A Call to Arms
Elder Rex D. Pinegar
- Of the First Council of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
Missionaries in Stuttgart, Germany, inspired by President Kimball's challenge, become eight times more effective in obtaining teaching opportunities.
Recently I had the privilege of meeting with some missionaries in Stuttgart, Germany. We talked of the urgency of our work and examined ways to improve the effectiveness of their proselyting efforts. We discussed the challenge by President Kimball for missionaries to become eight times more effective in obtaining teaching opportunities. As one group of elders returned to their apartment following the meeting, one of them said, "If the prophet of the Lord says we can do it, we can. We"™ll find ... (continued)
Forgiveness
Read Full Talk →
A Call to Arms
Elder Rex D. Pinegar
- Of the First Council of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
E. J. Sariva from Brazil uses his business card to introduce people to the Church, leading to the conversion of over 130 souls.
One such member is a valiant brother from Guaratengeta, Brazil. He spreads the gospel almost every waking hour and in a unique way. As he meets people he states his name, E. J. Sariva, and hands them his card. He then waits for them to read his name as it is printed on the card: Elder E. J. Sariva, Zion. Often their response is something like this: "What does this "Zion" mean? To which he replies, "Oh, don"™t you know about Zion? Let me tell you." Brother Sariva then introduces his listene ... (continued)
Forgiveness
Read Full Talk →
A Call to Arms
Elder Rex D. Pinegar
- Of the First Council of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
A taxi driver with a sign reading 'I Care' in his cab uses it as a conversation starter to share his faith and distribute copies of the Book of Mormon, contributing to the conversion of over 200 people.
Another "home front" soldier for the Lord is a taxi driver. In his cab hangs a sign which reads, "I Care." Most passengers ask "What do you care about?" This good brother then explains that he belongs to a church that cares about people. If his passengers inquire further he accommodates their interest by handing them a copy of the Book of Mormon from the supply of copies he conveniently keeps by his driver"™s seat. This faithful member has participated in the conversion of more than 200 ... (continued)
Forgiveness
Read Full Talk →
A Call to Serve
Elder David B. Haight
- Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker visualizes the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, filled with Saints and the hymn 'The Spirit of God like a Fire Is Burning' being sung for the first time.
As we all stood a few moments ago and joined in singing "The Spirit of God like a fire is burning" (Hymns,1985, no. 2), I could visualize that beautiful little temple in Kirtland, Ohio, built by valiant Saints during their poverty and relentless persecution but sustained by their abundant faith in God. In my mind"™s eye I could see the temple filled with devout Saints awaiting the moment of dedication, and many gathered outside hoping to hear the inspired prayer of their prophet, for they kn ... (continued)
Forgiveness
Read Full Talk →
A Call to Serve
Elder David B. Haight
- Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
Two grandmothers, Altha Clark and Hazel Stills, serve as missionaries, teaching and fellowshipping with great success despite the challenges.
While firefighters were battling roaring forest fires in the West recently,two grandmothers"”Altha Clark, from Texas, and Hazel Stills, from Florida"”kindled countless spiritual flames by creating new "interest of people who [had] investigated the Church for years, but who needed a firm, loving nudge to accept baptism," and with caring fellowshipping, reached out to the less-active members. "They don"™t take no for an answer," the second counselor in the Altamont Utah Stake presidency ... (continued)
Forgiveness
Read Full Talk →
A Call to Serve
Elder David B. Haight
- Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
President Benson recounts the experience of his two widowed sisters who served missions in England after raising their children and sending them on missions.
In stressing the need for mature men and women to be about the work of the Lord, President Benson related the experience of his two widowed sisters. One was the mother of ten children and the other the mother of eight. After they had sent their children on missions, they approached their bishops about going on missions themselves. President Benson relates that he remembers well the day a number of years ago when they called him and said, "Guess what? We have received our missionary calls." Pre ... (continued)
Forgiveness
Read Full Talk →
A Call to Serve
Elder David B. Haight
- Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
Arthur Thulin and his wife Myra serve a mission in Scotland despite Arthur's concerns about his age and the possibility of dying there.
