To me, they were the most important people in the highest leadership positions in the Church.

But over many years of studying their lives, learning the doctrine, and having my own experiences with service, I have had a change in perspective.

All the logistical stuff that comes with their calling is just a small part of their role.

I now view them as fifteen men called to serve and bear testimony of Jesus Christ with the entire world as their responsibility.

And they willingly agreed to do so.

As we learn in the parable of the wheat and tares, “. . . the field was the world, and the apostles were the sowers of the seed.” (D&C 86:2)

The apostles sow the seeds.

With every new place they travel to and every new talk they research and deliver, they are planting seeds of goodness to the best of their abilities.

The apostles don’t point us to how awesome they are.

Instead, they point us straight to Jesus Christ.

I want to know, what have you heard from an apostle recently that “sowed a good seed” in your life?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The apostles  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

What would their life experience be?

What would their family life or job or income or location be?

As Joseph, Oliver, and David were tasked with finding 12 men who could serve as official disciples of Jesus Christ in this new dispensation, the Lord gave them direction.

(Because WOW what an overwhelming task to be given… Where do you even start?!)

Here is the biggest qualification the Lord told them to look for when searching for an apostle:

“The Twelve are they who shall desire to take upon them my name with full purpose of heart”. – D&C 18:27

Full purpose of heart.

Totally willing.

Completely devoted to Jesus Christ with no other competing priorities.

That’s it.

When we look at our current members of the Quorum of the Twelve, we see lots of different job experiences, personalities, public speaking skills, family composition…

And honestly, the same with the original Twelve from Jesus’s time, too.

But despite all the differences, they are all perfectly willing to give it all to the Lord.

No “Ugh, I’m done with traveling. I just want to stay home and catch up on some shows I’m watching.”

No “I hate speaking, but I couldn’t avoid Pres. Nelson’s phone call asking me to preside here today.”

No “I worked really hard to get where I am in my career and I don’t want to give that up.”

No “I can’t wait until I’m released.”

Listen— I know these men aren’t perfect.

But I admire them SO MUCH for their willingness.

Their ability, not necessarily innate, but cultivated over a lifetime of choosing the Lord over selfish desires again and again, to show a soft, humble, and willing heart.

Their love for the Savior conquering all else.

What an example to me. To each of us.

To slowly, day by day, let my desire to take upon me the name of Jesus Christ fully consume all of my life choices and attitudes.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Lessons from the Twelve first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

As part of my planning, I was trying to find the best quotes, scripture stories, and examples.

So I really started to ponder:

How have I personally learned the importance of service?

Story after story popped into my mind of watching my parents, teachers, and leaders and observing how they helped others.

And even more stories popped into my mind of when others had served me in a moment of quiet need.

And then I laughed!

Here I was trying to teach a lesson about service in a classroom through quotes and presentation, when the best way to learn about it is actually by watching others serve.

“We not only teach with words; we teach also by who we are and how we live our lives.” —Thomas S. Monson

In Matthew 10:1, Christ calls all twelve of His disciples.

“And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.”

He gave them the priesthood power to serve and perform miracles!

But how did these disciples know how to use their priesthood power appropriately?!

They had just watched the Savior do all of these same things!

He lived it.

And then He invited them to do the same. ⁣

Are we asking people in our lives to be kind and patient but not giving them the kind and patient example to follow?

Are we asking people we love to study the scriptures without modeling what meaningful scripture study can look like? ⁣

Are we asking people to be more loving, without showing more love to them, too?

Jesus taught by using His words and then living a life that completely backed up and even elaborated on what He said.

Now, we aren’t going to be as perfect as the perfect example.

Have I raised my voice in frustration to yell, “Why can’t we all be calm and happy?!”

Yup.

But we’ve got the goal.

And we can realign and repent and try again over and over.

The best lesson we can ever teach is how we live our lives.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post How to teach about service first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

“They forsook all, and followed him.” (Luke 5:11)

I believe Peter walked away from comfort.

From a predictable life.

From being focused on himself.

From being worried about what others thought.

“I am learning that Heavenly Father is more interested in my growth as a disciple of Jesus Christ than He is with my comfort.” — Michelle D. Craig

Sometimes I get stuck thinking “My goal is to be able to get all this stuff done so that I can relax!”

And I keep getting taught the lesson that this isn’t how life works.

I mean, relaxing is great and totally 100% necessary along the way.

But God isn’t hoping that I’ll finally finish my to-do list so that I can have more free time to catch up on shows.

He wants me to become better!

He wants me more refined. He wants me serving. He wants me loving. He wants me mourning and comforting and overcoming.

And those emotions… feel like a lot of work sometimes.

But the Lord loves effort, right?

So what will we be willing to forsake?

Are we willing to be uncomfortable? To step outside our comfort zones? To truly love? To develop our gifts?

In a gradual process, we can start to “forsake” having the ultimate goal of COMFORT.

And instead, we can allow Jesus to lead us to His ideal goal: GROWTH.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Forsaking comfort first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I loved those days.

I knew each talk like the back of my hand, and I felt so close to each of the apostles and other general leaders.

A few of my favorites from that time were:

Elder Holland’s counsel to: “Keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever.” (April 2016)

That talk always widened my perspective when I was stuck in the day-to-day craziness.

Elder (at the time) Nelson’s counsel to make the Sabbath a delight was life-changing in getting me to really consider my choices each Sunday in a much more mature way. (April 2015)

Elder Bednar’s perfect talk about meekness that made a bunch of Christlike principles click in my mind. (April 2018)

My General Conference listening isn’t quite as consistent anymore, but I will tell you one thing that has not changed.

I have a testimony that the apostles are special witnesses of Jesus Christ.

And as we learn in the parable of the wheat and tares, as explained in D&C section 86:

“the field was the world, and the apostles were the sowers of the seed”. D&C 86:2

The apostles sow the seeds.

They sow really good seeds.

I used to view the apostles as the guys in the highest leadership positions in the church.

But now I view them a lot more like 15 men who have been called to serve and bear testimony of Jesus Christ, with the entire world as their responsibility.

They are servants who are sowing good seeds with every new place that they travel and every talk that they give.

We are almost exactly halfway in between Conferences right now.

And I think we can still do some heart-softening and some Conference-listening and some testimony-strengthening.

The apostles are different.

Their priesthood duty is to hold all of the priesthood keys and to bear special witness of Jesus Christ.

They don’t point us to how awesome they are.

Instead, they point us straight to Him.

I’d love to hear: What is something you’ve heard from an apostle recently that has really “sowed a good seed” into your life?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Sowers of the seed first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.