John Bytheway:               00:00                   Welcome back to part two with Noelle Pikus Pace. Doctrine and Covenants section 88.

Noelle Pikus Pace:           00:07                   How about we jump ahead to verses 118 and 119.

Hank Smith:                      00:14                   And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another, words of wisdom. There it is again. Teach one another. Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith. Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; establish a house, a house of prayer, fasting, a house of faith, house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.

Noelle Pikus Pace:           00:40                   Every single one of these things is applicable in any walk of life that you’re in. That’s what’s so cool about the scriptures. There’s something for each of us and in this one, thinking about the best books. In my efforts to go to the Olympic Games, I had to be seeking for the best. If I wanted to become the best in the world, I had to seek the best coaches. I had to seek the best books. I had to seek the best learning and the best methods and the best equipment. Everything had to be suitable for the best at the Olympic level, that highest level that we could possibly strive to attain, which is the same in our lives. We’re striving to get back to God. We’re striving to reach that celestial kingdom, to be with Him forever. He’s giving us this blueprint here for how we do that.

                                           01:28                   He’s giving us this roadmap to say, come back to me and reach this joy. This is how you do it. In skeleton, if I was seeking out the best coach to help me to get down this very difficult course, as I’m weaving in and out of every corner, if I’m going to get down safely and efficiently and quickly, I’m going to look for the best coach and the best advice and the best knowledge. Maybe I think, I need to learn how to get through curve one and two and three. Here’s a pitching coach for baseball. He teaches curve balls, but that’s not gonna be the same kind of coach that will help me get down the track. If I have a baseball coach teaching me how to get down a skeleton track, you can guarantee I’ll end up in the emergency room. It’s going to be very, very painful.

                                           02:12                   Alongside with that, as I had to study it, I would take my sled. My sled is about 65 pounds, and I would lay it down in my living room floor and I’d take a laptop and set it in front of me. We would have somebody go down with a GoPro on their helmet. We’d see the track, like in and out of every corner, so we could see where to put pressure. We steer with our shoulders and our knees and counteract all that movement going down the track. Everything matters. Every hundredth of a second matters. If I blink for too long, I could crash and hit a wall. If I take a deep breath in or deep breath out at the wrong place, I could crash and hit a wall. If I look towards a flag waving or a camera blinking, then that could be the emergency room.

                                           02:52                   It’s very, very important that we study this out, but hand in hand with that studying had to be faith. I couldn’t get down the track, a mile-long course in 50 seconds without faith. I couldn’t make it down. Whether you are a believer of Jesus Christ or not, there is faith. That is an eternal principle. Whether you believe it to be true or not, it is there. It is real, but my faith was centered on Jesus Christ and that he could help me amplify my talents, my abilities, my vision to see more clearly, to understand more, to open my eyes, to open my heart, to open my mind, to receive information. To be ready to receive it, so that I’d say, Heavenly Father, please, I don’t understand this concept. If somebody has this knowledge, please put them in front of me. Please help me to find them. Please help me to know how to get down this track in the best way possible. Sure enough, there’d be someone that would say something, and it maybe wasn’t even in context to teaching me how to slide, but I would be more prepared to receive that information, because I was looking for that light. I was seeking for that light with faith and studying hand in hand, and it helped to amplify that gift or that skillset. It’s true with any one of us in our lives.

John Bytheway:               04:12                   Thank you for saying best coach. I started making notes like, yeah, who’s my best mentor? We use a phrase a lot now in the world, don’t you think? It’s recent– best practices. You check out the church news, you will find so many articles on best practices for youth conferences, for Aaronic priesthood camps, for teaching the FSY guide principles. I was thinking of Sister Sheri Dew who talks about Jesus. Who else would you rather have in charge of your life? It’s such a good question.

Hank Smith:                      04:45                   118 has a phrase, it says, “And as all have not faith”. I think we have to acknowledge that sometimes my faith is weak. Sometimes as I’m sitting in my ward, not everybody there has faith. They’re going through something. As Noelle said, there’s something challenging that they’re facing. Teaching one another, as the Lord says here again, because not everybody has faith, teach one another words of wisdom. I used to do this in my seminary class. I’d pair up a strong and a weak. Someone who’s struggling with someone who’s got it going on right now, they’re really strong right now. And it seems that’s what the Lord wants us to do. I think of those, John, we talk about this often. Those who are struggling and are listening to our program, whether it be a single mom who’s trying so hard to do all that’s demanded of her or someone who’s had a major loss in their life or like Noelle said, been hit by a a bob sled. Although, I don’t know if there’s any listeners out there saying that happened to me. I was hit by a bob sled. I hope that’s what our show does. We seek diligently to teach one another so we can help others have faith. Build their faith.

John Bytheway:               06:02                   I like what Alma says, even if you can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you until you can give place. One of my favorite Alma phrases. Give place for the word to be planted. Thank you for listening. If that’s where you are.

Hank Smith:                      06:19                   Yeah.

John Bytheway:               06:20                   Even if you can no more than desire to believe, hang on to that. It’ll come.

