I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Like us all, I have made many mistakes both big and small. I love the guidance and peace I am able to find and in turn offer to my family through the example of Jesus Christ. Recently I was asked to speak in sacrament meeting. I thought I would share my talk with you. I hope you like it.
My name is Tonya Isom. It’s been some time since I have spoken in sacrament meeting and for the record I would much rather sing a solo than give a talk in sacrament. I have been 2nd counselor in primary for the last few years. I am married to Jon Isom who many of you may know as 2nd counselor in the Bishopric. We have 4 children, a daughter Sidney, age 9, 6 year old boy/girl twins named Wells & Maren and a 2 year old boy named Dean. Before getting married I attended BYU and I grew up mostly in Alaska. I’m also 1/4th Inupiat Eskimo, a rich culture of which I am very proud. We have lived in this ward our entire married life which will be 12 years in June and have moved 4 times while in the ward. We obviously love you.
My topic today derives from 2nd Nephi Chapter 25:23 which reads: For we labor diligently to write, to apersuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by bgrace that we are saved, after all we can cdo.
I would like to first address the last portion “after all we can do”. When I first began to ponder what “after all we can do” means, I must admit I felt a sense of guilt. It always seems that there is something more I can do. I’m sure there are others who feel the same. I mean, Saturdays at 5am I am usually sleeping and I know I really should be taking a 3 hour shift volunteering at the temple because my kids don’t have to be at drama class until 9am. Right? I say volunteer because I even inquired about signing up to work at the temple and did you know that when you have young children you aren’t even allowed? Your only way to make it happen is to volunteer. I began to ponder a little more and realized “after all we can do” is relative. There is a reason why they have that rule and it is in the best interest of my children and spouse if I get an extra little bit of sleep so I am not as impatient with them.
A few life experiences came to mind as I prepared this talk and I thought about instances where someone did “all they could do” to follow God’s plan.
My middle and high school years were spent in Barrow, AK. Barrow is a village 20 miles away from the most northern point of land on the continent. There are no roads to get there and it is somewhat like a frozen desert. There are no trees, the wind is always blowing, if you don’t moisturize your skin it will dry out and crack. It is right on the ocean and there are no tides, the ocean actually freezes over in the winter. The ground is permafrost which means it is perpetually frozen. Because of this, buildings are built off the ground on pilings which look like stilts. They are built this way because if the heat from the buildings were on the ground it would melt the permafrost and cause it to settle causing the buildings to move. After a whale was brought in, at times there would be more polar bears than members of the church in Barrow.
Attending church in many parts of Alaska, especially in Barrow was a challenge. My dad was the branch president and we had church in our apartment with a few other members.
One day we learned that a new member family had moved to Barrow. They had 10 people in their family! This meant we had immediately outgrown our apartment/meeting house and were now approved to meet at the Teen Center. One thing about the Teen Center is that there are Saturday night dances, not unlike our church youth dances that are sometimes held the night before. But unlike our church youth dances, in Barrow we had to clean up the tobacco chew, cigarette butts, and gum, which was left the night before. In any case, our little group did all they could do to create a nice Sunday atmosphere and we were able to often feel the spirit at our Sunday meetings. I always smile when I recall a particular testimony meeting. Because there weren’t very many of us, almost every member bore their testimony on Sunday’s and one time my sister felt the spirit so strongly she got up and bore her testimony a second time.
Another example of Sunday dedication and worship happened in one of my favorite places on earth. Lake Minchumina Alaska. For those of you who have not heard of Lake Minchumina, which I’m going to assume is most everyone here, it is very remote. It is a 7 by 14 mile lake in the interior of Alaska about 40 miles away from Denali Mountain, otherwise known as Mount McKinley. There are no roads to get there. To access it, you have to take a small plane or boat on a 500 mile winding river. There is no running water, which means no indoor plumbing, no electricity, which means no television, radio, computers, telephone, or videos. There are maybe 20 people who live there, and about a billion mosquitoes. That’s 50 million mosquitoes for each person for those doing the math. Jon insisted I mention the mosquitoes, because he has declared a personal war on them, but I never really noticed them until he made such a big deal about it.
