The Holy Ghost

I tried and tried to find the talk my dad wrote for Maysen's baptism about the Holy Ghost.  I finally realized I lost it.  I texted Cathy and asked her if she would ask my dad to give her a few sentences from him that I could say to Preston at his baptism.  My dad told her he didn't have time to write a talk, but he knew where Maysen's talk was.  Yay and yikes!  I hope my dad didn't think I expected him to write a completely new talk.  I just wanted to have him participate in some way.  I'm so glad he knew where this one was.  I'm not going to use the entire thing, but I can pull some things out of there and change Maysen's name to Preston.  This is my dad's talk.  I'm putting it here in case I ever need to find it again!  Plus, I really like it.

The person who wrote this talk is Maysen's Grandpa Millburn.  It was written for her, but maybe you other people could listen, too, while my daughter, Maysen's mother, reads it.

When Jesus appeared to the Nephites He told them about a very special gift He would give them if they would prepare themselves to receive it.  Then he left them.  The next day they gathered at the temple hoping He would come back again.  One by one, the apostles that Jesus chose baptized the people, just like you're going to be baptized, Maysen.  And they prayed for the gift Jesus promised to give them.  Do you know what that gift was?  It says, "And they did pray for that which they most desired; and they desired that the Holy Ghost should be given unto them." (3 Nephi 19:9)  This is the gift Jesus promised--the gift of the Holy Ghost.

You have received many presents, or gifts, in your life, Maysen, from people who love you very much.  But the best gift you will ever receive is given to you by your Heavenly Father, who loves you very much.

Heavenly Father has given us the two best gifts in the world.  The first one is the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ.  He was given to us to come into the world and show us the way we should live, then to pay for our sins so we could go back and live with Heavenly Father again with our family.

The second gift is the gift of the Holy Ghost.  Just before He died on the cross for us, Jesus told His apostles that He would ask Heavenly Father to send them this gift.  (John 14:16,26)  He said it would teach them all things; that it would let them know if something was true or not; that it would comfort them when they were sad; that it would help them remember things they had learned; and, it would help them to say the right things to people when it's really important to say the right things. (John 14:26; 16:13)

Jesus said that the Holy Ghost was like wind. (John 3:8) You can't see the wind, but you can feel it on your face and know it's there.  You can see the leaves move, or the flag wave, or the dust pick up--you can see the evidence all around you that the wind is there, but you can't see the wind at all.

The Holy Ghost is like that.  You can feel a warm, comforting feeling inside you that tells you something is true, or what you're going to do is right, and that is Heavenly Father's way of helping you choose the right--helping you make decisions that will bring you back to Him. And it's the Holy Ghost He sends as a gift to us that tells us and shows us what we should do.  (2 Nephi 32:3,5) But we have to keep the commandments, and show by the way we live that we really do want to have this gift to help us.  King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon said the Holy Ghost will never leave you, but it will be you who leaves the Holy Ghost.  (Mosiah 2:36) Jesus has promised us that the Holy Ghost will be your constant companion if you don't do anything that "grieves" Him. (D&C 121:37;46) The word "grieves" means to make him really sad.

It's like this:  If you went to a place where Heavenly Father didn't want you to go, like a place where bad people were, who were swearing and saying bad things and doing bad things, but you didn't know it was going to be like that when you went in, the Holy Ghost wouldn't go in with you.  The Holy Ghost might wait for you outside for awhile, and when you went into that bad place you would know you shouldn't be there, because you would feel wrong in just being there, and you would feel very out of place and uncomfortable.  you might not know why--you might forget that the Holy Ghost won't go with you into those bad places, and you might not realize that the reason you feel uncomfortable is because you don't have this very precious gift with you anymore.  When you feel abandoned, alone, and out of place, then you must leave that place immediately--you have to get out of there.  You don't have to be rude--just say you have to leave--and then go.  If you do, the you'll find the Holy Ghost waiting for you outside, and when He's with you again you will feel so happy you left, and the Holy Ghost will let you know that you made the right decision in leaving.

But what if you stay inside, even though you don't feel right about it. Maybe you don't want to embarrass anyone, or hurt anyone's feelings, so you just stay, even if you know it's wrong to be there. Then when you finally come out, the Holy Ghost won't be waiting for you outside.  And you will feel awful for awhile.  But if you pray to Heavenly Father in Jesus' name, and ask him to forgive you and give you back this precious gift that you lost for awhile, and you promise that you'll not do that again because you miss having this gift, this friend, this companion to be with you; then, if you are sincere and truly repent, He'll allow you to have this gift again.

There are other ways you could lose this gift for awhile.  Maybe if you get really angry at your brother or sister or mother or father or friend you could make the Holy Ghost sad so it leaves.  Maybe if you tell a lie or be mean to someone and hurt their feelings, the Holy Ghost will be "grieved" and will leave you alone for awhile.

Sometimes you might be so used to having the Holy Ghost to be with you that you won't notice you have it until it's gone.  You may not fully appreciate this gift until you lost it for awhile.  That's when you need to be like the Nephites and pray for that which you most desire: to have the Holy Ghost for your companion again.

I could tell you a lot more about the Holy Ghost, but then my talk would be too long and you'd say, "Hurry up, Grandpa, I want to get baptized!"

So that's all I'll say, except to tell you that I wish I could be there to see you get baptized and receive the Holy Ghost, and that I love you very much.

I say all this to Maysen, and to whoever else is there, in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.