Gary E. Stevenson: Blessed Are the Peacemakers

Welcome to Inklings. I am Emily Bell Freeman and I'm so excited to welcome you to a space where you and I get to experience a hint of something more together. This is a community where we lean into discussions that will help us obtain a bedrock understanding of the doctrines of Christ. Not overnight, but every day better. Strength gathered over time. There is a place for you here. Looking forward to spending this semester with you as we embark on a journey focused on becoming his.

Good morning everyone. Happy Thursday. Welcome to Inklings. We're so... hopeful that comments and everything is going to work today. That's what my fingers are crossed for, that we're just having a normal Thursday morning, which will be so nice. And let me tell you where we're going to be. We are in Elder Stevenson's talk. Blessed are the peacemakers is what we'll be studying. And then we're going to be in the New Testament. So you'll want your New Testament.

um and elder stevenson who we are gonna love and then and we'll jump in because there's so much to talk about today. And hi, Shima. Hi, how are you? Good. How are you? So good. Good. Okay, we better just introduce you right off the bat so everybody knows who you are because everyone loves that. And then we'll just dive in.

Okay, I'm so happy to be here. I'm a big Inklings fan. My name is Shima Boffman. I teach at BYU and the Wheatley Institute where I study how religion helps people mostly get away from crime and drugs. And I also have five kids from 20 to two. So that's crazy. That is so crazy, but fun. It is so fun. And.

Shima's been here before, so she's not new, but I know all of you love to just remember who everybody is. So I thought what we would do today, Shima, so let me just tell you kind of what I was...

thinking is i wanted to start out and just think about like uh elder stephenson did the city of capernaum that little village and some of the miracles that were taking place in that village And if you've never been there before, on the post that I put up last night, I put a video of just what does it feel like to walk into Capernaum.

As we're getting started, I just want to have all the thoughts that we would have if we all had traveled to Israel together and we were on the bus and we were getting ready to go into Capernaum. What were some of the things you might want to know going into that place? And when I was singing about that, I was like, oh, you might actually want to know what it feels like to just walk right in. to that city and so you'll have a chance after this is over if you haven't seen it yet to go

back and just experience what it would be like to walk in there. And the last time I was there, I was with Elon, our Israeli guide. And as we walked in, He was talking about Capernaum and he said the first half of that word, Caper, means village or town of or... city of um it would represent something like that or place of place of is a really good translation of that word but nahem um

who think about it, that's one of the prophets in the Old Testament at the very end. That name in Hebrew means comfort. So you love that Capernaum actually means... the town of comfort or the village of comfort or the place of comfort. And one of the reasons why I love that so much is Because of how many miracles take place in Capernaum. So if you, if you look up, what were the miracles that took place and what were the teachings that took place in Capernaum?

It's some of our very most favorite stories in all of the New Testament. Capernaum is where Matthew was called into that discipleship experience with Christ. It's where the four friends lowered their friend down to be healed by Christ. That is Capernaum. One of my very favorite stories, and this is the one I want to start with, is...

the woman who touched Christ's robe and the daughter of Jairus. And I thought we might start there today and then dive into this talk from there. I love how that idea of comfort.

is reflective of this idea of peace that elder stevenson is talking about and so as i'm telling you this first story before we dive in um maybe you'll just be thinking about um peace and comfort and and this little city that you come into and you probably saw um if you saw the video and if you didn't and shima do you even remember this oh i i was with you on the last time we you went i think yes broke your ankle yes it was horrible and you walked in

And when you walk in the city, the very first thing you see on the left is this little garden. And clear at the end of the garden is this like park bench that's there. It's a sculpture.

and when you look at the bench you can see there's a homeless guy sleeping on the bench and he's sculpted and he's wrapped in this blanket so you can't really see is it a man is it a woman you know you're not quite sure when you're walking up to the bench until you get all the way up there and you see the feet and the feet are the only thing uncovered there And you can see the prints of the nails in the feet. And so then you immediately know it's Jesus who's on this bench.

