression along the journey and was a true refiner’s fire. On one occasion, feeling wronged and hurt, I found myself drawn into an exchange of unfriendly words with a member of my core family. When I realized what was happening, I decided to shut my mouth and leave the scene. As I started walking away, I felt rebuked by the Spirit, so I returned and offered a sincere apology for my part in causing the incident. What followed were mutual tears of regret for what had happened and sincere forgiveness for one another.
After the experience of living the gospel at home, the next opportunities for spiritual growth have come from serving others through Church callings. I learned that the enduring joy of the gospel is in helping others find or return to the covenant path. The question posed by the Father in the premortal council: “Whom shall I send” (Abraham 3:27), is key to realizing the eternal blessings of heaven. I found much joy in ministering to the Saints informally in their homes and formally in Church meetings.
I have long pondered the picture of the Lord at the end of His earthly ministry, nailed to the raised cross but still alive, causing Him to cry to the Father in pain. It was a moment of such great physical pain as has ever been devised by the human mind and inflicted by the human hand. Only a few who lived at the time came to experience such. To think that the Lord, while enduring that situation, turned His mind away from His own excruciating physical pain to focus instead on the spiritual welfare of His crucifiers—is a testimony of His complete submission to the Father and His law, and to the salvation of His fellow men. A short while later, now resurrected and the specter of any earthly pain forever behind Him, He declared “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18).
Through His example, I have walked the path that brought me to know for myself that “through the atonement of Christ the Lord,” to be His disciple, I must become “as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [me], even as a child doth submit to his father” (Mosiah 3:19), for He submitted to the Father of the universe and of all life, and was crowned with great glory.
Learning to be a disciple is undertaking a journey that lasts a lifetime. It is a journey that brings great joy to the heart when undertaken with diligence—despite the distractions that are always lurking along the way. It is a journey that brings one to come to know and to love the Lord Jesus Christ, and to rejoice in Him.
Joseph W. Sitati was sustained as a General Authority Seventy in April 2009. He is married to Gladys Nangoni; they are the parents of five children.