9/11 Sacrament Talk

Prophets, Constancy, Preparing for General Conference

Tahsha Tavoian, Eagle Mountain Ward, September 11, 2011

I’m grateful for the opportunity to speak today. Because I’m a little new to the ward, I’d like to introduce myself. I am from Malad, Idaho; grew up on an elk ranch; I’m the oldest of 9 children; I graduated from Utah State with a degree in Biology; and recently served a full time mission in Melbourne, Australia. Now, I’m working at the Bear River Valley Hospital in Tremonton and staying with my Grandma who lives in Corinne.

Belief in God, Prophets, Restoration

While serving as a missionary, one of the first questions we asked people (after we had introduced ourselves and explained who we were) was “do you believe in God?”  Typically, they’d answer one of three ways: yes, no and sometimes.

Depending on their background and after a little discussion about how God speaks to his children on earth, the next question we’d ask was, “Do you believe that God could call a prophet today, a prophet like Moses, Noah or Abraham?” Typically the answer was yes (if they were still talking to us and hadn’t slammed the door in our face or walked away.)

Excitedly, my companion and I would then double testify that there was a prophet on the earth today and his name is Thomas S. Monson. We would show them a picture of the First Presidency and then begin to teach that from the beginning of the world, there has been a pattern of apostasy and restoration. Because Heavenly Father loves us He calls prophets who not just inspired men who receive some from of guidance and direction from Deity, but are given the priesthood-the power and authority to act in God’s name for the salvation of his children. The prophet then helps people understand their relationship to God, including how to receive eternal life through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We see over time that people reject the prophets and the gospel and the priesthood authority would be lost for a time. But when the people on earth were again ready, God restores His gospel and priesthood to the earth by calling another prophet. Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ himself taught His gospel, established His church, and accomplished the Atonement. Incredibly, people even rejected Jesus. But because God loves us, just as he has done before, when the circumstances were right He restored his gospel again to the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith. We then taught them about the First Vision, the Book of Mormon and the Holy Ghost. And then, of course, invite them to read, pray and attend a Sabbath day service with us.

An Important duty of the Prophet & an example from President Monson

An important duty of a prophet is make known God’s will and true character.

This past week in the Washington Post, there were several statements from religious leaders regarding the 10th anniversary from 9/11. One of those statements was from President Monson and in this statement he teaches the world the important characteristic of God and what God would have us learn from 9/11.  He teaches us that God is unwavering and we should be unwavering in our devotion to God. 

In his statement President Monson said, “The calamity of September 11th, 2001 has cast a long shadow. Ten years later, many of us are still haunted by its terrible tragedy of lost lives and broken hearts. It is an episode of anguish that has become a defining moment in the history of the American nation and the world.


There was, as many have noted, a remarkable surge of faith following the tragedy. People across the United States rediscovered the need for God and turned to Him for solace and understanding. Comfortable times were shattered. We felt the great unsteadiness of life and reached for the great steadiness of our Father in Heaven. And, as ever, we found it. Americans of all faiths came together in a remarkable way.


Sadly, it seems that much of that renewal of faith has waned in the years that have followed. Healing has come with time, but so has indifference. We forget how vulnerable and sorrowful we felt. Our sorrow moved us to remember the deep purposes of our lives. The darkness of our despair brought us a moment of enlightenment. But we are forgetful. When the depth of grief has passed, its lessons often pass from our minds and hearts as well.


Our Father’s commitment to us, His children, is unwavering. Indeed He softens the winters of our lives, but He also brightens our summers. Whether it is the best of times or the worst, He is with us. He has promised us that this will never change.


But we are less faithful than He is. By nature we are vain, frail, and foolish. We sometimes neglect God. Sometimes we fail to keep the commandments that He gives us to make us happy. Sometimes we fail to commune with Him in prayer. Sometimes we forget to succor the poor and the downtrodden who are also His children. And our forgetfulness is very much to our detriment.


If there is a spiritual lesson to be learned from our experience of that fateful day, it may be that we owe to God the same faithfulness that He gives to us. We should strive for steadiness, and for a commitment to God that does not ebb and flow with the years or the crises of our lives. It should not require tragedy for us to remember Him, and we should not be compelled to humility before giving Him our faith and trust. We too should be with Him in every season.


