"Ye Also Shall Bear Witness"
Elder Ronald T. Halverson
- Of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
A young woman who was seeking truth and direction in her life found the Book of Mormon at a friend's house, read it, and experienced a profound feeling of peace. She was baptized into the Church after seeking out the missionaries who gave the book to her friend.
Since her youth she had sought to find truth and direction in her life. She had yearned to find peace and happiness, but no matter where she looked, she could not find it. It had come to a point where she was very distraught, assuming there was really nothing in life that had true meaning or was fulfilling. In this frame of mind, one evening while visiting a dear friend and recounting her concerns and despair she said: "I looked behind the sofa where I was sitting to the bookshelf. My eyes fell ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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"Ye Also Shall Bear Witness"
Elder Ronald T. Halverson
- Of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
The same young woman, living in a small town with few Church members, met a man while vacationing in another country. He was a Church member and they fell in love, leading to an engagement and her anticipation of being sealed in the temple, which filled her with joy and gratitude.
Through her tears, she explained that since that day she had found a joy and inner peace that she never dreamed possible. Living in a small town with few members and even fewer opportunities to marry in the Church, she didn"™t dare hope that she might one day marry in the temple. But she felt it was through the guidance of the Holy Spirit that she met a young man while vacationing in another country. He was a member of the Church and honored his priesthood. They had fallen in love, and he had ... (continued)
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"Ye Are the Temple of God"
President Boyd K. Packer
- Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker reflects on the teachings of President Gordon B. Hinckley, who warned against decorating the body with permanent pictures or symbols and piercing the body after the manner of the world.
President Hinckley has warned you not to decorate your body with pictures or symbols that will never wash off or to pierce your body with rings or jewelry after the manner of the world (see 'Your Greatest Challenge, Mother,' Ensign, Nov. 2000, 97). You would not paint a temple with dark pictures or symbols or graffiti or even initials. Do not do so with your body.
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"Ye Are the Temple of God"
President Boyd K. Packer
- Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker recounts receiving a patriarchal blessing from Patriarch J. Roland Sandstrom, which comforted him regarding his physical limitations due to childhood polio.
When I was 18, I was called into military service. I had not received my patriarchal blessing, so the bishop recommended me to a patriarch near the air base. Patriarch J. Roland Sandstrom of the Santa Ana California Stake gave me my blessing. In it I was told this: 'You made a free and willing decision to abide by the laws of Eternal Progress as outlined by our elder brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. You … have been … given a physical body with which you might experience Earth Life, â ... (continued)
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"Ye Are the Temple of God"
President Boyd K. Packer
- Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker refers to the teachings of President Harold B. Lee about the symbolic and actual effect of how we dress and groom our bodies, implying that our appearance can invite the Spirit or expose us to degrading influences.
President Harold B. Lee taught of the important symbolic and actual effect of how we dress and groom our bodies. If you are well groomed and modestly dressed, you invite the companionship of the Spirit of our Father in Heaven and exercise a wholesome influence upon those around you. To be unkempt in your appearance exposes you to influences that are degrading (see The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, ed. Clyde J. Williams [1996], 220).
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"Ye Are the Temple of God"
President Boyd K. Packer
- Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker emphasizes the sacredness of the body and the power to create life, highlighting the divine nature of gender and the ordained institution of marriage between a man and a woman.
There is in your body the supernal power to create life. Boys grow up to be men and may become fathers; girls grow up to be women and may become mothers. Natural and good feelings draw men and women together. 'All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and ... (continued)
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"Ye Have Done It unto Me"
Elder Richard P. Lindsay
- Of the Seventy
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📖 general conference
The speaker recounts visiting the home of a quadriplegic man who fell from a cooling tower and has been paralyzed for over 31 years, yet continues to serve by writing letters to missionaries and servicemen.
In an early stake conference assignment, Elder Paramore and I were blessed to visit the home of a dear brother who, in a tragic industrial accident on August 26, 1958, fell from a cooling tower into a hole thirty-five feet below, where he landed on his head and became paralyzed from the shoulders down. In the intervening thirty-one years he has survived as one of the longest-living quadriplegics in medical history. He was unable to attend the conference meetings, but a brief, thoughtfully prepar ... (continued)
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"Ye Have Done It unto Me"
Elder Richard P. Lindsay
- Of the Seventy
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📖 general conference
The speaker shares the story of a faithful young physician and his wife who, despite their two biological children suffering from a degenerative disease, adopted two more daughters, demonstrating their love and faith.
