Come Home

God Is Calling Us Home

After our first son was born, Christine and I struggled to have more children. We found hope in Minerva Teichert’s painting of a pioneer mother entering the valley with her little family, beckoning others to follow behind her. Like that young mother, we were pleading for our future children to gather with our family. Eventually they did come, but our years of hoping and praying, for us, were difficult.

In my weekend assignments as a General Authority, I have repeatedly witnessed people finding their way home. It may not always have come quickly, but it happened—over and over again. Let me take you on just a few of those ministering visits.

I will first speak to those who feel they don’t belong.

Sister Anglesey had left her home and her faith 30 years earlier. She had long known something was missing in her life but felt overwhelmed just to walk back into church. She eventually mustered the courage to attend a temple open house. As beautiful as that visit was, Tammy later confided to me, “All I could see was an experience I would never have. No sealing, and no [endowment].” Still, prompted by that visit, she dressed for church one Sunday, only to park her car and watch others walk into the building. Overcome with anxiety, she simply drove home, changed her clothes, and wept alone. An inspired bishop later sent her a note inviting her back to church. I met Tammy on a ministering visit just after her temple endowment. She had been away from the Church for 30 years! She had spent Sundays sitting alone in a church parking lot. But the Lord brought her home and restored her to His light, love, and joy.

Next, I speak to those who feel they don’t measure up.

On a ministering visit in San Antonio, Texas, I went to the San Antonio Temple, where we met with the missionaries and the Vargas family. Andrea was then serving as a Primary president in the Church. Her husband, Luis, though not a member, did attend church. The mission president had called me and shared with me that Brother Vargas felt like he wasn’t good enough to be baptized—that he couldn’t measure up to the other people he saw at church. On the steps of the San Antonio Temple, I said, “Brother Vargas, you don’t have to be perfect to be in this Church. You just have to do your best, and Christ will make up the difference.” At the end of the tour, Brother Vargas turned to his wife and said, “Honey, I think it’s time I join this Church so I can become a better father and a better husband.” He was baptized a month later, and their beautiful family was eventually sealed in that same temple.

To those who doubt.

Justin and Kenna Valdez moved away from family so it would be easier for them to walk away from their faith. But the hero of this story was their eight-year-old son, who still wanted to be baptized. Sensing an opening door, a wise stake president scheduled a ministering visit for us to go to their home. I still remember Kenna’s squinty look as she stared at me as I walked into the room. But she eventually confided she still had faith in the Savior and even a testimony of the Book of Mormon. But she faced a few triggering issues that kept her from coming back to church. We promised them that as they anchored in the things they did believe, the Lord would help with the things they didn’t. Overcoming their concerns was not an issue of resolving every faith question but of helping them recognize the Holy Ghost. As President Oaks recently taught, “You live in a season in which the adversary has become so effective at disguising truth that if you don’t have the Holy Ghost, you will be deceived.” Justin and Kenna began to make the changes necessary to come back. Six months after our visit, Kenna texted me, “Hi Elder Gilbert! We are ready to be sealed as a family.” This is a photo from the day that they were sealed in the Pocatello Idaho Temple.

I speak next to those who are trapped in traditions.

When I met John Raass, he was not yet a member of the Church. His wife, Kailani, had catered a dinner for the stake presidency, and we invited them to join us. John appeared weary of entering a spiritual discussion, but I assured him we would become fast friends. You see, John was a former BYU football star, and I grew up cheering for him. We eventually asked John why he had never joined the Church. He cited the need to honor the faith traditions of his now deceased parents. We helped him realize that they now understood the Church and they would honor his decision. John then chose to meet with the missionaries. Two months later he was baptized. And a year later his family was sealed in the temple.

Feeling we don’t belong, struggling with doubts, or being limited by traditions are just a few of the reasons we don’t immediately answer the call to come home. But even as societal pressures pull people away from their faith, life’s deeper questions do not go away. As President Nelson taught, “The truth is that it is much more exhausting to seek happiness where you can never find it!” President Oaks declared that the journey home starts by reanchoring on the Savior. Only Jesus Christ can fully restore that light and joy into your life. We all struggle. We need patience, service, and love from others. To those who are trying to help those they love, hold on to the truth. Keep your covenants. Helping others requires you to stay in your covenants. To those who are struggling to come home, know that it is your Savior who’s the one calling you back. In the end, everyone must make their own choices to come home.

In President Dallin H. Oaks’s recent historic address at BYU, the Marriott Center initially looked completely full. But if you looked closely, there were still hundreds of unfilled seats, and the ushers struggled to find space for those who still wanted to join the devotional. Then something remarkable happened. Students who had already found their seats began to turn their phone flashlights on to signal to the late-arriving students that there was still space. It was as if they were holding up a light to say, “Please come sit with me; we saved a seat just for you.”

I conclude with a hymn that to me feels like the very voice of the Lord calling us home:

I witness that Christ is our Redeemer. When we fall short, He repairs the breaches in our lives. The Savior loves all of us and is tenderly calling for you and for me to come home. Come home. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.