WEBVTT 00:00:03.720 --> 00:00:05.880 Paisley: Hey everybody, welcome back. Paisley, imperfect here 00:00:05.880 --> 00:00:08.280 and today we are going to talk about the gathering of Israel. 00:00:08.940 --> 00:00:12.240 We are barely going to scratch the surface, though, like just 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:15.900 barely. I've been wanting to talk about this for a long time. 00:00:15.900 --> 00:00:19.440 It's something that you could say I'm passionate about, but I 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:23.480 haven't been able to figure out the right way to do it. But then 00:00:23.480 --> 00:00:30.260 today, I was thinking about an episode topic for Thursday, and 00:00:30.260 --> 00:00:37.160 my brain just automatically goes to holidays. And with Thursday 00:00:37.160 --> 00:00:40.540 being Halloween, I was trying to think, is there some way that I 00:00:40.540 --> 00:00:45.280 could tie this to Halloween. And I just, I just couldn't think of 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:48.700 a way to tie it to Halloween. But then I remembered, Dia de 00:00:48.700 --> 00:00:51.820 los Muertos is actually on Saturday, technically the 31st 00:00:52.060 --> 00:00:57.460 through the second and I, I got super excited. I love that. I 00:00:57.460 --> 00:01:02.160 love that holiday. I can't say that like we don't have an 00:01:02.160 --> 00:01:06.000 ofrenda, and we don't do all of those things, but I love what it 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:09.540 all represents, our family, our ancestors, the people who came 00:01:09.540 --> 00:01:13.080 before us, right? I love working on family history. I didn't 00:01:13.080 --> 00:01:20.660 always, but I've always felt like I should. My grandma and my 00:01:20.660 --> 00:01:25.880 aunt really liked it. My grandma, both of my grandmas, 00:01:25.880 --> 00:01:32.900 both of my grandmas, worked on family history. I got like a 00:01:32.900 --> 00:01:37.460 giant floppy disk file years ago from one of my grandmas. Kept 00:01:38.240 --> 00:01:43.420 trying to figure it out. I just, I could not, I couldn't wrap my 00:01:43.420 --> 00:01:46.480 head around what needed to be done, what didn't need to be 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:48.940 done. But I'm also getting a little bit ahead of myself, so 00:01:48.940 --> 00:01:52.900 let me just slow down for a second. Um, you may have heard 00:01:52.900 --> 00:01:56.440 this talk. You may not have. I'm only going to use one quote from 00:01:56.440 --> 00:02:01.020 this one particular talk. Um, back in 2018 President Nelson in 00:02:01.020 --> 00:02:05.340 a worldwide devotional to the youth, he said that the 00:02:05.340 --> 00:02:08.400 gathering is, quote, The greatest challenge, the greatest 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:12.600 cause and the greatest work on earth today, trying to get the 00:02:12.600 --> 00:02:16.080 youth motivated to work on the gathering of Israel, through 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:20.220 missionary work, through temple work, what, whatever, however, 00:02:20.220 --> 00:02:24.740 He could get them motivated to work on it. And my, my heart 00:02:24.740 --> 00:02:27.260 skipped a little beat, and I got a little excited, and I looked 00:02:27.260 --> 00:02:29.420 at all the young women sitting there watching it, and they were 00:02:29.420 --> 00:02:34.460 all just kind of like, I was like, Oh, I hope they get it 00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:41.500 anyway. So I've, I've always really loved it, but I could 00:02:41.500 --> 00:02:50.080 never figure out how to do it. I couldn't figure out my I am as 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:54.940 American as they come, like my people came over early, and 00:02:54.940 --> 00:03:01.440 we've been here ever since. I don't have any like I don't have 00:03:01.440 --> 00:03:04.500 any grandparents or great grandparents who were 00:03:04.500 --> 00:03:13.920 immigrants. We have been American since Columbus. Anyway, 00:03:13.980 --> 00:03:19.140 I so I couldn't figure out what