"THE CHOICE GENERATION"
ANDI GOOCH

Hi, my name is Andi Gooch, and I live in Gilbert, Arizona, and I’m a member of the Puyallup Tribe from Tacoma, Washington. They are the people at the bend in the river. I am also part Chehalis, Nisqually, and Umatilla. I am the mother of five children, four grandchildren, and soon to be having our fifth grandchild. I am grateful that I have this opportunity to talk at this Sacred Sisters event through the Gathering of Tribes and I have message that I’d like share with you today.

I would like to talk about the importance of making decisions.

I heard story from a member of my ward – and I will be paraphrasing this. She was working in the temple and another Elder from the stake asked her if she knew why this generation was called the “Choice Generation.” She replied with some nice words about why, but he answered her and said, “It’s because this generation has so many choices!” This statement has never left me. How true is this that we have so many choices. Let me give you an example.  

In my time we maybe had a few famous music artists, and we listened to them on the radio and we bought their cassette tape or CD.  But now there is so many genres and music labels on so many different platforms that it can be overwhelming who is who. You could spend a lot of time on these different platforms to make music choices. I listen to music on Spotify, but there is also Apple Music, Soundcloud, YouTube, Amazon Music, Pandora, iHeart radio, Deezer, Bandcamp, Sirius radio, the actual AM/FM radio, Tidal, TikTok, and so much more. Many of these apps don’t have to abide by any type of censorship, so much of the music could be explicit if you’re not careful. Also within these platforms are different stations you can subscribe to. Where do you start? What platform would you choose? Some cost money; some are free but with commercials. Some you are in control of what is being played, and others you’re at the mercy of their programming.

How symbolic is this of our life choices? Some choices we have control of; some we’re at the mercy of other choices. Some have a cost, some are trivial, and some cost nothing.

During the time of Helaman and his stripling warriors, they had just secured the city of Manti, and they were in need of provisions from Zarahemla. When they ventured out to get out the word of their need, there was increasing reinforcements from the Lamanite army that prevented them from getting help. While they were waiting, in Alma 58:6 it says: “And the Lamanites were sallying forth against us from time to time, resolving by stratagem to destroy us; nevertheless, we could not come to battle with them, because of their retreats and their strongholds.”

That word “sallying forth” is an interesting word. Well, I looked it up, and the definition means “to leap out or burst forth suddenly and to be persistent.” I think of a fly that can be persistent and bother you relentlessly. This was a tactic of harassment used by the Lamanites. There’s no doubt in my mind that the adversary uses this same method to keep us from being sharp and focused and to make those good decisions. Also, the phrase “stratagem to destroy us” speaks loud and clear that he does use strategy, because he is cunning and smart.

I would like to share a story with you regarding one of my teenage sons. It was the last day of school, and my son was influenced to wear a T-shirt at school with another group of boys and to take a picture on their football stadium with the school logo behind them. The picture was posted online. My son had no idea what the T-shirt meant. He and several of his friends – they were caught up in the end of school year fun atmosphere and he went along with the crowd. Turns out the shirt was derogatory towards females, and everyone in the picture was called in the principal’s office to be suspended because they had the school logo behind them. Because it was the last day of school, suspension would possibly roll over into the next school year. In an effort to be fair, the school decided to have the students serve 20 hours of community service during the summer. This affected some of the students that were enrolled in sports camps. Several of the parents decided to fight the school, saying that it wasn’t fair. As a parent, I had a decision to make to join the other parents to fight the school, or to insist that my son fulfill the consequence and hopefully turn this into a lesson learned.

Me and my husband talked and with our son, and prayerfully we decided to fulfill the consequences. When I went to the school meeting for parents, I was met by several other parents angry at me that I was okay with my son taking the consequence. I had to defend our choice. One man was so angry at me as he was shouting at me so close that his speech was spitting in my face. I was incredibly frightened by this but continued to explain that we felt our choice was better in the long run. Some of the other students involved were mad at my son because we were not united as parents, so therefore the school enforced the 20 hours of service.

Nothing really became of this story for anyone except for me. The prophet Thomas S. Monson gave a talk to the priesthood leaders in October 2010 titled “The Three R’s of Choice.” He said that “as I’ve contemplated the various aspects of choice, I’ve put them into three categories: first, the right of choice; second, the responsibility of choice; and third, the results of choice.”

He goes on to say for the right of choice, “We know that we had our agency before this world was and that Lucifer attempted to take it from us. He had no confidence in the principle of agency or in us, and argued for imposed salvation. He insisted that with his plan none would be lost, but he seemed not to recognize—or perhaps not to care—that in addition, none would be any wiser, any stronger, any more compassionate, or any more grateful if his plan were to be followed.”

