PROVO, Utah — Young Women General President Emily Belle Freeman started her day on Tuesday, Oct. 14, expecting a regular schedule at Church headquarters in Salt Lake City.
An unexpected invitation to a special meeting and broadcast announcing the organization of a new First Presidency Tuesday afternoon turned the day into a historic occasion, she told missionaries in a devotional at the Provo Missionary Training Center that evening.
“We were reminded that God still talks to men and women on earth today, that He speaks through a prophet to a true and living Church that has been restored,” she said.
As President Freeman listened to President Dallin H. Oaks, the newly set-apart President of the Church, bear his testimony, she said, she received a witness from the Holy Ghost that he was the living prophet of God.
“Today in the midst of a busy Tuesday, the world stood still, and we were reminded that we have a prophet of God who speaks on behalf of the Lord,” she said. “Tonight I want to speak about the importance of having a prophet.”
President Freeman, who is a member of the Church’s Missionary Executive Council, was joined by her husband, Brother Greg Freeman, who also spoke.
Why a living prophet?
As a young girl, President Freeman awoke one morning to news that the family’s flock of seven sheep had escaped their backyard pasture through a gap in the fence. The family suspected the sheep had joined a neighboring farmer’s flock of around 400 unmarked sheep.
The farmer was reluctant to give up seven sheep that could not be easily identified. President Freeman’s father claimed they would separate from the big flock when they heard his voice.
Invited to the pulpit Tuesday night, President Freeman’s father, McKinley Oswald, brought the story to life by confidently demonstrating the very “baa” sheep sound he made on that occasion. President Freeman recounted that their seven sheep separated from the flock and came forward. The family returned home with the sheep and fixed the gap in the fence.
President Freeman said the story draws a parallel to Ezekiel 22:30, which illustrates the need for a spiritual guardian — a prophet — to ”stand in the gap” and provide safety and protection.
Noting the “Preach My Gospel” question “How could a prophet help the world today?” President Freeman said the scriptures teach that it is important to hear the voice of the Lord through a prophet, just as the sheep recognized and responded to her father’s voice.
“The same is true for all of us,” she said. “Do we listen and respond to a prophet’s voice?”
Invitations and blessings
Sharing personal and scriptural examples, President Freeman spoke of the blessings that come when an individual accepts and acts upon an invitation from a prophet.
In the October 2019 general women’s session, President Russell M. Nelson taught women about priesthood power, covenants and holy temples. He asked women to prayerfully study Doctrine and Covenants 25 and all the truths they can find about priesthood power.
President Freeman accepted the invitation and had a life-changing experience.
“Doctrine and Covenants 25 has become one of my favorite places in all of scripture,” she said, holding open her scriptures to the page to show her markings and notes in the margins.
President Freeman encouraged the missionaries to reflect on prophetic invitations they have accepted and the blessings that have followed.
A prophet’s testimony
President Freeman concluded by reading the words of President Oaks’ testimony shared hours earlier during the afternoon broadcast.
Testifying that “the Lord still speaks through His servants,” President Oaks said: “There is much to be done, for our ministry is a ministry of all the children of God on the face of the earth. We pray for all, we seek to serve all, and we invoke the blessings of the Lord Jesus Christ upon all who seek to serve Him, to do so in worthiness and commitment and optimism.”
President Freeman invited missionaries to pray to receive their own witness that President Oaks is the Lord’s prophet on the earth today.
“I testify to you that this is the Lord’s Church, that President Dallin H. Oaks is the Lord’s prophet and that the Lord still speaks to His children on earth today,” she said.
What missionaries learned
Following the devotional, some missionaries shared what they learned.
“I learned about the importance of prophets and listening to their invitations, as I have never really listened to their invitations or wrote them down. I found that part super-interesting and insightful,” said Elder Tayton Memmott, of Saratoga Springs, Utah, and assigned to the Missouri St. Louis Mission (Mandarin speaking).
Sister Cassandra Mugleston of Everett, Washington, assigned to the Arizona Phoenix Mission, said she wrote in her journal about the safety of following a prophet and the value of studying his words.
“I would give up anything to have the words of the prophets,” she said.
