Good Morning brothers and sisters. As I was preparing my talk on the fairly broad subject that Brother Hilsmen gave us of 'missionary work', I started thinking back to the long process of deciding to go on a mission. It had been on my mind for a couple years, as my dad mentioned, but the time had finally come to actually make a decision. When it came down to it, I really wanted to go for what I feel like were the right or good reasons. But one thing was holding me back…what if I got called to Pocatello, Idaho? But with all seriousness, I was really concerned that I was going to be called somewhere, which I would accept, but have to grudgingly go. In the back of my mind I knew that a part of me wanted to go on a mission for selfish reasons. For adventure, to experience new cultures, possibly learn a language, and have experiences that cannot happen anywhere else. As you all know, I did not get called to Idaho. But somewhere that I am quite excited to serve. But during those two weeks I was waiting for my call I started to realize that all of those things could be waiting for me no matter where I went. Adventure and culture do exist even in the plains of Idaho. And miracles and the spirit are felt in every mission. I even began to realize that I would have to learn a language where-ever I was called. This is the language of the spirit and personal revelation. Today I have chosen to speak about the language of the spirit and how it fits into missionary work.
I think to understand how to speak the language of the spirit we must first understand what it is. Revelation is a really difficult thing to describe. I remember in primary my teachers would describe feeling the Holy Ghost like "a warm fuzzy blanket". As I grew up I don't think I ever felt like I was wearing a blanket when I felt the spirit. However if you wanted me to describe what its like to feel the spirit, I would probably resort to old adjectives like "warm" or "peaceful". Boyd K. Packer shared an experience he had before he was called as a general authority he said:
"We do not learn spiritual things in exactly the same way we learn other things that we know, even though such things as reading, listening, and pondering may be used. I have learned that it requires a special attitude both to teach and to learn spiritual things. There are some things you know, or may come to know, that you will find quite difficult to explain to others. I am very certain that it was meant to be that way.
I will share with you an experience I had before I was a General Authority which affected me profoundly. I sat in an airplane next to a man who so strongly expressed his disbelief in God that I bore my testimony to him. “You are wrong, I said, “there is a God. I know He lives!”
He protested, “You don’t know. Nobody knows that! You can’t know it!” When I would not agree with him, the man, who was an attorney, asked perhaps the ultimate question on the subject of testimony. “All right,” he said in a sneering, condescending way, “you say you know. Tell me how you know.”
I felt perhaps, that I had borne my testimony to him unwisely and was at a loss as to what to do. Then something came into my mind. I said to the man, “Let me ask if you know what salt tastes like.”
“If I gave you a cup of salt and a cup of sugar and let you taste them both, could you tell the salt from the sugar?”
“Now you are getting silly,” was his reply. “Of course I could tell the difference. I know what salt tastes like. It is an everyday experience.”
After some thought, he said, “Well, I suppose you could say that it is not sweet and it is not sour.”
“You’ve told me what it isn’t, not what it is.” After several attempts, of course, he could not do it. He could not explain, in words alone, so ordinary an experience as tasting salt. I bore testimony to him once again and said, “I know there is a God. You ridiculed that testimony and said that if I did know, I would be able to tell you exactly how I know. My friend, spiritually speaking, I have tasted salt. I am no more able to tell you in words how this knowledge has come to me than you are able to tell me what salt tastes like. But I say to you again, there is a God! He does live! And just because you don’t know, don’t try to tell me that I don’t know, for I do!”
Since that day, I have never been embarrassed or ashamed that I could not explain in words alone everything I know spiritually"
Many prophets in the scriptures have also struggled to describe what the spirit feels like. The Prophet Joseph Smith describes the voice of the Lord in Doctrine and Covenants 85:6. It says, "Yea, thus saith the still small voice, which whispereth through and pierceth all things, and often time it maketh my bones quake while it maketh manifest". Here we are taught four characteristics of the voice of the Lord. First, the voice of the Lord is still. Second, the voice of the Lord is small, Third, the voice of the Lord whispers. Finally, the voice of the Lord can have a powerful impact on the heart. The first three characteristics are often what make it difficult to learn the language of the spirit. If the spirit was loud and clear all the time, it would be very easy to understand what the Lord wanted us to do. How nice would it be if we could text in our requests or send an email to an attending angel who could then reply quickly with how we should handle our current challenge. Unfortunately, like many things in our mortal life, it is the learning process that our Heavenly Father wants us to experience. And so, I thought I would share four accounts from the scriptures from people who have experienced the learning process and can demonstrate how to speak the language of the spirit.