Hank Smith:                      06:24                   Hang on. The Lord says in verse 122, that all may be edified of all. That’s one of our hopes.

Noelle Pikus Pace:           06:32                   To those that are listening, that are struggling with that faith, I imagine we’ve, at least the majority of us, have been there. That’s why it’s such a touching thing because we can feel that. And we know, my faith isn’t perfect, I mean, it’s growing and I hope that it can continue to grow. There’s so many different areas. Like maybe I don’t have such a great faith in fasting and it’s okay, but my faith in another area. Maybe my faith in serving and in loving my neighbor is a little better. Or maybe that’s where you struggle. That doesn’t diminish who you are or your relationship with God, because he knows where you’re at with all these different areas. Your faith in tithing, you have your faith in the church programs or the church itself and then the gospel of Jesus Christ and the faith. There’s faith in all these different areas.

                                           07:15                   Doubt your doubts before. You doubt your faith. Hold tight to that faith that you already have, even if it’s just to give place, like John, I love that you brought that up. To give place and to say, you know, I’m in a place where I don’t even have the energy to put my faith in anything because I’m so low, like I don’t even have the strength to serve, to give. I’ve given everything. Don’t ask me to give anymore because I just can’t, like I just can’t. To those that are in that situation, it’s okay. Like, that’s okay too. Don’t give up. Don’t give up on him. Don’t give up on Jesus Christ if that’s the only thing in this whole gospel that is there, that’s it. If you have to, like, kind of take a breath, it’s okay if that faith in other areas isn’t there, just look for His light, look for His hand today. And if you look for it, you’ll see it and that light will come.

Hank Smith:                      08:06                   Share with those who have strong faith that you trust. Hey, I need you. I need you right now. Sometimes we suffer in silence. We don’t need to.

John Bytheway:               08:18                   It’s not about distance, it’s about direction. If you’re in prison and you’re listening, you are looking to the light. If you’re a church, great, but are you coming or going? You know it’s not about distance, it’s about direction. Lord will take us where we’re at. He won’t leave us where we’re at, but he’ll take us where we’re at.

Hank Smith:                      08:37                   I wonder if in verse 118, the Lord might say, today, seek ye out of the best media, wisdom. Sometimes I don’t know if the media I consume is the most uplifting and edifying best media. I could be better about that.

John Bytheway:               08:56                   Hank and Noelle, I was talking to a group of youth the other day and I asked them, guess how many websites there were when I was your age? The answer was zero.

Hank Smith:                      09:05                   Right?

John Bytheway:               09:06                   This is a few years ago. I googled it. I found in 2021, the stat was, I think it said 1.8 billion websites. I like that, yeah, there’s a lot of books out there. Seek out of the best books. Why would you waste any time on the wrong things? There’s not enough time to read all the good things. Focus on the best things. I love it.

Noelle Pikus Pace:           09:28                   And it’s hard to find the best. I really like what President Oaks said with the good, better, best. There’s so many good things out there, so many good things we could be doing with our time, but are there better things or is there better media we could turn to? Are there better actions we could be taking and then what are those best things? We kind of have to take that assessment maybe each day, or each week, or each month, or whatever and look back and say, okay, am I doing the better and the best things and letting go of those maybe good things or not so good things?

Hank Smith:                      09:55                   Yeah, maybe I need to talk to my family and we need to say, all right, is this media we’re consuming? Is it uplifting and edifying and teaching us? A John Bytheway talk if you can find those old cassettes. That’s good media. I listened to a John Bytheway, talk Noelle. Didn’t you listen to a John Bytheway?

Noelle Pikus Pace:           10:15                   I loved, oh my goodness, Joh Bytheway, I’m like star stricken right here. I loved listening to it. Still do.

John Bytheway:               10:24                   Thanks. And it’s interesting what Noelle said. I mean, I can’t stop thinking about way back when we were in verse 63 after the day when you would say, how did I draw closer to Christ today? Is there anything that drew me further away? Woo. I remember someone in my family had watched a show and said, that was kind of dark, and I’m like, don’t look for light in the dark. You won’t find it. That is a good sobering, humbling question. Did I do anything that took me away instead of drew me closer? That’s a good question to ask.

Hank Smith:                      10:56                   Yeah.

John Bytheway:               10:57                   Oh, I remember. I have looked for this. I have not been able to find it, but I thought it was a Boy Scout publication, not a church publication, but the two words I remember were a righteous environment. I don’t know why, but it incentivized me to keep my room clean more than mom and dad. I felt a difference when I walked into an orderly room, a clean room, because it said the spirit can’t come. That’s why I think it must have been a church publication. The spirit of the Lord has an easier time in a righteous environment. I’ve shared that with my kids to notice how it feels to walk into a room that’s messy and cluttered and how different it feels to walk into a room that’s orderly. We think of our temples as kind of a model of that because that’s what this is talking about. Such a simple thing.

Hank Smith:                      11:49                   You said that everything matters. I wonder if that’s part of it. How was that in the Olympics? I’ve gotta be exact in a lot of things, not just this.

