BYU SPEECHES OF THE YEAR, 1984-85

                           Table of Contents





	Jeffrey R. and Patricia T. Holland

	"In the Thick of Life's Urgencies"



	Dallin H. Oaks

	Counsel for Students



	Russell M. Nelson

	Begin with the End in Mind



	Rex D. Pinegar

	Traditions of Excellence



	Robert L. Backman

	"To Thine Own Self Be True"



	Robert E., Helen, and Sharlene Wells  

	Whatever We Ought to Be, We Better Be Becoming 



	Marvin J. Ashton

	What Is Your Personal Ranking?



	John B. Stohlton

	What Think You of Thanksgiving?



	Robert. J Matthews

	Why a Savior Is Necessary, 

			and Why Only Jesus Christ Could Qualify

	Bruce R. McConkie

	The Mystery of Godliness



	Jeffrey R. and Patricia T. Holland

	Some Things We Have Learned--Together



	Ardeth G. Kapp

	What Have You to Declare?



	Dean L. Larsen

	The Peaceable Things of the Kingdom 



	James E. Faust

	A Message to Our Granddaughters



	Carlos E. Asay

	Memory and You



	Loren C. Dunn

	The Doctrine and Covenants  A Scripture for All Seasons



	Theodore M. Burton

	The Meaning of Repentance



	J. Thomas Fyans

	Build Your Understanding



	John K. Carmack

	The Testament of Bruce R. McConkie



	Keith W Wilcox

	My Book of Life



	F Enzio Busche

	"Rejoice in Christ Jesus, and Have No Confidence in the Flesh"



	Robert B. Harbertson

	Families



	Yoshihiko Kikuchi

	Heighten Your Capacity



	Hugh W. Pinnock

	Accepting Personal Responsibility



	Hans Wilhelm Kelling

	The Contemplation of Beauty: An Avenue to Communication with the

	Lord



	Richard G. Ellsworth

	Spiritual Experience



	Wm. Grant Bangerter

	"It's a Two Way Street"





                  "In the Thick of Life's Urgencies"



                  Jeffrey R. and Patricia T. Holland



	President Jeffrey R. Holland and his wife Patricia Terry Holland

were both born in St. George, Utah, and went to Dixie College.  They

were married while students at BYU, and their first child was born

while he was working on his master's degree.  From BYU they went to New

Haven, Connecticut, where President Holland received his Ph.D. at Yale

University.



	In the Church Educational System, Jeff served as an instructor and

a director in the institute program and as dean of Religious

Instruction at BYU before he became the Church commissioner of

education.  In 1980 he was called to be president of Brigham Young

University.



	In the midst of all this activity and moving around, Pat Holland

became the mother of three children, Matthew, Mary Alice, and David,

supervised the packing and unpacking and made their various residences

seem like home, finding time to practice her music and to work in the

Church.  While her husband was serving as high councilor bishop, or

counselor in a stake presidency, she served four times as Relief

Society president and also in the Young Women and Primary

organizations.  And then, in May 1984, Patricia was called to be first

counselor to Ardeth G. Kapp, president of the Young Women organization

of the Church.



	They spoke together in the President's Assembly, a devotional

assembly, in the Marriott Center on 11 September 1984 as the school

year began.



	Jeff: It is wonderful to see such a large group welcoming Sister

Holland and me back from our victorious summer at the Olympics. 

Considering how well we did there, I have actually been very

disappointed that there hasn't been more of a public response here in

Provo  but I can see that you have saved all that for today, How sly of

you!



	Yes, Sister Holland was gold medal all the way in her

specialty  jumping to conclusions.



	Pat: And Jeff set a U.S. record in the running fever.  He went

from 98.6 to 104.1 in seven minutes and thirteen enchiladas.



	Jeff: We of course also brought home the four gold medals won by

the university in the 4 x 400 Boy George Look Alike relay.  In that

race, rather than pass the baton, the participants pass the buck, All

in all it was a victorious summer.  We are grateful for this rousing

welcome home.



	Pat: And we welcome yo home, as well.  We have missed all of you

and it is wonderful to have you back on campus.



	Jeff: You know, this is a very special new year for us because our

first child, our oldest son Matt, entered BYU this fall as a freshman.



	[Matt starts to move toward the stand from the audience]



	That is a new and exciting prospect for us, a new kind of

responsibility we.... No, Matthew.  No. We're in a devotional right

now.  I didn't mean for you to come up here.  We are speaking to these

students.



	[Matt keeps coming goes to Pat and confers with her.  She goes to

President Holland and whispers.  He hands Matt the car keys and he

starts as if to return to his seat.]



	Jeff: Yes, we know it will be a wonderful experience to share with

all of your parents the joys of having a student at BYU....



	[Matt turns around and walks back to the podium.]



	Pat: Matthew, for pete's sake, we are trying to hold an assembly

here.  What on earth do you want?



	[Matt pulls Pat away and whispers something.]



	Jeff: I'm sorry for this interruption.  It is embarrassing. 

Forgive us for just a moment here.



	[Pat comes back.  President Holland pulls out his wallet and hands

Matt some money. Matt moves toward his seat.]



	I'm very sorry.  As I was saying, I know Matt and all of you are

serious about your opportunities here and will be applying

,yourselves....



	[Matt is now back with a 3 x 5 card. He hands it to Pat who reads

it and hands it to President Holland. Matt then returns to his seat.]



	I can't believe this.  Would the brunette on row seventy  eight in

Political Science 110 leave her name and telephone number taped to the

back of her chair tomorrow.  MH on row eighty-three will make contact.



	Row seventy-eight!  Row eighty-three!  We don't have large

freshman classes.  We don't have anything that goes past row six.



	It will now be our pleasure to hear from Sister Holland.



Patricia T. Holland



	Setting the humor of this little exchange aside, I want you to

know that my feelings are deep today, not simply because my own oldest

child sets out on a voyage of discovery here at BYU that will shape and

affect his life forever, but also because with each passing year (this

is our fifth with you) you all seem more and more like my children.  I

actually get butterflies in my stomach as school approaches, and when I

see you swarming back on campus around Labor Day I feel like the mother

who waits and watches and finally sees her children drive up for

Thanksgiving or Christmas or Easter or the Fourth of July.  The nice

thing about BYU is that every day with you is a little like

Thanksgiving and Christmas and Easter and the Fourth of July all rolled

into one--especially the Fourth of July part! But Jeff and I do want

you to know that we do love you and we take our "family" relationship

with you seriously.



	I don't want to embarrass you any more than we have embarrassed

Matt by conveying an In loco parentis attitude, but we do sense some

obligation to think and act and worry about you in the absence of your

own parents.  So forgive a mother's doting today as I fuss over your

meals, straighten your clothing, and ask if you've done your homework.



	May I express that love to you with one short story and one word

of encouragement for the new year.



	Several years ago we were in a small group with President and

Sister N. Eldon Tanner.  They have always been so kind to us ever since

Jeff served under his direction while President Tanner lived in England

as president of the West European Mission.  In this social setting they

asked us how our children were doing and I said something foolish like,

"They're just fine--they're not old enough yet to get into any

difficulty."



	President Tanner laughed and said, "That reminds me of what I used

to say to my girls when they were old enough to get into difficulty. As

their dates came for them and as they were about to leave the house, I

would see them out the door and say, 'Goodnight kids.  Have fun and be

good.' They said that always perturbed them and that I should make up

my mind one way or the other whether I wanted them to have fun or be

good."



	I want you to have fun and study hard and love the Y and be good. 

I especially want you to be good.



	Have you ever stopped to think about how often we use the word

"good" in the course of the day?



	We say "good morning." We tell our family, friends, and

acquaintances to "have a good day." We wish people we like good luck,

and say of people we don't like, "good riddance." We have good times,

good cheer, good food, good fun.  We sing of the good ol' summertime,

the good ship Lollipop, and (here's one for all you Beach Boy fans)

"good, good, good vibrations." Our parents tell us of the "good old

days"--you know, walking ten miles to school in a blizzard uphill both

ways.  We like good news.  Someone we admire is a "good egg," and, of

course, when our day ends--whether or not it was--we say "good night."



	Well, BYU is a good place to be, Furthermore, I know you want to

be good and that is half the battle already won.  It is said that "by

desiring what is perfectly good, even when we do not quite know what it

is, and cannot do what we would, we are part of the divine power

against evil, widening the skirts of light and making the struggle with

darkness narrower."  May I just repeat that.  I believe it is a

profound and very encouraging thought.  "By desiring what is perfectly

good, even when we do not quite know what it is, and cannot do what we

would, we are part of the divine power against evil, widening the

skirts of light and making the struggle with darkness narrower."



	The Lord does allow darkness and struggle and pain.  He often uses

it to call us to him.  Using my own children as examples, I've come to

know that the one who is playing happily is so preoccupied with

pleasant experiences that he sometimes may not respond when I call and

may even run farther away.  But the child who has been hurt, or is in

pain, seeks me out, comes to me readily, knocks at my door (if you

will), and is anxious for me to help and be healed.



	Can you make the transition from this motherly concern I have for

you to the perfect parental concern of heaven? Even if such a call from

him seems as faint as the stroke of a dove's wing, respond to it and

ask, "What would you have me do?" In personal, private communion with

God, I promise you that the light in you will widen and darkness will

grow narrower.  That which may have been depressed will move, and you

will be lifted above your troubles to embrace God's love.



	I bear testimony of that love--and with it you will have a good

year--in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.



Jeffrey R. Holland 



	Obviously, part of our purpose in this very first hour together is

just to have fun--to sing the songs and hear the band and laugh a

little together.  But I find myself wishing selfishly that I had two or

three hours with you to consider hat a new year might mean for us. 

Once in my life--when I was about your age--I wished I had money.  Now

I'm older and wiser (and still about as poor) and I wish far more

desperately for time.  What you do with your time in these next few

months will matter infinitely more to you than any financial investment

could mean to your bank account.



	On that subject of your time may I do something here I have never

done before-make a strong, personal plea for your attendance at our

forum and devotional series here in the Marriott Center every Tuesday

at 11:00 a.m. This weekly alternating series is one of the richest

traditions we have at Brigham Young University.  I know of no

university in the nation that offers twice a month, every month, as we

do, the visit of truly distinguished men and women, leaders in art and

science and government and letters, including some of our own finest

faculty members.



	As for our devotional assemblies, there is certainly no place,

including Salt Lake City itself, where every other week of the academic

year a General Authority of the Church prepares and delivers a major

message of interest and inspiration.  Given the growth of the Church,

most members will now see a General Authority only once a year at one

stake conference.  Yet we are privileged at BYU to have them visit at

least twice a month-sometimes more--every month of the year.



	But attendance at both events has been steadily and persistently

declining for ten years.  In the name of intellectual curiosity and

spiritual renewal, I ask for your attendance here.  If attendance

continues to decline, the future of the series is in serious jeopardy. 

To cease holding them would be an immense loss to all of us now here,

and an even greater loss to the students who will come after us. 

Please make this an important hour on your weekly educational calendar

and be in attendance.



Responsibilities at School 



	Now, in this very first assembly of the year, it is traditional

for the president to run down a laundry list of items regarding some of

your responsibilities while at school.  Included on that list has

always been something about dress and grooming.  I wish to make a

historic departure today and not speak about dress and grooming (hold

your applause).  I do that because I think for the most part you look

absolutely splendid this year.  I compliment you for that and I ask you

to continue to take pride in clean, modest dress and appropriate

grooming.



	I should note, however, that shorts seem to be popular this year

and we are seeing too many of them on campus--any is too many. New Wave

is still around, so be careful not to push that to excess.  However, I

do love the return of the crew cut.  I went all through BYU with a crew

cut and that was only fifty--seven years ago.  BYU likes very cautious

progress on these matters of fashion.



	I congratulate you--you do look magnificent and we thank you for

that.  Your appearance says something about you and it says something

about BYU.  Thank you very much.



Two Letters 



	Far more important are the truly substantial issues of our Honor

Code which deal with matters of character and integrity.  I have here

in my hand several examples of the twelve or fifteen letters I get

every, year on this subject.  I wish to refer to just two of them this

morning.



	Inasmuch as this one is from a very recent student,  you will

realize that the first sentence caught my eye rather quickly.  It says:

"Here is the $700 I owe the scholarship program." The letter then notes

that a scholarship for this student was an absolute must to be able to

attend BYU but although the high school grade point average was

relatively high, the first taking of the ACT exam did not bring a score

good enough for a scholarship. Then, during the crucial second taking

of the exam, a friend offered some answers-you know the rest of the

story. "I didn't know how much this would come back to haunt me. I love

the Y, but I came there the wrong way. I hope this money I am returning

can allow some deserving student to come the right way."  The other

letter is from a woman who attended BYU in the 1930s-that is fifty

years ago, give or take a year or two. What does that make her in

age-seventy or seventy-five now? She writes: "This past year we have

been trying to put our lives in order. . . .I need to confess something

to you. . . .During the time I attended BYU I worked in [such and such

a] department. The wage in those days was twenty-five cents an hour. I

needed the money and on a few days I indicated on my time card that I

worked more than I had."



	Now listen to this incredible next paragraph.



	"In talking it over with my husband, we decided that I could have

worked two hours a day during the week and maybe four on Saturday. I

worked part of two summers also, but to be on the safe side I added

hours for all the summer months. All in all we figured that it could

have been possible, at the very most, to earn $357.00 in total wages

for the entire time I was at BYU. The amount I cheated on could only

have been a few dollars, but I am returning everything. Enclosed is a

check for $357.00.



	"This is a difficult letter to write. I am ashamed and a very

humbled person. I ask you, on behalf of BYU, to accept this restitution

and I pray for your forgiveness."



	These happen to be some of the moral issues we can talk About here

with you quite comfortably.  Obviously, we can't discuss some of the

far more personal and, I think it is fair to say, far more destructive

abuses, sexual and otherwise, that can and do haunt some at this

university.



	But these letters at least give us a very visible place to begin,

a point on which surely no one can disagree. Honesty. Integrity.

Character. Virtue. Those are marvelous words in the BYU vocabulary, and

I pray they always will be.  I thank these people for caring enough to

write these letters and put their lives in order.



	I ask you to use their example and do your own best work.  Earn

your own success here.  If you quote from someone else in a paper or

presentation, give appropriate credit. Be courteous. Live within the

rules. Be disciplined and devout.  Work hard.  Be kind. live together

in love.  Try to understand what Robert Frost meant when he said

freedom was moving easily in the harness (see Contemporary Quotations,

comp. James B. Simpson [New York: Thomas Crowell Company 1964],p. 370).



A University Education



	What does any of this have to do with an education? Well,

everything.



	Jose Ortega y Gasset, the man who for me is the most gifted and

persuasive Spanish voice of the twentieth century, said of education,

and specifically of university education,



	In history--in life--possibilities do not become realities of

their own accord; someone, with his hands and his brain, with his labor

and his self-sacrifice must make realities of them. . . .All we are

given is possibilities--to make ourselves one thing or another . . .



	[But] slovenliness. . .penetrates our whole national life from top

to bottom. . . .[To oppose slovenliness] the individual must. . .go

into training, and give up many things, in the determination to surpass

himself. . . [A] generation [who will do that] can accomplish what

centuries failed to achieve without [it]. And there, my young friends,

lies [your] challenge. . . .



	[Yours is] the historic [task] of restoring to the university its

cardinal function of "enlightenment.". . .In the thick of life's

urgencies and its passions, the university must assert itself as a

major "spiritual power,". . . standing for serenity in the midst of

frenzy, for seriousness and the grasp of intellect in the face of. .

.unashamed stupidity.

	Then the university, once again, will come to be what it was in

its grand hour: an uplifting principle in the history of the western

world. [Jos? Ortega y Gasset, Mission of the University, trans.  Howard

Lee Nostrand (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1944), pp--39--45

passim, 86, 99]



Speaking of Zion 



	Brigham Young University's "grand hour" is yet to come. But if we

want it badly enough and will work for it, then BYU will, like Zion

herself, rise up and put on her beautiful garments.



	We don't speak much of Zion anymore, but those old--timers did and

they kept on searching for it from New York to Pennsylvania to Ohio to

Missouri to Illinois to the Great Basin west.  Whatever else Zion was,

then or now, it was a place where good people with pure hearts could

gather in common purpose to love God and their neighbor while pursuing

eternal truths.  A cross-cultural, rapidly growing, multinational

church can't speak of Zion quite as easily today as it once did in

Jackson County or Nauvoo the Beautiful, or even in the Salt Lake

Valley.  Of necessity we now speak of multiple Zions, of remaining pure

in heart in the far reaches of the world where perhaps only the

scriptural two or three are gathered in his name.



	But a little glimpse of that older, original idea could and should

remain here.  Is it possible that this campus represents the one

remaining "city," if you will, where 35,000 of the young and old, male

and female, new convert and longtime member have chosen to "gather" to

voluntarily live together as a community founded on gospel principles

in what could be a holy experiment very much like those of the ancients

who sought to "bring forth Zion, that it may rejoice upon the hills and

flourish" (D&C 39:13)?



	What the start of school does for me each year is declare that one

shining symbol of that age--old quest is still alive and well on 600

acres of land nestled beneath Y Mountain in Provo, Utah.  And once more

we have a chance to hold some things in common, and indeed to hold them

sacred, while we pursue truth and celebrate virtue in our own little

united order.



The Price That Others Have Paid for Us



	May I conclude with two stories about two very different aspects

of what we share here.



	The first experience is now 130 years old, the story of one

mother's desire to raise tier children in the company of the Saints, no

matter what the cost.



	Having left home and possessions in England in order to move west

by handcart, a thirteen-year--old girl wrote of her mother's

determination and their journey, including the almost immediate death

and burial of the family's youngest, a two--year--old child.  This

thirteen--year--old was the grandmother of Sister Marjorie Hinckley,

wife of President Gordon B. Hinckley.



	We traveled from fifteen to twenty-five miles a day... till we got

to the Platte River . . . We caught up with the handcart companies that

day. We watched them cross the river There were great lumps of ice

floating down the river It was bitter cold. The next morning there were

fourteen dead. . . .We went back to camp and had our prayers and. . .

sang "Come, Come Ye Saints, No Toil Nor Labor Fear "I wondered what

made my mother cry that night. . . .The next morning my little sister

was born. It was the twenty-third of September. We named her Edith. She

lived six weeks and died. . . .She was buried at the last crossing of

the Sweetwater.



	When we arrived at Devil's Gate it was bitter cold. We left many

of our things there. . . .Mr brother James. . . . was as well as he

ever was when we went to bed that night. In the morning he was dead. .

. .



	My feet were frozen; also my brother's and my sister's. It was

nothing but snow, We could not drive the pegs in our tents. . . .We did

not know what would become of us. Then one night a man came to our camp

and told us. . . Brigham Young had sent men and teams to help us. . .

.We sang songs; some danced, and some cried  ....



	My mother never got well. . . .She died between the Little and Big

Mountains. . . .She was forty-three years of age....



	We arrived in Salt Lake City nine O'clock at night the eleventh of

December, 1856. Three out of the four that were living were frozen. My

mother was dead in the wagon. . . .



	The doctor amputated my toes. . . while the sisters were dressing

mother for her grave. . . . That afternoon she was buried.



	I have often thought of my mother's words before we left England. 

"Polly, I want to go to Zion while my children are small so that they

can be raised in the Gospel of Jesus Christ." [Mary Goble Pay, quoted

by Gordon B. Hinckley, "The Faith of the Pioneers," Ensign, July 1984,

p. 6]



Making a Zion



	That is part of the price that others have paid for us.  It is

part of the reason we ask you to study diligently and live with

Christian commitment.  Too many children and too many mothers paid too

high a price for Zion then to have us muff our far easier chance now.



	This second experience is quite different and is only nine days

old.



	As a rule I suppose football would not seem to be part of any

discussion for establishing Zion.  Nevertheless, Coach Edwards told me

last week that as the team was returning to Provo about 2:00 a.m.,

following the Pittsburgh game, he and his wife couldn't help

overhearing two of his players talking in the seat just behind them in

the bus.  They were not talking about beating a traditional powerhouse

like Pittsburgh.  They were not talking about how the offense had

sparkled or how the defense had dug in.  They were not talking about a

conference championship or an undefeated season, or about a national

ranking.



	They were talking about the one player's recent baptism into the

Church, along with his wife who is also a student athlete here.  He

spoke of his eager anticipation of receiving the priesthood and of a

future sealing in the temple. Indeed, there seemed to be only one

disappointment in this whole conversation, and it wasn't about the ball

game.  It was that this young man had not known--and joined--the Church

early enough to be able to serve a mission.  At that, the other player,

in reply, spoke of how much his mission had meant to him and how it had

given real direction to his life.  Much of this young man's life had

been spent without a father in the home and I happen to know what it

has meant to his mother to have him bear the priesthood and serve a

mission.



	Coach and Sister Edwards said they had a little trouble fighting

down the lumps in their throats, thinking of these 260--pound behemoths

sitting behind them--kids who eat steel girders for breakfast and

concrete slabs for lunch-talking quietly after one of BYU's greatest

football wins ever, of baptism and priesthood and mission and temples. 

I daresay those are not standard discussion topics with any other

football teams in America.



	Another young man in that bus played marvelously well against

Pittsburgh --and contributed very directly to that victory.  He took

quite a beating that afternoon and even a Helaman Halls bed must have

looked awfully good to him by the time he hit the pillow at 2:30 or

3:00 that morning.



	But his branch president told me that this weary warrior was up

and at church bright and early the next morning.  When President Uluave

expressed some momentary surprise at his presence, this rock--solid

young man with thighs the size of tree stumps said simply, "I am a

priest.  We have only three in the branch and I wasn't sure who would

be here to bless the sacrament." "When we conclude to make a Zion,"

said Brigham Young, "we will make it, and this work commences in the

heart of each person" (JD 9:283). "I have Zion in my view constantly,,"

he said.  "We are not going to wait for angels, or for Enoch ... to

come and build [it], but we are going to build it [ourselves]" JD

9:284).



	The need for us to invest our time wisely, and to lean with

discipline and integrity toward that great goal is my dream for BYU. 

For such unique reasons as these just cited, education here is a moral

issue and all of us need to be committed to the task.  To paraphrase

Dante: The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in time of

great moral crises maintained their neutrality.



	Don't be neutral.  Commit everything you have to your educational

experience with all the Latter-day Saint significance that has for us

here.  Your opportunity for growth at BYU, if not a moral crisis, is at

least a moral issue.  Immerse yourself in the privilege which is yours

so that "in the thick of life's urgencies and its passions, . . . [we

can grasp the intellect and] assert [ourselves] as a major 'spiritual

power,' . . . [as] an uplifting principle in the. . . western world."



	Welcome back to school.  Work hard.  Have fun.  Be good.  We love

you.  I say this in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.



                         Counsel for Students



                            Dallin H. Oaks



	Elder Dallin H. Oaks was called to be a member of the Council of

the Twelve of The Church of jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in April

1984.



	Elder Oaks was born in Provo and received his bachelor's degree in

accounting from Brigham Young University.  He earned his doctor of law

degree, cum laude, from the University of Chicago. He began his career

with a year as law clerk to Chief justice Earl Warren of the United

States Supreme Court and then practiced law in Chicago for three years. 

From 1961 to 1971 be was a member of the law faculty at the University

of Chicago, where he also served for a time as associate and acting

dean of the law school.  He has been executive director of the American

Bar Foundation (1970--71) and has authored or edited six books and over

one hundred other publications on legal and other topics.  On 1 January

1981, he was sworn in as a justice of the Utah Supreme Court and filled

that position until his call to the Council of the Twelve.



	Elder Oaks served as president of BYU for nine years, from 1971 to

1980.  For three years he was president of the American Association of

Presidents of Independent Colleges and Universities. In addition, his

work in the Public Broadcasting Service led to his election in 1980 as

chairman of its board of directors, a position he still occupies.  He

has also filled numerous callings in the Church, including stake

mission president, counselor in two stake presidencies, and Regional

Representative.



	Elder Oaks and his wife, June Dixon, were married while both were

attending BYU They are the parents of six children.



	This devotional address was delivered on 18 September 1984 in the

Marriott Center



	My fellow students: I have spoken to BYU audiences on many

occasions, but never on one like this.  I am sorry that President

Kimball is unable to speak to you today.  He was with us in our meeting

in the temple last Thursday.  He expressed his love for each of us, as

he always does.  I know he would want me to express his love for each

of you and his regret that he is not strong enough to address us at the

beginning of this school year.



	I am sorry that President Hinckley was unable to speak to you

today.  We all marvel at the way the Lord magnifies him to carry his

great load.  I am glad that by being here as his substitute I can do

something to lighten that load.



	I learned of this assignment only a week ago.  I would normally

prepare many weeks for such a major occasion as this.  But short notice

seems to be the emerging pattern of my life.  I learned of my release

as president of BYU about twenty--one hours before it was announced

publicly.  I learned of my calling to the Council of the Twelve about

thirteen hours before it was announced.  By comparison with those

experiences, a week's notice of an invitation to talk to a friendly

audience seems generous.



	June and I are always thrilled to return to this campus.  This is

familiar ground, and we love it.  Our nine years at BYU were happy

years for us and for our family We love this place and its wonderful

people, new and old.



	I may even presume that we are known to some of you.  Our service

at BYU makes us known to most of the faculty and staff.  I may even be

known to some of you students.  While running some errands on campus

last winter, I noticed a student looking at me quite intently.  It took

only about half a minute before he recognized me.  I know he recognized

me because he unfurrowed his brow and called out, "Now I know you. 

You're the guy on the old TV reruns of devotionals!"



	This is the largest audience I have addressed in the five months

since my calling to the Council of the Twelve. in that period many have

wanted to know my feelings about this calling.  With the encouragement

of President Holland, I will begin by answering that question.  My

feelings were surprise, fright, gratitude, and resolution, in that

order.



	This calling was a stunning surprise to me.  I was completely

occupied and entirely happy in the professional work of a justice of

the Utah Supreme Court.  While I had a premonition that there would be

one more large change in my professional life--that the Utah Supreme

Court was not the last position in my working life--I had no inkling of

my final destination or when I would reach it.  I was also happy in my

Church calling as gospel doctrine teacher in the Oak Hills First Ward,

a position I had held for about eight months, following two years as

the teacher of the sixteen-year-olds.



	I was in Tucson, Arizona, on professional business when President

Hinckley reached me by phone and notified me of my calling.  Though

surprised, I, of course, accepted immediately.  Three other feelings

followed in quick succession.  All three remain with me to one degree

or another.



	My second reaction was fear, motivated by feelings of unworthiness

and inadequacy.  Prior experience at BYU and as a Regional

Representative made me aware of many of the responsibilities of members

of the Twelve, and I shrank from thinking of myself in those terms. 

That feeling persists.



	As I prayed and pondered the significance of this calling, I was

also filled with gratitude that our Heavenly Father would call me to

this position, where I can use my experience and spend all my time and

talents for the rest of my, life in his service.  I have had an unusual

combination of professional and Church experiences.  For many years I

have felt a strong sense of stewardship in respect to those

experiences.  I have been convinced that I was being prepared for

further service.  Many times I prayed that when the time came, I would

be able to recognize the work for which I had been prepared, and be

able to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord in performing it. 

Now, with this calling, my prayers have been answered, my course has

been set for the rest of my life, and I am grateful.



	Finally, I am resolved to serve God the Eternal Father and his

son, Jesus Christ, whose special witness I am, with all my heart,

might, mind, and strength.



	I have much to learn and millions of miles to travel, but my

surprise is over, my fear recedes, my gratitude increases, and my

resolution is strong.  That is how I feel about my calling.



I Bid You Welcome 



	The tradition of this university calls for the first devotional

assembly of each school year to consist of a message of welcome and

instruction from a leader of the Church.  Consistent with that

tradition, I bid you welcome.  To the majority of you who are LDS, I

give a reminder that you are supported by the tithes, love, loyalty,

and prayers of over five million of your brothers and sisters, many of

whom have desired to be in this place but have been unable to achieve

that aspiration.  To keep faith with those who pray for you and support

you, look on your opportunities at BYU as a sacred stewardship. Conduct

your studies and your personal lives accordingly.



	To the hundreds of you who are not LDS, I extend a special

welcome.  We look on you as friends, as brothers and sisters.  We

anticipate that your presence here will enrich our education as well as

yours.  We invite you to take part in the active religious life of our

campus wards and stakes.  Or, if you choose, affiliate with a church or

synagogue of your choice in this area.  But by all means, have an

active religious life while you are here, so that your college years

will be times of spiritual as well as intellectual growth.



"This Quest of Truth" 



	It is appropriate to remind all BYU students of the importance The

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints attaches to education.  It

is important to say this, but it should be unnecessary.  As you look at

the facilities on this campus, as you consider the stature of the

Latter-day Saints who have devoted their careers to scholarship and

teaching at this university, and as you contemplate the tens of

millions of dollars the Church appropriates to BYU each year, you know

the importance we attach to education.



	The acquisition of knowledge is a sacred activity, pleasing to our

Father in Heaven and favored by him and his servants.  Speaking on this

campus about forty years ago, President J. Reuben Clark declared: God

made clear that the gaining of knowledge is not to be like the

commonplace work of earning a livelihood.  He who invades the domain of

knowledge must approach it as Moses came to the burning bush; be stands

on holy ground; he would acquire things sacred; he seeks to make his

own the attributes of Deity, the truth which Christ declared he was

(John 14..6), and which shall make us free (John 8:32). . . . We must

come to this quest of truth--in all regions of human knowledge

whatsoever, not only in reverence, but with a spirit of worship.

[Remarks given at the inauguration of BYU President Howard S. McDonald,

14 November 1945 (Inauguration Speeches, BYU Archives)]



	That is why we choose to pursue learning in a special setting,

with explicit standards of conduct and appearance for students and

teachers alike.  Those standards, the BYU Code of Honor and the dress

and grooming standards, are an essential part of the educational

mission of BYU.  All students and all BYU personnel are explicitly

committed to observe them.



Strive for Personal Worthiness 



	In the remainder of this message I will offer some suggestions to

help students in the coming year, and, indeed, for all the years ahead. 

My text is the word of the Lord given to the Prophet Joseph Smith in

1832 in connection with the commandment to build the Kirtland Temple

and to initiate the Church's earliest effort in formal education, the

School of the Prophets.  This is section 88, verse 124, of the Doctrine

and Covenants:



	Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one

with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed

early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your

minds may be invigorated.



	Consider these ideas in order:



	1.Cease to be idle.  Here is a familiar and basic command.  Your

parents probably sent you off with the same advice: "Work hard." I read

in the Daily Universethat President Holland gave you the same advice

last week.



	I know of no better words of advice on the subject of ceasing to

be idle than to "work first and play after." The discipline of forcing

oneself to work first, until the job is completed--whether it be a

daily assignment, a term paper, or other needed task--and only then to

enjoy the pleasure of play, is a master secret of life. it bears

immediate fruits in accomplishment, but its most important effects are

long--range. in following this priority we learn self--discipline,

which unlocks the door to undreamed--of accomplishments.



	How do you spend your time? Are you the master of your time, or do

others control it by flicking the switch on a television or by

impromptu invitations to pleasures or diversions that you have no

willpower to resist? Work first and play after.



	2.Cease to be unclean.  One of the most distinctive

characteristics of Brigham Young University is our proud affirmation

that character and morality are more important than learning.  As I

have already noted, we consider personal worthiness an essential

ingredient of our educational enterprise.  That educational philosophy

was revealed by God, and we will follow it faithfully and without

apology.



	Our concern with personal worthiness stems from our knowledge that

we learn best when we are in harmony with the commandments of him who

is the source of all truth.  By this means we can have the

companionship of the Holy Ghost, the great teacher whose mission is to

testify of Christ, to guide us into all truth, and to bring all things

to our remembrance John 14:26, 15:26, 16:13).  But to receive and

retain that assistance, we must keep the commandments of God.  And we

must be clean.



	In his various messages to BYU students, President Kimball has

always stressed personal worthiness, and he has usually warned against

sexual impurity, the abuse of the sacred procreative powers which God

has given and which he has commanded be reserved for marriage relations

between man and woman.  "Be ye clean," the Lord has commanded.  As you

enter a new year of opportunities, we cannot ignore the fact that it is

also a new year of temptations.  Again, I say, as the prophets have

said, be ye clean! The Holy Spirit will not dwell in us if we are not.



	Sin drives out the Spirit of the Lord.  When the Spirit departs,

the lamp of learning flickers, and the special illumination available

from the Holy Ghost is gone.  This is one of those eternal principles

that you can verify by immediate personal experience.  Recall a time

when you were resentful or quarrelsome or angry or filled with hate. 

Could you study effectively? Could you think clearly? Did you receive

any enlightenment during that period?



	Anger and sin darken the mind.  They produce a condition in men

and women that is the opposite of the light and truth that characterize

the word intelligence, which is the glory of God.  Repentance, which

can cleanse us from sin through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ,

is therefore an essential step along the path of learning for all who

seek light and truth through the teaching power of the Holy Ghost.



	In section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord gives this

great promise, which clearly ties the enlightenment of the mind to

personal worthiness: "And if your eve be single to my glory, your whole

bod[y] shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in

you; and that body, which is filled with light comprehendeth all

things" (D&C 88:67).



	This is the ideal toward which we strive, but none of us measures

up completely.  None of us is perfect.  Though our desires are good, we

are all capable of foolish omissions and self-destructive acts.  We all

have need of repentance.  At some time in our lives, each of us needs

help in getting over what someone has called "Fool's Hill." The steep

forward slope of Fool's Hill represents the foolishness and

self--centeredness of boys and girls, but its summit and farther side,

once attained, afford the wider unselfish perspective of men and women. 

I hope you are, or soon will be, over Fool's Hill, with the maturity to

glimpse the wider vistas beyond.



	3.Cease to find fault one with another. What does this commandment

have to do with learning? Doesn't the process of learning involve the

kind of faultfinding involved in questioning old ideas and old ways?

Don't we seek illumination in the crucible of colliding ideas?



	But the Lord has said, "Live together in love" (D&C 42:45), and

"Be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine" (D&C 38:27).  The

Savior taught the people of the Book of Mormon:



	For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of

contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of

contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger,

one with another.



	Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with

anger one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things

should be done away. [3 Nephi 11:29--30]



	We should shun the spirit of contention, and do away with our

tendency, to be scornful of others or the efforts of others.  As it

says in Proverbs, if we eliminate scorn, "contention shall go out; yea,

strife and reproach shall cease" (Proverbs 22:10).



	We can have disagreements on facts or theories or policies or

administration without finding fault with those who hold another view.

We can differ with dignity and without rancor or faultfinding.  If we

differ in this manner, we can retain the Spirit as our teacher.  This

is a valuable lesson.  Learn and practice it, and you will be blessed. 

"Blessed are the meek," the Savior taught, "for they shall inherit the

earth" (Matthew 5:5).



	4.Cease to sleep longer than is needful. Oh, there's a sermon for

the first class after lunch, for evening school, for early morning, or

for any other time or season! Let us repeat what follows that

injunction in the Doctrine and Covenants, for it is never more

essential than for young people of your age and your activity:



. . . cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early,

that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds

may be invigorated. 



	I stress again the promise with which this verse ends, which I

believe relates to all four of its subjects--idleness, uncleanliness,

faultfinding, and sleep habits: "that your bodies and your minds may be

invigorated." If you desire that blessing, look well to the four

commandments on which it is predicated.



	As I conclude this thought, I repeat again the Lord's commandment

to his servants who were establishing the School of the Prophets.  It

is applicable to all students at all times and in all places:



	Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one

with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed

early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your

minds may be invigorated. [D&C 88:124] 



Be Hungry to Learn 



	And now, two additional thoughts in closing.  Both concern

priorities and attitudes in learning.



	In order to be successful in pursuing an education at BYU, you

should be hungry to learn.  In order to obtain a good education, one

that will increase your joy and enlarge your capacity to serve your

family, your community, and your profession, seek learning for the sake

of learning.  Do not limit yourself to a grudging compliance with

minimum requirements of attendance, assignments, and degrees.  Pursue

learning for the purpose implied in the motto of this university "The

Glory of God Is Intelligence."



	A learned person is an enemy to ignorance, and there is so much

ignorance in the world.  People by and large lack literacy in the vital

subjects of general education: in clarity of thought and expression, in

economics, history, and government; in nutrition, health, ethics, and

education; in law and medicine; in knowledge of God and his

commandments.  We are too easily victimized by quacks and demagogues,

by preachers of false doctrine, by rainmakers, panacea--peddlers, and

political and other practitioners of the cults of

something--for-nothing and get--rich--quick.  A learned Latter-day

Saint should seek and be able to evaluate answers to the important

religious, physical, social, and political problems of the day.  He or

she should be prepared to defend the truth, to withstand social

pressures, and to make a positive contribution to society.



	President Kimball expressed our high aspirations for the students

and graduates of BYU in a prayer he offered in this place almost a

decade ago.  He was dedicating the lovely carillon bell tower, whose

music accompanied our steps to this assembly That tower was a gift from

the alumni to the university on its hundredth anniversary.  President

Kimball's words of dedication are at one time a compliment and a

challenge to all who attend this university:



We thank thee for this institution and what it has meant in the lives

of hundreds of thousands of people and their posterity, for the truths

they have learned here, for the characters that have been built, for

the families which have been strengthened here. . .



	Just as these bells will lift the hearts of the hearers when they

hear the hymns and anthems played to thy glory, let the morality of the

graduates of this University provide the music of hope for the

inhabitants of this planet. [Spencer W. Kimball, Dedication of the BYU

Carillon Tower, Second Century Address (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young

University Press, 19--75), p. 12]



Drink of the Living Water 



	I conclude with the most important thought of all.  It concerns

priorities in learning and doing.



	During his journey across Samaria, Jesus rested at Jacob's well. 

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and he asked her for a drink. 

When she marveled that a Jew would speak to a Samaritan, he told her

that if she knew who he was she would ask him for living water.  Seeing

that he had no implement to draw water from the deep well, she asked

Jesus how he could obtain any water to give her.



	Before we remind ourselves of his answer, we should note how this

incident is similar to our present circumstance.  The Savior is in our

midst, sometimes personally, frequently through his servants, and

always by his Spirit.  His power is such that he could obtain anything

on this earth.  He need not ask for water at the well or for tithes and

offerings at the Church, or for work at the welfare farm.  He asks us

for these temporal things, just as he sought a drink from the woman at

Jacob's well, so he can bless us with something of far greater

importance to us than what we give.



	In answer to the Samaritan woman's question of how he could give

her living water without any way to draw it from the well Jesus

answered:



Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never

thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of

water springing up into everlasting life. [John 4:13--14]



	As you begin a new school year, it is appropriate to think of your

education as an implement that can draw water from the well.  We need

such an implement; we encourage great personal sacrifice and the Church

expends large resources to aid students in acquiring it.  You can use

the implement of education to satisfy earthly desires for yourself and

those who are or will be dependent upon you.  On occasion, your

education can also be used to provide earthly support for the Savior

and his work and his servants.



	But while we are spending great efforts to acquire knowledge of

earthly things--of things in the earth and under the earth, and so

forth (D&C 88:79) --we must never forget what the Savior told the

Samaritan woman: "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall never thirst

again." Only from Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior of this world, can

we obtain the living water whose partaker shall never thirst again, in

whom it will be "a well of water springing up into everlasting life."



	Jesus taught us how to obtain that living water.  The teaching he

gave the Samaritan woman reminds us, even as we are involved in

acquiring implements to draw water from wells of earthly skills and

knowledge, that what we obtain from Jacob's well gives only temporary

relief.  The water of Jacob's well--however significant in satisfying

temporary earthly, desires--is insignificant in value beside what we

can obtain from Jesus' words and from his atoning sacrifice.  This is

the most important message I urge you to remember on this day, during

this year, and throughout your life.



	God lives.  Jesus Christ is his Only Begotten Son.  He has

restored the gospel in this latter day.  Joseph Smith saw God the

Father and his son Jesus Christ, and the Prophet's successors have

presided over this Church to the present day when we are guided by a

living prophet, Spencer W Kimball.  I bear you that testimony and ask

the blessings of the Lord to be upon you in this school year and

throughout your lives, in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen. 



                      Begin with the End in Mind



                           Russell M. Nelson



	Elder Russell M. Nelson was called to be member of the Council of

the Twelve of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in April

1984.  An internationally renowned surgeon and medical researcher, Dr

Nelson received his B.A. and M.D. degrees from the University of Utah,

He served his residency in surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in

Boston and at the University of Minnesota, where be was awarded his

Ph.D. degree.  He also received an honorary degree of Doctor of Science

from Brigham Young University.



	Author of numerous publications and chapters in textbooks, Elder

Nelson has lectured and visited throughout the United States and in 65

nations abroad.  His professional work has included the positions of

research professor of surgery and director of the Thoracic Surgery

Residency at the University of Utah, chairman of the Division of

Thoracic Surgery, and member of the board of governors of the LDS

Hospital in Salt Lake City.  He has served as president of the Society

for Vascular Surgery and chairman of the Council on Cardiovascular

Surgery for the American Heart Association.



	Elder Nelson has held many positions of responsibility in the

Church as well.  He served as stake president of the Bonneville Stake,

as general president of the Sunday School. and as Regional

Representative for the Kearns Utah Region and for Brigham Young

University Region I.



	Elder Nelson and his wife, Dantzel White, are the parents of nine

daughters and one son.



	This fireside talk was given 4 December 1984 at the Marriott

Center



	Our being here reminds us of those days when we were where you are

now in your schooling.  We had three important goals.  One was to get

married.  Then, once married, our next goal was to get by financially. 

Then our goal was to get through.  We got married when Sister Nelson

was an undergraduate student and I was in my second year of medical

school.



	Because I was under legal age, parental consent was required.  My

father was very amused when I called him away from his work to sign for

me so I could get a marriage certificate.  With Sister Nelson's (and

parental) help, we were able to make it through medical school after we

each received our baccalaureate degree.  I then informed her that it

was customary to have a year internship. Following that I was

determined to specialize, and I let her know that it would require

additional training.



	I'll confess to a bit of naivete.  If we had known that the

interval between my getting my doctor's degree and our finally going

into practice would be twelve and a half years with six children added,

we might not have been quite as enthusiastic in the beginning.  So I

pay great tribute to her for her role in our partnership. I owe so much

to her.



	Now I pray for the Spirit of the Lord to direct our discussion

tonight.



	I have entitled my remarks "Begin with the End in Mind." I suppose

some of this comes from my surgical background.  An elective incision

is never made without planning to close it.  The same principle is

generally applicable in all fields, however.  Track stars don't begin a

race without knowing the location of the finish line.



	So, in your important race, I would plead for you to begin with

the end in mind.  To assist you in defining that end, I would ask you

this simple question: What would you like said about you at your

funeral? Or, if you were to write your own eulogy and you could have

only three sentences (no big flowery speeches, please), what would you

want to say?



	If it's fair for me to ask that of you, it's fair for you to ask

that of me.  If I were to write what I hope might be said about me,

those three sentences would include:



	I was able to render service of worth to my fellowmen.



	I had a fine family.



	I evidenced unshakable faith in God and lived accordingly.



	Some of you have already defined your goals. Some have even

developed a system of priorities to give order to your interests and

responsibilities.  I applaud such discipline and think it's useful, but

I believe that this ordering process may often be a little artificial. 

Rarely do we fragment the life that we live.  It is not possible to

influence one facet of our life without that affecting other aspects as

well.  So, in my own experience, I have preferred not to

compartmentalize my interests, but to synergize them.  Let me explain

what I mean.



	Nephi said, "I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be

for our profit and learning" (I Nephi 19:23).  He was advising us to

weave the fiber of scriptural wisdom into the fabric of our own being.



	King Benjamin taught this interrelationship:



When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the

service of your God. [Mosiah 2:17]



	As I ponder serving God, I recognize that I cannot serve him

without first serving the children that he has sent to bless our

family.  Then, as I ponder service to our children, I know I cannot

serve them to the fullest without first serving and honoring my wife,

the mother of those children.



	She is my highest priority. When we were married, we vowed that we

would "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness" (see

Matthew 6:33).  Do you see how these goals and priorities all are

indelibly intertwined? To say that your highest priority will be to

your occupation or to your family, or to the Lord is really much more

difficult than it is to merge strengths and pursue those interests

concurrently.



	One of the most remarkable things about these three objectives is

that they all have one requirement in common.  That requirement is

education.  The educational process is crucial for success in each

objective and is never-ending.



Service to Mankind



	First, with regard to service of worth to mankind, I was

introduced to you as a heart surgeon.  But that really doesn't tell the

whole story.  When I started medical school, we were taught that one

must not touch the heart, for if one did, it would stop beating.  But I

also pondered the scripture that tells us that "All kingdoms have a law

given. . . .and unto every kingdom is given a law; and unto every law

there are certain bounds also and conditions" (D&C 88:36, 38). I

believed sincerely the scripture that certifies:



When we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law

upon which it is predicated. [D&C 130:21]



Knowing these scriptures while concentrating on the "kingdom" of and

the blessing of the beating heart, I knew that even the function of

this vital organ was predicated upon law.



	I reasoned that if those laws could be understood and controlled,

perhaps they could be utilized for the blessing of the sick. To me this

meant that if we would work, study, and ask the proper questions in our

scientific experiments, we could learn the laws that govern the

heartbeat.



	In 1949 our group of researchers presented at the American College

Of Surgeons the report of the first successful use of the artificial

heart--lung machine in sustaining the life of an animal for a

thirty--minute period of time, without its own heart powering its

circulation.



	In the decade of the 1950s, successes in the animal laboratory

were extended to human beings, Now, with many of those laws learned,

the heartbeat can be turned off while performing delicate repairs on

the damaged valves or vessels, and then turned on again--provided the

laws are obeyed upon which that blessing is predicated.  Over 200,000

open--heart operations are performed in this country annually, and many

more worldwide, thereby extending life for many.  But you should know

that it was through the understanding of the scriptures and "likening"

them to this area of interest, that the great field of heart surgery as

we know it today was facilitated for me.



Family



	Turning now from service of worth to my fellowmen, the second

sentence that I hope may be said of me at my funeral would be that I

had a fine family.  That's really a subject near and dear to my heart,

and I won't try to treat it broadly except to say that Sister Nelson

has brought into our family ten beautiful children.  We have tried to

treat them consonantly with important scriptures: "Honor thy father and

thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy

God giveth thee" (Exodus 20:12).  The importance of honoring parents

extends beyond your own father and mother.  This scripture implies that

we honor the father and the mother of children that might yet be born

to us.  We considered this implication while dating and in the early

years of our marriage.  But I fully understood that concept only later

as I watched Sister Nelson cradle those children in her arms as they

arrived one by one.  Each time she reassured herself and her newborn

baby that no blessing was ever withheld from that child because of any

act of impurity in her life that could have deprived that infant of its

full potential in any way.  To honor father and mother means to honor

fatherhood and motherhood and the divine provision for procreation and

all that pertains to it.



	Part of honoring parenthood is honoring children.  There is a

great temptation to believe erroneously that our children are our

possessions.  They are not.  They are sons and daughters of our

Heavenly Father.  Their spirits are eternal as are ours.  This was

brought forcibly to my attention many years ago when our youngest was

about four years of age.  I came home from work one night to find my

sweetheart very weary from a full day with nine children underfoot.  My

day had been heavy also, but I offered to get the children ready for

bed.  I began to give the orders to our little four--year-old daughter:

take your clothes off, hang them up, brush your teeth, get your pajamas

on, say your prayers, etc. --commanding in a manner befitting a tough

sergeant in the army.  She then cocked her little head to one side,

looked at me with her wistful eyes, and said, "Daddy, do you own me?"



	Then I realized that I was using coercive methods on this sweet

spirit and that to rule children by command or force is the technique

of Satan, not of the Savior.  She taught me this important lesson: We

don't own our children; we have them for a brief season.  As parents,

it is our privilege to love them, to lead them, and then to let them

go.



	The Lord said, "I have commanded you to bring up your children in

light and truth" (D&C 93:40).  This we have tried to do.



	Another aspect of our parental responsibility has been to be

faithful to the duty we were called to perform in the Church.  Is this

a paradox in priorities? No, it isn't.  A scripture states: "Wherefore

thy duty is unto the church forever, and this because of thy family"

(D&C 23:3; emphasis added).  We have recognized that among the fine

things we can do for our children is to be faithful to any call we have

received in the Church.  Experience gained in the Church strengthens

our capacity to serve the public and our family.



Faith in God 



	The third sentence that I hope I may merit at my funeral service

is that my faith in God was unshakable.  I do have a deep and abiding

faith in him and his son, Jesus Christ.



	Education has increased that faith.  As I have spent forty years

of my life in the study of one of God's greatest creations, the human

body, I know that this marvelous instrument is of divine origin.  The

anatomy, the physiology, the protective mechanisms, the healing

powers--all are so well constructed and function so beautifully.  It is

as evident to me that they are the products of a divine creator as it

must be for an astronomer to reach the same conclusion as he studies

the endless phenomenon of the stars in the heavens.



	Furthering education need not challenge, but should increase your

faith.  In fact, we have a religious responsibility to educate our

minds.  "The glory of God is intelligence" (D&C 93:36).  We have a

divine command to "obtain a knowledge of history, and of countries, and

of kingdoms, of laws of God and man" (D&C 93:53)--Similarly, the Lord

exhorted us to "study and learn, and become acquainted with all good

books, and with languages, tongues, and people" (D&C 90:15).



	The scriptures further admonish, "Learn wisdom in thy youth" (Alma

37:35, see also Proverbs 29:3)--"Teach one another the doctrine of the

kingdom.  Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you" (D&C

88:77--78).



Steps in Learning 



	We all understand the importance of education.  Perhaps now we

should consider how to learn.  May I suggest four steps to facilitate

the learning process. 



Desire



	The first is to have a great desire to know the truth.  As a

teacher of surgery for many years, I have observed the differences in

desires of individuals to learn.  Before every operation there is an

interval for scrubbing hands for a measured period of time.  Some

trainees have either been silent or have passed this time with trivial

conversations that had no substance.  Those with desire filled that

time with questions.  I observed that students with great desire know

what they don't know and seek to fill those voids.



Inquire



	The second step would be to study with an inquiring mind.  Again I

take this pattern from the scriptures.  You remember that when the

brother of jared was preparing for a transoceanic migration, he

realized there was no provision for light in the ships.  So he asked

the Lord, "Shall we cross this great water in darkness?"



	The Lord gave an interesting reply: "What will ye that I should do

that ye may . have light in your vessels? ... Ye cannot have windows,

for they will be dashed in pieces; neither shall ye take fire with

you.... Ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea" (Ether 2:22

24).



	The Lord could have told the brother of jared what to do, but he

was left to study this out in his own mind before proffering the

solution.  As a result, he selected sixteen stones and then asked the

Lord to touch them that they might provide the light for their travel.



	That same concept was again stressed in latter--day revelation,

when the Lord told his servant, "You have not understood; you have

supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save

it was to ask me.  But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it

out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right" (D&C 9:7--8).



	Many of the revelations contained in the Doctrine and Covenants

were given to the prophets only after profound study and thoughtful,

focused inquiry of the Lord.  So it was with the Word of Wisdom and the

revelation on the priesthood given to President Spencer W. Kimball in

1978.  Similarly, you will learn best with the spirit of inquiry.



Apply



	The third step is to apply or practice your learning in your daily

lives.  Those who have learned another language know how important that

is.  Even with great desire and study, mastery of a language comes only

as it is applied to the daily situations of life.



Pray



	The fourth and very important step in the learning process is to

pray for help. I did not hesitate to communicate with the Lord in great

detail, even about the technical steps in a new operative procedure

that was to be performed.  Often just the process of rehearsing it in

my, mind while engaged in prayer allowed divine direction for me to see

a better way.



A Warning



	Now may I offer important words of warning: Learning, if misused,

can destroy your goals.  Let us consider some safeguards to protect you

from such an undesirable end.



Nourishment

	Your faith must be nourished.  You are blessed at this university

to do this by enrolling in religion classes.  Enrich that faith

additionally with private scriptural study and with exposure to other

fine books, art, or music.  Nourish the gifts of the Spirit on the same

daily basis that you feed your physical body.



Role Model

	Choose your role model wisely.  Before you endorse all of the

teachings of any teacher, ask yourself if his or her faith is strong

enough to be worthy of emulation.  If it isn't, be very discriminating

in what you learn from such an individual.  Remember that the Bible,

Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price

are the standards by which you should measure all doctrine.



Avoid Pitfalls

	Avoid poisons of faith such as sin, pornography, or barely abiding

the letter of the law instead of embracing the ennobling spirit of the

law.  Remember, "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life" (2

Corinthians 3:6). 



Prepare for Challenges

	Many challenges will be put in your way, You will hear allegations

that the Church is " antiintellectual." When people make that

statement, I am reminded of a common sight in the jungles of Africa.  A

bird, like the critic, will often perch on the uppermost part of an

elephant.  This bird pecks away at the hide of the stately animal,

achieving temporary nourishment and position of eminence by virtue of

this association.  While the elephant doesn't need the bird, the bird

needs the elephant for its place of prominence.  Though the bird may

peck, squawk, and smear, the elephant steadily pursues its course in

seeming oblivion to its parasitic passenger.



	To the charge that the Church is "antiintellectual," you are the

greatest evidence to refute such an erroneous statement.  Individually,

you have been encouraged to learn and to seek knowledge from any

dependable source.  In the Church, we embrace all truth, whether it

comes from the scientific laboratory or from the revealed word of the

Lord.  We accept all truth as being part of the gospel.  One truth does

not contradict another.



	Some of the greatest "intellectuals" have been those with the

strongest faith.  Socrates felt that the unexamined life is not worth

living, so nothing was exempt from his questioning.  But he, with

Immanual Kant, had unwavering faith in God, freedom, and immortality. 

Socrates never doubted the will of his personal God.  He believed so

much in freedom that he tied his own self--responsibility to that

freedom.  So deeply did he believe in the doctrine of immortality of

the soul that although he might have prolonged his biological life by

choosing exile, he submitted with complete serenity to the death

sentence of the Athenian court.



	Louis Pasteur made this statement on his reception into the French

Academy:



	The Greeks have given us one of the "lost beautiful words in our

language, the word enthusiasm, which means "a God within." The grandeur

of the acts of men is measured by the inspiration from which they

spring.  Happy is he who bears a God within! [See Rene J. Dubos, Louis

Pasteur: Free Lance of Science (Boston: Little, Brown and Company,

1950), p. 392]



	Consider the Council of the Twelve. Eleven of them hold

baccalaureate degrees. (The one exception was occasioned by the

interruption of collegiate education by war.) In addition, there are

seven earned doctor's degrees among those twelve men.  I must add that

educational attainments have not qualified them for their spiritual

callings, but they do indicate that their own scholarly pursuits make

them not only sympathetic to, but supportive of the divine decrees to

gain knowledge.



	Fortify yourselves against attacks on the leaders of the Church. 

They have never purported to be perfect or even close to it.  In fact,

the Lord described them as "the weak things of the world, those who are

unlearned and despised." But, the Lord continued, they will "thrash the

nations by the power of my Spirit" (D&C 35:13)



	Under brutal attack by his critics, Joseph Smith said, "I never

told you I was perfect; but there is no error in the revelations which

I have taught.  Must I, then, be thrown away as a thing of naught?"

(Teachings, p. 368).



	As you edify yourselves with education for the eternities, search

the scriptures.  Liken them unto you.  Learn the law in the kingdom of

your own activity, use the standard works as literal standards of

eternal excellence against which you measure every thought and deed.



	Begin with the end in mind.  Shape your own destiny.  Remember

that the development of your career, your family, and your faith in God

is your individual responsibility--for which you alone will be held

accountable.



	To you, I extend my love and invoke an apostolic blessing upon you

that success will be yours in all your righteous endeavors.  I testify

that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God,

the head of this Church, and our advocate with the Father.  I testify

to the divine role of the Prophet Joseph Smith in the restoration of

the gospel, and that President Spencer W Kimball is a prophet today, in

the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen. 



                       Traditions of Excellence



                            Rex D. Pinegar



	Elder Rex D. Pinegar, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy,

was appointed to this position in October 1976.  Since 1972 he bad

served as a member of the First Council of the Seventy.  He has had

extensive missionary experience, having been president of the North

Carolina--Virginia Mission and a counselor to the stake mission

president of the Hayward California Stake.



	Elder Pinegar has served as a member of the Young Men presidency,

as a managing director of the Curriculum Department, and as Executive

Administrator to the Australia/New Guinea Area. He has also been on the

Sunday School general board.  He is currently a counselor in the North

America Southwest Area presidency



	Elder Pinegar was born in Orem, Utah, a twin son and one of twelve

children.  After graduation from high school in 1949, be entered the

US.  Navy for four years.  He received his bachelor's degree in

elementary education from Brigham Young University, his master's from

San Francisco State College, and his doctorate in education from the

University of Southern California.  He returned to BYU in 1967 as a

member of the special education faculty and later became chairman of

the Educational Psychology Department in the College of Education.



	Elder Pinegar is married to Bonnie Lee Crabb.  They are the

parents of six children.



	This devotional address was given in the Marriott Center on 9

October 1984.



	This is homecoming time, a special time for all of us to come to

BYU, a time of reunion, and a time of recommitment to the "traditions

of excellence" for which Brigham Young University stands.  I would like

to use the theme of this homecoming week for my remarks today.



The Foundation



	We have just experienced the 154th Semiannual General Conference

of the Church.  Conference time itself marks a time of tradition for

many of us. There are the many conference visitors from far and near,

the missionary reunions, the long lines and large gatherings of people

on Temple Square, and even the conference week sales and specials in

many of the local stores.  Fathers and sons attend general priesthood

meeting together and then converge on the hamburger stands and ice

cream shops.  Families gather together in front of their television

sets to hear the conference messages and music, which never fail to

stir our souls.  General conference is indeed a good tradition in our

lives.  It is a time for instilling more deeply within us the truths of

the gospel of Jesus Christ and the desire to understand them and live

them more fully.  It is a time when we are taught and reminded of the

foundation of every tradition of excellence--the gospel of Jesus

Christ.



The Cultural War



	We all recognize that in our lives today, as never before, are

those forces that would have us break away from what we know as the

traditional values and morals of our culture and religion.



	Patrick J. Buchanan of the Chicago Tribune wrote a commentary a

few years ago describing what he called "an historic struggle taking

place between separate, competing and hostile cultures," a struggle

that "divides parties and pulpits, universities and generations.  It is

carried on in magazines and books, in film and theater ... it is a

cultural war ... and the issues upon which it is being fought are among

the most fundamental."



	Mr. Buchanan described this cultural war as one being fought "not

in the arena of weapons, but in the arena of ideas, beliefs, customs,

values, traditions, morals and ideals, the outcome of which will

determine the future of our civilization."



	This same struggle between the false traditions of men and the

eternal traditions of the gospel was also apparent among the Saints in

the days of the Apostle Paul.  Paul wanted to prepare the Saints for

the onslaught of persecution that would precede the second coming of

Christ.  He warned them of the deceit that would be brought among men

by the wiles of the adversary. The value of righteous traditions was

made clear as Paul wrote to the Saints in Thessalonica.



	Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and bold the traditions which ye

have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. (II Thessalonians

2:15]



	Approximately twelve years later Paul wrote a similar appeal in

his letter to the Colossians.  He pleaded with the people to remain

close to Christ, whom they had received, and beware of the sophistries

of men.



	As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in

him:



	Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye

have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.



	Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit,

after the tradition of men after the rudiments of the world, and not

after Christ. [Colossians 2:6--8]



A Proper Reply 



	President Kimball has told of a time when he was meeting with

church leaders in a foreign country where different ideologies touched

their children.  He asked how the parents were able to hold their

children and keep them from evil.  He said their reply was proper.



	We train our children in our homes so completely in the way of

right and truth that the destructive, godless philosophies and heresies

of their other teachers run off without penetrating, like water on a

duck's back, and our children remain true to the faith. ["The Family

Influence," Ensign, July 1973, p 15]



	President Kimball then responded, "Ah, that is the answer.  Family

life, home life, home evenings, dedicated, selfless parents.  That is

the way the Lord ordained our lives to be" (Family Influence, p. 15).



	As we consider traditions of excellence in our lives, it is

important for us to evaluate present traditions and look to the future,

seriously considering the heritage we are establishing for our

children.



Traditions Build and Strengthen 



	Tradition defined is, first of all, most often associated with

family--that which we hand down from ancestor to posterity--the handing

down of an inherited culture, attitude, beliefs, opinions, customs,

stories, etc., from parents to children.



	Excellence refers to that which is clearly above the average, of

unusual worth, of excellent quality--worthy.



	Traditions of excellence, then, are clearly found within the

framework of the gospel of Jesus Christ and are those traditions which

build and strengthen family relationships.



	Those present at the general priesthood meeting heard Elder Thomas

S. Monson speak of the tradition of missionary work established in the

family of President Ezra Taft Benson of the Council of the Twelve. 

President Benson's father answered the call to serve a mission in

England when it meant leaving behind seven children and a wife who was

expecting their eighth child.  The tradition was set in place as this

mother gathered the family together in the evening to read the letters

from their missionary father.  The spirit of missionary service filled

the heart of every family member.  The excellent tradition of service

to God was established so well that every child in that family has now

completed a full--time mission.  This includes President Benson's two

widowed sisters, who after many years volunteered to serve as

missionaries.  To President Benson's delight, they were called to the

same mission in which he had served years before in England.



	In addition, many of the grandchildren and great--grandchildren

have carried on this tradition of excellence through their missionary

service.  Their response to calls to serve has become predictable--it

can be depended upon.



Keep Your Spiritual Balance 



	You, too, can establish this tradition of excellence in your

family.  Service to the Lord can be a part of your experience even

while earnestly engaged in your academic pursuits.  It needs to be if

you are to keep the spiritual balance necessary to maintain your

eternal perspective.



	When Bonnie and I arrived at the University of Southern California

to pursue a doctoral degree, we had four children, little money, a

fellowship, and lots of hope.  We knew there were difficult and

demanding years ahead.



	My adviser was a fine faculty member who was also a member of the

Church.  He was well respected on the campus by both faculty and

students.  I sought his counsel regarding my program and how best to

secure the desired degree.



	He encouraged me with assurance that we would be able to meet the

academic, time, and financial demands.  He also reminded me that such a

course would require careful attention to priorities.  Pursuit of the

degree would have to be the number one objective for both Bonnie and

me.  Of course, we would have to take time with our children and with

each other.  He advised me to inform our bishop that I would not be

available for Church service except on a limited basis on Sunday.



	Now, Bonnie and I had determined early in our lives that we would

serve wherever and whenever the Lord should call and had done so from

the time we were married.  During my freshman year at BYU I had also

determined that I would not study my schoolwork on the Sabbath day.



	Not long after that the stake president extended a call for me to

serve as one of the presidents of the seventies quorum of the stake and

as a stake missionary.  The call was accepted.  The doctoral degree was

completed.  That experience in service was as important as the

educational period that accompanied it.



Key Principles in the Gospel 



	J.Willard Marriott, whose beneficiaries we are as we enjoy these

excellent facilities here at the Marriott Center, feels that the two

greatest words in the English language are work and prayer.  Both of

these words represent key principles in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It

is not surprising then that, as the traditions of work and prayer

became hallmarks of his personal and business life, Brother Marriott

experienced great success and excellence in both.



