Changed for the better
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After spending a few days in Rexburg, Idaho, President Henry B. Eyring said it was a joy to return to the BYU-Idaho campus to speak at the weekly devotional held June 9.
"You have been kind and gracious," said President Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency. "We have been welcomed home, but to a home changed for the better."
Reflecting on the changes that have taken place since he served from 1971-77 as President of Rick's College, the predecessor to BYU-Idaho, he said the improvement that touched him the most was the sight of the Rexburg Idaho Temple on the hill, so close to the university.
"My purpose today is to tell you something of the miracle it is to have both the Lord's house and this university on one hill in Rexburg," he said.
President Eyring shared personal experiences of when he was serving in the Presiding Bishopric and was involved in the building of temples. As part of that calling he provided the information requested by the Lord's prophets in an effort to make the choice of where temples would be built throughout the world, as well as similarly difficult decisions about Church universities.
"I use the word 'miracle' in describing the location of this university next to a temple on one hill because I know that only God could have done it. Human judgment would have kept Ricks College a two-year status. … human judgment would have placed the temple somewhere else," President Eyring said. "That this university and this temple are on a hill in Rexburg is a miracle because God, not man, revealed new designs for each and placed them here together."
President Eyring emphasized the importance of revelation to chosen prophets in building temples. Just as the Rexburg Temple was a miracle, President Eyring spoke of the Bountiful Utah Temple, saying that logically it wasn't a place to build a temple. But, through revelation to the prophet, a temple was built.
"The prophet, who holds all the keys of the kingdom, including the keys of the sealing power, is directly accountable to the Lord for temples," he said. "Others may help, but the Lord decides and tells His prophet."
The Rexburg Idaho Temple, built on a hill next to a university, is no exception.
Not only is the location a miracle, President Eyring said, the timing and place of the university and temple together is another example of the Lord's hand working on His people.
The university is led by teachers who are constantly trying to improve education at the university, he said. Adjacent to the faculty at BYU-Idaho, there are temple workers who have been called to invite members of the university community to experience the blessings and continue learning found in the Lord's house.
"The university will likewise encourage a thirst for learning by the Spirit. In concert with the temple, it will build students' confidence that the Spirit can become a constant companion," he said. "The university and the temple are alike in teaching that service to others is a necessary part of inviting the Spirit. The university operates on the principle that everyone is both a teacher and a learner. The university is, like the temple, a place where success can come only if we help others succeed."
"Those two places of learning fit together in their purposes almost as one. They both encourage all that would qualify us to have eternal life. And they both require a high standard of personal worthiness for the companionship of the Spirit."
Although the temple and the school complement each other, President Eyring cited some necessary differences.
The university is continually changing as expanding information, more effective ways of teaching and overall improvement is made. In contrast, the temple's eternal power and ordinances within are the same across every nation and over time, rarely changing, only at the request of the Lord through His prophet.
Yet despite the differences, both of the buildings on the hill come as a blessing that reaches far more than just Rexburg, Idaho.
"All of the people who learn and serve here will be changed for the better," President Eyring said. "Wherever they go they will be more eager to help others, more determined to keep promises, more confident that with God's help we can accomplish hard things and more inclined to give credit for success to others but mostly to God."
As people go up the hill to the university and temple, they are moving upward in faith, he noted.
"What I have seen in my visit here assures me that the lofty goal of creating a community of learners changed by the Atonement, blessed by the Holy Ghost, is possible," President Eyring said. "I am sure that by aligning ourselves with the Lord's purposes we will, with His power, reach the lofty goals He has given us."
