Quiz of Elder Hales.

Today, in Relief Society I gave a class about a talk Elder Hales gave on General Conference last April on "Becoming a Disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ." and because he turned 85 years old, the Deseret News had a quiz about his life. I gave that to the sisters to read and discuss to get to know a real disciple in 2017. We read of Peter, James and John in the New Testament but what about today? 

Quiz of Elder Hales

1.    What did Elder Hales’ father make for him that he still has today?
a. A painting of the Sacred Grove
b. A painting of his family
c. A wood carving of Christ

“When I was a deacon, my father took me to the Sacred Grove,” says Elder Hales. “There we prayed together and dedicated our lives. Then he talked to me of sacred things. When we got back home, my father, who worked as an artist in New York City, painted a picture of the Sacred Grove for me. I’ve always hung that picture in my office, and when I look at it, I remember my father and our talk that summer afternoon.” 

2.    What question did Elder Hales and his wife Mary take to the Lord in prayer while he was studying at Harvard university?

a. Financial needs
b. Finding time for a new calling
c. Where to live

When Elder Hales was a graduate student at Harvard University, he was called to be the president of his elders quorum. While he was willing to serve, he also remembered his professor’s advice to resist participating in outside activities due to the intensity of the courses. Elder Hales came home to his wife, Mary, and they prayed for guidance. As they did, Mary said, “I’d rather have an active priesthood holder than a man who holds a master’s degree from Harvard. We’ll do them both,”

The next day, Mary walled off a section of the unfinished basement in their apartment to create a small office for Elder Hales to concentrate on his studies so that he could also fulfill his calling. A few years later, Elder Hales was the president of a company when he was asked to serve as bishop. Ten years later he was working as corporate vice president of a large corporation and was called to be an assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

“I put myself in the Lord’s hands when I made that decision,” Elder Hales said  “That decision was much harder to make than when, years later, I accepted the call to serve as an assistant to the Twelve and left my business career behind. Some people may have trouble understanding that, but I believe you really show the Lord who you are and what you are willing to become when you make those hard decisions as a young person."

 3.    What position was Elder Hales serving in when he was called to be a member of the Quorum of the Twelve? 

a. Mission president
b. Area Seventy
c. Presiding bishop
d. Assistant to the Twelve

As an assistant to the Twelve and then as a Seventy, Elder Hales helped plan 27 area conferences for the First Presidency. “Watching prophets, seers and revelators bearing witness of the truthfulness of the gospel to the Saints in city after city was absolutely wonderful,” he said.

After three years as a general authority, Elder Hales was called as president of the England London Mission. Following that service, he was assigned as an area supervisor in Europe and worked closely with Elder Thomas S. Monson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (now president of the church), in supporting and strengthening Latter-day Saints in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary and Poland.

From 1983 to 1984, Elder Hales served as area president of the North America Southwest Area. In 1985, he was called to serve as presiding bishop and served in that calling until he was sustained as an apostle on April 2, 1994.

4.    What lesson did Elder Hales’ mother teach him by her example?

a. Missionary service
b. Importance of prayer and scripture study
c. Going to the temple regularly

“My own father and mother served a mission in England," Elder Hales said  "As I visited them one day in their small flat, I watched my mother, with a shawl wrapped snugly around her shoulders, putting shillings in the gas meter to keep warm. I asked, ‘Why did you come on a mission, Mother?’ Mother said simply, ‘Because I have 11 grandsons. I want them to know that Grandma and Grandpa served.’”

 5.    As a newly called bishop, what lesson did Elder Hales learn from Elder Harold B. Lee?

a. The importance of personal revelation
b. The importance of a ward family
c. The importance of temple preparation

“Early in my church service, Elder Harold B. Lee taught this lesson when he came to organize a new stake in the district where we were living," Elder Hales said  "Elder Lee asked me, as a newly sustained bishop, if I would join him at a press conference. There, an intense young reporter challenged Elder Lee. He said to him, ‘You call yourself a prophet. When was the last time you had revelation, and what was it about?’ Elder Lee paused, looked directly at him, and responded in a sweet way, ‘It was yesterday afternoon about three o’clock. We were praying about who should be called as the president of the new stake, and it was made known to us who that individual should be.’ The reporter’s heart changed. I will never forget the Spirit that came into that room as Elder Lee bore his powerful witness of revelation that can be received by those faithfully seeking to do the Lord’s will.”

