Brooklyn Ann Madsen: December 2011

I was asked to speak in church on December 18th, well so was Caitlyn... Both at nine o' clock, but 15 miles apart... well guess exchange of talks will be family home evening =) Here is a copy of my talk for those of you who asked for it. Enjoy!

I want you to imagine that you have won a million dollars. You have the chance to purchase anything you want. A nice vacation, a fancy new sports car, your dream house, or that new iPhone you always wanted, what do you spend it on? You most likely spend it on something expensive and flashy. Well unfortunately our imagination isn’t reality… the moment you drive that new car out of the dealer’s it has already lost its value. That dream house has payments, repairs, and housekeeping. The nice luxury vacation is now only a memory, with a few snapshots in the photo album. That iPhone is now outdated, and the next model will be released in only a few months. These dreams are only temporary gifts. They last only for a little while before things need fixing.

My topic is on our dear prophet’s talk in this last October conference entitled “Stand in Holy Places”. President Monson starts his talk out by quoting an article from the Wall Street Journal. The article states “Do whatever works for you. The Ten Commandments were rewritten as the Ten Creative Suggestions.” President Monson then states, “Although the world has changed, the laws of God remain constant. They have not changed; they will not change. The Ten Commandments are just that-commandments. They are not suggestions.” End quote. The world is always looking for the fastest, most improved happiness, but isn’t it a comfort to know that God’s commandments has been the same forever and will remain the same for the rest of time? President Monson shares his testimony on this subject by saying, “My brothers and sisters, I declare to you, however, that there is nothing which can bring more joy into our lives or more peace to our souls than the spirit which can come to us as we follow the Savior and keep the commandments.”

I want you to think about the hardships you have been through this far in your life. We all encounter times in our life when it seems too hard to go on, but do we remember that trials are a part of our plan here on earth. That we came here to be tested, and to learn? We came here to be strengthened and to grow? Maybe sometimes we are missing baby Jesus. I would like to read this story that leads me into the topic of my talk. It’s called is anyone missing baby Jesus?

About a week before Christmas, the family bought a new nativity set. When they unpacked it, they found two figures of the Baby Jesus.

"Someone must have packed this wrong," the mother said, counting out the figures.

"We have one Joseph, one Mary, three wise men, three shepherds, two lambs, a donkey, a cow, an angel and two babies. Oh, dear! I suppose some set down at the store is missing a Baby Jesus because we have two."

"You two run back down to the store and tell the manager that we have an extra Jesus. Tell him to put a sign on the remaining boxes, saying that if a set is missing a Baby Jesus, call 7126."

"Put on your warm coats. It is freezing out there."

The manager of the store copied down mother's message and the next time they were in the store they saw the cardboard sign that read, "If you are missing Baby Jesus, call 7126."

All week long they waited for someone to call. Surely, they thought someone was missing that important figurine. Each time the phone rang, mother would say, "I'll bet that's about Jesus", but it never was.

Father tried to explain there are thousands of these scattered over the country, and the figurine could be missing from a set in Florida or Texas or California. Those packing mistakes happen all the time. He suggested to just put the extra Jesus back in the box and forget about it.

"Put Baby Jesus back in the box! What a terrible thing to do!" said the children.

"Surely someone will call," mother said. "We'll just keep the two of them together in the manger until someone calls."

When no call had come by 5:00 PM on Christmas Eve, mother insisted that father just run down to the store to see if there were any sets left.

"You can see them right through the window, over on the counter," she said. "If they are all gone, I'll know someone is bound to call tonight."

"Run down to the store?" father thundered. "It's 15 below zero out there!"

"Oh, Daddy, we'll go with you," Tommy and Mary began to put on their coats. Father gave a long sigh and headed for the front closet.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," he muttered.

Tommy and Mary ran ahead as father reluctantly walked out in the cold. Mary got to the store first and pressed her nose up to the store window.