The sculpture is named the Homeless Jesus. And that same sculpture is all over. You'll see it in lots of different places in the world. You might have encountered one of those somewhere else where you were. But I'm so intrigued by the one in Capernaum because I feel like that is the little village that Jesus would have called his.

And then to realize that one scripture that talks about he had no home. And I just, I love walking into that city and thinking of all the stories and just thinking of then Jesus in that. barely any blanket with no shoes on that bench. And just what does that teach us as we go into this? I want to be thinking about that.

Um, so are you okay if I start us with a story and then we dove in? Please keep going. This is amazing. Um, so I love this story that we're going to be in Mark five is where, um, I want to go. And this is one of my favorite, one of our, I bet this is a lot of our favorite stories. And what happens in this story is Jesus is at lunch.

with some people. And this man comes to him. And we learn more about the man in Luke is where we hear a little bit more of his story and what's happening in his life. But he comes and he says, my little daughter lieth at the point of death. And can you come? And so he gets up. And they start walking. And I think sometimes when we read the story of the woman at the well, I mean, the woman who reached out and touched his rope, it's a great story in and of itself. It's an even better story.

when you see the whole picture of what was going on in that moment and so it's it's verse 23 of mark 5 he says my little daughter lieth at the point of death i pray thee Come and lay thy hands on her that she may be healed and she will live. And so Jesus goes with him and it. tells us there's so many people now that are with him and and following him and when you go there you see the streets were not that wide everyone they they kind of were

tight because there were buildings and things like that all around. And so you can see that it might've been super crowded as they were moving. And before we even get to the woman, I just want to think about the father. I want you to think about what is in Jairus's heart and what are his emotions in that moment that he's left his house.

left his wife at the bedside of his daughter. He's heard Jesus is in this little town. He just comes running. So just imagine that level of anxiousness and the weight that is on him and he comes and i'm i'm sure it wasn't like he waited for a break in the conversation i'm sure he ran up to that table barely breathing

and said my daughter is right now at the point of death can you come and you can imagine like people like moving their seats and and their lunch and jesus standing up and him like it's this way and and that as he's

to get through that crowd you've got to just imagine that he's like are we going to get there fast enough are we going to get there soon enough and and him being you know all about moving and and finding that pathway through that crowd and then it tells us this in 25 and a certain woman

which had an issue of blood 12 years and had suffered many things of many physicians and had spent all that she had and was nothing better, but instead was getting worse. And when she. also heard of Jesus. And I think it's so interesting that you have Jairus and you have this woman that somehow people were like, he's back. He's here. He's in this little town. Both of their immediate like inclinations is go, go and find him in this moment. And so she came in the press behind and.

Remember, she's not really allowed to touch people. She's not allowed to be by people. It's probably been years since she's had any physical touch at all and she knows the rules she knows the system and so i love that she's like i'll just come in behind and and just reach out and maybe if i just touch his like his clothes then it will be fine it'll be fine for him and it will be well with me is is what I love to imagine and

No one will know. No one will be the wiser. I won't interrupt anything. I'll just engage in this really tiny way. And because she says, if I can just touch his clothes, I will be made whole. And so she did. And in verse 29, it tells us straightway, the fountain of her blood was dried up and she felt in her body. that she was healed of that plague. And note straightway in verse 29, and then I love in verse 30, and immediately, Jesus immediately, knowing in himself,

that virtue had gone out of him. So here is this moment. I love here the Greek translation for the word virtue. And I saw... Elaine Dalton just joined us who we love. And I can never say the word virtue without thinking of Elaine. It just, they go hand in hand for me. And I love what we learned about the Greek translation of the word virtue here is it was. strength. That's what he felt go out of him was strength or power in that moment of healing. And then something really interesting happens.

Because he stops in that moment. And just for a second, I want to just think, if you're Jairus, what's your immediate thought? What's your immediate emotion? What is going through your mind? And also, if you're the woman, what is your immediate thought and what is the emotion and and what is going through your mind we've got both of those people in this

moment where it's like the whole world stands still for one second. Now, it doesn't tell us what Jairus was thinking, but I have had children who have been really sick and i know what that emotion feels like and looks like that thought of like we can't stop we can't we have to keep going that we don't have time to stop i'm sure that is what he's thinking and the reason why i want to point it out is because we're going to talk about peace today we're going to talk about this city of comfort

today and it's what Jairus didn't have in that moment. I bet there was not one ounce of peace or comfort in Jairus in this moment. And we don't get to read his. perspective in these next couple of verses. We don't get to see what he was thinking or feeling or caring or how he was responding or reacting to this. But we do get to see into the heart of the woman. Because it says when he said, who touched me? And...

