Ballard - You Can Be the Voice - April 1980

Elder Ballard shares a story about flying in a small plane with his friend.  As they approached the San Francisco area, dense fog engulfed their plane and fro several minutes, his pilot friend had to fly with instruments that he was not comfortable with.  In this intense moment, prayers were shared between our Heavenly Father and Elder Ballard where he committed his life and service to the Lord if He would help them out of this situation.  They were able to make contact with the radio tower and were guided to safety.  A few months later, Elder Ballard was called to me a member of the Seventy and a mission president by President Spencer W. Kimball.

Elder Ballard encourages us to demonstrate our love for our Heavenly Father by turning our hearts to Him and serving Him.

• Every priesthood bearer sitting in this priesthood meeting tonight has a great work to do. Each one of us has the power to demonstrate to our Heavenly Father that we really love him and desire to serve him with all of our hearts.
  

Elder Ballard shares that the best work we can do for the Lord is to help bring one of His children back to activity in the church.  We all have a work to do to make this happen.

• No work is more important than helping bring the gospel into the lives of our brothers and sisters. You and I have no better way to demonstrate our love for the Lord than to personally lead someone into the safety of full activity in the Church.

Please note, I don't think in the world today, we would have the next paragraph ever said over the pulpit.  There are just too many members of the church that would ask for help from an apostle.  But asking your stake president or bishop to take on this role would be very appropriate.

• I want to help you keep the commitment that you have just made, brethren. I invite you to write to me when you feel the time has come that you need some additional help. Send me the name and address of the man or the boy whom you seek to rescue, and I will write a letter of encouragement to him. I am sure that my brethren of the General Authorities will help me if I receive more letters than I can answer, because they are fully committed to helping you and me meet our righteous commitments.
  

Elder Ballard encourages us to be an instrument in God's hands to bring someone out of the darkness that is surrounding them.

• The light of the Lord is real, my brethren. He will lead every soul out of the clouds of darkness and away from the fog of doubt and uncertainty with a perfect eternal signal that will guarantee safety, peace, and confidence. He said to all the world, “Come, … follow me,” and “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
  

Elder Ballard concludes with reminding us that nothing is more important in our life's mission than helping to save the souls of our Heavenly Father's children.

• Life’s flight pattern can be changed. The instruments we use in saving souls are love and sharing our testimonies of the divine mission of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Thousands of our lost brethren, both men and boys, can be led to a safe landing if we will keep the commitments that we have made tonight. The power of the priesthood that is within each one of us is a greater power than any radar, radio, or any other communication system. Nothing is more important to the Lord than saving souls.

I love the story that Elder Ballard told about his flight experience with his friend.  I can see how such an experience would give you the desire to pray and turn your life closer to the Savior.  I think our challenge is to find that change of heart without needing those extreme experiences to take place.  The Lord will play a key part of our lives and support us in our efforts if we will turn to Him and invite Him into our planning and worship.  I have found that as I invite the Spirit into my life, I am reminded of things that I need to do for others and direction is brought into my mind about how I can help them.  My challenge is making sure that when those promptings are given, I act on them and act on them quickly.  I am working on that.