Well it's official, Calvin is one of the youth! He was asked to give his first talk in sacrament meeting a few Sunday's ago. I am so proud of him. Eric showed him how to look talk subjects up on www.lds.org and then how to skim them for content and which ones would apply best, then Calvin did the rest. He found 2 conference talks to read and wrote his talk all by himself. He typed it and everything! I think he was proud of himself, too. His subject was repentance and he did an amazing job! It is so fun to be a spectator in the events of his life! I love to see the young man he is becoming. I love you Calv!
Here is his talk if you would like to read it:
Calvin’s repentance talk
I am Calvin Nicol and I was asked to give a talk on faith in the lord Jesus Christ or repentance I chose to speak on repentance. OK first of all what dose repentance really mean? Well according to the bible dictionary it means: forgiveness or the remission of sins. So now that we know what repentance means, we can go into how you repent. There are six steps to repenting, the first step is to realize that you have done something wrong, then to determine how bad of a sin it is. The second step is the atonement of sin, this is a permanent effort to not do the sin ever again. The third step is the confession of sins. You always need to tell your heavenly father if you have sinned if there is a big sin that needs to be confessed to a bishop or a stake president. The fourth step is the restitution for sin. You must restore as much as possible all that is stolen or damaged from the sin. The fifth step is to follow all the commandments. Full obedience brings the complete power of the gospel into your life with strength to focuses on the abandonment of the sin. Step six even though it is the last step it is still extremely important, it is recognition of the savior. This is very critical part in repentance so that you know that only on the Saviors terms you can be forgiven. So that is how you repent, now I would like to share a story that I found in the 1995 May ensign, Elder Richard G Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve apostles shares this story, “Recently, while traveling on an unfamiliar road, I encountered a large temporary sign declaring Rough Road Ahead, and indeed it was. Had I not been warned, that experience would have been disastrous. Life is like that. It’s full of rough spots. Some are tests to make us stronger. Others result from our own disobedience. Helpful warnings in our personal life can also save us from disaster. A damaged road presents the same obstacles to every traveler until others repair it. The highway of life is different. Each one of us encounters unique challenges meant for growth. Also, our own bad choices can put more barriers in the path. Yet we have the capacity to smooth out the way, to fill in the depressions, and to beautify our course. The process is called repentance; the destination is forgiveness. If you have ignored warnings and your life has been damaged or disabled by a rough road, there is help available. Through that help you can renew and rebuild your damaged life. You can start over again and change your course from a downward, twisting, disappointing path to a superhighway to peace and happiness.” I like the comparison of the rough spots in the road and hard times in life because I know life is hard but I know through repentance we can be forgiven by the Savior. The next story I would like to share is found in the April 1997 New Era talk given by Elder Neal Anderson of the Seventy, he shares his story, “I remember my father awakening me one cold night in February when I was about 16. I remember feeling startled; I had only been asleep about an hour. He explained that a steer from our farm had wandered onto the highway and been hit by a truck. The animal was dead. To save the meat we would have to act quickly. We dragged the steer to an open shed with our old tractor. Our next task was to hoist the animal up. We tied its hind feet together, then threw the rope over a beam. I remember struggling to get my arms under the animal’s hindquarters and lift as my father pulled. To lift with any effect required wrapping my whole body around the slippery animal. By the time the body was hung, the mud and stench was ingrained in my clothes. I felt miserable, but our work had only begun.Together my father and I cleaned the dead animal. We didn’t finish until about three in the morning. The smell, the slime, the dirt, and the filth clung to me as I went back to the house.Although it has been more than 25 years, the events of the next hour are vivid in my mind. I remember the satisfaction of removing my shirt. Peeling off each layer of clothing brought relief. I began washing—first my hands, then my arms. It was not the kind of dirt that disappeared quickly. Then I showered, first washing the ears, then the hair, back to the hands and fingernails, and to the hair again. It was some time before the cleansing was done.Slipping into clean pajamas, I lay awake for a while. It was four in the morning. I was exhausted, but the tiredness did not approach the satisfaction of being washed and clean.Yet as memorable as that experience was, there are feelings far surpassing the physical feelings of that cold winter night. I speak of marvelous spiritual feelings that come through the gift of the Savior’s atonement as the layers of sin are washed away and we come to feel spiritually clean. This story reminds me of baptism because when your baptize you feel spiritually clean. Each week we take the sacrament and renew our baptismal covenants and renew the good feeling we had after. I would like to bear my testimony that the church is true and through Heavenly father’s help we can repent and be forgiven for our sins. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