	So well did Brother Marriott establish these principles in his

life that he transmitted them to his children.  He has stated that Bill

Jr. is so committed to service that he has seen him leave a meeting

where matters concerning in excess of one hundred million dollars were

being discussed to fulfill a Church service assignment.  Both Brother

Marriott's children and his employees have grown to experience the

satisfaction of a commitment to work, to excellence in service and a

desire to make personal improvement.  Millions of patrons today benefit

from these traditions of excellence.



Forsaking Incorrect Traditions 



	For the past three and a half years I have had the assignment to

serve as executive administrator of the Australia/New Guinea Area. 

Although my assignment has recently been changed and the title of

executive administrator is no longer used, I shall not forget the

experience I had in New Guinea as the Church was first being

established there.



	Viba Rome and his wife, Mauveri, and their three children live in

Papua, New Guinea.  About three years ago a missionary couple taught

the restored gospel of jesus Christ to them in small Two--Mile Village,

just outside Port Moresby.  Two young boys led the missionary couple to

the Wadega hut, where they found twelve people living in one small

room.  Viba and Mauveri were living there with Mauveri's family, the

Wadegas.  The missionaries taught them the gospel.  It was well

received by, the entire family except for Mr. Wadega, who was reluctant

to join any, church.



	Viba and Mauveri desired to be baptized immediately.  Baptism

would require them, however, to forsake some long--established

traditions of their culture.  Fighting, gambling, and beating their

wives were traditional and acceptable pastimes for the men of the

village.  Betel nuts not only colored their teeth and gums a bright

scarlet hue but had a narcotic effect upon those who chewed them and

made them lazy and lethargic.  The women also had changes to make. 

Attending church meetings would require them to cover their nakedness,

a practice contrary to the tradition of their society.  The other women

of the village ridiculed them and accused them of trying to act

superior to them.  The traditional role of the women was to be unseen

and unheard in any public gathering except when participating in the

dances and singing of their culture.  Attending church meetings and

participating with men in worship service required a very great change

in their social relationships.



	Viba and Mauveri were baptized in the Coral Sea several weeks

after hearing the gospel taught to them.  Three weeks following their

baptism I had the privilege of conferring the Aaronic Priesthood on

Viba and ordaining him to the office of priest.  On that day he wore

his first white shirt, given to him by the missionary couple, Elder and

Sister Campbell.  Viba bore his testimony to the congregation of about

200--most of whom were members of less than one year.  These were his

stirring words:



	Before accepted the message of Jesus Christ from the missionaries,

my heart was as a boiling cauldron and my life was filled with fighting

and abuse to my family and others. Now my heart is filled with peace

and I have only love for my family and I have no desire to injure

anyone.



	With their acceptance of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Viba and his

wife and others have had the determination and courage to break away

from the false traditions of their ancestors.  The superstitions and

voodoo-like practices have been replaced with priesthood power and true

gospel service.  The relationship of husband and wife as a partnership,

education, self--improvement, honesty, virtue, and monogamy were all

new traditions to be established in the Rome's lives.  They have the

desire and faith to live close to the Lord and they have the gospel of

Jesus Christ and the programs of the Church as full resources to help

them establish and maintain desired traditions of excellence.



	Viba has a job at a cane furniture factory and is striving to

establish an independent home and the traditions of an LDS family. 

This is not easy for him, because leaving his traditional home has

meant taking from his family and the family of his wife their source of

income.  In New Guinea, when one has a job, all of that person's

resources are used to support all family members living in that single

dwelling.



	Though Viba believes the custom of paying for his bride is not a

good one, he will honor the marriage contract he made with Mauveri's

father before he received the gospel.  Because of the higher value

placed on female offspring, Mauveri's value increased as each of their

three daughters was born.  Viba has determined that he will not carry

on this tradition with his own daughters, however, even though their

value would make him a very prosperous man.  I think it should be noted

here that Mauveri's father delayed setting her final price for five

years until he found her true worth: how many daughters she could bear.



	Viba now knows the true and eternal value of his family.  A little

over a year after their baptism I met Viba and Mauveri again, this time

in the New Zealand Temple, and had the unforgettable opportunity of

performing their sealing ordinance.  Their trip to the temple for that

special blessing was made possible for them by their gospel brothers

and sisters in Brisbane, Australia.  For the first time in their lives

they rode in an airplane, wore shoes, slept in beds, and ate with forks

and spoons from a table set with linen and fine chinaware.  They

experienced for the first time cold weather and the warmth of borrowed

sweaters and the unfeigned love of their brothers and sisters in the

temple surroundings.



	Viba and Mauveri came forth from the temple endowed with the

promise of celestial blessings through their faithfulness.  They go

forth as the first of their people to be sealed for time and eternity. 

They will set the eternal traditions before their people and establish

among them the true traditions of excellence.



	Viba has taught the gospel to his father's family in the village

of Garibu.  Today, Viba's father is the Garibu branch president.  He

has expressed his great love and appreciation for his son and the joy

of receiving the gospel truths through him.



	Fortunately, we here today do not face all the challenges of a

Viba or Mauveri Rome.  We are not isolated from our culture while

striving to live the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Students at BYU are

surrounded by the security of daily gospel instruction and almost daily

activity in the Church.  It is Viba's and Mauveri's challenge to

maintain courage and faith to break the ties of old traditions that are

contrary to their new life in the gospel and to establish traditions

new and different and as yet unaccepted in their culture.



Our Challenge 



	We face a different challenge of holding fast to the already

established and proven gospel traditions, of overcoming complacency and

the competing adversary culture--or counterculture, as described by

Patrick Buchanan.  The faithful practice of daily prayer and regular

scripture study, of moral values and cheerful service to others is

common among us.  The gospel is taught and followed freely without

apology or reservation.



	All here who have received the gospel of jesus Christ and

membership in his true Church have the full resources necessary to

establish and maintain the desired traditions of excellence.  The

gospel provides the knowledge, purpose, and principles, The Church

provides the programs, ordinances, and power for the development of

these eternal traditions.



	May each of us today, as we ponder the traditions of our lives, be

determined to fulfill our own responsibility to develop the desire and

faith to stay true to the teachings of the Lord in the righteous

traditions of our fathers.  This I pray in the name of Jesus Christ,

Amen.



                      "To Thine Own Self Be True"



                           Robert L. Backman



	Elder Robert LeGrand Backman has been a member of the First Quorum

of the Seventy since 1 April 1978.  He is a native of Salt Lake City

and graduated from the University of Utah Law School in 1949.  At the

time of his call to full--time service, be was a member of a Salt Lake

City law firm.



	As a young man he served as missionary for the Church in the

Northern States Mission, and has been engaged in Church service all his

adult life.  Among his many Church callings, he has been general

president of the Aaronic Priesthood MIA, president of the Northwestern

States Mission, Executive Administrator for Southern California, a

Regional Representative, and a sealer in the Salt Lake Temple.  A loyal

Scouter, he was an Eagle Scout in a day when there were not so many of

them as there are today, and he is a member of the National Executive

Board of the Boy Scouts of America and of the US.  Foundation for

International Scouting.



	During World War II, his service in the US.  Army infantry took

him to New Guinea, the Philippines, and japan--a tour of the Pacific

theater.



	Elder Backman has been a member of the House of Representatives of

the Utah State Legislature and is a member of the Utah and the American

Bar Associations and past president of the Salt Lake City Executives

Association and the Utah Land Title Association.



	Currently he is president of the Young Men, president of the North

America West Area and chairman of the General Scouting Committee.  He

also has a weekly radio program, "You and Your World, " that airs three

times on Sundays on 245 radio stations. Elder Backman is married to

Virginia Pickett.  They are the parents of seven daughters.



	This devotional address was given in the Marriott Center on 23

October 1984.



	In 1982, on the fourth day of the National Spelling Bee,

eighty--five of the 137 contestants were eliminated, including Andrew

Flosdorf.  The word that got him was "echolalia." When Andrew had

spelled it, he had mistakenly substituted an "e" for the first "a." I

mention Andrew, specially, though, because the judges misunderstood him

and thought he had spelled the word correctly.  It wasn't until after

the round when some of Andrew's friends asked him how to spell his word

that he learned his mistake.



	He gulped back his tears and went right to the judges, who had to

eliminate him.  It was hard to do, but Andrew said, "I didn't want to

feel like a slime."



	Chief judge of the event, Robert Baker, said, "We want to commend

him for his utter honesty" So did the world, it seemed.  Suddenly the

thirteen--year--old was besieged by reporters requesting interviews and

appearances on network television.  Andrew was surprised by all the

attention.  "The first rule of Scouting is honesty," he said.



	But we live in a world that gives attention to rare events.  The

old journalistic saw is that it's no news when the dog bites the man,

but if the man bites the dog, start the presses.  And honesty,

especially in cases where the stakes are as high as they were for

Andrew, has become rare enough to make the news.  Unfortunately, we

have become conditioned to dishonesty.  "Lie a little here." "Cheat a

little there." "It's okay," too many say.  "Everybody does it."



Honesty Starts with Ourselves 



	The day that everybody really does do it, we are in big trouble. 

If our nation ever falls, it won't be because a better system has been

developed.  It will be because our own system has become overburdened

with dishonesty and laziness.  As Paul Harvey said, "We don't need new

religions.  We don't need new ethics.  We don't need a new system; we

need only to make honest the one we have" (Paul Harvey News, American

Broadcasting Company, Chicago, Illinois).



	"Everybody does it."



	But there are some things that everybody ought not to do, and the

place to start in making a change is with ourselves.  Someone has said,

"When I repent there is one less rascal in the world!"



	William D. Brown, a clinical psychologist from Washington, D.C.,

put together an ethics test for Success Magazine that is worth thinking

about.  Let me pose to you just some of the questions he asks in this

test (Success Magazine, December 1982, p. 30).



	First, do you give a full day's work for a full day's pay? The

lack of productivity among American workers has observers anxious on

all sides.  Someone somewhere is not working at work to his fullest

capacity.  Is that you?



	Second, asks Brown, do you ever take office items, even small

ones, for personal or family use? Pencils, erasers, and notepads have a

way of disappearing from offices.  One grocery attendant leaned over to

another and whispered that he was going to call a long--distance sports

quiz number on his employer's phone.  That is the same kind of thing. 

We can't rationalize that it won't matter if we take just one item home

since the company has so many of them.  That is not so.  It does

matter.



	Third, do those who know you consider your word your bond--even

your family? Do you keep your promises? Are you there when you say

you'll be there? Or are your promises, as Mary Poppins said, "Piecrust

promises--easily made and easily broken." Do you pledge things you

don't mean, just to get yourself off the hook? In the end, these kind

of false promises put us on the hook as people learn not to trust us.



	Fourth, would your friends describe you as a loyal and faithful

friend to them? We all have bushels of acquaintances, but a friend is a

rare commodity.  That is because a real friend requires a commitment of

time and energy.  We have to be there to share joys and sorrows.  And

we have to be the kind of person another can trust with confidences. 

Can others let down their veneer of safety and share their

vulnerabilities with you and know you will love them just the same and

it will go no further?



	Fifth, do you strive to remain honest in all interactions? Honesty

is a habit that has to be acquired like anything else that is really

worthwhile.  Let's face it.  When we are tempted to be dishonest, it is

often to save face.  We want to appear better than we are.  We want to

pretend we've done the job.  Or sometimes we simply want to make our

life more convenient.  These are very human tendencies that we simply

have to weed out of our lives.



	Sixth, if your spouse's emotional and physical fidelity were equal

to yours, would you be satisfied? Let me tell you what Brown says about

this.



Days of the "double standard" in marriage are gone for good, and

thoughtful men and women will say, "good riddance!" It is important,

for both sexes to recognize that fidelity underscores commitment,

without which a relationship couldn't survive. [Success Magazine, p.

31]



And emotional fidelity is just as important. we have to learn to put

the needs of our spouse above all other things, and not let business or

other people supersede that relationship.



	Seventh, do you really treat others both at home and away from

home the way you want to be treated? It is sometimes easy for us to be

polite and charming to people outside our home, but are we as good to

the people who live there? Do our families ever receive the benefit of

our courtesy, our good cheer? It is essential that they do.



	And it is also important to treat the stranger we will never see

again with the courtesy we would shower upon our most influential

friend.  Think about how you treat other drivers on the street, someone

who wants the same parking place you do when it's the last one on the

block, or the clerk at the store when you are in a hurry.



	These questions we've been asking ourselves bear very strongly on

our personal integrity, and our integrity will bear very strongly on

our personal success in this life.  Virtue is not only its own reward;

it rewards us in tangible ways every day we practice it.



"This Above All" 



	In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Laertes was embarking on a journey to

foreign lands.  Polonius, his father and lord chamberlain, a windbag

and busybody, nevertheless gave him some sound advice that applies to

all of us.  He said, "This above all: to thine own self be true, And it

must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any

man" (Hamlet, act 1, sc. 3, lines 78--80).



	To thine own self be true!



	Jesus said, "For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole

world, and lose himself, or be cast away?" (Luke 9:25).



	To sell our integrity is to sell life itself.



	It is not easy to stand up for what you believe in, It never has

been, and it is no accident that the world is set up this way. 

Otherwise, how could you tell if you had integrity or not?



	Walter Lippman wrote, "[A person] has honor if he holds himself to

an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or

dangerous to do so" (A Preface to Morals [Time Inc.: New York, 1964],

p. 209).



	Doing the right thing when it is also the easy thing or the

profitable thing is not a sign of integrity That's like high jumping

without a crossbar.  Anybody can do it.  David 0. McKay said that the

greatest battles of life are fought within the silent chambers of the

human heart.  He was right.  Those are the real battles of life or

death.



	The victories and defeats of those inward battles show themselves

in our outward actions.



	It has been said that after about age forty, each of us pretty

much deserves the face we are wearing.  We designed it from the inside.



	That's part of what makes life exciting.  We can be anything we

want to be, but we must build solidly on a foundation of honor and

integrity I've often wondered when it comes to honesty if there are any

little things or little issues.  The smallest wedge can penetrate the

psychological barrier against dishonesty, and once broken, it is easier

to break again until dishonesty is a habit.  We may even abandon it

eventually as an ideal.  If that ever happens, individually or

collectively, our quality of life will slip drastically.  Dishonesty

does not pay--it always costs!



	Hi Nelson wrote a story about a boy named jack who found out just

how much it cost.



	"One more test and I'm finished--graduated!" thought jack.  He

shuffled into the last seat in the corner It was cooler there.  The

window was wide open and every now and then, when he felt like resting

his mind, he could look out and daydream,



	He had little to worry about.  He had studied hard.  Besides, his

marks had been high all term.



	Test papers were passed out and then the last nervous chuckles and

jokes came to an end. Just then jack noticed Ted Zorens.  He was

sitting right across the aisle.  As Jack tackled the first few

questions, be glanced over at Ted now and then.



	Jack could tell that Ted was in trouble. Obviously he hadn't

studied for the exam, but that was not unusual.  He was so good at

spotting the answers on the other students' papers that his friends

called him "Obie, short for Old Binocular Eyes.



	Jack could hear Ted's fingers tapping nervously on the desktop. If

Ted flunked this exam, be wouldn't graduate.



	But luck was with him.  A girl student on the other side of the

room was sick.  The pressure of the exam was too much for her She had

been too nervous to eat breakfast that morning. Now she felt faint.



	As the teacher called an assistant for help, Ted made his move. 

He passed Jack a note, "Just list the twenty short answers."  Jack

hesitated only an instant.  Ted was his friend.  No one was caught; no

one was hurt; Ted graduated.



	Jack lost touch with Ted after graduation, Not until fifteen years

later were they to meet again. 



	Jack was a salesman.  He bad been driving for eight hours

straight.  He fell asleep at the wheel and his car slammed into a tree.

Jack was barely conscious as the ambulance screamed through traffic.



	The stretcher--bearers rushed him into the operating room for

surgery. He heard the voice of the surgeon, "Don't worry, you'll be

fine. I'm Dr Ted Zorens."



	As Jack went under the anesthesia, he could hear the nervous

tapping of fingers. [Hi Nelson, "Who Needs a Cheater at a Time Like

This?"]



At the Mercy of Things That Matter the Least 



	Have you ever noticed that when everybody knows something or says

something or adopts a certain standard, the pressure is overwhelming to

do the same? If everybody acts a certain way, the sheer numbers may

urge you to act the same way.  If everybody adopts a certain attitude,

it is far easier to yield to the group than stand aside, lonely and

apart.  But I've been overwhelmed as I've watched through the years how

often popular opinion is untrue.



	Take that favorite childhood story about Pieter, the Dutch boy who

stuck his finger in the dike and saved the area from flooding.  We

Americans tell that story to our children to remind them how important

it is to be brave.  Unfortunately, the story is simply an American

invention.  No Dutchman ever heard of brave little Pieter.  But now

comes the really interesting twist.  So many American tourists to

Holland asked about Pieter that the Dutch decided it was only sensible

to erect a statue in his honor.  So today, in a town near Amsterdam,

there is a statue to Pieter, who never existed at all, except in the

minds of American parents and children.



	Of course, to follow popular opinion about some story may not be

serious.  But to follow popular opinion about moral behavior or

long-range goals could lead you to imperil your very eternal life. 

Think about the choices you make every day.  Are they based on popular

opinion or your deepest values?



	Too many of us get caught in monkey traps!



	In parts of Africa the natives capture monkeys in a unique way. 

They lop the top off a coconut, clean out the meat, anchor the coconut

to the ground and place a peanut in the empty shell.  Then they leave. 

You know how monkeys love peanuts.  They smell the peanuts and cannot

resist reaching into the coconut to grab the peanut.  But holding the

peanut in their paw, the monkeys can't get the doubled--up paw out of

the small hole in the top. The natives return with gunnysacks and pick

up the trapped monkeys, who fight, bite, scream, kick, and do

everything in the world but the one thing that would save their

lives--let go of the peanut.



	Have you ever been caught in a monkey trap where the things that

matter the most are at the mercy of things that matter the least?



	For instance, what do you do for recreation? Do you go to the

movie that everybody's talking about this week, even though the

language is profane, the story immoral? Have you learned to

unconsciously adopt the values of the crowd, thinking it is more

important to find out who won Miss America than what is found in the

Bible? Popular opinion holds a tremendous power over our recreational

choices and our values, often leading us to compromise ourselves.



	How about your goals? Are they influenced by popular opinion or by

eternal values? Most of us may find that we compromise ourselves there,

too.  We learn to envy those who are served in the world instead of

those who do the serving.  When we dream of the future, we hope for

wealth and power rather than eternal life.  The Lord has outlined a

remarkable goal for us in the scriptures.  He says:



	It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and

cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and

keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am. [D&C 93:

1]



	The Lord has said we can see his face, but too often we ignore

that great promise and fix a goal for ourselves gleaned from popular

opinion.  We want to be well liked and have lots of fun.  We want to be

good--looking and showy.  That's a goal based on compromise--giving up

the eternal values for the things that will not and cannot last.



	How about your conversations? Do you compromise yourself when you

talk? We all know how important it is to be kind and charitable, to

withhold judging another.  But in the thick of a conversation, how easy

it is to compromise, to be unkind or critical.  How easy to laugh at a

joke you know should never have been told.



It's Easy to Follow a Cow Path 



	The reason that the road leading to heaven is straight and narrow

is probably because it is not a popular path.  It is a difficult one,

and those who must follow popular opinion against their conscience may

find the road set steep. They like this lazy cow path described in a

poem by Sam Walter Foss instead.



	One day through the primeval wood

	A calf walked home as good calves should;



	But made a trail all bent askew,

	A crooked trail as all calves do.



	 . . .

	This forest path became a lane,

	That bent and turned and turned again;



	This crooked lane became a road,

	Where many a poor horse with his load



	Toiled on beneath the burning sun,

	And travelled some three miles in one. 



	 . . .

	And men two centuries and a half

	Trod in the footsteps of that calf.



	 . . .

	For men are prone to go it blind

	Along the calf-paths of the mind,



	And work away from sun to sun

	To do what other men have done.



[Sam Walter Foss, "The Calf-Path," Wiffs from Wild Meadows, (Boston:

Lee and Shepard Publishers, 1898), pp. 77--80]



	Our lives were not meant to be cow paths where we blindly follow

whoever went first. if we base our actions on what other people do or

think, in the end we will be abandoned.  We will pay a steep price for

the momentary comfort of following the crowd, assuming mob values.  An

individual cannot imitate others without giving up something of

himself.



	A man told this story about his youth. it seems that when he was

seventeen, he used to run with a gang of boys who had great times

together.  One night after they had been together, he heard the

shouting of excited people coming toward his house.  Being curious, he

dressed and went downstairs to discover that a mob was approaching.  It

was not long until it arrived and from it sprang three or four of his

friends, all members of the gang.  One of them said to him, "Come with

us, Joe.  This man has hurt a girl and we're going to lynch him."

Before Joe could ask any questions, they grabbed him by the arms and he

was swept along in a swirling, shouting sea of humanity.



	A mile from his house was a large oak tree.  Almost before he knew

what was happening, the mob had placed a rope around the accused man's

neck, placed him on a horse, and thrown the rope over the limb of a

tree.  The moment of death had arrived.  Have you ever known such a

moment when important things weigh in the balance?



	A profound silence came over the mob.  The last details of the

lynching had been completed.  Quite by chance or by the force of

circumstance, Joe found himself right next to the horse.  Suddenly, the

leader--and every mob has such a leader--shouted at him.  "Joe, kick

that horse and let's get this thing over with." The tension within Joe

could not be described.  He'd never seen this man before.  But here Joe

was with all these people watching him, anxious for him to carry out

the command.  He felt the pressure as he hesitated, but then, blinded

by emotion and the desire to have the approval of the mob, he kicked

the horse.  The man met his death.



	The next day the mob discovered that they had lynched an innocent

human being.  This man had had nothing to do with the alleged crime. 

And for sixty--five years Joe tried to find peace.  He wished again and

again in the agony of his soul that at the moment when the mob took him

along and he found himself by the side of the horse he had had the

ability and courage to live as his conscience dictated.



	But from his agony and suffering he reported that he learned many

things.  He learned that some people try to have many consciences. 

"This is the way I act with the gang because I want their approval. 

And this is the way I act in school or at work.  This is the way I act

in church, but this is the way I act on Saturday night."



	General Douglas MacArthur described it as "The roar of the crowd

on one hand and the voice of our conscience on the other." The fact is

that if any of us try to live with several consciences we will be made

miserable in the end.  In the thick of life, compromising our standards

may seem the easiest route, but in the end we are painfully diminished. 

In a world of constantly changing standards, it is never good enough to

say, "Everybody does this, so I can, too." Instead we have to use that

unchanging standard for our life's conduct: What would the Savior do?



	All of our lives we face tests of character.



	And while, if we have been taught well, we are sure we want to be

honest, courageous, and compassionate, life does not present us our

character tests in calm, unhurried moments so we can respond how we

hope we would.  Instead, in the midst of worries, pressures, and

frustrations, a test of character is slipped in, and we might not even

recognize it for what it is.  Temptations rarely announce themselves as

such.  Tests of character are never so obvious, saying, "Now let's see

what you're made of." Instead, our tests wear masks to disguise

themselves, and if we should slip and fail, then we may not even

recognize our mistake.  It is so easy to rationalize, "I had to respond

that way because life was tough on me just then."



	It is relatively easy for any of us to respond well when life is

not frustrating or challenging us. We can pass our tests of character

with flying colors when anxiety or exhaustion aren't nailing us to the

wall.  But the real test is how we respond amidst the traumas and

problems of everyday life, not how we can be temporarily when life is

easy. When we hear about a test of character we can think of just the

right way to act, but can we be that way when we are in the midst of

it, and no one told us that this was a character test?



	He who has a strong character can pass his tests as well in foul

weather as in sunny.  In fact, like a fair--weather friend, a

fair--weather test is almost no test at all.



	So life will confront us with temptations, with tests of

character, and we have no guarantee that they will come when we are

most able to handle them.



Prepare to Pass the Tests 



	How can we be prepared to handle them when they do come, then?

Perhaps we can learn a lesson from our physical bodies.  To be able to

pass tests of physical strength and stamina, we have to keep our bodies

physically fit.  This requires a certain amount of consistent effort

from us, often directed toward a certain goal.  If we want to run a

mile, we start out by walking it first and then working our way toward

our goal.  We don't eat junk food that would subvert our health; we

watch our nutrition, knowing that we become what we eat.



To Pass a Test



	To pass life's character tests takes similar effort and consistent

work.  How, otherwise, can we expect character fitness? This work

usually falls into three areas.



	First, we need to expose ourselves to examples of good behavior so

that we can recognize it when we see it.  Like the star a mariner

chooses to guide his ship at night, so can our good examples guide us

through the murkiness of the world.  People whose qualities are worthy

of emulation fill the scriptures, great literature, and history.



	Noble hearts are all around us if we but look.  Let us concentrate

our minds and hearts on these examples, rather than indiscriminately

mimicking whatever images the world hands us.



	Second, let us decide in advance how we will respond to our

character tests.  Often when the moment is upon us we have lost our

perspective and take the course of least resistance.  The advance

decision puts us in control of our responses rather than making us mere

reactors to the pressures of the present.



	Winston Churchill, that grand old hero of World War II, declared:

"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never--in nothing,

great or small, large or petty,--never give in except to convictions of

honor and good sense" (Address at Harrow School, 29 October 1941).



	Third, we need to pray for help to recognize those moments of

decision when our character hangs in the balance.  We need to find the

strength to carry out in the storm those decisions made when life was

calm.  Richard L.  Evans noted, "If you don't want temptation to follow

you, don't act as if you are interested" (Thoughts.for One Hundred

Days, vol. 5 [Salt Lake City: Publishers Press, 1972], p. 87).  The

Lord can help us know temptation when we see it so we don't become

interested.



	When in the dim beginning of the years,

	God mixed in man the raptures and the tears

	And scattered thru his brain the starry stuff,

	He said, "Behold! Yet this is not enough,

	For I must test his spirit to make sure

	That he can dare the Vision and endure.



	"I will withdraw my Face,

	Veil me in shadow for a certain space,

	Leaving behind Me only a broken clue--

	A crevice here the glory glimmers thru,

	Some whisper from the sky,

	Some footprint in the road to track Me by



	"I will leave man to make the fateful guess,

	Will leave him torn between the No and Yes,

	Leave him unresting till he rests in Me,

	Drawn upward by the choice that makes him free

	Leave him in tragic loneliness to choose,

	With all in life to win or all to lose 

	[Edwin Markham, "Man--Test," Poems of Edwin Markham, sel.  Charles

L. Wallis (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1950), p. 5--6]



	My prayer in behalf of you noble young men and women who have the

future of the world in your hands is "This above all: to thine own self

be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then

be false to any man." That is my testimony to you, in the name of Jesus

Christ.  Amen. 



            Whatever We Ought to Be, We Better Be Becoming 



                Robert E., Helen, and Sharlene Wells  



	Elder Robert E. Wells, a graduate of Brigham Young University, is

a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy.  He currently is first

counselor in the South America Area presidency.



	Sister Helen Wells is a native of El Paso, Texas, a graduate of

BYU, and an accomplished musician. She and Elder Wells are the parents

of seven children.



	Sharlene, a junior at BYU (currently on "leave" fulfilling her

duties as Miss America), was Miss BYU 1983--84, and Holiday Bowl Queen

1984. She is an honor student and a member of Phi Eta Sigma National

Honor Society.



	The Wells spoke together at a special fireside held in the

Marriott Center on 26 October 1984.



Helen Wells 



	As the mother of such a lovely daughter, it is impossible for me

to express in the English language, or even in the Spanish language

(which is a more beautiful, flowery language), how I really feel this

night.  I hope that you can try to imagine a little bit of what I'm

feeling.



	I don't want to take away from Sharlene's time, but I do want to

share with you two aspects of this many--faceted personality that is

our daughter.  There are many attributes that Sharlene has that have

helped her be the contributive person that she is.



	Sharlene has always set goals, and I think if she were speaking in

my place she would say, "Whatever we ought to be, we better be

becoming, and whatever we ought to be doing, we better be doing it." As

a family we see this in Sharlene.  She has always been this way, a very

curious person, a person desirous of knowing as much as she can as

quickly as she can.  As her life bespeaks, she would say, "Set goals

and follow them." She would say, "Plan your direction because direction

is important".  She would say, "Decisions are important.  Make wise

ones."



	Another lesson that Sharlene has internalized early in her life is

that a person may be tolerant without compromising herself or her own

traditions, background, beliefs, convictions, or habits of life.  She

has truly exemplified this.  Tolerance without compromising truth,

sound principles, or fundamentals is one of the great needs of today.



	We are very proud that Sharlene stands up for what she believes to

be true.  She is tolerant of all peoples.  She has been raised, as I

like to say of all of our children, color blind, which doesn't mean she

can't distinguish between colors with her eyes, but that she sees no

difference in color of skin, race, creed, culture, or religious

background.  She is tolerant of all peoples but never compromises

truth, sound principles, or fundamentals.



	She is an instigator of righteousness and it certainly is a

privilege, an honor, and a great blessing to be her mother.



	I bear my testimony that I know that what she radiates and what

she believes is what we all should radiate and what we should

internalize as our beliefs.  I say this in the name of Jesus Christ. 

Amen.



Robert E. Wells



	My dear brothers and sisters and friends of Sharlene, I'm grateful

that Paul has given a perfect scripture for this occasion.  I'm reading

from I Corinthians 9:23--26: Paul explains, 'And this I do for the

gospel's sake." And to a very large degree I like to think that

Sharlene is doing this [the role of Miss America] partly because of a

spiritual motivation behind it all.  Paul goes on to say,



	Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one

receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain [the prize or the

crown]. And every man [every woman, of course] that striveth. . .do it

to obtain a corruptible crown, but we [seek] an incorruptible [crown].

[I Corinthians 9:24 25]  Paul was talking about the difference between

the honors of men, temporal, worldly things that may not last too long,

versus those things of eternal value.  He was talking about exaltation

and eternal life.  He was talking about spiritual values, eternal

values, a different kind of crown.  He goes on to say, "I therefore so

run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air"

(1 Corinthians 9:26).  In other words, he is really going to go for it,

for those eternal principles.



	Now, carrying this illustration just a little bit further, I like

to use the example that anyone who competes in this kind of

competition, the scholarship-pageant competition, does so in the same

sense that an Olympic athlete competes in a pentathlon.



	Let me mention the events, The first is, of course, the judges'

interview, in which the candidates are judged on their ability to

articulate, to communicate, to think on their feet, to respond with

their own opinions and feelings about things, and to project a warm,

pleasant personality.  The second part is the talent event.  The judges

are looking at the years of study required and for the ability to

present oneself exceptionally well on a stage before many people.  Then

there is the physical fitness section of it.  And there is an evening

gown, feminine graces section of it.  These are the four recognized

events.



	I feel (this is a personal feeling, certainly I'm not reflecting

the pageant, I'm reflecting what I think was part of it as a Church

leader and as a father of one of the contestants) there was a fifth

category of spirituality, of virtue--of those things that when we talk

about crowns, when I say being a queen in Israel, you know what I am

talking about.  I believe that was an element, a degree that is

difficult to explain and difficult to talk about.  But the judges were

not really aware of that. After the crowning I was asked what I thought

about this and I said that I thought the judges were looking for this

kind of a young lady.  It turns out that the judges never said that

they were looking for a spiritual, virtuous young lady.  They said they

were impressed with many of the other qualities.



	I still feel there was a spiritual element.  I'll tell you why.  I

have a final scripture to use. It is Moroni 7:29.



	And because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles

ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased to

minister unto the children of men.



	When I gave Sharlene a father's blessing before she left home, I

did not bless her to win.  I blessed her that she would do her best.  I

blessed her physically, spiritually, and emotionally to do her very

best.  In the prayer I even mentioned her harp, that the strings

wouldn't break and that the wood wouldn't crack because we had had that

kind of problem in the past.  I also blessed her that angels would

attend her because I believe that angels do minister to the children of

men.



	After the crowning, when Sister Wells and I met Sharlene for a

brief embrace before she rushed off to the interview with the press,

she whispered as she hugged me, "Daddy, as my fingers touched the

strings for the first chord, I felt like angels were with me." I think

angels might have been there with the judges, too.



	My dear brothers and sisters, I leave you my testimony I leave my

prayer and blessing on each and everyone here that all of us will have

goals and ambitions looking toward eternal crowns of being kings and

queens in Israel, incorruptible crowns in Zion.



	I close by testifying that our Heavenly Father is in His heaven. 

He loves us, He hears our prayers, He answers them.  I testify that

Jesus the Christ, our Lord and Savior, lives.  He lives, resurrected,

glorified, exalted, standing physically at the head of this Church

which bears His name.  His spokesman here on the earth is a living

prophet, our beloved President Kimball.  Everything that we stand for,

that Sharlene stands for, and everything that we believe about the

premortal existence, the reason of this earth life, this time of mortal

probation, the second coming, the life to come, is true.  I testify of

it humbly in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.



Sharlene Wells



	When they told me that I was speaking, I thought, "Okay, if I were

you, what would I want to hear from me." Probably, how in the world did

I get here? I've asked myself that question many times and I think what

I've come up with is I've always been very aware of opportunities.  At

the same time I've also been aware that the Lord must have some great

purpose for me because He has blessed me a great deal with a family

that is so supportive, with opportunities running into me, almost.  I

had to decide that I was not going to turn down any opportunities

because I was either nervous or busy.  Those are poor excuses in my

book.  So I had to take advantage of any opportunity because of the

great sense of duty and responsibility that I felt to the Lord.



	Maybe I could share with you some of those experiences and

opportunities that I feel have prepared me for this position.  When I

was in South America the second time--many of you know that I have

spent about eleven years there--I was about thirteen and in the eighth

grade.  I had my first encounter with what being "different" meant. 

Down there they don't date, they " go with someone." Here I was, only

thirteen, and this young man approached me and asked, "Will you go with

me?" I was so naive I replied, "Where?" Needless to say, that was the

last time I ever was asked out while I was down there!



	At first I was on the defensive when people would call me

"goody--goody" Now I have learned to take it with a sense of humor.  I

was very much on the defensive until I realized that a sense of humor

can smooth over anything.  So the next time one of the boys would come

up to me and kid me about being goody--goody (Remember those

Goody--Goody combs? Well, back then, in eighth grade, they used those

combs.), and if he had one of those combs, I would say, "See, you're

not so bad yourself." Then he would say, "Okay, okay, I get what you

mean." They didn't tease me anymore once I decided that I was not going

to be on the defensive.



	When I was on the "David Letterman Show" and he insinuated that I

don't have fun because I don't drink, I said, "Oh, I drink--milk,

water, juice, and 7--up, etc." Then we got on to other things; we

didn't dwell on the fact that I'm not having "fun" by the world's

standards.



	While I was in South America, there were only a few of us in high

school from the States who were members of the Church--my sisters, the

mission president's sons, and a couple of others.  We were always

invited to the weekly school parties that they had down there and of

course there were many activities going on.  There was beer and

smoking, but we learned that, yes, we could condemn the action, but it

didn't mean we had to condemn the people.  We still loved our friends. 

So we would go to the parties as long as they provided the Sprite for

us and then we would leave when they started to get a little boring. 

We would just say, "You guys are boring, we're taking off now.  We're

going to have our own party" We learned being different doesn't matter,

we can still have fun.  So now when I have to go to cocktail parties,

it doesn't bother me in the slightest to raise up my glass of water in

a toast.  Nobody thinks to make fun of me.  Sure, it might be strange

by the world's standards, but as long as we are not apologetic about

it, it is quite all right.



Fitting In 



	Another one of my challenges was moving often.  We moved many

times throughout my childhood.  At first it was hard because I didn't

fit in--I was different.  I remember when we first moved up here to the

United States when I was seven.  Nobody wanted to hear about South

America, and that was of course my only background.  It was hard to fit

into elementary school.  Then we moved again and it was hard to fit

into the cliques on the other side of the city Then we moved back down

to South America.  I think it was down there that I finally decided

that in order for me to fit in wherever I go, I have to first fit in

with myself.  I have to be completely confident of myself and then I

can have a great time.  I think at that time I didn't understand why I

was not fitting in, and now I do.  Now I realize that because I'm so

interested in different kinds of people, as I travel across the

country, in some small way I can relate to people of all different

backgrounds.  I have not just fit in with one clique.



	Then, of course, there was coming to college--BYU.  But before I

get into that, I was in Boston just this last week when Boston College

dropped to eleventh and BYU went to fourth in the football polls.  I

was very proud to be from BYU and I found it hard to keep from

gloating.  While I was signing autographs a man came up to me and said,

"I feel really bad about Boston College dropping to eleventh, but if it

had to be another university, I'm glad it is a university such as

Brigham Young University." Then he left.  That made me feel really

good.  I didn't feel so bad about gloating anymore.



	I was fairly confident in high school about what I could do, about

my talents, about what I could accomplish as a person.  Then I got to

college and I thought there was no way I could compete at a college

level.  I was one against a million.  It took me my first year here to

realize that we are all one against a million, which makes us all equal

and at the same time very individualistic with regard to talents and

skills and abilities.  But we all have exactly the same advantages.



Young Ambassadors 



	My second year I decided I would try out for Young Ambassadors. 

It was kind of presumptuous of me since I had never danced before in my

life.  I thought I would just try out as a singer.  That was how much I

knew about Young Ambassadors.  You have to do everything in Young

Ambassadors, including technical responsibilities such as setting up

mikes.



	I went into the audition room and was handed a microphone, just

about the first time I had ever held one.  I was expected to sing, so I

did.  I didn't think I would make callbacks, so my roommate who was

there, had to call me and say, "Get down here, you made callbacks."



	I asked, "Well, what do I have to do? Do I have to sing another

song?"



	"No," she said, "you have to dance."



	I said, "Oh boy, I better just quit right here."



	She insisted, "No, get down here."



	So I showed up in my jeans, tennies, and sweatshirt for dance

auditions.  Well, some kind soul came up to me and said she had a pair

of sweats I could borrow Another said she had a cutoff sweatshirt I

could borrow--which I did.  So, I show up on the dance floor with my

sweats and tennies and cutoff sweatshirt and everyone else is in

leotards and tights and jazz pants and jazz shoes, looking like they

came out of "Fame," and here I am out of Rocky.  Needless to say, I

forgot half the dance, but I remembered something--as long as you keep

smiling, maybe they'll forget the rest of the body It must have worked. 

I think ninety percent of it was inspiration on the part of Randy and

Dee.  They knew that I needed this.  And then maybe ten percent was

that they thought I had potential.  After looking over my resume they

asked me, "Haven't you ever had any dance experience?" I said, "No, but

I've always been very involved in sports.  Does that count?" Maybe they

thought it did.



	I learned so much about this group and how much impact this group

can have worldwide and how much impact even one individual can have.  I

also learned that there is no room for the word tired.  After eight

shows in one day in Waukegan, Illinois, we had our final show, a

two--hour special with seventeen costume changes.  We're supposed to be

peppy, jumping off the stage and going into the audience and greeting

people for about half an hour.  The only thing that makes it

worthwhile--not the only thing, but one of the main things--is when

someone comes up and says, "It is so great to see young people who have

a purpose in life and who can show, it through their music." It is also

exciting when a missionary runs up all excited and says, "Our family

has just committed to baptism!"



	I kept that in mind, that there is no room for being tired.  Right

after I won the Miss America Pageant I had to get up at 4:00 in the

morning and go to CBS and ABC and NBC and then right after that to a

couple of press conferences where they asked me the same questions

about Vanessa and my squeaky--clean image and I had to come up with all

sorts of creative answers so that I didn't get bored.  Of course, each

appearance required me to be in different outfits.  That is a

challenge, pulling clothes out of a suitcase that look like opponents

after a BYU football game and trying to make them look presentable. 

Then I attended the opening of a restaurant here the only things I

could understand on the menu were escargot, duck liver, and chocolate

mousse.  So what do I pick? The chocolate mousse! Then I went to a

cocktail party where some people were not quite sober.  But one sober

man came up and said, "When I learned that you were Mormon, I knew you

stood for everything right." That was fulfilling for me.  It made the

whole day worthwhile--that I can stand for something right and

represent what all of you stand for in a way which you would be proud

of.



Learning a Lot 



	Yes, I have learned a lot from Randy and the Young Ambassadors. 

They have taught me a lot about sharing my assurance, my confidence not

on a soapbox, but rather with actions and commitments.  Integrity is

only sustained by commitment.  There are other groups of friends and

influential people that, of course, I want to thank.  I'm quite a

people watcher.  I look at all these different people who have

influenced my life and I try to pick out at least one thing from each

that I want to emulate.  For instance, my sister Elayne is quite a

journal keeper.  That has influenced me.  I take that aspect and say to

myself, "I can keep up my journal if she can," although she is the 4.0

Stanford student.



	I learned a lot from my South American friends.  I learned that I

should differentiate between the actions and the person.  Never condemn

anyone because they smoke or drink.  They are just as much a human

being as I am, although I may not condone their actions.



	Then there are all my secular and ecclesiastical leaders and

teachers, not to mention my voice, piano, and harp teachers who have

all worked with me and not tried to create anything.  They have worked

with my raw materials, which I really appreciate because I'm not one to

be molded.  If anyone is going to do the molding, I want to do it, and

the Lord can.  But I love to learn from everyone.



	I'm also thankful to all those people in the pageants with whom I

have been involved.  I learned a lot about service through those

pageants--titles are not fame and glory.  It is a lot of hard work.  It

is a lot of service.



	Also, I want to thank special friends such as Janice and Robin and

LeAnne--they know who they are--my roommates, friends who have stuck

with me, and of course all of you out there with whom I have

associated.  I have great regard for those of you who have taught me a

lot.  I keep you in mind all the time and for this reason:

seventy--five percent of my confidence has come from you, my peers,

because that is really what means the most to me.  My family is biased,

so I can't really draw my confidence from them, although there is a

great amount of support there.  But when it comes from my peers, that

is what means the most to me.



	Again, of course, the Young Ambassadors, my second family, helped

me greatly.  Besides teaching me what the word impact means, they have

also taught me what the word diet means.  A few months ago, while on

tour, right before the Miss Utah Pageant, Randy came up to me on the

bus and asked, 'Are you on a diet?" I said, "No." He said, "Well, you

should be thinking of one." So then I had to decide which had more

calories, the chocolate pudding or the chocolate cake.  That was hard.



He Didn't Raise His Voice, He Intensified It



	Now to another special group and that is my family.  I recently

received a letter from one of my parent's missionaries when my dad was

mission president.  This is what he says about my dad: "His teaching

was always done with composed patience.  You often behaved well for him

because you knew he expected you to behave and you didn't want to

disappoint him.  He understands women so well that he usually defers to

your mother until and unless he wants to make a point.  He did not

raise his voice, he intensified it.  His love always seemed unreserved

and always abundant." That is one thing that I've learned from my dad,

not to raise my voice, but to intensify it.  I see myself doing that in

press conferences whenever there is something that jumps out,

especially with regard to my principles.  That is when I intensify my

voice and speak with assurance because he has taught me that.



	Also there is my mom--I have to refer to her as the air traffic

controller of the family especially with three younger daughters. When

we were in South America we had one piano and all three of us had to

practice at least half an hour before school.  We had to get up at 5:30

to accomplish this.  It has really been a challenge, I'm sure, for my

mom to schedule all of our comings and goings.  I appreciate her for

everything she has done.  I feel it would be more appropriate for her

to be wearing the crown than myself.  She has really been the wall, and

myself, the grapevine.



	I have to thank my supportive family, my sisters who always show

up at whatever I'm doing and who have the talents to challenge me and

to keep me on my toes.



	And most important, I have to thank my Creator.  I have been

blessed so much, not only with a firm belief in who I am and my purpose

in life, but also with my family and the opportunities I spoke of

before.'Just recently we were flying back from Hawaii, going to

Chicago, and we were coming from the sunset, so we were travelling

through the night.  As I looked out the window, there were these stars

just absolutely beautiful with the moon and no cloud cover because we

were above the clouds, and every now and then I could see the earth

below.  It prompted me to think about the potential that I have, that

we all have, to be looking down on an earth someday.  It magnified my

responsibility on earth right now because I have a lot at stake later

on.



"If I But Learn to Do His Will" 



	I received a letter from a friend just recently and she summed up

exactly what I feel in this short paragraph: "It is one thing, of

course, to be chosen as an individual to represent a city and state. 

It is quite another to represent the kingdom of God in such a visible

and vulnerable way.  The responsibility is infinitely greater but so is

the sense of satisfaction, knowing that much higher purposes are being

fulfilled.  I would so much rather be a little tool in God's hands than

a luminary on my own.  I find it lots more fun."



	That is exactly the way I feel.  I feel like that is what I am

right now--a tool in God's hands--that that's what I have been prepared

for.  We all know the song "I Am a Child of God" (Sing with Me, B--76). 

To me the phrase "If I but learn to do His will" is the key to

everything.  Everything will fall into place if we learn to allow

ourselves to be guided.



	I want to leave you with my testimony.  Our Father does live and

His son Jesus Christ was sent to this earth for our sake and we owe him

a great deal for what we are and what we can become.  I know I do.  I

leave these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen. 



                    What Is Your Personal Ranking?



                           Marvin J. Ashton



	Marvin J. Ashton has been a member of the Council of the Twelve of

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1971. Previously

he had been an Assistant to the Twelve since 1969.



	Elder Ashton was born in Salt Lake City to Marvin O. and Rae J.

Ashton. He graduated from the University of Utah in business

administration. While serving in the British Mission from 1937 to 1939,

he captained a team that won the British National Basketball

championship and was associate editor of the Millennial Star



	He has been active regionally and nationally in the Boy Scouts of

America. He holds the Silver Beaver and Silver Antelope Scouting awards

for outstanding service to boys, is an Eagle Scout, and has served on

the General Board of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association. He

is presently serving as a member of the following Church committees:

Personnel, Missionary, Welfare Services, Boundary Change, and Temple

and Genealogy Executive Committees. He is chairman of the board of the

Polynesian Cultural Center, Laie, Hawaii, and is a member of the Church

Board of Education and a Trustee of Brigham Young University



	Elder Ashton is an official of several business firms, including

Deseret Book Company and ZCMI. He is well known for his work with

youth, and, as a Utah state senator, he spearheaded legislation to

improve statewide juvenile detention facilities.



	On June 9, 1984, he received a doctorate degree of law from the

University of Utah. He is married to Norma Berntson, and they are the

parents of four children.



	This devotional address was given in the Marriott Center on 6

November 1984.



	In the last two months, Tuesdays have become special days in the

lives of most BYU students and friends.  It is the day when the TV and

radio stations and newspapers announce BYU's ranking.  Today, before

leaving to come here, I asked my secretary, "What is BYU's rating this

week?" I didn't say anything about football.  I was told, "They are No.

4 in the nation." Being ranked in the top three or four of the nation

in football is not only a new high for BYU but a worthy achievement.  I

wholeheartedly commend Coach LaVell Edwards, his associates, and team

members on their rating and winning their ninth straight WAC

championship last Saturday It is my understanding that college football

teams are basically ranked according to the number of wins and losses,

who their opponents were, and by points scored or allowed.  I suppose

there are some weeks when some frustrated coaches think that those who

determine the rankings take into consideration the color of the

uniforms as part of the formula.  However, I am not here today to

quarrel with those who put out the rankings.  I am here to talk about

the words "remember" and "rank."



	Perhaps at this time of the season the best pep talk BYU coaches

could give their football players would be in the form of a sign in the

locker room saying "Remember." Remember what you have been taught. 

Remember it takes total individual commitment to the team effort to

make a team work.  Remember self--pride and self discipline.  Remember

no team is better than the performers who comprise it.  Remember no

player is worth much who thinks he is more important than the team. 

Remember you won't maintain a high ranking if you don't remember. 

Remember words of praise and high ratings are damaging if they dull

your memory.  Remember I am to be a class person on a class team.



	"Remember" is defined as "To retain in the mind and keep carefully

in memory." For our purposes today, "rank" is defined as the degree of

worth or excellence compared with others in the same category.



	I believe the best--educated student or faculty member is the

person who learns much, shares much, and remembers to implement the

worthy into his life.



Teachings to Remember 



	During the recent October general conference, all of us were

encouraged to read and reread the Book of Mormon.  Perhaps additional

worthy counsel could be, as you read, train yourself to remember the

words and feelings experienced.



	In reading the book of Helaman recently, I was greatly impressed

with Helaman's emphasis in talking to his sons Nephi and Lehi about the

importance of remembering.  The people of his time had success when

they remembered his teachings.  They failed when they forgot.



	Behold, my sons, I desire that ye should remember to keep the

commandments of God; and I would that ye should declare unto the people

these words.  Behold, I have given unto yo the names of our first

parents who came out of the land of Jerusalem; and this I have done

that when you remember your names ye may remember them; and when ye

remember them ye may remember their works; and when ye remember their

works ye may know how that it is said, and also written, that they were

good. [Helaman 5:6]



	Helaman gave his sons the names of Nephi and Lehi so they would

remember their first parents who came out of Jerusalem.  Remember and

honor their great names, he pleaded.  Remember them because they were

good, he emphasized.  Helaman's sons gained strength and high rating as

they remembered.



	Teachers do students a great favor when they not only encourage

them to study, but to retain and remember.  Only when we remember and

apply the worthy are we truly educated.  An important part of true

education is remembering people whose conduct helps us to do better. 

They are a light on dark days.  They give us direction when life's

paths become cluttered.



Friends to Remember



	With this in mind, let me share five friends who rank very high

with me.  I will be most pleased if you will remember them and what

they teach us.  Three of them are on this campus.  One is affiliated

with another college campus forty miles or so to the north.  Three will

not be identified for privacy reasons.  The fourth's conduct has been a

constant example of stability even before the gospel of Jesus Christ

was restored in this last dispensation.  Obviously, they are not ranked

in any order.



Act Instead of React 



	Mary Jones, not her real name, is a relatively unknown, unranked

student--body member of BYU.  She is now a returned missionary.  I

first met her in the mission field after she had served just three

months.  She was a convert of less than a year.  After the usual "I'm

pleased to meet you," I said, "How are things going?"



	She said, "Pretty well." Now, when missionaries tell me things are

going pretty well, I know they are not going very well.



	I said, "Is there something I can help you with?



	She answered, "Oh no, everything is going pretty well."



	I said, "Tell me what is keeping it from going very well."



	She said, with her chin quivering, and responding from my

insistence, "Well, I've been in the mission field three months.  I've

been a member of the Church for one year.  During the three months I

have been in the mission field I have not had one letter from anyone. 

When I joined the Church my parents disowned me.  They want nothing to

do with me.  Elder Ashton, what can I do?"



	The only thing I could think to suggest to her at that time was,

"Even though your parents have disowned you and won't write to you, do

me a favor and write them every week.  Write without fail; write

without response; write without feelings."



	She is home from her mission attending school here and doing very

well. just the other day she greeted me and said, "Elder Ashton, I want

you to know that my Mom and Dad are writing to me."



	Therefore cheer up your hearts and remember that ye are free to

act for yourselves--to choose ... the way of eternal life. [2 Nephi 10:

23



	This Mary Jones will continue to improve her personal rating as

she remembers to act and not react. 



The Lord Loves Men and Women of Integrity



	Second is Hyrum Smith, the older brother of the Prophet Joseph

Smith, faithful all his days.  I like to study and read about Hyrum

Smith because he rated very high with his Heavenly Father.  We have an

opportunity to be ranked high in the kingdom of God and on earth if we

will do the same.  Simply stated in Doctrine and Covenants 124:



	And again, verily I say unto you, blessed is my servant Hyrum

Smith; for I, the Lord, love him because of the integrity of his heart,

and because he loveth that which is right before me saith the Lord.

[D&C 124:15]



	The Lord loves men and women of integrity.  The Lord is pleased

with those who love that which is right.



	In football terms, Joseph Smith was a captain and quarterback. 

Hyrum was strong on defense.



	It is significant that at the time of the martyrdom of the Prophet

Joseph Smith in the Carthage jail on June 27, 1844, Hyrum, this great

defender, this tremendous friend of the Savior, was shot first and

fell, calmly saying: "I am a dead man!"



	Let us remember why Hyrum ranks high.  He remembered to love that

which is right.  He loved the right, and his brother more than life

itself.



Go Forward Humbly



	Third is Mary Smith, not her real name.  She is also a relatively

unknown, unranked student--body member of BYU.  She is on campus today

a little older than most of you.  Her education was delayed while she

and her widowed mother financed a brother and son through the mission

field and this institution.



	Maybe her delay will limit her chances for the pleasures of

courtship and marriage.  She's the kind of a gal I like to remember

because she is willing to put others first and take her chances as she

walks uprightly before her Heavenly Father with priorities that a I are

firm and with goals that are lofty.  Humbly she goes forward--not

passively, but humbly.  I would like to include here a statement from

Alma 38:14.



	Do not say: 0 God, I thank thee that we are better than our

brethren; but rather say: 0 Lord, forgive my unworthiness, and remember

my brethren in mercy--yea, acknowledge your unworthiness before God t

all times.



I would like to say in passing that Mary is one of the most selfless

people I can remember.



Remember to Take Courage 



	Let's identify number four as Harry, another person I will always

remember and want to.  Last week I went to the hospital to visit my

friend Harry.  He is slowly recovering from heart surgery that involved

five bypasses.  Despite great discomfort and distress physically, his

attitude is excellent.  During our visit he reached through sheets and

tubes, took my hand and said, "Mary, say a prayer for me, will you

please?" While I prayed he strongly gripped my hand.  His grip was more

than strong.  It was powerful.  Why?



	In normal life Harry walks with his hands and arms.  He's been

confined to a wheelchair for dozens of years.  His mobility is

determined by his hands and his friends.  Harry and his wife, Margaret,

will always be remembered by me as two of my best friends.  Every time

I talk to them I get a new lift from life.  I remember him when I need

courage.  I remember him when I'm inclined to be discouraged.



	I wasn't going to identify Harry, but I think I will.	He's the

head tennis coach at the University of Utah.  His teams have won enough

WAC tennis championships to make other coaches think about coaching

from a wheelchair.



Build Your Foundation



	 President Jeffrey R. Holland ranks very high on my rating list

because: 



	1.  He remembers to promote excellence in every academic

department of BYU, within the framework of the gospel of Jesus Christ.



	2.  He remembers to enforce lofty standards of conduct for all on

the campus so they may develop self--discipline, self--respect, and

self--reliance. (Some of you may resist and resent, but I promise you

as you mature you'll remember it was for your best good.)



	3.  He remembers to listen and counsel without prejudice even when

he doesn't have time.



	4.  He remembers to administer with love and purpose when some

would provoke him to anger.



	5.  He remembers when disappointments and discouragements surface

to choose hope over despair.



	6.  He remembers the importance of smiling particularly on days

when it would be easier to cry.



	7.  He remembers to love and court his wife and sweetheart, Pat,

with sincere affection and respect on a steady basis.



	8.  He remembers the importance of taking time to be a good

father.  Family members Matt, Mary, and Duffy are not just children on

the squad.  They are the heart of the team! And President Holland and

Pat remember to take the time to tell them so.



	9.  He remembers that when he is my doubles partner in tennis he

has to do most of the work.



	10.  He remembers to share his strong personal testimony in words

similar to those spoken by Helaman:



	And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of

our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your

foundation. [Helaman 5:12]



A Nameless Friend 



	Let me share with you one more friend.  We don't even know his

name.  Nevertheless I would have us all remember him.



	And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying,

Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?



	He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?



	And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all

thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with

all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.



	And be said unto him, Thou hast answered right.--this do, and thou

shalt live.



	But he, willing to,justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my

neighbor?



	And jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem

to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment,

and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.



	And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when

be saw him, be passed by on the other side.



	And likewise a Levite, when be was at the place, came and looked

on him, and passed by on the other side.



	But a certain Samaritan,  as he journeyed, came where he was: and

when he saw him, he had compassion on him,



	And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine,

and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care

of him.



	And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and

gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and

whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.



	Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him

that fell among the thieves?



	And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said jesus unto

him, Go, and do thou likewise. [Luke 10:25--37]



	Oh, how powerful in the processes of learning are good lives! The

Good Samaritan--we don't even know his name, but what a lesson, what an

example.



	I would humbly ask all within the sound of my voice to do me a

special favor.  Put a sign on your wall, on your desk, or fasten one to

your mirror. just let it have one word.  The word is "Remember." I

promise you without any hesitation it can help in your ranking with

yourself and God.



	Remember BYU football players who get knocked down, but won't stay

there.



	Remember the Savior.  He is Jesus the Christ, the Son of the

living God, our Redeemer, our advocate with the Father.



	Remember he said, among other great truths, "Neither do I condemn

thee: go, and sin no more" (John 8:11).



	Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of the Lord. 

"For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no

more" (Jeremiah 31:34). I hope you believe that.  That is the kind of a

Savior I believe in.  If we repent, if we remember him, the things that

we have done will not be remembered by him.



	Remember God lives. Remember God loves you.  Remember to pray to

him frequently Remember that as his children you are special.



	What is the reward for those who rank high with the Lord? 



	Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul

who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth my name, and

obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and

know that I am. [D&C 93:1]



	What is BYU's ranking? What is your personal ranking? I thank God

we have the right and responsibility to determine that ourselves.



	Remember, 0 remember, the Church of Jesus Christ is true. 

Remember with God's help we can know and share good cheer and happiness

now and in all the days ahead.  Today is a new beginning.  Today is a

new opportunity.  I bear my testimony and share my witness that one of

the greatest values and strengths in my life is not only to read and

know the Savior, but to remember what he taught and remember who he is. 

I leave you this my testimony and my blessings in the worthy name of

Jesus Christ.  Amen. 



                    What Think You of Thanksgiving?



                           John B. Stohlton



	Dr John B. Stohlton became the assistant executive vice president

of BYU in April of this year His responsibilities include Food

Services, Housing, General Services, Agricultural Farms, University

Properties. Security, the Bookstore and Insurance and Risk Management.



	Dr Stohlton has come to BYU from Monterey, California, where he

was a partner in a major California law firm for twenty years. His

professional experience also includes being city attorney for Sand City

(California), attorney for the Monterey Peninsula Airport District, and

a specialist in administrative law and legislation. He has been

involved in a variety of community organizations: the Monterey

Peninsula Foundation, Family Services Agency, Alliance on Aging, Boy

Scouts, and the BYU Alumni Association. He served as the president of

the Alumni Association from 1982 to 1983.



	Dr Stohlton was born in Phoenix and raised in the San Francisco

Bay area. He came to BYU as a nonmember in 1955, joined the Church in

1959, and received his bachelor's degree in political science in 1960.

He then went to George Washington University in Washington, D.C., for

his juris doctor degree. He has served as a bishop and as counselor in

a stake presidency and was the stake president of the Monterey

California Stake for almost ten years.



	He met his wife, Colleen Ure, at BYU. They are the parents of four

boys and five girls.



	This devotional talk was given 20 November 1984 in the Marriott

Center



	Several years ago a close friend wrote a provocative little book

that she entitled What Think You of Christmas?  With all due credit to

my, friend, I'd like to pose the question to you: What think you of

Thanksgiving?"



	Is Thanksgiving celebrated in your home as a significant religious

holiday, or is it a day filled with food, football, and plans to begin

really serious Christmas shopping?



	It is symptomatic of our time that Thanksgiving has lost much of

its spiritual flavor.  The same pagan attitudes and pressures that have

led many to substitute Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny for our Savior

at Christmas and Easter celebrations have had a profound effect on our

Thanksgiving observances.  Many of our observances have become

celebrations of consumption rather than spiritual feasts of love,

gratitude, and sharing.  Somehow we have lost the custom of sharing the

blessings of God's providence with those who are in need.



	It hasn't always been so.  The first community Thanksgiving was

celebrated by our Pilgrim forefathers at Plymouth in the fall of 1621. 

Theirs was a celebration of gratitude to a Heavenly Father who had sent

a bounteous harvest to that beleaguered little colony, Almost half of

Plymouth's original 101 settlers had died during the severe winter of

1620--21.  Those who survived that first winter struggled to understand

the vagaries of farming in the new land.  Most of the Plymouth Pilgrims

had been merchants and artisans in England, and they were woefully

unprepared to live off the land. They had little seed and had to depend

upon corn kernels and other unfamiliar seed left behind by the Indians. 

Yet their very lives depended upon reaping a harvest sufficient to see

them through another winter.  As the bounteous harvest was gathered in

the storehouses in the fall of 1621, a grateful and relieved Governor

Bradford proclaimed a three--day period of fasting and celebration. 

That celebration was at least partially borrowed from the admonition

found in Leviticus that provides: "When ye have gathered in the fruit

of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord ... and ye shall

rejoice before the Lord, your God" (Leviticus 23:39--40).



	That first feast and many subsequent celebrations of Thanksgiving

focused upon man's relationship with his Heavenly Father.  Our

forefathers understood well their dependence on God.  George

Washington, in his proclamation establishing the 1789 Thanksgiving

celebration, said in part,



	Whereas, it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the

providence of almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his

benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor... that we may

then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks for

his kind care and protection of the people of this country. [The

Writings of George Washington from the Original Main Source, 1745 1799,

vol. 30 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1939), pp.

427-28]



	King Benjamin clearly taught the sacred origin of Thanksgiving

when he proclaimed unto his people:



	O how you ought to thank your heavenly King!

	I say unto you, my brethren, that you should render all the thanks

and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who

has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye

should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with

another. . . .I say if ye should serve him with all your whole souls

yet ye would be unprofitable servants. [Mosiah 2:19--21]



	Regrettably, with prosperity came false and foolish notions. 

People who once rendered thankful praise to their God soon came to

praise their own industry and intellect.  Reverend Adam Reid, in

celebrating Thanksgiving in 1840, prophetically observed:



	And yet it is difficult to tell how long this revered custom [of

Thanksgiving] shall be permitted to prevail; for in spite of all that

is said about the march of intellect and the enlightenment of the age,

the temper of the times is rash and revolutionary. There is a spirit of

infidel independence and reckless radicalism widely at work, which

spurns at every sacred restraint. [Principles of National Prosperity: A

Discourse Delivered at Salisbury, Conn., on the Day, of the Annual

Thanksgiving, Nov. 19th, 1840, (Hartford: Elihu Geer, 1841), pp. 6--7]



	Even the most cursory reading of the Book of Mormon should give

all of us reason to pause and consider.  The circumstances and

attitudes described by Reverend Reid were repeated time after time as

succeeding generations became prosperous and inevitably estranged from

their God.  The significance of Thanksgiving goes far beyond the legal

holiday.  Thanksgiving is the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

The proper observance of the holiday places us in proper relationship

with our Heavenly Father.  It acknowledges our dependence upon him and

our responsibility for one another.



	I would hope that as we make plans for our Thanksgiving

celebration we would contemplate the great blessings we enjoy.  As we

contemplate our blessings, thought should be given as to how we can

share a portion of our material blessings with those who have so

little--for it is through sharing with our brothers and sisters that we

most eloquently express our thanksgiving to our Heavenly Father.



	Our task today is to reconnect to the sacred principles of the

past--to proclaim with joyful hearts and voices that we are the literal

children of God, that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to

the earth, that through the atonement of Jesus Christ we can enjoy

eternal life, that we are led by a mighty prophet of God, that we live

in a blessed land of promise, that we share together as brothers and

sisters the blessings and vicissitudes of mortal life.



	May we as a people proclaim these truths with thankful voices and

hearts, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen. 



  Why a Savior Is Necessary, and Why Only Jesus Christ Could Qualify



                          Robert. J Matthews



	Robert J. Matthews was born in Evanston, Wyoming. He served a

mission to California and then came to Brigham Young University to

receive his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees, majoring in political

science, geography, and religion. He has been with the Church

Educational System since 1955 and has taught in Soda Springs, Idaho;

Los Angeles, California; and at BYU. For several years he was also

assigned as a course writer, editor., and researcher for the Seminaries

and Institutes of Religion. He is presently dean of Religious Education

and professor of ancient scripture at BYU.



