The stake presidency asked a couple of weeks ago if I would speak to you in this setting on ways to implement Preach My Gospel in our homes.  I said, “Sure.”  I even knew what Preach My Gospel is.  It’s this new book, published by the Church just last year.

It’s for missionaries, and sets forth a new way to teach the gospel to people investigating the Church.  It represents a quantum leap forward from the old way wherein missionaries were to memorize and make rote presentations to investigators.  The thrust for us now as missionaries is to study diligently and treasure up in our minds the doctrines and words of Christ—and then let the Spirit use us to teach our friends and investigators.

To my way of thinking the old rote presentations were a quantum leap forward from the flannel-board discussions that the missionaries used to teach me the gospel 38 years ago.  We’re getting progressively better.  Preach My Gospel is on the cutting edge of gospel teaching and learning.  I can see where it will play a leading role in fulfilling the audacious prophecy Joseph Smith made when the Church was very young and very small.

He said:  “I want to say to you before the Lord, that you know no more concerning the destinies of this Church and kingdom than a babe upon its mother’s lap.  You don’t comprehend it….It is only a little handful of Priesthood you see here tonight, but this Church will fill North and South America—it will fill the world….It will fill the Rocky Mountains.  There will be tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints who will be gathered in the Rocky Mountains….This people will go into the Rocky Mountains; they will there build temples to the Most High.”  (James E. Faust, The Ensign, May 1997, p. 19.)

I told the stake presidency that I’d be happy to speak.  What I didn’t tell President Scrivner was that I’d never read the book.  I was embarrassed.  But then it dawned upon me that unless you’re a recently-returned missionary, you probably haven’t read the book, either!  It would probably be hard to find a handful of people present here who have read it.  The Parrys may have, but otherwise I’m possibly plowing virgin ground.

So I set out to read it.  The stake presidency couldn’t have known this, but I’m probably the best choice to prepare this talk, because I had time to do the studying.  I’ve been studying just about non-stop for the past several months while I await a hip replacement.   I figure that I’m currently the world’s foremost authority on what has been said and done in general conference for the past 37 years.  There’s not much that I don’t know about studying, let me tell you.

So that night I went to bed early so that I could start reading Preach My Gospel.  I got into bed with the book, propped myself up with the pillows and started reading.  I found that the first two chapters were on learning how to effectively study.

About the first thing that I came across was a suggestion that I keep a study journal to help me understand, clarify, and remember what I’m learning.  I’m to use it to review, access, and apply what I’ve learned.  I’m to take notes and record impressions during my study and to use it during my meetings.  The Spirit will whisper to us while we’re studying, or while we’re listening to the speaker in sacrament meeting.  If we write the impressions down that come to us, we’re more likely to act upon them.  The more impressions we respond to, the more often the Spirit will speak to us.

So I got out of bed and found an old spiral notebook that could serve as my study journal.  I wish now that I’d found something better, because a study journal is a good idea, and ought to be permanent.

The next thing I came across was the missionaries’ daily schedule.  Did you know that missionaries are to have personal study from 8:00-9:00 every morning, and to follow that with companion study from 9:00-10:00!?  It says here in the book that the purpose of companion study “is to build unity in your companionship.”  I can’t think of a marriage that wouldn’t benefit from that.  Fortunately, for the time being, our family is doing well in the “companion study department,” and should continue doing well at least until we’ve fulfilled President Hinckley’s challenge to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year.  It’s not too late to take up that challenge, if you haven’t already done so.  “Unity in your companionship” will be a spin-off blessing if you do.

The next thing I came across is that I should always start my study time with prayer so that the Spirit can guide my thinking.  I knew that—but I rarely do it—so I got out of bed again and had a specific prayer about my studying.

Now there I was comfortably back in bed, propped up on pillows, having had my prayer, properly armed with a study journal and pen, when I came upon this:  “Be alert.  …and pray before you study.  (I was only on page 22, and that was the fourth time I was told to pray.)  Study at a desk or table where you can write (not lying down or sitting on your bed), organize your study materials, and remain alert.  Pray and ask for understanding.)  (Pg. 22.)

A person does have a tendency to go to sleep in bed, so I moved out to my desk for the rest of the book.

The book pointed out that Joseph Smith’s studying of the Bible at age 14 lead him to receive revelation.  It then asked the question, “What influence did his study have on future generations?”

Now there is a question that needs to be thought about.  That young man hadn’t the slightest idea that his studying was going to positively affect millions upon millions of people.  Could my studying and yours possibly have a similar effect?

I certainly hope so, or else all the studying I’ve done over the past several months has been in vain.  During that time I’ve been working for my great grandchildren, and have written and put together three or four books that I hope my children and grandchildren will use to bind their children to the gospel of Jesus Christ—and to me—forever.  That’s the same reason that the prophets kept their journals.  Their writings became our scriptures.  Their hope was that they could leave something behind that would bring people to Christ.