And then he looks around and I love in verse 32 when it says to see her who had done this thing. He already knew. Before she came forward, before anyone said anything, he knew who he was stopping for. He knew what he was doing. We cannot even for one second think.

That he doesn't know exactly what's happening with Jairus. And he doesn't know exactly what's happening with that woman in that moment. And then it tells us in 33, the woman fearing and... trembling but knowing what was done in her came and fell down before him and told him all the truth and again i just want you to think for a minute How many seconds did that take? How many minutes did that take if you're Jairus? And then there's that sweet moment when he says to her daughter,

Thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace. And there we find that word, that idea of this peace that is going to come because of faith. that can make you whole in these moments that are the fearing, trembling moments of our life. And I can't help but wonder if Jairus in that moment... sees another daughter who is healed of an illness. And did he need, we don't know, but did he need that increase of faith?

for what was about to happen in his own life. And did the Lord know he would need that increase of faith? for what was about to happen because then while jesus is still saying to the woman go in peace the um a servant from the house came and said your your daughter died So we don't need Jesus anymore. And I just want to think about that moment for a minute. Because how many of us have been in that situation where we're...

desperate for something, for a resolution of some sort, for the answer, for the miracle, for that thing. And we've done it. We've got ourselves to Jesus. We're there. And then how often do we have that moment of disappointment, that moment where it feels like all is lost? There's no way out of this place for us.

How often have we been generous? And I love what happens next because as soon, there's certain words in this section that are so important. Straightway. immediately and then in verse 36 as soon um i love this thought of this jesus who shows up he just is there he's in it he's like He knows every single thing that is happening. And just his immediate response is to say to Jairus, be not afraid, only believe.

And for just a minute, let's think about what that actually looks like in a life when it feels like everything is unraveling around you. How do we get to that point? of um putting aside fear and i love those two words only believe don't you think those two words are so awesome um and so He told no one could come and he takes only Peter, James and John and he comes to the house and he sees.

Everything that's going on in there and all the weeping and everything that's happening. And I love that the first thing he does is remove the distractions. He's like, okay, we can't actually even go forward until we've removed the distraction. What is going to prevent? the miracle that is about to take place so he he puts everybody out and don't you love that um stillness is what will precede the miracle is this moment of stillness

And then he takes her by the hand and tells her daughter, arise. And I love that he calls both these women daughter. I don't know why, but it's so tender to me because it's so immediate family.

to me you know it's it's like it's not a stranger but it's someone who's who's in on the inside of what is going on and um and then she immediately gets up and walks and moves forward and what i love about these two stories as we enter into this elder stevenson conversation is we're talking about two people who did not have peace they did not have comfort that woman had not had it for years and Jairus

Although his was in an instant, it was intense in that instant. And we see this moment of Jesus navigating. peace and comfort into their life and what that actually looks like. And I love that in both of them, it feels like a situation that can't be resolved for both. And it is. It is resolved. And I love that straightway immediately as soon he showed up. Now, let's not forget that straightway happened after 12.

years of waiting and giving everything she had. So if you're someone who's been praying for 12 years, he understands that. But also, it doesn't mean that there's not a miracle ahead. And I think that's so important to remember that he knows the timing. He knows what to do.