"They're all gone, Daddy," she shouted. "Every set must be sold."

"Hooray" Tommy said. "The mystery will now be solved tonight!"

Father heard the news still a half block away and immediately turned on his heel and headed back home.

When they got back into the house, they noticed that mother was gone and so was the extra Baby Jesus figurine.

"Someone must have called and she went out to deliver the figurine," my father reasoned, pulling off his boots.

"You kids get ready for bed while I wrap mother's present."

Then the phone rang. Father yelled "answer the phone and tell 'em we found a home for Jesus." But it was mother calling with instructions for us to come to 205 Chestnut Street immediately, and bring three blankets, a box of cookies and some milk..

"Now what has she gotten us into?" my father groaned as we bundled up again. "205 Chestnut. Why that's across town. Wrap that milk up good in the blankets or it will turn to ice before we get there. Why can't we all just get on with Christmas? It's probably 20 below out there now. And the wind is picking up. Of all the crazy things to do on a night like this!"

When they got to the house at 205 Chestnut Street, it was the darkest one on the block. Only one tiny light burned in the living room and, the moment we set foot on the porch steps, my mother opened the door and shouted, "They're here, Oh thank God, you got here, Ray! You kids take those blankets into the living room and wrap up the little ones on the couch. I'll take the milk and cookies."

"Would you mind telling me what is going on, Ethel?" my father asked.

"We have just walked through below zero weather with the wind in our faces all the way."

"Never mind all that now," my mother interrupted. "There is no heat in this house and this young mother is so upset she doesn't know what to do. Her husband walked out on her and those poor little children will have a very bleak Christmas, so don't you complain. I told her you could fix that oil furnace in a jiffy."

My mother strode off to the kitchen to warm the milk while my brother and I wrapped up the five little children who were huddled together on the couch. The children's mother explained to my father that her husband had run off, taking bedding, clothing, and almost every piece of furniture, but she had been doing all right until the furnace broke down.

"I been din washin' and ironin' for people and cleanin' the five and dime," she said. "I saw your number every day there, on those boxes on the counter. When the furnace went out, that number kept going' through my mind... 7126... 7126."

"Said on the box that if a person was missin' Jesus, they should call you. That's how I knew you were good Christian people, willin' to help folks. I figured that maybe you would help me, too. So I stopped at the grocery store tonight and I called your missus. I'm not missin' Jesus, mister, because I sure love the Lord. But I am missin' heat. I have no money to fix that furnace."

"Okay, Okay" said father. "You've come to the right place. Now lets see. You've got a little oil burner over there in the dining room. Shouldn't be too hard to fix. Probably just a clogged flue. I'll look it over, see what it needs."

Mother came into the living room carrying a plate of cookies and warm milk. As she set the cups down on the coffee table, I noticed the figure of Baby Jesus lying in the center of the table. It was the only sign of Christmas in the house. The children stared with wide eyed with wonder at the plate of cookies my mother sat before them.

Father finally got the oil burner working but said "you need more oil."

"I'll make a few calls tonight and get some oil."

"Yes sir, you came to the right place," said the woman...

On the way home, father did not complain about the cold weather and had barely set foot inside the door when he was on the phone.

" Ed, hey, how are ya, Ed? Yes, Merry Christmas to you, too. Say, Ed, we have kind of an unusual situation here. I know you've got that pick-up truck. Do you still have some oil in that barrel on your truck?"

"You do?"

By this time the rest of the family were pulling clothes out of their closets and toys off of their shelves. It was long after their bedtime when they were wrapping gifts. The pickup came. On it were chairs, three lamps, blankets and gifts. Even though it was 30 below, Father let them ride along in the back of the truck.

No one ever did call about the missing figure in the nativity set, but as I grow older I realize that it wasn't a packing mistake at all. Jesus saves, that's what He does.

