Sister Dennis Speaks on the Power That Comes From Keeping Covenants

 
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By Ryan Jensen, Church News
 

PROVO, Utah — Twenty-four hours earlier, Sister J. Anette Dennis had no voice. A cold threatened to keep her from sharing a message with the missionaries of the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah.

But on Tuesday night, Sister Dennis, the First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, fought through the remnants of her cold and shared her testimony of the missionaries’ origins as children of Heavenly Father who were reserved for this time in history.

“You have been sent to this earth during the final years of the final battle between good and evil, when the stakes are critically high,” she said during the November 15 devotional.

Sister Dennis spoke with the missionaries about two identities taught by President Russell M. Nelson in a young adult devotional in May. She also talked about miracles during and after an earthquake in Ecuador.
 

Children of God

Sister Dennis began by taking the missionaries back to an animated movie that she said could help symbolize this principle.

In the movie “The Lion King,” one of the main characters, Simba, is convinced he is responsible for the tragic death of his father. In fear, he runs away from his responsibilities and worries.

Through a series of events that include the help of a friend and a vision of his deceased father, Simba remembers who he really is and returns home to help make things right within his kingdom.

“As it becomes imprinted on Simba’s heart who he really is, the son of the king, he gains strength and determination and returns home to fight evil,” Sister Dennis said.

Looking ahead to the end of their missions, Sister Dennis invited the missionaries to not return home and take a seat on the sidelines of life. Like in upcoming World Cup soccer matches or other championship sporting events, God holds back players with specific abilities who will “play their hardest” because they know “everyone is depending on them” to help secure victory in the end, she said.

“You are some of our Father’s most valiant spirits and you can’t just sit on the sidelines observing this battle or be persuaded to join the opposing team, especially after you return home from your missions.”

She said that Satan will tempt them “to think you are of no worth,” but that having their identity as a child of God imprinted on their hearts will help them to remember they are actually of great worth.
 

Brother Dennis’ Conversion

Sister Dennis invited her husband, Brother Jorge Dennis, to share his testimony and some of the story of his conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

As a teenager in Hermosillo, Mexico, Brother Dennis and members of his family met with three different sets of missionaries as they learned about the restored gospel.

“The first two sets of missionaries — they never knew that I got baptized,” he said.

 
The third set didn’t know his family had previously been taught. Those missionaries prayed, asking Heavenly Father’s help to find someone who was ready to receive the gospel. They were the companionship who ultimately saw Brother Dennis be baptized.

But all three sets played a role in helping him be prepared for that moment, he said. Regardless of whether or not they knew it or saw what happened in the end, they were a part of it.

“Those three sets of missionaries left a legacy that is alive today — a legacy that has changed everything in my life,” he said. “Everything that I have today … is because of three sets of missionaries just like you.”

He invited any missionary wondering why they are serving to think about the difference they can make in someone’s life.

“Think about the incredible changes you can bring to a family, just like mine,” he said.
 

The Engraved Truth That Rescued Moses

Sister Dennis read from Moses 1 with the missionaries and showed how the truth that Moses was a child of God helped him overcome Satan’s temptations to believe otherwise.

She read in verses 4, 6 and 7 where the Lord refers to Moses as “my son.”

“Heavenly Father was trying to engrave on Moses’ heart the majestic and critically important truth that he was a son of God and with that, the truth that his life had meaning and purpose,” she said.

 
The testimony Moses gained from that experience did not exempt him from temptations or challenges, she said. But what is written about those temptations can help identify some of Satan’s tactics.

Quoting Elder Jeffrey R. Holland from his message, “Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence,” Sister Dennis read, “We must not think that Satan is defeated with that first, strong breakthrough that so dramatically brings the light and moves us forward.”

In that message, Elder Holland read Hebrews 10:32, where Paul reminded the saints that they “endured a great fight of afflictions” after they had great spiritual experiences.

Sister Dennis said something similar had happened with Moses when Satan came to him after he had been taught by Heavenly Father.

