All That I Possess

The prophet Lehi said this to his sons, “Wherefore, I, Lehi, prophesy according to the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that there shall none come into this land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord. Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring” (2 Nephi 1:6-7). While we do not know exactly where they were or what “land” that encompasses, these words do seem to apply at least to Elder Wan-Liang Wu who spoke in the most recent general conference. He related, “I was born into a non-Christian family. As a boy, I would accompany my mother to Chinese temples to worship different gods…. Nevertheless, the great miracle came when I was 10 years old and we moved to Bolivia.” An article about him on the Church website gives more details about this move: “Elder Wu’s family, including his parents, three older sisters and older brother, moved to Bolivia in three different groups. His father had moved first and a couple of years later was followed by his mother, 17-year-old sister and 13-year-old brother. Young Wan-Liang was in the last group with his oldest sister, who was 18, and the youngest sister, who was 15. Due to a visa issue that came up at the airport, he stayed with an aunt in Taiwan for three months before joining his family more than 11,800 miles (about 19,000 km) away in Bolivia.” That must have been a traumatic experience for this ten-year-old to get separated from his family like that, and by the time he arrived in Bolivia, his sisters were already meeting with the missionaries: “When he arrived, his sisters, who had already been meeting with the missionaries, invited him to go to Church meetings with them, and he also started meeting with the missionaries…. While he didn’t understand everything they were teaching, he felt the Spirit confirm truth. Before the meeting when the missionaries invited him to be baptized, he told his sisters, ‘I’ve already decided I’ll be baptized because I know it’s true.’” What is incredible to me about the story is that his parents did not get baptized, or at least the article does not mention that they did. He had the faith in this new land to follow what he felt the Spirit confirm to him even when his parents didn’t and even though his he must have understood little of the Spanish spoken at church meetings. He reflected, “In that new life, we found hope, a new horizon, a new perspective focusing on Jesus Christ and His gospel…. I found my new identity as a son of God, and I’m His disciple.”

            In his message in general conference, Elder Wu spoke of the experience of King Lamoni’s father who, like Elder Wu, did not know God before he was taught by the missionaries. This was the sincere prayer of that Lamanite king: “O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee.” He also told Ammon, “I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy” (Alma 22:15, 18). Though it was not originally for that reason, Elder Wu gave up his whole life in China to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ in a foreign land. King Lamoni’s father was willing to give up his whole kingdom and all his sins in order to come to know God. Elder Wu commented, “The king did not remain stuck in his state of astonishment; he chose to believe and to act. He was willing to forsake all his sins that he might know God. What are we willing to give up or change to truly know God and be saved at the last day?” Ultimately we must be willing to make sacrifices to come to know God, just as the father of King Lamoni was willing to do. In our dispensation the Lord said this: “Verily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice—yea, every sacrifice which I, the Lord, shall command—they are accepted of me” (Doctrine and Covenants 97:8). To be accepted of Him, we must be willing to observe our covenants by sacrifice, which means being willing to give up things of this world in order to come to know Him. Elder Wu also taught, “We cannot know God without a sincere desire and real intent. We need to have faith in Jesus Christ, continuously repent, and strive to obey the commandments. The Savior loves us more than we can comprehend, and He pleads with us again and again, ‘Come, follow me.’” That invitation of course is the name of the study program we have been following for years in the Church, and the phrase in English only appears once in the New Testament. The words were spoken by Jesus to the wealthy ruler: “Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me” (Luke 18:22). So the phrase is directly connected with an invitation to make a significant sacrifice of worldly possessions to the Lord. Our own decision to follow Him will surely require sacrifice on our part as well as we seek to know Him. Elder Wu left this invitation and testimony, “Whether you are a child or a king, and regardless of your background or your status, I invite you to choose to have faith in Jesus Christ and to decide to follow Him. For ‘there is none other name given under heaven save it be this Jesus Christ … whereby man can be saved.’ I testify that Jesus Christ is risen. He lives! This is what He wants us to do to prepare for eternal life.”