Hank Smith: 00:03 Hello and welcome to FollowHIM Favorites. If you’ve been following us this year, you know that we’ve been telling a single story for each week’s lesson. John, we are in second Nephi 21. 20 through 25. All Isaiah. What story do you have for us?

John Bytheway: 00:18 In these Isaiah chapters, there’s a verse 2 Nephi 21:12. “He shall set up an ensign for the nations.” And what that means is they would hold up a church magazine… No, an ensign is like a flag or a banner, a gathering point, right? Hold up an ensign to the nations. There’s a place in Salt Lake City, they call it Ensign Peak, where the early brethren when they came in kind of literally set up an ensign to say, “Hey, let’s gather.” Great story. April 2004, I think, Elder Earl C. Tingey told a story about being asked by President Hinckley to go open a certain nation in Africa to the opening of missionary work. You can imagine getting an assignment from President Hinckley. Yes, sir, absolutely. And so he went there. He said, I got 20 minutes with a cabinet member, I think it was the Minister of Religion.

  01:06 And he said, I met with him and told him, this is what we’d like to do. This is what we have to offer. We’d love to have missionaries come to your country. And after 20 minutes, the man stood up and said, “I really don’t see that you have anything to offer that we don’t already have.” And he stood up and started to usher him to the door. And the Elder Tingey was like, “Oh no. I failed. In a minute our meeting would be over. What do I do?” Said a quick prayer, and he said, “Sir, if you’ll just give me five more minutes, then I promise I’ll leave.” And he said, “Okay.” And he pulled out of his wallet a mini ensign to the nations, a mini for the strength of youth. It wasn’t this edition, this is the newest, a couple of years old. He said, “This is something we give to all of our youth.”

  01:47 I think he had the 1990 edition. And they just started reading some of the standards. Treat your date with respect. Listen to good music. Honor your father and your mother. And the Minister of Religion said, “This is amazing. Do you expect your youth to keep these standards?” Elder Tingey said, “Yes, and they do.” And the man said, “Do you think I could get some of these for the youth in my church?” Elder Tingey, said, “Yes,” and he sent those, and a few months later, the church was officially recognized in that part of the world. And I’m just thinking, okay, if a piece of paper this big can open up a country to missionary work, imagine what these awesome young adults could do if they get there and actually open their mouths. They become like an ensign to the nations. A place to say gather. I love that story.

Hank Smith: 02:46 Right, John, an ensign is a standard even.

John Bytheway: 02:49 Yeah, it’s a flag. It says, “This is who we are. This is who we represent.” And notice the word you used, Hank. You used stand, standards. The opposite of stand is to shrink, buckle or wilt or compromise. But we’re asked to stand like an ensign. Love it.

Hank Smith: 03:05 What a great story, John. That’s awesome. We hope you’ll join us on our full podcast. It’s called FollowHIM. You can get it wherever you get your podcasts. We’re with Dr. Camille Olson this week as she walks us through this, and she’s going to end up in Second Nephi 25:23. That verse about, “We know that it’s by grace we are saved after all we can do.” She’s going to explain that in such a beautiful way. You’re not going to want to miss it. And then come back, join us here next week for another FollowHIM Favorites.