Speaker at Church

We were asked to give a talk this Sunday at church. Here are the messages that we shared.

Here is mine:

Atonement Covers All Pain
By: Kent F. Richards of the Seventy

Good morning brothers and sisters. It is a privilege to talk to all of you today. And we are looking forward to get to know you all. We are the Grahams, we just moved in to my father in law’s house at the end of May. My name is Joahna, my husband is Andrew we have a 9 month old son Creighton.

I came from the Philippines and I was the first member in my family. My parents were my first referral in the church but it seems nothing follow after that. But I made a lot of good friends and enjoyed every calling and spiritual experiences that I had. I have been blessed with leaders and friends in the church who help me to fulfill my spiritual goals in life. My husband and I met when he served a mission in the Philippines. I was about to be baptized when he was transferred in our ward. After 8 years he remembered his mission while watching “The Best Two Years” he decided to write letters to those people he knew and I am one of them. He visited the Philippines several times and we get married in the Philippines Manila temple in December 2005.

Before I begin with my Talk I would like to apologize with my accent and pronunciation, I pray that the spirit will be with me so that all of us will be edified. The topic that I want to share with you is from the Talk of Elder Kent F Richards of the seventy last conference entitled Atonement Covers All Pain.

He begins his message talking about pain. I know for all of us there was a time in our life that we suffered pain. One vivid memory that I have about that experience is when I gave birth to my son. Although friends and family said that contraction and labor is painful I never had idea how painful it was until I experienced it myself. I know all of you mothers here experience the pain I am talking about. Another pain that we experienced recently is the passing of my mother in law. She was a very nice lady and I love her so much. It was so hard for us knowing that she wasn’t here anymore. I feel sad that my son would not be able to know how wonderful and loving her grandmother was. She was the only mother that I had here in this country and I am so grateful for that. I had learned a lot from her.

Elder Orson F Whitney wrote: “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility…It is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire.”


For me through the pain I experienced of giving birth I fully understand the sacrifice that my mother did for me. It also taught me about selfless service and unconditional love. For the pain of losing a loved one I was able to learn empathy to those people who lose theirs and my faith became stronger that through the gift of atonement we would be able to see our loved ones again.

Elder Robert D Hales has said “Pain brings you to humility that allows you to ponder. It is an experience I am grateful to have endured.

Much of our suffering is not necessarily our fault. Unexpected events, contradicting or disappointing circumstances, interrupting illness and even death surrounds us and penetrate our mortal experience.

Sometime in the depth of pain we are tempted to ask “Is there no balm in Gilead? “
The atonement of Jesus Christ covers all these conditions and purpose in mortality.

But there is a pain that was self inflicted this is our spiritual pain, it comes from our sinful actions and lack of repentance. But we will be cured if we wanted to, the atonement of Christ covers our sins if we are willing to repent and come back to him. It is infinite and eternal – to cover all men throughout eternity. Through his suffering and death, the Savior atoned for the sins of all men His atonement began in Gethsemane and continued in the cross culminated with the resurrection.

Mosiah 3:7 And lo He will suffer temptation and pain of body, hunger ,thirst and fatigue , even more than death ;even more than men can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold blood cometh from every pore, so great was his anguish for the wickedness and abominations of His people.

Through His Atonement, He heals not only the transgressor but He also heals the innocent who suffer because of the transgressions. As the innocent exercise faith in the savior and his atonement and forgive the transgressor. They too can be healed.


Elder Dallin H. Oaks has taught: “Healing blessings come in many ways, each suited individual needs, as known to Him who loves us best. Sometimes a ‘healing’ cures our illness or lifts our burden. But sometimes we are ‘healed’ by being given strength or understanding or patience to bear our burdens placed upon us. All that will come may be “clasped in the arms of Jesus.” All souls can be healed by His power. All pain can be soothed. In Him, we can “find rest unto our souls.” Our mortal circumstances may not immediately change, but our pain. Worry, suffering, and fear can be swallowed up in his peace and healing balm.

When my husband and I found out that we are going to have baby we are so excited and there is no question and argument in our mind that I need to quit work and stay home to take care of our baby. Financially it was tough for us because quitting my job means there are some bills that we would not be able to pay. But the counsel of the prophet is more important to us.

President Ezra Taft Benson said: We urge the husband to do all in his power to allow his wife to remain in the home caring for the children while he continues to provide for his family the best he can, even though the job he is able to secure may not be ideal and family budgeting may have to be tighter.