When we have an extra baby Jesus so to say are we willing to give up that baby Jesus to bless someone else’s life? But more importantly are we willing to call for the baby Jesus? Our line to Christ is as easy as calling 7126. Christ service is 24/7, his line is never busy, and he will never miss your call.

President Monson says in his talk, “As a means of being in the world but not being of the world, it is necessary that we communicate with our Heavenly Father through prayer. He wants us to do so; He’ll answer our prayers. The Savior admonished us, as recorded in 3 Nephi 18, to ‘watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation; for satan desireth to have you… Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name; And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.” End quote.

Satan will tempt you throughout life, but temptations become easier to withstand if you have a close relationship with your father in heaven. Later in his talk he says, “I have had countless prayers answered. Not a day has gone by that I have not communicated with my Father in Heaven through prayer. It is a relationship I cherish-one I would literally be lost without. If you do not now have such a relationship with your Father in Heaven, I urge you to work toward that goal. As you do so, you will be entitled to His inspiration and guidance in your life-necessities for each of us if we are to survive spiritually during our sojourn here on earth. Such inspiration and guidance are gifts He freely gives if we seek them. What treasures they are!”

Growing up prayer was the first part of my testimony that I gained myself. I remember being about four years old and asking my dad to help me pray by myself. I wanted to know to Lord personally and to gain that relationship with him at a young age. My dad knelt beside me by my bed, and he prayed for me to feel the spirit as I learned to pray. When he finished he smiled and explained it was my turn. I have never forgotten that feeling I felt when I said my first prayer all by myself. It was like Heavenly Father was on the other side of me kneeling with me, listening. Ever since that day I have never missed a day of saying my prayers. In the book Finding Hope.

Michael Wilcox shares a touching story, about his 4 year old daughter learning the importance of a strong relationship with her Father in Heaven. He says, “Little girl’s prayers remind me of my own daughter, Megan. We bought her a pink toy telephone when she was a little girl. (Considering the time she spent on telephones in her subsequent life, I’m not sure that was a good decision.) She used to have wonderful long conversations with imaginary people on her pink phone. One day I came home from work and found her carrying on quite a serious conversation with someone. She was about four years old. She was so intense that I interrupted her and asked, “Megan, who are you talking to?”

She looked up at me, rather annoyed at the intrusion, and said, “It’s Jesus!” She then turned back to her phone. I was intrigued, so I risked one more interruption. “What is He saying to you, Megan?” I asked. Once again, and with a little more irritation in her voice and face, she put the phone down and said, “He’s telling me to get married in the temple!” I almost picked up the phone myself at this point and said, “Hello?”

Megan established in her early childhood and youth the habit of a familiar relationship with her Father in Heaven, a pink telephone relationship. One day while she was hurrying downstairs she slipped on a stair and fell. Life has a way of combining circumstances at times to produce rather unpleasant results. As fate would have it, my wife had left a glass on the lower step and Megan fell on it, cutting her arm quite badly and severing a nerve. Surgery was done to repair the damage, but weeks of therapy awaited, with no major hope that the nerve would regenerate fast enough to prevent the muscles in her hand from atrophying and causing permanent damage.

I was as worried about my wife as I was my daughter because my wife blamed herself for leaving the glass on the stairs. I could see her carrying a load of mother-guilt throughout her life. We all prayed fervently that the nerve would grow in time and looked to the medical community for encouragement. One morning, Megan walked upstairs and said, “We don’t have to worry about my arm. I prayed and Heavenly Father told me it would be all right.” She was so matter-of-fact about her announcement. My wife and I had turned to doctors, therapy, and surgery for hope. Megan picked up her “pink telephone” and talked to her Father.