Why Lake Minchumina? My grandfather was a white trapper who homesteaded land there in the 1940’s and 50’s. He brought with him my grandmother, who happened to be the first full blooded Inupiat Eskimo to be baptized into the church, to live there. My mother and three siblings were raised there in what had to be a simple, but very difficult upbringing. The winters were unforgiving and the summers, minus the mosquitoes, were paradise.
Since both my parents are school teachers, our summers were spent in Lake Minchumina. One of my mom’s sisters, also a school teacher, would take her family to Minchumina in the summers, and one of my uncle’s family lived there year round. We did not have a church building in Lake Minchumina.
My parents were great examples to me as a child because even though we were in the most remote area they still felt it was important to remember the Savior on Sunday. Mosiah Chapter 18:23 And he commanded them that they should observe the Sabbath day, and keep it holy, and also every day they should give thanks to the Lord their God.
After speaking with their bishop in Fairbanks, they decided we would have a small church service in our cabin on Sundays where we would have a small sacrament meeting and then split for classes. It is amazing how the spirit somehow finds its way when you make attempts to do all that you can do. They made it a priority to remember the Sabbath and my testimony was strengthened because of their example. I remember those summers and Sundays fondly.
Speaking of a ward family, I also want to talk about all we can do as members here. Did I mention I have 4 children under the age of 9? My husband is in the bishopric and often unable to help get them get ready for church and then once we get there he just watches me manage them from up on the stand. It can be such a chore, sometimes I even wonder “why am I here?” Then I remember this is what we do. We teach by example and actions speak volumes. Even if I can’t recall the last time I experienced a distraction free sacrament meeting, I’m sure Heavenly Father is looking down on me and thinking just do “All That You Can Do”. The scripture comes to mind “As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord.” I know that through my example of faithful church attendance and my children’s experiences attending sacrament and primary, they will be blessed by our Father in Heaven.
I don’t think that “all we can do” necessarily means we have to do a lot. By this I mean that each of us needs to do our best and that might only seem like a little, insignificant thing. For someone, it might be to share with a neighbor or friend that you are a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and nothing more. For others, it might be inviting someone to the ward Halloween party, and for others it might be inviting someone to have the missionary discussions. But whatever we do, it must be our best. And whatever we do, the Lord can and will bless us and the lives of those around us.
Let me share with you the story of Kadi Daniels. Kadi’s grandmother lived across the street from us when I was a young girl living in Wyoming; and Kadi, who was not a member of the church, would visit us when she was at her grandmother’s. We moved to Barrow, AK when I was 12 years old and I lost contact with Kadi.
Recently, we met up again on Facebook. It was great to hear from her after all these years, but the news she shared with me was even greater. I quote…from Facebook: ” I am not sure if you knew that I joined the Church when I was 15. Your family was a huge influence on that decision. I remember tagging along to church with you on many occasions. Those little seeds you and your family planted did take root. I went to Ricks and met my husband and was married in the SLC temple almost 15 years ago.” Even our littlest “all we can do efforts”, no matter how small can result in wonderful blessings.
I’d like to revisit the scripture for the month. Let me read again the last part of this month’s theme. “…for we know that it is by bgrace that we are saved, after all we can cdo.”
Isn’t it interesting that the mention of grace comes first and “after all we can do” is almost an after thought? Is it a possibility that in our religion we give ourselves too much credit and not enough worship to the amazing grace that Heavenly Father has offered us?
Grace is often distinguished from mercy in that mercy is seen as not receiving punishment that one deserves to receive, whereas grace is the receipt of a positive benefit that one does not deserve to receive. Wikipedia
In Christianity, divine grace is defined as "unmerited favor" from God. It is the outpouring of the love of God on humanity. It is the basis of Christians' hope for eternal salvation. Grace is considered the fruit of redemption—the reason Jesus Christ became a man, why he suffered and died on a Roman cross.
Ephesians Chapter 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
What an amazing blessing grace is. Apparently God knew we were going to fail. It’s as if we had participated in a race and felt disappointment that we didn’t do as well as we were hoping and then God says it’s okay, I will give you all first place. I know you tried your best. I can only imagine how amazing yet humbling that might feel.
As I mentioned in my opening remarks, I would rather sing a solo than give a talk. Since I couldn’t get out of my talk, I figured the next best thing would be to give my talk and augment it with a song. So with the bishop’s permission, I would like to end my remarks by singing an appropriate favorite song: Amazing Grace. Susan Comber will be accompanying me.
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
