WEBVTT

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Paisley: Hey everybody, Paisley
imperfect here again, and today

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we're going to talk about a talk
by President Uchtdorf back in

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October of 2011 it's called, you
matter to him. The title alone

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pretty much gives the whole
thing away. You matter to him,

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but you know, I'm not going to
just leave it there, so let's

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keep going. Most of what I want
to talk about is towards the end

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of his talk. But there are some
things that I want to point out

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or that I I want to touch on, at
least before we get to the end,

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because they they help kind of
set the stage for for when we

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get there. If you were to just
take his talk and read just the

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headers of the different
sections that are in his talk,

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this is what you would get. The
first one, we are less than we

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suppose. We are greater than we
suppose, the folly of pride. We

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are not forgotten. The last
shall be first, and you matter

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to him. So he starts off by
talking about Moses, actually,

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and how Moses at after Moses had
met with God on the top of the

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mountain, he said, and I'm
paraphrasing, but he said, Man

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is nothing. Moses actually had
something to compare that to, if

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you think about it, right? Moses
grew up in the Egyptian in an

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Egyptian Pharaoh's home. He knew
what greatness looked like, and

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so when it came, when he when he
said, Man is nothing, it really

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meant something. And that's the
we are less than we suppose.

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Part of the talk, he talks about
Moses a little bit, but then he

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said this quote. And while we
may look at the vast expanse of

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the universe and say, What is
man in comparison to the glory

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of creation, God himself said we
are the reason he created the

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universe, his creation. The
creation is part of the plan,

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right? The plan of happiness,
plan of salvation, plan of

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redemption. Pick your favorite
title. But creation is part of

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that plan. He put it this way.
This is a paradox of man

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compared to God. Man is nothing,
yet we are everything to God.

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And I'm going to add in that
makes us something. The universe

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was created by God. He created
it for us because we are

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everything to him. We are
greater than we suppose. Then he

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points out, and this is where
the pride part comes in. The

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folly of pride. He points out
that Satan knows this, and he

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knows us, and He will use our
own weaknesses to appeal to the

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extremes of this paradox. We are
less than we suppose. We are

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greater than we suppose. And
President Uchtdorf starts with

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the we are greater than we
suppose. He says to some, he

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appeals to their their prideful
tendencies, puffing them up and

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encouraging them to believe in
the fantasy of their own self

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importance and invincibility,
invincibility. He tells them

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they have transcended the
ordinary and that because of

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ability, birthright or social
status, they are set apart from

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the common measure of all that
surrounds them. He leads them to

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conclude that they are therefore
not subject to anyone else's

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rules and not to be bothered by
anyone else's problems. This

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this end of the paradox, right?
We are greater than we suppose,

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and to the rest of us, he uses
discouragement and to be to be

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fair and to be clear. Sometimes
we're on this end and sometimes

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we're on this end
discouragement, he said quote.

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He attempts to focus our sight
on our own insignificance, until

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we begin to doubt that we have
much worth. He tells us that we

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are too small for anyone to take
notice, that we are forgotten,

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especially by God. And then he
shares this personal experience

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that I just thought I loved
reading it. I thought it was

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adorable, and I love it when
apostles share stories like

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this. Remember that he was born
in czechos Czechoslovakia. He

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grew up in East Germany, and at
the time of the story, he was a

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West German soldier. He was on
an airplane on his way to West

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Texas, a little place called Big
Spring. And when he got there,

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he looked for and found the
small branch that was there.

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They were meeting in some some
rented rooms there on the air

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base, and there were really only
about a. Full of them. There was

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a meeting house being built in
the area, but that was also at

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the time when the members did a
lot of the construction and a

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lot of the building and putting
together. So it took a little

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bit longer to build a meeting
house back then than it does

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now, for that and probably other
reasons as well, when he wasn't

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in pilot training, or when he
wasn't studying, he was helping

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build the meeting house or
teaching Sunday school or

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teaching an elders quorum. In
fact, he said that he, quote,

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spent so much time working on
the meeting house that the

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branch president, who also
happened to be one of our flight

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instructors, expressed concern
that I perhaps should spend more

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time studying. He was also using
these callings to help to help

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him better his English. He was
using these, these teaching

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callings to help him better his
English. I would also dare say

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that he was probably getting
better at English by helping out

