April 2018 | It Is All about People
The Church is all about you, the Lord’s disciples—those who love and follow Him and who have taken His name upon them.
Bishop Caussé shared an experience he had while trying to obtain building permits for a temple in Paris. It has a happy ending!
While preparing for the construction of the Paris France Temple in 2010, then-Elder Gérald Caussé met with the mayor and his team to tell them about the Church. To his surprise, the mayor didn't want to see a presentation that Bishop Caussé had prepared; his team said they would conduct their own investigation. They attended a sacrament meeting and met with the neighbors of a stake center to find out "what kind of people you Mormons are."
Their conclusions? "We discovered that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the closest to Jesus Christ's original church than any other church we know of." Furthermore, the mayor and his team found no objections to building a temple in their community.
"Today, when I think about that miraculous experience, I feel grateful for the mayor's wisdom and spirit of discernment. He knew that the key to understanding the Church is not to see it through the outward appearance of its buildings ... but through its millions of faithful members who strive each day to follow the example of Jesus Christ."
“The Church "is all about people. It is all about you, the Lord's disciples — those who love and follow Him and who have taken His name upon them by covenant."
Bishop Caussé shared some of his experiences as a stake president in France. While he didn't accomplish any of the lofty goals he had in mind at the beginning — like creating wards or building new meetinghouses — he didn't feel like a failure because his objectives had changed to focus on the members in the stake. He had found pure joy in serving them and seeing their increased loyalty and faith to the Savior.
"My dear brothers and sisters, are we active in the gospel, or are we merely busy in the Church?" "The key is to follow the example of the Savior in all things. If we do that, we will naturally focus on saving individuals rather than performing tasks and implementing programs."
As one strives to be on the Lord's agenda, "nothing will become more important than finding those people you can help and bless."
Bishop Caussé testified that the strength and vitality of the Church comes from "the daily actions of millions of His disciples who strive each day to follow His supreme example by caring for others."
