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Dear brothers and sisters, when I served in Asia,
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people sometimes asked, "Elder Gong,
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how many people live in the Asia Area of the Church?"
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I said, "Half the world's population--3.6 billion
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people."
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Someone asked, "Is it hard to remember all their names?"
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[LAUGHTER] Remembering--and forgetting--are part
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of everyday life.
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For example, once, after looking everywhere
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for her new mobile phone, my wife
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finally decided to call it from another phone.
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When she heard her phone ring, my wife thought,
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"Who could be calling me?
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I haven't given that number to anyone!"
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[LAUGHTER] Remembering--and forgetting--are also part
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of our eternal journey.
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Time, agency, and memory help us learn, grow,
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and increase in faith.
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In the words of a favorite hymn:
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"We'll sing all hail to Jesus' name,
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And praise and honor give. ...
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Ye Saints, partake and testify
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Ye do remember him."
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Each week, in partaking of the sacrament,
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we covenant to always remember Him.
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Drawing on a few of the more than 400 scripture references
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to the word remember, here are six ways
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we can always remember Him.
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First, we can always remember Him
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by having confidence in His covenants, promises,
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and assurances.
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The Lord remembers His everlasting covenants--from
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Adam's time to the day Adam's posterity "shall embrace
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the truth, and look upward, then shall Zion look downward,
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and all the heavens shall shake with gladness,
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and the earth shall tremble with joy."
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The Lord remembers His promises, including promises
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to gather scattered Israel through the Book of Mormon:
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Another Testament of Jesus Christ,
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and promises given to every member and missionary who
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remembers the worth of souls.
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The Lord remembers and assures nations and peoples.
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In these days of motion and commotion,
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"some trust in horses, some in chariots,
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but we will remember the name of the Lord our God,"
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who guides "the future as he has the past."
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In "perilous times," we "remember
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that it is not the work of God that is frustrated,
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but the work of men."
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Second, we can always remember Him
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by gratefully acknowledging His hand throughout our lives.
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The Lord's hand is often clearest in our lives
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in hindsight.
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As Christian philosopher Soren Kierkegaard put it,
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"Life must be understood backward.
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But ... it must be lived forward."
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My dear mother recently celebrated her 90th birthday.
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She gratefully testified of God's blessing
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at each major junction in her life.
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Family histories, family traditions, and family ties
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help us savor remembrance of things
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past while providing future patterns and hope.
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Priesthood lines of authority and patriarchal blessings
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witness God's hand across generations.
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Have you ever thought of yourself
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as your own living book of remembrance, reflecting what
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and how you choose to remember?
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For example, when I was younger, I really
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wanted to play school basketball.
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I practiced and practiced.
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One day the coach pointed to our 6-foot-4 all-state center
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and our 6-foot-2 all-star forward and said to me,
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"I can put you on the team, but you'll likely never play."
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I remember how kindly he then encouraged, "Why not
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try out for soccer?
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You'd be good."
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My family cheered when I scored my first goal.
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We can remember those who give us
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a chance, and a second chance, with honesty, kindness,
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patience, and encouragement.
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And we can become someone others remember
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when they most needed help.
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Gratefully remembering the assistance of others
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and the Spirit's guiding influence
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is a way we remember Him.
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It is a way we count our many blessings
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and see what God hath done.
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Third, we can always remember Him
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by trusting when the Lord assures us "he who has repented
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of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord,
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remember them no more."
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When we fully repent, including by confessing and forsaking
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our sins, we ask with Enos, as our guilt is swept away,
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"Lord, how is it done?" and hear the answer, "Because
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of thy faith in Christ" and His invitation
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to "put me in remembrance."
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Once we repent and priesthood leaders declare us worthy,
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we need not continue to confess and confess these past sins.
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To be worthy does not mean to be perfect.
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His plan of happiness invites us to be
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humbly at peace on our life's journey to someday
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become perfected in Christ, not constantly worried, frustrated,
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or unhappy in our imperfections today.
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Remember, He knows all the things we don't want anyone
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else to know about us--and loves us still.
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Sometimes life tests our trust in Christ's mercy, justice,
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and judgment, and in His liberating invitation
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to allow His Atonement to heal us as we
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forgive others and ourselves.
