A Personal Commitment
Elder James M. Paramore
- Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
A sister in France explained her commitment to the Church by highlighting the frequent visits and care she received from Church members and leaders.
A sister in France who joined the Church was approached by her former minister who asked her how she could possibly have done such a thing. Her response was beautiful and reassuring. It shows us how important our collective commitment is to serve others. She said that at least once every month leaders or members of the Church would visit her. They looked after her spiritual and temporal needs. She told her former minister that since she had been baptized as a baby, the only time she had been vis ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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A Personal Relationship with the Savior
Elder James E. Faust
- Of the First Council of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker reflects on the spiritual revolution in South America influenced by the Church and the construction of the São Paulo temple.
It has been interesting to return to this country from South America and see the billboards and signs memorializing a revolution in this country which happened two hundred years ago. In the world I think we need fewer revolutions and more revelations. In my opinion, the greatest change in South America is a spiritual revolution which is coming about as a result of the influence of this Church and of the temple now under construction in São Paulo—and that influence is all within the cou ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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A Personal Relationship with the Savior
Elder James E. Faust
- Of the First Council of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
A group of missionaries in South America discusses the world's greatest need, concluding it is a personal relationship with the Savior.
Recently in South America, a seasoned group of outstanding missionaries was asked, 'What is the greatest need in the world?' One wisely responded: 'Is not the greatest need in all of the world for every person to have a personal, ongoing, daily, continuing relationship with the Savior?' Having such a relationship can unchain the divinity within us, and nothing can make a greater difference in our lives as we come to know and understand our divine relationship with God.
Forgiveness
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A Personal Relationship with the Savior
Elder James E. Faust
- Of the First Council of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker shares his personal experiences of seeking help through prayer during difficult times and feeling the comfort of the Spirit of the Master.
During the years of my life, and often in my present calling, and especially during a recent Gethsemane, I have gone to my knees with a humble spirit to the only place I could for help. I often went in agony of spirit, earnestly pleading with God to sustain me in the work I have come to appreciate more than life itself. I have, on occasion, felt the terrible aloneness of the wounds of the heart, of the sweet agony, the buffetings of Satan, and the encircling warm comfort of the Spirit of the Mas ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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A Personal Relationship with the Savior
Elder James E. Faust
- Of the First Council of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker describes his spiritual experiences, likening them to climbing Mount Sinai and the Mount of Transfiguration, and receiving divine strength and instruction.
I have also felt the crushing burden, the self-doubts of inadequacy and unworthiness, the fleeting feeling of being forsaken, then of being reinforced an hundredfold. I have climbed a spiritual Mount Sinai dozens of times seeking to communicate and to receive instructions. It has been as though I have struggled up an almost real Mount of Transfiguration and upon occasion felt great strength and power in the presence of the Divine. A special sacred feeling has been a sustaining influence and ofte ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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A Personal Relationship with the Savior
Elder James E. Faust
- Of the First Council of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker testifies of his unwavering faith and absolute knowledge of Jesus Christ as the Divine Redeemer and Son of God.
As I come to a new calling, I recognize that I am a very ordinary man. Yet I gratefully acknowledge one special gift. I have a certain knowledge that Jesus of Nazareth is our Divine Savior. I know that He lives. From my earliest recollection I have had a sure perception of this. As long as I have lived, I have had a simple faith that has never doubted. I have not always understood, yet still I have known through a knowledge that is so sacred to me that I cannot give utterance to it. I know and I ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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A Plea for Better Environment
President David O. McKay
- Second Counselor in the First Presidency
📅 0
📖 general conference
A story about Mormon soldiers holding a conference during the war in the Pacific, and the high regard a colonel had for them as missionaries.
During the war in the Pacific when the conflict was at its height, a chaplain one day accosted a colonel, saying, "Are you going to conference tomorrow?" "What do you mean, conference?" answered the colonel. "The Mormon soldiers in New Britain are holding a conference tomorrow." I heard that same colonel say, upon his return from the army, "Those soldiers are among the best missionaries that the Church has ever had."
Forgiveness
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A Plea for Better Environment
President David O. McKay
- Second Counselor in the First Presidency
📅 0
📖 general conference
A recount of a national college fraternity convention in the city, which was highly commended for its virtues and organized by local youth.
Recently there was held in this city a convention of one of the national college fraternities. For dignity, temperance, brotherhood, and other commendable virtues, it was one of the choicest conventions if not the choicest convention ever held by such an organization, and that was said by one who had attended fifty of them. In nearly every detail, it was planned and carried out by our local youth.
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A Plea for Better Environment
President David O. McKay
- Second Counselor in the First Presidency
📅 0
📖 general conference
A story about George Washington's stance against profanity among his soldiers, highlighting the importance of reverence and proper behavior.
Wrote General George Washington to his Continental soldiers: The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it.
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A Plea for Better Environment
President David O. McKay
- Second Counselor in the First Presidency
📅 0
📖 general conference
An anecdote about a Chinese philosopher who released a son who had not been taught to be filial, blaming the father instead.
The great Chinese philosopher, as a minister of crime, is reported to have set free a son who had offended against the canon of filial behavior, on the ground that the father who had so ill-taught him was the one to blame. Said he: When superiors fail in their duty, should inferiors die? This father never taught his son to be filial. To act upon this charge would be to kill the innocent.
Forgiveness
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A Plea for Better Environment
President David O. McKay
- Second Counselor in the First Presidency
📅 0
📖 general conference
A story of a soldier who saved money for his mission, and after his death, his parents used his savings to support another youth to fulfill his mission.
