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Member Devotional in Nagoya Draws YSA/SA Congregation

Elder Terrence Vinson one of the seven presidents of the seventy, Elder Takashi Wada, first councilor in the Asia North Presidency, Elder Taoru Hiyashi, an area seventy, and Sister Kaye Anne Vinson and Sister Naomi Wada joined together to address a congregation of YSA/SA in a member devotional in Nagoya on August 30, 2019.

Elder Vinson began the meeting by telling that an hour earlier he received word that his house may be burning down in Utah. “Our youngest son was in the house and got out quickly. That’s all that matters. It doesn’t matter if our house isn’t there when we get back, we will buy another. This life is a short time. My concern was for my son to be safe. The Lord’s concern is for us because we are His children.”

Elder and Sister Wada stood side by side and testified that no matter how hard we try to accomplish things on our own, we cannot accomplish it without the atonement of Jesus Christ. “Become like a child, meek and humble. That is what King Benjamin taught. Through the atonement of Jesus Christ, we can come close to Heavenly Father,” Elder Wada voiced.

“My mother was a great example of a person who missed out on a lot of the good things in life but focused instead on loving and serving through her whole life.” Sister Vinson told of how after her father abandoned the family, her mother was left to raise three children on her own. After the family accepted the Gospel and became baptized, her mother devoted her life to the Gospel. She raised her children in the Gospel, served a mission, became a temple worker, and helped others. At age 82, her mother passed away having never been sealed to anyone except her own parents. “A loving Heavenly Father has seen her efforts. In this life she was always happy, always serving, always giving. She took her focus off of what she didn’t have and focused instead on what she did have, and trusted in the promises of God that faithful, good people would receive the blessings that they had earned.” Sister Vinson reminisced. “The Lord promises His blessings to all of us who are faithful.”

In his closing remarks, Elder Vinson stressed that “when we confront challenges in our life two things are necessary. The first is prayer, the second is work. We must pray to Heavenly Father and work to resolve the challenge. The two have to work in unison, or it will not work.” He explained that the object of prayer is to know what God’s will is so we can change. “We ask God to change so that His ways align with ours. Instead we should pray to know what we need to do and align our ways with His. With the challenges in my life I’ve learned this lesson.” Elder Vinson enlightened, “the Savior pleads our cause to the Father because He loves us. When we have Him in our side there is nothing we cannot accomplish. There will be no blessing denied to the individual who works hard to achieve it.”

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