to do. I couldn't figure out 00:03:19.140 --> 00:03:22.100 where to start, and so I just was kind of like, it was always 00:03:22.100 --> 00:03:24.500 this thing in my head, but I couldn't figure out where to 00:03:24.500 --> 00:03:27.260 start. And then fast forward a few years, and indexing came 00:03:27.260 --> 00:03:32.000 out, and I was like, Oh, that I can do. I can type super fast, 00:03:32.420 --> 00:03:39.320 and I can use that. I can do that and help other people find 00:03:39.320 --> 00:03:43.300 their answers, ancestors, because I don't have a clue what 00:03:43.300 --> 00:03:47.860 to do with my own so I did. I started indexing, and I indexed 00:03:47.860 --> 00:03:52.120 and indexed and indexed until I couldn't find anything left to 00:03:52.120 --> 00:04:00.420 index. I am not bilingual. I speak English, and that's it. I 00:04:02.820 --> 00:04:06.480 and I needed stuff that I could work on fast, because by this 00:04:06.480 --> 00:04:12.060 time I also was a parent, and so I needed stuff that I needed a 00:04:12.060 --> 00:04:14.700 batch that I could sit down and I could quickly finish and turn 00:04:14.700 --> 00:04:23.420 in, and there aren't any left in English. And so I indexed until 00:04:23.420 --> 00:04:26.240 I couldn't index anymore. And then I was like, Okay, what am I 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:29.480 going to do now? And then I found there are so many 00:04:29.480 --> 00:04:33.740 different activities that you can do on Family Search. Go to 00:04:33.740 --> 00:04:36.740 familysearch.org and just start clicking. There are so many 00:04:36.740 --> 00:04:40.300 different things that you can do on there. I found, for me, I 00:04:40.300 --> 00:04:47.140 found sourcing. They call it hints in the app. You can do it 00:04:47.440 --> 00:04:50.560 on the website, you can do it on your phone, but they call it 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:55.600 hints, and you go through and I mean, long story short, AI is 00:04:55.600 --> 00:04:58.480 doing our family history for us. They're matching names and 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:02.760 matching dates. It. Is matching names and matching dates and 00:05:03.180 --> 00:05:07.380 providing suggestions, saying, Hey, we think that this record 00:05:07.380 --> 00:05:10.680 matches your ancestor. Does it match? And then you get to go in 00:05:10.680 --> 00:05:14.520 and say, Yes, it does. Thank you for finding that for me and 00:05:14.520 --> 00:05:18.000 attach it to your own family record anyway. So I found that, 00:05:18.360 --> 00:05:21.500 and I don't know that that will ever end, because as long as 00:05:21.500 --> 00:05:24.080 people are indexing things, which people still are in 00:05:24.080 --> 00:05:27.920 different countries, and harder records, as long as people are 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:33.080 indexing things, we will have sources, new sources to attach 00:05:33.080 --> 00:05:40.040 to our family records anyway. So I'm still doing that, and I 00:05:40.040 --> 00:05:45.160 just, I love the idea of gathering Israel. I love the 00:05:45.160 --> 00:05:49.180 idea of us all coming together again, and about Abraham's 00:05:49.180 --> 00:05:51.820 covenant being fulfilled, if anybody deserves that, that poor 00:05:51.820 --> 00:05:57.280 man and his wife do, and anyway, so all of that is what brought 00:05:57.280 --> 00:06:01.020 me to the article that I found today, or that I'm going to 00:06:01.020 --> 00:06:03.660 share today. It's not the one that we were just talking about. 