Noelle Pikus Pace:           11:58                   Yeah, and that’s in your day. Your day has to be planned out. Time management is off the charts. As an Olympic mom trying to balance motherhood, I had to be organized every single week. Lay down what I had to do each day, and that organization allowed me to have a clear mind and when my schedule was disorganized, when my life was out of order–I actually, going into the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, I was a young mom. My daughter Lacey was two years old. I had been hit by a bobsled in 2006, missed those Olympics, came back four years later.

Hank Smith:                      12:31                   Yeah. She’s gotta be the only person I know that is saying…

John Bytheway:               12:37                   Did you get hit by a car? No, by a bobsled.

Hank Smith:                      12:39                   Yeah. Yeah.

Noelle Pikus Pace:           12:41                   After the 2006 games, missing those and coming back, I just wanted to be an Olympian. I just wanted to check that box and become it, but I missed my daughter’s first birthday. I missed her first words, I missed her first steps. Talk about the turmoil going on in my mama heart. It was really a mess and I can’t even put it into words how, how emotionally, spiritually, physically, mentally drained. I was going into those Olympic games in 2010. I felt like chaos. When we have chaos around us in our lives when we feel like our lives are very cluttered, just like a teenager’s bedroom typically, right? It’s hard to find that order and that organization and that peace, that peacefulness and that stillness. In those Olympics, it was cluttered. That’s the best word I can think of is as I was competing, I wanted to be competing, but I was thinking about my family and when I was with my family, I felt like I needed to be competing and I didn’t have that balance.

                                           13:38                   When I came back four years later, in between that space we had our son and I was with two kids and instead of me going by myself off to the Olympic games like I was doing four years previous, I told Janson, I said–and was following a late miscarriage is why I went back is I had retired after 2010–said, I never wanna be a part of this again. It’s too cluttered, it’s too chaotic. I can’t find myself in this and I can’t be at my best. I don’t have that relationship with Heavenly Father. I could feel that I had distanced myself from Him and coming back to that draw near, I had distanced myself. I wasn’t doing the things I should that I could be doing to be drawing me closer to him. Going back four years later, when we decided to go back as a family, we decided to do it differently and I said, the only way I can like feel organized and feel like I have everything together and have that relationship with our Savior is if I’m not constantly stressed and worried and if I don’t have all these pieces together.

                                           14:32                   So we traveled. My husband, Janson and I, our son Traycen, he was now two, Lacee was now six. It was miraculous and amazing and beautiful because we knew the plan. Even if a bobsled came and hit again, you know, you never know when those things happen, but it didn’t this time. We were able to put our faith in Heavenly Father and said, all right, we’re going into Russia, and that was another scary time there too and we had blessings and things that we needed during that time, but that clarity with our relationship with the Savior just grew. Our family grew together in unity. That organization and having things planned out, allowed me and us to build a better relationship with the Savior. We had just the best stake president. We have the best one now too. President Keller, I love you, but President McMurtry was our stake president in Eagle Mountain.

                                           15:24                   I remember he and his presidency came up with a theme for our stake that year. It happened to be that year that we were heading into the Olympic Games and it was one word, simplify. The stake theme for the year was simplify, cut out unnecessary meetings, shorten them if needed, like do what’s necessary, but don’t do more than the meetings that are necessary. Focus on the temple. We had a temple week for the family where there were no young men, young women activities, but we were asked to take our families just to drive by the temple or go walk around the temple grounds or whatever. That year when it was simplified, it helped me to simplify my life. I put all of my social media on the back pages of my phone because I was in the habit of every morning waking up and the second my alarm would go off, it would scroll.

                                           16:09                   It was a habit. Scroll, scroll, scroll. What’s everybody up to? I don’t even know, and I look at the time and I’m like, oh, I’ve just lost two hours now. My whole day is thrown off and I’m a mess. It was really rough. I realized that part of that simplifying was just putting my digital, my all those maybe unnecessary, to the back page and logging out and then I’d have to log in. It was very intentional, but taking control like that Elder Packer quote where it says, take hold of your life and order yourself to be valiant. That was part of the simplifying process of just saying, Noelle, all right, let’s have a better connection here. I’ve got to clear out this space and organize myself, but it was beautiful and going to the Olympics with my family, it was amazing. It was really cool.

John Bytheway:               16:52                   Wow. You know, I’ve never thought of this word best this way before, but it’s a word that gives you permission to get rid of everything else, which is what you were just talking about best tells you you don’t have to do the things that are only good or kind of good. That’s a simplifying word, isn’t it? That’s interesting to think of it that way. If I seek after the best books, I don’t have to worry about the mediocre ones. That’s a really interesting thought. Thanks Noelle.

Hank Smith:                      17:21                   Back in 2015, I bet both of you remember Elder Lawrence. Larry Lawrence gave a talk called What Lack I Yet, and he said years ago I read in the church magazine the story of a girl who was living away from home and going to college. She was behind in her classes. Her social life was not what she had hoped for and she was generally unhappy. Finally, one day she fell to her knees and cried out, what can I do to improve my life? The Holy Ghost whispered, get up and clean your room. This prompting came as a complete surprise. Sound like my mom. But it was just the start she needed. After taking time to organize and put things in order, she felt the spirit fill her room and lift her heart. Then he goes on and says, the Holy Ghost doesn’t tell us to improve everything at once.

