lets talk.

last thursday my bishop called and asked if i would be willing to speak in sacrament today. i said of course and began preparing. he asked me to speak using the talk by sister lant from last conference. this is what i said:
(some of it may be hard to imagine without my tone and inflection, but i am sure you will understand.)

Good morning everybody, my name is Janaya. I am from Tempe, AZ and today, I am giving away free stuff. That’s right, because, College kids love free stuff. We love it. I love free stuff. It doesn’t matter what the stuff is, as long as its free, we like it. Well, today is every college kids lucky day, because I really am handing out free stuff.
I was asked today to talk on Cheryl C Lant’s Conference talk. As I read through Sister Lant’s talk I realized that, Sister Lant loves us college kids. And so she has given us some free stuff, she decided to give us a “read one talk get two talks FREE” talk. So today, instead of getting to hear about one talk, you get to hear about three. The talks that I am going to speak on today are, entitled “That our children might see the face of the Savior” by sister Lant, which is the actual talk that can be found in the conference edition of the Ensign, but I will also be speaking on the talk entitled “That our families might see the face of the savior,” and the talk entitled “That all of God’s children might again see the face of the savior.”
The first talk I will speak on is entitled “That Our Children Might See the Face of the Savior.” In D&C 101:38 it says, “Seek the face of the Lord always, and ye shall have eternal life.” Christ’s invitation to seek Him is an invitation to know who He is, what He has done for us, and what He has asked us to do. I realize that the majority of us don’t have children right now, but the fact is that most of us will have children one day. One of the things that the Lord has asked us to do can be found in 3 Nephi 17:11 when Jesus “commands that the little children should be brought” unto him. There are many ways that we can bring our children to the Savior, and most of those ways have been set up or taught by the church. Things like, family scripture study, family prayer, family home evening, having dinner together as a family, going on family vacations, or sharing your testimony with your children. All of these things will help to bring our children unto Christ. And will teach them to recognize the face of the Savior. Sister Lant says, “It is our sacred responsibility as parents and leaders of this rising generation of children to bring them to the Savior so that they might see His face and the face of our Father in Heaven as well.” Another thing the Lord has asked us to do is teach our children. Another scripture in 3 Nephi portrays this commandment when it says, “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” In third Nephi, following their own experiences with the Savior, the Nephite parents taught their children about Him. They taught them to love the Lord. They taught them His gospel. The taught them how to live it. They taught them so well that there was righteousness and peace. This is the type of teaching we need to use with our children. These are the things that we need to be doing in the future if we want our children to know Him, and be able to one day see His face.
The next talk that I will speak on is entitled “That Our Families Might See the Face of the Savior.” In her talk Sister Lant invites us to look around at our families, those we love. Since your families aren’t here today to look at I would urge you to think about each of your family members individually for a second. Sister Lant then continues on to say, “This is what matters most – our families. I am sure that more than anything, you want this family to be yours eternally.” As I first read this talk, and took those moments, to think about my family, or those that I love, I found that many more people entered my mind than I would have thought. I first thought about my parents, then my siblings and in my mind I decided I was doing good, I didn’t have too much to worry about in regards to making sure my family could be an eternal family. My parents and siblings are all active in the church. We make our mistakes like everyone else, but we also work to fix them, and I knew that one day we would be an eternal family. And then my mind left my immediate family and headed in a different direction. I was turned to my aunties, my uncles, my many cousins, my cousins children, and their families, and I felt as though I were overcome with sorrow. I am not sure I could describe to you, or them, the amount of love and respect that I have for all of them, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that as of that moment, I would not be able to consider many of them as part of my “eternal family.” I once heard a speaker named, Herewini Jones give a devotional on the signs of the second coming. In the last 5 minutes of his talk his thoughts turned from those signs and focused on eternal families. I remember him saying something to the effect of, “how sad it will be, in that last day, if we walk forward with our families, ready for exaltation, for eternity, and the Savior looks around us and through tears asks, ‘where is the rest of your family?” We have been entrusted with precious families. We have been given a sacred, noble stewardship, for we are the ones God has appointed to encircle our families with love and understanding. We have the blessing of bringing our families to the Savior by teaching them the truths of the gospel from the scriptures and the prophets and by helping them to feel and recognize the Spirit. We must be willing to do these things. This will not come easily. It will take great effort. It will take a lot of hard work and patience and faith, but nothing is more important or rewarding. If we want our families to come to Christ that they might see His face, it is important that we seek to see His face as well.
The last talk I will speak on today is entitled “That All of Gods Children Might Again See the Face of the Savior.” The Lord has invited us to come unto Him and has commanded us to bring His children with us, that we, together, might see His face and live eternally with Him and with our Father in Heaven. We have all been told that we are literally the sons and daughters of God, and as such, He loves us. The Lord wants His eternal family as much as we want ours. He has given us the calling of making sure that His children return to Him. In order to do this we must learn how to love the Lord’s children. We must put our own lives in order so that His children can look to us and follow. We have to know the way in order to show it to them. I think it is interesting how we are all quick to understand that we are God’s children, but it takes a little longer for us to grasp that every person who has ever been born on earth is literally our spirit brother or sister. As I think of this, I think of my own siblings, and the overwhelming amount of love that I have for them. I would do everything in my power to make sure that each of the is able to return to our Father in Heaven. I think it is hard for us to imagine each other as our siblings. I often think that if we could see the way we knew each other before we came to this earth, we would have a love for each other that is as great as, or possibly greater than, the love we have for our own immediate siblings. I want to try and give you a glimpse of those relationships:
(at this point i looked around and would point at people and look them straight in their eyes and say one of the following)
We started a band together
We used to ride our bikes together
We had rock collection
We played cowboys and indians together
We had lunch together everyday
We had slumber parties
We pulled pranks … on those two
We prayed together
We went to church together
We read our scriptures together
We visited the Lord together
We watched God create the Earth together
We fought against Satan together.
We have all been through so much together, that we don’t even know about. I think that if we could truly get a glimpse of those things, we would not let one person who has ever walked the face of this earth leave without knowing that they could return to Him with us, to again be part of our eternal family. Brothers and Sisters, we are the angels that Heavenly Father has sent today to bless His children, and we can help them to one day see the face of the Savior. Together we can come to know Him. We can feel of His love and His blessings. And through Him we can return to the presence of the Father.
I am so grateful that I was able to read and grow in understanding because of these talks. I earnestly look forward to the day when I can look upon the face of the Savior with the rest of you, my brothers and sisters. I love you, more now than I ever realized before. We have a divine role in this life that we must not neglect. The Savior is counting on us, our friends are counting on us, our families are counting on us, every one is counting on us. I hope and I pray, that when I walk forward, in that last day, that the Savior will look around me, and with a smile on His face, be able to greet and hug every single member of my eternal family. And I say all these things in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

and that was my talk. it was such an amazing experience for me. i am not sure i have ever felt the spirit help me prepare something so much before in my life. it was absolutely wonderful. i love you all!

scripture of the day:

1 Nephi 1:12 And it came to pass that as he read, he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord

today i am thankful for:

* the spirit and his ability to guide me in my life.

* invitations that we dont want, that bless our lives anyways.

* stephanie! and her support today, it made such a huge difference.

* kleenex because having a runny nose without them is one of the grossest things.

* leftovers that taste as good today as they did friday.

* the opportunity i have to go to church every sunday and partake of the sacrament.

* the plan of salvation and the knowledge i have of its truthfulness and divinity.

* laughter. getting to meet new people and find things you have in common and just being able to laugh with them.

<3.