	Brother Matthews has served as a high councilor, as bishop twice,

and as a member of the Adult Correlation Review Committee of the

Church. He is currently serving as president of the BYU Eighth Stake

and has been a stake patriarch.



	He has had many opportunities for research, particularly with the

scriptures and on the life and works of Joseph Smith. He has made

several trips to the Holy Land and lectured on biblical topics. He is

married to Shirley Neves, and they are the parents of four children.



	This devotional talk was delivered on 4 December 1984 in the

Marriott Center.



	I have sought for the help of the Lord in selecting a subject and

also for help in delivering that subject.  My desire to do well is not

a selfish one.  I'm concerned that if I do not do well, it might

reflect adversely upon Religious Education, and I would not want that

to happen.  Or it might appear that the subject matter is not

important, and I would not want to convey that impression either.  So,

for the sake of the message and the reputation of this university, and

out of consideration for your time, I pray for a facility of

expression, that I will be helped by the Holy Spirit.  I pray also that

the same Spirit will carry this message into your hearts so that where

I might lack, the Spirit will generously supply.  For what I say today,

I alone am responsible, although I believe what I am going to say is

true.



	I am particularly grateful for the help I received from the

topical guide in the LDS edition of the Bible and also for the index in

the new edition of the triple combination, which helped me find the

references I wanted more quickly.



The Scriptures Are Witnesses of Christ 



	This is a happy time of year.  We become excited about Christmas,

we sing, we get the spirit of giving, we talk, and we think about the

coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and about his birth into mortality He

was born in a manger it really was a holy night, He is the son of God

the Fat her and of Mary.  Prophets testified of his coming, angels

sang, shepherds rejoiced, stars shone, wise men came, Herod worried. 

The Father smiled upon that birth, and the devil did everything he

could to destroy that child after he was born.  Eternity was intensely

interested in what went on that day.



	The record of the birth of Jesus is given in the New Testament,

and we are more or less familiar with the story.  The New Testament is

a witness for Jesus Christ.  But the Book of Mormon is also a witness

for and a testament of Jesus Christ, and it gives us additional

insights and concepts about why the birth of Jesus took place and why

it was so important.  There is no other book in all this world that

tells us as clearly about the mission of Jesus Christ as does the Book

of Mormon.  Whereas the Bible tells us what happened, the Book of

Mormon and other latter--day scriptures tell us why it happened.  The

Bible writers also knew why, but the Bible has not come to us in its

original purity and clarity, and thus the Lord has brought forth these

other records in plain terms so that we might not wander in darkness

and oblivion.  The Lord wants us to know about the greatest truths in

the history, of mankind.



	A number of years ago, when the first astronauts landed on the

moon, the president of the United States said it was "the greatest week

in history." The Reverend Billy Graham corrected him and said, "No, the

greatest week in history was the week in which Jesus died and rose from

the grave."



	And I thought to myself, "The Reverend Graham was correct--that

time."



	I'd like to read some basic scriptures, first from the Doctrine

and Covenants.  We do not ordinarily think of this scripture in

connection with Christmas, but I would like to read it to you, and I

think you will see before we get through that it does have a

connection.



	There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the

foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated--And

when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law

upon which it is predicated. [D&C 130:20--21]



You notice that the scripture said those laws were laid down before the

world was created.



	Now I have been impressed with many things in the Book of Mormon. 

I will read a comment from Nephi:



	Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of

the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the law of Moses been

given; and all things which have been given of God from the beginning

of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him.



	And also my soul delighteth in the covenants of the Lord which he

hath made to our fathers; yea, my soul delighteth in his grace, and in

his justice, and power, and mercy in the great and eternal plan of

deliverance from death.



	And my soul delighteth in proving unto my people that save Christ

should come all men must perish. (2 Nephi 11:4--6]



It was just that important: If Christ did not come, all men would

perish.



	Now, in a missionary situation, Alma says:



	Now we see that Adam did fall by the partaking of the forbidden

fruit, according to the word of God; and thus we see, that by his fall,

all mankind became a lost and fallen people.



	And now behold, I say unto you that if it had been possible for

Adam to have partaken of the fruit of the tree of life at that time,

there would have been no death, and the word would have been void,

making God a liar, for he said: If thou eat thou shalt surely die.



	And we see that death comes upon mankind, yea, the death which has

been spoken of by Amulek, which is the temporal death; nevertheless

there was a space granted unto man in which he might repent; therefore

this life became a probationary state, a time to prepare to meet God; a

time to prepare for that endless state which has been spoken of by us,

which is after the resurrection of the dead. [Alma 12:22--24]



And from Alma 22:13--14, another missionary situation:



	And Aaron did expound unto him the scriptures from the creation of

Adam, laying the fall of man before him, and their carnal state and

also the plan of redemption, which was prepared from the foundation of

the world, through Christ, for all whosoever would believe on his name.



	And since man had fallen he could not merit anything of himself;

but the sufferings and death of Christ atone for their sins, through

faith and repentance, and so forth; and that he breaketh the bands of

death, that the grave shall have no victory, and that the sting of

death should be swallowed up in the hopes of glory; and Aaron did

expound all these things unto the king



Two Kinds of Death Were Introduced by Adam 



	There is passage after passage in the Book of Mormon and in other

scriptures indicating that the fall of Adam brought death upon mankind,

two kinds of death: the death of the body, which is the death we are

familiar with in relation to mortuaries and funerals and undertakers,

and then the death of the spirit, which means a separation from things

of righteousness or an alienation from the things of God.  Because of

the fall of Adam, first Adam and then all of his posterity suffered

both of these deaths.  If there were no atonement made by someone who

was not subject to those deaths--if there were no atonement made by

Jesus Christ--then mankind would everlastingly remain subject to those

two deaths and could not redeem himself.  And so it was absolutely

critical that the Lord come into the world and work out an atonement.



	I will read a passage from Nephi's younger brother Jacob. Jacob is

the great doctrinal preacher of the Book of Mormon. He is the great

theologian. It would be hard to measure one prophet against another,

but some have gifts in one direction and others have gifts in another,

and Jacob, whom I will now quote, had a great insight and a great

facility of expression to explain the atonement.



	O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all things,

and there is not anything save he knows it.



	And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will

hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men,

yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children,

who belong to the family of Adam.



	And he suffereth this that the resurrection might pass upon all

men, that all might stand before him at the great and judgment day. [2

Nephi 9:20-22]



	Now also from this same Jacob, in this same chapter, but a little

earlier, verses 6-10:



	For as death hath passed upon all men, to fulfil the merciful plan

of the great Creator there must needs be a power of resurrection, and

the resurrection must needs come unto man by reason of the fall; and

the fall came by reason of transgression; and because man became fallen

they were cut off from the presence of the Lord.



	Wherefore, it must needs be an infinite atonement--save it should

be an infinite atonement this corruption could not put on incorruption.

Wherefore, the first judgment which came upon man must needs have

remained to an endless duration....



	Now the first judgment which came upon man was "thou shalt surely

die." It involved both of those deaths, the death of the body and the

death as to things pertaining to righteousness, which the scriptures

call spiritual death



	O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace For behold, if the flesh

should rise no more [that is, if there were no resurrection of the

body] our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from

before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise

no more.



	And our spirits must have become like unto him, and we become

devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God,

and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself . .

.



	O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our

escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster death

and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the

spirit. [2 Nephi 9:6-10]



"I Am Come That They Might Have Life"



	I have noticed that quite often, when we talk about our Savior, we

talk about the resurrection, but we rarely talk about what would have

been our circumstances if there had been no atonement by Jesus. I

remember a discussion in a class many years ago when I was a teenager,

when one of the students asked the teacher--this was not here at

BYU--what would have become of our spirits if there had been no

redemption by Jesus.



	He said, "Well, I do not know what would have happened to our

spirits, but I give it as my guess that, if there were no atonement by

Jesus, we would still go on to whatever degree of glory we had merited,

but we would have to go there as spirits without bodies because Jesus

brought to pass the resurrection, and if there were no resurrection we

would have no bodies."



	None of us in the class knew enough about the gospel to know

whether that was the right answer or not. But sometime later, on my

mission, I was reading 2 Nephi and I realized that if Jacob had been in

that meeting that day he would have said, "Now wait a minute. This is

what the atonement of Jesus does for us. It not only brings the body

forth from the grave, but it redeems the spirit from what otherwise

would have been an endless, miserable condition with the devil." Or, to

say it in other words, every man, woman, and child, everybody who

belongs to the family of Adam.  would have become sons of perdition had

there been no atonement by Jesus Christ.  Jacob, knowing that and

having commented upon it, then says these words--which we have already

read but need to read again:



	O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our

escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death

and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the

spirit.  [2  Nephi  9:10]



	And so, when we sing and think and read and talk and meditate upon

the coming of the Son of God into the world, we need to think in terms

of what he did for mankind, all mankind, both as to the resurrection of

the body and in bringing them forth out of what would have been a most

miserable and gloomy existence.  Jesus said, "I am come that they might

have life, and that they, might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). 

You see that when we understand the alternative, it gives altogether

new meaning, and additional meaning, to his words.



	There are so many passages, we could not read them all right now I

will read from Luke, who tells about Jesus going into the Garden of

Gethsemane and there working out an atonement for all mankind:



	And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives;

and his disciples also followed him.



	And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray, that ye

enter not into temptation.



	And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled

down and prayed,



	Saying Father if thou be willing, remove this cup from me:

nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.



	And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening

him.



	And being in agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as

it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.



	And when he rose up from prayer and was come to his disciples, he

found them sleeping for sorrow,



	And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter

into temptation.  [Luke 22:39--46]



	It was in Gethsemane, on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, that

Jesus made his perfect atonement by the shedding of his blood more so

than on the cross.  We have a corroboration of that concept in the

Doctrine and Covenants in section  19:16--20:



	For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they

might not suffer if they would repent;



	But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;



	Which suffering cause myself, even God, the greatest of all, to

tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both

body and spirit--and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and

shrink--



	Nevertheless, glory be to the Father and I partook and finished my

preparations unto the children of men.



	Wherefore I command you again to repent, lest I humble you with my

almighty power; and that you confess your sins, lest you suffer these

punishments of which I have spoken, of which in the smallest, yea, even

in the least degree you have tasted at the time I withdrew my Spirit.



	All of us have at some time or another done something that caused

the Spirit to leave us; we felt low, we felt down, we felt alone.  And

yet we were losing the Spirit only because of something we had done

individually.  But then there is Jesus, who had the Holy Ghost all the

days of his life (and the Holy Ghost is the Comforter)--he had had the

help of the Holy Ghost ever since birth.  At every trial and at every

endeavor and every temptation, he had had the strength of the Holy

Ghost to be with him.



	But as he went into the Garden of Gethsemane and began to take

upon him our sins, the Father withdrew the Spirit from him, and he

worked out the atonement alone (see JD 3:205--6).  He refers to that in

the verses we just read where he indicated that it was a hard thing to

bear, and then he said, "You tasted it in the smallest, yea, in the

least degree at the time I withdrew my Spirit from you." Jesus

committed no sins, but he did carry upon himself our sins, as indicated

in the scripture that says "I have trodden the wine-press alone" (D&C

113:50).  It appears that the Father withdrew the spirit at that time

so Jesus might tread the wine-press alone.  Jesus alone is our redeemer

and savior.



	In John 3:16-17 we read:



	For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,

that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting

life.



	God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that

the world through him might be saved.



	The Bible makes this great statement and says that without the

Savior we would perish.  Paul discusses these things in I Corinthians

and in Romans, but not as clearly as we would like.  It takes the Book

of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price

to explain more fully why we would have perished.  We would have

perished because of the fall of Adam; we being unable to save ourselves

either from his fall or our own sins.



Premortal Life Is the Key to the Mission of Christ 



	We often talk about the War in Heaven and what took place there. 

We understand that the Savior was selected in that premortal life as

our Redeemer.  We knew him there.  Our first acquaintance with Jesus

began many thousands of years before we were ever born into mortality. 

When we talk about our relationship to the Savior and our redemption,

we must begin with our premortal life.



	I think we often miss the real issue of the contention in the

spirit world that eventually led to the War in Heaven.  We talk about

it as though Lucifer was going to force everybody to obey.  He said, "I

will save them all," and we interpret that as meaning that he was going

to have forced obedience.



	It has seemed strange to me that a third of all the spirits that

could have been born into this world would have favored a plan that

would cause them to have forced obedience.  Most of us do not like to

be forced.  As I see it, the real issue as not so much one of force as

it was that Lucifer said he would guarantee their salvation.  He

promised salvation without excellence, without effort, without hard

work, without individual responsibility.  That is the lie he

promulgated in the pre-earth councils.



	That so-called shortcut to salvation captivated many gullible and

lazy spirits.  They, wanted something for nothing.  We have certain

aspects of that in our life today where something is offered for

nothing (a free lunch we sometimes call it), with certain kinds of

subsidies that promise to guarantee the reward without the effort.  On

that basis, Lucifer led away many spirits, but individual progress does

not come that way.



	Only by serious and strenuous exertion do we improve in character

and in spiritual growth.  In our society we still come in contact with

many who are influenced by this erroneous philosophy They think they

can achieve salvation and exaltation without a struggle.  We are still

fighting the War in Heaven with the same participants and the same

issues, but we are fighting it on new territory and on a different

battleground.



	Having ascertained that the devil's program was one of promising

excellence without effort, we can better appreciate the real struggle

that Jesus had, that we all have, to do our best in this world to

overcome our weaknesses and to obtain redemption from the effects of

mortality.  It is in view of the premortal life and the issues that

were fought in the War in Heaven that everything else in the ministry

of Jesus and in the gospel must be understood.



	If we overlook premortal life, then we will never get the clear

perspective necessary to understand the gospel in mortality, but when

we do have that concept, and talk about Christmas--the night Christ was

born, the star that led the way so that later the wise men might find

him, the angels who came and spoke to the shepherds--and when we find

the enthusiasm of the prophets in predicting and prophesying the coming

of the Savior, we begin to see why they were so excited.  This was an

absolutely essential event in the history of mankind.



	Jesus was the divinely appointed Beloved Son of God the Father,

and he was born of Mary into mortality.  In many ways, in the

incidentals like eating and talking and the wearing of clothes, he was

like other men.  But in parentage, being sired by the Eternal Father

himself, he was very different from all others.  It was necessary that

he be different from others so that he could make a payment for the

transgression of Adam and for everyone's personal, individual sins, 



	Every other person who has been born into the world has been born

subject to the fall of Adam and therefore subject to death.  Only Jesus

was able to die but remain undominated by death.  Thus, when he chose

to die, not having been made subject either by Adam's fall or by any

sins of his own, he could shed his blood and give his life as an

offering for others.  He could also rise from the dead with a perfect,

glorified physical body.  No one else was able to do that.



	I suppose that many of us, if not all, labored as missionaries for

the Savior in the premortal life, going among the spirits to persuade

others to choose the Savior, and following him in preparing for earth

life.  We now have a veil of forgetfulness drawn over our minds. and we

do not remember the details of those events; yet the spiritual capacity

that we developed in the pre-earth life has come with us into

mortality, and when we hear the gospel preached it strikes a familiar

note.  We are learning again principles we once knew; that capacity

responds to every true doctrine that is taught to us when it is

properly stated.  Our main business in this world is to continue that

spiritual development we started so long ago, and this we will do by

obedience to the gospel.



Jesus Is the Only True Redeemer 



	Jesus said about himself, "I am the Way, the Truth, the Life, the

Light, the Resurrection.  I am the Law.  I am the Lawgiver.  I am the

Standard, the Door, the Savior, the Shepherd, the Redeemer, the

Example, the Master, the Advocate.  I am your judge.  I am your Friend. 

I am your Lord. I am your God.  And I am the only way that you can be

redeemed."



	Paul wrote to the Philippians about Jesus: "God also hath highly

exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name"

(Philippians 2:9).



	As I have reflected upon the importance and the seriousness of all

of this and how quickly, we complain when something goes wrong, and how

often we feel we have been wronged, I remember the Lord has enjoined us

to be patient, to be full of love, to be long-suffering, to be

forgiving, and to pattern our lives after him.



	We started this devotional today by quoting from the Doctrine and

Covenants where the Lord said that every blessing we obtain in this

life is by obedience to a law and a plan that as worked out before the

foundations of the world.  We then read a statement from Nephi, where

he said he delighted in proving to his people the importance of the

coming of Christ and that, save Christ should come, there would be a

dearth and a gloom come upon all mankind.



	Now a word from Alma:



	Yea, and the voice of the Lord, by the mouth of angels, doth

declare it unto all nations, yea, doth declare it, that they may have

glad tidings of great joy; yea and he doth sound these glad tidings

among all his people, yea, even to them that are scattered abroad upon

the face of the earth; wherefore they have come unto us.



	And [the gospel is] made known unto us in plain terms, that we may

understand, that we cannot err; and this because of our being wanderers

in a strange land; therefore we are thus highly favored. . . . [Alma

13:22-23]



	Not to recognize and appreciate the atonement is the greatest of

all ingratitude; to ignore Christ is the height of folly; to obey him

is the greatest happiness.  The greatest display of wisdom that we can

demonstrate on this earth is to follow, the Lord and to keep his

commandments.



	If we take away from the plan of salvation the doctrine of the

fall of Adam and the doctrine of the atoning blood of Jesus Christ and

the concept of the pre-earth life, then we make of the gospel simply a

system of ethics.  And that will not do.  The gospel is ethical, but it

is so much more than that.  I rejoice with you in the coming of our

Lord Jesus Christ.  I am so glad he came.



	We see that our association with him is not optional, it is not

casual--it is absolutely critical and necessary. He has honored us by

letting us bear his name--for all of us when we are baptized take upon

ourselves the name of Jesus Christ.  That is an honor, a privilege.  He

calls us servants until we reach a certain level of faithfulness, and

then he calls us friends.  The promise is that we can become joint

heirs with Jesus in all that the Father has.



	As we move in the next few days toward the day on which we

celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, let us all remember and mingle our

testimonies with those of the prophets that Jesus Christ, our Elder

Brother, the Son of God, is our Leader, our Example, and our Savior.  I

bear testimony that I know those doctrines which I have taught to you

this day are true, and I pray that the Spirit of the Lord might carry

that feeling into your hearts, that, as we read the Christmas story, we

might realize not only what happened, but why it happened--and then

measure our favored condition today.  I say this in the name of the

Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen. 



                       The Mystery of Godliness



                           Bruce R. McConkie



	Elder Bruce Redd McConkie became a General Authority in 1946 when

he was called to the First Council of the Seventy.  In 1972 be was

sustained as a member of the Council of the Twelve, in which position

be served until he passed away on 19 April 1985.



	His parents were from southern Utah, but Elder McConkie was born

in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where his father was attending the University

of Michigan Law School.  When he was a young child, his family moved to

Monticello, Utah, where his father practiced law, and the children were

brought up on a farm.  Even after the family settled in Salt Lake City

they returned each summer to the farm in Monticello.



	After three years at the University of Utah, Elder McConkie served

in the Eastern States Mission, returning to the University of Utah to

earn his B.A. degree and, later, his L.L.B. from the law school.  He

began his service in World War II as a first lieutenant and retired at

the war's close as a lieutenant colonel.  After the war be worked as an

editorial writer for the Deseret News until his call to the First

Council of the Seventy.



	Elder McConkie married Amelia Smith, daughter of President Joseph

Fielding Smith, They became the Parents of nine children.



	Publications by Elder McConkie include the compilation of his

father-in-law's writings, Doctrines of Salvation in three volumes,

Doctrinal New Testament Commentary in three volumes, a six-volume

series on the Messiah, and the well-known Mormon Doctrine.  His work in

the Church took him all over the world.  He served as president of the

Southern Australian Mission with headquarters in Melbourne, as

servicemen's coordinator for fifteen years, and as supervisor of the

Asian missions, among other responsibilities.



	This fireside address was delivered in the Marriott Center on 6

January 1985.



	I rejoice in the privilege of presenting to the young and rising

generation some basic concepts about the deepest and most profound

doctrine of the gospel.



	It is the first principle of revealed religion, the great

cornerstone upon which all else rests, the foundation for all of the

doctrines of salvation.



	I shall speak of what the revealed word calls the mystery of

godliness.



	If our vision is blurred where this doctrine and these concepts

are concerned, or, if knowingly or unknowingly we have fallen prey to

any of the false sectarian notions that abound with reference to them,

our progress toward eternal life will be slow indeed.



Comprehending the Mystery of Godliness



	A mystery, so the dictionary says, is "something beyond human

comprehension." Defining the word from a theological standpoint, it

says a mystery is "an article of faith beyond human comprehension, as

the doctrine of the Trinity."



	How apt this illustration is! If there was ever something beyond

human comprehension, it is the sectarian doctrine of the Trinity.



	This doctrine defines God and the Godhead as a three-in-one spirit

essence that fills the immensity of space; it teaches that it and they

are without body, parts, or passions; it acclaims that it and they are

unknown, unknowable, and uncreated, and specifies, in the creeds, that

unless we believe all these things we cannot be saved.



	It is true that finite man cannot comprehend his Infinite Maker in

the full sense of the word.  We cannot tell how gods began to be or

from whence existent matter came.



	But we are duty-bound to learn all that God has revealed about

himself and his everlasting gospel.  If we are to gain eternal life we

must come to know the Great God and his Only Begotten, whom he sent

into the world.  And this probationary estate is the appointed time to

begin to know God, and to learn his laws, and thereby to start the

process of becoming like him.  If we do not so begin we shall never

receive the promised reward.



	Because God stands revealed or remains forever unknown, and

because the things of God are known only by the power of the Spirit,

perhaps we should redefine a mystery.  In the gospel sense, a mystery

is something beyond carnal comprehension.



	The saints are in a position to comprehend all mysteries, to

understand all doctrine, and eventually to know all things.  These high

levels of intelligence are reached only through faith and obedience and

righteousness.  A person who relies on the intellect alone and who does

not keep the commandments can never, worlds without end, comprehend the

mystery of godliness.



	There is probably more ignorance and confusion as to the mystery

of godliness than there is about any other doctrine.  As set forth in

the three creeds of Christendom--the Nicene, the Apostles', and the

Athanasian, which God himself said were an abomination in his

sight--and as defined in the articles of religion of the various

denominations, this doctrine is a mass of confusion and a mountain of

falsity.



	Even in the Church, thanks to a lack of knowledge and to

intellectuality and the worldly enticement to conform to the general

beliefs of an apostate Christendom, there are those who have fallen

prey to many false delusions about deity.  By way of illustration let

us note some of the problems.



Who and What Is God? 



	Is there a God? If so, who or what is he? Is he the laws and

forces of nature? Or an image of mud or gold? Or is he Baal, the

resurrected son of El to whom the Canaanites offered human sacrifices?

Is he Allah or Buddha or the confusing and contradictory nothingness

described in the creeds of Christendom?



	Is there such a thing as the Trinity in which the Father, Son, and

Holy Ghost are three gods, and yet one god, a god who neither hears,

nor speaks, nor appears, as did the one worshipped by the ancients?



	Is God omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, or are these

descriptive designations part of the legends of sectarianism?



	Are there three gods or one? Why does Jesus say his Father is

greater than he, and Paul say Jesus is equal with the Father? Why the

great scriptural emphasis on proclaiming that three gods are one, and

that the Lord our God is one Lord?



	What of the mystery of our Lord's birth? Indeed, why should God

even have a son? Is Jesus the Son of Man, or the Son of God, or is

there a difference? Was it necessary to have a Savior and Redeemer, or

is the Koran correct in teaching that God had no need for a son because

Allah has but to speak and a thing is done?



	By what power could Jesus atone for the sins of the world, or rise

from death's dark tomb, or ascend physically into heaven? Is the

atonement truly infinite and eternal, applying to all worlds and all

created things?



	Why does an angel say to John, "I am Alpha and Omega," and when

John falls at his feet to worship him, say: "See thou do it not: I am

thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of

Jesus: worship God" (Revelations 1:8, 19:10)?



	Why does Jesus say: I am the Son of God, and I said such and such

unto mine Only Begotten, when in fact the Only Begotten is the

offspring, not of the Son, but of the Father?



	Why does Christ say: I am the Father and the Son and I created man

in mine own image when in fact Christ is the Son and not the Father,

and when man was created, not by the Son, but by the Father?



	What relationship do we have with the Lord? Do we worship the

Father and him only, or do we also worship the Son? Should we seek for

some special relationship with Christ, or does the plan of salvation

call for us to seek the Spirit and thereby gain a oneness with both the

Father and the Son?



	All these are but sample questions, questions that raise some of

the issues relative to the mystery of godliness.



Understanding Through the Power of the Spirit 



	It is our friend Paul who tells us: "Without controversy great is

the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in

the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in

the world, received up into glory" (1 Timothy 3:16).



	We agree.  But all these things are beyond carnal comprehension. 

God dwelling in the flesh! How can anyone understand such a

pronouncement unless quickened by the power of the Spirit?



	The revealed word to Joseph Smith announces that endless torment

does not last forever, and that eternal damnation is of limited

duration.  In spite of the plain meaning of words, the divine word is

that eternal punishment and endless punishment do in fact have an end.



	"For, behold, the mystery of godliness, how great is it," the Lord

says, as he gives to these words a special scriptural definition.  As

he says, this is done so that the concepts involved might work upon the

hearts of the children of men, altogether for my name's glory" (D&C

19:6-12).



	As it is with such a mystery as God dwelling in the flesh, or as

eternal punishment having no reference to the duration, but rather to

the kind of punishment, so it is with all else embraced within the

designation the mystery of godliness.



	The doctrine is what the doctrine is, and the concepts are what

the concepts are.  It is of no moment whatever that they spread

confusion among uninspired worshippers at divers shrines, or among

intellectuals whose interest in religion is purely academic and who

rely on the power of the mind rather than the power of the Spirit for

understanding.



	Gospel truths are known and understood only by the power of the

Spirit.  Eternal life--which is to know God--is such an infinitely

great reward that men must study, ponder, and pray, with all their

hearts, to gain the needed knowledge.



	The Lord gives his truths line upon line and precept upon precept

to those who believe and obey.  Saving truths come by revelation to

prophets, not by reason to false priests or doctors of debate,

dissension, and divisiveness.



	Let us, then, consider the mystery of godliness from the Lord's

standpoint, setting forth correct principles, which will enable all who

are spiritually enlightened to keep themselves on the proper path.



	Let us do so with courage and without fear, but in reverence and

with an open mind.  If we are contrite and receptive, if we truly

desire truth, and if we are guided by the Spirit in our search, we

shall come off triumphant.  We shall embrace every true principle and

shunt every false doctrine back into the enveloping darkness from

whence it came.



Search Deeper and Deeper 



	As we walk the razor's edge--the razor that divides truth from

near truths, which sometimes have a pleasing attraction--let us be

mindful of these words of the Prophet Joseph Smith: "The Savior has the

words of eternal life.  Nothing else can profit us. . . .I advise all

to go on to perfection, and search deeper and deeper into the mysteries

of Godliness" (Teachings, p. 364).



	Let us ponder these basic concepts:



	1.God is the Supreme Being.  He is the only supreme and

independent being in whom all fullness and perfection dwells.  He is

the Creator, Preserver, and Upholder of the universe and all that in it

is.  He is without beginning of days or end of life, and by him all

things are.  He is the object of all proper worship and from him all

good gifts flow He presides over and governs all things and therefore

has no equal.  That there is and can be only one supreme being is

axiomatic.  There can be three equal beings who possess the same

character, perfections, and attributes, but there is and can be only

one who is supreme, who is the head, and to whom all others are

subject.



	2. He is a holy man and has a body of flesh and bones.  It is

written: "No unclean thing can dwell. . .in his presence; for, in the

language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and the name of his Only

Begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ" (Moses 6:57).  That is,

he is Ahman, and the name of his Only Begotten is Son Ahman.



	And as it was with Jesus, the Son, who came forth in the

resurrection with a glorified, immortal, resurrected body of flesh and

bones, so it was with his Father before him.  Joseph Smith said: "God

himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits

enthroned in yonder heavens!" (Teachings, p. 345).  Truly, truly, it is

written: "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as

man's" (D&C 130:22).



	3. He is the Eternal Father, the Father of Spirits.  God lives in

the family unit and is the Father of Spirits, of spirit men and spirit

women, hosts of whom are now being born as mortal beings.  He is, "Our

Father which art in heaven"  (Matthew 6:9).  We are his children, and

we are governed by his laws and are subject to his chastisement, all of

which caused Paul to say: "We have had fathers of our flesh which

corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be

in Subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?" (Hebrews 12:9).



	4. He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.  Let there be no

mistake about this.  God has all power; he is the Almighty.  He knows

all things, and there is nothing in all eternity, in universe upon

universe, that he does not know.  Joseph Smith so taught, and all our

scriptures, ancient and modern, bear a concordant testimony.  He is not

a student god, and he is not progressing in knowledge or learning new

truths.  If he knows how to create and govern worlds without number,

and all that on them is, what is there left for him to learn? Also, he

is omnipresent, meaning that by the power of his spirit he is in all

things, and through all things, and round about all things.



	5. What is the nature of God's life? The name of the kind of life

that God lives is eternal life.  One of his names, speaking in the noun

sense, is Eternal, and he simply uses that name to describe the kind of

life he lives.  Eternal life consists of two things: (1) life in the

family unit and (2) having the fullness of the Father, which is all

power in heaven and on earth.  It is because God has eternal life that

he became the Father of Spirits as well as the creator and governor of

all things.



	6. Whence came the plan of salvation? It is simply the laws and

ordinances by obedience to which men gain eternal life and thus become

as God is and be gods in their own right.  Joseph Smith said: "God

himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he

was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest

could have a privilege to advance like himself. . . . He has power to

institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they may be

exalted with himself, so that they might have one glory upon another,

and all that knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence, which is

requisite in order to save them in the world of spirits" (Teachings, p.

354).



	7. Who are Elohim and Jehovah? They are the Father and the Son. 

The Everlasting Elohim is the Great God by whom all things are; the

Eternal Jehovah is his Firstborn in the spirit and his Only Begotten in

the flesh.  Jehovah is thus our Elder Brother, and as such was subject

to the same plan of salvation, the plan given of Elohim for the

salvation of all his children.



	While yet in the premortal existence, jehovah advanced and

progressed until he became like unto God.  Under the direction of the

Father he became the Creator of worlds without number, and thus was

himself the Lord Omnipotent.



	8. Christ was chosen in the premortal existence as the Savior and

Redeemer. After the Father had presented his plan of salvation to all

his spirit children, after it had been taught so that all understood

that what Elohim proposed would enable his spirit children to gain

eternal life, after all the hosts of heaven had been taught what they

must do in connection with their coming mortal probation--after all

this the Father of us all called a Grand Council.  we were all present

to hear Ms voice and to accept or reject the proposal he then made.



	In that council he said: "Whom shall I send to be my Son, to work

out the infinite and eternal atonement, to put into full operation all

of the terms and conditions of my plan to save my children." There were

two volunteers--a conforming and obedient Jehovah and a rebellious and

disobedient Lucifer.



	The choice was made and the decree sent forth.  The Father named

his Beloved and Chosen One; he chose the Lord Jehovah who was the

Creator of all things, and who was then the Lord Omnipotent.  He would

be the one born as the Lord Jesus Christ.  And this Chosen One was then

foreordained and acclaimed as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the

earth.



	9. Man was created and commanded to serve the Father.  It is

written: "He created man, male and female, after his own image and in

his own likeness, created he them; And gave unto them commandments that

they should love and serve him, the only living and true God, and that

he should be the only, being whom they should worship' (D&C 20:18--19).



	Please let these words of scripture sink into your heart and do

not be confused about them.  In order to gain salvation, we worship the

Father and him only.  He created us, he provided the plan of salvation,

he called Christ to be the Savior and Redeemer, and he is the one that

we and Christ shall be like if we are true and faithful in all things. 

We shall refer hereafter to the sense in which we worship Christ.



	10. Man fell, became mortal, and entered a probationary estate. 

Created in a paradisiacal state in which there was no disease nor

sorrow nor death--a state of innocence in which he could have no joy

for he knew no misery in which he could do no good, for he knew no

sin--man, in conformity with the divine purpose, fell.



	Temporal and spiritual death entered the world.  Man became

mortal.  For the first time he could procreate and provide bodies for

the spirits yet in the premortal existence.  Truly "Adam fell that men

might be" (2 Nephi 2:22-25).  We entered a probationary estate in which

we are tried and tested to see if we will do all things whatsoever the

Lord our God shall command us.



	11. The Father provided a Savior and Redeemer.  The eternal plan

of salvation consists of the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement. 

The Father having created men in his own image, and Adam having fallen

that mortal man might enter his probationary estate, it but remained

for the Father to provide a savior and Redeemer.  This he did in the

person of his Only Begotten.



	Thus Christ came into the world to ransom men from the temporal

and spiritual death brought about by, the fall of Adam.  Thus all men

are redeemed from the temporal death through the resurrection.  All

became immortal.  "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be

made alive" (1 Corinthians 15:22).  And thus all men may be redeemed

from spiritual death if they believe and obey, if they are true and

faithful, if they keep the commandments.



	12. Christ is the Mediator.  Man in his fallen state is forever

lost unless he rises from the fall and regains the spiritual life that

once was his.  He must return to that God from whose presence he

departed when he left the paradisiacal confines of Eden.  Christ's

mission is to bring to pass this reunion.  He mediates the cause of the

children of men so they can once again be in harmony with their Maker.



	"God our Savior," Paul tells us, "is willing to have all men to be

saved." in order to be saved, he says, they must "come unto the

knowledge of the truth which is in Christ Jesus, who is the Only

Begotten Son of God." He is the one who is "ordained to be a Mediator

between God and man."



	Then our ancient apostolic friend makes this great declaration:

"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man

Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all" (JST, I Timothy

2:3--6).



	Ponder this concept: There is one God, one Supreme Being, one

above all who dwells in heaven.  He appointed a man--Christ Jesus, Paul

calls him--to be a mediator between the Father and his fallen children. 

And this mediator, though serving as a man when he atoned for the sins

of the world, has now become as his Father and reigns with him in

everlasting glory



	13. The gospel is the plan of reconciliation.  Through the

mediation of Jesus Christ it is within the power of fallen man to be

reconciled with the Father.  Christ's ministry is one of

reconciliation; as he is a mediator, so he is a reconciler.  And we as

his servants are appointed to labor in a like manner.



	Paul tells us that God "hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus

Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." This

doctrine is, he continues, "that God was in Christ, reconciling the

world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them," on

conditions of faith and repentance.  And he "hath committed unto us the

word of reconciliation," making us, thus, ambassadors for Christ," and

enabling us to say to all men: "We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye

reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:18--20).



	14. Christ is our advocate.  We have an advocate, eternal in the

heavens, one who knows our infirmities, our sufferings, and our

sorrows, because he too was subject to the flesh, and suffered beyond

our comprehension while he dwelt as a man.  Indeed, he was "a man of

sorrows, and acquainted with grief," and he bore "our griefs, and

carried our sorrows" (Isaiah 53:3-4).



	These are his words as he now pleads our cause in the courts

above: "Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin,

in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was

shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be

glorified; Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on

my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life" (D&C

45:4-5).



	15. Christ is the God of our Fathers.  He is the God of Adam, and

Enoch, and all of the saints who were before the flood.  He is the God

of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and of all the holy prophets.  As Jacob

the Nephite said,



	We knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred

years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his

glory but also all the holy prophets which were before us.



	Behold, they believed in Christ and worshiped the Father in his

name, and also we worship the Father in his name. [Jacob 4:4-5]



	Thus all of the ancient saints--all those from Adam to Noah, and

from Noah to Abraham, and from Abraham to Moses, and from Moses to the

coming of Jesus in the flesh--all of the truly faithful ones of old had

the gospel.  They were baptized and received the gift of the Holy Ghost

they were endowed with power from on high: they received the blessings

of celestial marriage.  The gospel is everlasting, And all men in all

ages are saved by obedience to the same laws and the same ordinances.



	16. Christ is the Promised Messiah.  For 4,000 years--from Adam to

John the son of Zacharias--all of the prophets foretold the coming of

the Messiah, the Deliverer, the Holy One who would deliver his people,

redeem the faithful, and ransom all men from death, hell, the devil,

and endless torment.  All of the ancient saints testified of a Christ

who would come to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of

man, even as we testify of a Risen Lord who has taken captivity captive

and opened the gates of heaven to all who believe and obey.



	17. The mystery of the birth of our Lord. To those with spiritual

insight and understanding there is no mystery.  The Lord Jehovah, the

Firstborn spirit, Son of the Father, was born as the Lord Jesus.  God

was his Father and Mary was his mother.  He was the Only Begotten in

the flesh.  From his Father, who is a holy man, he inherited the power

of immortality, which is the power to live everlastingly; from his

mother, a choice and chosen vessel of the lineage of David, he

inherited the power of mortality, which is the power to die.



	Thus, being dual in nature, he as able to lay down his life and to

take it again.  Thus he gave up the ghost at Golgotha, and three days

later took up his partially embalmed and anointed body as it lay

lifeless in an Arimathean's tomb.



	18. Christ ministered among mortals. Though our Blessed Lord came

into the world to die upon the cross for the sins of the world, though

that was the chief intent and purpose of his mortal ministry, though

his assigned ministry as to atone for the sins of the world--yet, while

he as here, he restored the fullness of the gospel to the earth and

taught its doctrines through all Judea and Galilee and beyond.



	But, be it remembered, the gospel he taught originated with God

his Father.  "My doctrine is not mine," he said, "but his that sent me. 

If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it

be of God, or whether I speak of myself" (John 7:16--17).



	19. Christ worked out his own salvation. This is something of

which uninspired men have no comprehension.  Truly, he was the Lord

Omnipotent before the world was; truly, he was like unto the Father in

the premortal life; truly he was the Son of God here on earth--and yet,

with it all, as with all the spirit children of the same Father, he too

was subject to all of the terms and conditions of the Father's plan.



	He also was born on earth to undergo a mortal probation, to die,

to rise again in immortal glory, to be judged according to his works,

and to receive his place of infinite glory in the eternal kingdom of

his Everlasting Father.  How well Paul said:



	Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which

he suffered:



	And being made perfect, he became the author [that is, the cause]

of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. [Hebrews 5:8-9]



	20. Christ worshipped the Father.  This also is something that is

seemingly unknown in the sectarian world.  Of course our Blessed Lord,

the Lord Jesus himself, the one who is our Savior and Redeemer, of

course he worshipped the Father.  How else could he (not having

received the fullness at the first, as John tells us) go from grace to

grace until he received the fullness of the glory of the Father?



	Why else would he say to Mary Magdalene as she bowed before him on

the resurrection morning: "Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I

ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God"

(John 20:17)? Note it and note it well--Elohim is the God of Jehovah as

truly and as fully as he is our God.  And as Christ worshipped the

Father, so must it be with us if we are to go where Christ is and be

like him, according to the promises.



	21. Christ--the Atoning One and the Crucified One.  That which

happened in Gethsemane and at Golgotha constitutes a mystery we cannot

comprehend.  We do not know how a God could bear the sins of all men on

conditions of repentance.  We cannot fathom the agony involved when

Jesus, suffering both body, and spirit, sweat great drops of blood from

every pore.  We only know that it was part of the plan of the Father

and that our Lord drank to the full the cup that was his.



	In Gethsemane, perhaps for three hours or more, and then again

during the final three hours on the cross of Calvary, in agony beyond

comprehension or compare, Jesus worked out the infinite and eternal

atonement. For our purposes it suffices to know that this ordeal, plus

his rising in glorious immortality, has brought to pass the immortality

of all men and made eternal life available to all the obedient.



	22. Christ--the Resurrected One and the Ascended One.  As the sun

crowns the day and banishes the darkness of the night, so the

resurrection crowns the Atonement and forever abolishes the death that

otherwise would have been eternal.  Out of the agonies of the one came

the glory of the other.



	Christ our Lord rose in glorious immortality, the firstfruits of

them that sleep, and then, ascending to his Father, we received all

power in heaven and on earth.  And in a way, incomprehensible to us,

the effects of his resurrection shall pass upon us all, and we too

shall have power, if true and faithful in all things, to ascend to

heights beyond the stars.



	Now, if time and circumstances permitted, we might continue our

presentation and add another score or a hundred headings to those so

far named--all shedding light upon that which is mysterious to the

carnal mind.



	Perhaps you should continue the inquiry, resolving such mysteries

as the following:



	How the Holy Ghost can be a personage of spirit and yet convey his

gifts to millions of mortals at one and the same time.



	What eternal covenant was made relative to man--by God the First,

and God the Second, and God the Third--before the foundations of the

earth.



	How and in what manner we worship Christ when the revealed word

decrees that we should worship and pray to the Father and to him only,

and to none other.



	How and in what manner the Lord Jesus both worships the Father and

is an equal to him.



	What is meant by the numerous scriptures that say Christ is the

Father as well as the Son.



	Why angels sometimes speak in the first person as though they were

Christ, and why Christ himself often speaks in the first person as

though he were the Father.



	Why our great goal in life should be to gain the Spirit of the

Lord as our companion, and what results will flow from such an attained

eventuality.



	And so on and so on and so on,



	The scriptures are in our hands.  The door to investigation and

research and learning is never closed.  We are all expected to learn

the same truths, live the same laws, and open the same door to the same

mysteries.



	For thus saith the Lord--I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious

unto those who fear me. and delight to honor those who serve me in

righteousness and in truth unto the end.



	Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory.



	And to them will I reveal all mysteries, yea, all the hidden

mysteries of my kingdom from days of old. and for ages to come will I

make known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all things

pertaining to my kingdom.



	Yea, even the wonders of eternity shall they know and things to

come will I show them. even the things of many generations.



	And their wisdom shall be great, and their understanding reach to

heaven; and before them the wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the

understanding of the prudent shall come to naught.



	For by my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I

make known unto them the secrets of my will--yea, even those things

which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart

of man. [D&C 76:5-10]



	Now this work in which we are engaged is true.  And the doctrines

which we proclaim are God's eternal truth.  And as the Lord lives, they

will endure in time and in eternity.  He has placed us here in a mortal

circumstance and commanded us to seek him and to strive to be like him. 

He has given us an abundant amount of revealed truth in the holy

scriptures, They are before us; they are available to each of us on the

same basis.  The prophet said that God has not revealed anything to

Joseph that he will not reveal to the Twelve and to the least and last

Saint as soon as he is able to bear it.   



	My prayer is that we, the rising and young generation in whose

hands the future and destiny of the Church lies for the decades and

ages that are ahead before the second coming of the Son of Man, will

take the challenge and search deeply and learn the mysteries of

godliness and let them be the standard around which we rally and be the

guide that directs our lives in all that we do.  If this be our course,

we will surely have peace and joy and happiness in this life, and be

inheritors of eternal life in the world to come, which may God grant

for all of us, in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.



                 Some Things We Have Learned--Together



                  Jeffrey R. and Patricia T. Holland



	President Jeffrey R. Holland and his wife Patricia Terry Holland

were both born in St. George Utah, and attended Dixie College.  They

were married while students at BYU, where Jeff worked on his master's

degree.  From BYU they went to New Haven, Connecticut, where President

Holland received his Ph.D. at Yale University.



	In the Church Educational System, Jeff served as an instructor and

a director in the institute program and as dean of Religious

Instruction at BYU before be became the Church commissioner of

education. In 1980 he was called to be president of Brigham Young

University.



	In the midst of all this activity and moving around, Pat Holland

became the mother of three children, Matthew, Mary Alice, and David,

supervised the packing and unpacking and made their various residences

seem like home, finding time to practice her music and to work, in the

Church.  While her husband was serving as high councilor bishop, or

counselor in a stake presidency, she served four times as Relief

Society president and also in the Young Women and Primary

organizations.  And then, in May 1984, Patricia was called to be first

counselor to Ardeth G. Kapp, president of the Young Women organization

of the Church.



	This devotional address was presented in the Marriott Center on 15

January, 1985



	Jeff: Each time we have given an address to this student body, we

have started off with a moment or two together, usually including a

couple of jokes about my father-in-law.  Then we have each presented

individual messages.  Today we are going to do something a little

different--we are both going to stay up here because our message today

is a shared one.  What you see is what you get--the two of us"The Pat

and Jeff Show." Indeed, we have tentatively entitled our remarks "Some

Things We Have Learned--Together" and we hope both the audience and the

television camera can handle two of us at once.



	Pat: We are going to talk about some of the "before" and "after"

of marriage--our marriage.  But this will be slightly different from

what might seem a traditional BYU sermonette on the subject.  For one

thing, this year we reach a milestone in our lives--we will have lived

as long married to each other, twenty--two years, as we did before

marriage.  Surely that ought to justify some sort of sage advice from

us.



	Jeff: Yes, I was told on that fateful day in 1963 that with

marriage I had come to the end of my troubles.  I just didn't realize

which end they were speaking of.



	Pat: The last thing we want to do is sound self--righteous, so our

first assurance is that our marriage is not perfect, and we have the

scar tissue to prove it.  To quote my father, the rocks in Jeff's head

have not yet filled the holes in mine.



	Jeff: So forgive us for using the only marriage we know, imperfect

as it is, but for some time now we have wanted to reflect back on the

half of our lives spent together since we were students at BYU and to

see what, if anything, it might mean to you as you look ahead

twenty-two years from now.



	Pat: Before you get up and leave, let me again reassure you that

this isn't going to be the usual BYU talk on matrimony, important as

that is.  For one thing, we are going to try to apply these little

lessons we have learned to all of you--single or married.  For another

thing, we fear that too many of you, especially the women in our

student body, are too anxious about the subject already.  So please

don't be anxious.



	Jeff: On the other hand, I know a few men around here who ought to

be a little more anxious than they are.



	Pat: Well, you're the president.  Do something about it!



	Jeff: Brethren, get anxious.  Or, to be slightly more scriptural,

get "anxiously engaged."



	Pat: For all of the rest of you out there,  women and men, we

really believe romance and marriage, if they are going to come, will

come a lot more naturally if you worry about them a lot less.  By the

same token we also know that is easy to say and hard to do.  It's hard

because so much of our young life in the Church is measured on a

precise time sequence.  We are baptized at eight.  At twelve the young

men are ordained deacons and the young women enter Mutual.  Then we

date at sixteen, graduate from high school at eighteen, and go on

missions at nineteen or twenty--one.



	Jeff: But then, suddenly, it is less and less structured, less and

less certain.  When do we marry? Surely in a Church manual somewhere

there must be a specific year for that! Well, there isn't.  Matters of

marriage are much more personal than a prepublished celestial calendar

would allow.  And so our anxiety level leaps.



	Pat: With that acknowledgment we are aware that some of you will

not marry during your years at BYU, nor perhaps during the years

thereafter.  By talking on this subject we do not intend to make it

more painful for some than it already is, but rather to draw some

observations from our own marriage that might be of value to all of

you--younger, older, married, or single.  We pray for the blessings of

the Lord to help us share something of our brief, ordinary, and

sometimes tumultuous life together.  Another twenty--two years of

working things out would let us give a much better talk.



	Jeff:  With that long introduction I don't know whether this is

our first piece of counsel or our last, but in any case, don't rush

things needlessly and unnaturally.  Nature has its rhythms and its

harmonies.  We would do well to fit ourselves as best we can with those

cycles rather than frantically throwing ourselves against them.  As

suggested a moment ago, I know that for some of you "rushing things" is

not the problem.  For the group whose progress is being measured in

glacial centimeters, forget this part of the message.  But for the rest

of you, be calm, be patient, be happy with the season you are in.



	Pat: As we look back on it now, twenty-two seems, if anything,

pretty young to be getting married, though that was the right time for

us.  When it is right, it should be pursued, and for some that will be

younger-or older-than others.  But don't march to an arbitrary drummer

who seems to be beating a frenzied cadence to the passing years.



	Jeff: Twenty-one--



	Pat: (Oh, dear, I'm facing. . .)



	Jeff: Twenty-two--



	Pat: (Will I ever find him?)



	Jeff: Twenty-three--



	Pat: (Oh, woe is me, woe is me.)



	Jeff: Twenty-four--



	Pat: (Death, make me thine! O grave,  receive me!)



	Jeff: Well, that's a little melodramatic, but: not much.



	Pat: We know of a few--not many, but a few--who have panicked that

she ...



	Jeff: or he ...



	Pat: has not yet hit that matrimonial target established at ten

years of age, or, worse yet, one established by a well-meaning aunt

whose greeting every Christmas seems to be, "Well. you've been at BYU a

full semester now.  Have you found Mr. Right?"



	Jeff: Or that solicitous uncle who says, "You've been home from

your mission six weeks now.  I guess wedding bells will be ringing

soon, won't they? They will, won't they?"



	Pat: Of course, we are not the best ones in the world to speak on

that particular aspect inasmuch as we were engaged thirty days after

Jeff got home from his mission.



	Jeff: Well, I had a solicitous uncle.



	Pat: But you also have to remember--and this is the point we hope

to make here--that we knew each other well for two years before we

started dating, dated another two years before Jeff's mission, and then

wrote for those two years he was away.  That's six years of friendship

before we were engaged.  Besides, when I first dated Jeff I couldn't

stand him. (I just throw that in as reassurance to you women out there

who are dating men you can't stand.)



	Jeff: I throw it in as reassurance to the men who can't be stood!



	Pat:  Then, still not to be outdone in the waiting game, I left

for New York the day after we were engaged, leaving Jeff to hammer away

at school while I studied music and filled a stake mission

three-fourths of a continent away from him.  That added another ten

months, so I think it's fair to say we didn't rush things.



	Jeff: Quite apart from the matter of school or missions or

marriage or whatever, life ought to be enjoyed at every stage of our

experience and should not be hurried and wrenched and truncated and

torn to fit an unnatural schedule which you have predetermined but

which may not be the Lord's personal plan for you at all.  As we look

back with you today, we realize we have probably rushed too many things

and been too anxious and too urgent for too much of our life, and

perhaps you are already guilty of the same thing.  We probably all get

caught thinking real life is still ahead of us, still a little farther

down the road.



	Pat: Don't wait to live.  Obviously, life for all of us began a

long time ago-twenty-two years longer for us than for you--and the sand

is falling through that hourglass as steadily as the sun rises and

rivers run to the sea.  Don't wait for life to gallop in and sweep you

off your feet.  It is a quieter, more pedestrian visitor than that. In

a church which understands more about time and its relationship to

eternity than any other, we of all people ought to savor every moment,

ought to enjoy, the time of preparation before marriage, filling it

full of all the truly good things of life--one of the most valuable of

which is a university education.



	Jeff: Before we leave this subject, let me add just one other

related caution.  In my professional and ecclesiastical life working

with young adults--roughly, the same second-half period of my life that

corresponds to our marriage--I have regularly, run into young men and

women who are looking for that idealized partner who is some perfect

amalgamation of virtues and characteristics seen in parents, loved

ones, Church leaders, movie stars, sports heroes, political leaders, or

any other wonderful men and women they may have known.



	Pat: Certainly it is important to have thought through those

qualities and attributes which you most admire in others, and which you

yourself ought to be acquiring.  But remember that when young people

have visited with Sister Camilla Kimball about how wonderful it must be

to be married to a prophet, she has said, "Yes, it is wonderful to be

married to a prophet, but I didn't marry a prophet.  I just married a

returned missionary" Consider this statement from President Kimball on

such down-to-earth choices:



	Two people come from different back-grounds soon learn after the

ceremony is performed that stark reality must be faced. There is no

longer a life of fantasy or of make-believe; we must come out of the

clouds and put our feet firmly on the earth. . . .



	One comes to realize very soon after the marriage that the spouse

has weaknesses not previously revealed or discovered.  The virtues

which were constantly magnified during courtship now grow relatively

smaller, and the weaknesses which seemed so small and insignificant

during courtship now grow to sizable proportions....



	... yet real, lasting happiness is possible... [and it] is within

the reach of every couple, every person.  "Soul mates " are fiction and

an illusion; and while every young man and young woman will seek with

all diligence and prayerfulness to find a mate with whom life can be

most compatible and beautiful, yet it is certain that almost any good

man and any good woman can have happiness and a successful marriage if

both are willing to pay the price. [Spencer W Kimball, "Marriage and

Divorce," Speeches of the Year (Provo, Utah: BYU Press, 1976), pp.

145--46; emphasis added]



	On that note let us share with You a little "stark reality" of our

own.  Jeff and I have conversations from time to time which bring us

down "out of the clouds," to use President Kimball's phrase.



	Do you want to know what I have told him he does that irritates me

the most? It is that he walks everywhere in a hurry--first five, then

ten, then fifty feet in front of me, I have learned now to just call

out and tell him when he gets where he's going to save me a place.



	Jeff: Well, as long as we are telling secrets, do you want to know

what irritates me? It is that she is always late and that we are

therefore always running to get somewhere, with me first five, then

ten, then fifty feet in front of her.



	Pat: We have learned to laugh about that a little, and now

compromise--I watch the time a bit better, he slows down a stride or

two, and we actually touch fingertips about every other bounce.



	Jeff: But we don't have everything worked out yet--like room

temperatures.  I used to joke about LDS scripturalists who worried

about the body temperature of translated beings.  I don't joke anymore,

because I now worry seriously about my wife's body temperature.  She

has an electric blanket on high for eleven months of the year.  She

suffers hypothermia at the Fourth of July picnic.  She thaws out from

about 2:00 to 3:30 on the afternoon of August 12th, then it's bundle-up

time again.



	Pat: He ought to talk.  He throws the window open every night as

if he's Admiral Peary looking for the South Pole.  But just let someone

suggest a little winter morning's jogging and he sounds like a wounded

Siberian sheepdog.  Mr. Health here can't tie his shoelaces without

taking oxygen.



	Jeff: As for different backgrounds, it's hard to think two kids

from St. George could have different backgrounds--or even any

background at all.  But regarding financial matters, Pat came from a

family in which her father was very careful with money (and therefore

always had some to share generously) while I came from a family in

which my dad grew up without any money but later spent it as generously

as if he had.  Both families were very happy, but when the two of us

came together it was "Hail, Columbia. . ."



	Pat: ". . .and the devil take the hindmost." That introduces to us

another of those "stark realities" of marriage.  To quote Elder Marvin

J. Ashton in an address he recently gave to the membership of the

Church:



	How important are money management and finances in marriage and

family affairs? Tremendously The American Bar Association recently

indicated that 89 percent of all divorces could be traced to quarrels

and accusations over money. [Another study] estimated that 75 percent

of all divorces result from clashes over finances.  Some professional

counselors indicated that four out of [every] five families [wrestle]

with serious money problems....



	A prospective wife could well concern herself not with the amount

her husband-to-be can earn in a month, but rather how will he manage

the money that comes into his hands. . . A prospective husband who is

engaged to a sweetheart who has everything would do well to take yet

another look and see if she has money management sense. [Marvin J.

Ashton, "One for the Money," Ensign, July 1975, p. 72]



	Controlling your financial circumstances is another one of those

"marriage skills" and we put that in quotation marks that obviously

matters to everyone and matters long before entering into marriage.  It

matters while you're here at the university and you should learn to use

a budget right now-today-this moment.  One of the great laws of heaven

and earth is that your expenses need to be less than your income.  You

can reduce your anxiety and your pain and your early marital

discord--indeed, you can reduce your parents' anxiety and pain and

marital discord right now! if you will learn to manage a budget.



	Jeff: As part of this general financial caution, we encourage, if

necessary, plastic surgery for both husband and wife.  This is a very

painless operation and it may give you more self-esteem than a new nose

job or a tummy tuck. just cut up your credit cards.  Unless you are

prepared to use those cards under the strictest of conditions and

restraints, you should not use them at all--at least not at 18 percent

or 21 percent or 24 percent interest.  No convenience known to modern

man has so jeopardized the financial stability of a family especially

young struggling families--like the ubiquitous credit card.  "Don't

leave home without it?" That's precisely, why he is leaving home--



	Pat: and why she is leaving him! May I paraphrase something

President J. Reuben Clark said once in general conference:



	[Debt] never sleeps nor sickens nor dies: it never goes to the

hospital; it works on Sundays and holidays; it never takes vacation it

is never laid off work . . . ; it buys no food, it wears no clothes; it

is unhoused . . . ; it has neither weddings nor births nor deaths; it

has no love, no sympathy; it is as hard and soulless as a granite

cliff.  Once in debt, [it] is your companion every minute of the day

and night; you cannot shun it or slip away from it; you cannot dismiss

it; . . . and whenever you get in its way or cross its course or fail

to meet its demands, it crushes you. [J.  Reuben Clark, Jr., CR, Apr.

1938, p. 103]



	Jeff: Your religion should protect you against immorality and

violence and any number of other family tragedies which strike at

marriages throughout the land.  And if you will let it, your religion

will protect You against financial despair as well.  Pay your tithes

and offerings first, No greater financial protection can be offered

you.  Then simply budget what is left the rest of that month.  Make do

with what you have.  Do without.  Say no.  Your head can be held high

even if your clothing is not the most stylish nor your home the most

regal.  It can be held high for the simple reason that it is not bent

or bowed with the relentless burden of debt.



	Pat: Well, that's more than we intended to say about money, but we

remember when we were your age.



	Jeff: I remember last month.



	This last topic is the most difficult of all, and probably the

most important.  I hope we can communicate our feelings about it.  Much

has been said to you during your dating years about the impropriety of

intimacy before marriage.  We have spoken on that here in this setting

in earlier speeches.  It is a message we hope you continue to hear

often and one which we hope you honor with the integrity expected of a

Latter--day Saint man or woman.  But in these concluding moments we

wish to say something about intimacy after marriage, an intimacy that

goes far beyond the physical relationship a married couple enjoys. 

Such an issue seems to us to be at the very heart of the true meaning

of marriage.



	Pat: Marriage is the highest and holiest and most sacred of human

relationships.  And it is, because of that, the most intimate.  When

God brought Adam and Eve together before there was any death to

separate them, he said, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his

mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh"

(Genesis 2:24).  To reinforce the imagery of that unity, the scriptures

indicate that God had figuratively taken a rib from Adam's side to make

Eve, not from his front that she should lead him and not from his back

that she should despise him, but from his side, under his arm, close to

his heart.  There, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, husband and

wife were to be united in every way, side by side.  They were to give

themselves totally to each other, and to "cleave unto [each other] and

none else" (D&C 42:22).



	Jeff: To give ourselves so totally to another person is the most

trusting and perhaps the most fateful step we take in life.  It seems

such a risk and such an act of faith.  None of us walking toward the

altar would seem to have the confidence to reveal everything that we

are all our hopes, all our fears, all our dreams, all our

weaknesses--to another person.  Safety and good sense and this world's

experience suggest that we hang back a little, that we not wear our

heart on our sleeve where it can so easily be hurt by one who knows so

much about us.  We fear, as Zechariah prophesied of Christ, that we

will be "wounded in the house of [our] friends" (Zechariah 13:6).



	But no marriage is really worth the name, at least not in the

sense that God expects us to be married, if we do not fully invest all

that we have and all that we are in this other person who has been

bound to us through the power of the holy priesthood.  Only when we are

willing totally to share life does God find us worthy to give life. 

Paul's analogy for this complete commitment was that of Christ and the

Church.  Could Christ, even in his most vulnerable moments in

Gethsemane or Calvary, hold back? In spite of what hurt might be in it,

could he fail to give all that he was and all that he had for the

salvation of his bride, his church, his followers--those who would take

upon them his name even as in a marriage vow?



	Pat: And by the same token, his church cannot be reluctant or

apprehensive or doubtful in its commitment to him whose members we are. 

So, too, in a marriage.  Christ and the Church, the groom and the

bride, the man and the woman must insist on the most complete union. 

Every mortal marriage is to recreate the ideal marriage sought by Adam

and Eve, by Jehovah and the children of Israel.  With no hanging back,

"cleaving unto none other," each fragile human spirit is left naked, as

it were, in the custody of its marriage partner, even as our first

parents were in that beautiful garden setting.  Surely that is a risk. 

Certainly it is an act of faith.  But the risk is central to the

meaning of the marriage and the faith moves mountains and calms the

turbulent sea.



	Jeff: it would be worth our time with you today if we could

impress upon you the sacred obligation a husband and wife have to each

other when the fragility and vulnerability and delicacy of the

partner's life is placed in the other's keeping.  Pat and I have lived

together for twenty-two years, as she said earlier roughly the time

that each of us had lived alone prior to the wedding day.  I may not

know everything about her, but I know twenty-two years' worth, and she

knows that much of me.  I know her likes and dislikes, and she knows

mine.  I know her tastes and interests and hopes and dreams, and she

knows mine.  As our love has grown and our relationship matured, we

have been increasingly open with each other about all of that for

twenty-two years now, and the result is that I know much more clearly

how to help her and I know exactly how to hurt her.  I may not know all

the buttons to push, but I know most of them.  And surely God will hold

me accountable for any pain I cause her by intentionally pushing the

hurtful ones when she has been so trusting of me. To toy with such a

sacred trust--her body, her spirit, and her eternal future--and exploit

those for my gain, even if only emotional gain, should disqualify me to

be her husband and ought to consign my miserable soul to hell.  To be

that selfish would mean that I am a legal, live-in roommate who shares

her company but I am not her husband in any Christian sense of that

word.  I have not been as Christ is to the Church.  We would not be

bone of one bone, and flesh of one flesh.



	Pat: God expects a marriage, not just a temple-sanctioned

understanding or arrangement or live-in wage earner or housekeeper. 

Surely everyone within the sound of my voice understands the severe

judgment that comes upon such casual commitments before marriage. Today

I want you to know that I believe there is an even more severe judgment

upon me after marriage if all I do is share Jeff's bed and his work and

his money and, yes, even share his children.  It is not marriage unless

we literally share each other, the good times and the bad, the sickness

and the health, the life and the death.  It is not marriage unless I am

there for him whenever he needs me.



	Jeff: You can't be a good wife or a good husband or a good

roommate or a good Christian just when you "feel well." A student once

walked into the office of Harvard Dean LeBaron Russell Briggs and said

he hadn't done his assignment because he hadn't felt well.  Looking the

student piercingly in the eye, Dean Briggs said, "Mr.  Smith, I think

in time you may perhaps find that most of the work in the world is done

by people who aren't feeling very well" (quoted by Vaughn J.

Featherstone, "Self-Denial," New Era, November 1977, p. 9).  Of course,

some days are going to be more difficult than others, but if you leave

the escape hatch in the airplane open because you think even before

takeoff you may, want to bail out in midflight, then I can promise you

it's going to be a pretty chilly trip less than fifteen minutes after

leaving the ground.  Close the door, strap on those seat belts, and

give it full throttle.  That's the only way to make a marriage fly.



	Pat: Is it any wonder that we dress ourselves in white and go to

the house of the Lord and kneel before God's administrators to pledge

ourselves to each other with a confession of Christ's atonement? How

else can we bring the strength of Christ to this union? How else can we

bring his patience and his peace and his preparation? And above all,

how else can we bring his permanence, his staying power? we must be

bonded so tightly that nothing will separate us from the love of this

man or this woman.



	Jeff: In that regard we have that most reassuring of all final

promises; that the power which binds us together in righteousness is

greater than any force--any force--which might try to separate, us. 

That is the power of covenant theology and the power of priesthood

ordinances.  That is the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.



	Pat: just one concluding experience which, although taken from our

marriage, has application to you right now--young or old, married or

single, new convert or longtime I member.