00:06:03.660 --> 00:06:06.120 Maybe we'll come back to that one another time. This article 00:06:06.120 --> 00:06:13.380 is actually from the July 2019, new era. It's called for the 00:06:13.380 --> 00:06:15.780 Strength of Youth now, but it was called for era for it was 00:06:15.780 --> 00:06:21.500 called the New Era back then, and it's called 12 facts about 00:06:21.920 --> 00:06:28.760 the gathering of Israel. We do not have time to go into all 12 00:06:28.760 --> 00:06:32.120 facts in one episode. Each one of these episodes could take its 00:06:32.180 --> 00:06:36.980 own or, sorry, each one of these facts could take its own full 00:06:36.980 --> 00:06:42.880 episode or more. So I'm just going to, I'm going to run 00:06:42.880 --> 00:06:46.780 through them kind of quickly, and then hopefully we'll have 00:06:46.780 --> 00:06:50.200 time. We'll have time. We have forever, right? We'll have time 00:06:50.200 --> 00:06:55.240 to come back to each one of them at a later date. Okay, some of 00:06:55.240 --> 00:06:58.180 them I'm going to paraphrase, and some of them I'm going to 00:06:58.180 --> 00:07:02.880 quote, but you can find the full listing on the church's website. 00:07:02.880 --> 00:07:07.140 12 facts about the gathering of Israel, July 2019, new era. And 00:07:07.140 --> 00:07:10.920 as always, I will make sure that it is linked in the in the 00:07:10.980 --> 00:07:15.000 description. Okay, so, number one, God made a covenant with 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:19.080 Abraham, promising him three things. Number one, he would 00:07:19.080 --> 00:07:22.760 have numerous posterity. Number two, his seed would have the 00:07:22.760 --> 00:07:26.600 gospel and the priesthood. And number three, all of the earth 00:07:26.600 --> 00:07:29.960 would be blessed through his seed. He made those three 00:07:29.960 --> 00:07:33.320 covenant. Those three promises were part of that covenant that 00:07:33.320 --> 00:07:37.880 he made with Abraham. Number two, that covenant was passed 00:07:37.880 --> 00:07:41.680 down through Abraham's son Isaac, and then Isaac's son, 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:46.300 Jacob, who, whose name you may remember, was later changed to 00:07:46.300 --> 00:07:52.840 Israel. Israel had 12 sons. Those sons moved to Egypt and 00:07:52.840 --> 00:07:57.640 eventually became enslaved. And were the 12 tribes, or were the 00:07:57.640 --> 00:08:02.760 Israelites that Moses freed and led into the wilderness. Those 00:08:02.760 --> 00:08:06.000 12 sons, in case you're interested, their names were 00:08:06.300 --> 00:08:13.200 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan Naphtali, 00:08:13.320 --> 00:08:18.900 Gad Asher, Joseph and Benjamin. Those were the 12 sons, the 12 00:08:18.900 --> 00:08:24.380 tribes that Moses freed from Egypt. Fact. Number three, 00:08:24.380 --> 00:08:29.540 ultimately, the Abrahamic Covenant also includes temple 00:08:29.540 --> 00:08:32.660 ordinances which allow us to inherit eternal life with 00:08:32.660 --> 00:08:36.980 Heavenly Father and be sealed to our families forever. That's 00:08:36.980 --> 00:08:42.760 going to come up again a little bit later. Number four, ancient 00:08:42.760 --> 00:08:46.060 prophets, including Moses, foretold of the scattering of 00:08:46.060 --> 00:08:50.800 Israel. Number five, because the tribes became unrighteous, 00:08:50.800 --> 00:08:53.920 rebelled and killed prophets. They were punished and 00:08:53.920 --> 00:08:58.180 scattered, which then placed Abraham's seed throughout the 00:08:58.180 --> 00:09:02.040 earth. Now there's a bit more detail. There are some 00:09:02.040 --> 00:09:05.460 additional bullets for this particular one in the article. 00:09:05.460 --> 00:09:10.020 You should go check them out. Number six, both ancient and 00:09:10.020 --> 00:09:14.280 modern prophets have foretold that the Lord's covenant people 00:09:15.060 --> 00:09:19.860 notice the change the children of Israel, or the Israelites, 00:09:19.980 --> 00:09:24.140 tribes of Israel to the covenant people. Remember, I said that 00:09:24.140 --> 00:09:27.200 was going to come up again later. Both ancient and modern 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:29.960 prophets have foretold that the Lord's covenant people would be 00:09:29.960 --> 00:09:34.580 gathered again in a future day, first spiritually, then 00:09:34.580 --> 00:09:40.180 temporally. Number seven, the gathering is a prelude to the 00:09:40.180 --> 00:09:45.100 Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Number eight, the gathering is 00:09:45.100 --> 00:09:49.720 also part of the restoration and has actual priesthood keys 00:09:49.720 --> 00:09:54.460 associated associated with it. Moses actually gave those keys 00:09:54.460 --> 00:09:57.280 or delivered those keys to Joseph Smith. 