In May 2017 Virginia and I and four other family members spent a week in the Peruvian Amazon. As the jungle floor was completely flooded, we explored by boat. In the trees we saw at least a half dozen species of monkeys and both two-toed and three-toed sloths. There were colorful birds flying free that we had previously seen only in captivity. We saw a tree boa and an anaconda, along with caimans and colorful frogs. We encountered fascinating insects and insect nests. Our eyes feasted on bromeliads and orchids and other jungle flora. We saw giant lily pads over three feet wide.
We even got to catch and eat piranha and their larger relative, the pacu. We saw pink dolphins and swam in the Amazon. We enjoyed what may well be the world’s most remote and most unique zipline, hidden away in the jungle, high above the canoes below. It was a trip never to be forgotten.
However, we would have seen virtually none of this without the services of our most knowledgeable and experienced guide, Edwin. He knew exactly where to take us to maximize the likelihood of our seeing wildlife. We completely trusted his ability to get us through the jungle maze and to return us safely to the lodge. He showed us sloths, macaws, monkeys, tarantulas, caimans, and snakes we would never have noticed on our own. Without him we would never have even found the zip line, let alone found our way back. Nor would we have had any idea where to fish for piranha.
As I thought about the upcoming General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I thought about how like Edwin is President Russell M. Nelson. Like Edwin, President Nelson serves as a guide, but on a grander and eternally more significant scale. Having left our premortal heavenly home, we are all making our way through the jungle of life. Some think they can do it on their own. Others put their trust in a 2000-year-old map and are unaware that living guides are readily available.
As great as maps are, by themselves they would have been of little use to us in the Amazon. We would have needed a guide to interpret them in light of current jungle conditions at that time of year. Likewise, Latter-day Saints love and revere the Bible and other ancient scripture. But we are grateful for living prophets, seers, and revelators who can give us specific guidance for successfully navigating today’s world.
Many have misunderstood the Bible and thought it taught that there were to be no prophets after the time of Christ. But Paul makes clear in Ephesians 4:11-14 that prophets were to continue as an essential component of the church until the saints (church members) are perfected and “we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man.” It is obvious we have not yet reached that point. Reason itself argues that a loving God, who wants more than anything the success and happiness of His children, wouldn’t leave them without hands-on help. If prophets such as Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and Isaiah were important in Old Testament times, and if even after Christ’s death it was needful to have living prophets and apostles such as Peter, James, John, and Paul, it has to be at least equally critical to have their counterparts today. The world has never been more lost or in need of divine guidance.
This General Conference, on October 3 and 4, we will once again have the opportunity to hear conference addresses from President Russell M. Nelson and others whom we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators. In anticipation of that, may I share a couple of stories about President Nelson as shared by my sister, Nancy Carter, and my brother, Bob Cazier.
Nancy wrote:
We had stake conference today, with Elder Carl Cook of the quorum of the Seventy here. He mentioned the meetings they have with President Nelson and the other general authorities in the temple. President Nelson said that when he was a heart surgeon he was often wakened in the night with phone calls. He said when he was called to the Quorum of the Twelve, the calls quit, and he was able to get a good night’s sleep. He said now that he’s President of the Church, the calls have started again. (Elder Cook wondered, “Who would be calling the Prophet at night?”) Then President Nelson explained. [One night] he got to sleep and about an hour later he was awakened by a strong impression and got up, went to his desk, and started writing. As fast as he could write, the words came into his mind, of things that he needed to do, concerning the Church. He wrote for a good hour, then went back to bed. About an hour or two later he woke up again, and the same thing happened. He went back to sleep, and it happened again. Then his alarm went off at 5:30, and he went to work. He said this has happened many times since becoming President of the Church.
Bob wrote:
I thought I’d share some information from a home teaching visit I had today with Duane “Dewey” Gerrard, an emeritus Seventy. For my home teaching lesson, I talked about President Uchtdorf’s message on how much preparation goes into the general authorities’ conference messages, and how much more we could gain from the conference messages if we matched the speakers’ preparation with our own. Knowing that Dewey has spoken before in general conference, I asked him about preparation times, and he said that it indeed took many, many hours of preparation and prayer. Then he shared with me a story about then-Elder Nelson, who Dewey became close friends with. While visiting Dewey and his wife, Kay, in the Philippines some 15 years ago, Elder Nelson asked Dewey if he’d be willing to read and critique Elder Nelson’s upcoming conference talk and offer any suggestions. Dewey was honored to do so. After reading it (Dewey didn’t find anything that needed to be changed), Dewey asked Elder Nelson how many drafts (or revisions) he had already done on the conference talk. Dewey was astounded to find out that the version he had just read was the 83rd draft. So, our prophet, who Dewey says has a photographic memory and is one of the most brilliant people he’s ever met, really does put a lot of work into his messages.
One can only imagine how many times the nighttime voices have been speaking as President Nelson has contemplated what to share with the Church and the world in the upcoming General Conference, and how many drafts he may have made by now of each message. These past two-and-a-half years have seen marvelous advances in the work of the Church. But President Nelson has suggested that what we’ve seen thus far is just the beginning. I’m excited to hear what he and our other leaders have to say this coming weekend, as I reflect on the Lord’s injunction that “His word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith.” (Doctrine and Covenants 21:5.)