Watch or read Elder Pino’s talk at: Let Doing Good Be Our Normal (churchofjesuschrist.org)

Elder Pino begins by talking about customs and traditions that may seem normal to some and strange to others. He gives examples of eating coconut with chilli powder on or avocado with sugar on.

Do you have any customs or traditions that might seem strange to others?

President Russell M. Nelson has said: “Today we often hear about ‘a new normal.’ If you really want to embrace a new normal, I invite you to turn your heart, mind, and soul increasingly to our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Let that be your new normal” (“A New Normal,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2020, 118).

How can we make turning our heart, mind and soul increasingly to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ a new normal?

Elder Pino then goes on to talk about four habits that should be normal for Church members.

1. Personal and family study of the scriptures. To become converted to the Lord Jesus Christ, each person is responsible for learning the gospel. Parents are responsible for teaching the gospel to their children (see Doctrine and Covenants 68:25; 93:40).

Joshua 1:8 

“If we’re not reading the scriptures daily, our testimonies are growing thinner [and] our spirituality isn’t increasing in depth” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Harold B. Lee [2000], 66).

2 Timothy 3:15-17 

‘As fellow workers for the cause of building the kingdom of God, they are our source of faith, commitment, determination, and leadership; doctrine for the foundation of our decisions.’ (John H Vandenberg, General Conference, April 1973)

1 Nephi 15:23-25 

‘Nephi taught that by clinging to the word of God, as though it be a handrail, we would be able to avoid temptations and not lose our way in darkness. Thus, we would remain on the narrow path.’ (Joseph B Wirthlin, General Conference, October 1990)

2 Nephi 32:3

‘Nothing opens the heavens quite like the combination of increased purity, exact obedience, earnest seeking, daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon, and regular time committed to temple and family history work.’ (Russell M Nelson, General Conference, April 2018)

D&C 11:22-23

‘Just think of the spiritual strength we could gain in our lives and how much more effective we would be as teachers, missionaries, and friends if we studied the scriptures regularly. ‘ (M Russell Ballard, General Conference, October 1995)

D&C 33:16-18

‘If you have not already developed the habit of daily scripture study, start now and keep studying in order to be prepared for your responsibilities in this life and in the eternities.’ (Julie B Beck, General Conference, April 2004)

What blessings have you received as you have studied the scriptures?

How do you make your personal scripture study meaningful?

 (See examples in “Ideas to Improve Your Personal Scripture Study” in Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families).

2. Personal and family prayer. The Savior commands us to pray always (see Doctrine and Covenants 19:38). Prayer allows us to communicate personally with our Heavenly Father in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ.

What does Elder Pino’s statement mean to you?

Brigham Young: ‘If I did not feel like praying, and asking my Father in Heaven to give me a morning blessing, and to preserve me and my family and the good upon the earth throughout the day, I should say, ‘Brigham, get down here on your knees, bow your body down before the throne of him who rules in the heavens, and stay there until you can feel to supplicate at that throne of grace erected for sinners’. (Discourses of Brigham Young p46).

What if we only talked with our loved ones when we felt it?

See Alma 34:17-28

“…May I ask this important question: How many families in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have regular nightly and morning family prayer? Those who neglect to do so are displeasing the Lord and are entitled to the same rebuke which the Lord gave some of the leading elders of the Church in the early days. No parent should depend solely on the organizations of the Church for the training of the children. They should be taught to pray regularly, secretly as well as in the family circle. The counsel that Alma and Amulek gave to the straying Zoramites is just as essential to the Latter-day Saints today as it was two thousand years ago.” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 5:48)

3. Weekly sacrament meeting attendance (see 3 Nephi 18:1–12; Moroni 6:5–6). We do so to remember Jesus Christ as we take the sacrament. In this ordinance the members of the Church renew their covenant of taking upon themselves the name of the Savior, of always remembering Him, and of keeping His commandments (see Doctrine and Covenants 20:77, 79).

Write the following question on the board: How is the sacrament affecting your life? To answer this question, invite class members to work in pairs to select and discuss one phrase from the sacrament prayers in Doctrine and Covenants 20:77, 79 and the counsel in Doctrine and Covenants 59:9. Give each pair time to find scriptures that help them better understand their phrase and discuss how they would answer the question on the board. You might also invite class members to choose favourite sacrament hymns and sing them together.

4. Frequent participation in temple and family history work. This work is the means of uniting and sealing families for eternity (see Doctrine and Covenants 128:15).

The desire to discover one’s ancestors and complete temple ordinances for them is sometimes referred to as the Spirit of Elijah. In 1844 Joseph Smith asked, “What is this office and work of Elijah?” He then promptly answered his own question:

It is one of the greatest and most important subjects that God has revealed. This is the Spirit of Elijah, that we redeem our dead, and connect ourselves with our fathers which are in heaven. This is the power of Elijah.”

It is the Spirit of Elijah that motivates Church members, to perform proxy baptisms, temple endowments, and sealing ordinances on behalf of their ancestors .

But also the spirit of Elijah is the spirit of family kinship and unity. It is the spirit that motivates people – Saints and non- Saints throughout the world  to search out ancestral family members through family history.

At the conclusion of his mortal life, Elijah was translated; that is, he experienced some type of change from mortality without experiencing mortal death. A major reason for Elijah´s translation was to enable him to return to the earth to confer keys of authority on the three chief apostles before Jesus´ crucifixion and resurrection Since spirits cannot lay hands on mortal beings (D&C 129), and since Moses and Elijah could not return as resurrected beings because Jesus was the first to be resurrected  the need for the translation of Elijah and Moses is evident. On the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1–9), Elijah specifically restored the priesthood keys of sealing, the power that binds and validates in the heavens all ordinances performed on the earth.

On April 3, 1836, in a vision to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the newly completed Kirtland Temple, Elijah appeared and announced that the time had come when Malachi´s prophecy was to be fulfilled. He committed the sealing keys of the priesthood to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery (D&C 110:13–16). This restoration was necessary so that the sealing ordinances and covenants of God could be administered in righteousness upon the earth (DS 2:117). Joseph Smith explained:

The spirit, power, and calling of Elijah is, that ye have power to hold the key of the revelations, ordinances, oracles, powers and endowments of the fulness of the Melchizedek Priesthood and of the kingdom of God on the earth; and to receive, obtain, and perform all the ordinances belonging to the kingdom of God…. What you seal on earth, by the keys of Elijah, is sealed in heaven; and this is the power of Elijah [TPJS, pp. 337–38].

President Nelson has also counselled: “Embrace your new normal by repenting daily. Seek to be increasingly pure in thought, word, and deed. Minister to others. Keep an eternal perspective. Magnify your callings. And whatever your challenges, my dear brothers and sisters, live each day so that you are more prepared to meet your Maker” (“A New Normal,” 118).

In what ways can you embrace your new normal?

NB: Passages in italics are direct quotes from Elder Pino’s talk.