Thoughts From Elder Andersen

Elder Neil L Andersen of the Twelve Apostles gave a fireside last night in my stake (well, hosted by my stake but with 5 YSA stakes invited). I got third row seats, right in the center in front of the podium less than ten feet away from him. I've had the privilege to interact with a few apostles before- in the MTC Elder Perry came, then 10 of the 12 came during mission president's training week and I shook hands with Elder Cook, Elder Ballard came to my mission, etc. Each of them carry such a powerful spirit and testimony of Christ. And a sense of humor. He shared with us that they refer to him and Elder Bednar as "the children" since they are the youngest in age. And he shared an example of President Monson's wit in a story- This last September, President Packer and Elder Nelson both turned 90, joining Elder Perry in the 90's. At their weekly meeting, Elder Perry was very excited and announced that is was a historic day. President Monson asked why and he responded that for the first time since the Restoration, three of the twelve apostles were over 90 years old. Without missing a beat, President Monson answered, " Well, the Lord can change that." I think we all laughed for a good two minutes!

Elder Andersen had asked us to prepare for the fireside by thinking about the lessons we had learned from conference and how to apply them. He shared with us that as members of the Church we are swimming upstream in society against the trends and beliefs at large. He shared some statistics with us about faith and how the trend is that fewer people believe in God and Christ, then facts about marriage and family as more people cohabit before marriage and have children out of wedlock. He followed each of those with quotes from conference on the power of faith and the centrality of the family. Several times he had his wife, Kathy, speak to us and share some of her thoughts on the subject. He told us that she taught him the importance of conference and then she shared that early in their marriage they decided to base all their FHE's on the general conference talks. She had gone to the store to copy the general conference talks from the Ensign so each child could have a copy of the words of the prophets and apostles. She was a little shocked with the cashier told her the cost was almost $50 which was substantial almost 30 years ago. But then she had the thought "What is it worth to have the words of the prophets?"

Another thing he said really stuck a chord with me- "Where am I going to invest my spirit?" With all the distractions of the world, with access to so many opportunities, it takes constant discernment and attention to the Spirit to know where we should invest our time, energy, and spirits. As I try to focus on what the Lord would have me focus on at each stage of my life, it is tremendously important to recognize where I invest myself.

I know Elder Andersen is an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.And I also can say that I didn't need to see or meet him to confirm that for myself. With all my heart I know that President Monson is the Lord's mouthpiece and living prophet on the Earth and that each member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is called of God to witness of Christ. How grateful I am for their guidance, counsel and wisdom in my life!