And so with all of that in mind, now let's dive into this talk from Elder Stevenson. And so Shima, you just take us, what were some of your favorite parts? What were your standouts? Oh, so good. I just want to respond quickly to what you just taught, which was so powerful. But I think of, you know, what occurred to me as you're talking about the woman. I mean, she 12 years inflicted with this.

probably tried everything she could have thought of everything around but yet she still had faith to turn to him and you know one of the most powerful stories of faith that that she has right that um that she is he says you know thy faith had made made thee whole and you think how do you have faith after 12 years of failure and failure and failure i mean i think a lot of us would just give up but she has this faith still and believes

he can heal her i just think um so i i love that lesson so so much um So many good thoughts with this. I think the key, which I loved as he started and kind of ties into Mark too, is where he says that peacemaking begins with our hearts. I think often when we think of peacemakers or peacemakers, peacemaking, we might think of it as a community thing, as how we deal with others. But I love that focus of how do we start within our own hearts to kind of let go, like you said, only believe.

How do we have only belief and faith and rather than the fear and panic? I saw a lot of people making comments that we would have been panicked. We would have been panicked and we are panicked sometimes and have anxiety. How do we replace that with pure belief?

and the peace of Jesus Christ. I think that's really a beautiful way he starts. Yeah, and as you think about the... the going in didn't you love in paragraphs free when he kind of does that same thing imagine with me you are a young teenager in Capernaum near the sea of Galilee during the ministry of Jesus And word spreads of this rabbi, a teacher whose message draws multitudes. And I love when he is like walking us into the city.

I love that that's what happens, that he wants to take you into this story, to what this is going to look like and what it's going to feel like. And right above that city, probably on that hillside that we've been on, is where the Sermon of the Mount would have happened. And it is such a peaceful place. I mean, the difference between Galilee and Jerusalem is just this feeling of peace and quiet and...

I don't know. The sea in a storm is not quiet, but for the majority of the rest of the time, it is such a peaceful place. Wouldn't you say that's true? Yes. Oh, it's night and day. And I think until I had the honor to go study with you and David on your tour.

it was it's it's hard to see but galilee is beautiful it's like pristine it's like where you would vacation it seems like right a small town and then jerusalem is bustling there's lots of people it's i mean so you think of like where jesus spent so much of his time teaching these

people i just think and also no one would have saw that coming right they would have thought the messiah would have for sure been in the biggest city all the time and he really wasn't he chose these kind of small towns where where people you know might not have been as important in jerusalem but they were important to him Yes. Yeah. Which I love so much. And that's where the line comes. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.

I love just thinking right now, I love when he's talking about you're hearing people talk about this rabbi, this teacher, this... someone who was changing things and making a difference. And it feels like I love when he's like, okay, fast forward 2000 years, that we're kind of in that same place where you have a lot of people questioning. Who is this Jesus? And what can he do for me? What's in it for me? You know, you feel people testing and trying on faith and what faith is going to look like.

And I loved when he talked about in 13. he said this about the rising generation gratefully our young men and women are similarly similarly drawn to their sermon on the mount moments and then he listed what those would be for the youth but i was so intrigued by i wanted to just think about this when was my last sermon on the mount moment don't you want to think about that for a minute

When is the last time that his words just settled on me in a way that I carried them with me and thought about them and pondered them? I don't know. What do you think about that? Oh, I love that. I think honestly, when I, anytime I do Inklings, just because when you study his words and I think all of us would agree, I think you've really taught.

I would say me, but I would probably speak for many others, all the hundred thousand people that you help teach. When you really study his words, they just kind of imprint on your heart as Paul talks about. And I feel like.

You really have taught us how to just study the words and see them. I mean, words now pop out of the page I've just marked in my pink scriptures that you taught me to have, right? The virtue and peace and only belief. I mean, I just think those are my Sermon of the Mount moments. Anytime I...

put my head in and start reading these words, even if it's just one verse. I, um, have learned that, but I'm curious what yours is because, um, yeah, tell us what is your last one? Well, mine has been kind of fun. And interesting, I am feeling a lot of weight right now. And things that are causing me to spend a lot of time praying.

and thinking and wrestling and i'll generally go to bed in the wrestle and sometimes that just happens we've got a lot of stuff going on at home right now and and with some of our kids and It just feels like when I look at my life, there isn't a whole lot of rest anywhere. And I know there are so many of you who know exactly what I'm talking about. I don't know why, but for the last week, and this has never happened to me before, so don't just think this like.

always happens. It actually never has before. I mean, every so often it will, and you will have heard me talk about it, where a line of scripture will just settle into my mind and I'll carry it around for like a week. But this week, every morning, I have woken up to a random line of scripture in my mind. And they really are random. The first one came out of this funny scripture in Acts 27. And I haven't read Acts 27 in years.

