The Life and Teachings of President Dieter Friedrich Uchtdorf

The Biography of President Dieter Friedrich Uchtdorf

            The first thing that stuck out to me about President Uchtdorf was his birthday. November 6^th! If he had been born one day earlier, we would have been birthday buddies! The second thing which stuck out to me was the events of December 17, 1973. How nervous he must have been, and yet at the same time, how calm and collected he had to be to accomplish such a task. Only through the help of the Lord and his training could he have accomplished what he did. The next thing which stuck out to me was his “meteoric rise” and just how much it prepared him for the rapidly changing responsibilities that are placed in the hands of the Lord’s apostles. The next thing which struck me as impressive was “that he would be perhaps the most readily recognized and honored commercial pilot to walk through the gates of the very airport he now visited as a young boy.” How humbling this must have been and still be for him to know that other recognize him for his accomplishments, while at the same time he is always remembering that he could not have accomplished these things without the divine help of the Lord. The next thing which stuck out to me was the experience he had at the auditorium which was later destroyed. Having such a devastating event occur at a place you had just left must have been a truly humbling experience, but I wonder if at the time President Uchtdorf questioned his mom as to why they were leaving as the left. The next thing which I loved about his biography was how even in the most stressful situations, like that of “a steering control failure” he maintains his calmness so he can be in the right frame of mind to be most open and receptive to the promptings of the Spirit. The last thing which struck me as important was “the mathematical probability of this Czechoslovakian-born child of a convert family surviving such a challenging childhood and a risk-laden life and then being called to serve in the First Presidency is most unlikely.” Yes it is most unlikely, but as Elder Nelson put it, “he has been foreordained for his duties as a leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

The Testimony of President Dieter Friedrich Uchtdorf

            The one thing that stood out to me as I watched President Uchtdorf’s testimony was the feeling I felt God knows the desires of my heart and that feeling of peace that if I just put my faith in Him, everything will fall into place eventually. I felt the fear I normally feel when I think of relinquishing control of my life to the Lord dissipate and I know if I want to continue to feel that same peace, I will need to turn my life over to Him. Another thing which stood out to me was President Uchtdorf’s ability to speak right to my heart, and silent my fears with such ease and so few words. It was these things which made we go back and watch President Uchtdorf’s testimony a second time. I also loved how at the end he turned from the camera, walked over to the Christus statue and stopped to look up. To me this is significant because it is a reminder that we always need to look to our Savior guidance in everything we do.

Recent Teachings

President Dieter Friedrich Uchtdorf, Are You Sleeping Through the Restoration?, April 2014 General Conference, Priesthood Session

Key Doctrine and Principles:

·         We Are Living in the Time of the Restoration

·         Three Major Reasons for Becoming Sleepy during the Restoration

o    Selfishness

o    Addictions

o    Competing Priorities

·         A Call to Awaken

·         Discipleship

Favorite Quotes and Why They Matter to Me:

·         “When our time in mortality is complete, what experiences will we be able to share about our own contribution to this significant period of our lives and to the furthering of the Lord’s work? Will we be able to say that we rolled up our sleeves and labored with all our heart, might, mind, and strength? Or will we have to admit that our role was mostly that of an observer?”

o    So I loved this talk by President Uchtdorf. It’s my favorite talk from this last General Conference, and I’ve already spent a good hour talking to my best friend on the phone about how this was my favorite General Conference talk, and as it turns out, it is one of his favorite talks as well. I loved this quote because it is absolutely perfect for what I found out from the missionaries just yesterday evening. I had recently given the elders in my ward a referral for some of our neighbors down the street from my house. The elders met this family when they came to my dad’s retirement party last month. When they went to go talk to this family, they knocked on the door and the father opened the door. Before the elders could say anything, the young man said, ‘So, are you guys going to invite me to church this Sunday?’ The elders invited the young man and his family to church this next Sunday, and I am excited for church this Sunday. I may not be able to serve a full-time mission, but being able to give referrals to the missionaries, attending missionary discussions and Gospel lessons, being a friend, and serving others is truly what being a full-time member missionary is about.