	Twenty-two years ago (we're coming full circle to close on that

number) Jeff and I, marriage certificate in hand, made our way to

Brigham Young University.  We put all we owned in a secondhand

Chevrolet and headed for Provo.  We were not uneasy.  We were not

frightened.  We were terrified.  We were little hayseeds from St.

George, Utah, and here we were in Provo--at Brigham Young University,

where the world was to be our campus.



	The housing people were very helpful in providing lists of

apartments.  The registration staff helped straighten out some transfer

credits.  The folks in the employment center suggested where we might

work.  We pieced together some furniture and found some friends.  Then

we splurged, left our new $45-a-month, two-room-and-a-shower apartment

to have an evening meal in the Wilkinson Center cafeteria.  We were

impressed and exhilarated and still terrified.  We knew we were on the

greatest of all possible campuses.



	Jeff: I remember on one of those beautiful summer evenings walking

up from our apartment on Third North and First East to the brow of the

hill where the Maeser Building so majestically stands.  Pat and I were

arm in arm and very much in love, but school had not started and there

seemed to be so very much at stake.  We were nameless, faceless,

meaningless little undergraduates seeking our place in the sun.  And we

were newly married, each trusting our future so totally to the other,

yet hardly aware of that at the time.  I remember standing about

halfway between the Maeser Building and the President's Home and being

suddenly overwhelmed with the challenge I felt--new family, new life,

new education, no money, and no confidence.  I remember turning to Pat

and holding her in the beauty of that August evening and fighting back

the tears, I asked, "Do you think we can do it? Do you think we can

compete with all these people in all these buildings who know so much

more than we do and are so able? Do you think we've made a mistake?"

Then I said, "Do you think we should withdraw and go home?"



	As a brief tribute to her in what has been a very personal message

anyway, I guess that was the first time I saw what I would see again

and again and again in her--the love, the confidence, the staying

power, the reassurance, the careful handling of my fears, and the

sensitive nurturing of my faith, especially faith in myself.  She (who

must have been terrified herself, especially now, linked to me for

life) nevertheless set aside her own doubts, slammed shut the hatch on

the airplane and grabbed me by the safety belt.  "Of course we can do

it," she said.  "Of course we're not going home." Then, standing there,

almost literally in the evening shadows of a home we would much later,

for a time, call our own, she gently reminded me that surely others

were feeling the same thing, that what we had in our hearts was enough

to get us through, that our Father in Heaven would be helping,



	Pat: If you stand on the south patio of the President's Home you

can see the exact spot two vulnerable, frightened, newly married BYU

students stood twenty-two years ago, fighting back the tears and facing

the future with all the faith they could summon.



	Some nights we stand and look out on that Spot--usually nights

when things have been a little challenging--and we remember those very

special days.



	Please don't feel you are the only ones who have ever been fearful

or vulnerable or alone before marriage or after.  Everyone has, and

from time to time perhaps everyone will yet be.



	Help each other.  You don't have to be married to do that. just be

a friend, be a BYU student and all that that means.  Be a Latter-day

Saint. And if you are married, no greater blessings can come to your

union than some of the troubles and challenges you'll face if you'll

rev up your motor and bear straight ahead through lightning and thunder

and turbulence and all.



	Jeff: Paraphrasing James Thurber in one of the best and simplest

definitions of love ever given, "Love is what you go through together"

("Thurber," Life, March 14, 1960, p. 108).  That counts not only for

husbands and wives hut also parents and children, brothers and sisters,

roommates and friends, missionary companions, and every other human

relationship worth enjoying.



	Love, like individuals, is tested by the flame of adversity.  If

we are faithful and determined it will temper and refine us, but it

will not consume us.  Enjoy what you now have, Be a disciple of Christ. 

Live worthy of marriage even if it doesn't come soon.  And cherish it

with all your heart when it does.  We say this in the name of Jesus

Christ.  Amen. 



                       What Have You to Declare?



                            Ardeth G. Kapp



	Ardeth Greene Kapp was sustained 7 April 1984 as the Young Women

general president.  She follows Sister Elaine A. Cannon in this calling

as head of an organization of 250,000 young women from the ages of

twelve to eighteen.



	President Kapp served previously in the general presidency of the

Young Women from 1972 to 1978.  She has served on the Youth Correlation

and General Curriculum committees of the Church and has held numerous

administrative and teaching positions in the Relief Society, Young

Women, and Primary on a ward and stake level.



	Professionally, Sister Kapp has been a consultant to the Charles

R. Hobbs Corp. and has traveled widely conducting time-management

seminars for the firm.



	A native of Glenwood, Alberta, Canada, Sister Kapp grew up in a

small farming community She came to Utah for her college education,

receiving a bachelor of science degree in elementary education from the

University of Utah, an associate degree from Weber College, and a

master of science degree in curriculum development from Brigham Young

University.



	She taught in the Davis County School District, supervised student

teachers in BYU's College of Education, and has been coordinator of

student leadership development and chairman of the Advisor.  Committee

for Women's Concerns at BYU.



	Sister Kapp wrote and instructed a series of television programs

for the Utah Network of Instructional Television and has authored five

books, as well as many articles for Church publications, educational

brochures, and study guides.  She has also been a lecturer for the BYU

Education Week program. President Kapp is the wife of Heber B. Kapp,

president of the Bountiful Utah Central Stake.



	This devotional address was delivered on 29, January 1985 in the

Marriott Center.



	I recall vividly my first experience on this campus as a student

many years ago.  More recently, I was a faculty member in the College

of Education, then served for a time in the area of Student Life. 

Today I return not as a student or as a faculty member, but rather as

one anxious to open my heart and be allowed the sacred privilege of

touching yours.  I want to communicate soul to soul about a few things

I have learned since those early years at BYU things that really matter

(and I have come to know there aren't a lot).



Heading Toward the Border Crossing 



	Come with me then, if you will, back to that last day of finals. 

The semester had ended (it was a quarter in those days) and I, with

others, piled into a friend's old car.  There were always more people

than comfort would allow, but what we lost in comfort we saved in cost. 

With tuna sandwiches or whatever was left in the cupboard, we headed

north.  We were going home--to Canada.



	At the border crossing, before the eyes of the customs officials,

we were required to open our suitcases.  And there was the grey--white

laundry that you hoped your mom could remedy because of your weekly

decisions to mix whites and coloreds and have a full batch. (That way

you could save a quarter.) The customs officer stirred around as he

routinely asked, "What have you to declare?" There was never much to

declare--just our name, our destination, and our present place of

residence.  It is this brief moment at the border crossing, responding

to the customs official's inquiry, "What have you to declare?" about

which I wish to share some ponderings with you--ponderings and insights

I have gathered over the years.



	Wise travelers usually make a list of the valuables they are

carrying to facilitate the passage through customs and expedite their

arrival home.  I refer now, of course, not to a trip to Canada or

Mexico, not even to Germany or Italy, but rather to our ultimate

journey, yours and mine--our journey to our eternal home, and the

border crossing--and how we will each respond to the question "What

have you to declare?"



	As I anticipate that great moment, I believe the list we will each

be required to present will not be written with ink but, as Paul

described, " with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone,

but in fleshy tables of the heart" (2 Corinthians 3:3). I believe it

will be the evidence of our love for each other that will qualify, us

for passage.  And the customs official, who will that be? Nephi tells

us what we might expect there.



	Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight

course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of

Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is one other way

save it be by the gate; for he cannot be deceived for the Lord God is

his name. [2 Nephi 9:41]



	As I, in my times of quiet meditation, consider the ecstasy and

joy of any experience we have had in this life, I believe it will be

paled by what we will experience in that moment when we give an

accounting to the Holy One of Israel, a silent declaration of

accountability that will speak loudly of how we exercised our agency,

of the choices we made, and, finally, of the values and principles we

claimed as our very own to protect us and direct us over the

treacherous narrow passages on our journey.



Returning Home Safely



	I know something about the risk of traveling over icy, wintry

roads when travel warnings are posted and the danger of blizzards and

cold temperatures threaten our safety, and sometimes delay our progress

while loved ones--Mom and Dad, brothers and sisters, special

friends--take turns standing watch at the kitchen window at least one

hour before our expected arrival.  I knew in those days that family

prayers had been fervently offered in our behalf that we might return

home safely.  Can you, in the quiet of your thoughts, sense that moment

of greeting, even if you haven't had such an experience?



	Contrast to that the tragedy if the highway patrol had to report

to anxious loved ones that the mountain pass and highway were steep and

slick, that you must not have read the warning signs, or that you were

sleepy and not alert enough to respond to the dangers, that you had

missed a turn--and no one survived.  Think of those loved ones at the

window.



	With these two contrasted homecomings before us, I want to share

with you what I believe the joy will be as we approach our heavenly

home.  But first let us consider what road signs we are following to

secure such a homecoming and, specifically, our safe travel.



	Would you knock on the door of your own soul and inquire within

concerning the markers, road signs, or values that you declare publicly

and privately--the ones you have determined to follow? If we only use

external markers (like other people's values or rules and regulations

or policies--yes, even BYU standards), if we use only external signals

and signs to determine our course, what will happen on a stormy night

when the clouds and fog obscure the signals and we are alone in the

dark? It isn't a committee or an institution or a crew that determines

our course.



	A writer tells about attending a dance in a country where there

had been a revolution.  The lights were turned out during the playing

of the national anthem.  As one leader explained, "This is a social

affair, and we don't want to see who won't stand up." We must have our

own clearly defined values burning brightly within; only then do we

have an inner court to which we can appeal for judgment of our

performance--judgment of our performance, not someone else's.



	Orson Whitney, writing about a definition for sin, has helped me

understand the need for guidance from our own inner lighthouse.  He

says,



	Sin is the transgression of divine law, as made known through the

conscience or by revelation. A man sins when he violates his

conscience, going contrary to light and knowledge--not the light and

knowledge that has come to his neighbor but that which has come to

himself. He sins when he does the opposite of what he knows to be

right. [Orson Whitney, quoted by Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine

(Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966), p. 735]



Making Good Choices



	I find myself reaching and stretching when I learn of others who

navigate so very well in troubled waters.  Even more heroic is the

conduct   of those who make choices in waters which appear to be calm

and of little concern to others.  Let me explain what I mean with this

account told by, a young journalist in his own words.



	I was... driving to a scene I didn't want to see. A man... had

accidentally backed his pickup truck over his baby granddaughter in the

driveway of the family home. It was a fatality.



	As I parked... I saw a stocky, white-haired man in cotton work

clothes standing near a pickup. Cameras were trained on him, and

reporters were sticking microphones in his face. Looking totally

bewildered, he was trying to answer their questions. Mostly he was

moving his lips, blinking and choking up.



	. . . I can still see in my minds eye that devastated old man

looking down at the place in the driveway where the child had been.

Beside the house was a freshly spaded flower bed, and nearby a pile of

dark, rich earth.



	"I was just backing up there to spread that good dirt," he said to

me, though I had not asked him anything. "I didn't even know she was

outdoors." He stretched his hand toward the flower bed, then let it

flop to his side.



	. . . I went into the house to find someone who could provide a

recent photo of the toddler.



	A few, minutes later with all the details in my notebook and a...

studio portrait of the... child... in my... pocket, I went toward the

kitchen where the police had said the body was.



	. . . Entering the kitchen, I came upon this scene:



	On a Formica-topped table, backlighted by a frilly curtained

window lay the tiny body, wrapped in a clean white sheet. Somehow the

grandfather had managed to stay away from the crowd. He was sitting on

a chair beside the table, in profile to me and unaware of my presence,

looking uncomprehendingly at the swaddled corpse.



	The house was very quiet. A clock ticked. As I watched, the

grandfather slowly leaned forward, curved his arms like parentheses

around the head and feet of the little form, then pressed his face to

the shroud and remained motionless.



	In that hushed moment I recognized the makings of a prize-winning

news photograph. I appraised the light, adjusted the lens setting and

distance. locked a bulb in the flashgun, raised the camera and composed

the scene in the viewfinder.



	Every element of the picture was perfect: the grandfather in his

plain work clothes, his white hair backlighted by sunshine, the child's

form wrapped in the sheet, the atmosphere of the simple home....

Outside, the police could be seen inspecting the... pickup while the

child's mother and father leaned in each other's arms.



	I don't know how many seconds I stood there, unable to snap that

shutter. I was keenly aware of the powerful story-telling value that

photo would have, and my professional conscience told me to take it.

Yet I couldn't make my hand fire that flashbulb and intrude on the poor

man's island of grief.



	At length I lowered the camera and crept away, shaken with doubt

about my suitability for the journalistic profession. Of course I never

told the city editor or any fellow reporters about that missed

opportunity for a perfect news picture.



	Every day, on the newscasts and in the papers, we see pictures of

people in extreme conditions of grief and despair. Human suffering has

become a spectator sport. And sometimes, as I'm watching news film, I

remember that day.



	I still feel right about what I did. [James Alexander Thom, "The

Perfect Picture," Reader s Digest, Aug. 1976, p. 113-14]



	As we look back to yesterday, last week, and last year, the

question is "Do we feel right about hat we did?" As you and I travel

the treacherous way of mortal life, we kick up dust in our daily

living.  We make mistakes, but in quiet moments of meditation when the

dust settles and we examine our thoughts and actions to carefully and

honestly determine what it is e have to declare, all of us are required

to make continuous "inflight correction."



	I like what C. S. Lewis has to say about that process.  He says,

"A wrong sum can be put right: but only by going back till you find the

error and working it afresh from that point" (C. S. Lewis, The Great

Divorce [New York: Macmillan Company, 1948], p. 6).  And who determines

if it is an error? The regulations and policy officers? Yes, if they

must, but hopefully not.  To them it may not even be seen as an error. 

But that may not excuse you in your own mind.  Let me tell you about

this old wallet that was returned to me by a BYU student after nine

years.



Answering the Hard Questions 



	As a student at BYU years ago, I had used the telephone in the

Joseph Smith Building and had carelessly left my wallet in the booth. 

After returning to the lost and found department regularly for several

days, I finally gave up my desperate hope of ever getting my wallet and

the much needed money back.  Nine years later, on a snowy afternoon,

the mailman delivered a letter. it began, "To Whom It May Concern." The

letter stated that I was involved in some unfinished business at BYU. 

I wondered what unfinished business I needed to set in order.  I found

the name of the person who had signed the letter in the Salt Lake

telephone directory.  I dialed the number.  I identified myself.  The

author of the letter began unfolding her story.  As the words spilled

out, I learned that this young woman was now a wife and mother, but

earlier she had been in nurse's training at BYU.  She had worked and

put herself through school, but she needed an additional ten dollars

for tuition, so she had turned to her boyfriend for help. She had

promised to return the loan by the following Friday.  When Friday

arrived, in spite of her earnest prayers, she was still short ten

dollars.



	Seemingly without reason she had walked into the telephone booth

and found an old worn wallet.  She held her breath as she opened it to

find a single ten dollar bill.  Then the question: Was this indeed an

answer to her prayer? She had learned that Satan knows when we are

being tested and when we might weaken under pressure.  She told of

paying her boyfriend, whom she later married, graduating in nursing,

and now raising a beautiful family.



	She then poured out her heart as she told of her suffering for

what she acknowledged as sin--sin because she had known better.  For

nine years, through many moves, the old burden had lain deeply tucked

away in her top dresser drawer.  It seemed impossible for her to throw

away the wallet, though she considered it many times.  There is no way

you can throw away a wrong, and yet, there was no way, as far as she

knew, to return the wallet--there was no identification.



	One day while she was straightening the drawer, the old wallet

surfaced again.  This time she felt she must get rid of it, but only

the right way She thoughtfully opened the old wallet once again, and

while examining it this time her fingers uncovered a small orange card

tucked away in a tiny compartment not previously noticed.  The card

gave the address of the Calgary Clinic in Alberta, Canada, where the

medical exam for the student's visa had been given.  With a prayer in

her heart she took a chance and sent the letter "to whom it may

concern" to the Calgary Clinic to be forwarded if possible.  Contact

had been made, but the wallet was yet to be returned.  During the

telephone conversation she indicated the wallet would be mailed that

very day.  I asked her if she would consider delivering the wallet in

person.  She seemed a little embarrassed at the thought until I assured

her it would be an honor and a privilege to meet a person possessing

such honesty of character.  She agreed that she would deliver it.  At

the appointed hour we met in my office.  As I approached, she smiled

nervously and then stood up. As though she had rehearsed this

experience in her mind a hundred times, she reached out her steady

hand, looked me squarely in the eye, and handed me the wallet as she

whispered, "Will you please forgive me? I want to be honest." Words

could not come.  I could only reach for her hand and nod affirmatively.



	As I frequently finger this old wallet that now lies in my top

drawer, I ask myself "How honest do you want to be?" I've learned you

must spend a little time walking around inside yourself to answer the

hard questions in life.



	In the novel The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, the Jewish father cries

out to the master of the universe as he addresses him in prayer in

behalf of his son who has a brilliant and capable mind.  He says, "A

mind like this I need for a son? A heart I need for a son, a soul I

need for a son, compassion I want from my son, righteousness, mercy,

strength to suffer and carry pain, that I want from my son, not a mind

without a soul!" His son, speaking of his father, says, "He taught me

to look into myself, to find my own strength, to walk around inside

myself in company with my soul" (Chaim Potok, The Chosen [New York:

Fawcett Crest Books, 1967], p. 2 6 5).



	When you walk around inside yourself and find your own strength

and live in company with your own soul, can you answer the questions

the way you would like to? Would you have snapped the shutter of the

camera in that private moment? And what about the wallet? When we get a

wrong sum can we put it right? In a public setting, would there ever be

a chance that you would succumb to the pressures of power or prestige

or position or popularity? Might you one day have to report to a judge,

as did Jeb McGruder, who was sentenced to ten years in federal prison

for his part in Watergate? He spoke to Judge Sirrica, saying, "My

ambition obscured my judgment.  Somewhere between my ambition and my

ideals, I lost my ethical compass" ("Confession of Jeb McGruder," Salt

Lake Tribune, 22 May 1974).



The Signals That Would Save Us



	Our values, our road signs that keep us on course and on schedule,

are not to be tucked away in a drawer for safekeeping but carried

daily, used continuously, tested against our performance regularly, and

literally worn out as a constant measuring device that keeps us

accountable.  The powers and plans of Satan are cunning and subtle and

very real.  You are not unfamiliar with the pirates that would attempt

to board your ship almost daily, who would rob you of your treasures,

your peace of mind, your self-discipline, your clear conscience, your

commitment, your integrity, your morality, even your eternal destiny if

possible, and leave you shipwrecked, washed up on shore.  I believe the

most destructive threats of our day are not nuclear war, not famine,

not economic disaster, but rather the despair, the discouragement, the

despondency, the defeat caused by the discrepancy between what we

believe to be right and how we live our lives.  We are on a stormy sea. 

These are threatening times and we may be ignoring or even cutting

ourselves loose from the very signals that would save us.



	I'd like to tell you about the time I and other family members

crossed that Canadian U.S. border with our Dad and Mom on our way back

home, knowing that for Dad it would be the last time.  As we cleared

customs, Dad raised up from his sick bed in the back of the car and

commented, "This prairie has never looked so beautiful.  It's at its

very best for my last inspection."



	During our brief stay in our old hometown, we sauntered,

haltingly, down the gravel road past the tall cottonwood trees where

the old school had been.  Dad took the lead.  "It was the old bell," he

said, and we all looked in the same direction, seeing it clearly in our

mind's eye.  "The school bell kept us in line." "There were two bells,"

he went on, "a fifteen-minute bell would ring six times, giving ample

warning before the final five--minute bell sounded a simple

ding-dong--and you'd better be there." His weakened voice increased in

intensity as he added, "It's important to listen for the bell."



	As we mused together in silence for a time, I pondered the

possibility of my own inner bell being silenced, if only for a

moment--just a rest break, maybe, As if reading my thoughts, Dad lay

back by the soft, grassy ditch where we had stopped and began with a

familiar phrase we had all learned to love.  "I remember the story in

the old fourth-grade reader," he said.  He began his story.



	"There was an old and very large Inchcape Rock.  It got its name

from being located just one inch below the water's surface where it

couldn't be seen, and it lay dangerously, in the path of the mariners

returning from sea.  Many seamen had lost their ships and their lives

because of the rock, especially in times of storm.  There was an abbot

in the small seashore town of Aberbrothok who devised a solution to

this life--threatening hazard.  With great care and in the face of

considerable danger, the abbot fastened a buoy with a large bell on it

to the Inchcape Rock.  From then on the bell rang continuously and

faithfully with the motion of the waves of the sea.  Ralph, the Rover,

was a bit of pirate, and he disliked the praises the abbot received

from the mariners whose lives he spared.  So one day, Ralph, the Rover,

cut the bell from the Inchcape Rock."



Down sank the Bell with a gurgling sound;

The bubbles rose and burst around.

Quoth Sir Ralph, "The next who comes to the Rock,

Won't bless the Abbot of Aberbrothok.

Sir Ralph, the Rover sailed away

He scoured the seas for many a day.



	"On his way back it was night and the sea was high and he thought

the moon would be up. In the darkness he said, with great anxiety, but

only to himself, 'I wish I could hear the bell of the Inchcape Rock,'

and the rhyme continued:



Sir Ralph, the Rover, tore his hair,

He cursed himself in his despair

The waves rush in on every side;

The ship is sinking beneath the tide.

["The Inchcape Rock," Robert Southey)



	Dad's stories always stood without any editorializing--left for me

to figure out the message.  I am not sure how I felt then, but in years

since I have come to feel that rather than wishing to silence the bell

within, I feel myself strain a little that I might hear it more

clearly.



Make Ready for the Final Crossing 



	I hope we will always have a quiet longing for our heavenly home

that keeps us always on course and on schedule with an anxiousness at

the proper time to arrive at customs, eager to give an accounting. 

After our trip to Canada, Dad talked about going home on that final

journey and we talked together of the border crossing.  His body now

weighed less than 100 pounds, and his mortal journey was coming to a

close.  Dad talked about the sweetness and sacredness of these times

and spoke of the nearness of the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, the

gatekeeper.  Life had presented ample and enough struggles, and he had

used them to prove himself worthy and to cleanse his soul.  And he was

ready for the border crossing.



	That last day, Dad spoke of Addison, his younger brother who had

gone before him.  I wondered if his brother, and maybe his mother and

father, were standing at the kitchen window an hour before his expected

arrival, anxious for his safe return home.



	By mid-afternoon I had decided to sit with Dad.  It seemed his

eyes were open, yet he wasn't seeing me.  I took his hand in mine, a

hand that had spanked me and blessed me and caressed me throughout my

life.  "Dad," I whispered.  He didn't respond.  "If you know I'm here,

please squeeze my hand." I wasn't sure if there was a squeeze, but it

didn't seem like it.  I bent over and put my cheek next to his very

bony cheek with my hand on the other side of his face.  I waited just a

second, then straightened up. He looked at me just a moment, and in his

eyes I saw complete peace. joy, trust, confidence, and anticipation all

mingled together in that look.  He was ready for the border crossing

and the gatekeeper, the Holy One of Israel.  A tear escaped the corner

of his eye.  I pressed my cheek to his again.  There are things we

cannot find words or even sounds to express, but in that moment I had

some sense of what that final crossing might be and the ecstasy that

we'll never fully understand in this life.



	Brothers and sisters, we will arrive at a border crossing and have

an opportunity to make a declaration.  We will remember then that we

were free according to the flesh "to choose liberty and eternal life,

through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and

death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he

seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself" (2 Nephi

2:27).  The choices we make each day of our lives will make us what we

are at that time.  When we open our luggage on our final journey and

make our declaration, will we be carrying greywhite laundry as evidence

of the unwise choices we have made along the way? There will be for

each one of us many unwise choices, but when we do our part, a

cleansing can take place and we will not be ashamed, but we will be so

very, very grateful.



	Alma's teaching explains it for us.



	For there can no man be saved except his garments are washed

white; yea, his garments must be purified until they are cleansed from

all stain, through the blood of him of whom it has been spoken by our

fathers, who should come to redeem his people from their sins. [Alma

5:21]



	We are his children, you and I--the very ones for whom he gave his

life.  God is our father, and he loves us very much.  He wants us to

come home, to his home--our home after the completion of our time here. 

I know he guides us and comforts us and forgives us, that he hears our

knock and waits at the gate for our return.  And to the question "What

have you to declare?" the answer will be written in the fleshy table of

our heart, our journey at a glance.  May we stand in confidence as

evidence of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, daily repentant, living

true to the ordinances and covenants which qualify us for the

companionship of the Holy Ghost and prepare us to stand as a witness of

Christ at all times.



	I bear you my solemn witness from years past, but now more surely

than ever before in my life, perhaps because there has been an

increased urgency and diligence in knocking and listening: I know he is

near and hears and speaks to our minds, and we can know that with a

sure conviction that cannot be denied.  To this I bear my testimony and

witness in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen. 



                 The Peaceable Things of the Kingdom 



                            Dean L. Larsen



	Elder Dean L. Larsen is a member of the Presidency of the First

Quorum of the Seventy. His Church service has included three years as a

mission president in southern Texas. He also has been a stake

missionary. bishop, member of the Church's Priesthood Missionary

Committee, member of the General Sunday School Board, and Regional

Representative.



	He has been executive secretary of the Church s Indian Committee,

coordinator of curriculum planning and director of instructional

materials for the Church's Internal Communications Department. He now

serves as executive director of the Priesthood Department.



	Born and raised in Hyrum, Utah, Elder Larsen graduated from Utah

State University. He has taught in the public schools and in the

seminaries and institutes. At the time of his call to the President of

the first Quorum of the Seventy he was employed as editor of magazines

of the Church.



	Elder Larsen and his wife, Geneal Johnson, are the parents of five

children.



	This fireside talk was given on 3 February 1985 in the Marriott

Center



	In a revelation to Joseph Smith, the Lord gave this simple

description of the plan of life and salvation:



	And this is my gospel--repentance and baptism by water, and then

cometh the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, . . . which showeth all

things, and teacheth the peaceable things of the kingdom. [D&C 39:6]



	It is apparent from this statement that those who follow the

principles of the gospel should be able to experience the "peaceable

things." Yet in this stressful period in which we live, we frequently

encounter people who seem to be doing the best they know how to avoid

the evils of the world, who desire very much to be good, but who suffer

from unhappiness, frustration, and confusion.  It is one of the

paradoxes of our time.



	Tonight I would like to share with you some thoughts and

suggestions about how we might better enjoy the "peaceable things of

the kingdom" and free ourselves from the despondency and hopelessness

that sometimes seem to beset so many.



	All of us feel the urgency to perfect ourselves to learn, to grow,

to achieve, to produce.  Some of these pressures can be constructive

and helpful if they are not allowed to become overwhelming, especially

if they are generated by our own initiative.



Learn Patience



	One of the first important lessons of survival in this stressful

time is to learn patience.  Perfection is not achieved in one spasmodic

burst of effort.  As we move along the path of progress, we must find

moments of enjoyment and refreshment along the way.



	Orin L. Crain had this need in mind when he penned the following

lines:



Slow me down, Lord!

Ease the pounding of my heart

By the quieting of my mind.

Steady my hurried pace

With a vision of eternal reach of time.

Give me,

Amidst the confusion of my day,

The calmness of the everlasting hills.

Break the tensions of my nerves

With the soothing music of the singing streams

That live in my memory.

Help me to know

The magical restoring power of sleep.

Teach me the art

Of taking minute vacations of slowing down

  to look at a flower;

  to chat with an old friend or make a new one;

  to pet a stray dog;

  to watch a spider build a web

  to smile at a child;

  or to read a few lines from good book.

Remind me each day

That the race is not always to the swift;

That there is more to life than increasing its speed.

Let me look upward

Into the branches of the towering oak

And know that it grew great and strong

Because it grew slowly and well,

Slow me down Lord.

And inspire me to send my roots deep

Into the soil of life's enduring values

That I may grow toward the stars

Of my greater destiny  [Reprinted in the Ogden Standard Examiner by

Abigail Van Buren]



	Such interludes as Mr. Crain recommends help us to recognize the

"peaceable things" and to rejuvenate our energies and commitment for a

renewed effort.



	On one occasion Joseph Smith made the following declaration:



	When you climb up a ladder; you must begin at the bottom, and

ascend step by step. until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the

principles of the gospel--you must begin with the first, and go on

until you learn all the principles of exaltation. But it will be a

great while after you have passed through the veil before you will have

learned them. It is not all to be comprehended in this world; it will

be a great work to learn our salvation and exaltation even beyond the

grave. [Teachings, p. 348]



	Jacob's citation of the Zenos allegory in the Book of Mormon makes

much the same expression:



	Ye shall clear away the branches which bring forth bitter fruit,

according to the strength of the good and the size thereof. . .



	. . . wherefore ye shall clear away the bad according as the good

shall grow, . . . until the good shall overcome the bad. [Jacob

5:65-66]



	Some of us create such a complexity of expectations for ourselves

that it is difficult to cope with the magnitude of them.  Sometimes we

establish so many particulars by which to evaluate and rate ourselves

that it becomes difficult to feel successful and worthy to any degree

at any time.  We can drive ourselves unmercifully toward perfection on

such a broad plane.  When this compulsion is intensified by sources

outside ourselves, the problem is compounded.  Confronting these

demands can bring mental and emotional despair.



	Everyone needs to feel successful and worthy in some ways at least

part of the time.  The recognition of our frailties need not propel us

to try to achieve perfection in one dramatic commitment of effort.  The

best progress sometimes comes when we are not under intense duress. 

Overzealousness is at least as much to be feared as apathy.  Trying to

measure up to too many particular expectations without some sense of

self-tolerance can cause spiritual and emotional "burn-out."



	In order to avoid the effects of too man external and internal

pressures, it is not necessary nor wise to withdraw from all of life's

challenges.  This would only compound our difficulties.  To enjoy the

"peaceable things of the kingdom," we must find warm acceptance, love,

and understanding from those who have the most direct influence on our

lives.



	It is helpful to remember the Savior's parable of "counting the

cost" (Luke 14:28) before we launch into any enterprise.  When we

simultaneously branch out into too many channels, we may not have the

strength or the resources to sustain the effort and frustration will

result.



	Having patience requires that we maintain a proper balance in our

lives.  Bryant S. Hinckley had this in mind when he said,



If we are over enthusiastic, our enthusiasm may become fanaticism. If

we are strongly emotional, our emotion may lead to hysterics. If we are

excessively imaginative, . . . we may become visionary and flighty....

.. If we have a superabundance of courage, it may manifest itself in

recklessness  ....  If we are super-sympathetic, our sympathy can

become a weakness and run into sentimentalism. If we are original, our

originality may become an   eccentricity Piety may become

sanctimoniousness.  And so every virtue may become a vice every grace a

defect.  It is the fine balance of these virtues that makes the strong

man. [Bryant S. Hinckley, A Study of the Character and Teachings of

Jesus of Nazareth,--A Course of Study for the Adult Members of the

Aaronic Priesthood (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter-day Saints, 1950), pp. 169--70]



Accept Yourself



	Before concluding my comments on the importance of learning

patience, it is important to say something about the need for

developing an appropriate degree of self-tolerance.  While we cannot

allow ourselves to become slothful and lackadaisical in our efforts

toward self-improvement, we cannot afford to lose all sense of patience

and charity toward ourselves when we occasionally come short of

perfection.



	We are more than mechanical units.  Our personalities are a

process of becoming, they are growing--an inner flowering.  This

development does not occur in one day.  We are like all others in some

respects, but in some respects each of us is unique.  There has never

been anyone exactly like you.  There never will be.  Never will anyone

possess your special individuality and your particular possibilities.



	In light of these facts, one of the least profitable things we can

do is to compare ourselves with others.  Generally, when we make such

comparisons, we match our weaknesses against the most prominent talents

and virtues of those we admire or envy.  No one comes out well in this

useless game.  Its effects can be devastating.



	It is necessary to accept ourselves with a self-love that is

neither vain nor selfish, but rather one that is tolerant and

understanding, one that we might feel toward an old friend.  Your

friend may have his flaws.  He has limitations, but over the years you

have come to recognize his good qualities.  Sometimes you simply put up

with him when he is overbearing and foolish.  But he is your friend.



	Part of enduring to the end is related to our attitudes toward

ourselves.  When we have a high enough regard for ourselves, we can

overcome setbacks and still go forward.  It is difficult to defeat a

person who is determined to endure in this sense.



Develop an Attitude of Trust



	I believe another quality we must have in order to enjoy the

peaceable things of the kingdom is a trust in the ultimate triumph of

good over evil.  Sometimes much desired blessings for which we have

worked hard to qualify seem to be long in coming.  At other times the

unfairness and arrogance of others appear to go unpunished.  There are

times when we cannot seem to see our way through a maze of difficulties

and hard times to a satisfactory conclusion.  These are some of the

most severe tests of our mortal existence.



	True religious faith helps us to establish such a trust. 

Experience ultimately teaches us that honest effort will finally be

rewarded, and that wickedness, in the end, will not produce happiness. 

When we cannot see the end from the beginning as the Lord does, it is

sometimes a challenge to trust in his promise.  But experience will

confirm the validity of the trust.



	Lorenzo Snow, who knew something of challenge and disappointment

in his own lifetime, once made this observation to the Saints who were

weighed down by the severity of their circumstances:



	How ill-qualified we were one year ago to pass through the scenes

through which we have been led with success.  From which let us realize

the folly of an over-anxiety to pry into the scenes that are lying

before us, inasmuch as God will prepare a way by a gradual process,

step by step, and leading us forward in a manner that will prove easy

as we pass along but which, if presented to our view, at once, would

seem insurmountable.



	There is the story of two neighboring farmers one a habitual

Sabbath breaker, and the other a faithful observer of the Lord's day. 

On one occasion the Sabbath observer severely chastised his neighbor

for working his farm on Sundays rather than attending to his religious

devotions.  This led to an argument and a challenge.  "Let us put the

matter to a test," the Sabbath breaker said.  "We will select two

pieces of ground of equal size and fertility.  On them we will plant

the same crop. My piece of ground I will work only on Sundays, and you

will work yours on the other days of the week.  Then we will see who

gets the greater harvest."



	The challenge was accepted and the conditions were faithfully

observed.  As the harvest was gathered in, the sabbath-observing farmer

was disappointed to learn that the piece of ground farmed by his

neighbor had produced the greater yield.  The Sabbath breaker exulted

in his apparent triumph and his discrediting of the contention of his

faithful neighbor.



	"You have forgotten one important thing," protested the Sabbath

observer.  "The Lord doesn't always settle his accounts in October."



	Related to this same matter of trust is the principle taught in

the Savior's parable of the talents.  You will recall that in this

story an honorable effort, given to the full by the two honest

servants, brought the same reward from the master, even though the

product of their efforts as not the same.



	It has seemed to me that built into the conscience of every human

soul is the most accurate determiner of whether we are living in such a

way to merit the ultimate blessings promised to the faithful.  We point

to this determiner when we say, "Be honest with yourself." A person

does not easily deceive his own conscience.  Deep within our own hearts

we generally know when we have paid the price, when we have done the

best our personal resources and abilities would have allowed us to do

at the moment, regardless of the outcome of our effort or the way it

may be viewed by others.  It is at these times that we know real peace,

even though the product of our effort may not be all that we would have

hoped it to be.  The full return on this kind of investment cannot

always be determined at the next audit period.



	When Jesus was crucified by his detractors, it appeared to all

observers--even to his disciples--that his efforts had accounted for

nothing.  But the Savior knew he had paid the price.  History has borne

record to the quality of his investment.



	Another factor that has a bearing upon whether or not we

experience peace in our lives has to do with our being able to

realistically respond to expectations that others have for us and the

demands they sometimes make of us.  In responding to these

expectations, we must successfully evaluate between fundamentally

important values and the sometimes superficial or outward performances

that others may expect from us.  This requires that we recognize real

truth and demonstrate integrity to it.  Peace of mind comes when we

know we are doing the right things for the right reasons.



	For some reason, one of the most common methods many of us use to

motivate is to develop feelings of guilt within ourselves or in others

for whom we have a responsibility. Guilt feelings are a natural product

of an injured conscience.  When we willfully violate a valid code of

conduct, we suffer the consequences of our infraction in the internal

conflict that occurs within our own souls.  Such feelings, painful and

remorseful though they may be, can generate the desire to repent and

improve.  They can be useful, constructive emotions that propel us

forward to greater perfection.  But purposefully generating feelings of

guilt over some shortcoming as a means of motivating action or

promoting more compliant behavior is rarely productive, The devastating

effect of a child's constantly being told that he is stupid, lazy, or

ugly has been well documented in behavioral studies.  When anyone's

honest effort to do better or to be better is met by debilitating

criticism, real motivation and incentive are often destroyed.  All of

us profit from encouragement and from occasional constructive

correction.  But we must be helped to feel that we are valued and

appreciated in spite of our shortcomings.



	I have been appalled when I have heard leaders attempt to extort

greater devotion and exertion from young missionaries by telling them

they will never rise above the level of their performance on their

missions.  This is foolishness.  I have lived long enough to see many

contradictions to this contention.  It is as though our performance in

any given period of our lives rivets us forever to an inescapable

course.  If this were a true principle, repentance and reformation

would be impossible.



Give of Yourself to Lift Others



	My final suggestion for experiencing peaceable things probably has

the best possibility for producing immediate results.  It is a simple

formula that will almost always work.  Raise your own spirits by

finding something to do that will lift others.  Nothing seems to have a

greater power for turning us away from our own self-pity and

despondency than to focus upon something good we can do for someone

else who has a need.



	Erich Fromm has said:  



	The most important sphere of giving... is not that of material

things, but lies in the specifically human realm. What does one person

give to another? He gives of himself, of the most precious he has, he

gives of his life. This does not necessarily mean that be sacrifices

his life for the other--but that he gives him of that which is alive in

him; he gives him of his joy of his interest, of his understanding, of

his knowledge. of his humor, of his sadness--of all expressions and

manifestations of that which is alive in him  ....  He does not give in

order to receive; giving is in itself exquisite joy. But in giving he

cannot help bringing something to life in the other person, and this

which is brought to life reflects back to him; in truly giving, he

cannot help receiving that which is given back to him. [The Art of

Loving (New York: Bantam Books, Inc., 1970), p. 20-21]



	And Leona Fetzer Wintch adds this:



	A famous man recently summed up his lifes work by saying he had

given so much away, he had only a little of himself left to die. He

forgot that the bookkeeping of lifes ledger shows that the more a man

gives of his love and of himself the more he has. There are no limits

to which the soul can extend itself and this boundless dominion is

immeasurably increased by the very act of sharing. [Life is

Fissionable]



	I am continually impressed by some instruction the Savior gave to

his disciples near the close of his mortal ministry.  It has the nature

of being "bottom line" to all of his gospel teaching.  You will be very

familiar with this scripture, but consider it again-carefully-as I read

it to you, especially within the context of my remarks to you tonight.



	When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy

angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:



	And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall

separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from

the goats:



	And he shall set the sheep on his right hand. but the goats on the

left.



	Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come ye

blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the

foundation of the world:



	For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye

gave me drink: I was a stranger and ye took me in:



	Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in

prison, and ye came unto me.



	Then shall the righteous answer him, saying. Lord, when saw we

thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?



	When saw we thee a stranger and took thee in? or naked, and

clothed thee?



	Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?



	And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto

you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my

brethren, ye have done it unto me.



	Then shall he say, also unto them on the left hand, Depart from

me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his

angels:



	For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and

ye gave me no drink:



	I was a stranger and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me

not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.



	Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an

hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison,

and did not minister unto thee?



	Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch

as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.



	And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the

righteous into life eternal. [Matthew 25:31-46]



	I think there is nothing we can do to develop godlike qualities

that is more important than giving of ourselves in the way described

here by the Savior.  It seems to make the ultimate difference with him

when it comes to the time of judgment.  And I believe it has some of

the highest prospects for helping us overcome any unhappiness we may be

experiencing ourselves.



	It would not be appropriate if I did not mention personal prayer

and regular study of the scriptures as having a great influence in

lifting us from feelings of frustration or despondency.



	As we pass through the challenges, the setbacks, and the

occasional disappointments the charity toward ourselves and others that

that all of us experience, may we gain reassurance from the recognition

that achieving perfection is a long--term endeavor and that we c--an

trust in the fact that right will prevail.  And may we have the charity

toward ourselves that will allow us to enjoy regularly the "peacable

things" of the kingdom, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.



                    A Message to Our Granddaughters



                            James E. Faust



	Elder James E. Faust was called to be a member of the Council of

the Twelve of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in

September 1978. He previously had served as an Assistant to the Twelve

and as a member of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy.



	He has served the Church as a bishop, high councilor, stake

president, Regional Representative, and Area Supervisor in South

America. He has also been managing director of the Melchizedek

Priesthood MIA, director of the Welfare Services Corporation of the

Church, Zone Adviser over South America, president of the International

Mission, executive director of the Church Curriculum Department, and

editor of the Church magazines, the Ensign, New Era, and Friend.



	Born in Delta, Utah. he attended school in the Granite District of

Salt Lake City and then enrolled at the University of Utah. He

participated as a member of the track team in 1938 and ran the

quarter-mile and mile relay.



	His college career was interrupted first to serve as a missionary

for the Church in Brazil and later by World War II, during which he

served in the U.S. Air Force and was discharged as a first lieutenant.



	In 1945 he re-entered the University of Utah by enrolling in the

law school, from which he graduated in 1948 with a B.A. and a Juris

Doctor degree. He then practiced law in Salt Lake City until his

appointment as a General Authority in 1972.



	Elder Faust served as a member of the Utah Legislature from 1949

to 1951 as an adviser to the American Bar Journal and was president of

the Utah Bar Association in 1962-63. At that same time he was appointed

by President John F. Kennedy to the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights

and Racial Unrest.



	Elder Faust served as state director of the Friendship Force of

Utah and is a member of the Utah State Constitutional Revision

Commission. He is also vice president and chairman of the executive

committee of the Deseret News Publishing Company, Trustee of Ballet

West, and on the board of directors of Commercial Security Bank.



	Elder Faust is married to Ruth Wright. They are the parents of two

daughters and three sons.



	This devotional talk was given on 12 February 1985 in the Marriott

Center.



	Because some may not agree with what I have to say, I would direct

these remarks primarily to our granddaughters.  The rest of you are

invited to listen.



	On Brittany's last birthday, I told her mother with considerable

grandfatherly pride that I thought I detected some seeds of promise

developing in Brittany.  Of course I feel the same way about Nicole,

Melissa, Kelly Ann, Katy, Sarah, and little Ashley, our other

granddaughters.



	I do not want to tell you girls what you must be. That is for each

of you to decide.  You have your free agency.  Each of you will have to

work very, hard to learn all you can and develop your skills.  It will

not be easy to achieve anything really worthwhile.  I want only to tell

you what I think will help bring to you identity, value, and happiness

as a person.  I also want to challenge you to reach your potential, to

become a person of great worth, to become a great woman.  Because you

descended from great women, each of you has the potential to become a

great woman.



	Now you need to know that to me great does not necessarily mean

your becoming a great doctor, lawyer, or business executive.  You may,

of course, become any of these if you so desire, if you work hard

enough, and I would be proud of such an achievement.  However, to me

greatness is much, much more.  I hope that each   of you girls will

become an individual of significant worth and a person of virtue so

that your contributions are maintained in both human and eternal terms.



You Have a Great Mission



	Elder Boyd K. Packer tells me that among the species of birds

where both male and female sing, they sing a different melody.  Yet it

is pleasant to hear them singing at the same time, and they hormonize

beautifully together!



	There can be no question but that women are wonderful and special.

You also have a great mission, a great errand, and a great calling. 

The work of God was devised by God for both men and women.  'All those

who receive my gospel are sons and daughters in my kingdom" (D&C 25:1). 

Being born as women brings to you many endowments that are not common

to men and therefore make you unique.



	President Spencer W Kimball, in speaking of the roles of men and

women, said in a way that adds some personal perspective,



	Within those great assurances, however, our roles and assignments

differ These are eternal differences--with women being given many

tremendous responsibilities of motherhood and sisterhood and men being

given the tremendous responsibilities of fatherhood and the

priesthood--but the man is not without the woman nor the woman without

the man in the Lord. . . .



	Remember in the world before we came here, faithful women were

given certain assignments while faithful men were foreordained to

certain priesthood tasks.  While we do not now remember the

particulars, this does not alter the glorious reality of what we once

agreed to. You are accountable for those things which long ago were

expected of you just as are those we sustain as prophets and apostles!

... This leaves much to be done by way of parallel personal

development--for both men and women. [Spencer W Kimball, "The Role of

Righteous Women," Ensign, Nov. 1979, p. 102]



	This statement suggests that before we were born we made certain

commitments, female and male, and that we agreed to come to this earth

with great, rich, but separate gifts.  We were called, male and female,

to do great works, with separate approaches and separate assignments

and accordingly were given different songs to sing.



	You say, Where do I begin? Rather than beginning with a wish list

of all the things you want in life, the real question may be what you

are not willing to do without.  You should select two or three of

life's experiences you are absolutely sure you want to have--you should

not leave important things to chance.  Then you should think about what

you can contribute to society by way of service to the Church, home,

and community.  You need also to think of what life will demand from

you.  Everything has its price.  Much is expected of us.



	It is unfortunate that it is taking so long to bring full economic

justice to women.  The feminization of poverty is both real and tragic. 

That is why you should work very hard to prepare for your future with

some marketable skills.



	The struggle to improve the place of women in society has been a

noble cause, and I sincerely hope the day will come when women with

equal skills will be fully equal with men in the marketplace.  However,

this is an issue of equality, not sameness, and does not mean that

women should be the same as men or try to do things the way men do

them.  Although some jobs that are traditionally masculine are now

being done by women, it is possible for them to be done in a feminine

way, and yet be done equally as well, or possibly even better.



	Over a hundred years ago, in 1872, Eliza R. Snow said that some

women "are so radical in their extreme theories that they would set her

in antagonism to man, [and] ... make her adopt the more reprehensible

phases of character which men present, and which should be shunned or

improved by them instead of being copied by women" ("Woman's Status,"

Womans Exponent, 15 July 1872, p. 29).  Becoming like men is not the

answer; being who you are and living up to your potential and

commitment is.



	You cannot trust the many conflicting voices that clamor about

what women should or should not do in today's society.  Some of the

loudest voices we hear are echoes of others who, rather than being

unhappy with their role as women, seem actually out of harmony with

themselves and out of tune with life in general.



	Women today are being encouraged by some to have it all: money,

travel, marriage, motherhood, and separate careers in the world.  Sarah

Davidson, in an article entitled "Having It All," comments about

forging an identity, building a career, developing a craft, and having

a family She answers the question about how the   woman who is intent

on having it all can coordinate the roles of professional life,

marriage, and motherhood:



I do not yet understand how a woman can successfully split herself

between home and the marketplace.  Fifteen years of feminist theory and

action have taught us that sacrificing one for the other does not

satisfy, but having both together simultaneously is so difficult that

no one I know has found anything but the most quirky and incomplete

solution. [Sarah Davidson, "Having It All," Esquire, June 1984, p, 54]



	Some will no doubt disagree with this conclusion, and there may be

many exceptions, but she goes on to tell of three women who are

partners in a New York law firm, and observes that their personal lives

are terrible.  Continues Sarah Davidson: "The problem, of course, is

that family happiness is less clearly definable and often more elusive

than career success" ("Having It All," p. 56).  For some the answer has

been to find and marry a man who will assume the female roles.  But

such men are rare.  It seems to be much more difficult for men to

assume female roles in the home than for women.



	The same author says:



At some point along the way a number of us woke up and found that we

were wonderfully self sufficient and successful and our lives were

empty.  There was no one to share it with, no living, growing ties to

the future.  Something vital had been discarded, and we scurried to

recapture it. ["Having It All," p. 56]



	As Sarah Davidson approached forty, she and her husband were

blessed with a baby.  Of this phenomenon she says:



This baby was the great missing link for me, the one thing I have

longed for in my life that, once realized, brought the satisfaction I'd

hoped for...



	Nothing in my life prepared me for the happiness, the wholeness I

felt when my son was born.  I am embarrassed to tell you bow many

nights I would walk into his room and just stand at the crib, my heart

brimming....



	... The bond between a mother and child is so special--it's in the

soul....



. . .All my time is spent on three things: baby, work, and keeping the

marriage going.



	I find I can handle two beautifully When my husband is out of

town, or when I'm between projects and not working things go smoothly.

But three pushes me to the edge.  Someone is unhappy, something is

always getting short shrift. ["Having It All," p. 54--60 passim]



	No doubt it would help if husbands would follow the counsel of the

late Elder G. Homer Durham: "Man, as well as woman, has obligations to

learn the difficult art of fatherhood in homemaking.  This is not a

task just for the woman" ("Woman's Responsibility to Learn," Woman

[Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 19791, p. 36).



The Seasons of Life



	And so, my dear granddaughters, it would seem that you cannot do

all of these things well at the same time.  You cannot eat all of the

pastries in the baking shop at once.  You will get a tummy-ache.  You

cannot be a 100 percent wife, a 100 percent mother, a 100 percent

church worker, a 100 percent career person, and a 100 percent public

service person at the same time.  How can all of these roles be

coordinated? Says Sarah Davidson:



	The only answer I come up with is that you can hate it

sequentially.  At one stage yo may emphasize career, and at another,

marriage and nurturing young children, and at any point you will be

aware of what is missing.  If you are lucky, you will be able to fit

everything in. ["Having It All," p. 60]



	Sequentially is a big word meaning to do things one at a time at

different times.  In the Book of Ecclesiastes, it says: "To every thing

there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven"

(Ecclesiastes 3:1).  It seems that the new roles of women have not

decreased their responsibility because, while the new roles are

challenging, the old roles of wife and mother are in the soul and cry

out to be satisfied.  It is in the soul to want to love and be loved by

a good man and to be able to respond to the God-given, deepest feelings

of womanhood--those of being a mother and nurturer.  Fortunately, women

do not have to track a career like a man does.  A woman may fit more

than one career into the various seasons of life.  She cannot sing all

of the verses of her song at the same time.



	Granddaughters,  do not be deceived in your   quest to find

happiness and an identity of your own.  Entreating voices may tell you

that what you have experienced in your own homes--that which you have

seen your mothers and grandmothers do--is old-fashioned, unchallenging,

boring, and drudgery.  It may have been old fashioned and perhaps

routine; at times it was drudgery.  But your mothers and grandmothers

have sung a song that expressed the highest love and the noblest of

womanly feelings.  They have been nurturers and teachers.



	I join Brigham Young in saying: "Daughter, use all your gifts to

build up righteousness in the earth" (Susa Young Gates and Leah D.

Widtsoe, The Life Story of Brigham Young [New York: Macmillan Co.,

1930],p. 307). I hope you would acquire all of the knowledge you can. 

Become as skillful as you can, but not exclusively in new careers at

the expense of the primary ones, or you may, find that you have missed

singing the song you were supposed to sing.



Establish Your Priorities  



	Some divisive voices would suggest that the wants and needs of

women in society have changed and that political power is the primary

interest and need of women in this day.  This would not seem to be so. 

A recent poll indicated that the present individual priorities of women

are:



	1.	A strong family.

	2.	Raising children.

	3.	Growing spiritually

	4.	Economic equity



	This means that the values of women in this country are compatible

with, but perhaps not quite as strong as, the values of women in our

Church.  You need not be defensive or ashamed of these priorities of

family, children, church, and equal economic opportunities.



	Your grandmother and I urged your mothers to get an education, not

only to help them in their homemaking but also to prepare them to earn

a living outside the home if that became necessary.  Going to college

is a wonderful experience, but the dollars, the effort, and the time

are much better used if the education also prepares the student to have

a marketable skill.



	I have said that you are wonderful, special, and unique for many

reasons.  Let me tell you some of these reasons.



	Women seem to arrive at decisions based upon a different value

system.  I have noticed that your grandmother thinks considerably, 

from her heart.  My approach seems more logical.  Your grandmother is

concerned about how those decisions affect people around her.  Beverley

Campbell talks about it this way: For a woman, "her primary concern is

what will he the greatest good for the greatest number of those around

her.  In value terms, this would be called 'care' and 'mercy'.  For

men, the research indicated that the moral thought process was probably

much more direct.  It generally boiled down to hard and fast rules of

right and wrong, of black and white" (Beverley Campbell,

"[Understanding the Uniqueness of Woman,"  unpublished manuscript).



	Sister Campbell says:



Could it be that we, each of us, man and woman, were endowed at the

time of creation with two distinct but equally important traits, traits

which are both essential and complimentary and are to be used together

in wisdom for the greatest good of all mankind?["Understanding the

uniqueness of Woman"]



	It may not be possible for economic reasons, but if you have the

choice, do not abandon too quickly the full-time career of marriage and

mothering.  Some may criticize you and say that you have no gumption,

that you lack brains, that you have no ambition, or even that you are

seeking to get your fulfillment from others.  As you go forward with a

professional career, remember that no one will love you more than those

in your own home.  In the business or scientific world, probably no one

would consider you to be perfect.  But your little ones, for a time,

will think you are perfect.  If you are wise, they will adore you for

eternity.  No one will need more of your time and energy and attention

on a twenty-four-hour basis than your family.  Their needs will not go

away during the daytime working hours.  There is the advantage that in

working twenty-four hours a day on family relations, you are working on

eternal relations.  Thus you will also have more time to serve in the

administration of the Lord's church on earth where your service is

valued and   needed.  You don't have to earn money to be important. 

You may choose not to sell your time.



	I hope your husbands will be more helpful than I have been, but

homemaking is whatever you make of it.  Every day brings satisfaction

along with some work which may be frustrating, routine, drudgery, and

unchallenging.  But it is the same in the law office, the dispensary,

the library, or the store.  There is, however, no more important job

than homemaking.  As C. S. Lewis said, it "is the one for which all

others exist."



Seek First the Kingdom of God



	You all know that I adore your grandmother.  To me, she is the

greatest person in the world.  She has done more for me than anyone

except my own mother who gave me life.  I hold this view, not in spite

of the fact that she is a woman, but because she is a woman.  She has

brought to flower and fruitage many of the divine qualities of

womanhood at their noblest and best.  I can give you no better model.



	Now it is very important, whatever you do, that you seek first the

kingdom of God and his righteousness (see Matthew 6:33)--It is

important that you accept without reservation the Savior for what he

was, and Joseph Smith for what he said he was, and President Spencer W.

Kimball for what he is.  God will not ennoble a person, man or woman,

who refuses to uphold by faith, prayer, and works those whom God has

called and ordained to preside over them.  So, my dear granddaughters,

you will want to sustain the priesthood authority.



	Some women may feel it is subversive to their free agency to be

directed by the power of the priesthood.  This feeling comes from

misunderstanding.  There should be no compulsion, duress, or

unrighteous dominion involved in priesthood authority.  President

Stephen L Richards stated:  



Our accord comes from universal agreement with righteous principles and

common response to the operating of the Spirit of our Father.  It is

actuated by no fear except one.  That is the fear of offending God, the

author of our work. [CR, October 1938, p. 116]



	Following the priesthood of the Church is an expression of faith

in the Lord's continuing guidance of his Church.  It is a willing

acceptance of the principle of divine agency.



	Girls, you must practice virtue in its largest sense.  Of the many

definitions of virtue, such as moral excellence, right action and

thinking, goodness of character, and chastity in women, I also

appreciate the definition in theology.  Virtue in theology is an order

of the angels. You cannot become great women if you are not also good

women.  You will become great women if you join an order of angels. 

You may ask, "How d I join an order of angels?" My answer is that you

must hunger and thirst after righteousness.  William Law, an

eighteenth-century clergyman, said: "If you have not chosen the Kingdom

of God first, it will in the end make no difference what you have

chosen instead."  



Hunger and Thirst After Righteousness



	I will tell you of one of the great women I have known for over

forty years.  Sister Isabelle Bangerter, age ninety-three, is the

mother of eleven outstanding children.  My missionary companion, Elder

Wm. Grant Bangerter, is the second eldest of these children.  Our

governor, Norman Bangerter, is the tenth child.  She has a posterity of

over two hundred and forty.  All those who are married have been

married in the temple.  All of the males but two have gone on missions. 

There have been no divorces among her family As I have wondered what

made Isabelle Bangerter so great, I have concluded that it was because

she has hungered and thirsted for righteousness.  She sang all of the

verses of her song in her home and in the Church.



	President Kimball said it well when he stated:



	Among the real heroines in the world who will come into the Church

are women who are more concerned with being righteous than with being

selfish. These real heroines have true humility, which places a higher

value on integrity than on visibility. Remember, it is as wrong to do

things just to be seen of women as it is to do things to be seen of

men. Great women and men are always more anxious to serve than to have

dominion. [Spencer W Kimball, "The Role of Righteous Women," Ensign,

November 1979, p. 104]  



	Next to last, you will have to answer to your natural womanly

instincts which the Prophet Joseph said are according to your natures. 

You should respond generously to these instincts and promptings to do

good.  With your very being held still, you should listen to the

whisperings of the Holy Spirit.  You should follow the noble, intuitive

feelings planted deep within your soul by deity in the previous world. 

In this way you will be responding to the Holy Spirit of God, and will

be sanctified by truth.  By so doing, you will be eternally honored and

loved.  Much of your work is to enrich mankind.  Care and mercy seem to

be a dominant refrain of the song you have the opportunity to sing.  I

hope you will not leave any of the melody unsung.



	Lastly, how do I think you, my beloved granddaughters, may become

great women?  You should cultivate and employ generously, your noble

womanly instincts of care and mercy.  You should always hunger and

thirst after righteousness within the framework of the revealed gospel

of Jesus Christ.  And, finally, most of what you do should be done

within an eternal perspective.    That this may be so, I pray in the

name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.  



                            Memory and You



                            Carlos E. Asay



	Elder Carlos E. Asay was sustained in April 1980 as one of the

seven presidents of the First Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of

Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after having served as a member of

that quorum since April 1976.



	Elder Asay has served as executive director of the Church's

Missionary Department and president of the International Mission.  He

is currently executive director of the Curriculum department, His other

Church positions have included Regional Representative, member of the

Sunday School General Board, stake high councilor, bishop, and

full-time missionary to Palestine and Syria (1947-50).  He also

presided over the Texas North Mission from 1970 to 1973.



	Elder Asay was born in Sutherland, Utah, but was raised in Monroe,

Utah, and attended South Sevier High School.  He served in the armed

forces for two years during World War II, then returned to the

University of Utah, where he earned a bachelor's degree.  He was a

four-year basketball letterman at the University of Utah and played on

the 1947 National Invitational Tournament championship team.  He

obtained a master's degree from Long Beach State University in

California and then returned to The University of Utah for a doctorate

in educational administration.  He has been a professor of education at

Brigham Young University, an assistant dean on the BYU Hawaii campus,

and executive assistant to the Presiding Bishopric of the Church.



	Elder Asay is married to Colleen Webb of Monroe.  They are the

parents of six sons (five living) and two daughters.



	This devotional address was delivered in the Marriott Center on 26

February 1985.



	President Holland's remarks about my former athletic

accomplishments remind me that there is some virtue in growing older. 

That virtue is:



	(1)	record books become covered with dust, and  (2)	memories of

people tend to become fuzzy.  Therefore, one can ride the bench with a

team at the university, yet ten years later, in the minds of most, have

been a regular performer.  Twenty years after graduation, he is

remembered as an all--conference player.  Thirty years later, he is an

all--American.  In just two more years, if dust is not blown off the

books and memories refreshed, I fully expect to be inducted into the

Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.



	As I listened to President Holland's introductory comments, I was

reminded of an exchange of greetings I had with President Marion G.

Romney a few years ago.  Early one morning we met on an elevator.  I

observed that he appeared tired though the day was only beginning.  In

an attempt to lift his spirits, I asked: "How are you on this

beautiful, bright morning?"



	"Oh, about average," he drawled.  



	"Well, average for you,"  I said,  "is far above average for the

rest of us."



	He paused a moment, and then, with a twinkle in his eye, closed

the conversation with these words: "My boy" (he calls all of us boys),

" you are very kind, but you are not the least bit honest."



	I am grateful to this kindly, but "slightly dishonest" gentleman

who sits behind me.  He is a special friend of ours, and he is the one

who represents you and this unique university so admirably.  It is

always a pleasure and honor to visit with the Hollands and you on this

campus and recall some very cherished memories of years past.



	After much thought and prayer, I have determined to speak with you

about memory--a subject that I have already introduced in part.  I am

not qualified to treat this topic as a professional psychologist would,

nor as someone else would who understands the wonders of the human

mind.  I do, however, want to share with you some thoughts and feelings

about memory and remembering as related to the gospel and our spiritual

welfare.  



	It seems incredible to me that one's brain has the storage

capacity of one quadrillion bits of information.  If this is true,

allowing for the possible error of ten or twelve bits, why does one

have such difficulty memorizing the thirteen articles of faith, the six

missionary discussions, the basics of a biology course? Or, why is it

so hard to recall one's home telephone number on the spur of the

moment? Perhaps your professors can provide answers to these questions.



	It is equally amazing to me that there is a close relationship

between memory and mood, memory and testimony, memory and models,

memory and thoughts, and memory and you.  Permit me to share some ideas

about these five relationships in a gospel context.  



Memory and Mood



	Memory, according to the experts, often conditions our moods. 

Those who remember only the disappointing experiences of life tend to

become bitter and cynical.  Those who recall only their enemies and the

forces mustered against them may lose their courage.  Those who recall

only past injuries may continue to feud with the world.  But those who

recall the positive and encouraging things remain bright and

optimistic.



	I remember one missionary with whom I labored who had a very sour

disposition.  His companions claimed that he was raised on lemon juice,

dill pickles, and sauerkraut, Obviously, he was consumed with a heavy

burden of unpleasant memories.



	One insightful writer observed: "The memory is a window through

which life is viewed.  The color of that window determines the color of

our world" (Dr.  Ernest A. Fitzgerald).  How awful it would be for one

to walk through life with everything distorted by the red of anger,

blue of despair, black of fear, or green of envy.



	I do not know the color of Enos's life when he went into the

forests to hunt beasts and had his wrestle before God.  One is led to

think that it was somewhat gray, for he had not received a remission of

his sins.  However, as he stimulated his memory by recalling the words

of eternal life spoken by his father, and as he reflected upon the joy

of the Saints, the cloud of gloom was dispelled.  Through prayer and

the exercise of faith, Enos emerged from the woods colored in the rays

of light (see Enos 1: 1--8).



	I know the color of Alma's life as he and others sought to destroy

the church of God.  He states that when he remembered all My sins, he

was racked with eternal torment.  Then, when he remembered all that his

father had prophesied about Christ's atonement, something marvelous

occurred.  He said:



	And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no

more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.



	And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my

soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!



	Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so

exquisite and so bitter as were my pains.  Yea, and again I say unto

you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite

and sweet as was my joy. [Alma 36:19--21]



	Elijah is another interesting case in point.  Even though he had

slain the prophets of Ball and witnessed heavenly powers, he lost his

courage and the desire to live when hunted by wicked Queen Jezebel.  It

required an angel, the whisperings of "a still small voice," and other

reassurances to change his mood (see 1 Kings 19).



	I would ask, Do you allow your mind to wallow in memory of past

hurts and injuries,  thus becoming blind to everything else? Or, do you

recall the positive and encouraging things that cause your life to

remain bright and optimistic? What is the color of your memories? 

Remember, the memories are yours, and the palette and brushes are in

your hands, Be certain that you use the right colors as you paint the

past and niche it in your mind. 