                                           18:09                   If he did, we’d be discouraged and give up. The Spirit works with us at our own speed. 90 miles an hour for Noelle. One step at a time, or as the Lord has taught, line upon line, precept upon precept. He goes on to talk about what lack I yet? I think that the Lord is, it may be saying that, right? Here in section 88, organize yourselves as we were taught four years ago. Do you remember Anthony Sweat came here? He said, this is the beginnings of the Temple endowment. The Lord is starting to lay the foundation for the presentation of the endowment here. Noelle, what do you wanna do next? This has just been fantastic. I could just listen to you talk about every one of these verses.

Noelle Pikus Pace:           18:55                   Well, this has been a lot of fun. I would love to maybe focus on two more verses. The first one let’s jump to is verse 124. Then we can wrap up with 126. You wanna go ahead and read,

Hank Smith:                      19:08                   See that you love one another; cease to be covetous; learn to impart to one another as the gospel requires. Wow. There it is again. He wants us teaching each other. Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful. Oh, now he’s sounding like my father. Retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated. And above all things, clothe yourselves with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace. Man, that’s the pen of heaven.

Noelle Pikus Pace:           19:45                   I think this is my least favorite scripture in the entire quad. I have to tell you, I am a night owl. I love my sleep. This is my least favorite, but I know I can do better. Come on Noelle, you’ve got this and I like being idle, like I like all these things. Is that…

Hank Smith:                      20:02                   Is that so wrong?

Noelle Pikus Pace:           20:05                   I was at the University of Utah running track and field. I competed in 10 events in track and field in college. I absolutely love track and field. I love learning, I love analyzing and figuring things out. I did high jump, long jump, shotput, javelin, the 100-meter hurdles, the 200, the 800–that’s called the heptathlon–and then I did hammer throw, that like ball and chain thing. Then weight throw is indoor and then discus.

John Bytheway:               20:30                   Okay, Noelle. This does not sound like someone who loves to be idle.

Noelle Pikus Pace:           20:36                   I’m talking about the sleep.

John Bytheway:               20:41                   Well if I were throwing around javelins and hammers and shotputs, I’d need more sleep too.

Hank Smith:                      20:45                   I might sleep some more too.

Noelle Pikus Pace:           20:49                   Coming back to this, I was running track and field at the U. I remember trying to burn the candle at both ends as many college students do. Staying up really, really late, waking up really early, trying to study and do all the things that college students do. One day caught up to me, I had a track meet. I was supposed to be at the bus at the University of Utah to join my track team to head up to Pocatello for this meet at 5:00 AM. I didn’t get in, I was dating Janson at the time. He was down in Orem, so I made the drive down to Orem to see him and to hang out with him and then I came back and I had to still study for some tests that I had or something, so I was up till maybe like two or three in the morning and I had to be on the bus at five.

John Bytheway:               21:30                   Oh man.

Noelle Pikus Pace:           21:30                   Do you see where this is going? My alarm. I must have slept through it. All of a sudden I woke up to a phone call at about, it was probably around 7:00 AM. It was my mom. She was saying, Noelle, Amanda, my sister, Amanda and I are here in Pocatello looking for you and your team just got off the bus. We don’t see you anywhere. Oh, can you imagine your heart rate? Oh my heart. I was like, oh my goodness. I was in Salt Lake. It was like a couple hour drive away, right? My heart is pounding. I’m like, I’m gonna get kicked off my team. I’ve gotta reference this with a little context. Our coach, Lisa Collette, was the best coach. She was absolutely incredible. She had very high expectations, which made her the best coach. One of her rules was that if we were one minute, one minute late to practice, she would look us in the eye and point to the car, like to leave, like, get out of here.

                                           22:29                   I don’t wanna see you here. You cannot be a minute late or you will see me in my office tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM. I don’t want you here at practice if you’re gonna be a minute late. Here I am. I’m two hours late and I got in my car and I drove, I’m sure the speed limit. I drove so quickly, up to Pocatello, up to this track meet and I got out of my car and ran into this arena, looked for her. I was just in tears, like balling. I see her and she’s like, her arms are folded. She has this stern look. You could see that. She knew that I had been beating myself up, like she could see it on my face and she’s like, go get your stuff ready. We’ll talk about it on Monday. Go ahead. I was able to compete, not to the best of my ability, but at least she let me compete.