·         “Those who wholeheartedly turn their lives over to our Savior and serve God and fellowman discover a richness and fullness to life that the selfish or egotistic will never experience.”

o    I love this quote. Within the past year, I had a conversation with my best friend about turning my life over to our Savior. I am a complete control freak, and it scares me half to death to think about not being in control of my own life. It is very difficult for me to cope and function in situations where I am not in control of the outcome. I am constantly looking for all possible “exits” in the event that my “fight or flight” response should kick in. As I talked to my best friend about this, he reminded me that turning my life over to our Savior is different for each person. He told me that just like Heavenly Father won’t give us any trials which are too great for us to bear that He also doesn’t expect us to turn our entire lives over to Him in one instantaneous declaration. From my best friend, I have learned that there are people in this world that can turn their entire lives over to God in an instant, but everyone is different. I’ve learned that God knows I am a control freak and that He doesn’t expect me to turn my life over to Him in a split second and that it will be a process for me. That process will be difficult because I know I will have to little by little give up control of my life as I turn it over to our Savior. The fact that I am a control freak is one of the reasons Mark 8:35 is one of my favorite scriptures. “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.” It plainly tells me I can’t save my life unless I selflessly serve others, and to be able to selflessly serve others, I need to be open and receptive to the promptings of the Spirit, which will only occur if I am work towards giving my life over the our Savior.

·         “Addictions often begin subtly. Addictions are thin threads of repeated action that weave themselves into thick bonds of habit. Negative habits have the potential to become consuming addictions. These binding chains of addiction can have many forms, like pornography, alcohol, sex, drugs, tobacco, gambling, food, work, the Internet, or virtual reality. Satan, our common enemy, has many favorite tools he uses to rob us of our divine potential to accomplish our mission in the Lord’s kingdom.”

o    Words can’t begin to describe how much I love this quote. I love how President Uchtdorf lays it out in plain black and white. Addictions can prevent us from doing so many things. They make it difficult for us to develop relationships. They hinder our ability to relate to others. They rob us of our agency. They limit our growth. Worst of all, they blind us to not only the destruction we are causing in our own lives, but also in the lives of those who care most about us.

·         “Even in Church service, it is easy to spend a lot of time just going through motions without the heart or the substance of discipleship.”

o    So as I write about why I love this quote so much, I am looking at my assignment I did on my favorite talk from General Conference. In the time since I completed and turned in that assignment, a lot has changed, and that was barely three weeks ago. I have a different calling, and it keeps me on my toes, both literally and figuratively. However, I still hate being late for church and missing the chance to take to Sacrament. That’s one thing which will never change. This quote also reminds me a lot of what it means to be a Primary Teacher, or any other kind of teacher for that matter. Creating a lesson plan for any kind of class takes a lot of work, but it is always worth it. My very first lesson I taught as a Primary Teacher had me scared out of my mind. I had study the lesson the entire week, and by the time Sunday rolled around, I still had nothing. I couldn’t figure out how I was going to teach the Sunbeams on how to be a good example until a light bulb finally went off. I needed a missionary tag. Thankfully one of the missionaries graciously allowed me to borrow his name tag for my lesson. I was still frazzled once my lesson was over that I almost forgot to give the elder back his tag. Being a true disciple of Christ takes effort and we need to seek out opportunities to serve others instead of just sitting around and waiting for those opportunities to come to us.

·         “Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is not an effort of once a week or once a day. It is an effort of once and for all.”

o    I love this quote because it perfectly describes many of my friends. I have been blessed in my life to have many different people come into my life who continue to show me what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ. Having been a Primary Teacher, I know just how much this statement is steeped in truth. In one small moment, my life was changed forever when I accepted my calling as a Primary Teacher. I will forever be checking myself, constantly scrutinizing every move, and continually inquiring of myself if I would act this way or that if one of my Primary kids were watching me. I can do one million things right, but it will always be the one wrong thing that people remember, so I have to make that “effort of once and for all” to ensure that one wrong thing never happens.

President Dieter Friedrich Uchtdorf, Grateful in Any Circumstances, April 2014 General Conference, Sunday Morning Session

Key Doctrine and Principles:

·         Gratitude, Regardless of Circumstances

·         Being Grateful is an Act of Faith in God

Favorite Quotes and Why They Matter to Me:

·         “Often their grief is caused by what seems to them as an ending. Some are facing the end of a cherished relationship, such as the death of a loved one or estrangement from a family member. Others feel they are facing the end of hope—the hope of being married or bearing children or overcoming an illness. Others may be facing the end of their faith, as confusing and conflicting voices in the world tempt them to question, even abandon, what they once knew to be true.”

