Those who have been ordained to the priesthood of God can make a difference in the world, President Thomas S. Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, declared at the Saturday evening priesthood session.

He said: "When we qualify for the help of the Lord, we can build boys. We can mend men. We can accomplish miracles in His holy service. Our opportunities are without limit."

Priesthood holders, when on the Lord's errand, are entitled to the Lord's help, he said. "That divine help, however, is predicated upon our worthiness. To sail safely the seas of mortality, to perform a human rescue mission, we need the guidance of that eternal mariner — even the great Jehovah. We reach out, we reach up, to obtain heavenly help."

He asked: "Are our reaching hands clean? Are our yearning hearts pure?"

He then quoted a Church News "Viewpoint" article from Jan. 30, 1988, drawing an analogy from barnacles that attach themselves to the hull of a ship. As more and more barnacles attach themselves, they increase the ship's drag, slow its progress, decrease its efficiency. The barnacles fall away or can more easily be removed if the ship makes its way to fresh water, where the barnacles cannot live. The article compares the barnacles to sins that, unrepented, build upon one another until they can eventually sink a person, but through repentance, the sins, like barnacles in fresh water, fall away and are forgotten.

"The priesthood represents a mighty army of righteousness — even a royal army," President Monson proclaimed. "We are led by a prophet of God, even President Gordon B. Hinckley. In supreme command is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our marching orders are clear. They are concise."

Quoting Matthew 28:19-20 and Mark 16:20 about the commandment to teach all nations and to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, President Monson said: "The call to serve has ever characterized the work of the Lord. It rarely comes at a convenient time. It prompts humility, it provokes prayer, it inspires commitment."

Lessons from the past, such as the commitment demonstrated by the early Latter-day Saints, "can quicken our memories, touch our lives and direct our actions," President Monson said.

To young men, he counseled: "Some lessons in life are learned from your parents, while others you learn in school or in church. There are, however, certain moments when you know our Heavenly Father is doing the teaching and you are His student. The thoughts we think, the feelings we feel — even the deeds we do in boyhood — can affect our lives forever."

To illustrate, he recounted an incident from his boyhood about a neighbor woman, Mrs. Shinas, who would watch as he and his friends played ball in an alleyway and would confiscate any baseballs that entered her yard.

One evening while watering his family's yard, he noticed that Mrs. Shinas' yard needed watering as well. On an impulse, he turned the hose on her lawn. Throughout the summer he continued to water the lawn, and he cleared it of fallen leaves when autumn came.

Early one evening, Mrs. Shinas invited him into her home, where she gave him cookies and milk and presented him with the box of baseballs and softballs she had collected him. However, he recalled, the real treaures was her words thanking him for his kindness.

President Monson exhorted fathers, bishops and quorum advisers that their responsibility is to prepare this generation of missionaries.

"The work is demanding, the impact everlasting," he said. "This is no time for 'summer soldiers' in the army of the Lord.

"Each missionary who goes forth in response to a sacred call becomes a servant of the Lord, whose work this truly is. Do not fear, young men, for He will be with you. . . .

"Brethren, we have no way of knowing when our privilege to extend a helping hand will unfold before us. The road to Jericho each of us travels bears no name, and the weary traveler who needs our help may be one unknown. Altogether too frequently the recipient of kindness shown fails to express his feelings, and we are deprived of a glimpse of greatness and a touch of tenderness that motivates us to go and do likewise."

Recalling the incident of Jesus' interaction with the woman at the well in Samaria (see John 4:13,14), President Monson said those who feel they are too weak to improve their lives can feel assured by the Lord's promise "to make weak things become strong unto them." (Ether 12:27.)