Memory and Testimony



	In our missionary service, we frequently invite our investigator

friends to obtain a testimony by reading the Book of Mormon and praying

about its contents.  Our point of reference is chapter 10 of Moroni,

verses 3--5.  We usually say to our friends: "Read this book and ask

God if it is not true." Then we promise, as the book states, that "he

will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy

Ghost."



	I don't fault any who have used the process described above.  I

do, however, suggest a better and more successful approach.  Let me

read the verses and highlight four steps to a testimony, two of which

are often neglected:



	Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall [1] readthese

things, . . .that ye would [2] remember how merciful the Lord hath been

unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the

time that ye shall receive these things, and [3] ponder  it in your

hearts.



	. . .I would exhort you that ye would [4] ask  God if these things

are not true; and . . . he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by

the power of the Holy Ghost.[Moroni 10: 3 5 emphasis added]



	I emphasize two words, remember and ponder.  I do so because I

feel strongly that reading the things of God without remembering and

pondering how those things fit into the divine scheme tends to confuse,

not enlighten.  Enlightenment occurs and truth is revealed as things

are fitted together in an understandable way.  In the process, the mind

is stimulated, memory is stirred, and the heart is prepared to respond

to the whisperings of the Spirit.



	Ammon rehearsed many truths to King Lamoni before he was

converted.  Among other things:



	. . . he began at the creation of the world, and also the creation

of Adam, and told him all the things concerning the fall of man, and .

. . laid before him the records and the holy scriptures of the people,

which had been spoken by the prophets. [Alma 18:36]



	Similarly, Aaron did the same with the father of Lamoni.  He, as

did Ammon, preached of Adam, the Fall, the plan of redemption, and the

atonement of Christ.  All of this was done to place things in proper

perspective and to build the foundations of a testimony.



	When your testimony sags or appears to stumble along the way, why

not remember the goodness of the Lord? In the process of positive

recall, perhaps you can experience the spiritual healing which King

Lamoni and his father experienced.  How very exhilarating it is to

ponder the merciful nature of God,  and how very healing it is to

remember the eternal gifts of Christ.  



Memories and Models



	Most of us have been deeply influenced by other men and women.  I

suspect that this is the way it should be.  It was Elder Talmage who

wrote that the Father's original purpose was "to use persuasive

influences of wholesome precept and sacrificing example with the

inhabitants of the earth, then to leave them free to choose for

themselves" (James E. Talmage, The Articles of Faith, 12th ed. [Salt

Lake City,: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter--day Saints, 1924], p.

55; emphasis added).  



	All of us, I would guess, have a model or hero tucked away in the

recesses of our memory.  You could have many.  From time to time you

may think of that model, and from him or her draw needed inspiration. 

This is particularly true when the hill you are required to climb seems

insurmountable or the decision to be made seems especially difficult.



	Helaman knew the value of memories and models, for he instructed

his sons:



	. . . I have given you the names of our first parents who came out

of the land of Jerusalem; and this I have done that when you remember

your names ye may remember them; and when ye may remember them ye may

remember their works; and when ye may remember their works ye may know

how that it is said, and also written, that they were good.



	Therefore, my sons, I would that ye should do that which is good,

that it may be said of you, and also written, even as it has been said

and written of them.  [Helaman 5:6--7]



	You should not clutter your memories with men or women of doubtful

reputation.  They will disappoint you and drag you downward.  But,

rather, you should selectively place in your mind the giants of

goodness and, each time you think of them, resolve that you will walk

in their footprints and go beyond their mark.  This is especially

important as you trudge that long walk toward a college degree.  



Memory and Thoughts

	"The mind," it is said, "feeds on the food that is placed at its

disposal." Therefore, "what we give to our minds will eventually

determine what they contain" (Dr.  Ernest A. Fitzgerald).  This

certainly is no startling fact; everyone seems to know it.  Yet, people

continue to read pornographic materials, view smutty and   suggestive

films, and sing songs with filthy lyrics.  Wittingly or not, those who

do these things will store polluted memories and reap the bitter pill.



	I find it difficult to understand how some members of the Church

can blatantly disregard this divine injunction:



	. . . let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly, then shall thy

confidence wax strong in the presence of God, and the doctrine of the

priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven,

	The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an

unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth. [D&C 121:45--46]



	What a gold mine of promises are cradled in this scripture! Who in

his right mind would place in jeopardy the promise of confidence, the

doctrine of the priesthood, and the companionship of the Holy Ghost?  



	Christina Rossetti wrote:  



I have a room where into no one enters  

Save I myself alone  

There sits a blessed memory on a throne  

There my life centers.  [Emphasis added]



	If we counted or enthroned our blessings more, our memories would

become pleasant and our lives would be much happier.  I like these

thoughts: 



The sun was shining in my eyes  

And I could barely see  

To do the necessary task  

That was allotted me.  

Resentment of the vivid glow  

I started to complain  

When all at once upon the air  

I heard the blindman's cane. 

[Earl Musselman]



	Over and beyond the counting of blessings and the garnishing of

thoughts with virtue, let me share one more thing pertaining to memory

and thoughts.  A noted physician counseled:  



Know the great souls that make up the moral radium of the world.  You

must be born of their spirit, initiated into their fraternity. . .



	. . . As the soul is dyed by the thoughts, let no day pass without

contact with the best literature of the world, Learn to know your

Bible. . . . [I would add "and the other standard works of the

Church."] In forming character and in shaping conduct, its touch has

still its ancient Power.  Fifteen or twenty minutes day by day will

give you fellowship with the great minds of the race, and little by

little as the years pass you extend your friendship with the immortal

dead.  They will give you faith in your own day.  Listen while they

speak to you of the fathers.



	. . . Life is a  straight, plain business [game],and the way is

clear, blazed for you by generations of strong men, into whose labours

you enter and whose ideals must be your inspiration. [Dr.  William

Osler, A Way of Life (New York: Paul B. Hoeber, Inc., Medical Book

Department of Harper and Brothers, 1937), pp. 37--38; emphasis added]



	Do not become enslaved by destructive or degrading thoughts.  They

can become as strong and debilitating as Satan's iron chains.  There is

an old story about a man who was recalling the hardships of his early

life.  He exaggerated to such limits that his wife felt constrained to

correct him.  "Be quiet," he said to her.  "Half of the fun of

remembering the good old days is rearranging them." To rearrange one's

memories may not be too bad, if we don't embellish to the point that we

lose contact with reality or truth.



	I was in a meeting with one of the Brethren when he was requested

to tell a story, one he had related on many occasions.  Knowing of

man's tendency to embellish when something is recounted over and over

again, he smiled and asked: "Do you want me to tell it as I told it

last time or as it actually happened?"



	Do not forget that memory and thoughts are inseparably connected;

one runs into the other.  So garnish your thoughts with virtue, count

your blessings, and have fellowship with the great minds of the race. 

Those actions will build you a sacred sanctuary of pleasant memories.  



Memory and You

	Nearly four years ago, I read these words:  



It is said that God gave us memory so we could have roses in winter But

it is also true that without memory we could not have self in any

season.  The more memories you have, the more "you" you have.  That is

why, as Swift said, no wise man ever wished to be younger [George F.

Will, "On Turning 40," Newsweek, 27 April 1981, p. 104]



	I did not fully appreciate memories and self until I, with the

help of others, compiled my oral history I gave my wife a rough copy of

my life story and asked her to edit it.  My instructions were: "You

know me better than I know myself, so please read it carefully and

polish the manuscript.'  



	A half hour later, when I returned to see how she was doing, she

was crying.  I said, "My goodness, is it that bad?"



	"No," she answered, "It is that good!"



	"Have you made any changes?" I asked.



	"No," she replied, "It is you speaking, and I don't want to erase

or edit you out of the record."



	We later gave bound copies of my history to our children.  Both of

us knew that the thing would probably be placed on a shelf and read

only sometime.  A few weeks ago, however, one of our daughters said to

me: "Dad, I love you so very much."



	I wondered what was wrong and I asked: "What brought this on?"



	She explained, "It was your oral history; I have been reading

about your life." She added, "I did not realize that you had done. . .

I didn't know that you had experiences such as . . . "



	Do we not read that records kept by the ancients enlarged the

memory of the people? Of course it is true, Records do preserve

language, safeguard truth, and inspire future readers, if they are kept

properly.



	What a pity it would be if your children and grandchildren were

denied that part of you that really should be recorded.  Make certain

that you are transmitting to your posterity, along with other graces of

life, your innermost thoughts, your poignant feelings, and your sincere

testimonies.  You owe the rising generation this blessing and more.



	Enlarge the memories of those who follow you with your records,

leave for them a part of you, and extend to them an opportunity to hold

you in cherished memory.  



Closing Comments



	There is so much more that could be said about memory and

remembering as related to you and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  For

instance, I've said nothing about the need to remember our sacred

covenants, our vows, our ordinances.  I've said nothing about all of

the "types and shadows" mentioned in the scriptures that have been

given to direct our thoughts in the proper direction and to keep us in

the right path.  Nor have I alluded to the role that memory will play

on Judgment Day.  I leave it up to you to research the subject further

and to fill in all the blanks.



	I do pray that you will sanctify yourselves through repentance and

believing in God's promise: "He who has repented of his sins, the same

is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more" (D&C 58:42).



	At the same time, I pray that you will live so that your name will

appear on the list of the righteous, and that it can be written in that

"book of remembrance" which serves as a registry "for them that feared

the Lord, and that thought upon his name" (3 Nephi 24:16).



	I testify of the importance of memory.  It does mold our moods. 

It is associated with testimony.  It should include models of

righteousness.  Of certainty, it is the product of thoughts, And, in

the end, it is you.  I say this in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.  



        The Doctrine and Covenants--A Scripture for All Seasons



                             Loren C. Dunn



	Elder Loren C Dunn, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy of

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has served the Church

as a General Authority since 1968.



	He currently serves the Church as president of the North America

Northwest Area Presidency Prior to that, he was Executive Administrator

to the Northern Plains/Alberta Canada Area.  Previously he was the

Executive Administrator for the Australia-New Zealand Area, residing in

Auckland, New Zealand. 



	Other assignments have included supervision of missions on the

west coast of South America, Great Britain, the northeast United States

and president of the Australia Sydney Mission.



	Prior to Elder Dunn's Church calls, he was noted for his work in

regional economic planning and development.  He graduated from Brigham

Young University in 1953 in journalism and economics.  He later

received an M.S. degree in public relations from Boston University. 

Elder Dunn has also served as editor of a weekly newspaper and as a

member of the staff of the Herald Tribune Fresh Air Fund in New York

City.



	Elder Dunn was a missionary in Australia from 1954-1956.  He was

also in the presidency of the New England Mission from 1964-1968.  The

author of the book, "Prepare Now to Succeed on Your Mission, " he is a

member of Rotary International and has been active in Scouting. 



	Elder Dunn is married to Sharon Longden.  They are the parents of

five children.  



	This devotional address was delivered 12 March 1985 in the

Marriott Center



	The Doctrine and Covenants should be one of the most important

volumes in our lives.  Let me share with you a statement from President

Harold B. Lee:



	I say that we need to teach our people to, find their answers in

the scriptures.... But the unfortunate thing is that so many, of us are

not reading the scriptures.  We do not know what is in them, and

therefore we speculate about the things that we ought to have found in

the scriptures themselves.  I think that therein is one of our biggest

dangers of today. [Harold B. Lee, Ensign, December 1972, p. 3]



	The Doctrine and Covenants should be dear to us, as Latter-day

Saints, for at least two reasons.



	First, it contains revelations provided for us in our day.  The

other scriptures are also of great value to us, but they spoke to

people of other generations in other days.  The Doctrine and Covenants

is our scripture, directed specifically to our generation.



	Second, it is the only volume of scripture that includes as its

introduction a revelation given by the Lord for that purpose.  The

preface, or first section of the Doctrine and Covenants, is a

revelation from the Lord introducing the Doctrine and Covenants. 

Listen to these great and sacred words from section one:



	Hearken, O ye people of my church, saith the voice of him who

dwells on high, and whose eyes are upon all men; yea, verily I say: 

Hearken ye people from afar; and ye that are upon the islands of the

sea, listen together.For verily the voice of the Lord is unto all men,

and there is none to escape; and there is no eye that shall not see,

neither ear that shall not hear neither heart that shall not be

penetrated. [D&C 1:1--2]  



Our Book of Commandments



	Originally called the Book of Commandments, the Doctrine and

Covenants is a compilation of revelations, mostly given during the

period from 1823 to 1847.  However, the most recent additions to this

volume were made in 1981.  It covers the rise and the development of

the restored Church in our day.  The revelations   were gathered for

publication by a committee chaired by Joseph Smith and were presented

to a general assembly of the Church in Kirtland in August 1835.  Not

only was the volume of scripture accepted at that time, but various

groups of the Church bore witness that the revelations came from the

Lord.



	Elder John A. Widtsoe tells us that the divine being speaking to

us in the Doctrine and Covenants is Jesus of Nazareth.  Apparently the

Father does not speak in these revelations.  He speaks through the Son. 

It is a fundamental doctrine of this Church that the Father has

commissioned his Son, Jesus Christ, to look after the affairs of the

earth and that all things pertaining to the Church are done by him. 

Although we pray to the Father in the name of the Son, the Son is the

person who speaks to us in the Doctrine and Covenants.



	Some of the revelations are actually words spoken by heavenly

beings.  Many of the revelations are in the language of Joseph Smith

and succeeding prophets.  The ideas and impressions were given to them

by the Holy Ghost and they were written in the best language at their

command.  The value of these revelations to all Latter--day Saints and

to the entire world is clear.  Listen to this from the first section:



	Search these commandments, for they are true and faithful, and the

prophecies and promises which are in them shall all be fulfilled. [D&C

1:37]



	Says Heber J. Grant concerning the Doctrine and Covenants:



	I wish that I had the ability to impress upon the Latter-day

Saints the necessity of searching the commandments of God, the

revelations from the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth, as

contained in the Doctrine and Covenants.  If we as a people would live

up to those wonderful revelations that have come to us, we would be a

bright and shining light to all the wide world. [Heber J. Grant, CR

October 1927, p. 4]



	Also, in the introduction of the Doctrine and Covenants, we read

these words:  



	Although most of the sections are directed to members of The

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the messages, warnings,

and exhortations are for the benefit of all mankind, and contain an

invitation to all people everywhere to bear the voice of the Lord Jesus

Christ, speaking to them for their temporal well-being and their

everlasting salvation.... In the revelations one bears the tender but

firm voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, speaking anew in the dispensation

of the fullness of times; and the work that is initiated herein is

preparatory to his second coming in fulfillment of and in concert with

the words of all the holy prophets since the world began. [D&C,

Explanatory Introduction]



	Within the inspired pages of this volume of sacred scripture is

the doctrinal foundation of what we stand for and what we do as a

church. it not only teaches the basic doctrines upon which the Church

is founded, but, as the seeker of truth reads and studies and prays,

the Holy Ghost will bear witness to that person of its truthfulness.



	Question: We are all acquainted with the practice of convening in

stake conferences.  Where did that practice originate?



	Answer: From D&C 20:61.



	The several elders composing this church of Christ are to meet in

conference once in three months, or from time to time as said

conferences shall direct or appoint.  



Verse 81 of that section tells what should happen at those conferences.



	Question: Although mentioned in various scriptures, where did the

specific practice of administering to the sick come from in this

dispensation?



	Answer: From D&C 42.



	And the elders of the church, two or more, shall be called, and

shall pray for and lay their hands upon them in my name; and if they

die they shall die unto me, and if they live they shall live unto me.

[D&C 42:44]  



This scripture goes on to say that should they die, death will be sweet

to them and they will not taste of death as such.



	So it goes--principle after principle and practice after practice

are outlined for the Church by the Savior and recorded in the Doctrine

and Covenants.  



Revelation for All Times



	We do not practice parts of the Doctrine and Covenants today.  The

law of consecration is not lived today in its fullness.  Polygamy was

given by revelation and taken away by revelation.  From 2 Peter

1:20--21 we read:



	Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any

private interpretation.



	For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy

men of God spake as they were motivated by the Holy Ghost.



	From this we learn that holy men are to interpret scriptures for

the Church, and this will supersede all private interpretations by

individuals or groups.  These holy men of today are the First

Presidency, who, as the presiding high priests of the Church, have the

right of officiating in all offices in the Church.



	Following the guidance of the living prophet is the key to

understanding scripture and what the lord requires of us in this day

and age.  No person can call another person or himself to act in behalf

of the Church without being called and duly authorized.  This is from

section 42:



	Again I say unto you, that it shall not be given to any one to go

forth to preach my gospel, or to build up my church, except he be

ordained by some one who has authority, and it is known to the church

that he has authority and has been regularly ordained by the heads of

the church. [D&C 42: 11]



	What about our everyday problems? How does this great volume of

scripture deal with the challenges we face each day of our lives? More

and more, we are finding that many young people and even older people

are suffering from the overriding feelings of guilt in their lives.  If

anything goes wrong, they look for immediate causes and end up blaming

themselves or someone else.



	"I'm not dating, so I'm not attractive enough" or "My inner self

is not what it should be." The result is guilt.



	"My parents are not getting along," or "My parents are divorced,"

or "Somehow it must have been something I did or did not do." The

result is guilt.



	"We want to have children and we can't.  It must be punishment for

something I have or haven't done." The result is guilt.  "I want a

happy-ever-after life.  I have been trying to follow a list of things

that will make me happy, but the trials keep coming, and I'm not always

happy." The result is blaming myself or someone else.



	"How come my problems aren't getting solved? if the gospel is the

gospel of healing and peace, why hasn't more of it come to me?" These

questions go on and on with some.



	Let's turn to the life of Mary Fielding Smith, wife of Hyrum

Smith.  This was her first marriage and his second.  She came into a

family where five children were left without a mother when the first

wife died.  By June 1839 Mary, and Hyrum had been married for eighteen

months.  During that short period they had been driven from two homes,

Hyrum had been imprisoned for six months, Mary had been bed ridden for

four months with a pregnancy, and now, without financial resources,

they were struggling to establish another home.  Listen to this excerpt

written at the time by Mary to her brother Joseph Fielding:



It is now little more than a month since the Lord, in his marvelous

power returned dear husband, with the rest of the brethren, to their

families, in tolerable health.  We are now living in Commerce, on the

bank of the great mississippi river. The situation is very pleasant;

you would be much pleased to see it.  How long we may be permitted to

enjoy it I know not; but the Lord knows what is best for us. I feel but

little concern about where I am, if I can keep my mind staid upon God;

for, you know in this there is perfect peace. [Don Cecil Corbett, Mary

Fielding Smith, Daughter of Britain; Portrait of Courage (Salt Lake

City, UT.  Deseret Book Co., 1966), p. 99]



	Let us go to the imprisonment that Mary spoke of.  It was in

Liberty jail that the prayer and prophecies in sections 121 and 122

were written.  Meeting frustrations and problems that do not seem to go

away is not only a problem that we face from time to time, but the

Prophet Joseph also suffered such adversity as these verses will

attest. (Remember now that they had been in jail for months without the

opportunity of due process.  Their living conditions were horrible.)



	O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy

hiding place?



	How long shall thy hand be stayed, at thine eye, yea thy pure eye,

behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people and of thy

servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries?. . .



	Remember thy suffering saints, O our God; and thy servants will

rejoice in thy name forever [D&C 121:1--2, 6]



	Part of the answer to that prayer comes in section 122.  Note that

the Lord did not say to Joseph that the afflictions would be lifted,

but instead he said that, in fact, it could get worse.  The Lord also

told Joseph that his friends still stood with him.  He pointed out that

this whole process was for the purpose of giving him experience. 

Trials are necessary to become like the Savior, whose name we have

taken upon ourselves at baptism.



	And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of

murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; and if thou be

cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if

fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and

all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the

very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou,

my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be

for thy good. . . .



	Therefore, hold on thy way,. . . for their bounds are set, they

cannot pass.  Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered

less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you

forever and ever [D&C 122:7,9]



	The message? Well, we should not be going out looking for

problems.  But one reason we are here in this life is to gain

experience.  This comes from meeting and overcoming trials. just as the

Savior met his trials, so we must meet our trials if eventually we are

to become like him.  Living the gospel does not always make the

problems go away, but it can and does give us purpose and has the power

to give us peace and healing as we meet our own trials.  



The Importance of Developing Faith



	Some people want quick and easy answers for everything, but this

desire works directly against the development of the principle of

faith.  Without faith it is impossible to please God (see Hebrews

11:6).  If we are going to do the best we can, maybe it is not so

important how things turn out as how we meet a particular trial.  Maybe

the important thing is how we act as we are going through the

difficulty--how we pray, how we keep our covenants, how we treat one

another, whom we try to blame, how well we forgive ourselves and

others--and then move onward.



	The Lord offers the kind of peace and joy and healing that keeps

us going and gives us purpose and direction, but maybe all our problems

do not get solved.  Some live with the same burdens and trials for a

lifetime, but in the process they develop in their lives the kind of

peace the gospel has to offer and the kind our friend Mary Fielding

Smith made mention of.



	Is this not the message we get from these passages:



	Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure

them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days. [D&C

24:8]



	Be patient in afflictions, revile not against those that revile.

Govern your house in meekness, and be steadfast. [D&C 31:9]



	For I will forgive you of your sins with this commandment--that

you remain steadfast in your minds in solemnity and the spirit of

prayer. [D&C 84:61]



	The Doctrine and Covenants will lead to a solution of our problems

as we face them from day to day.



	Although our Father in Heaven cannot look upon sin with the least

degree of allowance, nevertheless we are his sons and daughters and in

his eyes we are of great value.



	We are told in D&C 18:10 to "remember the worth of souls is great

in the sight of God." This worth is constant and does not depend on how

much we accomplish or how popular we are or how many honors we attain

in life.  We do not become more worthwhile by accomplishing more, and

we do not become less worthwhile   by accomplishing less.  Our worth

before God is not dependent upon what we accomplish.  you may not be

the most popular person on campus and you may not be BYU's next

starting quarterback.  You may not be getting a 4.0 this semester.  But

these are not connected with your worth.  Your worth is great.



	If you sin, the Lord does not want you to hate yourself, for you

are one of his creations.  Hate the sin, but do not hate yourself.



	The principle of repentance is not merely the process that those

few go through who really have problems.  For one who has taken upon

himself the name of Christ, repentance is a way of life.  Repentance

means progress.  Repentance is a means of lifting the burden. 

Repentance is healing.  Repentance is peace.  Repentance, properly

directed, is the means the Lord has given us to bring us within the

circle of the Atonement.  It can lift us from our sins and make us

whole again.  Perhaps it is not well enough understood, Listen to this

definition found in the Bible dictionary:  



The Greek word of which this is the translation denotes a change of

mind, i.e., afresh view about God, about oneself and about the world.

Since we are born into conditions of mortality, repentance comes to

mean a turning of the heart and will to God, and a renunciation of sin

to which we are naturally inclined. Without this there can be no

progress.



	With this in mind, consider again these scriptures:



	Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;



	For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh;

wherefore be suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent

and come unto him.



	And he bath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men

unto him, on conditions of repentance.



	And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth! [D&C

18:10-13]



	Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and

I the Lord, remember them no more.



	By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins--behold, he

will confess them and forsake them. [D&C 58:42-43]



	Nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the

Lord shall be forgiven. [D&C 1:32]



	As the great tapestry of revelation unfolds in the Doctrine and

Covenants, we come to know, a Savior who has suffered for all of us. 

He took upon himself our sins, and his suffering is effectual for us if

we would but come to him. He understands about our weaknesses, and he

takes into account the intent of our hearts. The important thing is

that none of us must ever stop the ongoing process of repentance.  Some

things may have to be worked at again and again before they are out of

our lives.  He is only displeased with us when we stop trying.  



Receiving Personal Revelation



	No volume of scripture spells out how to receive personal

revelation from the Lord any better than does the Doctrine and

Covenants.  A pattern is established for all of us in these words to

Oliver Cowdery:



	Oliver Cowdery, verily, verily, I say unto you, that assuredly as

the Lord liveth, who is your God and your Redeemer, even so surely

shall you receive a knowledge of whatsoever things you shall ask in

faith, with an honest heart, believing that you shall receive....



	Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by

the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your

heart.



	Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation. [D&C 8:1-3]



	But the Lord also told Oliver Cowdery:



	Remember that without faith you can do nothing,. therefore ask in

faith. Trifle not with these things,. do not ask for that which you

ought not. [D&C 8:10]



	The Lord more carefully defines this process in a further

revelation to Oliver Cowdery. Note the different ways that he says he

will convey his mind and will:



	Behold, thou knowest that thou hast inquired of me and I did

enlighten the mind; and now I tell thee these things that thou mayest

know that thou hast been enlightened by the Spirit of truth;...



	Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness,

cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart,

that you might know concerning the truth of these things.



	Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What

greater witness can you have than from God? [D&C 6:15, 22-25]



	Also to Oliver Cowdery, these words were spoken:



	But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your

mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will

cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel

that it is right.



	But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you

shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing

which is wrong. [D&C 9:8-9]



	How will you know if the Lord is speaking to you? He tells us

three ways in these revelations.  He will speak peace to your mind, he

will enlighten your mind, and he will cause that your bosom shall burn

within you.  He says that the answer will come to your mind and to your

heart.



	What are the preparations you must make according to these

revelations? You must study it out in your mind and you must ask in

prayer.  Actually it is more than just asking--the words say, "cry unto

me in your heart that you might know the truth concerning these

things." It is one thing to ask and it is another thing to truly humble

yourself and with all the energy of your soul cry unto Heavenly Father

in your heart that you might know the truth.



	This is not your only preparation.  The Lord also says that you

must ask in faith with an honest heart, believing that you shall

receive.  In other words, you know he will answer you.  And when he

does, you must be honest enough to act on that answer.  You will humbly

and earnestly inquire until the answer comes.



	The Lord also says this process is very sacred; you must not

trifle with it or speak of it lightly.



	You should be thoughtful enough not to ask for things that you

should not ask for.



	How do you receive a "no" answer? What kind of an experience is

that? Well, there will be no such burning feelings and/or there will be

a stupor of thought and you will forget the thing that you have asked

about.



	So, on one hand will come the feelings of peace and warmth and

assurance, and on the other hand there will be either nothing or

feelings of radical misgivings.  President Marion G. Romney describes

the process in this way:  



	In praying, I try to follow the teachings of these scriptures. 

When confronted with a problem I prayerfully weigh in my mind

alternative solutions and come to a conclusion as to which of them is

best.  Then in prayer I submit to the Lord my problem, tell him I

desire to make the right choice, what is, in my judgment, the right

course.  Then I ask him if I have made the right decision to give me

the burning in my bosom that He promised Oliver Cowdery.  When

enlightenment and peace come into my mind, I know the Lord is saying

yes.  If I have a "stupor of thought, " I know be is saying no, and I

try again, following the same procedure. [Marion G. Romney, The New

Era, October 1975, p. 35] 



A Divine Invitation



	As a sort of second witness to receiving revelation, the Lord has

given us the scriptures and the words of the living prophet and also

the opportunity to counsel with our local priesthood leaders about

matters.  The Lord is not divided.  He will not tell his Church to do

one thing and an individual to do something else.  This very clear and

sacred process of receiving answers to prayers is ours because we have

the Doctrine and Covenants.



	The Doctrine and Covenants is a divine invitation to come to a

knowledge of the Father and the Son, to understand better the role of

the Lord as Savior and Redeemer and as the author of our salvation, to

understand why his Church is organized the way it is and what its

divine mission is to the people of the world.  This sacred book also

enables us to follow the tender watchful care of God over the infant

Church during its days of numerical weakness when it was first getting

started.



	For one who will faithfully and prayerfully read this great volume

of scripture, there will   come into his heart a greater witness and

love for God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ.  Greater peace and

understanding will come and greater determination in fulfilling the

divine calls that come to us to serve in the Church.



	just as we see the tender watchful care of the Lord over the

infant Church, so will we begin to see with greater clarity the tender

watchful care of the Lord in our own individual lives and how he

carefully leads us through the trials and challenges of this mortal

probation.



	The Doctrine and Covenants has been written for us in our day.  It

is one of the standard works.  It provides us an opportunity to know

and understand deity in a most personal and direct way.



	May the Lord bless us that we will take advantage of that which he

has revealed to us and understand it and put it into our lives.



	I bear you my witness that this work is true, that God does live,

that Jesus is the Christ, and that they have revealed to us their

words, their mind, and their will so that we may live in the world but

not needlessly suffer the pains and ills of the world, in the name of

Jesus Christ.  Amen.  



                      The Meaning of Repentance  



                          Theodore M. Burton



	Elder Theodore Moyle Burton has been a member of the First Quorum

of the Seventy since October, 1976, and for sixteen years before that

he was an Assistant to the Council of the Twelve. He is now at Church

headquarters, after being Executive Administrator for the Germanic

countries, Scandinavia, and Finland from 1978 to 1980.



	Born in Salt Lake City on 27 March 1907, Elder Burton became the

first Eagle Scout in the Pioneer Stake.  His mission was to the

Swiss-German people, and afterward he returned to Europe in 1934 as

technical assistant to the US. treasury attache in Vienna.  In 1937--38

he held the same post in Berlin.  He earned B.A. and M.A. degrees at

the University of Utah and in 1951 received his doctorate in chemistry

at Purdue University.



	From 1932 to 1935 he served as Salt Lake City's assistant city

bacteriologist.  He taught chemistry, physics, and mathematics at

College of Eastern Utah at Price, and in 1943 he began teaching at Utah

State University.  He was professor of organic chemistry there when he

was called to full-time Church service, returning to Europe to serve as

mission president of the European Mission.



	In 1964 he was appointed vice-president and general manager of the

Genealogical Society of Utah and served as president of that society,

and as managing director of the Genealogical Department of the Church

until April 1978.



	Elder Burton has to his credit membership in many scientific and

scholarly fraternities and he has served as chairman of the Utah

Section of the American Chemical Society. He was once president of the

old Juniper Chapter of the Sons of the Utah Pioneers.  The present Utah

State University alma mater hymn was composed by Elder Burton in 1951.



	He is married to Minnie Susan Preece, and their only son, Dr

Robert Preece Burton is a professor of computer science at Brigham

Young University.



	This devotional address was given in the Marriott Center on 26

March 1985.



	The simplest and most basic principles of the gospel are sometimes

those least understood.  One of the most fundamental gospel principles

is repentance.  The mere announcement of the word "repentance" will

cause some of you to conclude at the outset that you've already "heard

it all," to tune out the speaker, or to allow your mind to wander to

your studies, to dating, or simply to daydream.  But I would like to

give you a new insight into the principle of repentance and show you

how relevant and helpful repentance can become for you.  Even though

some of you may qualify for or hold a temple recommend, many of you at

the moment may fail to comprehend the full meaning of repentance and

the great blessings it can bring you.  



A Matter of Great Worth  



	All of us need to understand and appreciate that repentance is the

mechanism for personal growth and development.  Repentance is so

fundamental that the Lord gave a revelation to Oliver Cowdery through

the Prophet Joseph Smith in which he said:



	Say nothing but repentance unto this generation; keep my

commandments, and assist to bring forth my work, according to my

commandments, and you shall be blessed, [D&C 6:9]



	The Lord repeated this statement word for word to Hyrum Smith as

recorded in Doctrine & Covenants 11:9.  Later he gave two other

identical revelations on repentance, one revelation following the

other, and then concluded with these words: 



	And now, behold, I say unto you that the thing which will be of

the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people,

that you may bring souls unto me, that, you may rest with them the

kingdom of my Father [D&C 15:6, 16:6-1 emphasis added]



	Why would the Lord give two identical revelations--and have them

published in the Doctrine and Covenants--one following the other word

for word, unless they were especially intended to be given not only to

them but to all of us?



	And now I must repent--for there is one word that is different,

but very important, in each of these revelations.  In section 15 the

fourth word is "John" and in section 16 the fourth word is "Peter." The

first revelation was addressed to John Whitmer and the second

revelation to Peter Whitmer.  I feel justified in applying these

revelations to all of us because of this repeated instruction.  In the

first revelation I can place my own name so that it is addressed to me:

"Hearken, my servant Theodore!" In the second revelation you can insert

your own name to make it apply to you: "Hearken, my servant Bill, or my

handmaiden Sue!" Thus these revelations can apply to you and to me to

help us understand that the thing of greatest worth to each of us is to

declare repentance, not only to others, but to ourselves as well.  In

fact, the importance of repentance is stressed seventy--one times in

the Doctrine and Covenants alone! The Lord is a master teacher and

knows the value of repetition in learning.  It is time to understand

why and how repentance is a matter of such great worth to you in your

individual life!  



The Meaning of Repentance



	Just what is repentance? Actually it is easier for me to tell you

what repentance is not than to tell you what repentance is.



	My present assignment as a General Authority is to assist the

First Presidency.  I prepare information for them to use in considering

applications to readmit transgressors into the Church and to restore

priesthood and/or temple blessings.  Many times a bishop will write: "I

feel he has suffered enough!" But suffering is not repentance. 

Suffering comes from lack of complete repentance.  A stake president

will write: "I feel he has been punished enough!" But punishment is not

repentance.  Punishment follows disobedience and precedes repentance. 

A husband will write: "My, wife has confessed everything!" But

confession is not repentance.  Confession is an admission of guilt that

occurs as repentance begins.  A wife will write: "My husband is filled

with remorse!" But remorse is not repentance.  Remorse and sorrow

continue because a person has not yet fully repented.  But if

suffering, punishment, confession, remorse, and sorrow are not

repentance, what is repentance? 



Repentance in the Old Testament



	To answer this question, let us go back to the Old Testament.  The

Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the word used for this concept

of repentance is "shube." Let me read a passage from Ezekiel 33:8-11

and insert the word "shube" along with its English translation to help

us understand what repentance is:



	When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die;

if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man

shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.



	Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to [shube, or]

turn from it; if he do not [shube, or] turn.from his way, he shall die

in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.



	When a person despairs and says: "There is nothing left for me!"

"All hope is gone!" "I can't be forgiven!" "What purpose is left in

life?" "I might as well be dead!" God instructs the "watchman on the

tower" to



	Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure

in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked [shube, or] turn from

his way and live: [shube, shube!] turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways;

for why will ye die, O house of Israel? [Ezekiel 33:8--11]



	I know of no kinder, sweeter passage in the Old Testament than

those beautiful lines.  Can you hear a kind, wise, gentle, loving

Father in Heaven pleading with you to "shube" or turn back to him, to

leave unhappiness, sorrow, regret, and despair behind and now turn back 

 to your Father's family where you can find happiness, joy, and

acceptance among his other children? In the Father's family, you are

surrounded with love and affection.  That is the message of the Old

Testament, and prophet after prophet writes of "shube," which is that

turning back to the family of the Lord where you can be received with

joy and rejoicing.  There is an implicit message there that we in the

family of Jesus Christ ought never forget.  We must receive the former

transgressor back into this family with open arms and comfort and bless

him for making the change.  That is what Isaiah had in mind when he

wrote:



	Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he

is near;



	Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his

thoughts: and let him [shube, or] return unto the Lord, and he will

have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon[if

he will only shube]. [Isaiah 55:6-7]



	Throughout the Old Testament, a fundamental theme is forsaking or

turning from evil and doing instead that which is noble and good.  Not

only must we change our ways; we must as well change our very thoughts

which control our actions.  Repentance is a turning back to God!  



Repentance in the New Testament



	Let us now turn to the New Testament which was written in Greek. 

How did those Greek writers translate the word "shube" into Greek and

still retain its concept of repentance? They used the word "metaneoeo,"

which is a compound word of two parts.  The first part, meta," we use

as a prefix in our English vocabulary.  When we eat we convert food by

a process of metabolism into fat, muscle, and connective tissue.  When

we see a crawling caterpillar stop, attach itself to a limb and spin a

cocoon, the insect inside its silken case undergoes metamorphosis.  It

changes its form into a moth or a beautiful butterfly.  The prefix

"meta," then, refers to change.



	The second part of the word "metaneoeo" is subject to various

spellings.  The letter "n," for instance, is sometimes transliterated

as "pn," as in the French word "pneu," meaning an air-filled tire.  We

also find "pneu" in our word pneumatic, as, for instance, a pneumatic

hammer or a pneumatic drill, which are air-driven tools.  It is also

found in our word pneumonia, which is an air sickness of the lungs. 

There are several spellings of this root and many meanings attached to

this word which can mean air, mind, thought, thinking, or spirit,

depending on how it is used.



	The Greek usage of words is similar to that of English, as, for

example, with the word "spirit." To a child, spirit might mean a ghost;

to you, spirit may mean influence such as team spirit or the spirit of

Elijah.  But to me--since I was an organic chemist during my university

years--or to a pharmacist, spirit simply means ethyl alcohol.  In the

context where "meta" and "neoeo" are used in the New Testament, the

word "metaneoeo" means a change of mind or thought or thinking so

powerful and so strong that it changes our very way of life.  I think

"metaneoeo" is an excellent translation of "shube."  The meaning of

both these words is to turn or change from evil to righteousness and

God.  



	But trouble came when Greek was translated into Latin, Only the

educated people spoke Greek, When the New Testament was translated into

Latin for the use of the common people who spoke that language, an

unfortunate choice was made in translation.  "Metaneoeo" was translated

into the word "poenitere." The root "poen" in that word is the same

root found in our English words punish, penance, penitent, and

repentance.  So the beautiful meaning of Hebrew and Greek was changed

in Latin to an ugly meaning involving hurting, punishing, whipping,

cutting, mutilating, disfiguring, starving, or even torturing.  Small

wonder then that most people have come to fear and dread the word

repentance which they were taught and now understand to mean repeated

or never-ending punishment.  People must somehow be made to realize

that the true meaning of repentance is that we do not require people to

be punished or to punish themselves, but to change their lives so then,

can escape eternal punishment.  If they have this understanding, it

will relieve their anxiety and fears and become a welcome and treasured

word in our religious vocabulary.



Three Steps of Repentance



	Let me read again to you from Ezekiel 33, which outlines three

main steps of repentance which include (1) commitment, (2) restitution,

and (3) forsaking sin.



	If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed,

walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity: he shall

surely live, he shall not die [Ezekiel 33:15]  



"Restore the Pledge" 



	Let us analyze these three steps of repentance.  The first thing

to do is to "restore the pledge," and this is the most difficult step

in the repentance process.  But what does the statement " restore the

pledge" mean?



	To restore the pledge means to renew one's covenant with the Lord. 

Forget all excuses and finally recognize fully, exactly, what you have

done.  Don't say, "If I hadn't been so angry," "If my parents had only

been more strict," "If my bishop had only been more understanding," "If

my teachers had only taught me better," "If it hadn't been so dark,"

"If I hadn't been so hungry," "If the stake president had only helped

me to understand," etc., etc., etc.  There are hundreds of such

excuses, none of which matter much in the final analysis.



	Forget all such self-justification and rationalization. just kneel

down before God and openly and honestly admit that what you did was

wrong.  Open your heart to your Father and commit yourself completely

to him: "Dear Father, what I did was wrong and I recognize that I have

sinned.  I make no excuses, but with thy help I promise that I'll never

do that thing again.  I will straighten out my life, and, if necessary,

go to my bishop and seek his help! From now on I pledge that I will be

obedient! Please help me now to earn thy forgiveness!"



	To really commit oneself and mean it is the beginning of

repentance.  Our Savior's great commitment came in the Garden of

Gethsemane as he suffered in agony of spirit and shed great drops of

blood in that garden.  It was a time of terrible trial for him! You

will remember that Jesus asked that the cup might pass from him and

that some other way might be found for him.  Prior to this experience

he had always had ready communication with his Heavenly Father, but now

he not only felt, but indeed really was, left all alone.  It was as if

the heavens over his head were made of brass.  He couldn't get through!

So he continued to struggle in prayer and suffered horribly under the

strain.  It is true that he added these words, "Nevertheless not my

will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42).  In spite of this pledge to his

Heavenly Father, again and yet again he pled with his Father that the

cup might pass and that some other path might be found.  There was no

answer to his request and his soul filled with anguish.  But the third

time when he said, "Thy will be done," it was said in a different tone. 

This time he really meant it.



	He realized there was no other way and he fully committed himself

to do whatever he had been appointed to do.  He was now willing! Though

it cost him tremendous suffering, he made up his mind and committed

himself to be obedient in every particular, regardless of cost and

suffering.  It was then that the angels came to minister to him and

strengthen him for his coming ordeal.  That commitment made his

sacrifice on the cross bearable.  Such a similar struggle may cost you

agony of mind and soul as well, but it will also make the repentance

possible and bearable for you.



	One thing we should remember is that the Lord does not punish us

for our sins.  He simply withholds his blessings and we punish

ourselves.  The scriptures tell us again and again. that the wicked are

punished by the wicked.  A simple illustration can show how easily that

is done.  If Mother tells me not to touch a hot stove because it will

burn and hurt me, she is only stating the law.  If I should forget or

deliberately touch that hot stove, I would be burned.  I could cry and

complain of my hurts, but who would be punishing me? Would it be

Mother--or the hot stove? I would be punishing myself.  Even after my

finger healed, I would have to remember the law, for every time I would

touch that hot stove I would be burned, again and again, until I could

learn to obey the law.  It was and is the law, and justice would have

to be done.  This illustration, however, disregards the important

element of mercy.  



Repay Your Debt



	The second step in the process of repentance is to "give again

that which you have robbed." In other words, you must restore or pay

back that which you have taken. if you have stolen money or goods, it

is relatively easy for you to repay--even to repay sizable amounts with

time.  But what if you have robbed a person of virtue? Is there

anything you can do, of yourself, to restore virtue? Even if you gave

your very life, could that restore virtue? No, but--perish the

thought--does that then mean it is useless to attempt restitution by

significant good works or that your sin is unforgivable? No! Jesus

Christ can restore that virtue and he can thus show you mercy.  His

repayment will satisfy justice and he will make that payment for you if

you will only repent.  True repentance on your part, including a change

in your lifestyle, will enable Jesus, in mercy, to transfer your debt

to him.  But, as Elder Boyd K. Packer explained in his conference

address of 3 April 1977, justice now requires that you repay him. 

Jesus has power to restore virtue and make your victim absolutely clean

and holy.  But, as I said, that bargain only transforms the

indebtedness you have to your victim into a new indebtedness to Jesus

Christ, who paid your ransom.  How can you ever repay your Savior such

a great price?



	This may appear to you to be a new doctrine, but it is reasonable

and consistent with the following scripture from Mosiah.  I am grateful

for the Book of Mormon, which explains how we can repay Jesus Christ

for his great mercy to us. His sacrifice atoned even for our personal

sins and makes mercy available to you and to me. King Benjamin may have

explained how repayment is possible.



	And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that

ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye

are only in the service of your God. [Mosiah 2:17]



	This service to others can include significant good works that

could compensate Jesus for his restitution made for us.  God's work and

glory is to redeem his children.  If we participate in this redemptive

service, he pays us in blessings for which we qualify by that service. 

What this scripture then means is that you can repay Jesus for his

mercy to you by being kind, thoughtful, considerate, and helpful to

those around you.  By such service to others, you can gradually pay

back your indebtedness to your Savior.  You can put the evil you have

done out of your mind by charitable service to others.



	As you begin to repay your debt through service to your family,

neighbors, and friends, the painful elements of your sin will gradually

fade from your mind.  They will no longer fill your soul with anxiety

and concern, nor will you be plagued by worries over previous

transgressions.  Instead of being filled with vain regrets over past

deeds which are already done, events you are powerless to change, you

will now be so busy doing good deeds for others that you will not have

a desire to sin or disobey, nor to recall past sin or disobedience. 

You will be helpful and considerate of everyone you meet.  You will

develop a loving personality and be accepted and appreciated by your

associates.  But as long as you dwell on sin or evil and refuse to

forgive yourself, you will be subject to return again to that sin.  If

you turn from your problems and sins and put them behind you in both

thought and action, you can concentrate on good and positive things. 

You will thus become fully engaged in good causes.  Sin will no longer

be such a temptation for you.



	Jesus himself said of those who attain his presence in the

celestial kingdom that he would put his sheep on his right hand, but

place the goats to his left.



	Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye

blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the

foundation of the world:



	For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye

gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:



	Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in

prison, and ye came unto me.



	Then shall the righteous answer him, saying Lord, when saw we thee

an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?



	When saw we thee a stranger and took thee in? or naked, and

clothed thee?



	Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?



	And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto

you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my

brethren, ye have done it unto me.



	Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me,

ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his

angels:



	For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and

ye gave me no drink:



	I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me

not. sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.



	Then shall they also answer him, saying  Lord, when saw we thee an

hungred, or athirst, or a stranger or naked, or sick, or in prison, and

did not minister unto thee?



	Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch

as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 



	And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the

righteous into life eternal. [Matthew 25:34--46; emphasis added]



	In service to others you can repay your Savior for his mercies and

blessings unto you and repay him at least in part for his atonement for

you.  Jesus can and will lift all burdens from your soul if you will

only "shube," or turn from sin back to God.



	It stands to reason that the more serious the sin, the longer it

takes to complete the repayment.  If you work at repayment daily over

the years, even very great sins you may have committed can eventually

be repaid and you can then stand blameless before your Savior. 

Remember that church leaders can forgive you for your sins against the

Church, but final forgiveness for sin has to come from the Great judge

on the day of reckoning when each of us must give an account of our

lives.  



	It takes time for repentance to be final.  An injury to the soul

is similar to an injury to the body, just as it takes time for a wound

in the body to heal, so it also takes time for a wound of the soul to

heal.  The deeper the cut in the body, the longer it takes to heal, and

if broken bones are involved, that healing process is extended.  If I

cut myself, for example, the wound will gradually heal and scab over. 

But as it heals, it begins to itch, and if I scratch at the itching

scab it will take longer to heal, for the wound will open up again. 

But there is a greater danger.  Because of the bacteria on my fingers

as I scratch the scab, the wound may become infected and I can poison

the wound and can lose that part of my body and eventually even my

life!



	Allow injuries to follow their prescribed healing course or, if

serious, see a doctor for skilled help. So it is with injuries to the

soul.  Allow the injury to follow its prescribed healing course without

scratching it through vain regrets.  If it is serious, go to your

bishop and get skilled help. It may hurt as he disinfects the wound and

sews the flesh together, but it will heal properly that way.  Don't

hurry or force it, but be patient with yourself and with your thoughts. 

Be active with positive and righteous thoughts and deeds.  Then the

wound will heal properly and you will become happy and productive

again. 



Forsake Your Sins



	Now we come to the third step of repentance which is to "walk in

the statutes of life, without committing iniquity." In other words, we

must forsake our sins, one by one, and never repeat them.  When we do

this in sincerity and with honesty of heart, the Lord has said through

his prophets: 



	To Ezekiel:



	None [not even one] of his sins that he hath committed shall be

mentioned unto him: he hath done That which is lawful and right; he

shall surely live [Ezekiel 33:16]  



	To Isaiah:



	I, even I, am he that blotted out thy transgressions for mine own

sake, and will not remember thy sins. [Isaiah 43:25]



	To Joseph Smith:



	Behold, he who has repented of his sins, The same is forgiven, and

I, the Lord, remember them no more. [D&C 58:42]



	But how do we know if a man or a woman has repented of his or

sins? The lord has even answered that question:



	By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins--behold, he

will confess them and forsake them. [D&C 58:43]



	Naturally, that confession which precedes repentance should be to

a bishop or stake president who has authority to forgive sins. 

Confessions to others, particularly confessions repeated again and

again in open meetings, as is sometimes done, only demean both the

confessor and the hearer.  But the final step of repentance in

forsaking sin means that you do not repeat that transgression again.  



	How grateful we should be for a kind, wise,  loving Savior who

will help us overcome our faults, our mistakes, our sins.  He

understands us and is sympathetic to the fact that we must face

temptations.  He is also merciful and has provided a way so that we can

apply these principles of repentance in our lives and thus escape the

bondage of pain, sorrow, suffering, and despair that comes from

disobedience, either conscious or unconscious.  After all is said and

done, we are his sons and his daughters and he loves each of us dearly. 

For those who understand its true meaning, repentance becomes a

beautiful word and a marvelous refuge.  I testify that our Savior lives

and loves us.  This is my personal witness, in the holy name of Jesus

Christ.  Amen.



                       Build Your Understanding



                            J. Thomas Fyans



	Elder J. Thomas Fyans has been one of the Presidents of the First

Quorum of the Seventy since October 1976. Before that he was an

Assistant to the Twelve and a Regional Representative.



	Moreland, Idaho, was his birthplace, but at an early age he moved

to the Salt Lake area. He served a mission in the Spanish-American

Mission, was bishop of the Butler Ward, first counselor for ten years

in the East Jordan Stake, and president of the Uruguay Mission from

1960 to 1964.



	Following his mission to Uruguay, Elder Fyans was called to the

Priesthood Missionary Committee He served as coordinator of area

conferences in Great Britain, Mexico City, Munich, Stockholm, Sao

Paulo, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Seoul, Manila, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. In

addition, he has been zone adviser in the Orient, area supervisor in

Central America and Mexico, executive director of the Genealogical

Department, and managing director of the Internal Communications

Department. As a member of the presidency of the first Quorum of the

Seventy, Elder Fyans currently serves as the executive director of the

Priesthood Department.



	Before working full-time for the Church. Elder Fyans was an

executive with ZCMI. After twenty years with the firm, he became

director of distribution and translation for the Church and then

administrative director for the Presiding Bishopric.



	He and his wife, Helen Cook, are the parents of five daughters.



	This fireside talk was given in the Marriott Center on 31 March

1985. 



	BYU.  What does that mean to you? Hold in your hearts all the

feelings and impressions that occur to you as you hear the letters B Y

U Perhaps tonight we can consider another dimension: B-Y-U, Build Your

Understanding.



	Build means to frame, construct, erect.  It is a cumulative

increase in power and effectiveness Build Your Understanding.  



Starting with a Blueprint



	The Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians, "Ye are God's

building.... But let every man take heed how he buildeth" (I

Corinthians 3:9--10).  Paul goes on to tell us that we are more than

just a building: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that

the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (I Corinthians 3:16).



	If we are to become builders, we must have a plan.  The greatest

desire of our Father in Heaven is to bring to pass our immortality and

eternal life (Moses 1:39).  He is the master builder.  Because of his

love for each soul he has provided a blueprint.  Here is our blueprint:

the holy scriptures, the plan of salvation, the gospel of Jesus Christ

restored in its fullness, as explained in the scriptures--a plan of

salvation with all the specifications and configurations of eternal

truths necessary to build our temple, brick upon brick, culminating in

lofty spires beckoning the Spirit of the Lord to come and dwell within. 

Our do-it-yourself project must begin with a detailed study and

pondering of this blueprint.



	Building cannot proceed without tools--precision tools, each to

perform an essential task.  A carpenter is only as good as his tools. 

For our tools we are given a body with a reasoning mind and the agency

to act for ourselves.  We can't blame Adam if we nail the shingles on

our roof beginning at the top of the roof instead of the bottom,

causing the overlapping shingles to be going in the wrong direction,

which, of course, would not allow the rain to roll off.  We are given

the tool of repentance, a very special implement, provided at great

personal expense to the giver, our Savior.  In order to erect the

supporting beams of our temple we are offered another significant tool,

the power to act in God's name, the holy priesthood with all its

privileges and ordinances.



	We now have a fail-proof blueprint and sufficient tools imbued

with the power of God.  Now comes the acquisition of the building

materials.  Building materials are also provided by the master builder,

but they do not come free; there aren't even any discounts, no credit

buying--full price must be paid with the requirements and covenants

involved.



	Opportunities and challenges will provide the building materials,

opportunities for hands-on, line-upon-line experience so necessary in

this educational process we are undergoing here on the earth. 

Opportunities provide the building blocks molded as the direct result

of temptations, adversity, callings, and many other circumstances that

are part of this mortal life.



	As with any do-it-yourself project, there is considerable need for

technical advice and moral support.  At critical moments when our logic

fails to provide a solution, the master builder is the only one who can

give us direction.  Each one of you, as builders, is entitled to divine

assistance, personal revelation through the Holy Ghost.  We have the

responsibility and the opportunity to petition the assistance of one

who can reveal the wisdom necessary to raise a building fitting not

only for time, but for all eternity.  Wisdom can also be derived from

listening to direction from prophets of God.  Much trial and error will

be eliminated if our ears are diligently attuned to absorb these voices

of experience.  Putting our trust in the success of others, we proceed

in strict obedience to those success patterns, often not sure of the

need for such precision. loving parents, still in the process of

construction themselves, dedicate their lives to our meticulous

instruction and help us begin a firm foundation.  Experienced builders,

our ward and stake leaders are given the stewardship of watching over

our construction.



	As our temple rises, we must be aware of our motives for its

construction.  How do these motives change our perception of the

finished building? So far our start has been good.  We have a

foundation built upon the rock of Jesus Christ and the gospel.  We are

collecting excellent building materials, materials molded by our

challenges.  The construction of its walls is now beginning.  We have

rejected counterfeit blocks--although hollow and much quicker to

assemble, they have been proven to crumble under the stress of their

own weight, and their supplier is nowhere to be found.



	Hopefully, as we stand back and look at the beautiful harmony and

balance of the structure taking shape before us, we will not mistakenly

take credit.  Nor should we allow ourselves to be overcome by its

beauty to the point that we are prompted to fashion gaudy

embellishments to impress those looking on.  If our vision is clear,

the plaque hanging over the entrance to our edifice will dedicate its

activities to the lord, rather than providing aggrandizement to the

builder's accomplishments.



	Your building process must be selective; you will find a need to

set priorities.  Many of you have never owned a home of your own. 

Tucked away in your mind at this moment is a vision of your dream

house.  Each time you tour a home show, or view the latest in design,

you update these plans in your mind; perhaps this time it is a swimming

pool surrounded with rich redwood decking and luscious foliage.  You

have not yet come to the point of doing much about limiting those

dreams, but there will come a day when fact comes face-to-face with

fancy.  As is true in the temple we are building, the fact is we can

have almost anything we want, but we cannot have everything we

want--choices must be made. judgments are not always between good and

bad but sometimes between good and better.  Goals must be determined. 

Time and energy must be reserved consistently in the development of

talents toward those goals, giving up or sacrificing some things to

gain others, delaying minor pleasures today in favor of major

satisfactions tomorrow.  The act of today is the parent of tomorrow.



	We plant wheat to harvest wheat.  We plant tomatoes to grow

tomatoes.  If we plant wheat in a field, that field will not produce

tomatoes.  If we plant obedience to gospel laws, we will reap

spirituality and a refinement in our lives.  If we allow drugs to

dominate our lives, we will become addicts and potentially reap all the

side effects: loss of job, financial difficulty, divorce, sadness, and

depression.  "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap"

(Galatians 6:7).



	For every tree is known by his own fruit.  For of thorns men do

not gather, figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.



	A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth

that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his

heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the

heart his mouth speaketh. [Luke 6:44-45]



	You have determined that the temple is patterned after a master

blueprint, you have the tools, you have begun a foundation attached

firmly to the rock of the gospel.  Materials are stacking up awaiting

appropriate application.  Now the building begins in earnest, a

building which cannot rise without the builder--each one of you.  You

are now ready for the challenges of applying these building

materials--at the same time developing new skills and refining others.  



Our Role in the Construction



	We are talking about the most important component necessary to

build your understanding--it is the "you" in "your." Through tremendous

exertion of every fiber of your being, every thought of your mind, and

feeling of your heart, your temple will rise in splendid glory.  The

all-encompassing dedication required to reach such a goal will require

your single-minded obedience and much sacrifice, your complete faith in

the master builder, your concentrated study of the scriptures, your

charity and willingness to serve, your dedicated determination, and,

very important, your solicitations of a willing Father in Heaven,

waiting to respond to your petitions.



	In the Garden of Eden, after Adam and Eve had partaken of the

forbidden fruit and were expelled from the presence of the Lord, the

Father asked, "Where art thou?" not because the Father needed to

know--he already knew--but because Adam needed to face the question. 

And so, as builders of a precise structure, we must realize that it is

our individual task to build our own temple, a task which will wait

until we address the task-making evaluations and setting goals, making

time to assess our efforts, being certain to return often to the

blueprints our Father has given us, setting new priorities if

necessary.  We must know where we are.



	If this is to be your building, then what are to be your payments?

As part of our tools and building materials, we have available baptism,

the gift of the Holy Ghost, priesthood ordinances, and much, much more. 

How many dollars would each of these items be worth to you, payment to

be made in advance, of course? The world's way is to ask for money; the

Lord's way asks for a different kind of payment.  Alma said, "Whosoever

will come may come and partake of the waters of life freely" (Alma

42:27).  Then what is it the Lord requires? In D&C 64:34 we are

instructed: "Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind."



	The success of any person on this earth is largely determined by

the attitude of the mind and heart.  Studies have shown that successful

individuals are not necessarily endowed with superior amounts of

intellect or education, but they are persistent, and they continue in

their persistence day by day.



	Your attitude is of extreme importance.  Let's listen in on a

conversation and the thoughts of a traveler.



	While driving through California, I decided to take a detour

across Death Valley. I had been warned not to risk getting stranded. So

before tackling the valley itself I pulled into the last lonely filling

station to stock up with gas.



	The solitary proprietor of the gas station was long lean, rangy

and laconic His face had been tanned to saddle leather.



	I reached my hand out of the window to feel the side of the car

and withdrew it sharply with smarting fingertips.



	"If it's like this in April," I said, "how high does the mercury

go in summer?"  

	"Hundred-forty, hundred-fifty, mebbe."  



	"Do you mean in the shade?"



	He grinned, his eyes screwed up in a sardonic twinkle, "Ain't no

shade," he said.



	Looking around, I had to admit he was right. "Don't suppose many

cars come through here in the summer?" "Nope. That'll be three

forty-five." 



	"What do you do, then, in the summer?" I asked, fishing a

five-dollar bill out of my wallet.



	"Prospectin'," he answered. "Gold, silver, pumice, anything I can

find. Reckon I put in around fourteen, sixteen hours a day at it, all

summer long."



	"My."I said, "that sounds like pretty hard work."



	"Tain 't," he replied. He hesitated as though to add something but

then went to get my change. By the time he came back he had evidently

corralled his thoughts in words.



	"Guess nothin's really hard work," he said, "unless you'd sooner

be doin' somethin' else"



	He counted out into my hand a silver dollar, a quarter; two dimes

and two nickels. I must have been too hot to take in what he said. It

wasn't until I'd driven as far as Badwater and got out for a few

moments to peer into the small stagnant pool which must have dashed the

hopes of so many thirsty pioneers, that I  realized that he had

handed.me, along with those fugitive coins, a lasting piece of wisdom a

nugget of purer gold than an he had ever dug out of the hills.



	"Guess nothin's really hard work, " he said, unless you'd sooner

be doin' somethin' else.  [Jan Struther, This Week]  



Man Must Hope



	The challenges of life here on earth are perhaps even at this

moment weighing down upon many of you.  Often these obstacles to our

building process seem overwhelming, especially if we must struggle with

them daily. 



	May I share with you a story about some yellow chrysanthemums. 

One morning my wife and I were glancing out onto our patio.  Sister

Fyans and I live in a high-rise condominium, so our patio is ten

stories off the ground.  A southern exposure filled the room with the

beautiful blue of the sky and the warmth of the morning sun.  We were

noticing the beauty of a brilliant yellow chrysanthemum plant in full

bloom.  Admiring its beauty, Helen reminded me I had given her this

plant earlier that spring.  It had bloomed and shared with us the

radiance of its beauty.  As the blooms fell, the leaves. too. shriveled

and dried.  What was left of these beautiful flowers was placed in the

corner of the patio where they remained unattended.  The forgotten

plant remained there for several months with no life discernible at

all.  



	Late that summer, as we were cleaning the patio, we noticed this

pot.  Helen had cut back the now brown stems and placed it in a spot

where it would be convenient to water.  She had heard that

chrysanthemums could bloom a second time in the fall if they were

properly nurtured.  As the care and watering continued over a period of

time, we noticed a few very small green sprouts coming out through the

soil.  This excited us to see life once again return.  The response to

our care encouraged us to the point that from then on the plant

received regular watering and plant food.  Each day we anxiously

watched this beautiful plant return to its full glory.  Several more

weeks went by, and this particular day, as we gazed at this beautiful

plant which was again sharing its splendor with us, Helen informed me

she had counted fifty-three blossoms.



	At some point in time that chrysanthemum plant, stuck in a corner

and forgotten, may be an exact analogy of your heavy heart as it

struggles with a problem or experience.  Don't ever give up-no matter

how brown the leaves and brittle the stems.  There is an abundant life

that needs nutrients from the soil of the gospel and the moisture from

heaven--life is eternal.  The thirteenth article of faith tells us that

"we [must] hope all things." Ether 12:32 says "man must hope." Moroni

asked, "How ... can [ye] attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope?"

(Moroni 7:40).  Hope and faith are attitudes of the mind and the heart

upon which are based all our actions.  Building your understanding is a

process, not an event.  With diligent, consistent effort, precept upon

precept will allow that hope to swell.  



Developing Greater Understanding



	In Proverbs 2:2 and 4:7 we are told, "Apply thine heart to

understanding" and "With all thy getting get understanding." So far we

have been diligent builders, following the blueprint, relying upon the

Spirit for direction. But when does the understanding come?



	About a year ago a new word processor was delivered to my office. 

The libraries in that word processor were blank, it was up to us to

fill them with whatever we saw fit.  Document after document was

inputted into the computer.  Most of my talks and reference material

for future talks are slowly building.  This base will continue to

broaden, week after week, year after year.  Tremendous amounts of

information are just waiting--waiting for what? This word processor has

the capability to search through its memory banks for every reference

it has ever been fed on a given word.  In seconds I can have a list of

documents to illustrate an important point.  Information recorded line

upon line, precept upon precept, all comes together at the precise

moment that is most meaningful in my life.



	We can compare ourselves to a computer consuming vast amounts of

information in one day, or even in an hour, not all of it by choice. 

Living at this point in time on the earth, men and women today know

more about the world and what goes on around it than even the most

informed citizens of the past.  For example, in a recent hour of

television news, viewers saw reports about terrible earthquakes in

Chile, accounts from the war zones of Nicaragua and from Iran, reports

of comments made by the president as seen in the Oval Office, scenes of

a fire in Provo, and views of an ancient Indian ruin in southern Utah. 

This passive input of thoughts and facts could be compared with an

experience you may have had as you relaxed on a chair somewhere in the

Wilkinson Center just watching all the people going by.  Our lives can

just go by also and we will have absorbed only that which passed as we

sat.  But we have been given our agency to determine for ourselves what

we desire to incorporate into our understanding, thus implementing it

into our thinking and action patterns.  Our minds are only actively

thinking a very small percentage of the time--most often we allow our

thinking process to remain neutral, taking in only what passes by.  At

the end of seventy years or so upon this earth, we all will have a

greater understanding than when we entered.  But I would like you to

comprehend what it will take to build your understanding to its full

potential, looking forward to some circumstance in your future life

when information recorded line upon line, precept upon precept, will

all come together at the precise moment that is most meaningful.  Your

mind must envision your temple and the process of building, complete in

detail.  Aspirations are forces that drive us toward understanding.



	What we aspire to be, that in some measure we already are; what we

deeply desire to possess, we have in some degree already acquired. If

we are possessed of an ideal, it must be because we have in us the

possibility of it. God does not put into wild geese the instinct to go

south for the winter without a south to go to. We may see our ideas as

surely as the sculptor sees the finished face in the rough marble even

before he has taken up the chisel. 



