Last week I was just walking into the church, minding my own business, and a random guy called me over and said he wanted to talk to me. I didn’t know who he was, or what he was going to say… I thought maybe he was going to tell me I was doing a great job in Primary or something. But instead, the guy turned out to be President Johnson. And he didn’t tell me I was doing good in primary… When he asked me if I would speak in Stake Conference, I didn’t really know what that meant… And I was going to just say no… But then another guy walked up that I didn’t know… And he was staring right at me, and he was smiling really hard… And he was nodding his head… like a lot So I was too afraid to say no... But now I realize that the second guy was President Richardson… And it all makes sense now… They totally teamed up against an innocent 9-year-old to speak in Stake conference today… I’m just kidding. They didn’t team up against me. Actually, when they asked me to speak I did feel nervous, but I also felt a feeling like everything was going to be okay … and I didn’t need to stress about it. The thing they asked me to talk about is How I feel the Savior’s love for me.. and I think that one way I feel His love for me, is with a feeling like everything is going to be okay. One time, I kicked a ball into my neighbor's backyard. I knocked on their door to see if they would get the ball for me but nobody answered… So I opened their side gate and snuck in the backyard.
I guess they were home and were just ignoring me because all of a sudden I heard the Mom yelling at me to get out of her backyard and so I ran away super fast, and super scared. That night I was feeling really nervous about telling my Mom, because I thought I’d get super busted, so I said a prayer asking if I should tell my Mom or not,
And I had that same feeling… A feeling like everything was going to be okay, and that I should just tell her. So I did, and she wasn’t mad at all, which was a relief, and I felt like Jesus loved me, and cared about me, and helped me feel like everything was going to be okay. That’s another way I feel the Savior’s Love for me, through prayer. When he blesses me with health and safety, or with doing good on my tests, or with not feeling stressed before a big game, I feel like he really loves me and cares about me. When I was preparing for this talk my Dad asked me what the Savior’s love actually feels like. To me it feels good and nice inside. It feels like the feeling you get when you did the right thing. It feels safe and warm. It makes you feel grateful and happy. Another way I feel the Savior’s love for me is through all the awesome things I get to do every single day. Like he could have made cheeseburgers taste like cardboard… Or he could have made the earth all black… or not given us ears to hear music or the ability to talk to each other… But he didn’t. He gave us our amazing bodies and this super awesome world to live in and unlimited adventures.
Everytime I run, and swim and sing and surf and dance and eat and play and laugh I’m feeling the Savior’s love for me because he blessed me with all these wonderful creations. And why did he do that? Because he LOVES me
2 Nephi Chapter 26 verse 24 says “He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world;” So everything that Jesus does is to bless us and help us. The verse keeps going and says “For he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him.” Jesus literally loves every single person on earth, soo much that He died for them! So that they could return to live with him again in Heaven. Even the people that killed him, he loved. He was kind to them.
I think if Jesus was here on earth today, the #1 thing he would be doing, is going around being kind to everybody. But Jesus isn’t here. We are. So he wants us to be kind for him. I think the number one way to feel Jesus’ love for you, is by being kind to somebody else. I already told my ward this story, but I’m only a 3rd grader and I don’t have that many experiences yet … sorry guys… But, one time at school there was a girl sitting on the buddy bench during recess. The buddy bench is a place you can sit if you are lonely or sad or need a friend at school. I always try to watch the buddy bench so I can invite other people if they need a friend. One day I saw a girl sitting on the buddy bench that I didn’t know. I asked her if she wanted to come play handball with me and all my friends and she said, Sure! She played handball with us that day, and basically every day after that for the rest of the year! She actually got pretty good at handball, and might have beaten me once. Anyway, I didn’t think anything of it, but I guess at the end of the year, her mom found my mom, and told her how thankful and happy she was that I invited her off the buddy bench that day.
I guess she was feeling sad because some of her girl friends weren’t being very nice to her, and she was really embarrassed and didn’t have anybody to play with anymore. Her mom said, every day after school she would always talk about playing handball with me and my friends and she was so happy to find her group. And her mom was happy too!
When I heard that, it made me feel really really happy inside.
I think the reason why I felt happy inside was because I felt the Savior’s love. I felt Him saying like… Thank you for being kind for me … because I’m not there, so I needed you to be kind for me.
If you want to know if Jesus is real, or if he really loves you, you should try being kind. Kind to everybody!
Your brother, your parents, your friends, your dog, your lunch lady, your planet, your teammates, EVERYBODY, no matter what…
And then pay attention to how you feel. I promise you will feel warm inside… And you will feel safe and grateful, and that you did the right thing and you will feel like everything is going to be okay.
Basically, you will feel Jesus’ LOVE, because that’s what His love feels like.
I know that Jesus loves me and Jesus loves you, and if we’re kind to everybody, no matter what, we will feel His love.
In the name of Jesus Christ, AMEN.