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in construction. He said
something about how he learned

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that a two by four was a piece
of wood, not a dance step. There

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are some rather funny parts in
the talk. As always, I encourage

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you to go read the whole thing
yourself. Anyway, he said quote

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at the time, Big Spring, despite
its name, was a small,

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insignificant and unknown place,
and I often felt exactly the

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same way about myself,
insignificant, unknown and quite

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alone, even so, I never once
wondered if the Lord had

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forgotten me, or if he would
ever be able to find me there. I

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knew that it didn't matter to
Heavenly Father where I was

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where I ranked with others in my
pilot training class, or what my

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calling in the church was. What
mattered to him was that I was

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doing the best I could, that my
heart was inclined toward him,

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and that I was willing to help
those around me. I knew if I did

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the best I could, all would be
well. So let me ask you this

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question really quick. How does
it make you feel to know that a

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future then future apostle, a
member of the First Presidency,

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felt insignificant, unknown and
quite alone, had a time in his

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life where he felt
insignificant, unknown and quite

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alone, and did you see in that
story, kind of what sets him

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apart? This is my opinion, what
sets him apart and what helped

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him to become an apostle. It
wasn't that he never felt those

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feelings. Notice that he did. He
said I felt insignificant,

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unknown and quite alone. But
then he said, Even so, I never

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wondered if the Lord had
forgotten me. He knew he wasn't

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forgotten, but that didn't, that
didn't make him feel suddenly

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significant or remembered,
right? Um, okay, so in the last

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section of his talk, and I
wanted to share all of that,

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because it's a great build up,
um, to this end part of his

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talk, the last section of his
talk is called you matter to

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him. And he reminds us that.
Quote, It may be true that man

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is nothing in comparison to the
greatness of the universe. At

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times we may even feel
insignificant, invisible, alone

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or forgotten, but always
remember you matter to him. And

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then He gives four principles
for to help us to remember this

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number one. God loves the humble
and meek, for they are the

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greatest in the kingdom of
heaven. We don't have to be

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loud. We don't have to be
obnoxious. And I mean that in a

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positive way, if you can mean
obnoxious in a positive way, we

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don't have to be we don't have
to be in your face to be

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significant. God loves the
humble and meek. Number two, the

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Lord entrusts the fullness of
His gospel to be proclaimed by

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the weak and the simple unto the
ends of the world. And that

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always takes me back to Joseph
Smith. Not that Joseph Smith was

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weak. I do not think that Joseph
Smith was weak at all. A

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seemingly insignificant, 14 year
old boy, did not come from a

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wealthy family,

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had very little education, but
the Lord entrusts the fullness

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of His gospel to be proclaimed
by the weak and the simple unto

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the ends of the world, the weak
of the world, the weak in the

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eyes of the world. That's, I
think that's the term that I'm

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looking for. Number three, no
matter where you live, no matter

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how humble your circumstances,
how meager your employment, how

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limited your abilities, how
ordinary your appearance, or how

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little your calling in the
church may. Appear to you. You

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are not invisible to your
heavenly Father, He loves you.

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He knows your humble heart and
your acts of love and kindness.

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People always use the nursery
leader to talk about, quote,

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unquote, insignificant callings.
There was no other calling in

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the church more significant to
me when my kids were in nursery

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than the nursery leader. There
is no insignificant calling in

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the church, unless you make it
that way. Number four, please

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understand that what you see and
experience now is not what

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forever will be you will not
feel loneliness, sorrow, pain or

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discouragement. Forever. We have
the faithful promise of God that

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He will never forget nor forsake
those who incline their hearts

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to Him. This too shall pass. We
matter, and in case you needed

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one last reminder, I'll leave
you with this quote from the

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talk. The most powerful being in
the universe is the father of

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your spirit. He knows you. He
loves you with a perfect love.

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God sees you not only as a
mortal being on a small planet

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who lives for a brief season. He
sees you as His child. He sees

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you as the being you are capable
and designed to become. He wants

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you to know that you matter to
him. We matter. We matter. We

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are not forgotten. We are not
insignificant. We are sons and

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daughters of God, the most
powerful being in the universe.

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Thank you, my friends for being
here with me today. Keep

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learning, keep growing. Just
keep trying and be of good cheer

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until next time you.