
Ephraim Hanks had just arrived in the Salt Lake Valley two weeks earlier. He was beginning to build their first home. He had already got heavy pine timbers for the frame, and he also had the eight inch adobe brick. He hired a bricklayer, and the two of them began laying the brick walls in the hot Utah summer.
They worked well together and had made a lot of progress over a few days until the walls were waist high. They had hardly noticed the dusty carriage pull up. Inside was President Brigham Young, who didn’t get out, but just looked at the brick work, and looked at Ephraim. Ephraim remembered looking into Brother Brigham’s blue eyes and hearing him say, “Make the walls sixteen inches and not eight.” Without another word, the carriage drove off, leaving Ephraim standing there. To build the walls sixteen inches, they would have to tear down everything they had done, get more timbers, and twice as many bricks.
The brick mason, said that Brother Brigham was just talking off the top of his hat, and that most of the homes used only six inch bricks—there was no need to redo their work. Ephraim sat down and thought. He stood up and began tearing down the wall. He told the mason, that he had come across the plains from Nauvoo and from California with the Mormon Battalion because he knew Brigham was a prophet of God. It didn’t matter to him if Brigham were talking off the top of his hat or if he were receiving revelation, he would do what the prophet asked him to do.
Ephraim built his walls sixteen inches thick. A week after the home was finished, the rains came, especially heavy in the mountains, and waters flooded the valley, washing away nearly every home in its path, except for Ephraim’s sixteen inch thick walled home.
After reading that experience, I began to examine myself and asking how closely do I listen and follow President Monson. I have become very aware that what the Prophet says is the same as the Lord speaking, so how closely am I listening to the Lord?
I then thought back to last October conference, and I couldn’t remember anything President Monson had said, except for the announcement of the five new temples. This weekend, I reread President Monson’s four talks at the last conference, underlining passages that I felt were meant just for me. I then typed them and printed them to slip into my scriptures so I can more easily pay attention to these messages. I’ll pass these along to you, but I’m certain that if you did this also, you would find different messages.
My testimony of President Monson has been strengthened incredibly this week just because of this experience. I’m so grateful for a living prophet and for his messages to us. Here’s just one message from the last conference that I really like: “Remember that the Lord will shape the back to bear the burden placed upon it”—isn’t that great?
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