The Lord has not always answered my prayers in the way I necessarily wanted. But my trust in Him that he will do what’s best for me is unbreakable. Little over three years ago our family was tested in a way we had never expected. My grandpa got extremely sick, hospital visits daily, and specialized doctor appointments. We all fasted and prayed multiple times on his behalf asking the Lord to heal him, renew his strength and let his body recover. But even after prayers, blessings, and much fasting he never improved. Our hearts were softened and our prayers changed to accept the Father’s will. Within a day Grandpa joined his awaiting angels on the other side. That experience didn’t end the way any of us wanted in the beginning, but our family is so much closer now, and our testimonies of the Plan of Salvation have grown immensely.

“Prayer is not just a device for communication like a telephone to Heaven. It is the actual channel through which the POWER of God flows.” I know Heavenly Father listens to us, he hears us, and he wants to talk to us, But it is up to us to make that decision to go to Him. One of my favorite primary hymn is, A Child’s Prayer. I would like to recite the words for you.

Heavenly Father are you really there? And do you listen and answer every child’s prayer? Some say that Heaven is far away, but I feel it close around me as I pray. Heavenly Father I remember now, something that Jesus told disciples long ago, suffer the children to come to me Father in prayer I’m coming now to thee.

Pray he is there, speak he is listening you are his child his love now surrounds you. He hears your prayers he loves the children, of such is the kingdom the kingdom of Heaven.

I know without a doubt in my mind that prayer is real; I have seen the power of God in my life throughout prayers. I know He listens to us, and that He is there for whatever we may need. I challenge you to go to your Savior not only when things get tough but when you are taken care of. If we only prayed when we needed his help, we are only ordering Him to bless us; instead we need to pray to him when times seem easier and thank Him for what he has blessed us with. I have a testimony…

Remember to bless those who may be missing baby Jesus especially at this time of year. I’m so grateful for that perfect child that was born in a manger. He saved my life, and loves me for who I am, even if I am not perfect. He knows me, and I love Him. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

I was asked to speak for 18-22 minutes, and I spoke for 21 =) Big girl talks here I come ;) haha

This year I decided to try something new. The 12 days of Christmas. =) All of these are to Jared Crockett!

Each day consists of a gift that will help Jared on his mission. Oh boy! What a project this turned into. I haven't been good at getting pictures of each day, but here is day number one.

Refills to his scripture marking pencil. =)
Day 2: Toothbrushes, toothpaste, and chapstick. Got to keep the smile bright and healthy, it catches the eye =)
Day 3: Razors. Missionary can't have facial hair, so 8 new razors should come in handy =)
Day 4: Dress socks! Can't have cold feet ;) haha New church socks to wear out!
Day 5: Journal and Pens! A new journal with the Salt Lake Temple on the cover, and a package of 8 new pens to write with. Have to write lots on your mission to remember those special moments of growth when you are 90 years old!
Day 6: Hymn Book. A pocket size hymn book with 'Elder Crockett' written on the cover. Loved this one!!!
Day 7: Temple Picture. President Hinckley challenged us a few years ago to have in every single bedroom a picture of the temple. It keeps us focused on our goals, and the things we are striving for. So I gave Jared a gorgeous picture of the Manti temple. He can hang it in his room now, and take it with him on his mission if he wants to.
Day 8: Joseph Smith Quote Book. The book Stand a Little Taller by Gordon B. Hinckley was my goal, but it is no longer in print, so the second best one I could find was a quote book from Joseph Smith. A quote/thought for every day of the year. 365 scriptures, and testimonies of Joseph Smith. It's a great one!
Day 9: Two new Ties. Jared has been wanting a couple new ties, so I took on the challenge. For those of you who know my dad, he is very very picky when it comes to his ties. But girls are the same when it comes to their shoes, or jewelry, so I can't say anything. Well I found a purple tie that's striped with black and gray (goose picked it out) and we all fell in love with that one. I also found a pink one. We will see how much of a real man Jared is, everyone says it takes a real man to wear pink! ;) haha he will enjoy them!
That's all the gifts I have given so far. He gets one every other day starting on December 1st, so I will post more when they get to him. Can't spoil any surprises! =)