Be faithful and true

Photo by Sarah Jane Weaver

UNION: "There is no union more sacred or more beautiful than a happily married husband and wife. There is no association that even approximates in the bonds of love, tenderness, and respect a family of parents and children."

To every member of the Church, wherever you may be, I wish to say, be good people. Be good citizens of your communities. Be faithful and true. Be true to the wonderful Church of which you are a part. Every one of you is important. Every one of you is a member in a great fellowship of Latter-day Saints. Every one of you is a son or daughter of our Heavenly Father. Put your confidence in the Lord. — From Japan Stake Conference Satellite Broadcast, Nov. 6, 2004

Foundation of this Church

How marvelous it is that we can belong to a Church whose foundation lies in this great and significant doctrine, that God is our Father, that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and that the Holy Ghost is our companion. Think of it. Reflect on it. Pray about it. Live up to that great part of divinity that is within you. — From member meeting, Madrid, Spain, May 29, 2004

Learn of Him

If you wish to know of the Savior, read of the Savior. Read the New Testament, study it. Read the words of the Lord. Read the Epistles of Paul that speak of Him in wonder and glory and awe. Read the Book of Mormon. Pray about it. Get on your knees, ask the Lord for a testimony of the truth of this most important of all knowledge — the divinity and the reality of the Lord Jesus Christ. — From regional conference, St. George, Utah, Nov. 24, 2002

Never more effective

The Church was never stronger than it is today. The Church was never larger than it is today. I think the Church was never more effective in the lives of its people than it is today. — From leadership training meeting, Pleasant Grove, Utah, Jan. 18, 2003

Such an opportunity

What a marvelous thing it is that you are young and alive in this wonderful season of the earth, when you see all the evidences of science that make people live longer. When I was born the average life expectancy in the United States was fifty years. It is now about seventy-six. To think of what has happened in the years of my life is to me a miracle.

On top of all of that is this wonderful and glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, restored to earth through a personal appearance of the Father and the Son. It is a miracle. I want you to realize that. I want you to know that. I want you to be appreciative of the fact that you stand with such an opportunity as those before you have never had. — From missionary meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii, Oct. 24, 2003

Teach our people

(Priesthood leaders), teach our people. Teach them the gravity of the covenants which they make in the house of the Lord. Teach them the meaning of loyalty one to another. Teach them the meaning of respect one for another. Teach them the meaning of responsibility toward one another as they stand before the Lord as husband and wife and parents of children. . . . Teach them with faith and example. Try to keep them from the work of the adversary who is so powerful and effective these days and who is bringing so much of sorrow and difficulty. — From leadership training meeting, Pleasant Grove, Utah, Jan. 18, 2003

The crowning element

There is no union more sacred or more beautiful than a happily married husband and wife. There is no association that even approximates in the bonds of love, tenderness, and respect a family of parents and children. I ask, would the God of heaven, who is our divine Father who loves us, fail to provide a means whereby His most precious creation, the human family, could not continue after the curtains of death quietly close? Our Heavenly Father has made provision for this. It is one of the great elements, the crowning element, of all that has come to us through the restoration of the gospel.

But this marvelous blessing is conditional. We must be worthy of it. We must deserve it and work for it. We must desire it, and we must be willing to extend this same blessing to those of our forebears who lived when this blessing was not available. — From member meeting, Sacramento California Temple Groundbreaking, Aug. 22, 2004

We cannot be hypocrites

Brethren, we cannot be hypocrites, we men who hold this priesthood. This is divine authority. This is a part of the very essence of Godhood which has been given to us in this dispensation to carry forward the work of God in the earth. We cannot stoop to unseemly and unbecoming behavior as His sons. — From leadership meeting, Spanish Fork Utah Regional Conference, Feb. 15, 2003