Encouraging the young women of the Church to seek and stay on the "pathway that leads to perfection," President Thomas S. Monson offered "four tested, specific virtues" during the Young Women General Meeting March 30. He urged that they exemplify in their lives:

Photo by Scott G. Winterton

Young Women choir from northern Utah performs during Young Women General Meeting.

• "First, an attitude of gratitude.

• "Second, a longing for learning.

• "Third, a devotion to discipline.

• "Fourth, a willingness to work."

Addressing the gathering with his customary warmth, President Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, was the main speaker during the meeting, which was telecast via the Church satellite system from the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. Present on the stand with him were President Gordon B. Hinckley and President James E. Faust, second counselor in the First Presidency. Also attending were Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve and Elder Cecil O. Samuelson Jr. of the Presidency of the Seventy.

Sister Margaret D. Nadauld, Young Women General President, conducted the meeting with its theme, "Stand Ye in Holy Places," and addressed the gathering. Also speaking were her counselors in the general presidency, Carol B. Thomas and Sharon G. Larsen. (Please see pages 4-5.)

A heartwarming moment on this warm spring evening was when a new song, "In That Holy Place," was introduced and performed by a choir of young women from the Huntsville, Morgan, Ogden, Washington Terrace and Riverdale Utah stakes. (Please see the March 2002 New Era for a copy of the song.)

During his remarks, President Monson referred to Lewis Carroll's classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, during which Alice finds herself at a crossroads. Confronted by the Cheshire Cat, she asks, "Which path shall I take?"

"That depends on where you want to go," the cat answered. "If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn't really matter which path you take!"

President Monson said: "Unlike Alice, each of you knows where you want to go. It does matter which way you go, for the path you follow in this life leads to the path you will follow in the next."

Continuing, he elaborated on his "four tested, specific virtues:"

"First, an attitude of gratitude." President Monson related the account from Luke, chapter 17, which tells of how the Lord healed 10 lepers, but only one "fell on his face at the Master's feet, giving him thanks."

"Through divine intervention, those who were lepers were spared from a cruel, lingering death and given a new lease on life. The gratitude expressed by one merited the Master's blessing, the ingratitude by the nine His disappointment."

President Monson urged the young women: "Be grateful for your mother, for your father, for your family and for your friends. Express gratitude for your Young Women leaders. They love you, they pray for you, they serve you. You are precious in their sight and in the sight of your Heavenly Father. He hears your prayers. He extends to you His peace and His love. Stay close to Him and to His Son, and you will not walk alone.

Photo by Scott G. Winterton

President Thomas S. Monson showed congregation a stick of gum returned to him some 20 years after he gave it to a young woman in East Germany. She saved it to remind her that Heavenly Father hears prayers.

"Second, a longing for learning." President Monson counseled: "We can find truth in the scriptures, the teachings of the prophets, the instructions from our parents, and the inspiration that comes to us as we bend our knees and seek the help of God.

"We must be true to our ideals, for ideals are like the stars: you can't touch them with your hands, but by following them you reach your destination," President Monson said, paraphrasing Carl Schurz in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations.

"Third, may we discuss 'a devotion to discipline.' Our Heavenly Father has given to each of us the power to think and reason and decide. With such power, self-discipline becomes a necessity.

"Each of us has the responsibility to choose. You may ask, 'Are decisions really that important?' I say to you that decisions determine destiny. You can't make eternal decisions without eternal consequences," President Monson said. "May I provide a simple formula by which you can measure the choices which confront you. It's easy to remember: 'You can't be right by doing wrong, and you can't be wrong by doing right.' Your personal conscience always warns you as a friend before it punishes you as a judge."

"Finally, let each of us cultivate a willingness to work. 'Put your shoulder to the wheel, push along' is more than a line from a favorite hymn; it is a summons to work."

President Monson related the example of a university student who delayed studying for an exam until late the night before and then chose sleep over study. "Sleep won, study failed, and the test was a personal disaster. Work we must."

Toward the conclusion of his address, President Monson shared a "personal and treasured experience" from the years of his assignments into that part of Germany that was behind the Iron Curtain. After an uplifting conference he attended there, he said he felt the impression to meet outside the old building "with the precious teenage youth. They were relatively few in number but listened to every word I spoke. They had hungered for the word and encouragement of an apostle of the Lord."

Photo by Gerry Avant

President Monson tenderly related how before leaving the United States, he felt impressed to buy three cartons of chewing gum. In Germany, at the conclusion of meeting with these youth, "I distributed carefully to each youth two sticks of gum — something they had never before tasted. They received the gift with joy."

Years later, he was back in Dresden where there was now freedom and even a temple in nearby Freiberg. Following a conference, a mother and daughter sought to speak with him. The daughter asked if he remembered giving those sticks of gum to the youth years before. He answered that he did. The young woman said her mother, standing with her, had been one of those youth. The daughter then presented President Monson with a little box, which held one of those sticks of gum.

As President Monson spoke, he held up the stick of gum, which he said the daughter of its recipient had returned to him some 20 years later.

"The tears flowed, embraces followed," President Monson recalled. "The mother then spoke to me: 'Before you came to our conference so many years ago, I had prayed to my Heavenly Father to know that He indeed cared about me. I saved that gift so that I might remember and teach my daughter that Heavenly Father does hear our prayers."

President Monson told the young women of the Church that that stick of gum was "a symbol of faith and assurance of the heavenly help our Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, will provide you."

Offering the invocation for the meeting was Bianca Van Leeuwen of the Salt Lake Mount Olympus North Stake; the benediction was given by Lyric Olsen of the Spanish Fork Utah East Stake.

E-mail: julied@desnews.com