o    So I loved this quote because it goes perfectly hand-in-hand with the quote from President Uchtdorf’s Priesthood Session talk about wholeheartedly turning our lives over to our Savior. As it stands, I have been losing hope in ever getting married as I watch all of my friends get married and start having families of their own. It is so difficult to watch others be happy when I feel like I will never be able to experience that same happiness. I am trying not to cry, but despite having been promised in my Patriarchal Blessing that I will get married in this life, it just feels like it is never going to happen. I find often find it difficult to be grateful that I’m twenty-six years old and not married yet. Try as I might to tell myself that Heavenly Father is still working on preparing the person I am to one day marry, it just seems so hard to believe that’s true when nothing ever is what it seems. It hurts so much when people ask me why I’m twenty-six years old and still not married, as if I have made a choice in the matter to never want to get married. I am grateful for all I have been given. Last night when we had the missionaries over for dinner, one of the things which came up was the refiner’s fire. It is at times when I feel like I can’t go any further that I remember our Savior isn’t going to leave me in the hottest part of the fire for so long that I start to become brittle.

·         “It is difficult to develop a spirit of gratitude of our thankfulness is only proportional to the number of blessings we can count.”

o    I love this quote because when we count our blessings, it is easy to unknowingly forget to count the blessings we cannot see, the ones which impact our lives continually in small ways. These kinds of blessings can go unnoticed for a very long time before we start to see them gradually build into huge blessings. When we are so focused on the end result, we forget to be thankful for the things which are leading us there, pushing us forward and driving us towards the final result. I have been through many trials in my life, some of them I will never know why I had to experience until this life is over, but I always try to remember that the trial I am facing right now is what is preparing me to have the strength to face the trial to come. That in and of itself is a blessing. Each trial I face will refine me even more until I am where I need to be to face the next trial.

Past Teachings

President Dieter Friedrich Uchtdorf, You Matter to Him, Ensign and General Conference (through the LDS Gospel Library App), November 2011 (General Conference October 2011, Saturday Morning Session)

Key Doctrine and Principles:

·         Compared to God, Man is Nothing

·         We Are Everything to God

Favorite Quotes and Why They Matter to Me:

·         “While we may look at the vast expanse of the universe and say, ‘What is man in comparison to the glory of creation?’ God Himself said we are the reason He created the universe! His work and glory—the purpose for this magnificent universe—is to save and exalt mankind. In other words, the vast expanse of eternity, the glories and mysteries of infinite space and time are built for the benefit of ordinary mortals like you and me. Our Heavenly Father created the universe that we might reach our potential as His sons and daughters. This is a paradox of man: compared to God, man is nothing; yet we are everything to God. While against the backdrop of infinite creation we may appear to be nothing, we have a spark of eternal fire burning within our breast. We have the incomprehensible promise of exaltation—worlds without end—within our grasp. And it is God’s great desire to help us reach it.”

o    This quote is one I love because it puts things into the eternal perspective. It’s like standing 15 feet away from a window and looking straight out, but only seeing what is within the window frame. Then out of nowhere a car drives from one side of the window to the other and then completely disappears from view.  Wanting to know where the car went, we step a few feet closer to the window and then another car moves across the window frame. As we step closer and closer to the window, we see more and more of what is outside, until finally we go outside and see the whole picture. The whole picture is that yes, we are small and insignificant in comparison to the universe, but we are the reason the universe was created and as such that makes us in a way infinitely greater than the universe.

·         “But the Lord uses a scale very different from the world’s to weigh the worth of a soul.”

o    I have loved this quote from the very first time I heard it. When President Uchtdorf gave this talk, I was at a place in my life where I needed encouragement and understanding. At the time, I had been going through a lot, dealing with a lot of things which were completely out of my control and feeling like a complete failure because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t figure out a way to bring them into my control. Even after I heard President Uchtdorf give this talk, I still felt very insignificant, and as odd as it sounds, at the time I didn’t realize that I was being prepared for something greater. Fast forward seven months to May 2012 when I met my best friend Richard for the first time. Now fast forward another two years to May 2014 and from my friendship with Richard, I have gained a deeper understanding of how vastly different the scales used by the Lord and by the world to measure the worth of a soul. If it hadn’t been for the Lord placing Richard into my life, and using him as a catalyst for all the changes I have made within myself over the last two years, I would still be that person I was back in October 2011. I would still feel insignificant even after hearing this talk.