The way to be with God in every season is to strive to be near Him every week and each day. We truly “need Him every hour,” not just in hours of devastation. We must speak to Him, listen to Him, and serve Him. If we wish to serve Him, we should serve our fellow men. We will mourn the lives we lose, but we should also fix the lives that can be mended and heal the hearts that may yet be healed.


It is constancy that God would have from us. Tragedies are not merely opportunities to give Him a fleeting thought, or for momentary insight to His plan for our happiness. Destruction allows us to rebuild our lives in the way He teaches us, and to become something different than we were. We can make Him the center of our thoughts and His Son, Jesus Christ, the pattern for our behavior. May we not only find faith in God in our sorrow but may we also become faithful to Him in times of calm.

How can we be constant in our faithfulness to God?

In a CES Fireside for Young Adults given May 1, 2005, Elder Dallin H. Oaks suggested to live the gospel day by day. What we need “is not short, frenzied outburst of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime. Some people live the gospel with “short, frenzied outburst of emotion, followed by long periods of lapse or by performance that is intermittent or sputtering. What we need in living the gospel is the “tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.”

So what does it mean to obey the commandments, to keep our covenants, and to serve the Lord with “the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime”? It means to be a 100 percent latter-day saint, 100 percent of the time. In scriptural terms, it means to follow the direction King Benjamin gave to his people, “O would that ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent, may seal you his” (Mosiah 5:15).

The “dedication of a lifetime” requires one to be tranquil and steady, steadfast and immovable. We hold fast to our covenants and to the leadership and teaching of the servants of the Lord so that we will, as the Apostle Paul write, “be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14) This steadfast standard requires us to avoid extremes. We pay our tithing, but we remember that tithing is a steady 10 percent—not 8 percent and especially intermittent or frenzied outburst of 12 percent.

A few suggestions on how to live a steady & tranquil dedicated life as a disciple of Christ

Daily prayer and scripture study

Weekly Sacrament attendance

Monthly Temple attendance

Biannually General Conference

Concerning general conference, in the September 2011 Ensign President Uchtdorf tells the story of a conversation between a good church member and his nonmember neighbor. When the genuinely interested neighbor asked, “what did [the prophets and apostles] say in the last general conference?” The once excited but now embarrassed member couldn’t think of the details of a single talk. His friend found this troubling and said, “You mean to tell me that God speaks to man in our day and you can’t remember what he said?”


The brother felt humbled by this exchange. He vowed that he would do better to remember the words spoken by the Lord’s servants in general conference.


We all know how hard it is to remember every message of general conference, and I’m confident that we need not be embarrassed if we don’t remember everything. Nevertheless, there are messages in each general conference given as a gift and a blessing from heaven specifically for our personal life situations.

In preparation for general conference, let me suggest three basic concepts that may help us to better receive, remember, and apply the words spoken by the Lord’s servants.


1. Members of the Church are entitled to personal revelation as they listen to and study the inspired words spoken at general conference.


As you prepare for general conference, I invite you to ponder questions you need to have answered. For example, you might years for direction and guidance by the Lord regarding challenges you are facing.


Answers to your specific prayers may come directly from a particular talk or from a specific phrase. At other times answers may come in a seemingly unrelated work, phrase, or song. A heart filled with gratitude for the blessing of life and an earnest desire to hear and follow the words of counsel will prepare the way for personal revelation.


2. Don’t discount a message merely because it sounds familiar.


Prophets have always taught by repetition; it is a law of learning. You will hear repetition in themes and doctrines in general conference. Let me reassure you: this is not due to a lack of creativity or imagination. We continue to hear messages on similar issues because the Lord is teaching and impressing upon our minds and hearts certain foundation principles of great eternal importance that must be understood and acted upon before we can move on to other things. A wise builder first lays the foundation before erecting the walls and the roof.


3. The words at general conference should be a compass that points the way for us during the coming months.


If we listen to and follow the promptings of the Spirit, they will serve as a Liahona guiding us through the unknown, challenging valleys and mountains that are ahead.


Since the world began, God has raised up prophets who speak the will of heaven to the people of their times. It is our responsibility to listen and then apply the messages the Lord provides for us.

Closing words [my testimony of God, Jesus Christ, Restoration, and Prophets here].