Saturday evening - “Learning to recognize and respond to the voice of the Spirit.” 

The Lord speaks with a still, small voice. “Behold, I will tell you in your mind and your heart, by  the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.” (D&C 8:2)  “Dramatic and miraculous answers to prayers may come, but they are the exceptions. Even at  the highest levels of responsibility in this Kingdom of God, which is being built up upon the  earth, the voice is still small.”  

Sunday Leadership meeting - “Finding the lost sheep” 

[Story of my grand daughter’s alphabet puzzle, missing one piece.]  

“W, where are you?” As leaders, we all need to be searching to find “W”. After baptism “they  were numbered among the people of the church of Christ; and their names were taken, that  they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God.” (Moroni 6:4) As leaders  we all need to be searching to find “W”. “And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all  this, that we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be  full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.” (Alma 26:30) 

Sunday general session - “Finding Jesus.”  

We belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are His disciples. We  worship and follow Him. Joseph Smith declared that “The fundamental principles of our  religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that  He dies, was buried, and rose again on the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all  other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.” It is all about, and  all points to, Him. 

”For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son; that whoso believeth in  Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His son into the  world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John  3:16-17) It is really just that simple. God so loved you, and me, and all of us, that He  sent His son to save us. So if in our comings and goings, in our busy day to day lives,  with work and school and dating and such, if we fail to look for and find Jesus at the  center of it all, we are missing the point.  

Finding Jesus changes everything. Because of Him, death becomes life, despair  becomes hope, sorrow becomes joy and turmoil becomes peace. He can change the  raging tempest into a great calm. Jesus himself said, “come unto me all ye that are  heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  

Brothers and sisters, all of us, young and old, must at some point in our lives find and  discover Jesus. And not just once, but discover Him again and again. We come unto  Him, and find Him, through prayer. Heaven’s help is as close as your bedside. We find  Him through studying the scriptures, for they are they which testify of Him. We find Him 

by coming to church and partaking of the sacrament, to remind Him, and us, that we will  always remember Him. We find Him by worshipping in the House of the Lord, and by  wearing our garment as a symbol of taking His name upon us. We find Him by following  the Prophets who bear witness of and point us to Him. We come unto Him when we  believe Him, follow and obey Him, remember Him, when we repent, and when we help  others to find Him.  

So in this world of chaos, confusion, commotion, conflict and contention, don’t be  deceived. Don’t look beyond the mark. Jesus offers us a better way. He promised  “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth give I unto  you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:7) And in  modern times He stated “But learn that he who doeth the works of righteousness shall  receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come.”  (D&C 59:23) Whatever the question or our challenge is, the answer is Jesus.  

I bear you my witness that He lives. I am grateful for his life, for his infinite atonement,  and for his glorious resurrection. I know He will come again. And each week, when I  take the sacrament, I want Him to know that I remember Him, and that I am grateful.  

I invite you to believe in Him, to trust Him, and to follow Him. For eye hath not seen, nor  ear heard, nor hath entered into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for  them that love [and follow] Him.