I challenged eight couples in my former home stake in California to set aside their comfortable lives of planned retirement and to bless the Scottish Saints with their gospel knowledge and service. Arthur Thulin had been a bishop, his wife Myra a skilled teacher. Arthur anxiously wrote that he was nearing seventy and might die in Scotland. I replied, "Arthur, you are going to die somewhere; Scotland is a great place to die"”but when you die, die with your boots on, not in a comfortable rocking ... (continued)
Forgiveness
Read Full Talk →
A Call to Serve
Elder David B. Haight
- Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
Emma Lou and Joseph Slagowski, despite not speaking Spanish, are called to a mission in Peru and learn the language through a pre-mission language project.
Emma Lou and Joseph Slagowski could not speak Spanish but were called to the Peru Lima South Mission. They participated in a trial pre-mission language project for mature couples that assists them in learning language skills in their own homes prior to entering the Missionary Training Center for their training. Sister Slagowski writes: "When our stake president asked us [if] we would be willing to take part in [a new] pre-mission "¦ language learning project, we were concerned, but accepted," ... (continued)
Forgiveness
Read Full Talk →
A Call to the Christian Clergy
Elder Boyd K. Packer
- Assistant to the Council of the Twelve
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker recounts his experience with clergymen from various Christian churches, acknowledging their sincerity and dedication, and shares their concerns about the state of the Christian Church and the unresponsiveness of the youth despite innovative worship services.
It has been our privilege over the past two years in the mission field to become acquainted with clergymen from a number of Christian churches. We find them to be good men"”sincere, honest in their dedication to the ministry that they have chosen. It is to you "men of the cloth," as you term yourselves, that I speak. [...] Your youth have become unresponsive, and although you have introduced innovations into the worship services"”jazz combos, poetry reading, interpretive dancing, all thought ... (continued)
Forgiveness
Read Full Talk →
A Call to the Christian Clergy
Elder Boyd K. Packer
- Assistant to the Council of the Twelve
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker reflects on the words of the Prophet Amos about a spiritual famine and relates it to the current state of the world where evil is rampant and the moral fiber is weakened.
One reads with serious reflection the words of the Prophet Amos: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: "And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. "In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst"Amos 8:11-13 I testify that such a spiritual ... (continued)
Forgiveness
Read Full Talk →
A Call to the Christian Clergy
Elder Boyd K. Packer
- Assistant to the Council of the Twelve
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker tells a story of a naturalist who, after examining heather blossoms through a magnifying glass, shares the experience with an old highland shepherd who regrets seeing the beauty he has trampled unawares, illustrating the difficulty of change.
A naturalist one day knelt in the Scottish highlands with his magnifying glass focused upon some blossoms of the heather until, as he afterwards confessed, he lost track of time. Suddenly he glanced over his shoulder and found an old highland shepherd watching. I suppose he was somewhat embarrassed, but without saying a word he plucked the heather bell and handed it with the magnifying glass to the shepherd. The old man put the instrument to his eyes and peered at the heather bell. He was silent ... (continued)
Forgiveness
Read Full Talk →
A Call to the Priesthood: "Feed My Sheep"
President Ezra Taft Benson
- Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
A man who was previously considered a hopeless case expressed his regret for not seeking temple blessings sooner after finally receiving them.
Some leaders say that some men are past hope, but, as the angel told Abraham, nothing is impossible with the Lord! (See Gen. 18:14) One brother who was regarded by some as a hopeless case tearfully exclaimed to the temple worker at the sealing altar, 'I don’t know why I waited so long for this blessing!'
Forgiveness
Read Full Talk →
A Call to the Priesthood: "Feed My Sheep"
President Ezra Taft Benson
- Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
A man shared his experience of facing challenges from the devil after he started to become active in the Church, noting that before his return to activity, he had simply been going along with the devil.
In a recent Saturday evening meeting of leaders I heard a determined brother state, 'I’ve sure had a time with the devil since I started to become active. Prior to that time, I just went along with him.'
Forgiveness
Read Full Talk →
A Call to the Priesthood: "Feed My Sheep"
President Ezra Taft Benson
- Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The story describes how a Palestinian shepherd leads, knows, and protects his sheep, contrasting a true shepherd's willingness to risk his life for the sheep with a hireling's concern for personal safety.
In Jesus’ time, the Palestinian shepherd was noted for his protection of his sheep. Unlike modern sheepherders, the shepherd always walked ahead of his flock. He led them. The shepherd knew each of the sheep and usually had a name for each. The sheep knew his voice and trusted him and would not follow a stranger. Thus, when called, the sheep would come to him. (See John 10:14, 16) At night shepherds would bring their sheep to a corral called a sheepfold. High walls surrounded the sheepfol ... (continued)
Forgiveness
Read Full Talk →
A Call to the Priesthood: "Feed My Sheep"
President Ezra Taft Benson
- Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The story recounts how Jesus, after His resurrection, instructed Peter three times to feed His lambs and sheep, which deeply impressed Peter and tradition holds that he also gave his life for the cause.
