Hank Smith: 00:02 Hello everyone. Welcome to followHIM Favorites. This is where John and I share a single story to go with each week’s lesson. John, we’re in Joseph Smith History, the first half, the first vision basically and the experiences of Joseph Smith leading up to the first vision. So, I thought I’d share a story with you that goes along with verse 17 in Joseph Smith History.

  00:24 Do you know, John, I’m sure you do, the very first thing Joseph hears from the Father and the Son as they appear?

John Bytheway: 00:32 It was amazingly his own name, “He called me by name.”

Hank Smith: 00:39 Some people might say, “Oh, no. It was, ‘This is my beloved son. Hear him.'” But just before that, Joseph says, “One of them spake unto me, calling me by name.” John, you and I have said this before, that might be the most important thing Joseph Smith learns that day, “God knows who I am.”

John Bytheway: 00:58 It had to help him through a lot that was coming.

Hank Smith: 01:01 “God knows my name.” I wanted to share with you a story that I love about God knowing someone else’s name. And he knows all of ours. This is from a sister who is friends with both of us, John. You know Sister Elaine Dalton, one of the most wonderful people you will ever meet.

  01:20 She told this story in General Conference when she was the young women’s general president. She says this, “When I was a young woman, my young women’s leaders had us each choose a symbol that would represent the life that we would live and what we would strive to become as daughters of God.” She said they put them on their bandolo. I didn’t know what that was, John. But it’s like you wear as a boy scout that you put your merit badges on.

John Bytheway: 01:44 Yeah, merit badge sash, but this is a bandolo?

Hank Smith: 01:47 Right. In fact, she says that. “They were fabric sashes that we wore.” I guess as they earned young women’s values, they put those patches on: faith, divine nature, choice and accountability. They would earn these patches. Each of the bandolos were unique because you had your own symbol stitched onto the bandolo. Does that make sense?

  02:10 I don’t know if this was in Sister Dalton’s ward, or stake, or across the whole church that you had this little symbol. She said, “I chose the symbol of a white rose because roses become more and more beautiful as they grow and blossom.” And the color white, she said, she chose for purity, like the temple.

  02:28 Now, that’s when she’s, what, 12 years old. Does the Lord care, John, what symbol she chooses to put on her bandolo? Is that something-

John Bytheway: 02:41 I think we’re about to find out that-

Hank Smith: 02:43 Right.

John Bytheway: 02:43 … He does?

Hank Smith: 02:45 Decades later… Sorry, Elaine, if you’re listening. You’re not that old. But decades later, she was called to be the young women’s general president. As she’s meeting with President Monson, who was the president of the church at the time, as she said, “He calls me to be the young woman’s general president.” Can you imagine, John, that moment of, “What?”

John Bytheway: 03:07 “What? Me?”

Hank Smith: 03:08 “Say what?” I’ve heard her tell this story. And she says, “Wait. No. Not me. You do not want me.” I think she told me before the two things she doesn’t like to do are speak and fly. And guess what this calling is.

John Bytheway: 03:23 Speaking and flying.

Hank Smith: 03:26 And I think she thought to herself, “I’m just a grandma. I can’t do this. You don’t want me.” And as she’s leaving President Monson’s office, he reaches over to a bouquet of flowers, takes out a white rose, and hands it to her. And then, she says this, “The moment he handed me that beautiful white rose, I knew why.” Doesn’t that sound like Joseph Smith History? “One of them spake unto me, calling me by name.”

John Bytheway: 03:56 By name. Elder Lund, I think, called those divine signatures that the Lord just signed to that.

Hank Smith: 04:03 Tender mercies of the Lord. She says, “I took that precious rose home, put it in a beautiful crystal vase, and placed it on a table where I could see it every day. The Lord knows my name.” The Lord knows your name.

  04:18 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. Maclane Heward this week, who goes through the first vision and the multiple accounts, John, of the first vision so beautifully. We hope you’ll join us over there. And then, come back next week. We’ll do another followHIM Favorites.