“If the truth that he was a son of God wasn’t engraved on his heart, it would be easier to get Moses to forget God and to worship Satan,” she said.

“Moses knew who he was. The truth that he was a son of God had been imprinted upon his heart, and that truth rescued him when he was confronted with the temptations of Satan himself.”
 

Children of the Covenant

The second identity Sister Dennis taught from President Nelson’s May devotional was about being children of the covenant.

Quoting from his October 2021 general conference message, Sister Dennis read, “In every age, the temple has underscored the precious truth that those who make covenants with God and keep them are children of the covenant.”

For missionaries, teaching the power of making covenants with God is essential, she said. But that teaching is not about helping missionaries check requirement boxes en route to someone’s baptism.

“It is meant to help them turn to Christ, which is repentance,” she said.

“Their bond of conversion must be to the Savior, not to you, the missionaries.”

President Nelson’s October 2022 Liahona article, “The Everlasting Covenant,” is based on a message he shared in a general conference leadership meeting. Sister Dennis said that reading that article “will help you understand the power and beauty of covenants.”

Sister Dennis read various quotes from that article and encouraged missionaries to study it carefully. One quote she shared talks about how an individual’s relationship with God is strengthened through covenants.

“Once you and I have made a covenant with God, our relationship with Him becomes much closer than before our covenant. Now we are bound together. Because of our covenant with God, He will never tire in His efforts to help us, and we will never exhaust His merciful patience with us. Each of us has a special place in God’s heart. He has high hopes for us,” President Nelson said.

God’s priesthood power is available to all who keep their covenants with Him, Sister Dennis said.

She also read from the “General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” that was released in 2020.

Sister Dennis invited the missionaries to understand this and to help others understand it as they teach.

“We live beneath our privileges because we don’t fully understand this true doctrine. Even children are blessed with God’s priesthood power as they make and keep baptismal covenants,” she said.
 

Miracles During and After the Earthquake

While serving as mission leaders in the Guayaquil Ecuador West Mission in 2016, an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 hit the Dennises’ mission and affected all 180 missionaries they were responsible for.

Sixty missionaries were serving in the areas that were hardest hit by the earthquake. Buildings collapsed around some of the missionaries, Sister Dennis said.

Hundreds of people died, and thousands more were injured. In less than a day, they learned that none of the missionaries was hurt, she said.

“There were many, many miracles that day that saved their lives — before, during and after the earthquake,” Sister Dennis said. “They felt angels protecting them and felt great peace and God’s love for them in the middle of the chaos, death and destruction. That was because of their spiritual preparation. That was because they had made and kept covenants and were faithful to God.”

Sister Dennis shared notes from nine of the missionaries from a binder where they kept the memories written by each missionary in the days and weeks that followed the devastating earthquake. Each note showed how the Lord blessed the missionaries with calm and safety.

“Keeping our covenants with God brings power and protection. Please remember this when you return from your mission, and you begin to feel the pull of the world,” she said.

 

What the Missionaries Felt

Following the devotional, some of the missionaries shared what they felt as they listened to the Dennises’ messages.

Sister Sydney Anderson from West Jordan, Utah, will soon be serving in the Adriatic South Mission. She was touched by Brother Dennis’ testimony because it confirmed something she had been pondering earlier in the day.

“We’re not only impacting people on our missions. We’re impacting generations,” she said.

Elder Nathan Clements from Corvallis, Oregon, was called to serve in Columbia, South Carolina. He said, “She really emphasized the fact that Heavenly Father loves every single one of us.”

Similarly, Elder Travis Gibson said, “I like how they emphasized how important it is to remember who you are.” Gibson, who is from Orem, Utah, will be serving in Salem, Oregon.

After a tough day of learning how to teach, Sister Katherine Roberts from Lehi, Utah, said she felt a confirmation about her calling.

“For the first time I really believed that we have so much potential, and God called us inadequate 19-year-olds for a reason,” she said. Sister Roberts will soon leave the Missionary Training Center to serve in the Indonesia Jakarta Mission.

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