Later, after His resurrection, Jesus directed Peter to 'feed my lambs. … Feed my sheep. … Feed my sheep.' (See John 21:15–17) Three times this charge was repeated to the newly designated head shepherd. Do you think that Peter recalled the parable of the good shepherd? Do you think that Peter could remember what a good shepherd was to be, what he was to do? Do you think he ever questioned his Lord’s example as being too idealistic? It must have impressed Peter deeply, fo ... (continued)
Forgiveness
Read Full Talk →
A Call to the Rising Generation
Elder Brent H. Nielson
- Of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker received a missionary call to Finland on the same day President Spencer W. Kimball became the prophet and outlined his vision for missionary work, which included a call for more missionaries and opening every nation to the gospel.
On April 6, 1974, the Church sustained a new prophet, President Spencer W. Kimball. That same day I received my call to serve as a full-time missionary in Finland. I wasn"™t aware at the time that President Kimball had just delivered a landmark address that week to the General Authorities and regional representatives of the Church. Later I learned that in that address President Kimball prophetically outlined his vision as to how we as a church would accomplish the Savior"™s charge to "t ... (continued)
Forgiveness
Read Full Talk →
A Call to the Rising Generation
Elder Brent H. Nielson
- Of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
While serving in Finland, the speaker learned about Sister Lea Mahoney's desire to take the gospel to her hometown of Viipuri, which had become part of the Soviet Union. They prayed for the opportunity to do so, despite it seeming impossible at the time.
While serving in Finland, I learned that my mission president"™s wife, Sister Lea Mahoney, was a native of Finland. As a young girl she had grown up in the eastern portion of Finland in a city named Viipuri. As the ravages of war engulfed Finland and other countries during World War II, she and her family left their home, and Viipuri became part of the Soviet Union and was renamed Vyborg. In our zone conferences, Sister Mahoney would tell us of those left behind in Viipuri and of her desire th ... (continued)
Forgiveness
Read Full Talk →
A Call to the Rising Generation
Elder Brent H. Nielson
- Of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker's son, Eric, was called to serve a mission in Vyborg, Russia, the very city they had prayed for 32 years earlier, fulfilling the prayers of many Saints.
Three years ago, our son Eric received a mission call to serve in the Russia St. Petersburg Mission. In his first letter home, he wrote something like this: "Dear Mom and Dad, I have been assigned to my first city in Russia. Dad, you may have heard of it before. It is called Vyborg, but it was previously a Finnish city named Viipuri."
Tears came to my eyes as I understood that Eric was in the very city we had prayed about 32 years earlier. Eric found a chapel there and a branch of faithful Sai ... (continued)
Forgiveness
Read Full Talk →
A Celestial Connection to Your Teenage Years
Elder Richard J. Maynes
- Of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker discusses the challenge teenagers face in connecting their celestial goals with everyday life, amidst a busy schedule filled with school, activities, and temptations.
One of the great challenges of being a teenager is successfully connecting these celestial goals with your everyday life. This is difficult because our lives are jammed so full of worldly stuff. You"™re involved with schoolwork; dozens of activities which include music, dance, sports, various clubs; and, of course, many throughout the world work part-time jobs as well. Mixed in with this hectic schedule are weekend activities such as games, dances, Scouting activities, and parties. Everywhere ... (continued)
Forgiveness
Read Full Talk →
A Celestial Connection to Your Teenage Years
Elder Richard J. Maynes
- Of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker uses the example of a student preparing for a geometry test to illustrate the importance of daily dedication to achieve long-term goals, contrasting last-minute cramming with consistent study.
Let"™s take an example we can all relate to. Suppose you have a midterm test coming up in geometry in two weeks. One of your goals is to get an A in geometry. How do you go about reaching that goal? Do you wait until the last minute and cram the night before the test? This technique is filled with risk. Instead of truly understanding the material, the attempt is to learn enough that somehow you can make it through the test successfully. Unfortunately, instead of being totally prepared and conf ... (continued)
Forgiveness
Read Full Talk →