Press Forward With Faith, Elder and Sister Bednar Tell Snow College Students in Ephraim

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By Sarah Jane Weaver, Church News

In 1997, Elder David A. Bednar and his wife, Sister Susan Bednar, were enjoying Fayetteville, Arkansas, and his successful university career there.

Then he received a call from a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, asking if he was interested in being considered for a job as the next president of Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho.

The call seemed to come out of nowhere; Elder Bednar and Sister Bednar imagined their future in Arkansas.

Still, he did not hesitate.

“Yes,” he said.

Within weeks, the Bednars moved to Rexburg, where he led Ricks College through the transition to become BYU-Idaho. In 2004 he was called to serve as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

That surprising phone call in 1997 “was the beginning of the realization for Susan and me that if we are striving to honor our covenants, the Lord directs the course of our lives,” Elder Bednar said.

Speaking during an institute devotional on Sunday, October 15, in Ephraim, Utah, Elder and Sister Bednar promised students at Snow College that they can also look forward with faith.

“I am a witness that God the Eternal Father, through the merits, mercy and grace of His Beloved Son and His atoning sacrifice, and by the power of the Holy Ghost, will bless you in remarkable ways,” said Elder Bednar. “I hope that begins tonight.”

Capacity crowds filled the Church’s institute building, located adjacent to the Snow College campus, for the devotional.

Elder Bednar did not mince words: Those who seek “first the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33)” and “press forward on the covenant path,” cannot “go amiss,” he said.

JoLee Gillett of Manti, Utah, and a member of the Ephraim institute council, said in anticipation of the devotional, students studied a talk given by Elder Bednar in England, which helped them come to know “they could determine, through their preparation, what an Apostle would teach them.”

The institute council invited students to each prepare for the devotional — held at the end of Snow College’s homecoming week — and then invite other students to do the same. “We were trying to do the spiritual preparation,” Gillett said. “As we take the time to do that, the Spirit can really speak to us, it can help us with the desires that we have in our hearts.”

Nate Bingham of Syracuse, Utah, accepted the invitation to prepare for the devotional and prayed to know who to invite to attend with him. He realized through his “Come, Follow Me,” study that apostles — modern and ancient — address the needs of the people. He knew his preparation would enrich what Elder and Sister Bednar could teach, he said. The preparation was so instructive, he added, that the devotional was just “a wax seal on that.”

“As I listened, I was prompted by the Spirit to not be afraid to be different from what the majority of people my age are doing right now,” he said. “Having values and keeping covenants is a special thing, and it is what the Lord wants us to do.”

Echoing Bingham’s sentiment, Gillett said many life decisions had been weighing on her since returning from a mission to Mexico two months ago. She said she has been preoccupied and worried. One of her Latter-day Saint professors told her “the Lord can’t steer a parked car” and that she needed to trust in Him and move forward.

Elder Bednar reiterated that counsel, telling the young adults to “be good and go.”

Jessie Hatch from Richmond, Utah, said she learned from Elder and Sister Bednar about God’s timing. Revelation, she realized, does not come all at once, but over time.

Referencing Elder Bednar’s invitation to not focus on his words but on what the Spirit will teach, Hatch said she felt “that God trusted me to come and learn what He wanted me to learn.”

Cayden Miller of Spokane, Washington, said in his busy life filled with sports, studies and activities, he has “a hard time doing all things he wants to do” spiritually.

But during the devotional he began to see his priorities differently.

“The Lord is willing to increase our capacity,” he said, noting that he felt a spiritual confirmation when Elder Bednar taught that the Lord can “make me more of who I can be. That I can take courage and know that He will bless us if we try and keep our covenants.”

Maren Powell has also been pondering her future and important opportunities. She learned from Elder Bednar that putting the Savior first in her life will help other things fall into place. “I shouldn’t be waiting for revelation to be added unto me, I should prepare and serve,” she said. “And as I continue, by adding Christ-like perspectives and qualities to myself, then I will be blessed along the way. … I know that my life is in the Lord’s hands. And I can’t go amiss.”

As Isaac Zabriskie of Ephraim listened to Elder Bednar he thought of a scripture in Joshua 1:5-6, knowing he too needed to “be strong and of good courage.”

During her remarks, Sister Bednar asked the students to replace fear with faith and shared what she wished she had known when she was in college. This included relying on prayer, scripture study and a healthy lifestyle; being patient; showing gratitude; and being “all in.”

“The gospel will guide you and direct you,” she said. “It will give you focus and priorities.”

Elder Bednar said that just before he got the phone call that led him to Rexburg, he and Sister Bednar sat on the front porch of their home in Arkansas and talked about watching their future grandchildren ride bikes in the cul-de-sac in front of their home. They did not see then all the Lord had in store for them. “If you are striving to honor your covenants, you can press forward with the confidence that doors will open that you cannot anticipate now,” he said.

Elder Bednar shared that while he was in Rexburg, he sat by President Gordon B. Hinckley at a dinner one evening. President Hinckley said to him emphatically, “’David, this is the greatest season in the history of the restored Church.’ Then, he continued, not speaking about me individually, but about our generation, ‘I only have one regret. I will not be here to see it. But you will.”

Elder Bednar said that a part of the season President Hinckley was referring to is the “time in which we now live” — when the Church has 335 temples in operation, under construction or announced — including one in Ephraim. “Do we appreciate the season in which we live,” he asked, inviting the students to press forward with faith and the companionship of the Holy Ghost in this “remarkable and marvelous season.”

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