Many of these young men saved their money to pay the expenses of missions which they, are now filling in various parts of the world, some of them in lands where they fought as soldiers. One of these, as others of his comrades, sent his savings home, requesting his mother to keep them to pay the expenses of his anticipated mission after his discharge from the army. Then he added, "If I do not return, use my savings to send out some other comrade to preach the gospel." He did not return, but in ke ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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A Plea for Better Environment
President David O. McKay
- Second Counselor in the First Presidency
📅 0
📖 general conference
A story about a prominent movie actor caught in an illegal activity, and the negative influence such adult behavior could have on youth.
Recently a delinquent adult, a prominent movie actor, was caught with others in an illegal "dive." A few days later, a columnist published in the public press, the following: I don't quite savvy all this sudden bleeding over the plight of a droopy-eyed young movie actor who seems to have been caught by the cops on a reefer binge with a couple of blondes. For one thing, it is not an unusual offense in Hollywood. Dragging the weed ranks roughly in the film colony with taking Benzedrine as a substi ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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A Plea for Better Environment
President David O. McKay
- Second Counselor in the First Presidency
📅 0
📖 general conference
A commendation for officers who broke up a gambling den, and a call to action to maintain a wholesome community environment for youth.
I commend those officers who recently broke up that gambling den out here in our county, where sixteen adults"”well, more than that"”when the sheriff and his deputy caught them because of the activity of some neighbors . . . sixteen adults who were guilty of gambling and cock-fighting. Eleven were caught, arrested, and fined fifty dollars each. The officers broke it up, but now the gamblers are active in another county, I am informed.
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A Plea for Exemplary Living
President David O. McKay
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker expresses gratitude to various groups and individuals for their contributions to the conference, including the Singing Mothers, the men's chorus of the Tabernacle choir, the Tabernacle choir itself, KSL and other stations, ushers, caretakers, and priesthood quorums.
In your behalf I should like to say "thank you" to groups, perhaps some individuals, who have conferred favors upon us since last Friday morning. I hesitate about naming persons, because undoubtedly in so doing we may miss others who equally merit our appreciation. First, I wish again to express appreciation of the service rendered by our Singing Mothers. Just their presence, I repeat, was an inspiration. I wish to commend Sister Madsen upon her ability to train that choral group so ably in atta ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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A Plea for Exemplary Living
President David O. McKay
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker shares an anecdote about a bishop who brought two of his quorums of deacons to a priesthood meeting, highlighting the importance of involving young people in church activities.
I wish to express appreciation to the presidencies of priesthood quorums, and especially to the bishops who have come to this conference with groups of their lesser priesthood. I mentioned one case last evening. At the conclusion of that priesthood meeting, a bishop met us with two of his quorums of deacons. I commend that fellowship. On our way home today Sister McKay commented upon the number of young people in attendance at conference, and I said, "That is a good sign." If we can get some of ... (continued)
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A Plea for Exemplary Living
President David O. McKay
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker recounts the biblical story of Saul's conversion on the road to Damascus, emphasizing the recognition of authority and divine interest in the Church.
In conclusion, may I call attention to the experience that Paul had just as he neared Damascus with papers in his pocket to arrest all who believed in Jesus Christ. A light suddenly shone about him, and he heard a voice saying, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" And he said, "Who art thou, Lord?" The answer came, "I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." Saul said, "What wilt thou have me do?" The voice answered, "Go into the city, and it will be to ... (continued)
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A Plea for Exemplary Living
President David O. McKay
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker imagines the continued interest and involvement of past Church leaders in the current affairs of the Church, suggesting that they are pleased with its progress.
The other element in that incident to Paul near Damascus is the great fact that Jesus, our Lord, is interested in his Church, and in the members. As he was interested then, so he is interested today. I like to feel that he is watching over us, that he is grieved when we do not comply with the ideals and the standards he has given us in the gospel. He was grieved with Saul, a chosen servant, who was going about blindly to destroy the Church. He is delighted when he finds the brethren whom he has ... (continued)
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A Plea for Exemplary Living
President David O. McKay
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker tells a story about a young man who proudly shows his father their new home but is reminded that there is no indication of a place for God in it.
One day a young son, just married, invited his father to visit him and his bride in their new home. The young son took the father from room to room and showed him the furnishings, the paintings on the walls and so forth, and the father said, "This is lovely. I congratulate you, but, son, I have looked in vain for anything that indicates that you have a place here for God." In writing about it later, the young man said, "I went through the rooms later, and I found that Father was right."
Forgiveness
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A Plea to My Sisters
President Russell M. Nelson
- President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker reflects on the unexpected passing of three church leaders and his privilege of being with them in their final days.
Brothers and sisters, when we met in general conference six months ago, none of us anticipated the coming changes that would tug at the heartstrings of the entire Church. Elder L. Tom Perry delivered a powerful message about the irreplaceable role that marriage and family occupy in the Lord"™s plan. We were stunned when just a few days later, we learned of the cancer that would soon take him from us. Though President Boyd K. Packer"™s health had been declining, he continued to "sol ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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A Plea to My Sisters
President Russell M. Nelson
- President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker shares the serene images of Sister Packer and Sister Perry filled with love, truth, and pure faith at their husbands' bedsides.
As I"™ve reflected on this unexpected turn of events, one of the impressions that has lingered with me is that which I observed in these surviving wives. Etched in my mind are the serene images of Sister Donna Smith Packer and Sister Barbara Dayton Perry at their husbands"™ bedsides, both women filled with love, truth, and pure faith. As Sister Packer sat next to her husband in his final hours, she radiated that peace that passes all understanding. Though she realized that her beloved compan ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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