	Someone has said: It is not so much how much you see as what you

learn from what you see.  It is not so much how much you learn as what

you do with what you learn from what you see as you go--wherever you

plan to go!  



Enlarge Your Soul  



	Alma compares understanding to a seed: 



	Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart,

behold. if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out

by your unbelief that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it

will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these

swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves--It must needs

be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth

to enlarge my soul: yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding.

yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me. [Alma 32:28] 



	With an eternal plan, and with day-by-day determination, at the

end of your life here on this earth you will be able not only to

understand that plan, but you will be able to feel that plan with every

fiber of your being.  You will have become one with the plan, just as

the Father and the Son have become one with the plan and with each

other.  Any action in which you now engage will be in complete harmony

with the plan--your temple is as complete as is possible upon this

earth, the doors are open and, as the Lord approaches and enters your

temple, you are invited to walk with him.  "Come and dwell with me

forever," he will say.  Will it be worth the waiting, the sacrificing,

the tedious day-by-day building? "Well done, thou good and faithful

servant.  Come and dwell with me" (see Matthew 25:21).



	The Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians, "Ye are God's

building.... But let every man take heed how he buildeth" (1

Corinthians 3:9--10).



	You and I are more than just a building.  Paul explains: "Know ye

not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth

in you?" (I Corinthians 3:16).



	As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,

restored in our day, we are fortunate that our years as young adults

need not be spent in drafting our own blueprint from the philosophies

of men.  We are so fortunate to have such tools of perfection as a

reasoning mind and the agency to use it, plus all the expertise

provided by the principles and ordinances of the gospel, plus the

priesthood of God, the power to act in his name.  A lifetime of

opportunities and challenges will provide the building blocks for your

understanding, one block at a time.  Assistance is offered in the form

of personal revelation from the master builder.  The voice of the

prophet, as well as the voices of other experienced builders, provides

tried and true methods of temple building.  The councils in heaven

terminated with a resolution that each soul would have his agency.



	The application of the plan, the procedure used to collect tools

and building materials, is left up to the individual builder.  In no

other way can we build our understanding, or be able to determine the

good from the evil.  In no other way can we know joy.  While the

Father's plan is specific, as is any blueprint for any building, much

of the application of its design is left up to his individual

children--there are no tract temples.  Obedience to his plan requires

sacrifice, hope, faith, and determination with specific goals.



	Enjoy building your temple, Remember the wisdom of the prospector,

"Guess nothing's really hard work, unless you'd sooner be doin'

somethin' else." When your building becomes especially laborious, bring

to your mind the hope of my yellow chrysanthemums.  Hope is the perfect

place to begin to B--Y--U--, build your understanding.



	And the light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through

him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth

your understandings. [D&C 88:11; emphasis added]



	Jesus is the Christ--he is the beacon to light our way back to the

Father.  Use the fuel of building your understanding to propel yourself

into the presence of the creator of the universe, the source of all

light and truth.  May you arrive in peace, I pray humbly in the sacred

name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen. 



                  The Testament of Bruce R. McConkie



                            John K. Carmack



	Elder John K. Carmack was named a member of the First Quorum of

the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April

7, 1984. At the time of his appointment he was president of the

Church's Idaho Boise Mission.



	Previously he has served the Church as a Regional Representative,

president of the Los Angeles Stake, counselor to stake presidents, high

councilor, and bishopric member.



	A graduate of San Luis Obispo High School, Elder Carmack received

his B.A. degree from Brigham Young University. After serving in the

U.S. Army in Korea, he received his J. D. degree from the UCLA School

of Law. Before entering private law practice he served as a legislative

assistant in the California Legislature and as deputy county counsel in

Los Angeles.



	Elder Carmack is a past president of the Westwood Bar Association

and was president of Carmack, Johnson & Poulson Law Corporation in

western Los Angeles before he was called to serve as a mission

president. He has been active in community, educational, and political

affairs, including California state and local political campaigns, and

has served on a number of advisory boards in educational institutions.

He was a member of the board of the BYU Alumni Association and served

on its executive committee. He also served on the board of visitors of

the J. Reuben Clark Law School.



	Elder Carmack is married to Shirley Fay Allen. They are the

parents of five children. 



	This fireside address was given in the Marriott Center on 5 May

1985.



	For where a testament is. there must also of necessity be the

death of the testator.



	For a testament is of force after men are dead.. otherwise it is

of no strength at all while the testator liveth. [Hebrews 9:16, 17]



	Elder Bruce R. McConkie's life was a testament, which is to say

his life was an expression of his conviction of Christ as well as a

tangible proof of the reality of Christ.  Rarely has a man's life been

so completely intertwined with his powerful message that his death,

though natural, almost seemed to seal that testimony with his blood. 

The testator is dead.  His testament will become even more powerful in

the years to come.



	Elder McConkie's life seemed so welded to Christ that one would

expect that he was there to welcome him with the words, "Bruce, Bruce,

not once were you ashamed of me, not once! Enter thou into my rest."



	Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,

consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;



	Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was

faithful in all his house.



	For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch

as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.



	For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all

things is God,



	And Moses verily was faithful in all his house. as a servant, for

a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;



	But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we

hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the

end. [Hebrews 3:1-6]



	As Moses was faithful in his house, and his life of faithfulness

became a testimony to Christ, so has Elder McConkie been faithful in

his house and has held fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope

firm unto the end.



	I believe with all my heart that Elder McConkie stepped from his

own bed at home with his family, who at his request on his deathbed

prayed for his release the very moment he passed to the other world,

into the mansion of Jesus Christ in a glory and peace which passeth all

understanding.



	But he left with us his ringing testimony, and his firm example

which we should never forget.  May I tonight capsulize and recall to

our minds the keys of that testimony.  Our loss is the gain of another

and holier sphere. 



Oh strong soul, by what shore

Tarriest thou now? For that force,

Surely, has not been left vain!

Somewhere, surely, afar,

In the sounding labor-house vast

Of being, is practised that strength.

[Parley A. Christensen, All in a Teachers's Day (Salt Lake City:

Stevens and Wallis, Inc., 1948), p. 251]



	Our loss will be the less if we remember and do as he taught by

precept and practice.  These remarks are dedicated to the proposition

that a grateful church will not forget.  



"I Want to Be Worthy of Rest"



	I remember this conversation between a fictitious father and son

from Potok's The Chosen.



	"Reuven, do you know what the rabbis tell us God said to Moses

when he was about to die?"



	I stared at him. "No," I heard myself say.



	"He said to Moses, 'You have toiled and labored, now you are

worthy of rest.'"



	I stared at him and didn't say anything. 



	"You are no longer a child, Reuven," my father went on. "It is

almost possible to see the way your mind is growing. And your heart,

too. Inductive logic, Freud, experimental psychology, mathematizing

hypotheses, scientific study of the Talmud. Three years ago, you were

still a child. You have become a small giant since the day Danny's ball

struck your eye. You do not see it. But I see it. And it is a beautiful

thing to see. So listen to what I am going to tell you." He paused for

a moment, as if considering his next words carefully, then continued.

"Human beings do not live forever, Reuven. We live less than the time

it takes to blink an eye, if we measure our lives against eternity. So

it may be asked what value is there to a human life. There is so much

pain in the world. What does it mean to have to suffer so much if our

lives are nothing more than the blink of an eye?" He paused again, his

eyes misty now, then went on. "I learned a long time ago, Reuven, that

a blink of an eye in itself is nothing. But the eve that blinks, that

is something. A span of life is nothing. But the man who lives that

span, he is something. He can fill that time span with meaning, so its

quality is immeasurable though its quantity may be insignificant. Do

you understand what I am saying? A man must fill his life with meaning,

meaning is not automatically given to life. It is hard work to fill

one's life with meaning. That I do not think you understand yet. A life

filled with meaning is worthy of rest. I want to be worthy of rest when

I am no longer here. Do you understand what I am saying?" [Chaim Potok,

The Chosen (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967), pp. 216-17]



	Elder McConkie's life was filled with meaning.  Years of toil late

into the night and in the early morning hours filled it with meaning.



	What was that meaning? It will be a personal or individual meaning

for all who knew him either in person or through the written or spoken

word.  But for me, that meaning will now be summarized.  If you will

make a note of my major points, I will teach you an interesting point

by my method of presentation. 



Bruce R. McConkie, The Testator



	First, he traveled the full length of the path of his mortal life

giving his all to the Lord, and thus he taught us what it means to

truly endure to the end.



	Once he wrote,



To gain the promised inheritance in the celestial world it is necessary

to travel the length of the path, a course of travel which consists in

obedience to the laws and principles of the gospel.  This process is

called enduring to the end, meaning the end of mortal life. [MD, p.

228]



	Elder McConkie and Elder Haight were assigned to the twelve-stake

conference in Santa Barbara, California.  We met to plan the conference

in Elder Height's office.  I was the junior member of the team.  Elder

McConkie's only request was that we do what would be most convenient

for the people of the twelve stakes.  So we planned two four-hour

leadership meetings on Saturday, one in Chatsworth and one in Santa

Barbara, one hundred miles away.  Sunday would find us doing two

two-hour meetings on the University of California, Santa Barbara,

campus.  We would return the one hundred miles to Los Angeles and

arrive home about midnight.  Elder Haight, ever solicitous of Elder

McConkie, protested, but bowed to the senior apostle.



	I saw him that week in the General Authority dining room.  "John,

let's go preach the gospel , he said with obvious enthusiasm.  He

anticipated the chance to once more teach and exhort the Saints.



	On the Friday night before the conference, Shirley and I met Bruce

and Amelia McConkie and David Haight at the Burbank airport.  Elder

McConkie was completely exhausted.  He had just had his chemotherapy

shot. (Incidentally, Sister McConkie says that his doctor, who as not a

member of the Church, did not quite know how to take Bruce.  She said

he would walk in on Friday for his shot, roll up his sleeve, and say,

"Seven more days of life, Doc!")



	After we met at the airport that night, Elder McConkie went

straight to bed without dinner.  Over dinner, Amelia shared with us his

cooperative disdain for the illness which was obviously consuming him. 

I think it was she that bore the brunt of his pending date with the

Savior.  For him, this is the way he would describe it, "It makes not a

particle of difference whether I preach the gospel here or in the world

to come.  I will preach the gospel."



	Many felt he was never more powerful than he was at that

conference, nor was there a finer regional conference than that on

Saturday and Sunday in Chatsworth and Santa Barbara.  He was back where

his father Oscar McConkie had presided in such power, which I remember

well because I was one of the young people who was greatly influenced

by his father.  The stake president in Santa Barbara, Gerald Haws, was

one he had installed, and jerry's father had been a district president

in the same area serving with Oscar McConkie.



	Experiencing some difficulty with the sound on Sunday, he grasped

the microphone on the podium and pulled it close to his mouth.  "I

didn't come all this way not to be heard," he announced.  Everyone

heard and everyone understood his message of salvation.



	We drove back to Los Angeles and awaited the late arrival of our

flight to Salt Lake City.  In the airport many recognized him and Elder

Haight and spoke to both of them.  He could travel to no location in

the world without being recognized.  He and all of the rest of us were

tired as we arrived in Salt Lake City at midnight.



	On Tuesday following that exhausting weekend, I saw him at the

office.  "How are you feeling?" I asked.  He jumped instantly into the

air, clicked his heels, and exclaimed , "Great!"



	You saw and heard him at general conference.  You saw a man as

close to having one foot on the earth and another in paradise as you

are likely to see.  Once more he raised his voice to proclaim his

testimony of and allegiance to Jesus the Christ.  Soon he would join

his Savior, but he must endure to the end.  This he did with courage

and power beyond anything I have witnessed.  He never returned to his

ministry after that talk.



	A man who endures to the end is worthy of rest.  Elder McConkie

has earned a great respite from the battles of mortality.  But he loved

every minute of his term here.  What lessons he taught us by both

precept and example!



	Second, as a latter-day apostle with authority and power from on

high, he spoke as one having authority and not as the scribes.



	Matthew told us that the people who heard Jesus were astonished,

"For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes

(Matthew 7:29),



	The scribes or lawyers of Jesus' day never taught on their own

authority, but on the authority of ancient wise men.



	Using the power of the holy priesthood and the office of

apostleship, Elder McConkie raised a powerful authoritative voice from

countless pulpits wherever his worldwide travels took him.



	While Elder McConkie was on assignment to change the stake

presidency during Christmas of 1983, I was the mission president

visiting that stake conference.  I introduced him to my traveling

companion, Pastor Wally Cooper, an ordained Baptist minister in Ammon,

Idaho.  On Sunday after conference, Elder McConkie greeted Pastor

Cooper and me with these words: "Pastor Cooper, why don't you be

baptized by a legal administrator?" Pastor Cooper replied, "That is a

good idea." Elder McConkie continued.  Sticking his finger in my chest,

he said, "Why don't you let President Carmack, who is a legal

administrator, baptize you?" Then, turning to me, he said, "Can't you

find a font open somewhere today, John?"



	I think some of our missionaries here today could quote verbatim

his talk to new mission presidents.  "The Lord wants convert baptisms. 

The Lord wants people to join his Church."



	His voice was one of authority, knowledge, and power, a powerful

special witness of Christ.  "For if the trumpet give an uncertain

sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?" (I Corinthians 14:8). 

The trumpet of Elder McConkie had a certain sound.



	As a young missionary in Montana in 1952, I remember his words

spoken as a touring General Authority as clearly as though it was

yesterday.  'A missionary day starts at 6:00 a.m. And if you don't get

up by training and habit and practice, you get an alarm clock and set

it at six o'clock, and when it goes off you turn it off and get up."

One could not misunderstand this man.  



	During a meeting of the Butte District priesthood leaders, which

he held as part of that mission tour, he opened the meeting for

questions.  Young Russell Taylor, now a General Authority, was the

resident gospel expert and scripturalist in Butte.  He asked Elder

McConkie how Joseph and Oliver could be elders in the Church since they

were ordained by Peter, James, and John before the Church was organized

in 1829, the Church not being organized until April 6, 1830.  Elder

McConkie answered, "Well, they presented them to the Saints after the

Church was organized and ordained them again as elders in the Church. 

Next question?"



	Elder Taylor persisted, "That sounds logical, Elder McConkie, but

what is your authority?" "Well, you can quote me.  Next question?"



	Yes, firm and unshakable as the mountains around us, stalwart and

brave he stood.  He spoke as one with authority, certain of the ground

he stood on.



	Yet, on one occasion, he stated an opinion which was found not to

be true concerning the time the priesthood would be extended to all

men.  His answer was simply, "I was wrong." A prophet may have a wrong

opinion and a man of God with great confidence in his place in life

simply admits it, quickly and firmly, and moves on unruffled and

secure.



	He spoke as one having authority.



	Third, and of highest importance, his central message was of

Christ, His center-stage place in the universe and His atoning

sacrifice.



	He summarized:  



	Nothing in the entire plan of salvation compares in any way in

importance with that most transcendent of all events, the atoning

sacrifice of our Lord.  It is the most important single thing that has

ever occurred in the entire history of created things; it is the rock

foundation upon which the gospel and all other things rest. Indeed, all

"things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it." [MD,

p. 60]



	He staked out his position on Christ and his mission.  He made it

central and returned to this theme over and over.  When I was a

missionary, he spent two weeks with Sister McConkie touring our

mission.  He gave over twenty major sermons, each over an hour in

length and none on the same subject.  Not a note was in sight.  Over

and over he turned to Christ and aspects of His ministry.



	Truly, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (see

Revelation 19: 10).  If John was correct in his declaration of the

spirit of prophecy, the theme of Christ in Elder McConkie's ministry

was evidence that he was one of the Lord's prophets.



	After years of service as a General Authority, he became an

apostle.  In his own words he declared: "Since the Lord laid his hands

upon me, on October 12, 1972, by the hands of his servant, President

Harold B. Lee, and ordained me to the holy apostleship, I have had but

one desire--to testify of our Lord's divine Sonship and to teach, in

purity and perfection, the truths of his everlasting gospel" (The

Promised Messiah, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1978],

Preface).



	How did he ever find time to be a busy member of the Council of

the Twelve and also write those six large volumes on the life and

ministry of Christ! Undoubtedly, early morning and late night lamps

burned brightly in his study.  The Spirit rested upon him as he wrote

and testified of Christ.



	Who in Idaho Falls could ever forget his hour sermon on the

doctrine of Christmas delivered in December of 1983.  His emotions were

tied to Christ.  On this subject he, a man of great control, was

tender.  To his last breath he testified of Him.



	Fourth, the power and authority of the latter-day gospel

restoration was closely tied to the Book of Mormon as a second witness

of Christ and the keystone of religion in the dispensation of the

fullness of times.



	How often he returned to Joseph Smith's   diary statement that the

Book of Mormon was the keystone of our religion" and that we would "get

nearer to God by abiding its precepts, than by any other book" (HC,

vol. 4, p. 461).



	He loved to cite the Lord's revelation to Joseph Smith in which

the Lord told Joseph that "this generation shall have my word through

you" (D&C 5:10).  The Book of Mormon, then, would be our great source

of knowledge and power during this great gospel dispensation.



	Another favorite citation of Elder McConkie's was the advice of

the Lord that "the elders, priests and teachers of this church shall

teach the principles of my gospel, which are in the Bible and the Book

of Mormon, in the which is the fullness of the gospel" (D&C 42:12).  



	Elder McConkie was a master of the scriptures--all of them.  But

he saw the Book of Mormon as our keystone scripture because it was held

back and sent to us to restore the fullness of gospel truths lost in

the Bible through a history of centuries and centuries of carelessness. 

He loved the Bible, but the Book of Mormon was crucial to religious

understanding in our day.



	He explained:



	Almost all of the doctrines of the gospel are taught in the Book

of Mormon with much greater clarity and perfection than those same

doctrines are revealed in the Bible.  Anyone who will place in parallel

columns the teachings of these two great books on such subjects as the

atonement, plan of salvation, gathering of Israel, baptism, gifts of

the Spirit, miracles, revelation, faith, charity, (or any of a hundred

other subjects), will find conclusive proof of the superiority of the

Book of Mormon teachings. [MD, p. 99]



	Fifth, as an expression of his confidence in the Church, and as a

seer whose words light the pathway we must travel as we endure to the

end of that path, Elder McConkie saw the road ahead and the kingdom as

a moving caravan triumphantly moving to its destiny.



	In October conference of 1984, Elder McConkie spoke in an

eloquence worthy of a great latter-day seer:



	The Church is like a great caravan--organized, prepared, following

an appointed course, with its captains of tens and captains of hundreds

all in place.



	What does it matter if a few barking dogs snap at the heels of the

weary travellers? Or that predators claim those few who fall by the

way? The caravan moves on.



	Is there a ravine to cross, a miry mud hole to pull through, a

steep grade to climb? So be it. The oxen are strong and the teamsters

wise. The caravan moves on.



	Are there storms that rage along the war, floods that wash away

the bridges, deserts to cross, and rivers to ford? Such is life in this

fallen sphere. The caravan moves on.



	Ahead is the celestial city, the eternal Zion of our God, where

all who maintain their position in the caravan shall find food and

drink and rest. Thank God that the caravan moves on! [Bruce R.

McConkie, "The Caravan Moves On," Ensign, Nov. 1984, p. 85]



	Here is a torch to light the way of the weary traveler who must

endure to the end.  



Summary



	Now, I promised to teach the diligent among you an interesting

point by the order and substance of my presentation on the testament of

Bruce R. McConkie.



	My summary in brief was:



	1.	We must follow the path to the very end and thus endure to

the end.



	2.	As a latter-day apostle with power and authority from on

high, Elder McConkie spoke as one having authority



	3.	His central message was of Christ and His atoning sacrifice,

which belonged in center stage.



	4.	The latter-day restoration of the gospel rests on the special

and unique authority and power of the Book of Mormon, the keystone of

religion in this great gospel dispensation.



	5.	The pathway we must travel to endure to the end was lighted

by his seership as he likened our journey and the special role of the

Church to a caravan which will reach its glorious destination despite

trials on the way.



	If you will think about it you will see that I have roughly used

the ancient form of literary structure known as chiasmus or an

"inverted type of parallelism" (John W. Welch, "Chiasmus in the Book of

Mormon," in Book of Mormon Authorship: New Light on Ancient Origins,

ed.  Noel B. Reynolds, vol. 7, Religious Studies Monograph Series

[Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, BYU, 1982], p. 35).



	There are five parts to the organization.



	First and fifth are repeats of the theme of enduring to the end.



	Second and fourth are repeats of the theme of authority and power

in the latter-day dispensation of the gospel.



	In the center is Elder McConkie's central theme of Christ.



	So, I have emphasized the central theme by placing it in the

center.  I have emphasized other major points by repeating them in

inverse order.  This enables me to dramatize my points and also share

with you the provocative and stunning findings of John Welch, Noel

Reynolds, and others that this ancient literary form, used so

extensively in the Bible (for example, Isaiah 55:8) is found by recent

studies to be used abundantly in the Book of Mormon.  This book is

becoming more powerful as the years of study bear fruit.  Elder

McConkie loved the book and read it over and over during his life.



	Finally, there is the rest of the story.  Here was a man who was

serious, even sometimes stern, and always a commanding person in

public, but the easiest of humans to work with privately.  When a

knotty problem arose in a difficult committee assignment at Church

headquarters, it was often said, "Let's take it to Bruce.  We can find

out if we're on the right track without any risk of criticism."



	He was the possessor, as humble men often are, of immense goodwill

and a marvelous sense of humor.



	I remember well in American Falls, Idaho, in stake conference just

as the general session was beginning, he spotted me way up in the back

on the stand with my elders.  He walked over to me and said, "John,

it's good to see you in church."



	In Los Angeles many years ago, while speaking to the single

adults, he put his size fifteen shoes on the railing of the Hollywood

Ward and said, "I used to be the tallest General Authority, but now the

only thing I have to commend me is that I have the largest feet of all

the Brethren."



	The stories got around our mission of his distracting the

attention of Sister McConkie during meals while he stole a bit of her

dessert.  She told the missionaries, "I think sometimes the only reason

Bruce married me was so he could talk to Dad." (Her father was Joseph

Fielding Smith.) "When we went to see Dad, he and Bruce were soon in

the study deep in discussion about the gospel."



	After his last speech to the fifteen-stake fireside at BYU, which

was as always profound and great, he said to Elder Haight and me, "That

was the worst talk I ever gave.  I talked about things which the

students were not interested in."  



Conclusion



	Well, such is my personal glimpse of the man, Bruce R. McConkie. 

I haven't seen his equal, except perhaps in his children and in his

father and father-in-law.



	I propose that we assembled here tonight resolve that:



	1.	We will endure well in our mortal probation and serve our

fellowmen faithfully and in humility and good cheer to the very end of

our lives.



	2.	We will seek to know and magnify our callings so we may speak

as one having authority and not as the scribes.



	3.	At the very center of our lives will be the testimony of

Christ.  When our burdens become unbearable, let us go to Him for

succor.



	4.	We will rely on the authority, knowledge, and testimony of

the great keystone scripture, the Book of Mormon, to gain the plain and

simple truths of the fullness of the gospel.



	5.	We will see the caravan of the kingdom moving forward and

lighting the pathway we must take as we endure to the end.



	And, finally, that we will keep our personal lives full of

simplicity, love, and good humor.



	The testator is dead and the testament of Bruce R. McConkie is in

force.



	On my flight from the Bay Area to San Bernardino the day after his

death, I wrote these words: 



Elder Bruce R. McConkie is gone.

The loftiest tree in the forest has fallen,

   leaving us bereft of its shade.

A powerful voice, undiminished by the 

   ravages of pernicious disease, has 

   spoken its last great sermon, testifying 

   one final unforgettable time of Jesus 

   the Christ.

An era of leadership under Spencer W. Kimball, 

   N. Eldon Tanner, Marion G. Romney, and 

   Bruce R. McConkie is fast drawing to a

   conclusion. 

We are bereft of our great ones.

   But hearken, and see--mighty leaders are

   among us and will arise; and lo

Elder McConkie's measured cadence is heard, 

   even now, with our spiritual ears, among

   the departed spirits. 

There remain thousands of his pages to read,

   ponder; and understand, 

As we read, we hear his voice of authority

   and power testifying of what he knows, 

He counsels us that we should know,

   worship, and obey. 

His example of courage. scholarship, and

   simplicity yet lights our path. 

Unpublished manuscripts await us, testifying

   of God's mercy in sparing him for a season. 

The limitless good of his ministry rolls

   onward, washing distant shores as the waves

   of a deep eternal sea. 

Father, God, we thank thee that we shared

   mortality with such as he. 

Through him we learned to distinguish truth

   and error. 

By him we were raised in mind and spirit

   to reverence thy Son. 

In his humble example, we have been

   encouraged to establish homes and 

   raise families where love and gospel

   truths rule in natural simplicity.

The picture is incomplete without his 

   Amelia, "an help meet for him" 

   (Genesis 2:18, Moses 3:18). 

We are indeed bereft,

But we are ennobled, exalted, and

   edified by our friend, brother, and leader. 

"Oh give thanks unto the God of Heaven:

   for his mercy endureth forever!" 

   (Psalms 136:26).



	I say this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.



                            My Book of Life



                            Keith W Wilcox



	Elder Keith W Wilcox has served as a bishop, a stake president

(for fifteen years), twice as a Regional Representative, and as

president of the Indiana Indianapolis Mission.  He was serving as

president of the Ogden temple when he as called to be a member of the

First Quorum of the Seventy in October 1984.  First called to serve in

the area presidency of the North America Southeast Area, he is now,

second counselor in the Asia Area presidency.



	Born in Hyrum, Utah, Elder Wilcox graduated from the University of

Utah in mechanical engineering and received a master's degree in

architecture from the University of Oregon.  He practiced professional

architecture from 1954 to 1974, when be was called to be a mission

president. He was instrumental in the design of both the Washington

Temple and the Missionary Training Center in Provo.  He also served as

a member of the Utah House of Representatives for two years and as a

member and chairman of the Weber County Planning Commission for ten

years.



	Elder Wilcox is married to Viva May Gammell.  They are the parents

of six daughters.



	This devotional address was given in the de Jong Concert Hall on

14 May 1985.



God-given Gifts



	The subject I would like to address this morning is entitled "My

Book of Life." Basic to my book of life and to your book of life is the

fact that each one of us has been endowed with a God-given ability to

think and to make decisions.  Our creative capacity and intelligence

distinguishes us from all other forms of life on this earth.  We are

truly the sons and daughters of our Father in Heaven who is the Master

Creator.  As we know, "the glory of God is intelligence, or, in other

words, light and truth" (D&C 93:36).



	With our inherited gift of intelligence, our Heavenly Father has

also given us a gift of choice known as "free agency." We are free to

act for ourselves but must take the responsibility for those decisions

(see 2 Nephi 10:23).  This capacity to knowingly choose for ourselves

is according to the Lord's great master plan for all of his children.



	By using your gift of intelligence and your gift of choice, you

become responsible for your life.  Each day decisions must be made. 

These decisions are recorded either in memory, or in your personal book

of remembrance, or possibly in a heavenly book.  Day by day, page by

page, your book continues to grow.  These pages are assembled into

chapters, and the summation of these chapters becomes your book of

life.



	As you finish your book of life here on this earth, you move on to

another life. just as one chapter in this life fades into another, so

your mortal life, as it ends, fades into another.  Each ending is but a

new beginning.



	You should remember that your book of life largely forms the basic

material the Lord will use in his final judgment as he considers your

life in relationship to the many variables that affected your life.  It

will be your basic record.



	Some of the pages in your book of life may not speak well for you

and might adversely affect the Lord's final judgment.  We should be

eternally grateful for another heavenly gift called "repentance," and

especially to the Lord Jesus Christ for his atoning sacrifice which

makes "repentance" possible.  With that gift you can erase part or all

of the undesirable pages in your book of life or remove them

completely.  This gift can make of your book of life a positive,

wholesome, and complete record forming a witness of a happy, well-lived

life.  Repentance should not be delayed or procrastinated.  



A Wonderful Chapter in My Book of Life



	As I have studied my personal book of life, I have found that it

divides approximately into five-year chapters.  This very month of May

is bringing to an end my present chapter and marks the beginning of a

new chapter.  It is an appropriate time for this change since tomorrow

is my birthday.  I appreciate this well-attended celebration of my

birthday very much.  It will be long remembered.



	This new chapter coming up will actually begin as we move to

Tokyo, Japan, to begin serving in the Asian presidency with

responsibilities in Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaysia,

India, and many other areas in the Pacific.  We learned of this new

calling directly following general conference.  We are preparing to

leave the first of August.  My wife will serve as an Area General Board

representative of the Relief Society, the Primary, and the Young Women. 

This will truly bring about a significant change and a new and exciting

chapter in my life.



	The present chapter in my book of life, which also began in the

month of May five years ago, brought a significant change in my life.

it happened on May 21, 1980--almost five years ago to the day. It

started with a telephone call to my architect office.  A lady's voice

asked for me and then referred me to Arthur Haycock, President

Kimball's executive secretary.  We exchanged pleasant greetings, and

then Brother Haycock indicated someone else wanted to talk with me.



	Can you imagine how I felt when President Spencer W Kimball came

on the line and said: "Brother Wilcox, you haven't been in to see me

recently." I responded that I would like to drop in but didn't think I

ought to take his time.  He thought it would be well if I did come in,

so we arranged for a meeting on Friday at 2:00 p.m.



	When I walked into the Church Administration Building, I really

received red carpet treatment as soon as it was learned that I had a

date with President Kimball.  After entering his office, he came around

the desk and embraced me.  He kissed me on both cheeks and asked me to

sit in a comfortable chair next to his desk.  He expressed his interest

in my practice as an architect and wanted to learn more concerning the

design of the Washington Temple and the Missionary Training Center. 

President Kimball had dedicated these buildings and had a great

interest in both projects.  This led to a very interesting

conversation.  He then asked me whether I had wondered for what purpose

I was visiting with him.  I let him know that this had occurred to me. 

He replied, "We would like you to serve as president of the Ogden

Temple and your wife to be the matron.  Can you both accept?" I did as

you would have done.  I let out a little gasp, thought for a moment,

and then replied, "Yes, we are prepared.  We can accept.  When do you

wish us to begin?"



	The reason that I could be so prompt in responding to this call is

that my wife and I had each received a witness a few months before that

this would happen.



	My wife and I love to go to the temple. We usually attend at least

once a week.  One afternoon we were sitting in an endowment session,

enjoying it fully, when it was as if a voice spoke to me to let me know

that I was to be the next president of that temple.  I was startled.  I

couldn't concentrate on anything after that.  On the way out of the

temple I asked how long the current president had served and was told

that it had been four years.  This relieved me somewhat.  I thought

that temple presidents served for five years.  Later, I found out these

calls were from three to five years.  I did not sleep well that night. 

The impression would not leave my mind.



	The next day my wife, Viva May, and I went for a drive up to our

Ogden Valley cabin.  On the return trip I had an impulse and pulled

over to the side of the road.  I told Viva May that I had something to

share with her and said: "I believe that we are going to he called into

the temple as president and matron."



	Her response was different, In fact, she laughed.  Then I found

out why. At the same time I had received my impression of serving

there, she also had been given a gift in her mind's eye of traveling

all through the temple.  She saw places she had never seen before, even

though we had worked together very closely some years before when I

served as general chairman of the public showing and dedication

services for that temple.  Because we had both received these

experiences, it helped us to prepare to serve.



	We had recently returned from presiding in the Indiana

Indianapolis Mission.  Instead of searching for new work in my newly

reopened practice of architecture and committing myself to projects I

wouldn't be able to complete, we had taken steps to close the practice

even before President Kimball's call because of the witness we each had

experienced.



	One question I asked President Kimball before leaving his office

concerned my continuing to serve as a legislator in the Utah House of

Representatives.  I had filed for re-election and was unopposed.  I

told President Kimball I knew I could win.  Did he have any suggestions

for me? With a twinkle in his eyes he said, "Yes, I would suggest you

give your full time to this new calling." And that we did for nearly

five years.  It became another wonderful and spiritual chapter in my

book of life.  



Lessons Through the Years



	As I look back at each of the five-year intervals that form the

many chapters of my life, there were lessons learned within each

chapter.  Perhaps sharing a few of these lessons would be helpful to

you as you create your own book of life.



	At the end of my first five-year chapter, I came to realize what a

blessing it was to have a loving father and mother.  It was a great

source of strength to have my mother at home with my brothers and me. 

As a little tyke I would often run into our home, walk up to my mother,

and ask her if there was anything she needed.  She would assure me that

she was all right and that I could go back out to play some more. 

Actually, I just wanted to be real sure my mother was there.  How

grateful I am that she was always there.  Her presence was basic to my

happy and reassured childhood.



	Our home on Lincoln Street in Salt Lake City was a place in which

mother took great pride.  When I drew a picture on her wall paper,

though, Mother didn't scold me.  She didn't even erase it, but showed

it with pride to everyone who came to our home.  It was the artwork of

her son.



	My second and third five-year chapters were lived in Holladay,

Utah, on a two-acre site situated on Wander Lane.  How grateful I will

always be to my folks for rearing us in a place where we could run,

hunt, ski, and hike.  My most vivid memories of those two chapters of

my life are of Primary, Church, Scouting, and good friends.  Mother was

Primary president and Dad was one of our Scout leaders.  What a

blessing that was.  As you rear your children, be an example to them so

they will become strong leaders for tomorrow.  Rear them in a loving

atmosphere where they feel loved and secure to bring about a happy

chapter in your book of life and also in theirs.



	My third chapter was coming to an end when I was fourteen.  I have

memories of many friends, but some of those friends made my life

difficult.  They were my peer group. Some of those friends wanted me to

do things that were contrary to what I had been taught in Sunday School

and Mutual and at home.  What a difficult summer I had resisting the

pressures of those friends to try tobacco, beer, and other unwholesome

things.



	My heart goes out to young people of our day who have even greater

peer pressures now with the insidious evils of our world aimed at

them--evils including hard drugs, pornography, and immorality.



	Two developments came to my rescue during my trial.  The first was

my patriarchal blessing.  I remember the day I received it vividly.  It

took place in Hyrum, Utah.  My grandfather's brother gave three

blessings that day to my two brothers and to me.  In my blessing I

learned that I had lived before this life, and that there was a great

mission and a life of usefulness lying before me.  I also learned that

I had, in spirit form, chosen the right and stood valiant for the

mission of my Redeemer and the free agency of man.  I was told that my

spirit had been held in reserve to come forth in this day.  I had been

born of goodly parents under gospel rights.  My patriarchal blessing

became a guide to me then and for the rest of my life.  It was revealed

that the Lord expected me to be a standard-bearer among the people.  My

life was important to the Lord and I knew it.



	The second factor that came to my rescue was a decision that took

the entire summer to make.  Should I take art, which I dearly loved, or

seminary (whatever that was) as an elective at Granite High School? I

finally selected seminary.  Reluctantly, I went to my first class and

sat slouching on the back row, almost defying the teacher to teach me

anything.  Before the class was over, I was sitting up and listening

intently.  The teacher was a master teacher.  The next day I couldn't

wait to get there.  In fact, I sat on the front row.  He began teaching

the Old Testament.  He made it come alive for me.  As I listened, I

began to illustrate all the great scenes that I could imagine as he

taught of Moses leading the children of Israel out of Egypt.  I created

my own art course.



	That master teacher was William E. Berrett, who later became one

of the great leaders of the seminary--institute programs throughout the 

 Church, with headquarters here at BYU.



	I will always remember and be grateful that Brother Barrett, in

teaching the Ten Commandments, made them a part of my life.  They were

more than ancient commandments.  Honestly, integrity, honoring father

and mother, morality, and the other commandments were meant for all

people in all ages.  These values became part and parcel of my life.



	I could only attend that class for six months because my family

moved to Ogden before the year was over, and seminary was no longer

available.  But that one class I did attend gave my life eternal

direction and became basic to my book of life.  I pray that these

values can be found in your book of life.



	My fourth and fifth five-year chapters involved my education.  I

had to choose between art, which I loved, and a more difficult subject

called engineering.  After much discussion with my professors, I

decided to major in engineering.  How thankful I am that I did so

because it made a student of me.  The subjects of mathematics,

calculus, and the technical phases of engineering and related

laboratory work caused me to study and to learn to think.  Later, when

I changed my profession to architecture, these subjects were extremely

helpful.  In these chapters of my book of life I learned the great

value of education: both formal and personal study.  I hope your book

of life will always reflect your willingness to study and to learn.  



Vital Parts of My Life



	The sixth chapter of my book of life took place right here in

Provo.  I had married my college sweetheart in the Logan Temple and

finished my assignment as an ensign in the navy at age twenty-five.  I

was offered an engineering job at Geneva Steel.  This was a good

experience where I gained professional perspective.  It proved to be a

good beginning point.



	We found an apartment in Provo and enjoyed five delightful years

in this beautiful city.  During this time I was deciding what I wanted

out of engineering and what I wanted out of art.  I was offered an

engineering job with a Provo architect, the late Fred L. Markham, who

designed several of the BYU buildings.  One of the projects of the firm

was the Eyring Science Center, where I spent much of each day

supervising the construction of that great building.  I also became

good friends with Dr. Carl Eyring, who taught me much of acoustics and

physical science.



	On the side I did some engineering work for those who were filing

for patents on inventions.  I also taught a class at Utah Technical

School.  With my art I started a cartoon strip called "Slim Pickens," a

cowboy strip, The Provo Daily Herald liked it and so did the Deseret

News.  Both papers published my daily cartoons for over a year.  They

were really fun to write and draw.



	Life was busy with a full-time job, two part-time jobs, a cartoon

strip, and several Church jobs.  But this chapter formed a foundation

for my future as an architect in the art and profession that I really

loved, but had not studied yet.



	With the permission of my employer, Fred Markham, I decided to go

back to school and study architecture.  I took afternoon classes two

days a week at the University of Utah while still holding down a

full-time job.  In three quarters I moved up to a fourth year level. 

With that much schooling behind me, I decided to "go for it." With two

children by now and one on the way, we left for the University of

Oregon to pursue my fifth year of architectural studies.  As a full

time student, my progress came faster than expected.  At the end of the

first quarter I was moved into the graduate school and succeeded in

earning a master of architecture degree by the end of the school year. 

Now I was ready to set up my own practice.  I had the two degrees and

finally was into the art that I loved.



	Education has been an important and vital part of my book of life. 

I'm sure it is in yours, or you would not be here today.  My experience

taught me that education is the best investment possible in this life

and a mission for the Church is the best part of that education.



	The next four chapters of my book are filled with service in the

Church, my family, and my twenty-year practice as a professional

architect.  I was called to serve as a bishop and later as a stake

president.  These were wonderful, busy, productive, and happy years.



	As a stake president I sent out into the world 337 missionaries. 

I hadn't served a mission myself because of my service during the war. 

When I would interview a missionary from my stake, I would often say,

"I wish I could go with you." Well, one day the Lord heard me.  I

received a call to serve as president of the Indiana Indianapolis

Mission, just after President Kimball became president of the Church.



	Since beginning my service as a mission president in July of 1974,

my life has largely been given to Church service--the latest calling

being that of a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy.  



Keeping My Priorities in Order



	One lesson has repeated itself in each chapter of my book of life. 

It is a very important lesson concerning priorities.  I was fortunate

to learn this lesson early.  Yet it had to be relearned.  Following my

graduation from engineering school, while I awaited my naval

commission, I worked a few months for Westinghouse Electric and

Manufacturing Co. in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania.  It was here that the

truth of this lesson came through to me in such a way that I have never

changed in giving my first priority to my family and my church.



	Perhaps it was living in the world away from home that caused the

Church to become very important to me.  I had been concentrating on my

schooling and graduation.  Fraternity life hadn't helped.  Now I was

alone in the world.  How welcome were those few members of the Church I

met in a small branch in downtown Pittsburgh.  Those members became

immediate friends.  And as I later traveled in the navy, I found such

friends wherever I was stationed.  How wonderful to have friends. 

Latter-day Saints everywhere are friends.



	In the navy I was tested, as are all servicemen, But my fellow

officers soon learned that I was completely serious about my church and

the keeping of the Lord's commandments.  My skipper practically ordered

me to have lunch with him and found it humorous to order me a soft

drink while he ordered his drink of liquor while standing at the bar. 

We were roommates during that time when we commissioned the ship. I

discovered how much he admired my way of life when he asked me to serve

on the ship as ship's chaplain as well as the engineering officer. 

This opened up opportunities for missionary work because the entire

crew admired my way of life.  It was a great opportunity.



	I have found that I have never lost anything by living the

commandments.  A person can be friendly and yet resist evil among those

with whom he associates.  Example is the best teacher.



	Shortly after my release from naval service, I accepted an

engineering position at Geneva Steel.  There were few Church members in

that department.  The plant had been built just prior to the war, and

technical people generally had to be imported.  After a few weeks I

learned that there was to be a drinking party.  All members of the

department were expected to attend.  When approached, I indicated that

I did not plan to attend.  This shocked the person approaching me.



	Soon the manager of the engineering department came to see me

personally.  I wondered if this would terminate my employment.  He

walked up to my desk and told me that he had heard that I wasn't

planning on attending his party I told him that was right.  He asked me

why.  I told him I was a Latter-day Saint and didn't drink and would

just be in the way.  He thought a few moments and observed that I would

probably be the only sober one there.  Then he told me I could be very

helpful to him.  He asked me to serve as the chairman of the party,

since I would be sober.  He asked me to arrange for the dinner and the

entertainment and other details.  They would take care of the liquor. 

He told me that when the party started getting rough, my wife and I

could slip out and go home.  He didn't want to embarrass us.  He asked

me if I could help in this way.



	I decided to accept this request.  The other engineers and

draftsmen soon began to notice that I had become the favorite of the

boss.  He knew I had principles and had the courage to live them,

Instead of losing my job, I made very rapid headway.  



	I have found in each chapter of my life that keeping my priorities

and not giving into the world has been a great asset.  Another way of

expressing this way of life is to determine to always say "yes" to the

Lord and "no" to the world.



	The Lord has expressed this great truth in scripture.  In Matthew

6:33 he said, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his

righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." And in

the Doctrine and Covenants he said, "Seek the kingdom of God, and all

things shall be added according to that which is just" (D&C 11:23)



	My life has been blessed beyond my power to describe because of my

willingness to live by my simple priorities.  It became the basis by

which I was lifted and made equal to the design of the last two major

projects of my architectural career.  These were the Washington Temple

and the Missionary Training Center here at Brigham Young University.



	Let me tell you briefly about the Missionary Training Center,

which was then known as the Language Training Mission.  I received a

telephone call on August 30 of 1973 and was asked to design this great

missionary center.  Two other firms would assist in the preparation of

documents once the design was finalized, but I was to design the

center.  As the work of design developed, I had to make a decision

whether to postpone previously committed meetings in Florida, Alabama,

Georgia, and the Caribbean, where I had been called to serve as

Regional Representative, or to keep them regardless of the great need

to design and construct this center as soon as possible.



	I made my decision on the basis of my priorities.  It was a hard

decision.  My relationship to the project was as a professional

architect.  My priority was to my church and my family ahead of my

professional responsibilities.  My work as a Regional Representative

had to come first.  There was much concern over this decision from

those involved, since design was the first step and I had been

entrusted with the design.



	Then a marvelous thing happened.  As I returned each week from my

commitments there, even though quite exhausted, I received great surges

of inspiration as I had in the design of the Washington Temple.  Each

week a major portion of the design developed, following my trips to the

Florida area.  By the end of October we were ready for the first

presentation.  It was well received by the directors and by BYU

administration.  After two additional weeks of refinement, the design

drawings and a model were ready to present to the Church Education

Department and to the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve, where

it received complete approval.  We were told to immediately begin

working on drawings and specifications and did so by November 15.  This

creative period had required but two and one-half months.  It was a

miracle.



	By the spring of 1974 this project, the largest in BYU history,

was ready for bidding.  My call as a mission president was received in

April.  On the very day I reported to my mission the ground was being

broken for the construction of the Missionary Training Center.  My

partners carried on the supervision of construction.  I had felt the

Lord's blessings in this project and have a deep testimony that the

surges of inspiration that I had experienced were a result of keeping

my priorities.



	My most important priority in my book of life has been my family.

Our home has been graced by six beautiful daughters.  There have been

challenges, sickness, and struggles.  We enjoyed the warmth of a

wonderful family.  Each daughter is now married to a returned

missionary and each has the blessings of a temple marriage.  When we go

to the temple together we witness a little bit of celestial life here

on this earth.  That is what life is all about.  Take time in your book

of life to love and enjoy your family.  Teach them correct principles. 

My counsel to you as a former temple president is to make the temple a

continuing part of your life.  Begin your married life with marriage in

the house of the Lord.



	It has been delightful to share some of the lessons I have learned

over the years as recorded in my book of life.  Use your God-given

talents and creative gifts of intelligence and freedom of choice to

write your book of life.  Through proper repentance, erase or remove

those pages which should not be kept.



	I can promise you that living by simple priorities will bring joy

and happiness now and in the eternities.  Keep your church and family

first in your life.  Keep saying "yes" to the Lord and "no" to the

world.  Strive to live a Christ-like life of service.



	I share with you my testimony that Jesus is the Christ and that

his Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was

restored in our day through the Prophet Joseph Smith.  President

Spencer W Kimball is a prophet.  Your book of life will be an

everlasting credit to you, if, day by day, week by week, and year after

year, you will love the Lord, love your neighbor as yourself, and keep

God's commandments.



	I leave my love, my testimony, and my blessings with you, in the

name of Jesus Christ.  Amen. 



    "Rejoice in Christ Jesus, and Have No Confidence in the Flesh"



                            F. Enzio Busche



	Elder F Enzio Busche was sustained as a member of the First Quorum

of the Seventy on 1 October 1977, the first General Authority from

Germany.  He had been a Regional Representative there for seven years

when President Kimball visited the Berlin Germany Stake following a

trip to Poland and called him to full-time Church service.  He was

assigned as mission president of the Germany Munich Mission, over which

be presided from January 1978 until March 1980.  He then served as

Executive Administrator for the Northwest/Canada B.C and Northern

California areas of the Church and is presently a member of the Area

Presidency of the North America Northwest Area, which stretches from

Missouri and the Dakotas to Oregon and Alaska and the western part of

Canada.



	Elder Busche was born in Dortmund, Germany, in 1930 and saw much

devastation and starvation in that area as he was growing up, for he

lived in a heavily bombed part of the country.  At fourteen he was

drafted into the German army, and the end of the war found him in an

American prison camp.



	After completing studies in economics and management at Bonn and

Freiburg universities, Elder Busche undertook graduate work in

technical printing to prepare himself for joining a publishing firm

founded in 1922 by his father He became co-owner and print service

director and was chief executive officer of the thriving company for

twenty years.



	In Germany Elder Busche also originated a model organization for

jogging which was later sponsored by the official German sports group

and developed nationwide to include more than 2,000 units.



	In 1955 he married his childhood sweetheart, Jutta Baum.  They

were introduced to the gospel in 1956 by missionaries, and after two

years of investigation they were baptized.  They are the parents of

four children--three sons and a daughter



	This devotional address was given in the dejong Concert Hall on 28

May 1985.



	My dear brothers and sisters, I am coming to you today in a very

contrite, humble spirit as I am feeling I should address you with some

matters of a more delicate nature but which, in my estimation, are of

basic importance.  I hope that I will be capable of expressing my

feelings without being misunderstood--knowing that this can easily

happen as I am not expressing myself in my native language.  



Something of More Importance



	Some time ago, when I was living in the mission field, the

missionaries invited me to come see a couple they had been teaching for

some time.  The missionaries reported to me what a choice couple they

were.  However, they were very much afraid to make the change and the

commitment of baptism.  As we entered the home of this wonderful family

and found ourselves in their living room, I recognized their fear and

anxiety over this visit.  I understood that they had been taught the

gospel, that they had received all of the discussions, and that they

already had a testimony that the gospel is true.  I felt prompted to

ask them, "What do you think the Lord expects you to do when you enter

into the bond of the covenant of baptism for the forgiveness of sins?"



	I remember that the woman looked at him and the man looked at her

with the sweetness of two wonderful persons in their first years of

marriage, and finally he said, "I think we will have to pay our

tithing." I remember that I answered, "Yes, that is true, but there is

something of more importance.  What do you think the Lord will expect

you to do when you enter into this covenant?"



	After some inquiring glances from her to him   and from him to

her, he said quite hesitantly, "We must give up our drinking, our

coffee, and our smoking." Again I told him, "Yes, that is true, but

there is something of more importance."



	After we had discussed all the necessary requirements for baptism

and I was still insisting that there was something of more importance,

they became even more uneasy about what else there still was to do.  I

felt inspired to say to them, "I can see that you have learned to love

the Lord and understand the basic principles of the covenant which you

are about to make with him.  Now the Lord wants you to take the Spirit,

which will be given to you as his gift after baptism, and make it the

greatest objective of your life--to let this Spirit be unfolded within

you to its fullness of power.  Thus, the Lord wants you both to love

one another with an even deeper, more sensitive, caring love--a love of

a new dimension that is different from the way the world knows--even to

such a dimension that you will be overwhelmed by your insight, your

patience, your caring, and sensitivity so that you will both be filled

with a new dimension of joy and peace."



	The expressions on their faces changed from fear, anxiety, and

despair to relaxed smiles of rejoicing.  He reached for her hand,

looked dearly into her eyes, pressed her hand to his lips, and said

with conviction, "I think we are ready."



	My dear brothers and sisters, since the days of the earthly

mission of our Lord and Master, Christians have known about the great

commandments and the law that we must love the Lord our God with all

our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, and love our

neighbor as ourselves--but mankind is still awaiting its fulfillment!

With the restoration of the gospel and the true Church, the Lord

expects that the fulfillment of this commandment become the center of

our lives.  As we receive an understanding that it is not only the

greatest commandment but that we need to be filled with this love to

fulfill the many opportunities and challenges that life brings to us,

and as we are filled with this love, we will stand without fear until

the last day.



	To love one another may not be everything, but everything will be

nothing without this love.  The love we are talking about is different

from that which the world knows.  So many of the people of the world

will say, "I love you but hat they really mean is, "I want you, I lust

after you." The love the Lord is speaking about is different.  It is

the love that always places the other person--the object of

love--higher than one's self.  As the Lord says in John 15:12--13:



	This is my commandment, That ye love one another as I have loved

you.



	Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life

for his friends.



	As Nephi was inquiring to understand the dream of his father Lehi

and was speaking with an angel as to the meaning of the tree of life

which his father had beheld, he said: "It is the love of God, which

sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore,

it is the most desirable above all things" (1 Nephi 11:22).



	The "natural man," or the natural side of us, will never

comprehend this, will never be able to understand it, because this love

is a gift from above.  It is a gift from our Heavenly Father--a gift of

the Spirit that needs to be acquired and achieved on the condition of

chastity, purity of thought, desire, and obedience to the covenants we

have made with God.  As we learn to fulfill these prerequisites, this

love will be our constant companion and will be the only power to

change the realities of this cruel world in preparation for the Second

Coming of the Lord.  



A Wonderful Design from Heaven



	An essential part of the restoration of the gospel was to give an

understanding that there is a purpose in why we were created separate,

male and female--with each part to fulfill a certain purpose, a certain

role that we have to see, to develop, and to stay within.  Created as

we are, we are only half.  And born as we are as individuals, we will

always have the feeling of being only half--of having lost something,

but of needing to seek and to work and to serve in order to be worthy

to become whole again



	Such feelings will be found within a virtuous young lady as she

experiences the years of puberty with accompanying yearnings and

desires.  When a young woman is blessed with wise and worthy parents,

she will be taught by them that she is unique, a choice daughter of our

Heavenly Father, a woman who has been designed and prepared with the

capability of giving life.  This is the most important assignment and

calling a woman can ever have, not only to give life but to preserve

it, to train it, to comfort it, to nurture and strengthen it--all this

that her children might stand in virtue, might stand in self-esteem,

might stand in unity with divine sources.  She will want these children

to be filled with joy, satisfaction, fulfillment, and able to overcome

all fear.  She will want them to trust and know and be nurtured by the

source of life itself--even the divine source--prepared for the

creation of peace, unity and fulfillment.  She will be told by her wise

parents that she is designed to be the crown of manhood (Proverbs

12:4).



	Wise and worthy parents will teach their sons that their role is

to respect, provide for, protect, care for, and give shelter and

security to womanhood.   



	What a wonderful, masterful design! As we are separated in our own

ways, virtues, talents, and gifts, we are harboring a longing for one

another with tender feelings of admiration for someone who is

mysteriously different, for someone who is mysteriously wonderful. 

What a wonderful, masterful design, because the Lord has given us in

the times of our tender youth, as we remain clean in the virtues of

chastity, a powerful demonstration of the sweetness of feelings of

caring, of self-denying love.



	Perhaps you will recognize yourself and recall your memories of

youth as I share with you, with the permission of my wife, an

experience I had when I was a young man in school and there was this

young lady who caused a strange feeling within me.  I cannot recall

exactly how she looked or what kind of character she really had, but

there she was. just being in the same room with her made me so nervous

and so helpless that I could hardly speak and hardly breathe for fear

of making a fool of myself.  My feelings for her were so tender that I

could hardly avoid thinking of her.  It seemed that in everything that

I was doing, she was in my thoughts.  What could I do to please her? Or

even to save her life in giving my blood? What a wonderful way from our

Heavenly Father--to be allowed to experience in the age of our tender

youth the purity and strength of what divine love is made of!



	After a year of experiencing these feelings and not being able to

endure her presence and not even being able to speak to her out of

nervousness, I was finally courageous enough at Christmastime to write

her a very brief letter.  As these were times of starvation in Germany

and goodies were hard to come by, I saved the special treats I received

for Christmas, overcoming my own craving for them in order to keep them

as a present or a gift to her if she would answer my letter.  But she

never did! After three weeks of waiting in vain, I found myself back

with my feet on the ground, and I devoured all the goodies in one quick

action and brushed off the feelings for her that I had.  It is

interesting to note that as I found myself with my feet on the ground

without this tender feeling, the desire and willingness to sacrifice or

to go the extra mile for her sake also vanished.  I often think that it

was good that she did not write back so the way could be preserved for

me to find my faithful, wonderful companion who is with me today.  



	When a young person's maturity is reached, there is the likelihood

of being confronted with the prospect of marriage.  As we are converted

to the gospel and endowed with the spirit of the Lord, what are the

thoughts that will go through our minds in preparation for this--the

most frightening, awesome, and beautiful experience of our mortal life?

As both male and female are children of a loving Heavenly Father, both

have the same destiny of being embodied in the matter of the flesh,

which is "the natural man." As both embrace the gospel and keep the

commandments and communicate with Heavenly Father, looking for his

constant guidance and having him and his glory as their first thought,

he will give them the strength to not follow the foolishness of "the

natural man"--the carnal mind that is in us all.  The Lord will give

each of us the power to see and overcome temptations, false goals, and

ambitions.



	At this time we gain an understanding of the purpose of not only

the restoration of tile gospel with its principles and ordinances, but

also the establishment of an institution--a Church where we can learn

from one another through participation in various organizations,

programs, and activities; where our learning grows as we serve and as

we give and involve our lives.  Through the teachings we receive in the

Church, we will grow in our understanding.  We will learn how the plan

of salvation must have an impact upon our daily actions, how we can

distinguish between what is true and false, the good and the bad,

righteousness and selfishness, modesty and vanity.



	To condense it into simplified terms, one might say that the

Church in its organizations can be considered as the vital instrument

to help the individual--not only to help him stay true to his covenants

but, most of all, to provide an opportunity for him to learn to love,

that his life will be filled with the Light of Christ, and that this

Light will become the generating power for all the actions of his life.



	Thus the Church is fulfilling the dream, the vision, and the hope

of righteous people in the history of mankind so beautifully expressed

by Meister Johannes Eckehart, a German monk who lived in the early

fourteenth century:



	That is the purpose of our creation--that we might, through our

creative, reason-directed endeavors in our mortality, learn to approach

God and to become more and more like him. [K. 0. Schmidt, Meister

Eckeharts Weg zum kosmischen Bewusstsein, 1969 ed. (Muenchen, Germany:

Drei Eichen Verlag), p. 112]



	We seem to have a tendency to see in the Church the things that we

have to do--our duties and our responsibilities--and sometimes we miss

seeing how the Lord expects that our first and foremost responsibility

is to be filled with his light and his power, that we might receive

strength and the capability to overcome " the natural man" within us. 

Then it will be a privilege, an opportunity, to do all our necessary

work and assignments--giving of our time and talents without feeling

burdened but with rejoicing, giving unconditional love in our

relationships with our fellow men.  So it was with the young couple who

were so afraid of the many things expected of them that they felt

baptism to be a threat.  But, as we learn to strive to achieve the

constant guidance of the Spirit as our first priority, everything

becomes easy!  



Being Filled with the Light of Christ Is the Key



	A young woman who goes through the experience of this learning,

encouraged by parents and the Church, will then understand, through the

light of the Spirit of the Lord, that the beauty of personality and

character is the beauty to be sought after.  She will question the

wisdom of the women of the world as they invest time and money to gild

their faces with the colors of vanity and to dress their bodies with

the fashion of lust.  She will be proud to be a woman and never feel

inferior or try to disguise her being a woman by competing with

masculinity.  She will love to be feminine and to develop her

personality.  As she is able to develop the radiating light of the

spirit within herself, she will know that she need not be too concerned

about her outward appearance, for she will always be admirable and will

blossom and glow.  She will understand the meaning of the warnings that

the prophets have given the daughters of Zion:



	And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall

be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair

baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and

burning instead of beauty. [Isaiah 3:24]



	A young man, going through the same experience of this learning to

strive first to be filled with the Spirit, encouraged by parents and

the Church, will then understand what a privilege it is to remain

chaste, preserved, and clean so that he is worthy when the time comes

to be called to testify to the world of the Restoration--in so doing

and in so giving, he receives.  He receives maturity, insight,

understanding, and depth and perfection of preparation--the preparation

for life and for marriage.  A young man, being filled with the light

and power of Christ, will find it easy to obey all the covenants he

makes with the Lord, and he will have the strength, the comfort,

insight, and direction not to pursue the vain things of this world or

to indulge in the falsely understood manhood of unrighteous dominion. 

He will see reason to constantly find new motivation to admire the true

character of womanhood and to stand in awe and admiration of its

uniqueness.  He will be womanhood's protector, its provider, its

benefactor, a learner, and will be blessed with the capability to

understand and to forgive.



	As they are united in marriage, her well-being will be the center

of his concerns, as well as the world of her development and her

fulfillment, in so doing it will be her natural inclination to take a

deep interest and concern in the development of his individual life. 

She will enjoy creating an atmosphere of home and sacrificing her time

to care about him.  She will not have the feeling of having lost

something, because his gain will also be her gain.  Both can then

become one in sharing, in communication, in admiring, and achieving. 

Thus, they will be interwoven together in times of joy, in times of

pain, in times of achievement, and in times of failure.  They will both

know that marriage does not mean there will always be contentment and

fulfillment but that it may sometimes be a thorn-strewn road of

learning, growing, forgiving, understanding, of maintaining

persistence, and, finally, of achieving and perceiving on the horizon

of the other world the sweet fragrance of fulfillment.  



The Fruits of Selfishness



	As we learn to be always filled with the Light and Spirit of

Christ, we will always be able to see the foolishness and the disaster

of the self-centeredness of men.  We can then see that selfishness, if

not overcome, becomes the root of all diseases of our own lives, and it

is the cause for the curse of destruction that is threatening the very

existence of all mankind.  Selfishness inflicts the bleeding wounds in

our homes, as it does in the nations of the world.  Selfishness and its

false ambitions are a threat to our own security and are the cause of

the abuses and the destruction of a livable life.  We are being

surrounded by the fruits of selfishness in our own environment.  For

example, in a recent  Deseret News article (Mary Finch, "Sexual Abuses

of Children Is Widespread, Expert Warns," Deseret News, March 11, 1984,

p. B1), a former Minneapolis, Minnesota, policeman is quoted as saying

that in our hospitals more children are being treated for sexual abuse

than for broken bones.  The Freemen Digest reports that in America

since 1960 there have been:  



	47 million divorces 

	550, 000 deaths from drunk driving 

	18 million babies killed by abortion 

	366,000 murders 

	9.5 million illegitimate births

[Richard R. Viguerie, "Whatever Happened to America's 'Good' People?"

Freemen Digest, December 1983, p. 10]



	The Apostle Paul in the New Testament pronounced a warning about

what would happen in the latter days, that there would be perilous

times:



	For men will be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters,

proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,



	Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers,

incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,



	Traitors, beady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers

of God;



	Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. [2

Timothy 3:2--5]



My dear brothers and sisters, we are living in these times!



	In the history of mankind the normal environmental circumstances

were always favoring and protecting the family as a unit with a

purpose. just to provide the necessities of life required a man and

woman to work long hours in close harmony together.  There was the

indisputable evidence of need--of sharing the burdens.  Woman's role

was concentrated on the home with its many challenging demands

requiring much ingenuity. Inescapable circumstances forced a man to be

the provider and to protect and care for the family as a whole.  As

there was no electricity, there was no detracting influence through

media.  As there were no cars and no motorcycles, there was no quick

transportation to alien environments away from the home.  There was the

constant need for overcoming and enduring for just the purpose of

survival.  Circumstances allowed little room for idleness, vanity, or

indulging in matters of the flesh.  The absence of modern medicines and

hospitals created a sensitivity to man's fragile nature and his being

subject to pain and his dependency upon matters of a spiritual nature. 

But just in a few generations all of these circumstances have changed!

As the opportunities for development of the individual have grown in

unlimited dimensions, so have the opportunities of destruction, deceit,

and errors grown in the same dimension. 



Our First Priority



	My dear brothers and sisters, let us become aware that we are

living in very perilous times, that we are personal witnesses of how

men's philosophies and religions have brought this world to the brink

of literal destruction.  The Lord has restored in a powerful manner

through living prophets the knowledge of truth and the power of its

fulfillment.  As the Church is growing in strength and in wisdom and is

reaching out to the hearts of truth--seeking, righteous people all over

the world, we must never forget that our first priority and our

constant endeavor must be to be filled in abundance with the Spirit of

the Lord.  Only when we are filled with the Spirit can we receive the

direction, encouragement, strength, and motivation necessary to

establish righteousness, not only in our own lives but in our

communities and the nations throughout the world.  As partakers of the

Restoration, we are still small in numbers, but we are encouraged to

show by the fruits of our lives that the truth is with us, that we have

learned in our individual lives to overcome selfishness, that we do not

seek for so-called self-fulfillment in our own lives based upon the

sacrifices of others, but that we find our only self-fulfillment being

filled with the Light of Christ.  Filled with this Light of Christ will

make it easy for us to lose ourselves in the service of others and to

overcome selfishness.  This will be the evidence of the strength and

the fruits of the kingdom.



	The Lord gave some counsel with respect to the latter days as to

how his disciples can be identified through their fruits:



	Ye shall know them by their fruits.  Do men gather grapes of

thorns, or figs of thistles?



	Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt

tree bringeth forth evil fruit.



	A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt

tree bring forth good fruit,



	Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and

cast into the fire.



	Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them. [Matthew 7:16--20]



	All of our efforts in proclaiming the gospel depend upon the

fruits that we present to the world through the actions of our lives,

It is true that we might not be able to become perfect so long as we

are mortal beings, but as we are filling our lives with the Spirit, we

will have few, if any, divorces to end our marriages.  We will be

filled with hope and joy independent of material possessions, wealth,

and outward circumstances.  We will love to sacrifice and go the extra

mile and accept everything in our lives as from the Lord's hand and

from his will.  As we learn to stay in constant communication with our

Heavenly Father, we will see ourselves in our weaknesses, in our

wrongdoings, in our faults, and we will appreciate the help we can

receive from his power to overcome, to cast aside bad habits, and to

feel the joy that comes with growth in spiritual matters.  With all the

priorities that we may have established for ourselves, this will be the

breaking point or the making point in our lives!



