Witnessing the Love of the Lord for Me and My Ancestors

This talk was given at the 2019 stake women's conference.
By Brynn Meredith, a Laurel

What a blessing it has been for me to take part in the preparation for this conference. I was challenged to take part in the 21-day challenge at the beginning of January, and it has been amazing for me to witness the love that our Father in Heaven has for us and our ancestors that came before us.

Sister Wensel and Sister Adams came and visited me and asked me to take part and be ready to share my findings. They also gave me a talk to read from a BYU women’s conference about this 21-day challenge. The challenge is about a sacrifice of time to the Lord. The action that I choose to take for this challenge was indexing and going to the temple once a week with my sister.

When I first received the challenge, I was admittedly really worried that I would not only be unable to find something I could consistently do, but that I would not be able to share the importance of it with you. I will also admit that before this challenge, I had never really learned how to use the FamilySearch software. But I felt very strongly that indexing was something that I would be able to do every day and that it was an important part in this work.

There have definitely been days that I missed, but despite those days, I know that this challenge has helped me in my life this month. I am always busy. Homework seems to be always present, student government duties mean that I practically live at the high school, and my extracurricular activities just add a layer of difficulty. Not only that, but I try to have a semi-functional social life.

All of these things combined make it seem like I never have peaceful, quiet moments. Making time for family history and this challenge in my life has honestly helped me to be able to balance all of these things and still have time to spare. I know that this has been a blessing from our Father in Heaven.

So now it is my turn to challenge you to do the same. For 21 days, I encourage each of you to make a sacrifice of time to this work. Within the last year, we have been challenged so many times to continue to become better members of this church, to become better saints in Zion. A good portion of these challenges have come to the youth. President Nelson told us that we are the youth battalion of the Lord. I was able to be in the choir at that meeting, and I felt the strength of that call more than anything I've ever heard a prophet speak, but the weight of that challenge weighs heavily on our shoulders.

This challenge, along with all the others we have heard, are not things that we can do alone. We need the support of women who are strong in the gospel. The stripling warriors went to fight of their own free will, but they had always been supported by their mothers. And I'm positive that even after they had set out to drive back the enemy, they still had the support of those righteous women.

We need you. In order to bring about the gathering of Israel, we need help. I challenge you all to find a way to take part in this gathering. We all have to support each other. In the talk by Wendy Watson Nelson that Sister Wensel and Sister Adams gave me, it talked about looking in two mirrors facing each other, and that you can imagine that each new reflection is a past generation supporting you. This is so much more secure than imagining eternity alone. Despite all of the other things that exist in our lives, nothing is as important as this gospel, and spreading the love of our Heavenly Father.

I invite you to become a part of this work, so that you and your ancestors and your children, and all the children of our Father in Heaven may be able to “dwell in the presence of God and his Christ forever and ever” (D&C 76:62). As you take part in this work, we will be able to rejoice on covenant path together as children of God.

I bear testimony that this will bring about great blessings in your life and as you take part in this work, you will feel the love of our Heavenly Father in your life. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.