It is especially important for the youth of the Church today to remember their pioneer ancestors, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve said in his address during the Aaronic Priesthood fireside on Sunday, May 18.

"We gain much from remembering the courage, the devotion, the dedication" of the pioneers, Elder Holland said.He then told the congregation, "In speaking to you tonight, I wish to refer to more recent pioneers, more recent than those who crossed the plains in wagons and handcarts, but who are nevertheless pioneers. They are part of an unbroken chain of spiritual forebears and guides given to us, those whom God has sent before to prepare the way and provide us safety."

He began by referring to an experience President Gordon B. Hinckley has related about when he was a deacon. He attended his first stake priesthood meeting; his father was sitting on the stand to preside as stake president. Elder Holland noted, "President Hinckley felt about the way you and I did as new deacons - just a little bit self-conscious and lonely, a little bit out of place."

When the body of priesthood holders sang "Praise to the Man" as the opening hymn, "President Hinckley has said that it was then and there as a new deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood that he had it borne upon his soul that Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet of God, that he had in truth `communed with Jehovah,' and that `millions shall know Brother Joseph again,' " Elder Holland related.

He continued: "I don't know who those old Dutch and German and Danish immigrants were who welcomed young Brother Hinckley to the priesthood ranks that night as they sang that great anthem of the restoration, but I am grateful beyond expression to them for they blessed the whole Church, indeed the whole world, as they invited a young deacon to join them in a walk of faith."

Elder Holland said that few young men grow up to be the prophet, but all "have the opportunity and the responsibility to be just as determined in gaining a testimony and standing for the truth as did the men we have sustained as prophets, seers, and revelators down through the dispensation."

He spoke of Elder Reed Smoot of the Quorum of the Twelve who was elected to the U.S. Senate from Utah in 1903. Elder Smoot served in the Senate for 30 years. In two national Republican conventions he was offered the nomination for president of the United States if he would turn against the Church.

Elder Holland said a friend of Elder Smoot's, "himself a devout member of the Church, said somewhat teasingly: `Brother Smoot, wouldn't such an honor have been worth that compromise?' "

"Elder Smoot whirled on him, grabbed him by the arm and said: `Young man, maybe you do not know my stand in regard to [this] Church. If I had to make my choice between being a deacon in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or being the president of the United States, I would be a deacon.' "

Elder Holland also spoke of Anthon H. Lund who was called on a mission at age 13, was ordained an elder three years later, and eventually served 20 years in the First Presidency.

He told of President Wilford Woodruff who, when he was in his 20s, traveled thousands of miles as a missionary while holding the office of teacher, and later the office of priest. Elder Holland said that President Woodruff later told the young men of his day: " `I desire to impress upon you the fact that it does not make any difference whether a man is a priest or an apostle, if he magnifies his calling.' "

Elder Holland told the Aaronic Priesthood holders that while they face some challenges already, many difficulties have not yet arisen.

"So older men, seasoned men, including prophets, apostles, and men singing together in priesthood meeting try to call out to young people," he said. "We who have already walked some portion of life's path wish to serve as pioneers for you, as sort of advance scouts if you will, in what is sometimes hostile new territory."