Unauthorized Elder Holland Talk

Some of you may have read the Elder Holland talk I posted from our local Beaumont Stake Conference. The post was only up for a couple hours before local church leaders requested it be removed. The reason for removal comes from the LDS Church Handbook 1, section 17.1.37. It states, "Church members should not record the talks or addresses that General Authorities and Area Seventies give at stake conferences, missionary meetings, or other meetings." The principle behind this policy is encompassed in this talk.

A friend of mine was given special permission to record the talk, but not to disseminate the transcribed talk on a forum or blog. If you copied the talk please keep it for yourself and do not distribute it. Thank you.

Although the full talk cannot be posted, I can post excerpts that were particularly meaningful to me. These three nuggets are not verbatim, nor are they official quotes from Elder Holland. Enjoy.

• GOD LOVES BROKEN THINGS. He must, because there are so many of them. It’s like Abe Lincoln said about the common man, “He must have really loved the common man because he made so very many.” And he cherishes and reveres and can deal with things that are broken. Some of you sitting in this audience do not believe that. You believe that you are broken, or you believe your kids are broken, or you believe your marriage is broken, or their marriage is broken, or their hearts are broken, or their lives are broken, or their mortgage is broken, or their health is broken. I want to testify to you that God can heal everything. God can fix anything that is broken…including YOU.

• We are being invited to break our heart just a little. Just a little. The road to salvation goes through Gethsemane. The road to Salvation always goes at least a few steps up Calvary…so BUCK UP! OK? You’re not the only one who has ever had a bad day. And neither am I and sometimes I acted like I was, like I was the only one in all the world who ever had trouble. Well, I’m not, and neither are you. And the living son of the living God said if you’ll do this right, and you’ll face this right, and you’ll deal with this right, this economic downturn, this unexpected disease of your spouse, this troubled marriage of your child, this unspoken, unanticipated, unprecedented trauma in your life, if you’ll be a big person about it and bring it up and put it on this altar then I’ll heal you. I’ll give you your kids and your marriage and your money and your hope and your home and your destiny…I’ll give it all back to you. I don’t know when. I don’t know how. I’m in the same boat you are. I’m still trying to make my way to the altar right along with you. So it’s not given to me or anyone else I know, it’s got to be exactly how, or when, or in ever degree or in every detail…I just know the what, that is takes a broken heart and that he will give it back to you completely perfect. That is the meaning of the resurrection. And the resurrection isn’t this metaphor or this symbol, it is literal.

• So endure. Remember this phrase if you will, this is from Virgil, a poet, “Endure and save yourself for days of happiness ahead.” The problem will be that you will not believe that there are days of happiness ahead. I’ve already told you that there were times in my life that I thought I would never be happy again. You’re going to run that risk in really severe tests, and don’t worry about me, by the way, that’s what happens when these calls come, we get to learn a lot more than we bargained for, about Gethsemane and Calvary, but if you’ve wondered if you’ll be happy, then I promise you that if you will endure, and be believing, and trusting in covenants of the gospel including sacrifice, then you will be happy again. Save yourself for days of happiness to come.