00:09:58.659 --> 00:10:02.219 Number nine, so. Sometimes people are asked to gather to a 00:10:02.219 --> 00:10:06.659 particular place, but people today, generally are gathered 00:10:06.659 --> 00:10:11.039 when they accept the gospel, receive ordinances and make 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:15.419 covenants. Making the covenants makes them the covenant people, 00:10:15.959 --> 00:10:21.079 the covenant people being people of the Abrahamic covenant, or 00:10:21.079 --> 00:10:26.359 the children of Israel. Us. Number 10, anyone can be 00:10:26.359 --> 00:10:30.439 gathered. This one also ties into that anyone can be 00:10:30.439 --> 00:10:34.519 gathered, either as a direct descendant or by adoption. 00:10:34.759 --> 00:10:37.819 Adoption happens when you're baptized and receive the gift of 00:10:37.819 --> 00:10:42.699 the Holy Ghost. So if you're not a direct descendant of Jacob 00:10:43.239 --> 00:10:49.239 Isaac Abraham, you are adopted into the house of Israel when 00:10:49.239 --> 00:10:51.819 you're baptized, when you make that covenant, when you become 00:10:51.819 --> 00:10:57.039 part of the covenant people number 11, when you've reached 00:10:57.039 --> 00:10:59.559 the right time in your life, you can get a patriarchal blessing 00:10:59.559 --> 00:11:05.219 that will declare your lineage in a tribe of Israel. Number 12, 00:11:05.219 --> 00:11:09.119 the Book of Mormon is written specifically to the remnant of 00:11:09.119 --> 00:11:11.759 the house of Israel and to the Jew and Gentile, basically to 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:16.199 everybody, and is a sign that God is fulfilling His covenant 00:11:16.199 --> 00:11:19.499 to gather Israel in the last days. It's also a major 00:11:19.499 --> 00:11:25.219 instrument of that gathering interesting. I don't think it's 00:11:25.219 --> 00:11:31.219 a coincidence that there are 12 facts and 12 tribes. Anyway, the 00:11:31.219 --> 00:11:35.059 gathering has already started. Family history work is part of 00:11:35.059 --> 00:11:38.179 it. Because, as we serve others in the temple, we are gathering 00:11:38.179 --> 00:11:41.739 them as well. We're bringing everybody into the fold, if you 00:11:41.739 --> 00:11:45.879 will. We're making the covenant on their behalf, which makes 00:11:45.879 --> 00:11:51.099 them part of the covenant people. Obviously, of course, 00:11:51.399 --> 00:11:54.159 they still have their agency, and they can still choose 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:58.059 whether or not to accept the covenant. So we can go and we 00:11:58.059 --> 00:12:01.019 can do the we can do the temple work for them, and then they get 00:12:01.019 --> 00:12:03.539 to decide. They get to choose whether or not to accept it. 00:12:03.539 --> 00:12:09.299 Nobody will be forced to be part of the covenant people. Nobody 00:12:09.299 --> 00:12:15.299 will be forced. Obviously, missionary work counts too. 00:12:15.419 --> 00:12:19.259 Temple work, missionary work, both are helping to bring 00:12:19.259 --> 00:12:22.039 Heavenly Father's children together again and helping them 00:12:22.039 --> 00:12:25.999 make covenants that they may or may not otherwise be able to 00:12:25.999 --> 00:12:30.919 make. Other stuff counts too. Here's what President Nelson 00:12:30.919 --> 00:12:36.199 said about that anytime you do anything that helps anyone on 00:12:36.199 --> 00:12:40.839 either side of the veil take a step toward making covenants 00:12:40.839 --> 00:12:44.199 with God and receiving their essential baptism and temple 00:12:44.199 --> 00:12:49.899 ordinances you are helping to gather Israel. So if you're 00:12:49.899 --> 00:12:53.319 knocking on doors, that counts. If you're sharing the gospel 00:12:53.319 --> 00:12:56.739 with your neighbor, that counts. If you're going to the temple, 00:12:56.979 --> 00:13:00.779 that counts, if you're just developing a relationship with 00:13:00.779 --> 00:13:07.379 your neighbor also counts. All of these things are