"Call, Don’t Fall" - Mitch Peterson

Last updated on October 8th, 2024 at 10:32 pm

General Conference Applied

S3 E31 – Thursday, October 3, 2024 | “Call, Don’t Fall” by Elder Taylor G. Godoy; April 2024 General Conference

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Podcast Episode Outline

Introduction

Bio

“Elder Taylor G. Godoy was sustained as a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 1, 2017. At the time of his call, he had been serving as a member of the Fourth Quorum of the Seventy in the South America Northwest Area. He recently served at Church headquarters in Salt Lake City. He is currently serving as First Counselor in the Central America Area Presidency.

“Elder Godoy has served in numerous Church callings, including full-time missionary in the Perú Lima Mission, bishop, high councilor, stake president, area public affairs director, Area Seventy, and president of the Nevada Reno Mission from 2018 to 2020.

“Elder Godoy received a bachelor’s degree in dentistry from the Catholic University of Santa Maria in 1993 and a master’s degree in administration from the PoliTechnical University of Madrid in 2006. He worked as a dentist in a private practice and later with Church Seminaries and Institutes as an institute coordinator, teacher, director, and country director. Most recently, he was the South America Northwest Seminaries and Institutes Area director.

“Taylor Guillermo Godoy Atanacio was born in Lima, Peru, on July 10, 1968. He married Carol Tatiana Pacheco Agostinelli in May 1994. They are the parents of two children.”
This was Elder Godoy’s second general conference address:
- “One More Day” – April 2018 General Conference

What is the speaker inviting me to do, and how might I consider taking action?

“I remember an occasion when I was hospitalized for an illness, and it was difficult for me to sleep. When I turned off the lights and the room became dark, I saw a reflective sign on the ceiling in front of me that said, ‘Call, don’t fall.’ To my surprise, the next day I observed the same message repeated in several parts of the room.

“Why was that message so important? When I asked the nurse about it, she said, ‘It is to prevent a blow that might increase the pain you already have.’

“This life, by its nature, brings painful experiences, some inherent to our physical bodies, some due to our weaknesses or afflictions, some due to the way others use their agency, and some due to our use of agency.

“Is there a promise more powerful than the one the Savior Himself made when He declared, ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock,’ or call, ‘and it shall be opened unto you’?” -Elder Godoy

followHim Podcast – 3 Nephi 12-16 – Dr. Brad Wilcox:

[Dr. Brad Wilcox] “If you were going to remember President [Ezra Taft] Benson for something he taught during his presidency, what would it be?”
[Hank Smith] “His landmark talk on pride.”
[Dr. Brad Wilcox] “Overcoming pride [and] the Book of Mormon. If you were going to remember President [Thomas S.] Monson for one thing, what would it be?”
[Hank Smith] “Service, helping the widows and the orphans.”
[Dr. Brad Wilcox] “Yes, going to the rescue. He’s the one that added caring for the poor and needy to one of the purposes of the church. That’s what we remember. If we were to remember Christ for his most prevalent teaching, what would it be? Look at the introduction to [3 Nephi] 13 and you’ll find a clue. Jesus teaches the Nephites what?”
[Hank Smith] “The Lord’s prayer.”
[Dr. Brad Wilcox] “Mark Barrionuevo did some research looking at what was the most prevalent teaching of Jesus Christ in the entire standard works and it’s prayer. And why would that be so important? Because prayer is how we keep that connection with God.”

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Russell M. Nelson – Chapter 15: Prayer:

“‘When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret; and thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly’ [Matthew 6:6]’

“Wherever your personal ‘closet’ may be—whether it be a literal closet or some other place where you can enjoy seclusion, plan to have a period of private time in that setting to prepare, to ponder, and to pray. …

“You may wish to keep a notepad and pencil handy so you can capture any promptings that come to your heart and mind. As you reserve this precious time of preparation each day, the Holy Ghost can reach you and teach you.

“As you complete your private time, and as you then follow with family prayer and scripture study, you are prepared for a wonderful day ahead. You can feel confident that the Lord, through the Holy Ghost, will be your companion, your protector, and your guide. …

“Throughout each day, pray to be guided to do your part so you can be yoked with the Lord. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light [see Matthew 11:30]. You will need that help. Nothing will be too difficult when you are yoked with the Lord in His holy work.

“Have you gone to a quiet, secluded spot to be all alone? Have you found your own ‘Sacred Grove’ equivalent, where you can pour out the secret longings of your soul in prayer to your Father in Heaven? Have you really conversed with God as one man speaks to another? Have you really declared your allegiance to him and your availability to him, without any reservation? Have you said, ‘Here I am, Lord! Use me!’? Have you pleaded with him, and as you did, have you put behind any counterfeit clichés that may have been part of your prayers in the past? … Resolve now to make of your home a place of prayer. Make it a sanctuary of faith.”

