Created for Greater Things

I don’t know about the rest of the country, but here in Utah we managed to have a fun Independence Day yesterday without turning the occasion into a petty political football.

From the “About the Hynns” section of the Gospel Library app:

“The author of ‘Oh, How Great Is Our Joy,’ Andres C. Gonzales, was among the first native Mexicans to serve a full-time mission in Mexico. Elder Gonzalez had a fine singing voice, and one day in 1910, while preaching on a street corner in Mexico City, he and his companion decided to sing a hymn to draw more listeners. They chose ‘In the Sweet By and By,” a well-known Christian hymn about returning to our beautiful heavenly home. But instead of attracting people who were interested in hearing their message, Elder Gonzalez and his companion soon found themselves surrounded by a group of angry people who demanded that they stop singing. These people felt that the hymn belonged to them and that the missionaries shouldn’t be singing it. They brought the police, who threw the missionaries in jail.

“Not knowing when he would see his wife and family again, Elder Gonzalez pleaded with the Lord for protection and deliverance. During the dark night, he felt inspired to write new lyrics for the hymn, expressing the joy of sharing the Lord’s love and light as missionaries. After they were released, Elder Gonzalez and his companion returned to the same street corner. When the angry people came back, they found the missionaries singing the familiar tune with completely different words. This hymn has appeared in the Church’s Spanish-language hymnal since 1912.”

—Martin P. Fernandez at a stake conference, 6/14/26

Even many people who witnessed the miracles of Jesus weren’t convinced by them. That’s why the Savior said “signs shall follow them that believe” (Mark 16:17) and not the other way around.

“The time will come when no man or woman will be able to endure on borrowed light.”

—Heber C. Kimball

…or, as quoted in the Book of Mormon, Mosiah 14: 3-5:

“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

”As covenant-keeping Latter-day Saint women, the truth about us seems to be in short supply.”

(Reminds me of a quote from the American humorist Josh Billings [d. 1885]: “As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand.”)

One of the most re-listenable talks from the October 4, 2025 session. He’s just so earnest!

Best quotes:

“We are agents, and agents are responsible for something. In this case, we are responsible for the choices we make based on the knowledge we have and gifts we are given. We cannot make a choice without being responsible for the consequences. Why do we have agency? To choose good. To choose Christ. To choose eternal life—again and again.”

“A testimony should not have an expiration date. It should not weaken or diminish because something in my life has changed or something in the world has changed. It should get stronger because, like the servant’s talents in the parable of the talents [Matthew 25:14-30], my personal testimony is a gift to be multiplied, not buried.”