                                           23:14                   When I came back to the office on Monday, she just sat there in the office. As I walked in, her arms folded and she looked at me and a little grin came on her face, which I had never seen before. She’s like, are you ever gonna do that again? No, I’m gonna get to bed early. I’m gonna wake up early, and I’m gonna there on time. I promise. She’s like, I’ll see you at practice at three o’clock. Had this little kind of grin, but I just respected her so much for having that mercy, for showing me grace and saying, alright, I know you messed up. You know you messed up. Now get it back. But going to bed early. I was like, Janson, we cannot stay up, like I gotta get, get my sleep in. It really is true that when we get that sleep, when we go to bed early, something happens. At least I’ve noticed in my life when I go to bed early, when I wake up early, my day is so much better. I’m able to plan out my day and get the things done that I need to. And universal truth, this is God’s law and if we follow it, he will bless us and bring those blessings into our lives. He’s excited and wanting to bring these blessings into our lives.

Hank Smith:                      24:15                   Wouldn’t you say, both of you, that it’s not necessarily about just getting up early, it’s getting up early to take advantage of what an early day is like.

John Bytheway:               24:26                   Getting up early to scroll.

Hank Smith:                      24:28                   Yeah, right. Getting up early to watch television or something, but getting up early and getting outside can be some of the most serene moments. John, do you remember what Hugh Nibley said? It is better to get up at 9:00 AM and write a good book than to get up at 5:00 AM and write a bad book. Yes, retire to thy bed early that you may not be weary or rise early, that your body’s and your minds may be invigorated. Maybe take advantage of that time to be still.

Noelle Pikus Pace:           24:55                   I just wonder if that principle also includes if you stay up late, what are you gonna be doing with your time when that sun goes down? Is it really the wisest, the good, better, best thing to be doing with your time? Maybe that is also something the Lord is trying to teach.

Hank Smith:                      25:11                   I learned from John, Bytheway, Noelle, he said he was staying up too late watching a show. He said, what if I just trade those hours? You wrote your first book.

John Bytheway:               25:20                   I thought, what if I take my least productive hours from 10 to midnight and trade them for my most productive from five to seven? Nobody bugs you at 5:00 AM. Nobody calls you. Nobody comes over and wants to talk. I thought I should have done this years ago. I’ll be real here. I’ve had times when I’m anxious or sad and times when I pray about it, when I get the answer, John, you just need more sleep. That staying up too late thing, get more sleep. You’re gonna feel different about everything. I know some sleep doctor is probably out there nodding. Getting some decent sleep can solve a lot of problems in your head, I think.

Hank Smith:                      26:05                   Yeah. How many times have we said that about one of our children? They need more sleep. Yeah, we don’t think of it ourselves.

Noelle Pikus Pace:           26:13                   I was thinking about the cease to be idle. You know, we were joking about being physically active is the opposite of being idle, but it is maybe bringing up the point of the distractions in our lives, avoiding distractions. And that could be whether it is social media or whether it is the things that we choose to do with our time that aren’t in the areas where the Lord needs us to grow. Anything that can hold us back from progressing forward, I feel, can be a form of being idle. Janson and I, when we were first married, we played softball all the time. We love softball. We love softball so much. We would play softball on Mondays. I would play women’s league on Tuesdays. We would play co-ed on Wednesdays and then we’d go do Delta all-nighters on Thursday, Friday, Saturday. We’d go play softball all the time.

                                           26:58                   One summer we came back to find that our grass at our house were like, man, our grass is lush and beautiful and long and it’s the greenest grass in the neighborhood. Then we take off to another softball tournament and we didn’t have time to mow it or to care for it and it just kept growing and growing and growing. We came back, we found a dead spot in it and like, why is it dead? Everything else is so lush and green. Come to find out, we had grubs. The grubs were eating all the roots and we didn’t even know it because we hadn’t taken care of it, and we went to tug on this little piece of grass that was really green and lush on the top. It looked beautiful, but the underneath of it, the grubs had eaten the root and the grass just came out so easily.

                                           27:36                   We were able to pull this grass out. To our devastation, it was too late. It took over our whole lawn. We were so caught up in what we were doing. Coming back to this cease to be idle. Even though we were active, constantly going as we were sitting here talking John and Hank, it just made me realize that ceasing to be idle, that could be a form of it. As we were playing softball so frequently, good, better, best. It was good, but that could be a form of idleness that we weren’t putting the temple first. We weren’t putting the Lord first. We weren’t putting, serving our neighbors first. It’s good to be active. It’s good to play softball. It’s good to get out and do things together. Absolutely, but that balance in our lives can help us to see the light more clearly. It kind of hit me to see that in a different way.

Hank Smith:                      28:21                   It reminds me of one of my good friends. His name is Tyler Hoops. He’s in St. George, Utah. He loves to mountain bike, loves it almost to an obsession. We were talking once and he said, I’ve decided to not compete, just to ride. And I said, why you love it? And he said, I know. That’s the problem. It’s taking too much of me. It’s taking me away from being a dad and a husband. Maybe it is a form of idleness or at least it’s not wise, to let one thing take over because then you find out you have grubs in a lot of areas of your life.

Noelle Pikus Pace:           28:56                   Yeah, and maybe it’s because idle might be spelled differently. Maybe if we were to spell that with an I-D-O-L and then that becomes your idol. Right?

Hank Smith:                      29:05                   Softball becomes your idol. Noelle, I wanted to ask you about, you’re very competitive. We’ve learned about you. You said don’t drive by you on the freeway.