	It might be of interest to know that when Brigham Young was the

prophet and president of the Church, he had a dream where Joseph Smith

appeared to him.  In the course of their visit together, Brigham Young

requested counsel from Joseph Smith on a specific question. he reported

that Joseph came toward him and, speaking in earnest, said:



	Tell the people to be humble and faithful, and be sure to keep the

spirit of the Lord and it will lead them right.  Be careful and not

turn away the small still voice; it will teach you what to do and where

to go; it will yield the fruits of the kingdom. Tell the brethren to

keep their hearts open to conviction, so that when the Holy Ghost comes

to them, their hearts will be ready to receive it.  They can tell the

Spirit of the Lord from all other spirits. it will whisper peace and

joy to their souls; it will take malice,  hatred, strife and all evil

from their hearts; and their whole desire will be to do good, bring

forth righteousness, and build up the kingdom of God.  Tell the

brethren if they will follow the spirit of the Lord they will go right. 

Be sure to tell the people to keep the Spirit of the Lord. [Elden J.

Watson, Manuscript History, of Brigham Young (Salt Lake City, 1971),

pp. 529--31]



	Today I want to invite you, my dear brothers and sisters, to see

yourselves as instruments in the hand of the Lord, that through the

example of your lives you may give to the world in the environment in

which you are living a light of hope.  With all that you are and all

that you do, you become either a blessing or a threat to the world. 

You are not standing alone.  The eyes of the world and our pioneer

ancestors are resting upon us.  This is the time for us to make

decisions and to establish priorities.  This is the time to gain a full

understanding of the message of the Restoration and then to be able to

reach out, as we are filled with the Spirit, to the hungry,

truthseeking, lost and wandering children of our Heavenly Father in all

the nations of the world.



	As we are learning to be always under the influence of the Light

of Christ, we will be able to show the world alternatives to their

social, political, and economic calamities.  The Spirit will teach us

to be thrifty and to see in vision the end from the beginning so that

we can become true, humble teachers by the actions of our daily lives,

and we will be able to fill this world with renewed hope and renewed

vision.  Always keep in mind that you cannot permit yourself to become

a failure because you may be a reason for the failure of the world!



	I give you my blessing and my testimony as your brother and as

your servant, in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ.  Amen. 



                              Families  



                         Robert B. Harbertson



	Elder Robert B. Harbertson as called as a member of the First

Quorum of the Seventy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day

Saints in April 1984.  In his present assignment he serves as a

counselor in the North America Northwest Area presidency and as a

managing director in the Missionary Department.  Previously he was a

counselor in the Asia Area presidency.



	After serving as president of the California Fresno mission, he

was called to be Regional Representative to the Logan, Logan

University, Cache, Smithfield, and Weber regions.  He has also been a

member of the General Aaronic Priesthood Committee, a bishop, and a

sealer in the Salt Lake Temple.Elder Harbertson graduated from Utah

State University where he was an All--Conference and Small

All--American basketball player. He has been a partner in a fastener

firm and involved in the retail clothing business.  At the time he was

called to be a General Authority he was executive vice-president of

Salt lake Hardware.Elder Harbertson is married to Norma Creer They are

the parents of five children.  



	This fireside talk was given on 2 June 1985 in the Marriott

Center.



	May I introduce my remarks today with two questions: (1) what is

your relationship with your parents, and (2), for those of you who are

married, what is your relationship with your companion and your

children? Now, think seriously about these questions for a moment.  Are

you comfortable with your thoughts and feelings? Does pride and joy

start to swell within your heart? Or is there a tinge of resentment or

guilt or even fear?



	I remember one of our missionaries who had just arrived in the

mission field.  We were having a testimony meeting in the living room

of the mission home in Fresno, California.  He stood to bear his

testimony and, oh, how pathetic it was.  No testimony was expressed. 

He only dwelled on how much he hated his father and how he disliked

being in his home and said the only reason he came on a mission was to

get away from his parents.  My heart almost broke I felt so sorry for

this young elder.  I wondered what had caused such feelings and what

had gone wrong in his home.  It just didn't seem fair, no matter where

the fault might lie.  It made me reflect back to my home, my parents,

and what my feelings were at that age.  Oh, how blessed I was to have

parents that loved me--yes, that even loved me enough to guide me,

direct me, and even discipline me when necessary My feelings of love

and security were so strong for my parents and home that when it came

time to choose which basketball scholarship I should take (and I had

been offered full--ride scholarships to several colleges and

universities), I picked the one that was closest to home.  I just

wanted to be at home!  



The Real Treasures in Life



	The scriptures reveal some beautiful family relationships that

help to guide and strengthen all of us.  In the book of Ruth we read of

the great love and devotion a daughter-in-law had for her husband's

mother.  The husbands of Naomi and her daughters-in-law had died,

leaving them alone.  Naomi decided to return to her home in Bethlehem

and suggested that the two daughters return to their own people.  After

some discussion, one of the daughters, Orpah, went her way, but Ruth

clave unto her mother-in-law.  Quoting from chapter 1:15--17, Naomi

said:  



Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her

gods: return thou after thy sister in law.



	And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from

following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou

lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my

God:



	Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord

do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.



	What a choice relationship. How special they must have treated one

another.  Naomi even helped Ruth to capture the heart of Boaz, a mighty

man of wealth.  Through their marriage Ruth bore Obed, and Obed begat

Jesse, who was the father of King David.



	There must have been great love and trust in the family of

Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac.  I have tried to relate to the awful task

the Lord gave to Abraham when he said, "Take now thy son, thine only

son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and

offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I

will tell thee of" (Genesis 22:2).  I'm afraid I find it impossible to

relate to.  My love and respect and admiration for Abraham is

overwhelming.  His testimony of the gospel and love for our Heavenly

Father must have been pure and without blemish.  Even the Lord said,

"For I know him, that he will command his children and his household

after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and

judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath

spoken of him" (Genesis 18:19).



	I have tried to picture Abraham and his son as they made their

trek to the mountain with their arms over each other's shoulders as I

have done with my sons on many occasions.  What emotion must have

filled Abraham's being as he followed God's command.  What love, faith,

and trust Isaac must have had in his father as he said:



	My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And be said, Behold the

fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?



	And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a

burnt offering: so they went both of them together.



	Even at this point Abraham could not bring himself to tell his son

what was to happen.



	And they came to the place which God bad told him of; and Abraham

built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his

son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.



	And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay

his son.  [Genesis  22:7--10]



	The test had been met; God's will meant more to both than mortal

fears and desires.  What love and understanding Abraham and Sarah had

taught their mighty son Isaac.  Of course, Isaac was spared and became

a mighty man unto God.



	What a thrill it must have been for Shiblon to hear the words of

his father, Alma, to know of the faith and trust he had in him, and the

love and pride his father felt for him as he said,



	And now, my son, I trust that I shall have great joy in you,

because of your steadiness and faith fullness unto God; for as you have

commenced in your youth to look to the Lord your God, even so I hope

that you will continue in keeping his commandments; for blessed is he

that endureth to the end.



	I say unto you, my son, that I have bad great in thee already,

because of thy faithfulness and thy diligence, and thy patience and thy

long--suffering among the people of the zoramites.



	For I know that thou wast in bonds; yea, and I also know that thou

wast stoned for the word's sake; and thou didst bear all these things

with patience because the Lord was with thee; and now thou knowest that

the Lord did deliver thee. [Alma 38:2--4]



	I'm sure a great father-son relationship existed between them.



	I have often thought how pleased and proud our Father in Heaven

must have been as he introduced his son, Jesus Christ, to the Nephites. 

What a noble and valiant son.  Such a caring and loving Father.  What

great meaning in his words, "Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well

pleased, in whom I have glorified my name hear ye him" (3 Nephi 11:7).



	Are we creating these kinds of relationships with our parents and

children? Are our priorities in order? Is there anything in the world

more precious or eternal than families? Can greater joy or security be

felt and experienced than that felt within a family? I fear in some

cases we allow the natural man or woman to overshadow the real

treasures in life.  



"I've Never Told Anyone I Loved Them"



	I was amazed as a mission president to find out how few of our

missionaries had truly experienced love, warmth, and understanding in

their homes.  It seemed to be the exception rather than the rule that a

missionary could give and accept love freely.  It had not been taught

or experienced in their homes.  I had grown up in a home where I loved,

hugged, and kissed my dad freely. lt had meant so much to me that I

decided when I had my first interview with each of our elders I would

give them a hug and after every interview we would end with a hug and

expression of love.  I couldn't believe the reactions I got.  Some just

melted in my arms while others didn't know how to react or what to do. 

Some stood as rigid as boards.  They had never had their dad's arms

around them in their whole life.



	I remember one elder that came to us with the sourest look on his

face that I had ever seen.  He would come in for each interview and sit

down with this same unhappy expression.  I would say, "What's the

matter, Elder? Why don't you ever smile?" About all I would ever get

out of him was a grunt or two and never an answer.  We would have a

poor interview, and at the end we would stand and I would put my arms

around him.  I could almost feel him shudder with disgust.  This went

on for several months with no change.  He was a most unhappy young man. 

He had no success in his areas.  He had companionship problems, Nothing

went well.



	Finally he came in for another interview and I said, "What's the

matter, Elder? Can't you tell me?"



	He looked at me for a moment and then he said, "You want to know

what's the matter? I'll tell you." I thought, great, we're finally

going to get to the bottom of this thing.



	He said, "I can't stand you."



	Well, I could have wished for a lot of other answers besides that

one.  He said, "I can't stand to have you put your arms around me. 

I've never had a man's arm around me, not even my dad's.  And besides

that, I can't stand to have you tell me you love me.  No one has ever

told me that, not even my mother and dad, and I have never told anyone

I loved them." He was really rolling now.  The flood gate was wide

open.  I was wondering why I had ever asked him the question.



	He said, "I had a seminary teacher that was just like you.  All

the kids just loved him and I hated him."



	Well, I didn't know what to say.  I was dumbfounded.  To be told

you're hated isn't necessarily the greatest thing to hear.  Finally I

said, "Well, Elder, I'm really sorry I offend you, and I'm sorry it

bothers you so to have me put my arms around you.  I promise I will

never put my arms around you again.  And I won't tell you I love you,

but I want you to know that I truly do." Well, we got up, shook hands,

and out the door he went.  No more hugs, no more I love yous.



	Finally it came time for Sister Harbertson and me to return home. 

I felt I had totally failed this elder.  He came in for his final

interview with about the same response.  We got up, shook hands, and he

walked to the door and then turned around and said, "President

Harbertson, will you do something for me?"  I said, "Certainly, what is

it?"



	He said, "Will you give me a hug?" I grabbed that elder and almost

squeezed him to death.



	He said, "President, I want you to know that I love you!" He even

got up in our zone conference and for the first time in his whole life

verbally expressed love for his companion and then turned around and

expressed his love for Sister Harbertson and me.



	We went home; he still had some months to serve.  When he got home

he came to the first mission reunion he could.  There he sat in the

middle of that large group of missionaries with the biggest smile you

have ever seen.  After the meeting he came up to me and gave me a big

hug and told me he loved me.  I asked him how the rest of his mission

went, and he said, 'After you went home it went great!" Well, I think I

know what he meant.



	Now, why did that young man have to go through twenty years of not

being loved or giving love? It isn't fair or right.  Good homes are so

important.  



These Precious Moments



	Sons and daughters, are you really putting forth the effort to be

close to your parents? Do you really know them and understand them?

Parents, do you know your children? Are you enjoying each phase of

their lives and being a strong influence for good? The greatest

influence in a child's life is his parents.  Attitudes and

personalities are greatly affected by this relationship. In the

Doctrine and Covenants we read, 'And that wicked one cometh and taketh

away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men,

and because of the tradition of their fathers" (D&C 93:39).  As this

verse points out, the traditions of our fathers, the way we act, the

things we do and say seem to significantly influence our children. 

Will you be happy if your children follow in your footsteps? Are you as

children being obedient to God's way of life in order that you may

enjoy the strength and direction of the Holy Ghost? I am reminded of a

song that was popular a couple of years ago called "Cat's in the

Cradle," by Harry and Sandy Chapin. 



My child arrived just the other day,

He came to the world in the usual way. 

But there were planes to catch and bills to pay, 

He learned to walk while I was away; 

And he was talkin' 'fore I knew it, 

And as he grew he'd say,

"I'm gonna be like you, Dad,

You know I'm gonna be like you."



Chorus:

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon 

Little boy blue and the man in the moon. 

"When ya comin' home, Dad?" "I don't know when,

But we'll get together then,

You know we'll have a good time then."



My son turned ten just the other day,

He said, "Thanks for the ball, Dad, come on let's play. 

Can you teach me to throw? "I said, "Not today, 

I got a lot to do." He said, "That s okay." 

And he walked away, but his smile never dimmed,

It said. "I'm gonna be like him, yeah, 

You know I'm gonna be like him."



Well, he came from college just the other day, 

So much like a man, l just had to say, 

"Son, I'm proud of you, can you sit for

  awhile?" 

He shook his head and he said with a smile. 

"What I'd really like Dad, is to borrow the

  car keys. 

See you later, can I have them please?"



I've long since retired, my sons moved away. 

I called him up just the other day.

I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind.

"He said, "I'd love to, Dad, if can find the time. 

You see, my new jobs a hassle and the kids have the flu, 

But it's sure nice talkin' to you, Dad, 

It's been sure nice talkin' to you."

And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me, 

He'd grown up just like me, my boy was just like me.



Chorus:

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,

Little boy blue and the man in the moon. 

"When you comin' home, Son?" "I don't know when, 

But we'll get together then, Dad, 

We're gonna have a good time then."



	Don't allow this to happen in your lives.  These precious

moments--each experience and stage of life--can only be lived once. 

Richard L, Evans had some special feelings in this regard, and in part

said this:  



Those who are overly impatient for the future may let the happiness and

opportunities, and also the obligations of the present pass them by.



	... Happiness [is a matter] of learning to respect. . . the

present hour". . . learning to live each day. . . This is our time, our

day,. . . and we had better learn to live and labor while it is called

today," being mindful of each day's opportunities and obligations. 

[Thoughts for One Hundred Days (Salt Lake City: Publishers Press,

1966), p. 129]



	President Kimball once said this,



	"Fathers, what is your report concerning your family? Will you be

able to report that yo created an environment in your home to build

faith in a living God, to encourage learning, to teach order,

obedience, and sacrifice? That you often shared your testimony of the

reality of your Father in heaven, of the truthfulness of the restored

gospel with your wife and children? Will you be able to report that you

followed the living prophets? That your home was where your tender

children could feel protected and safe, and where they felt the love

and acceptance and warmth of you and their mother?" ["The Example of

Abraham,"  Ensign, June 1975, p. 7]



	First, it appears that an accounting must take place--a report

regarding our stewardship as a father, mother, husband, wife, son, or

daughter.  With a listening ear our Lord will judge our lives. 

Obviously, teaching faith in God and obedience to his commandments is

of prime importance. I'm particularly interested in his question

regarding the children and if home is a place where they feel

protection, safety, love, and warmth.  



Feeling Safe and Secure



	I remember, as a small boy, sitting on my dad's lap and hearing

him tell mc about when he was a boy and how afraid he was of the dark,

and how he would wake up in the night and be so frightened that he

would jump out of bed and run to his parents' room.  There Grandma

would always let him get in bed with her and then everything was

alright.  I don't know if it was because of Dad telling me about this

or not, but I grew up a total coward.  I had, and still do have, a

great fear of the dark.  I understand why the scriptures relate

darkness to that which is not good.  My biggest challenge day after day

as a boy was going to bed each night because I would have to turn out

the light and then get clear across the room and into bed before a

booger could get me.  I knew they were in the closet and under the bed

and behind the curtains.  I got so I would start to run, hit the light,

take one step inside the room, and then take a huge leap and hit the

bed--most of the time! Mother never did know why the springs were

broken on that side of the bed.  Once in bed, up would go the covers

over my head, and there I would lay paralyzed until I went to sleep.



	Invariably I would wake up in the middle of the night and figure

for sure I was a goner.  Finally, when I just couldn't stand it any

longer, I would throw back the covers and leap out of bed so the

boogers under the bed couldn't grab me, race past the closet that must

have always had a couple in there, and then run down the hall to Dad

and Mother's bedroom.  That hall seemed like it was as long as a

football field.  Now that I think about it, it was only about ten feet

long.  But I had to go past the bathroom, the door to the kitchen, and

the door to the living room, and you know who was lurking at each of

them! Once in the bedroom I could see my dad's big arm raise in the air

with the bed covers in his hand and I would jump in beside him.  Down

would come the covers and his arm over me.  Then I knew there wasn't a

booger in the world big enough to get me.  I have often wondered what

would have happened if one night my dad would have said, "Bobby, you

big boob, get back in your own bed!" I'm afraid it would have caused

permanent damage.  But he loved me, he understood, and I knew I was

safe and secure in the arms of my dad and that he would never turn me

away.



	Are you enjoying the warmth and security and love of your parents?

Do you counsel with them? Are you sharing precious experiences with

them? Do you listen to them? When you return home can they see and feel

and hear of your love for them? Are you too big to hug and kiss them

now? Remember, one day they will be gone.  



Live Each Day



	I would like to quote the words of another song that was popular a

few years ago called "Everything I Own," by David Gates of the group

Bread.  You may wonder where I hear these songs--on our boat at Lake

Powell.  We are a boating family.  We kept a boat at Lake Powell and in

the boat was a tape deck.  The agreement with the children was, "You

play one of your tapes, then we get to play one of ours." We played

Tabernacle Choir music and the kids played the rest! You know

what--some of the words and music to some of those songs were pretty

good.  Anyway, listen to these words.  



Verse 1  

	You sheltered me from harm 

	Kept me warm, kept me warm. 

	You gave my life to me  

	Set me free, set me free.  

	The finest years I ever knew  

	Were all the years I had with you.  



Chorus  

	And I would give anything I own, 

	Give up my life, my heart, my home. 

	I would give everything I own 

	Just to have you back again.  



Verse 2  

	You taught me how to love  

	What it's of what it's of.  

	You never said too much;  

	But still you showed the way,  

	And I knew from watching you  

	Nobody else could ever know  

	The part of me that can't let go. 



Chorus  

	And I would give anything I own, 

	Give up my life, my heart, my home. 

	I would give everything I own 

	Just to have you back again.  



Verse 3

	Is there someone you know,  

	You're loving them so,  

	But taking them all for granted? 

	You may lose them one day. 

	Someone takes them away, 

	And they don't hear the words 

	You long to say  



Chorus  

	And I would give anything I own, 

	Give up my life, my heart, my home, 

	I would give everything I own 

	Just to have You back again, 

	Just to touch you once again.



	I understand the young man who wrote this song had lost his father

not long before and was expressing his deep feelings.  They are most

meaningful to me because I lost my dad, very unexpectedly, when I was

only thirty-one.  I thought my dad would live forever.  He was too big,

too strong, he was my hero, and yet without warning he was gone. 

Though I was married with children of my own, I missed him so much.  I

just craved to have him hold me once again.  Please live each day so

that you will not have regrets, no matter what may happen.  



Loving Is Living



	Love is such a special feeling.  It brings so much joy and meaning

to life.  Those who radiate love truly enjoy the spirit of God.  One of

my favorite verses in the scriptures is this:



	A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I

have loved you, that ye also love one another.



	By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have

love one to another [John 13:34--35]



	Is not the home where we learn to love, where we are first loved

and made to feel secure and important? I would like to tell you a story

entitled "Love is a Shining Thing," by Arthur Gordon.



	They sat together on the porch steps, so close that their

moonshadow was a single wedge of blackness against the weathered wood.

Tomorrow was the wedding, with all the excitement and confusion, tears

and laughter. There would be no privacy then. But this quiet hour was

their own.



	She said, "It's peaceful, isn't it?" She was watching the great

stately clouds march over their heads and drop from sight into the

quicksilver sea. He was watching her; and thought that he had never

seen her so beautiful.



	The wind blew; the waves made little hush, hush sounds, sighing

against the sand. "You know," she said, "I always wondered how I'd feel

the night before my wedding. Scared or thrilled, or uncertain, or

what." 



	"You're not scared, are you?"



	"Oh no," she said quickly. She hugged his arm and put her face

against his shoulder in the impulsive way she had. "Just a little

solemn, maybe. Solemn and gay, and young and old, and happy and sad. Do

you know what I mean?"



	"Yes," he said, "I know."



	"It's love that does it, I suppose," she said. "That old thing;

we've never talked about it much, have we? About love itself I mean?"



	He smiled a little, "We never had to." 



	"I'd sort of like to--now" she said. "Do you mind? I'd like to try

to tell you how I feel before tomorrow happens."



	"Will it be any different after tomorrow?" 



	"No, but I may not be able to talk about it then. It may go down

somewhere deep inside below the talking level."



	"All right," he said. "Tell me about love." 



	. . . She leaned back clasping her hands around her knees, the

moonlight bright and ecstatic on her face.



	"Oh, it's so many things. Waltzing in the dark; waiting for the

phone to ring, opening the box of flowers. It s holding hands in a

movie; it's humming a sad little tune; it's walking in the rain; it's

riding in a convertible with the wind in your hair. It's the quarreling

and making up again. It's the first warm drowsy thought in the morning

and the last kiss at night."



	She broke off suddenly and gave him a desolate look. "But it's all

been said before hasn't it?"



	"Even if it has," he told her gently, "that doesn't make it any

less true."



	"Maybe I'm just being silly," she said doubtfully. "Is that the

way love seems to you?"



	He did not answer for awhile. At last he said, "I might add a

little to your definition." 



	"You mean you wouldn't change it?" 



	"No, just add to it."



	She put her chin in her hands. "Go ahead. I'm listening."



	He took out the pen she had given him and looked at it for a

moment. "You said it was a lot of little things. You're right. I could

mention a few that don't have much glitter. But they have an importance

that grows."



	She watched his lean fingers begin to move. "Tell me," she said.



	"Oh, coming home to somebody when the day is ended--or waiting for

somebody to come home to you. Giving, or getting, a word of praise when

none is really deserved. Sharing a Joke that nobody else understands.

Planting a tree together and watching it grow. Sitting up with a sick

child. Remembering anniversaries. Do I make it sound terribly dull?"



	She did not say anything; she shook her head. 



	"Everything you mentioned is part of it," he went on. "But it's

not all triumphant, you know. It's also sharing disappointment, and

sorrow It's going out to slay the dragon, and finding the dragon too

much for you, and running away---but going out again the next day. It's

the little chips of tolerance that you finally knock off the granite of

your ego, not saving, 'I told you so,' not noticing the dented fender

on the family car. It's the gradual acceptance of limitations--your own

as well as others. It's discarding some of the ambitions you had for

yourself, and planting them in your children." His voice trailed off

into the glistening night.



	"Are you talking," she asked finally, "about living or loving?"



	"You'll find," he said, "there's not much of one without the

other"



	"When--when did you learn that?"



	"Quite a while ago, before your mother died." His hand touched her

shining hair.



	"Better get to bed now baby. Tomorrow's your big day"



	She clung to him suddenly. "Oh, Daddy, I'm going to miss you so."



	"Nonsense," he said gruffly, "I'll be seeing you all the time. Run

along now" But after she had gone he sat there for a long time, alone

in the moonlight.



	On the wall in our family room is a plaque which has these words

written on it: "The greatest gift a father can give his children is to

love their mother." I really, like that.  Nothing is more beautiful or

reassuring than the eternal love between a husband and wife.  That kind

of love involves so many things that bring joy, security, strength,

respect, and a desire to do the same in our own children.  One of my

favorite love stories brings out this kind of love, and it's a true

one.



	Soon after he was married, Thomas Moore, the famous 19th-century

Irish poet, was called away on a business trip. Upon his return he was

met at the door not by his beautiful bride, but by the family doctor.



	"Your wife is upstairs," said the doctor "But she has asked that

you do not come up." And then Moore learned the terrible truth: his

wife had contracted smallpox. The disease had left her once flawless

skin pocked and scarred. She had taken one look at her reflection in

the mirror and commanded that the shutters be drawn and that her

husband never see her again.



	Moore would not listen. He ran upstairs and threw open the door of

his wife's room. It was black as night inside. Not a sound came from

the darkness. Groping along the wall, Moore felt for the gas jets.



	A startled cry came from a black corner of the room. "No! Don 't

light the lamps."



	Moore hesitated. swayed by the pleading in the voice.



	"Go!" she begged. "Please go! This the greatest gift I can give

you, now."



	Moore did go. he went down to his study where he sat up most of

the night, prayerfully writing. Not a poem this time, but a song. He

had never written a song before, but now be found it more natural to

his mood than simple poetry. He not only wrote the words, he wrote the

music, too. And the next morning as soon as the sun was up be returned

to his wife's room.



	He felt his way to a chair and sat down. "Are you awake?" he

asked.



	"I am," came a voice from the far side of the room. "But you must

not ask to see me. You must not press me, Thomas."



	"I will sing to you, then," he answered. And so, for the first

time, Thomas Moore sang to his wife the song that still lives today:



   Believe me. if all those endearing young charms. 

   Which I gaze on so fondly to-day

   Were to changed by to-morrow, and fleet in my arms, 

   Like fairy-gifts fading away

   Thou wouldst still be adored, as this moment thou art,

   Let thy loveliness fade as it will,



	Moore heard a movement from the dark corner where his wife lay in

her loneliness, waiting. He continued:



   Let thy loveliness fade as it will,

   And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart

   Would entwine itself verdantly still. . . .



	The song ended. As his voice trailed off on the last note, Moore

heard his bride rise. She crossed the room to the window, reached up

and slowly drew open the shutters. [Galen Drake, Guideposts, Sept.

1957]



	I have yet to see a relationship that is not greatly enhanced when

this kind of sensitive love and understanding is expressed by a husband

to his wife.  To a great extent the attitude and feelings one

experiences through the day are generated by the atmosphere and

environment felt in the home.  Happiness, with all that is attached to

it, is what we all desire and hope for.  And yet, quite often, we seem

to do and say those things that are contrary and in exact opposition to

happiness.



	There is a simple but very important law taught time after time in

the scriptures called the law of the harvest.  Simply stated, it is

this: 'As ye sow, so shall ye reap." I don't believe it is ever more

true than in a family relationship. The more one does for his mate,

children, parents or brothers and sisters, the more he will receive in

return.  Good stimulates and nourishes good.  The Lord expressed this

truth most beautifully, when he said,



	Fear not to do good. my sons, for whatsoever ye sow that shall ye

also reap; therefore, if ye sow good ye shall also reap good for your

reward.



	Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell

combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot

prevail. [D&C 6:33-34]



	May God bless each one of us to do all in our power to make our

homes and relationships as parents, companions, and children special,

and to invite the Spirit of the Lord to help and direct us as we

prepare for eternal life together as families, I pray in the name of

Jesus Christ.  Amen. 



                       Heighten Your Capacity  



                           Yoshihiko Kikuchi



	Elder Yoshihiko Kikuchi has been a member of the First Quorum of

the Seventy since October 1977 when he was the first native-born

Japanese to be sustained as a General Authority.  Previous to this

calling he served as president of the Tokyo Stake, a counselor in stake

and mission presidencies, and a branch president.  He was also a

missionary in the Northern Far Fast Mission, where he later returned

and filled a building mission.



	Born in 1941, Elder Kikuchi as raised on the northernmost main

island of Japan, Hokkaido. His father was killed in World War II, and

his mother raised the four children alone.  When he was fifteen, a

sickness brought on by over work from trying to go to school and work

full-time resulted in Elder Kikuchi's hearing the gospel and joining

the Church.  Missionaries found him while he was recuperating at the

home of his uncle in Muroran.  A month later he was baptized and met

his future wife, Toshiko Koshiya.  They were married soon after he

returned from his mission, which was twice extended--once by six months

as a full--time proselyting missionary, and again by twelve months as a

labor missionary.



	After graduation from Asia University of Tokyo in 1968, Elder

Kikuchi became a representative of Rena-Ware Distributors Company,

where be later was promoted as division, district, and, finally,

regional manager for the entire Japan area.



	Shortly after Elder Kikuchi's call to full-time Church service, he

was appointed as Area Executive Administrator for Japan and Korea.  He

was then called as Executive Administrator over the Granger/Murray

Area.  Currently he serves on the Temple Executive Committee and is a

counselor in the area presidency of the Utah North Area.  



	Elder and Sister Kikuchi are the parents of four children--three

girls and one boy.



	This devotional talk was given on 11 June 1985 in the dejong

Concert Hall.  



"You, My Children of Zion"



	I pray that the Spirit of the Lord will be with us today so we may

be able to communicate by the Spirit.  I want to share in the beginning

a beautiful letter, a very special letter:  



My Dear Children:



	How, well I remember the day you left my side and ventured forth

on your mission to earth.  That day I clothed your spirit with love and

tenderly sent you off to school.  My thoughts are with you now and

always.



	Oh, how I love you! I know, the grief and pain as well as the joy

and happiness you experience, I know, your school is full of ugliness

and temptations as well as beauty, but remember all that I have is

yours, if you come back to see me.



	Each of you went into your new adventure with talent buried inside

you.  Bring forth these talents.  Develop them and share them.  Give

what is yours to give with all your hearts. Covet not one another's

gifts.



	You, my children of Zion, have many blessings that my other

children do not have.  You share my Holy Priesthood.  You may go to the

temple to learn eternal truths.



	You bear your children with the knowledge that they shall be yours

forever--if you live worthy to come back to me.  But remember, "Where

much is given, much is expected!"



	There are many among you who hunger for food and need care.  Give

of yourselves until you are drained of strength and give more. There

are many among you who hunger for food and thirst for my word.



	Go forth with your humble spirits.  Give my message in their

homes.  Pour out my good tidings.  Restore faith where it has been

lost. Give them my spoken words.



	And also, my beloved children in Zion, let charity and love be

your constant companions. Come to me often in prayer. Be humble and

faithful.  Be diligent in my work, and my kingdom shall be yours

forever I love you and miss you so very much, and, oh, how I am looking

forward to your return again to me and your mother. 



With all my love, Your Father in Heaven [Author unknown]  



The Lord Preserved the Noble Spirits



	In the prophecy made by President John Taylor regarding the great

future of the Latter-day Saints and their destiny, he said:



	We believe that we shall rear splendid edifices, magnificent

temples and beautiful cities that shall become the pride, praise and

glory of the whole earth.  We believe that this people will excel in

literature, in science and the arts and in manufactures.  In fact,

there will be a concentration of wisdom, not only of the combined

wisdom of the world as it now exists, but men will be inspired in

regard to all these matters in a manner and to an extent that they

never have been before. [JD, vol. 10, p. 147]



	As I see a vast congregation of the youth of Zion today, you young

people full of talent and potential for every walk of life, ready to

take the strong leadership position of excellence that will draw the

eyes of the people of the world upon us, I can see in you the greatest

potential the Church has ever had--in mathematics, music, all sciences

and arts, sports, politics, farms and agriculture, medical fields,

oceanics, business, and every technological field.  President Kimball

once expressed his vision for the youth of the Church as follows:



	Members of the Church should be peers or superiors to any others

in natural ability, extended training, plus the Holy Spirit which

should bring them light and truth.  With hundreds of "men of God" [and

ladies of God] and their associates so blessed, we have the base for an

increasingly efficient and worthy corps of talent. ["The Gospel Vision

of the Arts," Ensign, July 1977, p. 3]



	I also remember the wonderful pronouncement of President Wilford

Woodruff when he said:  



	I am especially anxious that our young people should sense the

great responsibility that must sooner or later rest upon them; and that

they should bear in mind the fact that they were kept in the spirit

world thousands of years to come through the loins of the ancient

patriarchs and prophets in our own age and generation for the very

purpose of carrying on this great latter-day work.  God called upon us

and He will call upon you and our posterity after us, to rise and warn

the generations in which they live; to preach the Gospel of Jesus

Christ to the nations of the earth. [Address to the Y.M.M.I.A. Annual

Conference, Contributor 16, August 1895, p. 635; emphasis added]  



The Lord God Preserved for a Righteous People



	As I see you beautiful people here today and stand before you, my

mind traces back to when the prophet Moroni took the record of the

jaredites which consisted of twenty-four plates found by the people of

Limhi in the days of King Mosiah.  As Moroni was abridging the writings

of Ether, he wrote how the people of the jaredites were guided by the

Lord to come to this promised land.  And he wrote the following:



	And the Lord would not suffer that they should stop beyond the sea

in the wilderness, but he would that they should come forth even unto

the land of promise, which was choice above all other lands, which the

Lord God had preserved for a righteous people. [Ether 2:71  



I want to note two phrases: "the land of promise which was choice above

all other lands" and "the Lord God had preserved for a righteous

people." What a blessing, my brothers and sisters, that you can live in

the land of promise which was and which is choice above all other

lands! And this land was preserved by the Lord our God for the

righteous people.  How blessed you are that you were born in this land!

You are among this righteous people.  



They Shall Serve God



	And then Moroni said in verse 9:



	And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land,

that it is a land of Promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it

shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fullness of his

wrath shall come upon them.  And the fullness of his wrath cometh upon

them when they are ripened in iniquity.  



Therefore, Moroni is expressing his concern that whoever possesses or

lives in this land " should serve him, the true and only God" (verse

8).  And then he repeatedly emphasized, in verse 10, "For behold, this

is a land which is choice above all other lands; wherefore he that doth

possess it shall serve God." And he then also emphasized, in verse 12,

"Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it

shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other

nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who

is Jesus Christ." The Lord Jesus himself, after his resurrection, when

he appeared to the Nephites, made the most profound statement: "which

blessing upon the Gentiles shall make them mighty above all" (3 Nephi

20:27).  And he also repeated, "For it is wisdom in the Father that

they should be established in this land, and be set up as a free people

by the power of the Father" (3 Nephi 21:4).



	What glorious promises! This is truly the land of promise, and you

are the greatest chosen generation.  It has been said that the greatest

artist was once asked by his audience which of all his productions was

the greatest.  He said, "The next is going to be the best." To me, the

next is you, the wonderful young generation of this great Church.



	Brothers and sisters, the best and the greatest and most powerful

and most beautiful has not yet been composed or produced or come about. 

Who will be like Richard Wagner, the German composer? Who will be the

Wordsworth for the next generation? Or who will be like George Bernard

Shaw, the Irish dramatist and critic? Who can exceed Shakespeare? Who

will take the position of President Reagan for the tomorrow of this

great nation? Who will be a great historian and archaeologist like Hugh

Nibley, or a scientist like Dr. Henry Eyring, or a successful

businessman like J. Willard Marriott, a successful cabinet member like

Ezra Taft Benson or David Kennedy or Dr. T. H. Bell?  



What Faith Their Mothers Taught Them



	I firmly believe that equal to becoming the greatest artist or

statesman would be to become mothers and fathers like those of

Helaman's two thousand stripling soldiers.  You young ladies, you can

be mothers like the mothers of these two thousand striplings.  What

faith these mothers taught to these young men and, I believe, to young

ladies too! The scriptures record the tremendous teachings taught to

them by, their parents, especially by their mothers:



	And now I say unto you, my beloved brother Moroni, that never had

I seen so great courage, nay, not amongst all the Nephites.



	For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them

very young) even so they said unto me: Father, behold our God is with

us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth. .

. .



	Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they

did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon

their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they

did not doubt, God would deliver them. [Alma 56:45--47]



	What faith their mothers had taught them, because they did not

doubt God.  I hope we can learn that.  'And they rehearsed unto me the

words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it"

(Alma 56:8).  



	There is such miraculous strength and power, such mighty power and

faith that we can cultivate and then pass on to the next generation. 

These young men were blessed to be preserved and they were valiant men

of God.  We need good statesmen like these stripling young men who have

a firm faith and can raise this young generation for the future of this

great Church and for this beautiful land of America and for the people

of the world.  We need young men and women with firm faith and

testimonies who will write and compose and produce good motion pictures

and novels because the world is moving in the wrong direction.  



Cultivating Our Inner Power and Faith



	My brothers and sisters, how can we accomplish these great, heavy,

and awesome tasks, to please the Lord and glorify his holy name? In

what way can we be the mediators to share this everlasting truth and

knowledge so that people will believe as the Savior foretold: "They

shall believe in me, that I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and shall

pray unto the Father in my name" (3 Nephi 20:31)? In what way, brothers

and sisters, should we cultivate our inner power and faith? Here are a

few suggestions I want to present to you today.



	First, be ye clean, The Savior, when he as visiting the Nephites.

expressed his great concern and pleaded with us the following:



	And then shall a cry go forth: Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out

from thence, touch not that which is unclean; go ye out of the midst of

her; be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. [3 Nephi 20:41;

emphasis added]



	This is what I see, The greatest challenge to all of us is what

the Savior said, "Depart ye, depart ye and touch not that which is

unclean" because we are the vessels of the Lord. if we can do that we

shall be exalted in every walk of life.  When you pursue academic

excellence and intellectual excellence, I see the same thing, the voice

of the Lord saying, "Do not touch the worldly teachings."

	Second, be sanctified.  In another place the Savior expressed the

following: "Be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye

may stand spotless before me at the last day" (3 Nephi 27:20).  In the

Doctrine and Covenants the Savior said:



	But no man is possessor of all things except he be purified and

cleansed from all sin.



	And if ye are purified and cleansed from all sin, ye shall ask

whatsoever you will in the name of Jesus and it shall be done. [D&C

50:28--29; emphasis added]



	What a promise we have here! As we cleanse and purify our lives,

the Savior said, 'Ask whatsoever you will in the name of Jesus and it

shall be done." Why do we have to sanctify our lives, brothers and

sisters? As we sanctify our lives, I firmly believe our minds become

single to the glory of God (see D&C 88:68).  And then, in section 88,

verse 74, the Savior said, "and sanctify yourselves; yea, purify your

hearts, and cleanse your hands and your feet before me" (emphasis

added).  As we cleanse our lives, our thoughts, our minds, our actions,

the Savior promised that "Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name it

shall be given unto you, that is expedient for you" (D&C 88:64;

emphasis added).



	The Savior promised a long time ago:



	Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works

that I do shall he do also,. and greater works than these shall he do

because I go unto my Father.



	And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the

Father may be glorified in the Son.



	If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.[John 14:12--14

emphasis added]



	And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say

unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give

it you.



	Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall

receive, that your joy may be full. [John 16:23--24; emphasis added;

see also 3 Nephi 27:28]



	Brothers and sisters, these are the great promises from the Lord

as we sanctify and purify our thoughts, our actions, our bodies and

minds.  That is the promise.



	Third, we must be taught from on high though we pursue academic

excellence.



	May I share another powerful promise from the Lord in Doctrine and

Covenants 43:16: 'And ye are to be taught from on high.  Sanctify

yourselves and ye shall be endowed with power, that ye may give even as

I have spoken" (emphasis added).  What a mighty promise! In order to

behave and to think and to meditate and to ponder and to invent and to

find, to plan, to study and to cultivate, the Savior warns that we must

be "taught from on high." And then he said we must sanctify ourselves. 

Then we shall be endowed with power And the promise of the Lord is that

we may give, even as I have spoken.  In other words, we may plan, we

may study, we may act, we may behave, and then we may ponder, think,

cultivate, move forward, and may pray.  As we become cleansed and

sanctified before the Lord, when we are "anxiously engaged in a good

cause, and do many things of [our] own free will, and bring to pass

much righteousness" (D&C 58:27) for God's glory, then, the Lord said,

"the power is within us." I do believe you wonderful people do have

that power.  As we become cleansed and purified before the Lord, the

Savior's promise is that power will come upon us.  What a magnitude of

endowment you can receive from the Lord!



	Fourth, e must know our Savior.  Brothers and sisters, how, then,

can we become cleansed before the Lord? How can "we cleanse our lives

in order to sanctify our lives? We must know Jesus Christ.  'And this

is life eternal, that they might know, thee the only true God, and

Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3).  Brothers and sisters,

in order to come close to him we must cultivate and feel his love, his

feeling, his comforting voice, his peace and joy, his spirit, his

glory, his order, and his great atoning power, mercy, and justice.



	The Savior said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John

14:15).  Keeping the will of the Father, and of the Son, Jesus Christ,

we will continue to cleanse, and we can cultivate continually,

pondering, learning, and studying, and, especially, listening to his

voice each day. And I suggest every morning hour we write in our

journals, and always put ourselves in a reverent attitude in our

prayers, seeking for the revelation of the Lord and seeking for the

spirit of prophecy as did the sons of Mosiah (see Alma 17:2-4). I

believe that prayer is a divine fellowship with the Father.  If we miss

that communication every morning we are missing the greatest priority. 

We must maintain our trust in the Lord through prayer and fasting and

by giving our commitment.  Then, as we keep the covenants and doctrines

and teachings, we must, with reverence before the Lord, take the sacred

ordinances of the gospel and learn the doctrines each day, especially

in the morning, and cultivate spiritual inner power and sensitivity to

the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  Then we will continue to cleanse

our lives.



	Fifth, we must cultivate our innermost sensitivities.  We can walk

toward the Savior each day and feel his spirit, feel his joy, feel his

love and sensitivities toward us, his peace and comfort and sweet joy,

his spirit and power and glory.  The Savior promised us, 'And now I go

unto the Father.  And verily I say unto you, whatsoever things ye shall

ask the Father in my name shall be given unto you" (3 Nephi 27:28). 

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we should ask and seek and feel and

cultivate each day, each moment.



	"Wherefore, he is possessor of all things; for all things are

subject unto him, both in heaven and on the earth" (D&C 50:27).  When

we become clean, with pure hearts and holy minds, all things are

subject unto us, both in heaven and on earth.  Ordained of God, we can

be "the life and the light, the Spirit and the power, sent forth by the

will of the Father through Jesus Christ, his Son" (D&C 50:27).  What a

blessing.  As we cultivate these things we will become more like the

Savior, and we can truly walk toward him and feel his great atoning

power.  And as we do so, the Spirit will prevail and permeate, and we

can receive the light of the Savior.  The Spirit and power will be sent

by, the will of the Father through Jesus Christ to each of us.



	Sixth, "it shall be done" through faith and commitment.  I humbly

believe that as we do these things Heavenly Father will bless us like

he blessed Nephi, the son of Helaman.



	Behold, I give unto you power, that whatsoever ye shall seal on

earth shall be sealed in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth

shall be loosed in heaven; and thus shall ye have power among this

people.



	And thus, if ye shall say unto this temple it shall be rent in

twain, it shall be done.



	And if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou cast down and

become smooth, it shall be done.



	And behold, if ye shall say that God shall smite this people, it

shall come to pass. [Helaman 10:7--10]



That power is faith.  We can truly have faith like that of Nephi, son

of Helaman, and really exercise it as we go forth into the world.



	Seventh, we must search the scriptures.  I pray that while you are

studying on this great campus you study also the words of the Lord. 

While you are pursuing academic excellence I pray that you will also

obtain a knowledge and " a sound understanding" of the truth of the

gospel by diligent study and the searching of the scriptures (Alma

17:2). 1 challenge you again to read one chapter a day.  Because you

know the words of the Lord you can be effective servants of the Lord.



	I pray that, because of the cultivated power within you, you may

be able to bring many to the knowledge of Heavenly Father's truth.  As

you face the people of the world, you can teach by the power and

authority of God and serve them with love and understanding.



	Eighth, the secret of life is service.  May you learn the secret

of service and the secret of love, which will mean that you will have

learned the secret of life.  Let's go from glory to glory, our journey

ever onward and upward, until, brothers and sisters, we fill this earth

with the joy of our tears and happiness because we have purified and

sanctified our lives and our service for someone else's happiness.  Let

us come out from the depths of grief, pain, sorrow, loneliness,

selfishness, sickness, and discouragement by living the qualities of

pure love of Christ.  Love the Lord and give service to other people,

to the other children of our Heavenly Father.



	Brothers and sisters, heighten your capacity to give of yourself

to the most worthwhile causes.  The celestial criteria measures

service, not status.  Clothe yourselves with the most warm and

spiritual and most delightful clothes--the love of the Savior.



	I stand before you and bear my testimony that this is the work of

the Lord.  And I stand before you and say that I know Jesus is the

Christ, the son of the living God.  I stood where Jesus walked and I

felt his spirit when I stood in the upper room where the Last Supper

was held.  As we went to the Garden of Gethsemane I felt his spirit. 

As I stood in the garden tomb I cried with the joy of his love.  I know

that he lives and that this is his work.  I know that Jesus is our

master.  I testify to you that I know that he lives, in the sacred name

of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen. 



                  Accepting Personal Responsibility  



                            Hugh W. Pinnock



	Elder Hugh W. Pinnock was called to be a member of the First

Quorum of the Seventy in October of 1977 and in October 1979 was

sustained as general president of the Sunday School. From the time be

served as a missionary for the Church in the Western States Mission,

Elder Pinnock has held many different Church positions: he has been

counselor in a mission presidency, high councilor bishop, Regional

Representative, mission president, and member of several Church

committees.  He served as Executive Administrator for Idaho and

Northern Utah and is now president of the Utah South Area and managing

director of the Priesthood Department.



	Born in Salt Lake City, Elder Pinnock was student body president

at Granite, High School and again at the University of Utah.  He was

general agent for the Connecticut Mutual Life, Insurance Company in the

intermountain area and has served as president of a number of

professional associations.  He is a life and qualifying member of the

Million Dollar Round Table.



	Elder Pinnock has been a member of the board of education of the

Granite School District, state chairman of the University of Utah

Alumni Association, and president of the Deseret Foundation of the LDS

Hospital.



	Elder Pinnock is married to Anne Hawkins, and they have six

children.



	This devotional address was given on 25 June 1985 in the dejong

Concert Hall.



	I would like to talk with you today about an area in your life

that we sometimes address superficially but don't discuss in-depth nor

understand.  I would like to talk with you about the importance of

taking responsibility for everything you do.



	"The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a

thousandfold," wrote Aristotle in the fourth century B.C. (On the

Heavens, book 1, chapter 5, lines 8--10).  If a baseball pitcher lets

go of the ball just one inch away from where it should be released, the

ball will end up nine or ten feet away from where it should be by the

time it's supposed to reach the batter.  Little errors in the beginning

do lead to serious consequences in the end.  The breaking of one of the

least significant commandments today is how more severe laws of God are

broken tonight or tomorrow.  Unfortunately, one of the most comfortable

mistakes that a college student or anyone else can make that leads to

eventual disaster is leaving the decisions of one's behavior to others.



	I'd like to say something else about taking responsibility.  Don't

we all get a little bit fed up in an environment where we are

legislated for, told what to do, and sometimes given guidelines that at

best are appropriate for the speaker only or for the person telling us

what to do but certainly not for us? I want to talk with you about

freedom in its most pure form.  When you leave to others the decisions

that affect you, your self-understanding is diminished, your personal

progress is always retarded, and your feelings of self-value are

clouded and reduced.  



Self--Determination



	Around Christmas of last year I visited the Wilberg Mine in Emery

County where disaster had struck a few days earlier.  The sheriff's

office was kind in letting our car through the barriers blocking the

road, and we progressed up the hill where smoke was belching out of one

of the entrances to the mine.  We approached the area where a type of

mission control was directing what needed to be done at that tragic

time.  As we were being brought up-to-date on the rescue efforts by the

foreman, a short, but obviously powerful miner came up and started

jerking on the foreman's jacket.



	"Send me back in, send me back in," he demanded.



	"No, no, You've been in enough.  We must send someone else." 



	"No, I want to go, I want to go," he pled.



	A man whose coal-dusted and greasy face was stained with tears

wanted to be back where he might be able to save another's life.



	"Well, all right, but you must be second," the foreman said.



	"No, I want to be the lead man."



	That was the most dangerous position to be in. Finally, the

foreman let him go.  We watched that courageous, feisty little man

going back into the mine with ropes and different equipment hanging

from him.  He had captured the love and respect of all of us.  The

other miners sat along the wall waiting for their turn, but they had

been outmaneuvered by a man who had decided months or perhaps years

earlier that if there ever was an opportunity for him to perhaps save

another's life, he wanted to be where the action was.



	My mind wanders back to another year and very different

circumstances.  I visited a man in a hospital.  He was in an iron lung,

a type of therapy that is rarely used today.  He had no control over

his body from his chin down.  We talked of the disease that had

rendered him in that condition and of his occupation.  He was an

insurance man, dialing the telephone with his nose or with his tongue,

explaining to people that he could not come into their homes or into

their offices but that he would like them to visit him at his address,

which was the hospital, so he could talk with them about perhaps saving

a few dollars on their car or life insurance.



	Most hung up on him before he even had a chance to deliver his

message, but a few would come to the hospital and sit next to that

remarkable man as he would look into a series of reflecting mirrors,

analyzing their insurance policies and telling them of ways they could

have more effective coverage.  He had decided before disaster struck

that he was going to do everything he could to be self-sustaining.  Of

course, the Church was helping him, and the state of Utah was providing

some assistance, but so much of his self-care was being provided

through the courage he was displaying then and had displayed earlier.



	One of our finest missionaries was leaving Pennsylvania.  Two

young women had waited for him. (Most of us found ourselves without

anyone waiting for us.) In his last interview he wanted to talk with me

about situations that might occur when he returned home.  One young

woman, who happened to be an airline stewardess, seemed to be his

favorite.  Yet she had not been careful about the way she lived in

relation to sexual purity.  The other young woman had announced before

his mission that she would not participate in anything that was not

appropriate.



	"What should I do, President?"



	I said, "You'll know what to do, Elder, But just remember the two

years you have served so well in Pennsylvania.  Remember those things

we have learned together, and remember what you really believe in."



	Well, he returned home and went to the apartment of his airline

stewardess.  He found as they went on a date that evening that things

had not changed-he was sick inside.  He later took out the other young

woman, then called to report the activities of those two evenings.  The

young woman who had decided to live the commandments long before she

ever met him had so deeply impressed the young man that from that time

on he dated just her.  Now they are living happily.  Yes, now they are

living the way that most of us would like to live.



	I have another story that is not unlike that one.  A man had moved

from Ohio to Brigham City and was working for Morton Thiokol, the

company that manufactures so much of what goes into space.  He had

dated several young women and had noticed a beautiful young lady

working there.  He asked her for a date and she consented.  They went

out, and he began to do things that she did not want to do.  There was

a tussle, but she succeeded and arrived home almost as safe as she had

left.



	The following Monday the man was telling of the conquest he had

attempted but failed and was making fun of her.  A fine young man stood

nearby, a returned missionary--he hadn't been home long.  After the

people had dispersed, he walked over and asked for the name of that

young woman.  He was told and they dated for about three months before

I had the privilege of performing their marriage in the Salt Lake

Temple.  They had decided what they wanted, and their righteous actions

were rewarded.



	Now, while some of these decisions loom large, others may seem

microscopic; yet what happens is exciting.  Elder Thomas S. Monson

reported an experience he had at a stake conference with a

projectionist, a man with the surname of Hales.  He was showing a movie

that was the featured part of a training meeting when suddenly film

started spewing everywhere.   Elder Monson stood up and asked what was

wrong.  The young man said, "Elder Monson, I did something really

stupid." He didn't blame the machine.  He didn't blame the

projectionist who had shown the film on an earlier occasion.  He didn't

blame the film itself.  He blamed himself, and Elder Monson reported

how he appreciated that type of courage.  That young man was not in a

blaming posture.  He had decided to take responsibility. Just a little

teeny experience, but it affected the thinking of an apostle.  



Decisions Leading to Joyful Living



	What are some areas where you can and perhaps should take

responsibility during your college or mission experience or during

life? Let me state that question just a little differently.  If you are

about the exciting task of living happily today, and want joy and peace

forever, what areas of life must you take personal responsibility for?



	The most important things you must decide upon are areas of your

life about which you will sit alone and contemplate, think, and pray,

and you may jot down on a piece of paper the decisions you have made. 

Let me talk with you about several of these areas and the decisions I

know lead to happy and joyful living.  



Living the Commandments



	The first is this: Are you willing to live the commandments and

follow suggestions from a loving heavenly Father? As I look into your

faces this day, I see a group of young people who are about to change

the world, if you will, in happy ways.  But isn't the very foundation

of living (at least if we love the Savior) to live his commandments?

Not only the biggies, but also the suggestions.  Not only commandments

such as having personal integrity, living a sexually pure life, and not

taking into our divinely created bodies illicit drugs, but the

suggestions such as "ask, seek, and knock," go the extra mile, and be

willing to forgive ourselves when we have made mistakes.  



"What Are Your Priorities?"



	The second area of your life that perhaps needs to be addressed is

how you are spending your time.  A young coed at this university had

determined that she was going to succeed in one of the professions. 

That was first and foremost.  A young man was dating her, wanting the

relationship to deepen and perhaps lead to the temple.  But she was

involved in succeeding in her chosen profession to the injury, perhaps,

of other possibilities.



	Her boyfriend asked if I would talk with her while visiting BYU

one day, so we did walk and talk together.  I asked her a simple

question, "What are your priorities?" "To be married eternally, to

raise a family, to live the commandments.  I would like to succeed in

my profession.  I enjoy going to school.  I want good grades."



	Even though the last three were vital, none of them were number

one.  I then asked her, "Is that the way you are living?" She then knew

that her boyfriend had asked me talk with her.  She said she thought

she was beginning to understand.



	What are your priorities? Are your afternoons wasted? Do you go to

bed a little bit better than you were when you woke up?  



Social Responsibility



	Third--this is going to startle some of you--you must take

responsibility for your dating skills, for your social skills.  We

can't rely upon others to always be inviting us to go somewhere.  We

must be the type of people who are giving and sharing their lives with

others in proper ways.



	I have had so many wonderful young people in my office.  While

they were struggling with certain areas of their lives, they somehow

thought that what concerned them would automatically take care of

itself.  It never does! They had not taken personal responsibility. 

Because of that, their life was not going as they wished it would,

socially or in other ways.  



Financial Responsibility



	Next is something that only too often we disregard on college

campuses in the lives of young people.  That is financial

responsibility and the development of a personal budgeting system.  All

resources are limited, and because of that, there is a certain

responsibility to use what we have properly.  Our roommate cannot use

our resources properly, nor can our friends, We must do it ourselves. 

We must decide not to be wasteful of money but to develop habits of

frugality.  



Responsibility for Your Appearance



	Fifth--this will also startle some of you, and I don't want it

to--you must take personal responsibility for your appearance, for the

scenery that you provide for others.  It is not up to your roommates. 

It is not up to anyone else.  It is up to you.  This suggestion, of

course, leads to your taking responsibility for your health and keeping

physically fit.  



Responsibility for Your Environment



	Sixth is our environment.  I don't mean conducting environmental

impact studies of Utah Lake as it encroaches upon farmland.  I mean

your apartment and the interior of your automobile.  Do you pick up a

few papers and deposit them in the round file when you leave because

they were unsightly and someone else had not been thoughtful?



	While dating my wife when she attended BYU, I brought a friend of

mine to Provo.  We were going to double--date that evening.  I had

become acquainted with a marvelous young woman in the mission field and

I wanted him to meet her.



	I knew a little bit about his home and where he was from.  He had

been raised in poverty.  His parents could not afford furniture, so

they didn't have any furniture.  Where lawn or shrubs and flowers would

normally be planted, there was mud when it rained and blowing dust when

it was dry.  Yet he had pulled himself up by his bootstraps and the

future would see him serving as a brilliant educator in the Midwest. 

At that time hc was seeking a wife.



	When he went to pick up this young woman, he stepped into an

apartment of squalor.  She had come from a lovely home, and perhaps the

condition there was temporary but suddenly he recalled all of the

embarrassing moments when friends had come to his home and found the

same condition there.  That was the end.  He never did invite her

again.  She didn't know why.  



The Benefits of Taking Responsibility



	The advantages of taking responsibility for one's environment, for

one's personal appearance, and, above all, for one's integrity are

obvious.  Let us reiterate the benefits that come when we decide what

we want.



	The first benefit is this: We function within an environment of

freedom. it is our Heavenly Father's way.  Free agency is what we

fought that great war for in the life before this one.  We had become

convinced that the ways of Jesus Christ were right, and we were willing

to take all the risks necessary to come to this earth and live out our

appointed time.  George Bernard Shaw once stated, "Liberty means

responsibility" (Maxims for Revolutionists). That is why most men dread

it.  That is why so many people living today have capitulated and given

up all that matters.  Suddenly they are not directing their own lives

any more.



	I was in a conversation with a businessman from the East when I

was thirty years old.  He said, "Tell me about your friends."



	I said, "Well,  most of them have died."



	He said, "Most of your friends have died? You are only thirty."



	I answered, "Well, their hearts are still beating, and there would

be some other vital signs.  I'm sure they would have blood pressure. 

Food is being digested, but I don't think they have had a new thought

since high school."



	We talked about this condition and recognized that this group of

acquaintances had opted to surrender.  Brothers and sisters, that is

something we cannot do.  There is a great advantage in taking

responsibility.  We live in an environment of freedom if we will but

capitalize on it.



	The second benefit: We become more powerful people--we become more

interesting people.  When those around you know that you have made some

of those critical decisions, you will often find, after dinner or as

you walk across campus, someone scurrying up to you wanting to know how

you feel about this or that.  He has observed that you have direction

in your life.  You have made some of those decisions and he wants to

know why.



	It has been said a strong position of responsibility will usually

show a man to be far stronger than it was imagined he was.  Of course

that is true.  When we start making those decisions, we are just more

exciting people.  What a lovely way to live.



	I remember a young woman from Idaho Falls.  She was starting her

college life and had immediately captured the interest of at least

2,365 young men on campus.  It seemed everyone wanted to date her.  She

was not a campus queen.  In fact, she had not been blessed with

physical beauty.  But, for some reason, every time we were with her, we

were a little bit better.  She knew exactly what she wanted and which

direction she was going.  I asked a friend of mine about her and he

said, "Well, there will come a time when she will stop dating eight or

nine nights a week and she will settle down, She will select the finest

man there is and they will live happily ever after."



	That is exactly what happened.  She was a young woman who knew

what would lead to her happiness and what would lead to the happiness

of others.  It was a rich blending of both.  I saw her in the airport a

month or so ago.  She was saying good-bye to a son going on a mission. 

She was still the same wonderful woman.  Her life had unfolded in a

predetermined way because it had been predesigned.  Those of us in the

kingdom of God have that great advantage because we know what is right.



	Third: Trust comes from taking personal responsibility.  Trust

fosters satisfactory relationships more than any other single

characteristic.  The great Booker T. Washington said, "Few things help

an individual more than to place responsibility upon him and to let him

know that you trust him." We understand why we want to behave

differently when someone trusts us. But why do they trust us? Because

we have already made the decisions that lead to trust.



	Fourth: Responsibility breeds opportunities.  Don't we all act

upon that fact? All of us seem to be given a wealth of opportunities. 

Each day at dawn we have a myriad of choices and places to go and

things to do and ideas to think about and friendships to generate if we

accept personal responsibility.



	When I was a member of a social fraternity at the University of

Utah, I knew a young man, several years older, by the name of Bill. 

After a hard day in the classroom and after studying all afternoon

because he had decided that he wanted good grades and didn't want to be

reliant upon a family or father at home, he would go downtown to a

restaurant, scrape gum from the tables, clean the restrooms, and scrub

places that were not pleasant.  During those experiences, as he was

assuming self-responsibility, he was also deciding that the Marriott

Corporation should go into the hotel business and the theme park

business.  He was unwilling to let those at home in Washington provide

what he needed to slip comfortably through college--no, not Bill.  As

you know, he has been listed as one of the most effective business

executives in the world.  But I remember Bill Marriott when he was

scraping gum and cleaning bathroom floors.



	Taking responsibility is simply integrity in action.  Can you

imagine--and I'm speaking to you directly--anything as exciting as

being young, being a member of our Savior's kingdom, and living in this

world of opportunity right now? There just isn't anything as exciting. 

Those negative, pathetic people who think the world is going the wrong

direction in a hand basket are those who have not thought great

thoughts, those who have not been eager to accept personal

responsibility.



	Fifth: Assuming personal responsibility is anti--Satan and

pro--God.  I testify to you that Satan becomes anxious when we employ

the eternal principle of self-determination.  That means we cannot

respond to the peer pressures about us--and listen carefully--that we

are to turn off MTV when there are pictures or sounds there that

destroy the person we can become.  Why, in heaven's name, should

students and administrators ever be at odds with one another if both

have the same goal of being personally responsible? There is a lot to

think of there.  



Utilizing Free Agency



	How grateful we all should be that our loving Heavenly Father has

placed us in a world where we can decide what we want.  It was that

characteristic that initially made this country great.  It is also that

characteristic that separates us as a group of religionists from those

who believe in control.  



	Within each of us is a myriad of different potentials.  Making

decisions ourselves leads to actions that direct us toward eternal

life.  One looks with dismay at the outcome had Joseph Smith settled

down on a small piece of rocky farmland, satisfied with periodically

reading the scriptures and attending whatever church was nearby.



	One looks with dismay upon the result had Douglas MacArthur gone

to Texas to sell corn seed or farm equipment instead of knowing there

were battles to fight and wars to win.  One looks with dismay had

George Washington gone to London for the comfort of the world's social

whirl, living there part-time and returning to America only to oversee

his plantation.  But, of course, he did not do that.  He saw beyond the

present comforts and realized the importance of freedom.  Because of

that, we have this land today.



	One looks with dismay had President Spencer W Kimball stayed in a

little Arizona farm town, peaceful as it was, working at the bank

instead of standing and facing a flood that had all but destroyed his

valley and using the kingdom of God to bless those people because he

knew what was the right thing to do.  He didn't have to do that.  He

made the decision to do so.  Because of that, we will all say in the

years to come, "We were there when President Kimball was our prophet."

What a marvelous man he is.  Incidentally, I bring you greetings from

our prophet leader.  He is doing a little better; we just wish he were

doing even better than that.  



Accepting Responsibility



	In conclusion, let me just reiterate a couple of the tools we need

to use if we are to accept personal responsibility for our actions and

our lives.  There is not a better time for apron-string cutting than

now, when you can look to your parents and those who have brought you

to this point with great gratitude, knowing that you must now walk some

of those lonely paths.



	First: Be courageous.  For some reason, too many today lack the

courage we need to have--the courage to say no in the backseat of an

automobile, the courage to sometimes study that extra hour or two or

three each day, to accomplish that which will bring pride.



	Second: As we make these personal decisions, taking responsibility

for our lives, may we follow God's plan.  We have the gospel of Jesus

Christ.  What better road map could be printed? I see in my mind's eye

the Savior, as reported by John the Beloved, standing there pleading

with the people of that day saying, "Look, all that you've seen me do

I've seen the Father do.  All that I have taught are things he has

already taught me." The Savior was willing to take that type of

responsibility--a willingness born of the eternal knowledge that

Heavenly Father's love was so great that his ideas would always lead us

properly.



	Third: As we make these decisions, let us always build, help,

protect, and heal others.  Let us be those who deliver our dates on

their doorsteps a little better persons than when we said hello at an

earlier hour that evening.  Let us, as we take a particular class in

school, make sure that we penetrate the obvious and begin to understand

the theories of that particular discipline.  Let's also make sure that

if someone needs our help and guidance we have an hour or two each day

to provide for them some of the support so often needed.



	Fourth: Do not--I repeat, do not--ever allow others to make for

you life's vital decisions.  They are yours.