First, the voice of the Lord is still. The prophet Elijah in 1 Kings teaches us that although the Lord can produce big miracles, he truly teaches us and guides us with a still voice. By scientific terms, a voice causes sound, which put simply is the movement of sound waves. However, since the Spirit often speaks to our hearts and minds it is quite literally a 'still' voice that requires no movement of air, or waves, so to speak. Elijah had just finished having a sort of 'prophet-duel' with the priests of Baal. Afterwards he had to flee for his life to Mount Horeb. In 1 Kings 19, the Lord came to speak with Elijah. At first the wind blew so violently that it broke the rocks into pieces. However as the scriptures say "the Lord was not in the wind". The wind was followed by an earthquake and fire, however the "Lord was not in the earthquake…the Lord was not in the fire." Finally, in verse twelve "a still small voice" came and instructed Elijah of the Lord's plans for him. In Gerald N. Lund's book 'hearing the voice' of the Lord he said "evidently during the wind, the earthquake, and the fire, Elijah stayed inside the cave, likely because he feared for his safety, but the still small voice held no such threat and he was drawn out to converse with the Lord." Through this story, we learn the importance of learning to look past the earthquakes and fire in our lives, because it is during those still, quiet moments or often the simple, unnoticed miracles and blessings that we can truly learn what the Lord intends for us. The description of a voice as 'still' sounds quite contradictory, but is actually meant to try and describe a non-earthly voice that offers comfort and safety.
Another example of how the voice of the Lord is still and small. Lamen and Lemuel had experienced a great deal of revelation. They lived with a prophet. They had been saved from Laben. They had seen and spoke with an Angel of the Lord. However, they still doubted and complained. Nephi, finally fed up with all the murmuring going on, said "Ye have seen an angel, and he spake unto you, yea ye have heard a voice from time to time; and he hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, by ye were past FEELING, that ye could not FEEL his words; wherefore, he has spoken unto you like unto the voice of thunder, which did cause the earth to shake as if it were to divide asunder." (1 Nephi 17:45) Laben and Lemuel were not past the ability to hear, but past the ability to feel. Again another contradictory term, how does one feel a voice? Since the voice is still, one would not be able to hear it. And once more we use our limited mortal vocabulary to describe 'spiritual salt'. Elder Packer said "The Holy Ghost speaks with a voice that you feel more than you hear. It is described as a still small voice. And while we speak of listening to the whisperings of the Spirit most often one describes a spiritual prompting by saying 'I had a feeling.'" Like Nephi, we must learn to pray and ask for confirmation. Lemuel and Laben demonstrate that fire and earthquakes do not have the power to convert, but a still, small voice can.
For my third example of the nature of the language of the spirit I am using a missionary story from the scriptures. Nephi and Lehi, the sons of Helamen, were going to teach the Lamenites. They were promptly thrown into prison and starved and mistreated for many days. When the guards came to get the missionaries for execution, Nephi and Lehi were encircled by a ring of fire. While the guards were astonished, the brothers began to preach. While preaching, the earth shook and the prison was enveloped in darkness. Again, fire, earthquake, darkness were used to demonstrate the power of God. However, these dramatic demonstrations did not convert the Lamenites, but only managed to terrorize them. But then a voice came. Helamen 5:30 says "It was not a voice of thunder, neither was it a voice of great tumultuous noise, but behold, it was still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did pierce them even to the very soul." Mormon goes on to teach the nature of the voice in versus 46-47, he says "and it came to pass that there came a voice unto them, yea a pleasant voice, as if it were a whisper, saying : peace, peace be unto you." This voice was a mild, pleasant whisper. A big contrast from fire and darkness.
Finally, the most famous example of the power of the Lord's voice is demonstrated when the Savior came to visit the people of the Americas. At first the people could not understand the voice. Again Mormon provides a description of the voice of the Lord for us. In 3 Nephi 11:3 it says "It was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice, nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn."
The scriptures teach several key characteristics that can help us to learn the language of the spirit. The voice of the Lord is mild, pleasant, still, comforting, and can convert better than any miracle or demonstration of the power of God. Gerald N. Lund describes revelation as a sort of spectrum. On one end there are the more direct ways of revelation. These are things such a visions, audible voices, and visitations from angels or the Godhead. On the other end of the spectrum are the less direct modes of revelation, such as thoughts and feelings, bringing things to remembrance, the least direct being the light of Christ. I like to think of missionary work as servants of the Lord, teaching those with the least direct revelation in their live, the light of Christ, of an account of a 14 year old in New York experiencing the most direct revelation possible, a visitation from our Father and the Son. Missionaries do this by becoming fluent in the language of the spirit and using this still, small voice to speak to the hearts of those they teach. Preach my Gospel says "As the Lord's servant, you are to do His work in His way and by His power. Some missionaries feel confident that they know how to be successful. Others lack such confidence. Remember, however, that your confidence and faith should be in Christ, not in yourself. Rely on the Spirit rather than your own talents and abilities. Trust the Spirit to guide you in every aspect of your work."
I know that learning to speak the language of the spirit is key to being a true disciple of Christ. When I think back to making my decision to serve a mission I think I was looking for fires and earthquakes. And I got them. I had a father's blessing, studied my patriarchal blessing, and talked with many people about their decision and experience serving a mission. However, when it truly came to making my decision that wasn't enough. It was in the quiet moments after praying or while searching the scriptures that I really found my confirmation to serve a mission. I know that learning the language of the spirit is key in missionary work, because despite all of the amazing spiritual experiences I've had, or confirmations the church is true, if I rely on my own conversion to convert others I will be a very frustrated missionary. The spirit, as preach my gospel says, is the only way to bring people unto Christ. They must find understanding and feel the spirit themselves. I know that learning the language of the spirit can make every day life much more purposeful. I am excited to learn both the French language, and the language of the spirit. Although I hope to use French when I come home, I know I will use the language of the spirit for the rest of my life.
Testimony.
