Listening to the Prophet

Last night was pretty awesome. There was a a special meeting for all the youth age 12-18 to listen to the prophet, President Russel M. Nelson, speak to them. For historical perspective, the only other time the prophet has spoken just to the youth of the church was in 2000, with President Gordon B. Hinkley. I was not a youth (and I was in the Philippines) so I didn't get to go to that one. Fortunately, parents were invited to this talk! :)

Ellis is 11 years and 9 months old. We let her come, too. Shhhh, don't tell anyone.

Youth groups were encouraged to meet and watch the broadcast together, but this is more complex when your mom or dad has to drive you an hour each way to the church. So they decided to meet by Facebook! We all joined a group video chat before the broadcast, had brief remarks from the Branch President, then said an opening prayer. Then we turned it off and watched the broadcast with our families.

It's not perfect. You have to sign slowly. It's hard to tell who is signing to whom. But it was beautiful to me to feel like my kids aren't alone. Sometimes we feel pretty alone. And we don't mind. But feeling like part of a group is great. It's only 7 kids (if you count Ellis) from 4 families, but we're a group!

The broadcast was quite fabulous. The youth were given some specific challenges to help them become more useful in the work of the Lord. It turns out that they were pretty great ideas for moms and dads, too, so Marriner and I are joining in. I sure love our prophet. I'm excited to do what he asked. Because, you know, you're only as old as you feel, so I totally count myself in his target audience. Here they are:

1. Hold a seven-day fast from social media. ("Take a break from the fake." Awesome!)

2. Make a weekly sacrifice of time to the Lord for three weeks.

3. Keep on the covenant path. If you are off, repent and get back on the path.

4. Pray daily that all of God’s children might receive the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

5. Stand out. Be different. Be a light. Give to a friend one copy of the booklet For the Strength of Youth.

For #2, we had a hard time thinking of something we could do. Honestly, we don't spend much time doing things that aren't for the Lord, already. We sorta feel like that's the big measuring stick of life: if it doesn't make a difference in the long run, then don't do it. But we had a little inspiration that we could use our next 3 date nights to do service together. That way it's a date AND it's doing the work of the Lord! And since a strong marriage is the work of the Lord, it counts DOUBLE! Yeah baby :)