Invitations

1: “I suggest you consider the following:
“1. Always think of the Lord as your first option for help.
“2. Call, don’t fall. Turn to God in sincere prayer.
“3. After praying, do all you can to obtain the blessings you prayed for.
“4. Humble yourselves to accept the answer in His time and His way.
“5. Don’t stop! Keep moving forward on the covenant path while you wait for an answer.”

Think of God. Call, don’t fall. Do all you can. Humble yourself. Don’t stop!
Christlike Attribute: “I have faith that God hears and answers my prayers. (Mosiah 27:14)” (Faith)
Questions:
1. Who (or what) do I most often turn to as my ‘first option for help’ rather than the Lord?
  - Myself. Share my experience today with struggling on my own with a work project, realizing I hadn’t turned to Heavenly Father in prayer, and immediately receiving the inspiration I needed to resolve an issue. Sometimes I catch myself not wanting to inconvenience Heavenly Father. Or perhaps I want to show Him that I’ve put forth the effort before praying… but I have that backward. First, I need to humble myself and turn to Him. Then I need to get up off my knees and move forward.
2. Why is it so important in this mortal life to learn to rely on the Lord?
3. Even though I don’t see Heavenly Father, do I believe that He’s there and that He answers my prayers?
4. What does it mean to sincerely pray?
  - Moroni 10:4 – “[4] And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.”
  - Book of Mormon Student Manual – Chapter 56 – Moroni 10: “Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles commented on Moroni’s promise of having ‘real intent’: ‘Moroni did not promise a manifestation of the Holy Ghost to those who seek to know the truth of the Book of Mormon for hypothetical or academic reasons, even if they ‘ask with a sincere heart.’ The promise of Moroni is for those who are committed in their hearts to act upon the manifestation if it is received. Prayers based on any other reason have no promise because they are not made ‘with real intent” (Pure in Heart [1988], 19–20).”
5. Looking back on my recent prayers, am I doing ‘all [I] can to obtain the blessings [I] prayed for’?
6. Is it possible that Heavenly Father is waiting to answer my prayers until I show Him that I’m doing ‘all [I] can to obtain the blessings [I] prayed for’?
  - “Decisions For Which I’ve Been Grateful“, Elder Clayton M. Christensen, June 8, 2004, BYU-Idaho Devotional: “The bishop of the Oxford ward called me to be the young men’s president. We had 48 young men in the Oxford ward, only one of whom was active. I had no idea how I was going to carry on my course of study and do anything near a capable job as a young men’s president. But what I decided to do is that I would get up every morning at 7:00 a.m. and focus on applied econometrics until 6:00 p.m., and then thereafter I would focus on being a Young Men’s President. In the midst of this, I learned that my father was dying of cancer, and I dropped out of school for a time to come back home and take care of him until he passed away. When I got back, that meant that I even had less time to try to finish a very ambitious degree, and I thought to myself, ‘Maybe I’d better ask the bishop to release me because it would just take too much time away from my study.’ But then I thought, ‘No, if I know the Book of Mormon is true, then I better do what it says,’ and it had told me in 3 Nephi 13:33 that I should seek first the kingdom of God in His righteousness and all these things would be added unto me. And so that’s what I did. I bought a bicycle, and every night from six to nine, I rode around the streets of Oxford looking up these 47 inactive young men, inviting them to join us at church, and ultimately six of them did. …
    
    “All six of those young men served missions. But it was a big bite out of my studies, and as the time for my final exams arrived, I was really worried that I might not be able to pass, because in the Oxford system there aren’t any courses that you take. You just continuously study your subject and at the very end of the course you have to take a big, long, four day, 32 hour examination where you have to put it all out on paper. My tutor told me that I wasn’t prepared, that I better wait and graduate the next year, but I knew that if I had gone and done the things that the Lord commanded that he would open a way for me to pass the test. So I fasted and prayed and told the Lord I had two months left. I needed to know what questions the examiners were going to ask so that I could study the questions and pass the exam. I then prayerfully went to the library and put myself in the examiners shoes, and thought about, ‘If I wanted to really skewer Clayton Christensen, what questions and curve balls would I throw at him on this exam?’ Then for two months I studied to know the answers to those questions.
    
    “The night before the exam, I went off to one of the meadows at Oxford and knelt in prayer, and I poured my heart out to the Lord, and I recounted how hard I had worked to study economics, and how hard I had worked to magnify my calling as the Young Men’s President. And I plead with Him that He would bless me. And the next day, as I opened the exams, every one of the questions that the examiners threw at me was a question that I had come to know that they would ask.”
7. Are there examples of individuals who humbled themselves ‘to accept the answer in [the Lord’s] time and His way’?
  - Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball – Chapter 13: Obedience Born of Faith in God: “In March 1972, when Spencer W. Kimball was Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he was experiencing serious heart problems. At the time, one of his doctors was Russell M. Nelson, who would later become a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. Elder Nelson recounted:
    
    “‘When President Kimball’s heart was failing and he sensed that death was nigh, he obtained a conference with his file leaders in the Church, the First Presidency. To provide medical information as requested, he invited his devoted cardiologist, Dr. Ernest L. Wilkinson, and me.
    