gathering 00:13:07.379 --> 00:13:10.799 Israel. We are all trying to help people grow closer to their 00:13:10.799 --> 00:13:15.779 Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, which hopefully, 00:13:16.079 --> 00:13:20.539 eventually, some of us are in it for the long haul, right? Helps 00:13:20.539 --> 00:13:24.499 them get to the temple to make those covenants that bring them 00:13:24.499 --> 00:13:26.899 into the house of Israel, if they're not already here. 00:13:30.139 --> 00:13:33.919 Obviously, we could go into a lot more detail on all of those 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:37.999 things. Who was Abraham? Why did Heavenly Father make this 00:13:37.999 --> 00:13:43.659 covenant with him? We could talk about, I could talk about Isaac 00:13:44.679 --> 00:13:50.679 and Jacob and Esau, and I could talk about that all day long. It 00:13:50.679 --> 00:13:58.599 is so fascinating, um, but not in a 20 minute episode that's 00:13:58.599 --> 00:14:06.599 like a full blown, full blown class anyway. We're gonna leave 00:14:06.599 --> 00:14:10.799 that there for now. We'll come back to these topics later on. 00:14:12.419 --> 00:14:17.879 For now, remember that Dia de los Muertos is this weekend, and 00:14:17.879 --> 00:14:22.459 we have an opportunity to really, truly remember. We have 00:14:22.519 --> 00:14:25.459 this opportunity every day, but there's a special day set aside 00:14:25.459 --> 00:14:29.479 for us to remember our ancestors and those who came before us and 00:14:30.019 --> 00:14:33.379 helped us become who we are. Know the things that we know 00:14:35.899 --> 00:14:41.319 head on over to Family Search on Saturday. Sure, head on over to 00:14:41.319 --> 00:14:47.679 Family Search on Saturday. Do one thing, index or add a source 00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:50.919 to a family member if you think you're done, or if you don't 00:14:50.919 --> 00:14:54.159 think you know how to do anything, just go over there and 00:14:54.159 --> 00:14:58.239 sign in. It's the same login that you use for gospel library 00:14:58.239 --> 00:15:01.259 or tools or any of those. Things. It's the same username 00:15:01.259 --> 00:15:06.779 and password, and even if you think it's done, Grandma did it 00:15:06.779 --> 00:15:13.259 all. Family history is more than just honoring our ancestors. 00:15:13.259 --> 00:15:15.599 Family history is about the past, the present and the 00:15:15.599 --> 00:15:22.759 future. And there are journal prompts on there. There are my 00:15:22.819 --> 00:15:25.639 sweet little eight year old daughter, on Sunday, was like, 00:15:25.639 --> 00:15:28.939 Mom, I want to do something for family, family history. I was 00:15:28.939 --> 00:15:32.959 like, she she doesn't even have an account. I don't even know 00:15:32.959 --> 00:15:36.739 where to start with this. And so what I had her do instead, there 00:15:36.739 --> 00:15:41.079 are personal history prompts on there. So I had her start 00:15:41.079 --> 00:15:44.079 writing her own personal history. One of the questions 00:15:44.079 --> 00:15:49.179 was, if you had a superpower, what would it be? If you don't 00:15:49.179 --> 00:15:53.739 think that counts, go check it out on Family Search. Just write 00:15:53.739 --> 00:15:57.459 something. Put something in there, real quick. It's a lot 00:15:57.459 --> 00:16:04.079 easier than you might think. Anyway, that's it for today. One 00:16:04.079 --> 00:16:07.199 more time with this quote from President Nelson. Anytime you do 00:16:07.199 --> 00:16:10.319 anything that helps anyone on either side of the veil take a 00:16:10.319 --> 00:16:12.779 step toward making covenants with God and receiving their 00:16:12.779 --> 00:16:16.439 essential baptismal and temple ordinances, you are helping 00:16:16.439 --> 00:16:21.199 together Israel. Keep that in mind. Thank you for being here 00:16:21.199 --> 00:16:24.139 and for hanging out with me this week. Keep learning, keep 00:16:24.139 --> 00:16:29.299 growing, keep trying go, take somebody to the temple and be of 00:16:29.299 --> 00:16:31.759 good cheer. Thank you, everybody until next time you.