Your LDS Radio Blog | YLDSR.COM

A choir of LDS youth prepares for a fireside in the Ogden Tabernacle. They'll present, to a full house, the music for a new program to be performed this July, by a cast of thousands.

by Sam Payne

Some LDS parents are old enough to remember LDS dance festivals, music festivals, and even speech festivals: massive events that involved hundreds of youth in months of rehearsals and gala performances. For a whole generation, such festivals were a hallmark of an LDS youth’s experience. It’s been a long time since the church has sponsored and promoted anything like that on a large scale (with some exceptions; I remember as a youth being involved in a Stake dance festival in which I danced the polka around the high school gym with Becky Williams. I still see her folks on occasion, and no matter what station I achieve in this life, they’ll always remember me as Becky’s dance partner. Believe me, there are much worse ways to go).

But the truth is, there’s been a sort of resurgence of interest lately (perhaps beginning with the big youth celebrations in 2005 of the bicentennial of the Prophet Joseph’s birth) in involving youth in memorable (and massive) cultural events. For example, in and around Ogden, Utah, a fever is taking hold, as dozens of stakes (no kidding: dozens of stakes) prepare for a spectacular July performance in Weber State University’s Wildcat stadium. The program will feature dance, theater, and music on a massive scale, with an audience of 18,000 (and a cast of nearly that many).

Above, find a cell-phone photo of a choir assembled to present some of the program’s music to the youth who will be learning and performing it. As some of their parents (and more of their grandparents) could tell them, it’s going to be one terrific ride!

Have you ever felt a prompting to do something you had never thought of doing before? Something that would impact your whole family? One such prompting came to a woman regarding her own family. Many years ago, television stations across the country would highlight a child in need of adoption each Wednesday. Over the years I have had the pleasure of knowing a few people who exude the extraordinary trait of pure charity. One such person named Marlene saw one of these children on television and felt prompted to talk with her family about the idea of adopting a child. The whole family was supportive. She called inquiring about the child she saw and was told to find another child because of complications. Marlene was confused. After all, she did feel a prompting to present this idea to her family. During the phone conversation she was instructed if she was still interested to go down to the adoption center and to filter through a box of hundreds of papers showing children waiting for adoption. After searching for days, she finally came across the child she wanted to adopt.

Her family went through the paperwork to begin adoption. They did not hear back from anyone for weeks. When she finally called to get an update, no one had processed her papers. She was worried the child her family had been praying for would no longer be available. She sent in the paperwork again. Unexpectedly, the boy they wanted to adopt showed up on t.v., as a Wednesday’s child. She immediately called to find out why they were not notified. Again, the paperwork still had not been processed. After many family prayers and fasting the doors opened for them to meet the child and spend a day with him. They knew he was the right one and months later the adoption went through.

When asked why she felt so committed to finding a child to adopt she replied, “It was not an easy process, but I felt a prompting and followed through.” After raising him to adulthood, the family felt committed to becoming foster parents. They have opened their home to many teenagers and have blessed their lives with the gospel. Even to this day, the foster children she once watched over still visit and love her. The average foster child will live in anywhere from six to nine different homes until the age 18.

What an amazing family Marlene and her husband have developed! In Moroni 7:47 it reads, “but charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.” Marlene and her family have been able to demonstrate the unconquerable spirit through the gift of charity and change the lives of a select group of special children they felt they could truly love.

I lost contact with Luis Calleja nearly twenty years ago. But a few weeks back, he tracked me down on the Internet, and it brought on a flood of memories. Luis was a young man when I first met him – an architecture student. I was a missionary in Argentina, and Luis’ Latter-day Saint girlfriend, Ruth, had laid down the law: Luis could join the Church, or say good-bye to any chance of marrying her. We were happy to teach Luis, and he was a willing investigator. He cheerfully accepted one challenge after another, committing to baptism, the word of wisdom, the law of chastity, tithing, and on and on – with one exception. Luis refused, for one reason or another, to pray. Though we made the invitation often, he wouldn’t pray with us, and as far as we knew, he didn’t pray alone. As such (and as cheerful as Luis was about adopting the lifestyle of a Latter-day Saint), my companion and I were troubled about Luis’ progress. It seemed clear to us that he was more interested in Ruth than in the gospel. Discussions with Luis were full of good cheer and cooperation – even full of determination and commitment – but devoid, it seemed, of the Spirit.

We prayed for Luis, fasted for him, and continued teaching. But the further we went, the more frustration we felt. It seemed possible to us that Luis might very willingly be baptized, without ever having gained any sort of testimony at all. We agonized over it, and as we approached the last discussion, we made a decision: right or wrong, we were going to stop teaching Luis. We met him for the discussion ready for a difficult conversation. Without much hope, we asked Luis if he’d offer an opening prayer. Incredibly, Luis shrugged his shoulders, bowed his head, and earnestly began to pray. It would be difficult to describe what happened next. It sounds hyperbolic, but never before had I experienced or witnessed such an immediate and complete opening of the windows of heaven. The simplest way to characterize those moments, perhaps, is to say that before that prayer, Luis was a willing participant in a belief system that he didn’t subscribe to. After that prayer, Luis had a testimony. There was no doubt of that left in any of us.

Brother Luis Calleja went on to marry Ruth, and has lived for decades now in faithful church service. It was a delight to get in contact with him again. He congratulated me on my calling to our Bishopric. He was just finishing a term of service in a bishopric himself. It was (if I understood his florid Spanish correctly) his sixth.

There are, of course, many elements that come to bear in the growth of a testimony. Obedience, faith, humility, service, and study all play a part in building a vibrant relationship with the Lord. But for Luis, one thing made the difference that has changed his life: simple, fervent prayer.

President Monson speaks pointedly of the power of prayer. In October, 2006, he said the following in General Conference: “How, you may ask, can we most effectively gain and maintain the foundation needed to survive spiritually in the world in which we live? First, fortify your foundation through prayer.” In the same talk, President Monson (quoting William Cowper, the 18th century English poet) said: “Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.”

Let us, surely, be diligent in all the attitudes and behaviors that building a testimony requires. But let us not forget prayer. Prayer, perhaps better than anything else, is the water that sends the roots of testimony deep into a soul. It can, as we sing so often, “change the night to day.”