    “‘President Kimball breathlessly began, ‘I am a dying man. I can feel my life slipping. At the present rate of deterioration I believe that I can live only about two more months. Now I would like my doctor to present his views.’
    
    “‘Dr. Wilkinson then reaffirmed President Kimball’s feelings, concluding that recovery would be unlikely and death would ensue in the not-too-distant future.
    
    “‘Then President Kimball called on me as a cardiac surgeon and asked, ‘What can surgery offer?’
    
    “‘I indicated that an operation, if it were to be done, would consist of two components. First, an aortic valve replacement would be required. Second, an important coronary artery with a blockage should be treated with a bypass graft.
    
    “‘President Harold B. Lee of the First Presidency then asked the crucial question, ‘What would be the risks with such a procedure?’
    
    “”I don’t know,’ I replied. ‘In a man aged seventy-seven, the risk of either of these operations is significant. But to do both on one whose heart is failing would entail risk so high that the operation cannot be recommended. …’
    
    “‘As a weary President Kimball responded, ‘I am an old man and ready to die,’ President Lee interrupted. He rose to his feet, pounded his fist to the desk, and said, with his prophetic power, ‘Spencer, you have been called! You are not to die! You are to do everything you need to do to care for yourself and continue to live.’
    
    “‘President Kimball replied, ‘Then I will have the operation.’
    
    “‘He underwent that complex operation not because it was deemed to be reasonably safe in the opinion of his medical advisers, but because he was obedient to the counsel of the Lord, expressed through the leaders of the Church—regardless of personal risk.
    
    “‘The outcome is well known. He was blessed to survive the operation which reversed the tide of his deterioration.’
    
    “Through his example and his counsel to the Saints, President Kimball taught that we are blessed as we show our faith in God by being obedient to His will.”
8. Do I more often humble myself or am I humbled by external forces (i.e., people or circumstances)? Why?
9. Why is it so important to ‘keep moving forward on the covenant path’ when I don’t have all the answers?
  - “Thirty years ago, while my wife and I were preparing for our civil marriage and our temple marriage, we received a call informing us that civil marriages were canceled due to a strike. We received the call three days before the scheduled ceremony. After several attempts at other offices and not finding available appointments, we began to feel distressed and doubtful that we really could get married as planned.
    
    “My fiancée and I ‘called,’ pouring out our souls to God in prayer. Finally, someone told us about an office in a small town on the outskirts of the city where an acquaintance was the mayor. Without hesitation, we went to visit him and asked him if it would be possible to marry us. To our joy, he agreed. His secretary emphasized to us that we had to obtain a certificate in that city and deliver all the documents before noon the next day.
    
    “The next day, we moved to the small town and went to the police station to request the required document. To our surprise, the officer said that he would not give it to us because many young couples had been running away from their families to get married secretly in that town, which of course was not our case. Again, fear and sadness overtook us.
    
    “I remember how I silently called out to my Heavenly Father so as not to fall. I received a clear impression in my mind, repeatedly saying, ‘Temple recommend, temple recommend.’ I immediately took out my temple recommend and handed it to the officer, to my fiancée’s bewilderment.
    
    “What a surprise we had when we heard the officer say, ‘Why didn’t you tell me that you are from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? I know your church well.’ He immediately began to prepare the document. We were even more surprised when the officer left the station without saying anything.
    
    “Fifty minutes passed, and he did not return. It was already 11:55 in the morning, and we had only until noon to deliver the papers. Suddenly he appeared with a beautiful puppy and told us it was a wedding gift and gave it to us along with the document.
    
    “We ran toward the mayor’s office with our document and our new dog. Then we saw an official vehicle coming toward us. I stopped in front of it. The vehicle stopped, and we saw the secretary inside. Seeing us, she said, ‘I’m sorry; I told you noon. I must go on another errand.’
    
    “I humbled myself in silence, calling with all my heart to my Heavenly Father, asking for help once again to ‘not fall.’ Suddenly, the miracle happened. The secretary said to us, ‘What a beautiful dog you have. Where could I find one like that for my son?’
    
    “‘It is for you,’ we immediately replied.
    
    “The secretary looked at us with surprise and said, ‘OK, let’s go to the office and make the arrangements.’
    
    “Two days later, Carol and I were married civilly, as planned, and then we were sealed in the Lima Peru Temple.
    
    “Of course, we need to remember that calling is a matter of faith and action—faith to recognize that we have a Heavenly Father who answers our prayers according to His infinite wisdom, and then action consistent with what we asked for. Praying—calling—can be a sign of our hope. But taking action after praying is a sign that our faith is real—faith that is tested in moments of pain, fear, or disappointment.” -Elder Godoy
10. Are the answers I’m waiting for in response to primary questions or secondary questions? Does this matter?

Take Action

How will you take action on the invitations extended in this General Conference address?

Conclusion

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