In another stake, in a Sunday morning Primary meeting of that stake conference, I met two beautiful daughters of a faithful young Latter-day Saint physician and his devoted wife. The older child was in a wheelchair, and the younger child moved with great effort. Both of these children suffer from a degenerative disease of genetic origin thought to be progressive and incurable. According to medical wisdom, their time in this life is extremely limited. Their eyes were beautiful and clear"”full o ... (continued)
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"Ye Have Done It unto Me"
Elder Richard P. Lindsay
- Of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker describes a visit to a family in rural Idaho, where a young father was critically ill, and the family and priesthood leaders gathered to pray and administer to him, leading to his health restoration.
Following a recent stake conference, Sister Lindsay and I were blessed to visit another household of faith located in rural Idaho. The young father in this home was suffering from a critical illness. A picture forever etched in my memory is of a mother and five beautiful children, together with this dear brother"™s priesthood quorum leaders, kneeling around his bedside pleading with Heavenly Father for the life of this good man. He was then administered to within this circle of faith. It was o ... (continued)
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"Ye Have Done It unto Me"
Elder Richard P. Lindsay
- Of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
A sister in a wheelchair shares her testimony of the strength received from the Lord through the Book of Mormon and the support of her husband, family, and Church associates.
In yet another stake conference, a dear sister confined to a wheelchair testified to the strength which she had received from feeling the Lord"™s love through reading the Book of Mormon. Earlier her devoted husband had been able to help her to adjust to the crippling effects of her illness. Now he was bedridden, and she spoke of the gratitude that the Lord had empowered her with greater strength to be more self-reliant and better care for her own needs. She had even been given additional stren ... (continued)
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"Ye Have Done It unto Me"
Elder Richard P. Lindsay
- Of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker recounts how President Kimball, despite being a patient himself, visited and blessed a terminally ill woman and her husband in the hospital, lifting their burdens.
It was President Kimball who said, "The Lord answers our prayers, but it is usually through another person that he meets our needs." An incident in the latter part of President Kimball"™s ministry helped me to better understand his message and the way his own life witnessed to the truthfulness of his inspired counsel.
As a stake president during this period, I went to a local hospital to visit a dear sister suffering with a terminal illness. More than forty years earlier, I had attended scho ... (continued)
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"Ye Have Done It unto Me"
Elder Richard P. Lindsay
- Of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker reflects on the impact a ninety-year-old patriarch had on his fatherless family, providing wise counsel and encouragement during his mother's forty-seven years of widowhood.
Some months ago a ninety-year-old patriarch and dear friend of my own father was quietly laid to rest in this valley. My father passed away during the height of the Great Depression in 1932, and ten days later my oldest brother, age fourteen, died. During forty-seven years of my mother"™s widowhood, this gentle soul frequently visited our fatherless family to give wise counsel and encouragement and priesthood blessings. His example and personal concern, coupled with the goodness of many other ... (continued)
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"Ye Have Heard My Voice"
Elder S. Dilworth Young
- Of the First Council of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker shares a personal revelation from reading a verse in the Doctrine and Covenants that made him realize he's been hearing the voice of the Lord through the scriptures without recognizing it.
About a year ago I was reading in the Doctrine and Covenants and came upon a verse of one
of the sections. I suppose everybody has an experience of the type I had as I read. I think the
Prophet had such an experience the day he read, "If any man lack wisdom let him ask of
God" (seeJames 1:5for that scripture leaped at him; and so this one leaped at me. For a
year or so I have been reading it off and on, contemplating it. Now I should like to read it to
you, but first I should like to give it its ... (continued)
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"Ye Have Heard My Voice"
Elder S. Dilworth Young
- Of the First Council of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker recounts the historical event when Oliver Cowdery, moved to tears, read a revelation to the newly chosen Twelve Apostles, which included a verse that greatly impressed Brigham Young and the speaker himself.
