"As I Have Loved You"
Elder Robert L. Backman
- Of the First Quorum of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
A story of a shy boy named Ronny who is befriended by a popular student, Brandon, and eventually opens up to express gratitude and love.
D. Brent Collette told a stirring story:
"Ronny was not just shy; he was downright backward. As a 17-year-old high school senior, Ronny had never really had a close friend or done anything that included other people. He was famous for his shyness. He never said anything to anybody, not even a teacher. One look at him told you a great deal of the story"”inferiority complex. He slumped over as if to hide his face and seemed to be always looking at his feet. He always sat in the back of the class ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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"As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten"
Elder D. Todd Christofferson
- Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
President Hugh B. Brown's experience with a currant bush on his farm, which he pruned back drastically, and the later parallel in his life when he was denied a military promotion due to being a Mormon.
President Hugh B. Brown, formerly a member of the Twelve and a counselor in the First Presidency, provided a personal experience. He told of purchasing a rundown farm in Canada many years ago. As he went about cleaning up and repairing his property, he came across a currant bush that had grown over six feet (1.8 m) high and was yielding no berries, so he pruned it back drastically, leaving only small stumps. Then he saw a drop like a tear on the top of each of these little stumps, as if the ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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"Be Guided by the Light Within"
Elder Harold B. Lee
- Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
At the University of Edinburgh in 1909, Lord Balfour omitted mentioning Jesus Christ in his address on moral values uniting nations, which was pointed out by a Japanese student, highlighting the omission of the most fundamental bond.
It was in 1909 at the University of Edinburgh. Lord Balfour, then the Prime Minister of England, was delivering an address on the subject of moral values which unite nations. He spoke of the common knowledge and the common commercial resources which nations had to unite them, their social intercourse made possible through diplomatic relationships, the bonds of human friendships, and the improved methods of communication; and then closed his address amid the thunderous applause of those who had ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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"Be Guided by the Light Within"
Elder Harold B. Lee
- Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
A family received a message that their son had been killed in action, and despite their wealth and position, they were left without the comfort they might have had if they had lived in a way to obtain it.
I am thinking now of two contrasting incidents. A dear friend received one of those fateful messages: "We regret to inform you that your boy has been killed in action." I went to his home, and there I saw the shattered family, possessed of all the things that money could buy"”wealth, position, the things that the world would call honorable, but there they were with their hopes and dreams shattered around them, grasping for something that they had not lived to obtain and from that time on, see ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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"Be Guided by the Light Within"
Elder Harold B. Lee
- Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
A faithful mission president was dying in the LDS Hospital, experiencing extreme pain but also joy, knowing that through suffering, one learns obedience and kinship with Christ.
I contrasted that with a scene I witnessed up in the LDS Hospital just about six months ago now, when one of our dear faithful mission presidents was there slowly dying. He was in extreme pain, but in his heart there was a joy because he knew that through suffering ofttimes men learn obedience, and the right to kinship with him who suffered beyond all that any of us can ever suffer. He, too, knew the power of the risen Lord.
Forgiveness
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"Be Guided by the Light Within"
Elder Harold B. Lee
- Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
Missionaries in London experienced persecution and the power of evil, and when they sought an answer from the Prophet Joseph Smith, he reassured them that such experiences were a sign of being near to the Lord.
After some of the persecutions and the evidence of the power of evil over our first missionaries in London, these missionaries returned to the Prophet to seek an answer as to why these experiences with evil spirits had come to them. Had they done something wrong that the evil had thus tried to overthrow them? And the Prophet replied, "I rejoiced when I heard of your experiences because I have passed through similar experiences, and I want to say this to you: the nearer a person approaches the L ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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"Be Not Afraid, Only Believe"
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley
- Of the Council of the Twelve
📅 0
📖 general conference
An absent-minded professor lost his umbrella, retraced his steps, and found it at the fourth store, mistakenly crediting only the last clerk for honesty.