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A young woman in another country applied
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to work as a journalist, but the official who assigned jobs
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was merciless.
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He said to her, "With my signature,
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I guarantee you will not become a journalist
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but will dig sewers."
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Imagine being the only woman digging
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sewers in a gang of men.
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Years later, this woman became an official.
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One day a man came in, needing her signature for a job.
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She asked, "Do you remember me?"
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He did not.
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She said, "You do not remember me, but I remember you.
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With your signature, you guaranteed
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I never became a journalist.
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With your signature, you sent me to dig sewers, the only woman
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in a gang of men."
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She told me, "I feel I should treat that man better
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than he treated me, but I do not have that strength."
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Sometimes that strength is not within us,
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but it can be found in remembering the Atonement
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of our Savior Jesus Christ.
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When trust is betrayed, dreams broken,
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hearts shattered and then broken again,
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when we want justice and need mercy, when our fists clench
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and our tears flow, when we need to know what to hold onto
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and what to let go of, we can always remember Him.
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Life is not as cruel as it can sometimes seem.
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His infinite compassion can help us
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find our way, truth, and life.
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When we remember His words and example,
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we will not give or take offense.
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My friend's father worked as a mechanic.
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His honest labor showed even in his carefully washed hands.
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One day someone at a temple told my friend's father
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he should clean his hands before serving there.
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Instead of being offended, this good man
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began to scrub the family dishes by hand with extra soapy water
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before attending the temple.
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He exemplifies those who "ascend into the hill of the Lord"
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and "stand in his holy place" with the cleanest of hands
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and the purest of hearts.
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If we have unkind feelings, grudges, or resentments,
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or if we have cause to ask forgiveness of others,
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now is the time to do so.
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Fourth, He invites us to remember that He always
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welcomes us home.
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We learn by asking and searching.
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But please do not cease exploration until you
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arrive--in the words of T.S. Eliot--"where [you] started
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and know the place for the first time."
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When you are ready, please open your heart
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to the Book of Mormon, again, for the first time.
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Please pray with real intent, again, for the first time.
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Trust that early or faint memory.
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Let it enlarge your faith.
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With God, there is no point of no return.
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Prophets ancient and modern implore us not to let human
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foibles, faults, or weaknesses--others' or our
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own--cause us to miss the truths, covenants,
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and redeeming power in His restored gospel.
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This is especially important in a church
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where we each grow through our imperfect participation.
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The Prophet Joseph said, "I never told you I was perfect;
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but there is no error in the revelations which
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I have taught."
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Fifth, we can always remember Him on the Sabbath
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through the sacrament.
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At the end of His mortal ministry
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and the beginning of His resurrected ministry,
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both times, our Savior took bread and wine
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and asked that we remember His body and blood,
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"for as oft as ye do this ye will remember this hour that I
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was with you."
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In the ordinance of the sacrament,
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we witness unto God the Father that we
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are willing to take upon us the name of His Son
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and always remember Him and keep His commandments, which
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He has given us, that we may always
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have His Spirit to be with us.
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As Amulek teaches, we remember Him
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when we pray over our fields, our flocks, and our households
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and when we remember the needy, the naked, the sick,
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and the afflicted.
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Finally, sixth, our Savior invites us to always remember
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Him as He always remembers us.
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In the New World, our resurrected Savior
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invited those present to come, one by one,
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to thrust their hands into His side
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and to feel the prints in His hands and in His feet.
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The scriptures describe resurrection as "every limb
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and joint shall be restored to ...
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their proper and perfect frame," and "even a hair of the head
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shall not be lost."
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That being so, please consider how
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it is that our Savior's perfect, resurrected body still
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bears the wounds in His side and the nail prints in His hands
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and feet.
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At times in history, mortal men have
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been executed by crucifixion.
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But only our Savior, Jesus Christ,
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embraces us still carrying the marks of His pure love.
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Only He fulfills the prophecy of being lifted up upon the cross
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that He might draw each of us, by name, to Him.
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Our Savior declares:
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"Yea, they may forget, yet [I will] not forget thee."
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"Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands."
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He testifies: "I am he who was lifted up.
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I am Jesus that was crucified.
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I am the Son of God."
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I humbly testify and pray that we will always remember Him--in
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all times, all things, and all places we may be in.
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In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.