Relief Society · Elders Quorum · 25 minutes
Elder Michael John U. Teh · Of the Seventy · Saturday Morning Session
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This class in one line
Following living prophets is how we follow Jesus Christ, and that following will cost us something, just as it cost Elder Teh's family, and just as it cost the rich young man.
Skip a deep dive into the Mosiah seer passage; read it aloud once and move on, the discussion questions will do more than an explanation will.
Before Sunday
Sunday's class: what have you had to give up to follow the prophet?
This week we're discussing Elder Michael John U. Teh's April 2025 talk 'Follow the Prophet; He Knows the Way.' He shares how his family, after joining the Church in the Philippines, had to slowly weed out traditions that conflicted with the gospel, a long, hard process done under real social pressure. Before Sunday, read or listen to the talk at churchofjesuschrist.org. Ponder: Is there any habit, tradition, or cultural practice in your own life that living prophets have asked you to reconsider?
Pick one opening
Think of a time someone gave you directions and you actually followed them, even when it seemed counterintuitive or cost you something. What made you trust that person enough to do it? Hold that thought as we talk today about what it means to follow a living prophet.
Think of a time someone gave you directions and you actually followed them, even when it seemed counterintuitive or cost you something. What made you trust that person enough to do it? Hold that thought as we talk today about what it means to follow a living prophet.
Elder Teh was asked to visit a man in Japan who had cancer that kept spreading despite treatment. For days Elder Teh pleaded for words to say. He pictured someone bitter, maybe angry, asking 'Why me?' When he walked in, what he found stopped him cold: a bright, happy countenance, no bitterness, no 'why.' He says he went to minister and left feeling like he was the one who had been ministered to.
Teach this first
Elder Teh's parents joined the Church and discovered that truly embracing the gospel meant letting go of beloved cultural and family traditions that conflicted with it. This wasn't a one-time decision but a long, ongoing process done under real pressure from family and friends. President Oaks, quoted in the talk, puts it plainly: the gospel's most frequent message is 'repent,' and repenting means surrendering any practice, personal, family, ethnic, or national, that is contrary to God's commandments.
President Oaks, as quoted by Elder Teh: 'The purpose of the gospel is to transform common creatures into celestial citizens, and that requires change.'
Ask the class
If time remains
Elder Teh shares that in Hong Kong, his apartment received morning sunlight not because it faced east, but because a tall building reflected the sun's rays into his windows. He connects this to discipleship: as we strive to follow the Savior, He uses us, our example and service, so others can feel His love through us.
Ask the class
Counsel together
Last 3–5 minutes
This week, identify one specific habit, tradition, or practice in your life that a living prophet has counseled against. Bring it to prayer and ask Heavenly Father for both the desire and the strength to make one concrete step toward change.
Elder Teh teaches, drawing on President Oaks, that because Christ experienced the fulness of mortal suffering, His Atonement empowers Him to give us the strength to bear our own trials, not just to survive them, but to face them with a bright countenance.
Your witness: Bear witness of a moment, however small, when following the prophet's counsel cost you something and the Lord honored that faithfulness. If no personal story comes, witness simply that you believe the prophet sees what we cannot yet see.