That was the first one. The second one was the scripture that a very large ship can be benefited by a very small helm. I talked about this last week because this is when it started happening. And I was like, okay. I feel like I could be a small helm. I'm going to just, I researched what a helm does. And I was like, okay, I'm just going to work on doing that. And every single morning.

There has been a line of scripture this week just coming. It just keeps coming. And I started writing them down because it began. Oh, you guys know I keep talking about that little piece of paper in my kitchen that is now two pieces of paper.

because I'm trying to gather all of them as I go, because there must be something important happening. But that it has increased. And so this week, it has been every single... morning just this a phrase of scripture that I will wake up to and just carry with me for the whole day and I and I know it's important and I know it's important for that day and so

I would say that has been my sermon on the Mount this week, are those one-liners that I'm just holding on to and thinking about and letting those. lead the way and who doesn't want to take only believe today for your for your first that you're just carrying through the whole day like that's gonna go on my paper for sure because

I just feel like that is so important and needed. But I think sometimes we imagine Sermon on the Mount moments are going to be like these, like... huge you can't miss them general conference experiences and what if it's just the whisper of the spirit in the morning of like you might want to like consider this today you know

It might be soft like that. And maybe it comes from a conversation with a friend or something that you read or... a song that you listen to i just i love that those can be so small what would you say oh i just i like taking all this in i just feel like um watching how the lord speaks to you it really just kind of

I don't know, makes us all feel like he can speak to us in the same way or recognize that that's when he's speaking to us, when the verse comes into the head or when your friend says something that clicks. I think the last one I could say is... probably you know i had a friend and i've been kind of thinking about what to give for a talk that i have coming up and she said this she said this line she said um you know uh

the the song the the sign the the the line from the song lord i would follow thee where it says savior may i learn to love thee and i've been thinking about that for the last two weeks i'm like learning to love the savior i don't know somehow i just never clicked to me thinking about what does that mean to me to learn to love him it almost seems like love either comes or doesn't

And you might work at it, but I guess I never have thought about how I can learn to love the Savior. So that's been kind of what's been on my mind a lot. That's so awesome. And I love that thought of that learning.

It's almost as if it's like that one line can become that sermon. And you're making me think every day I look out and watch the Salt Lake Temple being... reconstructed you know it's just it is an ongoing part of my day-to-day life which i know is not true for anyone else but me but it is right in the trajectory of everything that i'm doing is this

view that i have to be watching and someone once said and i can't remember who it was but every stone on that temple is a sermon wow and do you know how many stones are on that temple And I love that thought that every single stone is a sermon, which makes me think of our own life. How many sermons will we experience, you know, in a day? in a month, in a year, and just that collecting of exactly what you're talking about, those one-liner sermon statements.

that um that would change us and mold us and and grow us up into this this holiness into who the lord needs us to be which is so um So awesome to think about. I love that because as you think about peace and peacemaking, I think sometimes we forget that Jesus is for just the one. He's for me. He's for you. He's speaking that word to you and this to me. He's saying, you know, only believe to. I mean, he just is saying what everyone needs to hear. And that's why I think like.

to have that peace it comes from the heart because only you know what's in your heart and only i know what's in my heart But Christ knows all of our hearts. And so I just, it's such a beautiful way to think about peace. And I love how you started that way because you can go a lot of ways with peacemaking and, you know, we can think about it a lot of ways.

if it starts with just what he's whispering to me and to you isn't that just the the best place to begin that's so good um yeah and especially with what you were talking about that it actually begins in our own heart and so Who are we letting whisper to our heart? Because you know the voices that would have us doubt and fail, and those are trying to find room. Also, and I love that thought of letting him be the one who's whispering to our heart. That's so awesome. What else was a standout?