I was talking with my good friend the other day.  He has made some absolutely astounding things.  Among them is a walnut rocking chair that perfectly fits his body.  It’s gorgeous.  He carefully planed out a hollow in the seat that just fits him when he sits.  He curved the back to fit his short stature.  The arms of the chair are at just the right height for his elbows.  It’s a work of art.  He always says, “But it’s not perfect!”  I keep telling him, “Don’t show me the flaws.  You’re the only one who knows they’re there.  To everyone else it looks perfect.”  And it does.  It is.

He’s now making the case for a grandfather clock that will fit the clock that he’s made from scratch.  He personally machined each of the internal gears that make up the clock itself.  I could make the case, but constructing the parts to that intricate clock is something that absolutely boggles my mind.  He’s made each of those little gears which have to be so precise, and have to work together so perfectly that the clock will keep time.

He has projects like this all over his house.  He doesn’t make them for sale.  There’s no way he could sell them for what they’re worth.  He makes them just for the challenge of doing it, to teach himself skills, and to see how close to perfection he can come.

I said, “Mike, do you know what’s sad?  You don’t have any children to pass these things on to.  These are treasures.  Their value is in being able to say, ‘My grandfather made that!’ ”

He said, “What made you think of that?  That’s just what’s been bothering me!”

I said, “Because I’ve been working for my great grandkids the last several months.  I’m writing books so that I can leave something behind that will influence them.”

Mike said, “That’s the way life ought to be!”

There is so much that I could learn from Mike.  He has one of the best minds that I know.  I love talking to him.  He’s a deep thinker, and his thoughts are right on target.  I took the missionaries to him several years ago.  We had several discussions with him before he said that we had to end them.  We had the discussions in the evenings, and each time after we left he said that his mind was working so hard that he couldn’t get to sleep all night long.  I think the Holy Ghost was teaching him.

I could learn a lot from Mike, but there is a lot that he could learn from me, too.  I’m dying to open up the gospel of Jesus Christ to him.  I know that he’ll be as fascinated and as astounded about the gospel as I am about his ability to make a clock.  I’m wanting to tell him that he’s a son of God with endless potential, that he lived with God before he came to earth, that he’s an heir, that if he’s faithful God desires to give him all that He has, that he can become like his Father, that someday he’ll know how to make a blade of grass, that even though he wasn’t blessed with children in this life he can have a posterity that will be in number like the stars in the heavens.

Mike is one of the great men that I know.  But Mike has sinned.  He needs to know that every sin that we commit has to be paid for.  He’ll have to pay for his own sins unless he comes to know that Jesus Christ has already paid for his sins if he’ll come unto Christ, keep His commandments, and endure to the end.

This book says that my purpose on earth is to bring myself to Christ, and then to invite others to come unto Him.  It says, “The purpose of the gospel is to cleanse people of their sins so they can receive the Savior’s mercy at the day of judgment.  Therefore, the focus of this book and, more important, the work you do each day is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.”  (Pg. 6.)

This book sets forth a very logical way to teach the gospel.  There are just 4 lessons that are taught before the person is baptized.  Did you know that?  I didn’t.  The first 4 lessons are taught before the person is baptized.  They’re taught again after baptism along with a fifth lesson on laws and ordinances.

The first lesson is the Message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  If you’re ever in need of a list of the best scriptures which tell about the nature of God, or about the reality of the Great Apostasy, or about the need for a restoration as opposed to a reformation, go to this book.  This is a great study guide.

The other three lessons cover The Plan of Salvation, The Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the commandments.

So how do we implement Preach My Gospel in our families?

1. It says here that “For you to grow in the gospel and stay on the path that leads to

eternal life, you need to develop a habit of gospel study.”  Do it.

2. As you’re studying, consider keeping a study journal.
3. Pray for and prepare someone to hear the missionary lessons. We’ve had some new grandchildren born into our family in the past couple of years.  There’s not anything in the world that can exceed that for pure joy and excitement and satisfaction—except for one thing:  In that same period we saw Ralph and Judy baptized and on their way to eternal life.  I think that gripped my heart even more than holding a new grandbaby.

Brothers and sisters, we’re in possession of the greatest thing on the face of the earth.  Our duty and our purpose on earth is to bring ourselves to Christ, and to invite others to come unto Him.  The Restoration is a reality.  Because of Joseph Smith’s studying, he was led to pray, as a result of which the Father and the Son appeared to him.  The revelations began to flow.  The angel Moroni gave him the golden plates.  As he and Oliver studied the plates, they had questions about baptism.  Their study led to prayer which led to the appearance of John the Baptist who restored the lesser priesthood and the authority to baptize.  They used the Urim and Thummim to study the Bible.  The twenty-ninth verse of the fifth chapter of John caused them to marvel. “And while [they] meditated upon these things, the Lord touched the eyes of [their] understandings and they were opened, and the glory of the Lord shone round about.”  They were shown the vision that became Section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants that tells about the Three Degrees of Glory, and how we may successfully come back into the presence of God and live with Him forever receiving a fullness of joy.

I testify that God lives, that Jesus is my Savior, that the Restoration is a reality, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, that the Book of Mormon is true, and that we are being led today by a living prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley, under whose direction this book was published to help us better ourselves and those around us.