Quoting the words of "We Are All Enlisted" (Hymns, No. 250), President Thomas S. Monson declared at the priesthood session Saturday evening that the greatest battle of all is for the souls of mankind.

"Our Captain, Jesus Christ, provides our battle plan, with the admonition, `Wherefore, now let every man learn his duty, and to act in the office in which he is appointed, in all diligence,' (D&C 107:99) " he said. "I love and cherish the noble word duty."President Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, said that two markers define the path of duty: "the duty to prepare and the duty to serve."

Preparation for life's opportunities and responsibilities, he said, "is not a matter of perhaps or maybe. It is a mandate. . . . Preparation precedes power and performance."

Quoting the First Presidency of February 1914, President Monson said priesthood is not for the honor or aggrandizement of men but for the ministry of service among those for whom priesthood bearers are called to labor.

"Now, some of you may be shy by nature or consider yourselves inadequate to respond affirmatively to a calling," he noted. "Remember that this work is not yours and mine alone. It is the Lord's work, and when we are on the Lord's errand, we are entitled to the Lord's help. Remember that whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies."

In speaking of home teaching, President Monson quoted past Church presidents, saying home teaching is a divine call and is to be accepted as if extended to one personally by Jesus Christ.

"I am aware that we at headquarters authorized some modifications in the home teaching effort where priesthood numbers were very few - even to permitting a wife to accompany her husband where another companion from the priesthood was not available," he said. "But these exceptions were to be just that: rare exceptions - not the rule."

He urged that an active Melchizedek Priesthood bearer be accompanied by a teacher, priest or prospective elder so they " `may be edified in all meekness, that

theyT may become strong also.' (D&C 84:106.) This is priesthood home teaching as it generally is meant to function."

He told of a home teacher, Walter Krause, and his companion who left their homes in what was then East Germany to visit Johann Denndorfer in Hungary, who had not had home teachers since before World War II. He presented to them as servants of the Lord his tithing that he had been saving since the day he joined the Church and returned to his home in Hungary. Brother Krause, a patriarch, gave him a blessing that he would fulfill his desire to go to the Swiss Temple for his endowment. The blessing was fulfilled.

"Brethren of the priesthood," President Monson said, "may all of us remember our duty to prepare and our duty to serve, that we may merit the Lord's approbation, `Well done, thou good and faithful servant.' (Matt. 25:21.)"