So, you know, I loved paragraph 14 had a lot of good stuff. I know our Inklings friends love footnotes and I had a little fun in the footnotes there. I wanted to tell a little story if we have a minute, but. On paragraph 14, it said, peacemakers needed. It talks about President Nelson's talk. And then disagree without being disagreeable. Replace contention and pride with forgiveness and love.

You know, in the footnotes, there's a President Oaks talk in footnote 8. It says, living with policy differences is essential to politics, but policy differences need not involve, what does it say?

personal attacks that poison the process of government and and punish uh participants and as i was so good isn't that so good president oaks is such a genius when it comes to this but i had thought of this experience i had i think about a month ago where um it was kind of a random group of friends together one of them you know would refer to herself as a democratic socialist another one is more of kind of like your typical utah male um not a socialist probably republican although

wasn't sure and I remember sitting down and and politics came up because you know the New York election was happening and I'm thinking how is this gonna go and I remember it was it changed my life because The one, the Democratic Socialist friend of mine, you know, she ended up saying to the other friend, she said, you know, if you didn't vote for Kamala Harris, you're racist.

she said and and she said you're you're racist that's why you don't vote and i'm thinking he's a white male so i'm looking at this like how is this gonna go and it was the most beautiful thing emily he said he just paused he didn't say a word and then he said wow he in full kind of like genuineness because you could see it he was like

Wow, I need to really think about that. He's like, I wonder if I'm racist. And then proceeded to ask her all these questions of how would I know if I'm racist? What do you think I should look for? And it diffused the situation in the most beautiful, peaceful way.

couldn't even believe what I was hearing I mean I was so touched by this I told my husband I was like you will not believe what just happened because anytime this I don't know if you've been around it maybe people don't talk politics with you Emily but

I'm like, I just couldn't believe it. And I just thought, isn't that so what we're supposed to do to just be curious and interested. And by the end of it, they're giving each other hugs. She feels she's never felt more seen in her life. She is like sending him. books. She's like, you should read this and that. I mean, it was so amazing. And don't you want to know, how did he get to that place in his life where his first response, his first inclination?

was not to be backed into a corner, was not to get defensive, was not to like... you know, enter in with a comeback, but to just be like, oh, let me like think about that with you. We could learn so much from that, not just in politics, but think how many conversations that we have on a daily basis that are where you could immediately disagree.

you just could um and the thought of like okay that requires a lot of like um self-mastery to enter into a situation like that I agree that's why I was so touched I've never seen anyone do it quite like that I mean I've seen very disrespectful dialogue you know what we call you know distinguished dialogue or whatever it is but but nothing like that where And I think it's like you can sense the tone, right? Yes.

coming at you with so much hurt and so much pain and so much kind of difficulty in a in a view it's hard to then say well what about this what about you know to go back and forth sometimes you just need to listen and other times you go back and forth but just to be able to distinguish what will bring peace in this situation is a gift. And it's a spiritual gift. Yes. And I love that because I loved as we went through Elder Stevenson's talk, it was interesting that he was like,

You have to be like thinking so broadly about peacemaking. It starts in your own heart. Then he talks about our home. Then he talks about our communities where he's like, once you figured it out for you. Then practice it a little bit, you know, on the people who are closest to you and then go out into the community and what can happen there. I'm sure you did too, the story that he tells in paragraph 33, where he wants to talk about the imam and the pastor from Nigeria.

and that experience that they have where they engage um and they're able to overcome so much yeah just because they're willing and because their hearts are in the right space Right. This is not and these are two enemies. I actually would love to hear. I haven't thought about that, but I want to hear your you just spoke recently at a big New York City interfaith conference. Did you have any kind of insight from that? Because I feel like that would go with this.