Noelle Pikus Pace:           29:14                   Oh, don’t.

Hank Smith:                      29:15                   She’s gonna think she’s in a skeleton race with the civic next to her. It says, see that you love one another and cease to be covetous. Don’t find fault with one another. Has that been difficult to be competitive but not covetous? Or finding fault.

Noelle Pikus Pace:           29:34                   Oh yeah. Especially in my rookie years, I would say, of competing. That’s the only way I knew how to compete was to compare myself with others, was to see somebody and to see what they had and to want it or to not want it. It’s a very tough place to be in as an athlete because it does, it trickles into other areas of your life. You see a big boat pull in or you see a nice house or you see these what seem to be perfect kids or perfect scenario or perfect marriage or perfect this or perfect that, and we say, oh man, I wish. That would be so good. What I learned looking outside of myself in a comparative way, it never helped me to become my best self. It took me years to figure this out. In my rookie year, I was always comparing myself with others.

                                           30:19                   As I went into that 2014 games, I realized that the best thing I could do was to be the best me. Heavenly Father helped me to see that what he was blessing me with would be enough. That it didn’t need to be what somebody else had or what somebody else was doing, but I just needed to give my best. Whatever my best was, it would be enough. Even though that enough fell short of a gold medal In so many eyes in the world, that’s like, ah, you fell short of a gold medal, but I knew it was where Heavenly Father needed me to be. How could I be upset at that? It was the most joyous moment I’ve ever experienced, was jumping into the stands to celebrate second place. Like who celebrates second place at the Olympics like that? That moment the world saw this joy as I jumped into the stands and reached out for my husband and my kids, and I shouted, we did it. We did it. It was named the moment of the games and it was second place, but it was where Heavenly Father needed us to be.

John Bytheway:               31:21                   That is so cool. I think I remember seeing that photo of this family celebrating. I mean, it brings tears to your eyes to think of the effort that went into, we did this. Oh, so it was called the moment of the Olympics?

Noelle Pikus Pace:           31:35                   Yeah. It was by the United States Olympic/Paralympic Committee. I was awarded the Moment of the Games of the 2014 Sochi Russia Olympic Games. That moment. So, pretty special.

John Bytheway:               31:48                   I think we could see your young women medallion. You wearing that.

Noelle Pikus Pace:           31:52                   Yeah, you could. Section 88, in verses 7 through 13 when it talks about the light of Christ. I wore that young woman medallion. John, I’m glad you brought that up, because to me it was where I wanted to set my sights. It wasn’t on a podium. It wasn’t on a medal, but I wanted to stay focused on the light of Christ and also the other medallion I wore was that of the temple. I just wanted to remember why I was really here. That it was bigger than an objective, bigger than a task, bigger than a goal that I had set. The big picture, the eternal perspective is Jesus Christ. It helped me to stay grounded.

John Bytheway:               32:31                   I think I remember Jimmer Fredette talking about his three on three basketball and how you have a different mindset when you know this is awesome, this is great. This is so wonderful to be here, but there’s a bigger thing going on. Steve Young talked about that. When something comes in and hits me, it doesn’t go all the way to the center because I have something else at the center of my life. That’s not weakness, that’s power. That’s awesome.

Hank Smith:                      32:58                   Can I read a a 23-year-old talk? Both of you remember this. It’s called the Other Prodigal from Elder Holland. He takes the parable of the prodigal son and says, let’s learn some things here. Here’s one part of the talk. He says, who is it that whispers so subtly in our ear that a gift given to another somehow diminishes the blessings we have received? Who makes us feel that if God is smiling on another, then he surely must somehow be frowning on us? You and I both know who this is. It is the father of all lies. He says, how does this happen? Especially when we wish so much that it would not. One of the reasons, is that every day we see allurements of one kind or another that tell us what we have is not enough. Someone or something is forever telling us that we need to be more handsome, or more wealthy, more applauded, or more admired than we see ourselves as being. We are told we haven’t collected enough possessions or gone to enough fun places. We are bombarded with the message that on the world scale of things, we have been weighed in the balance and found wanting. Some days it’s as if we have been locked in a cubicle of a great and spacious building where the only thing on TV is a never ending soap opera called Vain Imaginations.

                                           34:13                   A little bit further in the talk. He says, how can we overcome such a tendency so common in almost everyone? It goes back to the prodigal son, that we all try to return to the Father. Both sons did that. He said, along the way, we can count our blessings and we can applaud the accomplishments of others. Best of all, we can serve others. The finest exercise the heart ever prescribed. But finally, these will not be enough. When we are lost, we can come to ourselves, but we may not always be able to find ourselves and worlds without end. We cannot save ourselves. Only the Father and his only begotten son can do that. Salvation is in them only. Finally, this is how he finishes. I testify that no one of us is less treasured or less cherished of God than another. He loves each of us insecurities, anxieties, self-image and all. He doesn’t measure our talents or our looks. He doesn’t measure our professions or our possessions. He cheers on every runner calling out that the race is against sin, not against each other. Cease to be covetous, cease to find fault one with another. I could do that better. It’s easy, John, until I see someone with a beautiful Ford F-150, and I think, why do I not have that? I’m gonna try to not covet.

