"In His earthly ministry, the Master outlined how we should live, how we should teach, how we should serve, and what we should do so that we could become our best selves," President Thomas S. Monson said Saturday morning.

President Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, referred to scriptural passages pertaining to how Jesus Christ taught the multitudes and His disciples "the way, the truth and the life." (John 14:6.)

President Monson said: "In the search for our best selves, several questions will guide our thinking: 'Am I what I want to be? Am I closer to the Savior today than I was yesterday? Will I be closer yet tomorrow? Do I have the courage to change for the better?'

"It is time to choose an oft forgotten path, the path we might call 'The Family Way,' so that our children and grandchildren may indeed grow to their full potential. There is a national — even an international — tide running. It carries the unspoken message: 'Return to your roots, to your families, to lessons learned, to lives lived, to examples shown, even family values. Often it is just a matter of coming home — home to attics not recently examined, to diaries seldom read, to photo albums almost forgotten."

President Monson spoke of the late Elder H. Verlan Andersen (a member of the Seventy from 1986-1991) who taught by example a lesson about keeping the Sabbath when he walked a long distance to a Church meeting rather than purchase gasoline on Sunday to fill the family automobile's empty tank.

"It is in the home that we form our attitudes, our deeply held beliefs. It is in the home that hope is fostered or destroyed," President Monson declared.

"Our homes are to be more than sanctuaries; they should also be places where God's spirit can dwell, where the storm stops at the door, where love reigns and peace dwells."

President Monson told of a family in northern Utah that, within a six-month period, lost four of their five sons who served in World War II. After the war, the four bodies were returned home for a service, which was attended by Gen. Mark Clark. During the luncheon that followed the service, the mother asked the general in a low voice, "Are you going to take my youngest one?" The general replied that as long as he remained in command of the Army on the West Coast, if her boy were called he would do his best to have him assigned to duty at home. The boy's father said, "We know that if and when his country needs him, he will go."

President Monson said, "It is the gospel of Jesus Christ that touched home and heart that ever-to-be-remembered day.

"The years have come and the years have gone, but the need for a testimony of the gospel continues paramount. As we move toward the future, we must not neglect the lessons of the past. Our Heavenly Father gave His Son. The Son of God gave His life. We are asked by them to give our lives, as it were, in their divine service. Will you? Will I? Will we? There are lessons to be taught, there are kind deeds to be done, there are souls to be saved.

"Let us remember the counsel of King Benjamin: 'When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.' (Mosiah 2:17.) Reach out to rescue those who need your help. Lift such to the higher road and the better way."

President Monson affirmed that the Lord "shall direct thy paths" when trust is placed in Him, when He is acknowledged in all things. (Prov. 3:5-6.) "When we do, we will come to realize that we have been on His holy errand, that His divine purposes have been fulfilled, and that we have shared in that fulfillment," he said.

He illustrated by telling of a widow, Augusta Schneider, who lived in the ward over which he presided as a young bishop. Originally from the Alsace-Lorraine area of Europe, she gave to him the medals her husband had been presented for his service as a member of the French forces in World War I. President Monson said that he suggested there must be some member of her extended family to whom the gift should be given, but she replied that the gift was his, for he had "the soul of a Frenchman."

He said that years later he had felt impressed to take the medals with him to the dedication of the Frankfurt Germany Temple. While conducting a session, he noticed that the organist had the same last name as the widow. He presented the medals to him, with the charge to pursue the Schneider name in his genealogical activities.

"I knew that the treasured gift . . . was placed in the hand of one who would ensure that many with the souls of Frenchmen would now receive the blessings the holy temples provide, both to the living and for those who have passed beyond mortality.

"I testify that with God, all things are possible. He is our Heavenly Father; His Son is our Redeemer. As we strive to learn His truths and then to live them, our lives and the lives of others will be abundantly blessed."