And then I have a thought, too, if there's time. So if you know me well, you know I love interfaith relations. It is my favorite thing. In fact, tomorrow I get to go and be a part of a huge interfaith. conference that's happening here in Salt Lake City and then I was back at that one in New York and i had the opportunity to sit by this pastor who i just by the end of the hour that we had spent together i loved him so much and

He and I were both asked to speak on the rising generation. And this is one thing that I have learned that I think is so important for situations like that. and it's um it's not always our first inclination um it's something we have to like practice and work into and i had a really great mentor who

who helped me kind of walk into what this looked like, who is a traditional Christian from Texas. And then another friend that I met in North Carolina, both of whom are... authors and writers and their heart is to pull people around the table and find out how to better the world because we're coming together not because we're standing apart

And one of the things that I learned as I associated with them over a few years is there are a couple things that can be really helpful in situations like this. And the first one is... to leave your differences at the door and only bring to the table what is similar between you and the second thing is that i love is anticipate that you will learn something from them that will make you better. And I feel like if we were to do those two things in a genuine way with love being our only motive.

is just to love better um we would experience some amazing things as i began that journey of this interfaith journey i signed up and started going to a bible study in a church by my house a traditional Christian church. And I called and said, can I come? I want to come and I want to be a part of this group. But I said, I'm a Latter-day Saint, so I don't... I don't know if I would be welcome or not. And I wanted right off the bat for people just to know where I was.

And they were like, oh, sure, you can come. And so I got assigned to a group. And at this church, they had 150 women that would come every Wednesday morning. And then you were assigned to a group of like 12 people. And so on the first day, we all introduced ourselves. And I did introduce myself, who I was. Because you were supposed to say where your church was. And so I said where my church was.

Then we got into that year long conversation and it was really interesting because we were studying the Old Testament and questions would. often come up and i would have normally said well in our church we believe but i could feel the spirit saying no don't that

That is not what you're here for. And so I would just enter into the conversation and I would use the words on that page because I believe in the Old Testament and I believe in the teachings that are there. And for one year, I just engaged. I didn't bring any differences to the table. I just engaged with what we had that was similar between us. And at the end of a year, so a whole year at the end of that study group session.

The woman who led the group said, last day, can I ask you a question? And I said, yes. And she said, okay. I have been told my entire life that Mormons and Christians are not compatible, that we are not the same. And yet when I hear you talk about Jesus, It sounds exactly the same as how I talk about Jesus. And so now I'm trying to reconcile how are we different exactly? Because what I'm seeing is.

how much the same we are and it was such an interesting lesson for me to realize because our first inclination isn't always to to look for the similarities. Our first inclination is often to say, well, in our church, we believe, and that's how we engage. And I was taught a powerful lesson. in finding similarities, and in allowing other people to teach us. I am more faithful. I am better in my faith relationship with God.

because of what those women taught me for that year and i think it's important for us to realize we can learn from everyone god places in our path I love that. That's so beautiful. I, and your best friendship with, with Nish. But it's so beautiful. I think your humility that you expressed and your actual belief that they can teach you something. It's like my friend Tyler expressed with the friend that saw political views. But I mean, if we engage in interfaith in that same way.

I also had an experience this last year. I go to some interfaith conferences, too, for my work. And I had kind of two conferences, one that didn't go quite so well and one that went really well. And I think what I learned from it, it was. a lot of muslims because we were in uzbekistan and it's a beautiful country where they are open and it's kind of you know like azerbaijan which just opened up to missionaries just like the most exciting thing i we i wept as a foreign

muslim thinking the gospel can be taught in the muslim world now but uzbekistan is really close and it's another place where we have some really great relationships and as this group came together i'm a little like weary because like i'm iranian ex-muslim not a cool thing to be ex-muslim right lds and coming and I just it was the most powerful most beautiful conference I've ever been to because what the the the person who ran it he is Iranian but from Utah very familiar with our faith and very

close friends with people of our faith that has no antagonism and he what he called it is called he called it the dignity of the heart conference And so everyone's talks were about the heart and how their faith leads them and their God leads them to this feeling of love in their hearts. And really it was about peacemaking and kind of in legal ways and economic ways and all these ways. How do we.

use our hearts to build better relationships and i just it was like just that kind of starting with the heart as as elder stevenson did helped us all just feel like what was the best parts of our faith what made us love each other despite our differences and really the differences didn't come up at all all we talked about we you know we quoted muhammad on forgiveness we quoted the jesus on forgiveness

we quoted you know all of this all of the beautiful words from our various faiths on peace and love and the heart and it went so well like the spirit was there so much so strong like people were in tears and and just loved each other and for me I was