	May we stand as loving sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father,

taking responsibility for the decisions that will lead us back to him. 

This I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior.  Amen. 



The Contemplation of Beauty:  An Avenue to Communication with the Lord



                         Hans-Wilhelm Kelling



	Dr Hans-Wilhelm Kelling was born in Schwerin, Mecklenburg,

Germany, an area now inside the Communist Eastern Bloc. Dr Kelling

moved with his parents and younger sister to the northern coastal city

of Bremen, where his father was stationed as a German naval officer He

was raised there during World War II and suffered through the

devastations of the war.



	At sixteen years of age he converted from Lutheranism to

Mormonism. He was baptized along with his mother and sister. Shortly

after Dr. Kelling graduated from his Gymnasium as valedictorian, he

came to the United States. He worked in New York City to earn and save

money to attend BYU but, soon after his arrival in New York, was called

to serve as a missionary in the Eastern States Mission from 1953-55.

After his mission Dr Kelling did attend BYU, where he met his wife,

Joyce They are the parents of a son and three daughters.



	Dr Kelling received his B.A. from BYU and was awarded a Woodrow

Wilson scholarship to attend Stanford University, where he received his

M.A. and Ph.D degrees. He was awarded a Woodrow Wilson doctoral

research grant to study at the University of Gottingen, where he

completed his doctoral dissertation on nineteenth-century Goethe

criticism.



	Dr Hans-Wilhelm Kelling commenced teaching at BYU in 1967 and

holds the rank of full professor. He was a recipient of the 1980 Karl

G. Maeser Distinguished Teaching Award. As well as being the author of

several books and articles. Dr Kelling was the chairman of the Germanic

Language Department for six years. He has conducted three study abroad

programs in Salzburg and has directed the BYU Vienna Semester Abroad

Program.



	Dr Kelling has held many callings in the Church. He has served as

counselor in a bishopric, high councilor, counselor in the BYU Ninth

Stake presidency, and as mission president over the Germany Munich

Mission from 1973 to 1976. One of the highlights of his mission

presidency was the blessing of converting and baptizing his father into

the Church.



	This devotional address was delivered in the de Jong Concert Hall

on 9 July 1985.



	One of the prevailing and enduring challenges that man faces

during his sojourn on this earth is how he can learn to effectively

communicate with God.  How can man open the channels of communication?

How does God reveal Himself to man? What can man do to receive

assurance that God is aware of man's existence, and his problems?

Questions such as these have been asked by men throughout the ages,

sometimes very poignantly and eloquently by philosophers, poets, and

prophets.



	Prophets, of course, viewed from the average man's frame of

reference, seem to enjoy a very special relationship with our Heavenly

Father and appear to communicate with ease.  After all, they have

direct access to the Lord and can speak with Him face-to-face, and

sometimes they do so in a most remarkable and human manner.  



Speaking with God Face-to-Face



	To me, Moses is the finest example in biblical history of a

prophet speaking with God face-to face in a manner that reveals a

unique and intimate relationship between God and man.  Let me recall

the famous dialogue as it is recorded in the book of Exodus.  Moses had

fled from the Egyptian court and was tending the sheep of his

father-in-law, Jethro, when one day he approached Mount Horeb, a

mountain which was sacred to the Lord Jehovah.  Attracted by a burning

bush that was not, however, consumed by the flames, Moses hears the

voice of Jehovah calling him, "Moses, Moses!" and he answers, "Here am

I." The Lord then warns him not to come any closer and to remove his

shoes from his feet for he is standing on holy ground.  Next, He

identifies Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the

distinguished ancestors of Moses.



	. . . I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of

Isaac, and the God of Jacob. . . .



	. . . I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in

Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I

know their sorrows; 



	And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the

Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land. .

.flowing with milk and honey. . . .



	Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come

unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians

oppress them.



	Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou

mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel OUI of Egypt.

[Exodus 3:6-10]



	Now let us assume for a moment that we were in Moses' place and

had just been given these instructions.  Besides being frightened and

barely able to mumble our consent, we would probably attempt to hurry

as fast as we could out of the Lord's presence and carry out His

command as expeditiously as possible.  But not Moses.  Not only does he

keep his composure, which is extraordinary enough, but he communicates

in an utterly uncomplicated and human way his profound reservations. 

In short, he says he cannot do it.



	And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh,

and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?

[Exodus 3:11]



	Why should he question the Lord's choice? Had he not been

carefully trained at the Pharaoh's court in the art of statecraft,

administration, and leading people? And did he not know how to deal

with kings and court officials? Who was better prepared than Moses?

Nevertheless, the Lord understands and empathizes and assures His

servant that He will be with him.  But Moses thinks of new objections:

"The Israelites will put me to the test and ask about thy name."

Patiently the Lord tells Moses how to reply and then charges him to

gather together the elders, go with them before Pharaoh, and request

permission to perform sacrifices.  Again He assures Moses that He will

be with him and manifest His power unto Pharaoh.  Now, after this long

and patient discourse, does Moses go? listen!



	And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe

me, nor hearken unto my voice. for they will say, The Lord hath not

appeared unto thee. [Exodus 4:1]



	So the Lord performs several miracles to demonstrate His power and

to convince Moses He indeed will be able to protect him and be at his

side.  Does Moses go now? Slowly we are getting the impression that

Moses is hot really too anxious to do what Jehovah wants him to do.



	And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent,

neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I

am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. [Exodus 4:10]



	I really find no evidence in the text or in the dialogue that

Moses is either slow of wit or slow of tongue, and he certainly does

not seem to lack courage.  I find him rather quick of wit and quick of

tongue.  But still the Lord is longsuffering, although I now detect a

touch of impatience in His answer, which is much shorter than previous

replies and has a distinct curtness to it.



	And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who

maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the

Lord?



	Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee

what thou shalt say. [Exodus 4:11, 12]



	Now, certainly Moses will finally go.  He is running out of

excuses.  But no, he simply informs the Lord that He has chosen the

wrong man for this assignment:



	. . . O my Lord, send, I pray thee . . . him whom thou wilt send

[but not me!]. [Exodus 4:13]



	At this time we expect lightning to strike, but although the Lord

becomes angry, He controls His wrath and still accommodates Moses by

telling him that He will permit his brother Aaron to accompany him and

be the spokesman.



	And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said,

Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. . .

.



	And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I

will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye

shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall

be . . . to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead

of God.



	And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt

do signs. [Exodus 4:14-17]



	With that the conversation abruptly ends.  It seems that the Lord

quickly disappears and leaves Moses to ponder the momentous events that

have transpired.  The rest is history.



	I cannot help but admire and envy the marvelous relationship that

prophets have with God.  To speak with Him in such an honest and

forthright manner, to tell Him of reservations and anxieties, and to

have Him respond in a patient and understanding way must appear to most

of us to be an impossible dream.  Why can't we speak with the Lord like

Moses? Or like Abraham, who bargained for the lives of the inhabitants

of Sodom and Gomorrah and wrestled from God a promise that He would

spare the cities if ten righteous people could be found inside them? Or

Jonah, who, much like Moses, tried to avoid carrying out a difficult

mission so that God had to prepare a huge fish to transport him back to

the shores of Nineveh? Then, when he had preached, and the inhabitants

of the city had repented and turned to the Lord, he became angry with

God for sparing the city.  Can you imagine being angry with the Lord,

or, even more so, the Lord understanding and forgiving such behavior?  



Communicating Through the Spirit



	I have made the point that prophets are privileged to communicate

with God in a marvelously direct and wondrous manner.  Such direct,

face-to-face communication will forever remain an impossibility for the

vast majority of mankind; nevertheless, communication with God is

possible for us also.  Although it is not likely that Jehovah will

summon us from a burning bush, we can approach Him in the privacy of

our room or some secluded spot in nature and tell Him our frustrations,

our reservations, our failures, our inadequacies, and our faults.  It

may seem to us that such a conversation is rather one-sided, that we

hear but one voice--our own.  However, we can learn to hear the Lord's

voice also, but we must be patient and and we must be prepared to

wait--sometimes for a long, long time--and we must listen carefully. 

Perhaps we have to struggle at first, like Enos did.



	And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I

cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and

all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did

still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens. [Enos 4]



	To Enos the voice of the Lord Jehovah came through the spirit:



	And while I was thus struggling in the spirit, behold, the voice

of the Lord came into my mind again, saving. . . [Enos 10]



	In section 8 of the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord tells us how

He communicates His will to most of us:



	Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by

the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your

heart. [D&C 8:2]



	These remarkable scriptures tell us that we can also communicate

with the Father-even, perhaps, as honestly as Moses and Abraham and

Jonah, except not face-to-face like Moses did, but through the Spirit

like Enos.  Sometimes, after we may have tried for a very long time

unsuccessfully to open the windows of heaven, we might despair-but so

did the prophets, even the Savior.  Remember the agonizing cry when

Christ was hanging on the cross and the Father had withdrawn:



	My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? [Matthew 27:46]



	Many of us here can identify with that soul-wrenching question. 

Certainly the great German reformer Martin Luther could, who, after

years of painful and desperate struggle to understand God's will, was

finally able to love and trust God again, when he learned to understand

that Christ's terrifying forsaken state was but temporary, that Elohim

had left Him only for a while to receive Him to His bosom after He had

accomplished His great atoning sacrifice.  When Luther finally,

comprehended this truth, he began to understand that the Lord had not

abandoned him permanently either, but was preparing him for the work of

the Reformation.  We recall also the terrifying months during which the

Prophet Joseph and the Saints in Missouri had to endure all manner of

humiliation, degradation, and terrible persecution while he was

helplessly imprisoned in that abominable jail in Liberty, Missouri.



	O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy

hiding place?



	How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye . . . behold from

the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people and of thy servants, and

thine ear be penetrated with their cries? . . .



	O Lord God Almighty, . . . stretch forth thy hand; let thine eye

pierce; let thy pavilion be taken up; let thy hiding place no longer be

covered; let thine ear be inclined; let thine heart be softened, and

thy bowels moved with compassion toward us. . . .



	Remember thy suffering saints, O our God; and thy servants will

rejoice in thy name forever [D&C 121:1-6]



	Some of us, especially the older ones among us, understand this

kind of communication all too well.  Have we not wondered and cried:

"Why hast thou forsaken me?" or "Where art thou Lord?" However, if we

are humble and patient enough, we will learn that God has not forsaken

us, as He did not forsake His son or His prophet Joseph.



	While the avenues of prophetic communication are not open to us in

the same way as they were open to Moses or Joseph, and while

communication through the Spirit may be difficult and sometimes

frustrating, there is another avenue that is readily available to all

of us--an avenue which we might try, if we have not yet done so, an

avenue which will certainly lead us to experience God's beauty and love

in a most remarkable way.  For the rest of my time today, I wish to

suggest such a way which has been a source of much inspiration and joy

to me in my life and has revealed God to me.  This is the way of

beauty--the aesthetic experience.



The Contemplation of Beauty



	For Latter-day Saints, the aesthetic experience (that is the

experience with beauty), should have special significance, since beauty

is an important avenue to the enjoyment of reality, toward learning

about our own sensitivities and the deeper levels of our soul, and it

is--at the same time--an avenue to encountering God and communicating

with Him.  Greek and medieval philosophers believed that man could get

closer to the absolute ideal--we would call it God today--through

contemplation of beauty.  Absolute beauty, according to Plato, is not

encountered on earth.  However, various reflections of it can be

encountered by mortal man in what Plato calls "an ascending order"

(Symposium, 211).  This order begins with the physical beauty of nature

and art and then ascends upward through various fair forms and ideas to

fair practices and, finally, to what Plato calls "beauty absolute" and

which the church fathers call God.  "He who has learned to see beauty

in due order and succession, when he comes towards the end, will

perceive a nature of wondrous beauty . . . beauty absolute" (Symposium,

211).  Allow me to paraphrase what the philosopher is saying here so

that we can understand it from our frame of reference.  As we learn to

see beauty in nature and in art we will progress in our thinking toward

the author and creator of such beauty, who is God.  Thus the

contemplation of beauty will lead us into communion with God, which

should be one of man's greatest quests.  "This is the life above all

others which man should live, in the contemplation of beauty absolute,"

says Socrates in the Symposium, or, in other words, "This is the life

above all others which man should live, in the contemplation of God."

He continues and says that once we have learned to behold the beauty of

God we will no longer seek after mundane things like "gold" or

beautiful "garments." Then he makes a profound observation on which I

will elaborate:



	Remember how in that communion only beholding beauty with the eye

of the mind, he [the observer of beauty absolute] will be enabled to

bring forth. . . true virtue to become the friend of God and be

immortal, if mortal man may. [Symposium, 212]



	We are surrounded by the beauty of nature, even on this university

campus.  How I appreciate the efforts of those men and women who labor

to plant the flowers, prune the trees, and groom the lawns, and yet how

many there are of us who pass by heedlessly or who mar the beauty by

thoughtless action.  In his prayer "For This World," Walter

Rauschenbusch expresses my feelings rather eloquently:  



We thank thee [O Lord] for our senses by which we can see the splendor

of the morning and hear the jubilant songs of love, and smell the

breath of the springtime. Grant us, we pray thee, a heart wide open to

all this joy and beauty, and save our souls from being so steeped in

care or so darkened by passion that we pass heedless and unseeing when

even the thornbush by the wayside is aflame with the glory of God. [A

Rauschenbusch Reader; the Kingdom of God and the Social Gospel, comp.

Benson Y. Landis (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1957), p. 151]



	This ability to see, this vision--the contemplation of beauty

absolute--has been the pursuit of the poet, the painter, the musician,

the prophet--in short, of the sensitive man.  Yet it is very difficult

for most artists to successfully translate the vision into reality, and

only some have been blessed with that ability.  One of these is

Michelangelo, who beheld the glory and beauty of God and revealed it to

us in the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel and in the statues of David,

Moses, and the Piet?.  Here the vision has been painted in brilliant

color and chiseled in glorious white Carrara marble.  The ideals of

youth and wisdom and courage and beauty and godliness have been cast

into perfect form, the harmonious fusion of idea and form perfectly

achieved.  Such a miracle stirs our soul to the very depths because

here we encounter beauty in its sublimest revelation, in the

realization that God has revealed Himself in the form of this

magnificent art.  And as we thus confront David or Moses or the Piet?

--or, rather, as they confront us--we communicate with God.  We are

made aware of our own capacity to feel and to love, to feel the majesty

and grandeur of God and His magnificence--feelings that are difficult

to describe.  Perhaps you have not yet experienced such feelings as you

were confronted with great art or great music or great literature, but

perhaps you have as you contemplated the "driving clouds, the

constellations in the sky, or the everlasting hills." Again, it is the

poet who verbalizes this experience in language that uplifts us. As he

views the stars and the galaxies moving in their appointed ways, his

soul begins to expand and yearn for union with the Creator: 



Und meine Seele spannte 

Weit ihre Fl?gel aus, 

Flog durch die stillen Lande, 

Als fl?ge sie nach Haus. 

(My soul spread out its wings widely and was lifted up as if it were to

meet God in our heavenly home.) [Joseph von Eichendorff, "Mondnacht,"

in Gedichte (Stuttgart: J. G. Cotta, 1957), p. 306]



	As we are humbled by the grandeur and magnificence of beauty in

art or in nature, we are at the same time also elevated and lifted

up--brought home, as the poet says, brought into communication with the

Lord, who is beauty and truth.



	It is only through the morning gate of the beautiful that you can

penetrate into the realm of knowledge.  That which we feel here as

beauty we shall one day know as truth.  [Johann Christoph Friedrich von

Schiller, quoted by Charles N. Douglas, Forty Thousand Sublime and

Beautiful Thoughts, vol. 1 (New York: The Christian Herald, 1904), p.

152]



	Out of this dual mood--humility and exaltation--arises man's

awareness of his own inner depth and of his internal resources and the

realization that the author of the sublime beauty and of the feelings

of exaltation is God, the creator of heaven and earth.



	And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very

[beautiful]. [Genesis 1:31]  



	Actually, as you know, the scripture does not "beautiful" but

"good," but the beautiful and the good are really one and the same, and

the philosophers, of course, have made us aware of the intimate

relationship between the aesthetic experience and morality.  Let me

recall Plato's profound statement in the Symposium which I quoted

above: The observer of beauty absolute, the person who beholds eternal

and divine beauty "will be enabled to bring forth. . .true virtue" so

that he becomes "the friend of God" and, in a sense, "immortal." Only

through the contemplation of beauty--divine beauty, not the beauty of

the world and of fashion, which is so prominently displayed around us

today--does man become good.  In one of his sonnets, Michelangelo, the

painter of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, expresses this idea: Any

beauteous thing raises the pure and just desire of man from earth to

God, the eternal font of all (see The Sonnets of Michael Angelo

Buonarroti, trans.  John A. Symonds [London: Smith, Elder and Co.,

18781, nos.  LIV and LVI).  This was also the credo of the German

idealists, Goethe and Schiller, who believed that there is no more

powerful antidote to sensuality, wickedness, and selfishness than the

adoration of beauty, and they considered beauty at once as the ultimate

and the highest aim of art and literature.



	You may have noticed in your own experience with divine art or

music that a calmness descended upon your soul which gradually stilled

all passion and selfish desire.  The next time you view a magnificent

work of art, or the expanse of the universe at night, or as you listen

to the words of an inspired poet or prophet or the sublime chords of a

musical composition, take inventory and watch if that calmness does not

descend upon your soul again.  Do we not resolve in those moments to

become a better person? Does not the Spirit of Christ--or the Holy

Ghost, if you wish--draw us toward the bosom of the Father and purify

our soul?



	I would like to emphasize that I am not speaking of fads or

fashions, the type of art and music and poetry and dress and grooming

and behavior which is frequently identified with a particularly popular

group or pseudophilosophical movement.  Some call this beautiful, but I

do not.  Here, I believe, beauty and grace are sacrificed all too often

to vulgarity and temporary fixation, and we would seek in vain for

inspiration or a lifting up of our soul.  That beauty which uplifts and

ennobles is godlike and unchanging and transports us into His eternal

divine presence.  It makes us aware of His glory and majesty, it makes

us feel the warmth of His love, which manifests itself in Christ, who

atoned for us on the cross and opened wide the doors leading into the

realms of everlasting beauty.



	It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day . . . when . . . I

saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description.

	He had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness . . . beyond

anything earthly I had ever seen; nor do I believe that any earthly

thing could be made to appear so exceedingly white and brilliant. . . . 

His whole person was glorious beyond description, and his countenance

truly like lightning. [Joseph Smith--History: 14, 17; 31, 32]



	These are they whose bodies are celestial, whose glory is that of

the sun, even the glory of God, the highest of all, whose glory the sun

of the firmament is written of as being typical. [D&C 76:70]



	And if your eye be single to my glory [my beauty], your whole

bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in

you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things.



	Therefore, sanctify yourselves that your minds become single to

God, and the days will come that you shall see him; for he will unveil

his face unto you, and it shall be in his own time, and his own way and

according to his own will. [D&C 88:67-68]



	May we draw near to the Lord and feel communication with Him as we

learn to reach Him on His level and in His sphere.



	I pray that the Lord will unveil His face and His glory unto us

when we contemplate His beauty as it is revealed in the art of the

masters and the splendor of nature that surrounds us, in the name of

Jesus Christ.  Amen. 



                        Spiritual Experience  



                         Richard G. Ellsworth



	Richard G. Ellsworth was born in Salt Lake City, reared in

Washington, D.C., and graduated from high school in San Francisco,

California.  After serving in the U.S.  Navy during World War II, he

was called as a missionary to Sweden.  Following his mission, he

attended BYU, where he met and married his wife, Betty Midgley, and

received his bachelor's and master's degrees in English.  He achieved

his doctorate in American civilization at the University of Maryland,

supporting himself and his family by teaching in the public school

system and serving with the United States Capitol Police.



	Brother Ellsworth returned to BYU in 1958, accepting a position as

an English professor teaching American literature, humanities, and

religion.  Besides publishing scholarly articles and books in his field

and co-authoring Getting to Know the Real You, he has been associate

editor for BYU Studies and is an editor for Abstracts of English

Studies.  His influence has inspired many of his students, and one,

artist Wilson Ong, has honored him by painting his portrait.  That

painting has been shown throughout the West; most recently it was

displayed at the Pageant of the Arts in American Fork.



	Brother Ellsworth has twice taught and directed the London

Semester Abroad Program and has directed Travel Study tours to Europe,

Scandinavia, Israel, and Russia.  He has been recognized by the

Associated Student body of BYU as Professor of the Month.  At present

he serves as chairman of the Department of University Studies.



	Besides holding many other Church positions in his home ward and

stake, Brother Ellsworth has served on BYU stake high councils and as

bishop of the BYU 105th Ward.  He has been member and chairman of the

Provo City Library Board, president of the ULA Trustees, and served two

terms as vice-president of the Utah Library Association.  He and his

wife are the parents of eight children.



	This devotional address was given on 23 July 1985 in the de Jong

Concert Hall.



	My brothers and sisters, I want to begin by telling you that I

feel and know the responsibility that is mine in talking to you this

day.  It is always an immense responsibility to talk of the ways of the

Lord, and so I pray that I may be blessed to say the things of my

heart, and that you will be able to receive them as they are meant, and

that the whole experience may be profitable and good and sanctified by

the Holy Spirit.  I pray for the Holy Spirit to be with me and with you

during these few minutes that we will spend together.



	Not long ago I was conversing with one of my married daughters. 

We were talking about a spiritual experience given to one of our

forebears and she said to me, "How is it that the pioneers seemed to

have so many spiritual experiences and we have so few? Shouldn't we

have the same kind of experiences they had?"



	Perhaps you've puzzled over the same kind of question.  Most of us

do at some time or another in our lives.  This morning I want to bear

witness to the reality, the availability, and the purpose and place of

spiritual experience in our lives.  I do this with the aim of

strengthening others and myself, and for no other purpose.



	Over the centuries, philosophers have argued how we can know

things, and, indeed, whether we can know anything at all.  I can't

worry with that this morning.  I know that eventually I cannot go

beyond my own experience.  I can only tell you how it has been and is

with me.  I can relate to you the experiences of others, but even as I

do that, I am really only telling you how it is with me as I

contemplate others' experiences.  I really understand Henry David

Thoreau, who said that he would not talk so much about himself if there

were anyone else that he knew as well.  And though my experience, like

Thoreau's, may be narrow, I do know that it is real.  At least it is

real to me.  This morning I would bear testimony of that, in the belief

that lives are very much alike, and that my life is like all of yours,

and that the great experience of being is far deeper than we most often

perceive and far beyond outward appearances.  I want to bear testimony

that spiritual experience is real, that it is available to us, and that

it provides truth and power to affect and change our lives if we put

ourselves in a position to receive it.



	Spiritual experience is real.  There is a spiritual dimension.  In

fact, our mortal dimension, bounded by space and time, is but a small

fragment of a much larger reality which surrounds us and contains us

far beyond our knowledge.  Within our bodies dwell our spirits,

heavenly beings which are programmed to respond to the spiritual

dimension.



	Good and evil are spiritual.  Perhaps because evil is more

shocking to our spiritual perceptors, we notice its presence easily.  I

doubt there is a person in this room who has not had an experience

wherein he has sensed the presence of evil, sometime, somewhere.  It is

given to us to be aware of evil.  We can sense evil thought or evil

intention in those around us.  Many of you, I'm sure, have had the

experience of knowing in your heart that there was evil close by you,

that you should not be with someone any longer, or that you should not

stay where you are.  I remember when I was young and leaving home for

service in the U.S. Navy My grandmother cautioned me that the Spirit of

the Lord would not go with me into places where evil was.  That fact

was verified for me many, many times as my duties required that I be in

places where evil ruled in the hearts of men.  We, that is, our

spirits, recoil from evil--at least we do until we become so used to

its presence that we lose our ability to be shocked by it, and, in

fact, become insensitive to its presence.  This is the danger which

faces all of us in our present-day world so filled with selfishness,

bloodshed, carnage, and terror.



	Goodness is just as easy for us to sense as evil, but, because it

is not shocking or traumatic, it is easier for us not to notice it. 

Yet goodness is powerful, much more powerful than evil.  Goodness is

holy.  Inevitably, it eventually witnesses of Jesus Christ.  Our

spirits respond to the guileless love of little children and to the

unstinting service of mothers.  It is always comfortable to be accepted

and loved.  It feels so good to be honest.  And do we not all know the

sweet relief which comes from being forgiven? Forgiveness is godly. 

When we forgive others their trespasses against us, we partake of the

work of the Atonement.  We assume a responsibility and release a

responsibility in a relationship with others.  This is what Jesus does

in our relationship with him.  How sweet and lovely is the release

which comes with his assumption of that responsibility when he forgives

us our trespasses against him.  I'm sure there are those in this room

who, with me, have felt that sweet release.  It is spiritual and real. 

Thus it is that repentance is the basic primary principle of the gospel

of Jesus Christ, for it cleanses and retunes our spirits to things as

they really are.



	The verification we receive when we pray for testimony is part of

this kind of experience, Testimony is not an isolated spiritual

experience; it is simply more specialized and more intensive than those

other verifications of goodness and right which are going on around us

all the time.



	The witness of the truth of the Book of Mormon which came to me as

a young man was that kind of experience.  It was during World War II. 

I was a young sailor assigned to the Anacostia Naval Air Station in

Washington, D.C. I was just a small insignificant cog in a vast system

of cogs and wheels that turned for much larger purposes.  One of my

jobs was to help make training films, identifying shapes and outlines

of enemy ships and airplanes.  These films were made in a large,

barnlike structure containing a big flat stage approximating the

horizon or the sea or whatever was demanded.  The building itself was

filled with models and outlines and forms and staging devices to make

possible the fulfillment of our assignment.  Most of the time we were

very busy, but there came a time toward the end of the war when we went

for weeks without assignment.  Eventually, all the other personnel on

this job were assigned to other duties, but for some reason I was left

alone in the building, I guess to guard the equipment.  At first I

enjoyed my freedom.  It was great to have nothing to do.  All the

electricity in the building was turned off with the exception of one

outlet, into which was plugged a small crook--necked lamp which sat on

the corner of a flat drafting table, There was a hard wooden chair

where I could sit if I cared to.  All the rest of the great building

was in darkness.  So for a few days I opened the door to the outside

light and sat in the doorway on the old chair and thoroughly enjoyed

myself, but before long I became immensely bored.



	I had been raised in the Church by careful parents who had taught

me the gospel, but I had never read the Book of Mormon completely

through for myself.  One day, as I sat idle, I decided this was an

opportune time for me to do this.  And so, that afternoon, I brought my

small serviceman's Book of Mormon from my quarters and, desiring

privacy, went inside the building and turned on the little light by the

table and began to read, hunched over there in that great dark

building.  I remember how I was struck by those first words, "I, Nephi,

having been born of goodly parents. . . ."  And as the days went by I

read every word, and my soul, programmed as it was to goodness and

truth, began to respond to the testimonies of the prophets.  I had

never had such an experience!  I read slowly, prayerfully, savoring

every word, looking forward to what was to come, even wishing that it

would never end.  I had feelings in my heart that I had never been

conscious of before.  And when at last I read the admonition of Moroni

at the end of the book, I felt a great desire in my heart to try his

words, to ask for spiritual verification even greater than what I was

then feeling.  I remember shutting the doors of that vast building and

locking myself in, then kneeling in the darkness on the cold cement

floor, my forehead resting against the hard wooden seat of the old

chair, and telling the Lord that I believed the words of Moroni, and

asking him to strengthen my belief into knowledge.



	I shall never forget what happened; I have felt it many times

since.  I became aware that I was surrounded by a power beyond myself,

which came over me and through me.  It was all around me, calm, clear,

indescribably powerful.  It seemed white and delicious to me, like the

fruit of the tree of life which Nephi told of.  It filled me completely

to the brim and over the brim, and did not leave me for days afterward.

It was not shocking or disturbing in any way, as is the power of evil,

but was sweet and assuring to my soul.  I knew that the book was true.



	Such a witness, an actual spiritual verification, is available to

all of us always, no matter when or where we live.  We do not need to

have been a pioneer to know the Book of Mormon is true, or that the

gospel is true, but we do need to be spiritually available, and

spiritually aware. I'm sure that the Lord works through us whether we

are spiritually aware or not, but what a shame it is, I think, to not

hear the music, and not enjoy the orchestration.  And we should not

fear these things or turn from them, but should, indeed, desire to know

them.  They are ours by right of inheritance and performance.  As

Latter-day Saints, we have performed the ordinances, or at least some

of them, and have received the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is the

right to spiritual experience.  But we must live for these things.  The

kind of richly textured spiritual experience we are speaking of now is

not to be gotten without striving.  There must be purpose and need and

a great determination toward righteousness.  There must be example to

follow, and humility, and great desire.



	Oh, how I have longed for the spirit of pure intelligence which so

often filled my great father as he taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

How I have prayed for and desired the spiritual sensitivity of my

great-grandfather, who saw angels and talked with God.  And when I have

lived best, I have felt these things, even as they did.  We are given

the promise and the power to part the veil, even as the brother of

Jared, or Moroni, or Nephi, or Paul, or Joseph Smith, or my father, or

grandfather, or great-grandfather; and when this happens, it is a sweet

and rich and unforgettable experience.



	One evening, years ago, my wife and I sat alone together in the

playroom of our house.  The children were all asleep in their beds, and

we were awaiting the birth of a new little baby.  My wife, big with

child, was sitting in the rocking chair a few feet from me, and I was

sitting by the table.  We were talking softly together, knowing that

the baby would arrive that night.  The lights were low and there was a

feeling of spiritual presence in the room, soft and comfortable.  We

were filled with love for each other and for the baby that was to come. 

I remember looking at her--she was rocking quietly, her eyes closed,

her pale white hands spread across her full waist.  The sweet feeling

in the room grew and persisted.  It was very powerful. 



	I said to her, "Do you feel this all around us?" and she replied,

"Yes." It was lovely being with her there then. it was a sweet

closeness, a unity I can hardly describe.  



	"Can you tell?" I said.  "We shall have a  son."  



	"I know," she replied.  "It will be a boy"



	And then for me the veil parted, and I saw our son--standing,

waiting, a few feet from the chair my wife was rocking in.  He was tall

and well-formed--taller and larger, it seemed to me, than the room

allowed.  There was power about his person, great power and goodness

and patience and love.  I said, "Do you see him standing there beside

you?" Again there swelled that sweet feeling of closeness and unity. 

She looked at me, confident, a small smile playing about her lips.  "I

don't need to," she said, "I know he is there."



	Joseph Smith said that our loved ones are around us all the time. 

I believe that.  I believe it with all my heart.  And I'm sure that our

loved ones loved us even before we or they were born.  One day I helped

one of my little grandsons in the bathroom with his needs.  Perhaps

feeling a bit embarrassed at my invasion of his

three-and-a-half-year-old privacy, I hugged him up to me and said, "You

know, it is good for me to help you because I'm big and you are

little." He looked up at me with his big brown eyes and said, very

seriously, "I helped you when you were little." I remembered my

training in childhood education and I replied with confidence, "Yes, I

know.  You were big when I was little, and I am big when you are

little." But he shook his little head and looked up at me again; there

was seriousness and wisdom in his eyes.  He paused a moment, and then

said sweetly and clearly, "No, Grandpa.  I mean before I was born, when

you were little, I helped you." And he added, "I liked to help you."

Then he turned and ran off to his playthings and I remembered how Jesus

opened the mouths of the little Nephite children and they told their

parents things of the spiritual dimension which were unspeakably

beautiful and impossible to write.



	I remember, as a young elders president, being baffled by serious

problems and, feeling lonely and unable, praying for assurance and for

help. One evening, as I walked home from the university along the

darkening, empty, evening streets, praying in my heart in my

loneliness, I became aware of the presence of my grandfather walking

close beside me.  I could not see him, but I knew he was there and I

knew who he was and I felt the warmth of his love and his strength.  In

his life he had sat in the councils of the Church, and had known these

problems and known this loneliness.  He stayed with me for days.  He

was close beside me while I settled into the harness of my new

presidency and learned how to do the job I'd been called to do.



	My brothers and sisters, spiritual experience is real--it is

available to us to provide knowledge and power to affect, to control,

and to change our situations.  For instance, prayer is, or ought to be,

a spiritual experience.  We are promised revelation through prayer,

and, oh, how we need help from beyond the veil in our everyday lives,

in our comings and goings, in our decisions and associations, in our

courtships, our marriages, our fatherhood and motherhood.  These are

eternal things and have bearing upon our eternal achievement and our

eternal exaltation.  



	How often my wife and I have knelt in prayer seeking information

and confirmation in the needs and decisions of our parenthood.  And how

often the answers have come, sometimes as changes in our feelings,

sometimes as gentle suggestions and insights, and sometimes as

vision--showing us the very lives of our children, even the very events

and circumstances which faced them and which needed to be dealt with. 

We have known the need for comfort and assurance, and we have received

it, not once, but time and time again.



	I bear witness that the Lord seeks to be in our lives.  He has so

arranged our mortal situation that we can have and know truth beyond

the limits of our mortality.  We are not left alone.  How thankful we

should be for covenants and ordinances, and priesthood power. 

Ordinances and covenants are means whereby we link ourselves beyond the

veil and lay hold upon blessings in this life and beyond this life. 

When we keep our covenants and obey the ordinances, eternal

consequences inevitably follow.  The Lord says he is bound when we do

what he says, and the Lord does not lie (see D&C 82:10).  As the great

example, and as a loving father, he trusts us with spiritual power far

beyond our comprehension.  Priesthood is the authority to use the power

of God in all things for the welfare of mankind.  Priesthood is

judgment.  Correctly used, it is always decisive and conclusive.  It

contains great redemptive power.  To redeem is to rejudge, to reassess. 

The redemptive power of the priesthood is that power which allows a

reassessment, a rejudgment of a situation, and a consequent change in

accordance with that judgment.



	When the Prophet Joseph Smith healed Sister Johnson's arm back in

Ohio, there were those who questioned how long her arm would remain

well.  They felt that somehow the healing was a deceptive facade and

could not last because the arm was really sick underneath.  Joseph

Smith told them that the healed arm was as well now as the other one

and equally subject again to all the trials and vicissitudes of life. 

What he was saying was that through the redemptive power of the

priesthood, a reassessment had been made, and the arm which had begun

to stiffen and shrivel and become useless had been returned to its

former health and strength. (See Hyrum and Helen May Andrus, They Knew

the Prophet [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 19741, pp. 60--61.) This, after

all, is what happens, or ought to happen, with every priesthood

blessing.  But we need to have the courage to use that priesthood

power; we ought not step aside and merely pray over the person seeking

the blessing.  Priesthood power is real; it is meant to redeem,

restore, and strengthen.  The process is the same, the power, always

available and there.  Often I have felt that power--power outside

myself--moving through me to the person being blessed.



	I remember blessing a young mother who came seeking renewed

strength to endure a difficult pregnancy with her third or fourth

child.  She had great faith, and as I blessed her, as her bishop, I

felt power streaming down my arms and through my fingers into the crown

of her head.  I felt it course through her body, even to the tips of

her toes.  It was a powerful, cleansing, rejuvenating force, almost

electric in its energy, yet calm and soft and assuring.  After the

blessing she arose and, with tears in her eyes, said, "I felt that all

the way to the tips of my toes." Priesthood power is power from Jesus

Christ, the Redeemer, and is a great trust and a great responsibility.



	But we must understand that in order to be alive to these things,

to know them and experience them and use them in our lives. we must put

ourselves in position to receive them.  And indeed, we do position

ourselves, every day, in every moment, for good or for evil.  There is

no neutral moment or neutral ground.  The depths and the intensities of

the spiritual dimension are all around us.  Within them, we live and

move and have our being.  Each day we choose again and again between

good and evil.  We place ourselves where we want to be, whether we mean

to do it or not.  Spiritual progress is a negative option.  If we do

not choose to grow toward the good, we have chosen to grow toward the

bad.  We do not and cannot stand still.  That is why the Lord said that

those who are not for him are against him.  



	And so, when my daughter questioned whether we, in our time,

should not have the same kind of spiritual experiences as the pioneers,

she really was making an observation about our spiritual position.  The

gospel is the road map. It contains all the information and all the

instruction, It tells us how to put ourselves in a proper position to

have the awareness and the experience, the knowledge and the redemptive

power which we have a right to have in this life.  "In other words,"

the Lord says, "I give unto you directions how you may act before me,

that it may turn to you for your salvation" (D&C 82:9).



	All commandments of the Lord are directions for achieving

spiritual progress.  All require obedience, and to the extent that we

obey is the consequent blessing.  Giving, serving, loving,

understanding, being unselfish, charitable, being honest and

chaste--all have spiritual consequence.  Keeping the word of wisdom,

paying tithing, keeping the law of the fast, praying always--these

actions ease us into a position where the things of the spirit flow

unto us and nourish us without compulsory means.  When we attend our

meetings with a right heart, we give strength and receive strength from

others.  When we prayerfully study the scriptures, we reach beyond time

and space and learn from the testimonies and experiences of those who

have gone before.  And when we qualify and receive our ordinances and

make our covenants in the holy temples of the Lord, we place ourselves

in a direct line of spiritual assurance, power, and strength.  But we

must will to do these things; they cannot be done for us. Our pioneer

forefathers lived in the spirit and recorded their experiences.  We,

too, may do the same.  



	I bear testimony to the reality of the things of the spirit and to

their constant availability to us to provide us with truth and power to

affect and change our lives as we put ourselves in position to do so,

in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen. 



                       "It's a Two-Way Street"  



                          Wm. Grant Bangerter



	Elder Wm. Grant Bangerter is a member of the Presidency of the

First Quorum of the Seventy. Since becoming a General Authority he has

served in the presidency of the North America Northeast Area, as

Executive Administrator for the Provo, Ogden, and Chile areas,

executive director of the Temple Department. and as an Assistant to the

Quorum of the Twelve.



	Born in Granger Utah, he graduated from the University of Utah.

Soon after his return from his first mission to Brazil in 1941, he was

called to the bishopric of the Granger Ward. He then served four years

in the armed forces. Trained as a carpenter and farmer,. his business

activities have been in the fields of home building and real estate.



	Elder Bangerter has held numerous Church positions, including

bishop, president of two stakes, representative of the Church Home

Teaching and Melchizedek Priesthood committees, mission president of

the Brazil, Portugal, and International missions, Regional

Representative, managing director in the Genealogical Department, and

area supervisor for Brazil, Colorado. and Nevada. He has held civic and

community positions as well.



	Elder Bangerter's first wife, Mildred Lee Schwantes, died in 1952.

In 1953 he married Geraldine Hamblin. He is the father of eleven

children, ten of whom are living.



	This fireside address was given on 4 August 1985 in the Marriott

Center.



	I think the setting and the atmosphere here this evening has been

ideal.  To enjoy the sweet strains of the music that put us in the mood

of meditation is appropriate for a Sunday evening fireside.  To come

here and greet you, the majority assembled as students of Brigham Young

University and members of the various stakes that have been organized

here, makes us feel the richness of our privilege.  It is a real honor

to be in your presence.  We see great things in you reflecting out of

various experiences in our own lives and we recognize the unspent

strength, the vision, the power, and the great capacity that resides in

you that is now budding and blossoming and will have its fulfillment in

years to come.



	My remarks this evening are put together on an informal basis, and

I hope that they will be blessed and touched in such a way that they

can be appreciated by all.  Since those who leave this university will

be spreading abroad among the nations and peoples of the earth, perhaps

much more so than would be expected of graduates from other

institutions, there will come a need to know how to relate to those who

have differences in beliefs.  A principle in all human relations is to

know how to interpret ourselves to other people and to help them

understand and appreciate us.  This is both possible and necessary,

even when we do not have complete agreement in beliefs and

philosophies.  



Be Prepared for Reality



	It will soon become apparent, if you have not discovered it

already, that everyone in the world does not look with favor upon the

LDS Church.  Thinking realistically, this Church and its people are

still thought of as among the least desirable of religions.  In fact,

among certain groups, we are considered a representation of the powers

of evil; there are those in the world who consider that it would be a

service to God if we could be eliminated as a religion.  



	Quoting from the scriptures:



	They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh,

that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. [John

16:2]



	There are, of course, many people of sound understanding who do

recognize that true Latter-day Saints are choice people of worth and

substance, having characteristics that are worthy of emulation and who

represent a powerful force for good in the social order of the world. 

We usually seem to have an expectation that those in the world around

us will look up to us in appreciation of our unity and organization,

our high moral and ethical standards, our achievements in solving the

social problems, and our vision of the worth of humanity.



	To be realistic, however, we need to be prepared for reality and

learn how to deal with it. Our people have always been subject to

intense criticism, to ridicule, and to overt persecution.  It was

emphatically true in the days of Joseph Smith.  It was true during my

childhood. it is true today and we may anticipate that direct

opposition will continue in the future.



	How, then, do we deal with this condition? How can we explain

ourselves? How can we respond effectively to the voices of opposition,

ridicule, and even hatred? What answers do we have? I want you to know

that there are sound and appropriate responses.  They can be both

effective and powerful in gaining better understanding and, ultimately,

in converting others to the truth we represent.  We are not interested

only in having others like us--our great purpose is to help them

understand God's revealed plan and then to embrace it.  



Respecting Those of Other Religions



	I had a few reflections as President Hinckley was greeting a group

of ministers during the open house in the Jordan River Temple several

years ago.  After he had welcomed them as our guests and expressed the

appreciation we have for their service in bringing their people to

righteousness, he invited their questions.  Two or three in the group,

forgetting their manners as guests in a warm and friendly situation,

asked some cutting and antagonistic questions.  Central to their

criticism was a demand for President Hinckley to justify the

declaration mentioned in Joseph Smith's testimony, as he beheld the

Father and the Son, that those professors of religion were all corrupt. 

President Hinckley responded that he did not say that.



	As I have pondered the same question, I wonder: Do we believe that

all ministers of other churches are corrupt? Of course not.  Joseph

Smith certainly did not intend that.  By reading the passage carefully,

we find that the Lord Jesus Christ was referring to those ministers who

were quarreling and arguing about which church was true--that is, the

particular group with which Joseph Smith was involved.  They were

drawing (the Savior said it, not Joseph Smith) "near to me with their

lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the

commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the

power thereof" (JS-H 1:19).



	It is clearly apparent that there have been and now are many

choice, honorable, and devoted men and women going in the direction of

their eternal salvation who give righteous and conscientious leadership

to their congregations in other churches.  Joseph Smith evidently had

many warm and friendly contacts with ministers of other religions. 

Quite a few of them joined the Church: Sidney Rigdon, John Taylor,

Parley P.  Pratt, and others in America and England.  Some of them who

carried the Christian attitude of tolerance did not join the Church. 

There are many others like them today.



	It is a fact, however, that Joseph Smith was roughly handled by

the members and ministers of various prominent religions, who tarred

and feathered him, took up arms against him and his people, imprisoned

him, and finally instigated his murder and martyrdom.  Some of them

still follow a similar course of ridicule and active antagonism.  This

condition must not warp our own understanding and conduct.



	Are ministers of other churches inspired of God? Of course they

are if they are righteous and sincere.  Do they accomplish good?

Certainly.  In his journal, Wilford Woodruff records this incident

before he ever heard about the Church.



	The people of Connecticut in those days thought it wicked to

believe in any religion, or belong to any church, except the

Presbyterian. They did not believe in having any prophets, apostles, or

revelations, as they had in the days of Jesus, and as we now have in

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.



	There was an aged man in Connecticut, however by the name of

Robert Mason, who did not believe like the rest of the people.  He

believed it was necessary to have prophets, apostles, dreams, visions

and revelations in the church of Christ, the same as they had who lived

in ancient days; and he believed the Lord would raise up a people and a

church, in the last days, with prophets, apostles, and all the gifts,

powers and blessings, which it ever contained in any age of the world.



	The people called this man,  the old prophet Mason. . . .



	This prophet prayed a great deal, and he had dreams and visions,

and the Lord showed him many things, by visions, which were to come to

pass in the last days. [Wilford Woodruff, Leaves from My Journal (Salt

Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1882), pp. 1--2]



	Can ministers of other churches call forth blessings from God upon

their people? Most assuredly they can and do.  We revere the effort and

service of such great men as John and Charles Wesley in the forefront

of the Methodist movement, Martin Luther, John Huss, John Wycliffe,

Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, and many others who were moved upon by the

Spirit of God to bring light and truth to a world in spiritual

darkness.



	We know from chapter 13 in 1 Nephi that Columbus was touched by

God's power to accomplish a work of discovery to which he was

foreordained and prepared.  A fundamental point in our doctrine is that

"for this purpose," said the Lord, "have I established the Constitution

of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very

purpose" (D&C 101:80).  And the Lord did all this before the days of

Joseph Smith.



	Does the Spirit of God bless people who are not members of the

Church? Of course, when they seek him in faith and righteousness. 

"For," as our doctrine states, "the word of the Lord is truth, and

whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even

the Spirit of Jesus Christ.  And the Spirit giveth light to every man

that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man

through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit" (D&C

84:45-46; emphasis added).  Does the Lord answer prayers of

non-members? Millions have given testimony that he does.



	It is instructive for us to remember, however, that the history of

religion has been controversy.  Differences in religion have brought

forth as many evils as have differences in politics.  Acting, as they

have often declared, in the name of God, religious proponents have

killed the Savior and many of his prophets and apostles, tortured and

martyred the Christians, conquered and destroyed nations in the name of

Mohammed by the sword, fought the bloody wars of the Reformation.



	It is said that by 1648 at the Peace of Westphalia, which ended

the Thirty Years War between the Catholics and Protestants, Germany was

a wasteland and that no more than half of her people survived.  In the

name of religion, and invoking the name of God, priests and ministers

launched the Catholic Inquisition against heretics--meaning those who

did not accept the leadership of the church in Rome.



	The story of religion, which should be the good news, the glad

tidings of great joy and peace, has often been a horror story of

hatred, torture, persecution, war, and holocaust.  From the pages of

the Old Testament, the Book of Mormon, as well as from secular history,

we find that mankind has not changed very much in the way he justifies

his ungodly actions in the name of religion.



	From his second inaugural address we have these wise observations

of Abraham Lincoln on the attitudes of people during the American Civil

War.  



Both [the peoples of the North and South] read the same Bible, and pray

to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the other . .  . . 

The prayers of both could not be answered--that of neither has been

answered fully.



	The Almighty has his own purposes. [Carl Sandberg, Abraham

Lincoln: The War Years--IV, vol. 6 (New York: Harcourt, Brace and

Company, 1939), p. 92]



	An acceptable standard of conduct in our social order is typified

in the description of General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, an upright

and very religious man.  "Jackson's reverence for the Sabbath went so

far," it is said, " that he would not mail his wife a letter to be

carried in the mails on a Sunday.  Nor would he open a letter received

from her on a Sunday But, with the blessing of an ever kind Providence,

as he put it, he would fight, slay, and deliver doom to the enemy if on

a Sabbath the enemy looked ready for punishment." Thus we justify what

we do in our religion. 



"It's a Two--Way Street"



	So how, finally, can we relate to people who are filled with

bitterness and antagonism or who consider Mormons to be a weird sect,

who call us a cult, who claim we are not Christian, who point to tragic

episodes such as the Mountain Meadows Massacre or to apostate offshoots

such as polygamist fundamentalists which have given rise to horror

incidents in our own time?



	I had an interesting experience many years ago as we returned from

our mission in Brazil.  We traveled on a ship with nine children, and

the ship carried about forty passengers, so we almost formed a

majority.  It turned out that there were three other ministers on

board, and within a few days each of those three approached me and

inquired how we could get together and visit about what the Mormons

believe.  They didn't seem to be unusually interested in what each

other believed, but they all wanted to know what we believe.



	With a little hesitation, because my experience had not been that

of having contact with ministers of other faiths, we arranged an

interview where all four of us sat down together.  It turned out to be

very congenial and consisted primarily of them asking questions and me

giving the answers.  I had supposed that they would come out with

strong arguments supported by scriptures that would make it difficult

for me to hold my own.  But in their friendly, congenial way they just

asked questions and it turned out that I knew the answer to each

question.  I didn't realize beforehand that I was that well informed.  



	Within a few minutes, as we visited, they began to turn to each

other and make comments like this: "Isn't it interesting? He has an

answer for any question you can ask." They repeated that comment over

and over again, and we ended our discussion on a very friendly basis. 

One of these men, however, two or three days later, engaged me in

conversation and said, "I have been thinking of what you told us the

other day and I wonder if it is right to know everything.  I think

maybe you know too much.  I don't believe the Lord wants us to know it

all." I could tell that he was offended.  A day or two later he spoke

to me again.  He said, "I've been considering what you told me, and I

have come to the conclusion that what you teach is a very dangerous

heresy."  



	I wasn't prepared,  as I  ought to have been,  for that kind of a

comment, and with something of a hurt feeling I asked him why it was

that other religions didn't seem willing to place the Latter-day Saints

in the same fellowship with themselves.  He turned on me almost in

anger and said, "Because I want you to know it is a two-way street."

Then I caught the point.  We do not fellowship them.  We do not

recognize them as the true church of Jesus Christ, and therefore there

is offense to them in some things we teach.  I don't think it should be

otherwise, but he had reason for the feelings that he carried.  I

wasn't in a position, being unprepared, to conciliate his feelings.



What Can We Do?



	What can we do in the various circumstances that bring us in

contact with other people to build friendship and understanding, even

appreciation and eventual acceptance of the principles that we teach?



	First of all, don't act like they do.  Do you get what I mean? If

they are critical and antagonistic toward us, we must not respond in

the same way. Over the years, in association with many missionaries,

I've learned that missionaries often build up a jargon.  Some are worse

than others, but they have phrases that have deep meaning.  In our

case, being in a Latin country, whenever one of our missionaries would

pass a Catholic church he would call it a "G.A. church," which some of

you would understand means "great and abominable." The priests of that

church were called padres.  So the missionaries would call them the

"PDs."



	To me that became offensive.  I'm sure it would have been

offensive to the members of that church.  It wasn't Christian to make

that kind of derogatory comment, regardless of what we might believe. 

Those people have very sincere and deep-founded beliefs and traditions.



	I remember forty-six or so years ago when I was entering my first

city of labor in southern Brazil, and our companions were showing us

the way to our residence.  We were riding the streetcar from the center

of town, and they said, "We'll show you when to get off the streetcar."

In those days all of the men in Brazil wore hats.  So we were told,

"When you see the men take their hats off the second time, you are to

get off at the next stop." What that meant was that the streetcar

passed two churches.  As it passed the churches, the men, out of

respect, would lift their hats.



	President Kimball told a story that is appropriate for this

subject.  He commented on a member of the Church, a woman who had been

to the temple, who went to the hospital for some special treatment. 

She wasn't really ill, but he said when she got there she could hardly

wait to remove her garments and put on her fancy negligee and lie there

in what she felt was solid comfort, it being a hot day.  It was a

Catholic hospital, and soon one of the sisters of the Catholic church

came into her room.  This member of our Church said to her

unthinkingly, "I don't see how you stand to wear that closed, tight,

heavy clothing that you are wearing." You can all imagine how this

Catholic sister might have been dressed.  The Catholic lady turned to

our sister and said, "Woman, I want you to know it is an honor to wear

these clothes for Jesus Christ." What a lesson she taught! It ought to

be a lesson to all of us to appreciate and understand other people.



	Where are our manners when we think of other people who do not use

good manners? The direction for Latter-day Saints is clearly spoken of

in this scripture:



	But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall

smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.



	Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy

neighbor, and hate thine enemy. 



	But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you,

do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use

you, and persecute you;



	That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.

[Matthew 5:39, 43--45]  



So don't act like they do.



	Second, don't get mad.  Uncontrolled anger distorts reason and

cancels out wisdom.  All of us are susceptible to rising anger, but

before we act we can put ourselves under control.  I have often thought

how low the boiling point is in a young missionary's blood when he sees

something that doesn't seem to be complimentary to him or his religion. 

I remember serving as a young missionary when we first heard of Fawn

Brodie's book No Man Knows My History about the Prophet Joseph Smith. 

As we read that book, I could feel the surge of anger and the hot blood

rising in my body.  We would comment to each other as we read it, "Just

wait; she'll get her reward."



	Remember, we can also give offense to others.  Our doctrine is

offensive to some people, as I remarked about the minister I met on the

ship. There have been heated arguments about religion between all

churches.  There are ways to overcome it.  Back again to the years in

Brazil.  Our elders in one city found that a Protestant minister had

begun publishing and distributing derogatory pamphlets against the

Church.  It was information that would not have been accepted in the

United States, because generally we have been too well known for people

to believe those ridiculous stories.  But the people in Brazil who read

that began to get an adverse opinion about the Church, and the elders

wanted to go out and do something about it.



	I suggested they take a copy of the pamphlet with them and go call

on the minister if they could find him.  They did find him, and they

said to him, after some preparation, "Are you responsible for the

publication of this material?" He responded rather evasively and

embarrassed.  They said, "We would just like you to know that we are

the representatives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

and that this material is not true.  This is not what we believe.  We

thought we should tell you that we don't appreciate having this kind of

falsehood distributed about us, but we also wish to tell you that when

we find people who have read it, it is easy for us to tell them the

true state of affairs, and then, of course, they get an adverse opinion

about you.  If you feel, therefore, that you must publish this sort of

thing, go right ahead; it really doesn't hurt us that much.  In many

ways it helps us.  But we, of course, would prefer that you don't do

it." That would usually stop the process.



	On another occasion two of our elders, rather young and

inexperienced, had gone to a new city to open up the work.  The city

was almost totally Catholic and was reportedly under the domination of

the Catholic bishop who resided there.  As these elders went about

their work, making contacts and becoming acquainted, people frequently

said to them, "Does the bishop know you are here?" 



	They would answer, "We don't know."



	"Well, it will be interesting to see what happens when he finds

out you are here."



	So they were "walking on eggs," so to speak, as they went about

their work, wondering when the ax would fall, supposing that a powerful

influence might be brought against them.  One day the blow fell.  A

priest came to their lodging and delivered a letter.  It said in

substance, "We would like to know by what authority you come into this

community and teach your doctrine without having first cleared it with

the bishop of this area.  Therefore, we ask you, to appear at a special

meeting that will be held at a certain place and time in the central

Catholic church."  



	The elders called mission headquarters.



	"President, what will we do? Can you come up and help us?"  



	I answered, "No, I can't come, but they have offered you an

invitation to explain what we believe.  That is what you are looking

for, isn't it?"



	"Well, yes, but how do we handle this situation?"



	I said, "I'll have my assistant come and join you.  Accept the

invitation, but do it on two conditions.  You may say, 'We'll be glad

to come if we are treated with courtesy and if you will assure us the

opportunity to explain what we believe.' "



	Then my assistant and I worked out a procedure concerning what

they might talk about.



	In the meeting, the priest in charge, without any formality, stood

up and said, "These two young men are here teaching their religion and

we have called you together to hear an explanation of their doctrine."

There were two or three hundred people present representing the

influential people of the city.  The elders were given a wide-open

opportunity.



	They stood up and spoke of the Apostasy, the Restoration, the need

for the gospel to be restored, and then told of the Book of Mormon. 

Then, as they said, "Now if you people will read this Book of Mormon

and pray about it, the Lord will give you a testimony," a priest in the

rear of the hall jumped up and said, "Oh, no, no, no.  None of you can

read that book." Everyone laughed when he said that.  So the opposition

was overcome.  There was no problem except that after the meeting a

Seventh-day Adventist present got into an argument with one of the

priests while our elders had several very pleasant conversations.  From

then on they had no ripples in their proselyting in that city.  So

don't get mad.



	Third, don't argue.  Argument is a dumb way to arrive at an

understanding.  It never works.  I listened to President Harold Wright,

recently released as president of the Mesa Temple in Arizona.  He

served over the years as stake president and Regional Representative,

and has had many contacts with nonmembers and their religious

associations in his city.  He said that for years he would go to

general conference and notice those people outside Temple Square

passing out anti-Mormon literature.  What do you do when you see that

literature? Do you shut your eyes and wave them by and make sure they

know you are not going to take it? Or do you accept it? President

Wright noticed one man in particular who seemed to be there every time. 

He began to visit with him and found that he was a minister from Los

Angeles.  They began to be friends and President Wright talked to him

every time he came to conference.  One day he said to this man, "Have

you ever attended a session of general conference here?" 



	The man said, "No, I haven't."



	President Wright asked, "Would you like to go in?"



	The man answered, "I would very much like to go in."



	So he took the minister in and they sat through the session. 

President Wright said his friend felt an influence that he had never

felt before in his life, and he commented on it repeatedly.  As far as

I know, he didn't join the Church, but what a beautiful approach to

talk to someone with a difference of opinion.



	Fourth, recognize your opportunity.  When you meet people who have

adverse feelings about the Church, it can be a great moment.  We taught

our missionaries how to handle rejection.  One particular circumstance

would be that after they had had two or three friendly visits with a

family, the father would meet them at the door and say, "We've decided

not to discuss religion with you anymore." Now most of you who have

been on missions know that is a great disappointment.



	We taught our elders to think of it as a moment of great

opportunity where they could say certain things that would help them

maintain their contact.  They might say, "Oh, we are sorry that you

have decided not to study with us anymore because we have enjoyed

visiting with you and you have been very warm and friendly to us.  We

want you to know that we appreciate it." The father then has to say

something nice in return.



	Then the elders would say, "Well, we certainly won't force our

religion on you, but could we have just a moment to step in and leave a

greeting with your family? We won't impose on you." The man has to

invite them in then.



	Now the elders don't try to force another discussion, but they

might say: "You have been very kind to us and we appreciate it.  Before

we leave, however, we need to tell you, because of our calling, what

the gospel means to us." Then they explain why they believe the way

they do.



	"Do you remember when Joseph Smith knelt by his bedside and asked

the Lord to tell him if he loved him or not and the angel appeared? The

angel said, 'Joseph, I have come to you from the presence of God and he

has a mission for you to perform by which your name will be known for

good or evil among all men.' What did Joseph say to the angel? " (See

JS-H 1:33.)



	They would answer, "I guess he said 'all right'."



	"Yes, he did.  He didn't say, 'Wait a minute, Mr. Angel.  I didn't

want to go on a mission.  I just wanted to know if the Lord loved me.'

You can't do that to an angel, can you? So we have to tell you that

someday we will stand before God and he will ask you why you didn't

listen to his message.  We don't know what you will say, but we think

you should not refuse the gospel until after you have knelt down and

asked the Lord what he wants you to do? Will you do that?"  Don't get

mad.  Uncontrolled anger distorts reason and cancels out wisdom.



	Many people join the Church who have decided not to hear anymore

about it.  It is an opportunity if you are prepared and know how to

handle it.  One of our elders said that he was not a member of the

Church when he began dating an LDS girl.  One of his first comments was

"What's a nice girl like you doing by being a member of the Mormon

church?" She asked him what he knew about the Church.  He answered,

"Well, not much."



	She said, "That's kind of a stupid thing for you to say, then, if

you don't know anything about it." So, because he liked the girl, he

had to study it out.  Partly because of her and partly because of what

he learned, he joined the Church.  Recognize your opportunity.



	Fifth, be prepared.  Plan ahead in knowing what to say.  I think

often of Brother Herschel Pedersen, who was a basketball star here many

years ago.  He works at Geneva Steel.  He said he was eating his lunch

and reading his scriptures one day while he was on the job and a very

rough individual looked in the door and said, "Oh, you're reading that

stuff, are you?"



	Brother Pedersen said, "Yes.  What do you know about these books,

anyway."



	The man said, "I know all about them."



	"Oh, do you?" asked Brother Pedersen.  "Tell me, then, when the

Savior comes again what color will his clothes be?"



	The man said, "That's easy.  They'll be white."



	Brother Pedersen said, "That's not what it says in here."  



	"Oh, what color will they be?"



	"Why don't you try to find out?"



	Brother Pedersen wouldn't tell him.  A week or two later he came

back ready for further discussion.  After some time, he said one day,

"Tell me, do you think there is ever any hope for a guy like me?"



	You might think of asking questions you have worked out ahead of

time.  What would a person who doesn't belong to the Church make of the

scripture in Isaiah 2?  



	It shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the

Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and

shall be exalted above the hills. and all nations shall flow unto it.

[Isaiah 2:2]



	Now all of you know what that means.  It focuses your mind on the

picture of the Salt Lake Temple.  But if you weren't a member of the

Church, what would you make of it? You wouldn't know.  You can ask that

question.  You might ask them to explain to you what the Savior meant

in the tenth chapter of the book of John:



	And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I

must bring and they shall bear my voice; and there shall be one fold,

and one shepherd. [John 10:16]  



If you weren't a  member of this Church, that would be a mystery,

wouldn't it? You could ask somebody to explain that.  Remember, you

have the answers.  You were not sent forth to be taught, but to teach.



	Sixth, don't spare your testimony.  If you don't know the answers,

bear your testimony anyway.  Maybe they won't believe it, but they will

know that you are sincere.



	Seventh, live your religion.  How valuable that is in the life of

every Latter-day Saint.  That is true here at Brigham Young University

in particular.  Get into the pattern of living your religion so that

other people will recognize you for what we stand for.  If you don't

live your religion, they will quickly recognize you for what you are, a

vivid example of that "despised" LDS Church.  It is always required of

Latter-day Saints to be faithful.  It says in the thirteenth article of

faith, "We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous,

and in doing good to all men" and so forth.  Don't ever fail and that

influence will be felt by countless thousands over the face of the

earth.



	Many years ago now, when I served in the armed forces, I think I

never had a close non-Mormon companion who didn't know that I was a

member of the Church and who didn't know I had been a missionary.  They

saw that I wore the garments.  Once in a while they would ask where I

got the fancy underwear.  I would say it was my religion.  They would

say, "Oh, oh, pardon me.  Sorry I asked." They treated me with the

utmost respect and admired my standards.  I don't believe that I ever

gave offense to the Church with any of those numerous companions in

those years that I served.



	One of those companions joined the Church.  I didn't preach a word

to him about the gospel.  Somebody else found him and taught him, but I

suppose he remembered a young fellow named Bangerter who was a Mormon

and could remember the way I lived.  I hope so.



We Do Not Apologize



	Now, our true position--realizing that other churches don't always

appreciate what we believe.  Even though we do not believe the way they

do, we stand firmly on the things that have been revealed to us.  We do

not apologize that we do not have the same doctrines and principles

that other churches have.  We can talk about it in a warm and friendly

way but we do not apologize.  We didn't initiate this restoration.  God

did.  If others do not appreciate it, we nevertheless know it is the

truth.



	Some people don't want the gospel to be restored.  Some people are

offended that there might be prophets and apostles.  Some people hate

the thought that God would actually speak out of heaven again.  I don't

know why, but I suppose from the traditions of their fathers they have

built up those attitudes to the point where it is offensive.



	Nevertheless, we know what God has revealed to us--that in the

last days he has brought forth the fullness of his everlasting gospel

that will prepare mankind to return into the presence of God and to be

exalted in his celestial kingdom.  Latter-day Saints understand that. 

They must be true to that vision.  Our testimony says that God lives,

that Jesus is in reality the Savior and the Redeemer, that Joseph Smith

was called as the instrument of God to bring forth the Restoration in

the last days.  Among the most marvelous accomplishments that he

brought forth was the Book of Mormon.  Something else that cannot be

understood or explained other than on the basis of spiritual testimony

is that the apostles and prophets exist in the Church today and that

President Kimball is the Lord's representative and holds the keys of

his authority to teach us the way we should go. All of this I know to

be true as the Lord has revealed it to me through his Spirit.  To that

I testify in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.