I supposed you have heard the story of the absent-minded professor who went shopping and lost his umbrella. Discovering his loss, he retraced his steps. At the first three stores on which he called, the clerks denied having found his umbrella. At the fourth store the clerk handed him the missing umbrella. He grumbled, 'Thank goodness for an honest man. The other three told me they didn't have it.'
Forgiveness
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"Be Not Afraid, Only Believe"
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley
- Of the Council of the Twelve
📅 0
📖 general conference
A missionary's effective technique of fasting and prayer helped an investigator overcome doubts and become a faithful member after baptism.
May I read from a letter received from one of them: 'The most effective technique we have found in our work is fasting and prayer. We saw how this worked a few weeks ago with an investigator of the Church. He had a number of questions and problems to overcome, and we just didn't seem to get anywhere when we met with him to discuss them. So we would go home to our apartment and ask the Lord to bless him and help him understand what we had explained to him. We felt it was very important that he be ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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"Be Not Afraid, Only Believe"
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley
- Of the Council of the Twelve
📅 0
📖 general conference
A new convert in South America enthusiastically referred 300 acquaintances to missionaries, resulting in 60 solid new members and more to come.
When I was in South America I met a woman. She had just joined the Church. She was introduced as a new convert to the Church. Fired by a great love for that which she had found, she has gone about enthusiastically telling others. During a period of only seven months since her baptism, she has referred 300 acquaintances to the missionaries so that they might explain the gospel to them. Of these, 60 have come into the Church and are solid members, and more will yet come.
Forgiveness
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"Be Not Faithless"
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley
- Of the Council of the Twelve
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker reflects on his first talk as a General Authority of the Church 20 years ago, feeling fear and inadequacy, feelings which persist to some degree even after 40 conferences.
This conference, my brethren and sisters, is an important anniversary for me. It was an even twenty years ago that I first spoke from this pulpit as a General Authority of the Church. I was filled with fear and feelings of inadequacy that Sunday morning of 1958. Now, twenty years and forty conferences later, I still have some of those same feelings. And so I pray for the direction of the Holy Spirit that anxiety may be replaced by inspiration.
Forgiveness
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"Be Not Faithless"
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley
- Of the Council of the Twelve
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker recounts the biblical story of Thomas the Apostle, who doubted the resurrection of Jesus Christ until he could see and touch Christ's wounds.
Last Sunday the Christian world celebrated Easter in remembrance of the resurrection, when the risen Lord appeared first to Mary Magdalene, and later that day to the ten apostles, Thomas being absent.
"The other disciples therefore said unto him, we have seen the Lord." But Thomas, like so many then and now, said, "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe."John 20:25
But to co ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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"Be Not Faithless"
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley
- Of the Council of the Twelve
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker shares a personal story of a friend who was sustained by his faith in Jesus Christ during three years of imprisonment without communication with his family.
I spoke one day to a friend escaped from his native land. With the fall of his nation, he had been arrested and interned. His wife and children had been able to get away, but for three years and more he had been a prisoner without means of communication with those he loved. The food had been wretched, the living conditions oppressive, with no prospects for improvement.
"What sustained you through all those dark days?" I asked.
He responded: "My faith; my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I put ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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"Be Not Weary in Well-doing"
Elder Alvin R. Dyer
- Assistant to the Council of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker shares his pride and gratitude for his son and daughter, their clean living, and their support for his work and the gospel.
I am grateful to my fine stalwart son, whom I have never heard utter a word of profanity; for his clean life, and for his great zeal to seek for an education; now at Brigham Young University, and who has a desire to go on a mission. I am grateful for my wonderful daughter. These are our two children, but they are wonderful, and I am grateful for them and for their love of the gospel and for their support of our work.
Forgiveness
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"Be Not Weary in Well-doing"
Elder Alvin R. Dyer
- Assistant to the Council of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker describes the intense experience of receiving a call from President McKay to serve in a high capacity and the feelings of gratitude and desire to serve that followed.