Like, I got invited to the most conservative town in Iran called Qom. It's like, I would probably get killed if I went. I, you know, declined. But, like, the fact that they're inviting a Christian to their town, to the most religious town in Iran, which is not a very free country.

when it comes to faith I felt like something happened at this conference right like we and it was because like you said everyone was willing to learn from each other and we didn't assume the worst you know positive things yes i love that idea that assuming the best becomes so important yeah um and i loved as you as you just think about that um I mean, first of all, one of the things that I felt like you just taught us is being willing to engage and even enter in.

to those situations that feel different than us. And to find the similarities and to open our heart and to be willing to learn is... I think also so important in bringing peace. It's a hard, peace is hard, but I also love when, you know, the one thing we learn about Mark five is the woman. who was reaching was not left alone. And Jairus was not left alone. And neither was his wife or his daughter. And in those urgent moments, in those frantic and...

And the moments where there is no peace, there is no comfort in that wrestle moment to just remember he is here. Someone in the comments earlier wrote down Emmanuel. God with us. And I think that's so important to remember in those times when we aren't feeling peace that the Prince of Peace. can actually be with us and near us. And you think of those moments when Jairus was standing there and the answer hadn't come, but the Savior was right there within reach.

in that moment and a miracle was coming it was coming um but jesus didn't just show up for the miracle and i love i love the idea of that Yeah, if we can feel his words in our hearts like you've been filled the last two weeks rather than the fear.

Just let's let the fear out and his words in. And he is there for each of us. I love that reminder so much. Yeah. And someone just said in the comments, and I've been thinking about this all week. I don't know if anyone else has done this yet, but it was so.

fun to do this this week is as we went through these talks we tried to place them with a line from um president oak's talk that he gave us that's where we were pulling from and our families and what does this actually look like in a family and and each of these things that we've learned so far so um we are um let's see how many talks in are we

One, two, three, four, five, six talks in right now. And so if you were to look at what we've learned and what we might be utilizing in our homes right now from this past conference. we've learned that families embrace doctrine and in particular the doctrine of jesus christ families ask for assistance and we've talked about the name that he calls us but also asking in his name. Families watch for the love of Heavenly Father and that idea of no one sits alone. And think what we've learned.

from that talk. Families find strength in affliction. I don't know why, but President Irene's talk, still our conversation we had from Inklings. is one I keep going back to, is families find strength in affliction. Families teach the purpose of life. And that was Elder Uddorf's talk where we learned about doing our part with all our heart.

Families teach the true source of joy. And this is what we just did last week, which was President Christopherson's talk and what we were learning from him. And then... I love today's blessed are the peacemakers. And the line from that talk that we are thinking about is families teach kindness and such a good week to be. focusing on what that looks like i love it

Can I say one thing that I think is so helpful? When I married my husband, Ryan, he was 38. Amazing catch, but just like hadn't settled down. I remember his dad told me two things. He's like, You know, there's two things you need about Ryan and marrying him. Like, okay, you know, we're engaged. He's like, number one, he likes the house really cold. So I'm like, okay, I can deal with that. Number two, he said he responds really well to positive reinforcement.

And as I've like really tried to implement that in my marriage, I think that's all of us. Like families respond to kindness. Like our kids respond to kindness and everyone does actually. It's not just our families, but. If we can teach that to ourselves, I just think that's such a powerful thing. I just want to say that in case that's so good. Yeah, that's so good.

And just so many little things that maybe will help us in different areas of our life and our families, maybe in your workplace, maybe with other relationships that you have right now. Just that idea of maybe working on kindness will be so powerful this week. So, so many good things today. um and so fun to be talking about peace in december so i thought that was so fun

Um, so be thinking about all that. Shima, thank you so much. Thank you, president. We love you. We adore you. We'll be back next week. Okay. Bye. Thanks everyone. Thanks for joining me. This podcast is taken from our Thursday Inklings discussions, which happen live on Instagram at inklings.institute. If you loved being here, I'd love to invite you to go even deeper with me. Get reminders and enjoy first access to all our events and gatherings by going to emilybellfreeman.com backslash Inklings.