Brethren of the priesthood, I continue to emphasize the importance of mothers staying home to nurture, care for, and train their children in the principles of righteousness.
(Ezra Taft Benson, “To the Fathers in Israel,” Ensign, Nov. 1987, 48)

During that time Andrew is almost finish with the associate degree that he took and he is planning to look for a much better paying job. But it didn’t happen the way we planned, until now Andrew is still looking for a new job. But it seems that we get through with all the challenges, we were able to pay our bills with the salary that he had. And there are blessings that we always received. One of the blessing that we are grateful for is the health of our son, he is always been a happy boy. Indeed he was our bundle of joy. Despite all the challenges that we had he always gives smile in our face. We realized maybe there is a much better reason why Heavenly Father did not give us the answer we wanted. Maybe he wanted us to be with dad which we are grateful for, dad is always there to help in all the ways that he can. From this experience I have learned that blessings come from different forms. Our plan is different from our Heavenly Father’s, there is a much better thing that He wanted us to experience and learn rather than the one we wanted. Besides God works in a mysterious way.


I wanted to share my testimony to all of you that I know that Atonement can heal us. I know that Heavenly father loves us. He knows what is best for us. I know that the church is true, I know that the book of Mormon is true and it is powerful It can change lives. I know that we have a living prophet today President Thomas Monson In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.



Here is Andrew's

Good morning. It is a great honor to speak to you this Sabbath day. I pray the Holy Spirit may continue to be here as I speak and that my words may edify us all.
I have very few things that I enjoy most, besides my family. In fact, it is so few that I can count them all on one hand – a) sports, b)traveling to distant places, c) Filipino mangoes, d) backpacking, and e) Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.
The Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup has a peanut butter center covered with chocolate; a most delicious combination, in my humble opinion (if you want to be my friend, just give me lots of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups).
Our homes need to be like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. Most everyone has chocolate but few have peanut butter in the center. Or in other words, most everyone has a home or place of residence, but very few have Christ in the center of their homes.
Why should we have peanut butter in the center of our chocolate, or why should we have Christ in the center of our homes? As we read in St John 14:6, he is “the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by” him. Having Christ in the center of our homes will help lead us back to our Father in Heaven and lay the foundation for our children to do the same when they are parents. How do we do this?
To answer this question, let’s go on a backpacking trip. We have discovered through other accounts of people that there is a perfect lake in the Uinta Mountains of Utah in which the lake has great fishing and the most beautiful scenery ever seen (and rumors are there are Filipino mangoes there, too). In order to get to this lake, we must travel on a well known trail for about 5 miles then go off trail for another 5 miles. Going off trail will require a map and compass to navigate (GPS will also work, but it could lead us over a cliff to our untimely death).
Do you know how to use a map and compass to get to this perfect lake? I imagine very few of you know. You must rely on the teaching of others to learn the skill of map and compass, and then go out and do it yourself several times to gain the confidence necessary to use and to teach others.
As parents, we are leading our families toward eternal life, or the perfect lake with Filipino mangoes. We rely on the trails established by our own parents and others that have taught us. However, there comes a place on the trail where we have to take our own path to get our families to eternal life. Do we know how to use the map and compass skills taught to us by our parents and others? Are we teaching our children the map and compass skills they will need when they are parents leading their families to the perfect lake?
The map and compass skills are scripture study and prayer. As children and teenagers, we may have been taught by our parents how to use scriptures and prayer. But it takes practice to gain the confidence to use the skills in leading and teaching our own children and teenagers.
Just as Enos, who was hunting, remembered what his father taught him about Christ, our children will remember what we taught them some day. In the April General Conference, Elder Richard J Maynes of the Seventy gave us his experience with teaching his children:
“Sister Maynes and I learned some important principles as we began the process of establishing a Christ-centered home early in our marriage. We started by following the counsel of our Church leaders. We brought our children together and held weekly family home evening as well as daily prayer and scripture study. It was not always easy, convenient, or successful, but over time these simple gatherings became treasured family traditions.
We learned that our children might not remember everything about the family home evening lesson later in the week, but they would remember that we held it. We learned that later in the day at school they would probably not remember the exact words of the scriptures or the prayer, but they would remember that we did read scriptures and we did have prayer. Brothers and sisters, there is great power and protection for us and our youth in establishing celestial traditions in the home.”
Elder and Sister Maynes taught their children the map and compass skills and learned that their children may not remember exactly what was said or read, but that they were taught the skills of using scripture study and prayer to guide them to the perfect lake with Filipino mangoes. Those skills help us put peanut butter in the center of our chocolate.
Family home evening is another skill mentioned by Elder Maynes that helped them to have Christ in the center of their home. In my younger years, we would go several weeks without or several weeks with family home evening; the same with family scripture study and prayer. I can testify that just having those moments, although inconsistent, did put Christ in the center of our home. Of course, I did try and make sports the center of our home, but that didn’t work as I was the only vote for a sports centered home.
Brothers and sisters, may we all strive to have peanut butter in the center of our chocolate; have Christ in the center of our homes. And the way to do that is to use our map and compass skills, the scripture study and prayer, and even family home evening. And in so doing our children will remember when they have children of their own to have Christ in the center of their homes, using scripture study and prayer and family home evening. Then we all can enjoy together the perfect lake with Filipino mangoes – eternal life. I testify that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer. He lives and his teachings and example are the only ways that will take us back to our Father in Heaven. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.