Early yesterday morning I received two very important telephone calls. One was from President McKay, and the other was from a young man who was a priest in my class when I was a bishop. The time that passed from President McKay's call until I reached his office seemed almost like an eternity, but in actuality it was only about thirty minutes. I can assure you, my brethren and sisters, that it is a moment of great pressure as well as inspiration to sit closely facing the President of our Church, ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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"Be Not Weary in Well-doing"
Elder Alvin R. Dyer
- Assistant to the Council of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
A young man who was once in the speaker's priests class calls him for help after being made a bishop, reflecting the speaker's own feelings of needing help in his new calling.
This young man who called me almost five minutes after President McKay called yesterday said, "Bishop, I am one of the rascals who used to be in your priests class. I have been made a bishop, and I need some help. Will you spend some time with me today?" And I had the great joy of spending some time with him yesterday. But I feel the same way that he felt. I need some help, and I know, my brethren and sisters, from the many opportunities that have come to me to serve the Lord, that if I will do ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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"Be Not Weary in Well-doing"
Elder Alvin R. Dyer
- Assistant to the Council of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker recounts Heber C. Kimball's 'clay sermon' at Far West, Missouri, emphasizing the importance of being moldable and willing to do the Lord's will.
I think one of the great sermons that has been delivered in this Church was delivered at Far West, Missouri, when Heber C. Kimball delivered what is known in our writings as the "clay sermon," and in it he said that we should as clay to be molded as the Lord would mold us, and to do the will of the Lord. His sermon was acclaimed by the Prophet Joseph Smith as one of the great contributions to the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times in the reflection of the attitude that we should have in servin ... (continued)
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"Be Not Weary in Well-doing"
Elder Alvin R. Dyer
- Assistant to the Council of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker reflects on his heritage, mentioning his grandparents' journey to join the Church, his brother's missionary work, and the temple work done for their ancestors.
It seems natural, my brethren and sisters, at a time like this, to reflect with gratitude on the many influences that come into your life. I think of my grandparents and have since yesterday morning, of their great devotion in accepting the gospel and coming across the waters many years ago. The other day I had a letter from my brother who is now serving a mission in England, and he said that he had visited an old church in Coventry, England, and there on a stone plaque are engraved the words: ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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"Be Not Weary in Well-doing"
Elder Alvin R. Dyer
- Assistant to the Council of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker expresses gratitude for his wife's support in his various Church roles and their shared experiences, including a humorous moment of habitually expecting her by his side.
I am so eternally grateful for my missionary companion wife, who stood by my side, not only in the mission field, but also when I served as bishop, and in other positions in the Church, always encouraging me to perform my responsibilities, and always seemingly making it easy for me to do so. I am grateful to her for her great faith and devotion. I got so used to having her by my side that recently as I have traveled to a number of MIA conventions I have found myself nudging Sister Bennett or Si ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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"Be Not Weary in Well-doing"
Elder Alvin R. Dyer
- Assistant to the Council of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker reflects on the influence of various people in his life, including his stake president, scoutmaster, brother, and Church leaders, as he prepares for his new responsibilities.
I am grateful to Nephi L. Morris, who was once my stake president, and Bishop Edwin F. Parry, and George Lund, my scoutmaster; grateful for my brother Gus who has always lived by a high spiritual concept. These are men that I think of now as I gird for the responsibility that will be mine in this calling. President McKay has always been a great ideal of mine. I have always looked up to him, tried to assimilate some of the great characteristics which he has. You cannot be in his presence and h ... (continued)
Forgiveness
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"Be Not Weary in Well-doing"
Elder Alvin R. Dyer
- Assistant to the Council of the Twelve Apostles
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker expresses his gratitude for his associates in the MIA and their devotion to the cause of youth, highlighting the importance of preserving the integrity of young people.
I am grateful for my associates in the MIA. I do not, as yet, have my bags unpacked from the mission field, but I am grateful for the time that I have had with these wonderful men and women who are so devoted to the cause of youth, for I feel very strongly the great obligation we have to preserve the integrity of our young people, and know of the great responsibilities that devolve upon this organization to carry that work forward.
Forgiveness
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