John Bytheway:               35:35                   I like the Stephen Covey idea of don’t think of success as a pizza, where if you take three slices, there’s fewer slices for me. But think of it as the abundance mentality, is it’s a pizza factory. It’s endless. I love in the Book of Mormon when Alma says, I do not joy in my success alone, but my heart is more full because of the success of my brethren.

Hank Smith:                      35:58                   Of my brethren.

John Bytheway:               35:59                   He almost falls over and has an out-of-body experience. He’s so excited. It’s not, oh gosh, you guys did better than I did. Instead, it’s like, you guys did so great. That’s easy to say. Maybe not as easy to do, but I I love that idea of be gracious and celebrate the accomplishments of others.

Hank Smith:                      36:18                   How silly Noelle, that someone might say, oh, just a silver medal. I bet you were disappointed. Wait, what? Has anyone ever said that?

John Bytheway:               36:26                   Can hardly imagine that? Right? If I got to be in the audience at the Olympics, I would feel like it was an accomplishment.

Hank Smith:                      36:37                   Noelle, do you have anything more that you wanna do? I think you had a couple other verses. Did you have any others?

Noelle Pikus Pace:           36:43                   The last verse that I was hoping to touch on is verse 126. I really, really love this one. I remember when I was younger, I printed it out and I stuck it on my mirror to remind me. Man, John, I think it must have been you at a fireside. Because I still remember sitting in the pews at the Timpview Fifth Ward, watching you speak to me when I was 12 years old. I’m pretty sure you shared this poem. After we read this scripture. I’m hoping you guys will be okay that I’m gonna share this poem that helped me to remember to pray anywhere I went.

Hank Smith:                      37:17                   I think the Lord knew you were gonna be on the followHIM podcast for section 88. Yeah, put that on the mirror. Get her ready.

John Bytheway:               37:24                   He sees all things right.

Hank Smith:                      37:25                   Yeah.

Noelle Pikus Pace:           37:27                   John, will you read 126?

John Bytheway:               37:29                   Yeah. Pray always that ye may not faint. Boy, how appropriate is that for an athlete? Pray always that ye may not faint, until I come. Behold, and lo, I will come quickly, and receive you unto myself. Amen.

Noelle Pikus Pace:           37:43                   Yeah. Praying always. I just remember this sticking at the forefront of my mind, when I was sitting in my sophomore high school history classroom. I was ready to take a test and I wasn’t feeling prepared. And I remember these coming to my mind and saying, pray always. And I remember thinking, but I’m not kneeling down. I’m not alone. People will see me. This is gonna feel awkward. And I’m gonna read this poem. Then I just remember it going on, being like driving in a car in a scary situation and just a quick little prayer. I remember with my kids and something happening and I remember time after time going into a competition feeling that anxiety, the butterflies and the sweaty hands and the doubts. The doubts, man, you guys, the doubts that would come and swirl in your mind, making you feel like you don’t know what you’re doing or you’re feeling unprepared and you’re about to throw yourself down this icy chute.

                                           38:37                   And I just remembered this coming to my mind. I’m gonna read this fun poem. I’m gonna do it in the best, John Bytheway voices I can muster. But here we go. It’s called The Prayer of Cyrus Brown by Sam Walter Foss. He said: The proper way for a man to pray said Deacon Lemuel Keyes, and the only proper attitude is down upon his knees. No, I should say the way to pray, said Reverend Doctor Wise, is standing straight with outstretched arms and rapt and upturned eyes. Oh, no; no, no, said Elder Slow, such posture is too proud: a man should pray with eyes fast closed and head contritely bowed. It seems to me his hands should be austerely clasped in front with both thumbs pointing toward the ground, said Reverend Doctor Blunt. Las’ year I fell in Hodgkin’s well head first, said Cyrus Brown, with both my heels a-stickin’ up, my head a-pinting down; an’ I made a prayer right then an’ there – best prayer I ever said, the prayingest prayer I ever prayed, a-standing on my head.

Hank Smith:                      38:54                   That’s great.

                                           38:54                   Oh my goodness. So that poem and this verse pray always has stuck with me. And I remember some of the greatest prayers I think I’ve ever said. Were in my skeleton competition days at the Olympic Games, at World Cup Competitions, wherever I was. Not knowing where to go to just have a quiet moment. And it doesn’t matter if you’re standing on your head, it doesn’t matter if you’re in a car, it doesn’t matter where you are, but for me, I found that place in a bathroom stall and it’s not perfect and it’s not pretty and it doesn’t always smell the best, but it was the best place I could go to have some of the closest prayers with our Savior that I’d ever had. And I knew that it was a good place to pray, because I was praying. It didn’t matter where I was, but it was that relationship with the Lord.

