Elder Holland's Visit

Dear Family and Friends,                                                                             

     I cannot even begin to express the love that I have for this church, and for those that lead it. With every General Conference, I feel uplifted and edified by the Apostles and the First Presidency. However strong the Spirit is from that setting, it cannot compare to the powerful atmosphere of actually physically being in close proximity to one of the Twelve. I wish to share with you some of the feeling and thoughts I had as he spoke to us yesterday, hoping that you might be able to catch, if only slightly, how much he has impacted my life.

     First off, I will begin from the beginning of the morning. We arrived around 8am to get ready for the day. Having reserved seats for our investigators with the blessing of President Layton, President Schmidtline (The Stake President), and Elder Holland himself, I sat down and with somber thought, prepared myself for the experience that was about to unfold before my eyes. As the chapel filled up, the local members began to become quite excited and converse among themselves. With 786 people, the building was alive with chatter, and it was not a conducive environment for the Spirit. So, with love, President Schmidtline got up and spoke a few words of love and exhorting for how grateful he was for us to attend. How he wished that Spirit would help us to learn the things that we came in search for; the material that we yearned to learn from His Apostle, but he needed our help. He exhorted us to listen to the prelude music, and to pray continually till Elder Holland arrived. And so, the atmosphere changed from one of human nature, to one that allowed the Spirit to set in, and welcome the spiritual nature. Within minutes, Elder Holland appeared at the door.

     With quiet movements, and much respect, we stood in love and honor to our guest. It was so quiet; you could hear his footsteps and his breathing. He found his seat, turned and looked at us, and looked into our eyes with his. Oh, how wonderful his eyes were! To see them face to face, and to know that his eyes have beheld the Savior of the World! With a tear in his eye, we blew a kiss, and asked us to be seated. Then began the program.

     As Elder Holland finally stood for his talk the last hour of Stake Conference, he began telling us how the church had a problem; a problem that they didn't know how to fix, and frankly, didn't want to. He made the comment that the missionaries, definitely were not helping, and we laughed. He explained how the church is growing at such a rapid rate, that they have been organizing new Stakes every week for as long as he could remember! That the gospel is rolling forth in such a magnificent manner, that it cannot be stopped. I share with you, just a few of his comments, for to share them all, I would need to write a book to be published of at least several chapters. 

     First, he turned to the investigators, of which we had two, and expressed his love for them, and how he was so grateful that they were in the process of coming closer to the Lord. He related some of their experiences to his own, and then opened to the scriptures and told the following story. I do not quote it exactly, but will do my best to word it in his words: "How I love the Apostles of Old; the original Twelve who followed Christ during His three year ministry, and for the devotion they gave after. Can you imagine it? These men, for they were men, but their age we know not, had been in the Lord's presence for only three years, and only eighteen months of that time, had they been in any position to learn and understand Christ. However, we know from the scriptures, that they themselves still didn't understand everything he said, nor the parables he gave. Having served their Lord, the Master, and watching him die on Calvary, they must have thought, 'Well, what now?' How great their experiences were, and how much they loved the Redeemer, but they knew not how to continue. So, they said 'Let’s go home, and return to what we know: fishing.' Over the next while, they had many visitations from the Lord, in which he fed them fish by the sea and asked them to feed his sheep. With tender love, the Master explained how that is to be done, and that they would need to continue to do the things He did, and to represent Him in all things. Then, he ascended once again to heaven, leaving them behind to do His work. Knowing what they needed to do, but now knowing how, Peter decided to go to the Temple, and asked of John to join him. Of course they would go to the temple of their God! Of course, they followed His teachings, for what else was there to do? So, as they journey towards the temple, we know in Acts 3, that there was a man, lame from birth about the age of 40, who was sat at the gates to beg for alms. Can you imagine his daily routine? It must have been a good day to get a farthing, but to get two farthings? That was a great day! And so, with this attitude, called out to Peter and to John. How his happiness and imagination must have run when they both stopped, and turned to him. However, Peter quickly told him to put his hand down as he asked of them alms. For Peter said 'Silver and gold, we have none. But what we have, I give unto freely. In the name of the Jesus Christ of Nazareth, I command thee to arise, and walk! And stretching out his arm, grabbed him by the hand; and from that moment, his feet and his ankles gained strength, and supported him.' The next verse has seven verbs. Seven verbs!! This man hasn't had a verb in the last 40 years! Can you imagine his joy as he goes 'walking and jumping" into the temple with Peter and John? Of course, the Pharisees see this and already begin to conspire. But, what can they do? For they themselves admit that everyone knows this man, and they cannot hide the fact that he is now standing and jumping!"

      He told us that he had for us, three things of which he wanted to talk about that day concerning that story, which he would have us learn. Here are the three:

One: You cannot deny the evidence! In order to make this email turning essay a little shorter, I refer you to Elder Holland's Safety for the Soul talk from a couple conferences ago.

Two: In the gospel, you will always get more than you expect! Just as the man lame from birth expected a few earthly coins to sustain him through the day with food, so do we also expect less than what our Heavenly Father wants to give us. Again, to shorten the email, I refer you to President Uchtdorf's Living Beneath your Privileges talk from this last Priesthood Session I believe! :)

Three: You cannot kill the gospel! This was a part of his talk that really hit home to me. There wasn't much doctrine evolved like the others, but it still hit hard. He made the statement that much like of old, the Pharisees used the Romans to try and rid themselves of The Problem, or the Savior. They killed him, believing that the work would stop, but little did they know, it was only the beginning. Just like how Peter and John amazed those at the temple Beautiful, so also will the work continue today. He sobered us all when he said, "You can kill me, and I will not care. We, as Apostles, know that this is possible. Our families know, and we talk about it frequently. But to know that what we represent will not die with us, we are willing and glad to take that risk upon ourselves!" It truly testified to me of his devotion to this gospel, and will remain with me forever.

     In closing, he spoke straight to the youth of the church, and said in his awesome voice: "Youth do not leave this church! NEVER leave this church! You are stupid, to leave this church!" The power that came from his statement as he talked about how we need the gospel, how there is no place else for us to go, just as the Apostles of Old said to Christ after those that desired to make him king, left him. How it hit home!

     Now, here is the part of which I will make reference to, but still is too sacred and personal to myself to share. Maybe, one day, I will share with you the blessings he left upon us, but for now, I will share with you very little. He spoke very lovingly how much he desired to stay in our presence, to be able to talk with us individually, but he could not. So, over the pulpit, he administered to us all within the sound of his voice, a Priesthood Blessing of which I am tearing up as I write this. The promises made to us I love dearly, and provide me the confidence and the strength to move forward through this life, NEVER doubting. 

     I love you all so much. I thank you, daily, for the love and support that you are to me; to all of the Lord's missionaries. Please, do for the local the missionaries the same you do for me. Love them, and trust them with your friends. They have been divinely called and have the keys to know what to do with the people they teach. They will do what is needed, and will bring them closer to Christ. This I testify to you, as one who represents him, and who has such little time left to do so, in the name of the Master and Redeemer, Jesus the Christ, Amen.

--

Elder Burnett

Soldier of Zion