A statement about the seafaring Tahitian people by former mission president Raymond Baudin provides a lesson about prayer followed by action, President Thomas S. Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, said during his priesthood session address.

He quoted President Baudin as saying: "They are amazing. The weather may be terrible, the vessels may be leaky, there may be no navigational aids except their inner feelings and the stars in the heavens, but they pray and they go."

"He repeated that phrase three times," President Monson recalled. "There is a lesson in that statement. We need to pray and then we need to act. Both are important."

He related the story from 1 Kings about the widow exercising her faith by complying with Elijah's instruction to provide him with food and drink first, after which her supply would not fail. "When we follow the counsel of the Lord, when we pray and then, go, the outcome benefits all," he commented.

Regarding the account in 1 Nephi of Nephi's willingness to go back to Jerusalem and obtain the plates of brass, President Monson said: "We remember the commandment. We remember the response. We remember the outcome."

He shared the account of a family in Perth, Australia, who, in 1957, sold their only car and gathered all the money they could to attend the dedication of the New Zealand Temple. Finally, by virtue of two unexpected gifts, they obtained the full amount needed, but the father, Donald Cummings, couldn't get time off work for the trip, so he decided to quit his job.

"Brother Cummings and his family were among the first Australians to be baptized for the dead in the New Zealand Temple," President Monson said. "They were among the first ones to be endowed in the New Zealand Temple from far-off Perth, Australia. They prayed, they prepared and they went."

When they returned, Brother Cummings obtained a new and better job. He continued to serve as district president, then later as the first president of the Perth stake. He is now the first president of the Perth Australia Temple.

Missionaries, he said, are guided by many revelations concerning their callings, including two of his favorite passages, Doctrine and Covenants 100:1 and Doctrine and Covenants 84:88.

"Inspiring is the missionary service rendered by Walter Krause, who lives in Prenslau, Germany," he said. "Brother Krause, whose dedication to the Lord is legendary, is now 92 years of age. As a patriarch he has given more than a thousand patriarchal blessings to members living throughout many parts of Europe. . . . Brother Krause's entire life has been to pray and then to go."

He spoke of James Womack, patriarch of the Shreveport Louisiana Stake. He recounted that President Spencer W. Kimball was inspired to call Brother Womack as patriarch, even though Brother Womack had sustained injuries during combat in World War II that left him without hands and part of an arm as well as the loss of most of his eyesight and part of his hearing.

"That evening as President Kimball met with Brother Womack and informed him that the Lord had designated him to be patriarch, there was a protracted silence in the room," President Monson said. "Then Brother Womack said, 'Brother Kimball, it is my understanding that a patriarch is to place his hands on the head of the person he blesses. As you can see, I have no hands to place on the head of anyone.'

"Brother Kimball, in his kind and patient manner, invited Brother Womack to stand behind the chair on which Brother Kimball was seated. He then said, 'Now, Brother Womack, lean forward and see if the stumps of your arms will reach the top of my head.' To Brother Womack's joy, they touched Brother Kimball's head, and the exclamation came forth, 'I can reach you! I can reach you!'

" 'Of course you can reach me,' responded Brother Kimball. 'And if you can reach me, you can reach any whom you bless. I will probably be the shortest person you will ever have seated before you.' "

To this experience, President Monson applied the Lord's words to the prophet Samuel at the time David was designated to be future king of Israel: "Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7.)

"Brethren, whatever our calling, regardless of our fears or anxieties, let us pray and then go and do, remembering the words of the Master, even the Lord Jesus Christ, who promised: 'I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.' (Matthew 28:20.)"