                                           40:48                   I felt his peace come to me in those bathroom stalls of all places, as I would say in my prayer, telling him of my insecurities, telling me how I was afraid, telling him what I was hoping to work on for the day. And I would feel that peace as I would sit there, as I would say, amen, and just wait and listen. Try to feel that peace for just a moment. He would bring it and he would give it to me. It helped me to understand that no matter where we are, we are in a position to pray. Whether we are blind, whether we don’t have arms, whether we lost a career, whether we’re in a great successful marriage, whether we are coming out of a divorce, whether we are walking across the street, wherever we are, it’s the perfect time to say a prayer. Pray always. Thank you, John, for bringing that poem into my life and for bringing a laugh as well, but it is, it’s a good memory.

John Bytheway:               41:41                   The prayingest prayer I ever said a-standing on my head. Yes. I think I heard it when I was a teenager and thought, oh, okay, if you’re in trouble, you pray anywhere. You know?

Hank Smith:                      41:52                   Yeah. Maybe you heard it from the Cyrus Brown. Maybe you were.

John Bytheway:               41:56                   I could have. Yeah. Yeah. That was Grandpa Cyrus told me that poem. No kidding.

Hank Smith:                      42:03                   Noelle, this has been just a wonderful day to learn from you, to be edified as the Lord has said, to teach us out of the best books, but we’ve been taught by one of the best athletes. It’s been full of light. What a section and what a teacher. I want to ask you a question before we let you go, and that is, you’ve been all over the world as a corporate speaker, as an Olympian of course, and yet here you are a solid believer. Where, that could happen to someone where they become famous across the world and lose their faith. I think our audience would be interested in, how did you do that?

Noelle Pikus Pace:           42:43                   Man, that’s a great question. I think at the heart of it all, I did it because I’ve tested it. I believe it, because I’ve tried. I have my good old book here too, John, for those that are watching, you can see these are my scriptures from, I think I got these actually when I was about eight years old. I don’t believe it just because I’ve read it. I believe it because I’ve read it and I’ve asked. I’ve asked the Lord if it is true. I’ve tried to hold fast to what Moroni’s promise is in saying, if this is true, please let me know. There have been so many things in my life and so many times when I’m like, what’s the point? And I still can’t doubt it. I can’t turn it off because I know. I know without a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true.

                                           43:29                   If the Book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith is true. And I have a testimony of Joseph Smith, and if Joseph Smith is true, the Doctrine and Covenants is true, and all these principles are true. The priesthood, the power, the temples, and I know it’s true. I can’t doubt it. I’ve tested it, I’ve experienced it, and that knowledge, I say I know it, but it’s a continual growing knowledge that continues drop by drop to say, you know something that’s without those doubts, but it’s just a continual belief that this is right and this is good, and this is where I want to be and this is where I want to go.

Hank Smith:                      44:01                   That’s wonderful. There’s a prayer in 133 that I find so touching where the Lord says, in essence, this is how I want you to be towards one another. I receive you to fellowship in a determination that is fixed and immovable and unchangeable to be your friend. To be your friend. That’s what it’s felt like today that I’m with two of my friends, been edified together. John, sometimes I just think, how am I here? I am talking to Noelle Pikus Pace. Like, I’m chatting with her just about scripture. Do you ever wonder that? How are we doing this?

John Bytheway:               44:41                   Oh, I, I can hardly believe it myself. When I make my, did I draw closer list? I’m gonna say, yeah. Noelle drew me closer to Christ today by her insights here.

Hank Smith:                      44:51                   Yeah.

John Bytheway:               44:52                   As we’ve said before, Hank, people don’t come and say, I love your podcast because of you and Hank. They say, I love your guests.

Hank Smith:                      45:00                   Love your guests, and we would invite anyone who has a message for Noelle, come onto YouTube. We will make sure she gets all of those messages. Tell her where you’re listening from. She’s probably been there. I just think, Noelle, of that teenage Noelle putting up section 88 verse 126, pray always that you may not faint until I come. Here you are, on followHIM for that same section. The Lord is a, I don’t know, there’s just something that ties that together with a bow. Thanks for being here.

Noelle Pikus Pace:           45:30                   Thank you for having me, and thank you for listening. I, I just send my love to all of you. Thank you so much.

Hank Smith:                      45:36                   With that, we want to thank Noelle Pikus Pace for being with us today. We want to thank our Executive Producer Shannon Sorensen, our sponsors David and Verla Sorensen, and every episode we remember our founder. He would’ve loved this. He would’ve put his fist up. Yeah, baby. We remember our founder, Steve Sorensen. We hope you’ll join us next week. We have something called the Word of Wisdom coming up, on followHIM. Thank you for joining us on today’s episode. Do you or someone you know speak Spanish, Portuguese, or French? You can now watch and listen to our podcast in those languages. Links are in the description below. Today’s show notes and transcript are on our website: followhim.co That’s followhim.co. Of course, none of this could happen without our incredible production crew. David Perry, Lisa Spice, Will Stoughton, Krystal Roberts, Ariel Cuadra, Heather Barlow, Amelia Kabwika, Iride Gonzalez and Annabelle Sorensen.Whatever questions or problems you have, the answer is always found in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Turn to him. Follow Him.