Back in 1829 the Lord, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, said there would be appointed
twelve disciples, which of course we know as apostles, and he appointed two of the three
witnesses to choose them. And then he did a thing which to me is remarkable. He began to
instruct the Twelve before they were chosen, and after having instructed them he then gave
them this verse. In 1835 the Twelve were chosen, as you know, and on one occasion they
were called together and given their instructions. Oliver ... (continued)
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"Ye Have Heard My Voice"
Elder S. Dilworth Young
- Of the First Council of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker testifies that he has heard the voice of the Lord through reading the scriptures and that others can also hear the Lord's voice when they listen to the Prophet speaking by the spirit of inspiration.
The thing that impresses me about this is, and I have never thought of it before, when I read
a verse in the Doctrine and Covenants I am hearing the voice of the Lord as well as reading
his words, if I hear by the Spirit.
Now I have heard it said many times by men that they have often asked the Lord for a special
testimony and oftentimes haven't had it. They seem to want to hear the voice of the Lord. I
confess I have often wanted to hear the voice of the Lord, without knowing that all these
yea ... (continued)
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"Ye May Know"
Bishop Keith B. McMullin
- Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric
📅 0
📖 general conference
A man seeking permission for his wife and children to be baptized was skeptical of the missionaries' teachings and the claim that the speaker's church was the only true church.
The essential nature of witnesses was brought forcibly to my mind some years ago while seeking permission from a man for his wife and children to be baptized. Our missionaries had taught the family of the divinity of Christ, the sacred appearance of God the Father and His Beloved Son to the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1820, and the Restoration of the true Church upon the earth. To each point, the missionaries bore fervent testimony, and the Holy Ghost confirmed to the mother and children that it was ... (continued)
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"Ye May Know"
Bishop Keith B. McMullin
- Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric
📅 0
📖 general conference
After a skeptical man allowed his family to be baptized, he himself was later converted and baptized after praying and receiving confirmation from the Holy Ghost.
Now, for the rest of the story. You recall that my friend asked: "How can you possibly claim such a thing? How can you possibly claim that yours is the only true church?"
The answer came, not from me but through me: "I am not claiming it," I said. "I am quoting it. Jesus Christ said it. Don"™t argue with me. If you wish to take issue, pray and talk with Heavenly Father about it."
The conversation came to a close, he gave permission for his family members to be baptized, and we parted.
So ... (continued)
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"Ye Shall Feast upon This Fruit"
Janette C. Hales
- Young Women General President
📅 0
📖 general conference
Sylvia's commitment to scripture reading helps her make better life decisions and she finds strength in her faith, despite being the only LDS member in her school.
As Sylvia"™s commitment to read the scriptures continued, she realized that Heavenly Father would help guide her in making decisions.
Later she said: "I have become busy, but I have not forgotten my scriptures. I desire to have the faith like the Brother of Jared or Nephi which enabled them to know the Lord"™s will for them. I am planning to meditate on ways to strengthen my faith. I turned sixteen."
Forgiveness
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"Ye Shall Feast upon This Fruit"
Janette C. Hales
- Young Women General President
📅 0
📖 general conference
Sylvia, a young woman from Nairobi, Kenya, writes to the general Young Women president about her struggles after her father's death, her loss of faith, and her plea for help.
Not long after I was called to be the general Young Women president, I received a letter from a young woman from Nairobi, Kenya, in East Africa. Sylvia, who was fifteen at the time, told me her father had been killed in a road accident. She said:
"When he died, I felt a part of me had been killed also. All this has made me a different person. Someone I don"™t like. It has affected my studies and my spiritual nature. My grades are dropping. I hate school. There are times I forget to pray. I am ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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"Ye Shall Feast upon This Fruit"
Janette C. Hales
- Young Women General President
📅 0
📖 general conference
The general Young Women president responds to Sylvia's letter with words of faith and a suggestion to read the scriptures daily, which leads to a positive change in Sylvia's life.
I felt an urgency in Sylvia"™s plea for help, but I was thousands of miles away. Carefully I wrote a letter, hoping my words of faith would help her regain trust in our Heavenly Father. Then I suggested: "Read the scriptures each day. After reading the scriptures each day, please write and tell me if it helps the way you are feeling."
Weeks later Sylvia said: "I had stopped reading the scriptures; and when I read them, it was like I couldn"™t understand and I would put them away. You have ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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