Look Up

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young woman looking up

Photograph by Duston Todd

On October 6, 2013, I walked into the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, for the first time. The missionaries had been teaching me for about 10 months, but I still had one last, fundamental question—were there modern-day prophets and modern-day prophecy? The missionaries had given me tickets to the Sunday afternoon session and challenged me to have in mind specific questions that I wanted answered. I entered the Conference Center that day ready to find an answer to my question about modern revelation and about whether or not I should be baptized.

Before conference my roommate said I needed to make a point of admiring the incredible Conference Center ceiling by looking up. From the moment I entered the building on that beautiful warm Sunday afternoon, I felt an immediate peace in my heart. I loved seeing all of the faithful families. As I looked into their smiling faces, I felt excitement as I thought about their eternal future.

Throughout all of the wonderful talks in that session, my feeling of peace continued. I took notes on all of the speakers, but I especially admired the talk “Look Up” by Elder Adrián Ochoa of the Seventy.¹ He spoke about the signs of our times and the urgency for spiritual preparation. He kept reiterating to always “look up” to our Heavenly Father in everything we do and to remember we are not alone. He urged us to follow the words of the prophet Moroni—“Ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ” (Moroni 10:4)—which he said was another way of saying, “Look up.”

After the session, I asked my group to wait so that I could look up at the ceiling. I slowly walked down the maroon carpeted aisle toward the center of the auditorium. When I looked up at the golden organ pipes toward the ceiling, it took my breath away. As I stood there looking up, I felt a voice inside my head telling me very clearly, “This is what you need to do.” As chills ran down my spine, I could not decipher whether the voice was my own or the voice of the Spirit. However, the phrase “This is what you need to do” kept running through my head as I pictured the faces of the families I had seen earlier. I thought about the happiness they shared because of the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives.

For weeks I had been “looking up” to God for guidance. As a result, the answer I was seeking had come as I stood in that sacred setting.

After taking this in for a moment, which truthfully felt like eternity, I decided to pray earnestly. I asked our Heavenly Father to bless me and give me the strength to accept this as the answer I came looking for. I prayed to have the courage to follow through with the truth I had found and tell my family I was going to be baptized.

Less than a month later, on November 1, I was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church. I gained a testimony of prophets and modern-day revelation. I knew Heavenly Father would bless me with the answers I needed to take steps of faith and that the prophet and other Church leaders had good counsel for me. I could live my life so that someday I could have a beautiful family of my own and attend conference with them.

Now a year later, I am the only active member of the Church in my family and hold a calling in my young single adult ward. I thank Elder Ochoa for his divinely inspired words and encouragement to slow down when prompted by the Spirit. May we all seek to be spiritually and temporally prepared—and may we eagerly look up to Heavenly Father in everything we do.