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AUSTRALIA LOCAL PAGES AUSTRALIA LOCAL PAGES AREA LEADERSHIP MESSAGE Ministering to the One By Elder Adolf J. Johansson Elder Adolf J. Area Seventy Johansson Whenever you feel like you are just another number, always remember you are I didn’t hear back from him that number ONE. day, but when I returned home the following Sunday, I went to church few years ago, we moved into a up him and his wife. While on my and there was the dear brother and A new ward. My ward priesthood knees offering my prayers, I heard his wife. As I greeted him, he shook leader assigned me a home teaching a buzz on my phone with his text my hand and said, “I just had to come. companion, and one of the families I message reply. The text read, “My I couldn’t stay away.” was assigned to visit was a man who wife and I have been talking and we As I think of this experience, I was had been away from church for many feel like we are just another number so grateful to hear President Russell M. years. He was less active and didn’t in the Church.” Nelson announce a significant change want to come back to church even While still on my knees, I prayed to to home and visiting teaching during after our visits and invitations. Heavenly Father, saying, “Father, please, the Sunday afternoon session of April While I was away on an assign- see this text. What should I say?” Just general conference. ment to another country, I texted this then an inspiring thought came to my President Nelson said: “We have dear brother with an encouraging mind. I replied with the message: “Dear made the decision to retire home message and another invitation to brother, whenever you feel like you are teaching and visiting teaching as we come to church. I assured him that if just another number, always remember have known them. Instead, we will he needed a ride, my wife could pick you are number ONE.” implement a newer, holier approach to caring for and ministering to others. We will refer to these efforts simply as ‘ministering.’”¹ To the Apostle Peter and to each of us the Lord says, “Feed my sheep” ( John 21:17). We do this as minister- ing brothers and sisters in a unified way under the direction of priesthood and auxiliary leaders. We must include our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, in our ministering. Said the Lord, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” ( John 10:27). As we prayerfully minister, seeking revelation and following inspiration, we will be August 2018 A1 LOCAL PAGES the voice of the Lord for His sheep to follow. John and Julie Sennett served SUPPLIED Elder Jeffrey R. Holland also as preservation specialists for FamilySearch in Adelaide. explained in the Sunday afternoon session of the April general confer- ence some of the many ways we can minister to one another: “As the First Presidency counseled years ago, do the best you can. In addition to whatever schedule you establish for actual visits, that calendar can be supplemented with telephone calls, written notes, texts, emails, video chats, conversations at Church meet- ings, shared service projects, social activities, and a host of possibilities in the world of social media. “. We at Church headquarters don’t need to know how or where or when you make contact with your people; we just need to know and care that you do make it and that you bless them in every way you can.”² In His simple but compelling para- ble of the lost sheep, the Saviour said, “He started taking me to Australian “What man of you, having an hundred Faithful Wife bush dances and colonial dances. He sheep, if he lose one of them, doth Keeps Serving introduced me to all of these things and not leave the ninety and nine in the By Shilo Kino we had a really good time,” Julie said. wilderness, and go after that which is “John always said to me that he lost, until he find it?” (Luke 15:4). t was an unexpected love story for was looking for someone who loves This is a reminder that whenever IJohn and Julie Sennett. God first. He loved the gospel and he you feel like you are just another Julie joined the Church in 1990 and honoured his priesthood.” number, always remember that to the she met John in 2004, soon after he John and Julie are both from Lord you are number ONE. ◼ was baptized. Adelaide, Australia, and were married It wasn’t until five years later that in 2009. They were later sealed in the NOTES 1. Russell M. Nelson, “Ministering,” Ensign, they met again at a singles fireside. Adelaide Australia Temple. May 2018, 100. John asked for Julie’s phone number “Even if we had bad moments, we 2. Jeffrey R. Holland, “Be With and Strengthen Them,” Ensign, May 2018, 102. and they began dating. made sure to always pray and read A2 Ensign AUSTRALIA LOCAL PAGES scriptures together. We also made sure “I heard a shuffling sound and I and I found strength in that,” she said. to attend the temple as often as we heard him say something . he had “I felt like Heavenly Father was talking could. I just love that man so much.” lost his footing. As I turned I watched to me and Jesus was standing by me In 2015 they submitted their his body tumble to the bottom of a and they were getting me through this. mission papers and were called to 50-metre cliff. When he hit his head I began to see a light. I thought about serve as preservation specialists for he was killed outright, as reported by the people at the State Records of South FamilySearch in Adelaide, at the State an inquest later.” Australia who knew us. I remembered Records of South Australia Centre. “For a couple of months, it was the work we had started. I thought to “We mostly worked with non- hard to get through life,” Julie said. myself, ‘I need to go back.’ members and we became a family. After constant prayer and reading “The mission is something we Everyone loved John. He formed the Book of Mormon, Julie gained the planned to do together. I also became friendships with everyone.” courage to return to the mission field aware of the people we got close to; John also had a bicycle business, two months after John’s death. She I was concerned with how they were. and he serviced bikes for the mission- finished the rest of their mission in I wanted to go back to see them.” aries Tuesday and Thursday nights and February this year. Julie has already served two during the day on some Saturdays. “I just kept reading three pages of service missions, one for CES (the However, halfway through their the Book of Mormon every day as part Church Educational System) and one 23-month mission, tragedy struck. of a mission challenge we undertook serving in the Adelaide mission office. “John loved hiking,” Julie said. “So on preparation day, we went on a Julie gained the hike, due to the records place being courage to return closed for a public holiday. We went to the mission field to a small cliff front and began using two months after a GPS to find out where we were. John’s death. Then we realized we were in the wrong spot. “John decided to go in another direction, and I began losing my foot- ing because there was loose gravel. I had a prompting that it wasn’t safe, and John said to me, ‘You go over there and make a picnic. I will meet you back there.’ “My husband was a hiker and he was quite confident. But I watched him for a while because I was con- cerned. When I felt it was OK, I headed towards the picnic area. August 2018 A3 This was her first full-time mission and become closer together as a fam- a new journey,” she said. “I don’t with her husband. ily and to work together to help one know what I’m going to be doing A mission is a road to the unknown, another. When you serve a mission, after my books and writing, but I’m she said. you become a different person.” hoping I can serve other missions “The Lord is waiting to bless you. Julie loves going to the temple and when the time is right.” When you turn your life over to Him undertook a self-reliance course soon Julie is very grateful for the love and serve Him with all your heart, after her mission. She now hopes to and support she has received since might, mind and strength, He will become a children’s writer. John’s accident. “I’m deeply touched surely bless you. “I have learnt more about my self by all the support and especially “Heavenly Father loves all of His through scripture study and prayer. those who continue to minister to children and wants to see them grow Heavenly Father has blessed me with me,” she said. ◼ Melbourne Temple Receives New Statue By Robin and Gloria Lloyd ommuters traveling along Eastlink freighted to Melbourne, was securely Cin Melbourne may have won- mounted to the top of the Melbourne dered about a gold statue seemingly temple spire. standing among the treetops on their The entire exchange of statues was way to work.