6.    What lesson did Elder Hales learn as a young boy when he was asked to paint his father’s floor?

a. Service
b. Teamwork
c. Agency

“In my youth I learned an important lesson about how our actions may limit our freedom," Elder Hales said: "One day my father assigned me to varnish a wooden floor. I made the choice to begin at the door and work my way into the room. When I was almost finished, I realized I had left myself no way to get out. There was no window or door on the other side. I had literally painted myself into a corner. I had no place to go. I was stuck.

"Whenever we disobey, we spiritually paint ourselves into a corner and are captive to our choices. Though we are spiritually stuck, there is always a way back. Like repentance, turning around and walking across a newly varnished floor means more work — a lot of re sanding and refinishing! Returning to the Lord isn’t easy, but it is worth it.”

 7.    What lesson did Elder Hales learn from the poor choices of a friend while training to be a jet fighter pilot?

a. Preparation and obedience
b. Courage
c. Honesty

“While training to be a jet fighter pilot, I prepared to make such vital decisions in a flight simulator," Elder Hales said:  "For example, I practiced deciding when to bail out of an airplane if the fire warning light came on and I began to spin out of control. I remember one dear friend who didn’t make these preparations. He would find a way out of simulator training and then go to play golf or swim. He never learned his emergency procedures! A few months later, fire erupted in his plane, and it spun toward the ground in flames. Noting the fire warning light, his younger companion, having developed a preconditioned response, knew when to bail out of the plane and parachuted to safety. But my friend who had not prepared to make that decision stayed with the plane and died in the crash.”

8.    What did Elder Hales want to buy his wife for their anniversary, but she instead taught him a lesson on provident living?

a. A fancy coat
b. A new dress
c. A gold necklace

“Our wedding anniversary was approaching, and I wanted to buy Mary a fancy coat to show my love and appreciation for our many happy years together," Elder Hales said: "When I asked what she thought of the coat I had in mind, she replied with words that again penetrated my heart and mind. ‘Where would I wear it?’ she asked. (At the time she was a ward Relief Society president helping to minister to needy families.)

“Then she taught me an unforgettable lesson. She looked me in the eyes and sweetly asked, ‘Are you buying this for me or for you?’ In other words, she was asking, ‘Is the purpose of this gift to show your love for me or to show me that you are a good provider or to prove something to the world?’ I pondered her question and realized I was thinking less about her and our family and more about me.

“After that we had a serious, life-changing discussion about provident living, and both of us agreed that our money would be better spent in paying down our home mortgage and adding to our children’s education fund.”

It was so fun to get to know him this way. I show them a video of his talk and had a quick discussion about what it means to be a disciple? And for starters he said: A disciple is one who has been baptized and is willing to take upon him or her the name of the Savior and follow him. A disciple strives to become as He is by keeping HIs commandments in mortality much the same way as an apprentice seeks to become like his or her master. 

Many people hear the word disciple and think it means only "follower." but genuine discipleship is a state of being. This suggests more than studying and applying a list of individual attributes. Disciples live so the characteristics of Christ are woven into the fiber of their beings, as into a spiritual tapestry...

... In 2 Peter and in Doctrine and Covenants section 4 we learn that faith is the foundation. We measure our faith by what it leads us to do. By our obedience. " If ye will have faith in me, " The Lord promised, "ye shall have the power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me." Add to your faith add virtue and to your virtue add knowledge... By our virtuous living, we make the journey from "I believe" to the glorious destination of "I know" Add to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience so that when we are face with storms of tribulations we ask " what wouldst thou have me learn from this experience? This patience leads to godliness... 

... From temperance to patient and from patience to godliness our natures change. We gain the brotherly kindness that is a hallmark of all true disciples like the good samaritan." The efforts we make to become disciples of our Savior are truly added upon until we are possessed of His love. This love is the defining characteristic of a disciple of Christ. It is faith, hope and charity that qualify us for the work of God...but the greatest of these is charity." 

The million -dollar question is " What am I doing to become a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ"? 

Con amor,

Vero