Just hearing that – that he had no confidence in us – makes me want to be more responsible for my choices, because I am so grateful for that experience that I had with those parents. I felt confidence from that incident. It gave me the idea that I can be strong. The very thing I was afraid of – well, happened, and I got through it! It prepared me for other situations that I had to stand alone in regarding my religion, values, and morals that are important to me.

In an article in Psych Central it talks about that the difficulty of making decisions can be caused by several factors, such as the fear of failure and a lack of confidence or information. Fear of failure is huge. If we make the wrong mistake, we most certainly will feel embarrassment from that failure. However, making choices and overcoming fear help us build that confidence “muscle.”

The great thing is we have our Heavenly Father with us to help us make those hard choices. When we were baptized, we made a covenant with our Father in Heaven to stand as a witness of God, in all times and in all things and in all places.  And in return, in Mosiah 18:10 the promised blessing is that we will have the Spirit, which is the Holy Ghost, more abundantly upon us – meaning we do not have to do this alone.

When I was a teenager, I was put into a foster care placement program for troubled youth in Payson, Utah. My adopted mother had died, and I had not processed many of those emotions and trauma that had occurred in my family. So a lot of my behaviors and choices that I was making had taken me down a pathway of unrighteousness. The consequences of those choices overwhelmed me.

The home I was in helped me realize that I indeed needed to change my direction in life. But you see, I was very afraid. My pattern of living was all I ever knew. What guarantee did I have if I changed my direction? How would it benefit me? Would I be accepted by others? Would I find happiness? Did I deserve happiness?

I do remember praying to Heavenly Father for help. It was a small prayer, but nonetheless a prayer. My faith was small, and the cost felt high. But a few things that came my way is that I was blessed with some amazing young women leaders who instilled confidence in me by giving me opportunities to learn and share that small testimony that I had.

I made a goal of the kind of life I wanted, and made choices that kept me working toward those goals, such as I started reading the Book of Mormon and I felt the blessings that came from reading that sacred text. I knew the things I was reading were true! I appreciated reading stories about a family that wasn’t perfect, like mine. I made a choice to choose that better life, without guarantee, but I felt the Holy Spirit by my side that I was going to be alright. I am grateful to that 18-year-old girl that trusted in the Lord in her small faith and gave me the life that I have now.

That program gave me skills on how to make choices. For instance, a little choice that I would like to share with the youth – when I listen to music on my very large platform, I follow the “Strive to Be” music channel set up for the youth of the Church. I also have “LDS EFY” playlists that invite music into my life that brings the Spirit. I follow Church accounts on social media so when I’m scrolling, I have balance and I do not let the adversary “sally forth” and discourage me. This choice costs nothing to subscribe to, but it is beneficial.

This last summer new Book of Mormon videos have been released to support our Come, Follow Me curriculum. I had the opportunity to be a background actor in these videos. I literally felt like I was one of the Anti-Nephi-Lehi people.

One of the things that was asked of us was to read the scripture portion of the scenes that we would be a part of. I decided to re-read the Book of Mormon to prepare for this. I had just finished Alma 31 as my husband and I rolled into Springville Utah and arrived on the set. My emotions – they were really connected with what was happening at the time. Every morning the director would have us start with a prayer and devotional. One of the sisters was reading her scriptures and would have us take turns reading our part before we went out to our scenes. The director was good at explaining to us what was happening and why we should feel a certain way. And I’m really believing that there were moments that we were walking through the village and the Lamanites were running into the village to kill our community. The men in our village ran out to greet them, and they took a knee and they allowed themselves to be killed.

The feelings I was feeling – and I’m crying and thinking of my husband and my three boys. I was witnessing a people that made covenants with the Lord to follow Jesus Christ and what they willing to do to turn away from behaviors that was unbecoming, like being bloodthirsty or murderous. They chose to throw away their swords – that’s how committed they were – with the possibility of losing their lives over it.  And that meant something to me!

I thought to myself, what am I willing to do for my testimony of Jesus Christ? What am I willing to sacrifice? What choices am I going to make?

There are many things that are going to require you to choose. Some are very important choices, and some are not. Some of our choices are between good and evil, but mostly our choices are about our happiness and unhappiness, because we will have to live with the consequences of our choice. We must practice making choices by telling ourselves to not be afraid, inviting our Heavenly Father and our Savior into our lives to help guide us.

Reading our scriptures, attending the temple, working on family history, and serving are all things that I choose in my life that help me feel confidence. My hope and prayer is that we can follow Joshua in Joshua 24:15 when he proclaimed, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve…; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.