Reach out, extend 'hand that helps'
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Two weeks after presiding at the Church's 179th Semiannual General Conference, President Thomas S. Monson was back in the Conference Center speaking to Church members from 109 stakes located on the south end of the Salt Lake Valley on Sunday, Oct. 18.
He asked the congregation — which included thousands of Church members participating via satellite — to reach out to the aged, the widowed, the sick, the handicapped and the less-active members of the Church.
"All too often, they are found in the parched and desolate wilderness of isolation called loneliness...," he said. "Extend to them the hand that helps and the heart that knows compassion," said President Monson.
Reaching out to another "will bring joy into their hearts," he said. And, he added, "we ourselves will experience the rich satisfaction which comes to us when we help another along the pathway to eternal life."
President Monson presided over and was the concluding speaker at the meeting, conducted by Elder Claudio R.M. Costa of the Presidency of the Seventy. Other speakers included Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve; Sister Vicki F. Matsumori, second counselor in the Primary General Presidency; F. Wayne Chamberlain, president of the Jordan River Utah Temple; and Sheldon F. Child, president of the Salt Lake Temple.
In addition, thousands of local Church priesthood leaders gathered in the Conference Center a day earlier for a priesthood leadership meeting. President Monson, Elder Hales, Elder Costa, Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple President Alan S. Layton, Draper Utah Temple President Donald L. Staheli, and Utah Salt Lake City South Mission President G. Steven Laney addressed the local Church leaders.
In his remarks in the general session, President Monson said in the nearly 46 years since he was first called to the Church's Quorum of the Twelve, it has been his privilege to visit personally many of the 109 stakes represented at the conference.
"There are so many stakes in the Church today that it is not possible for one person to visit all of them," he said. "I want you to know, however, that I love each of you. Your dedication to the gospel of Jesus Christ is appreciated. You respond willingly to the calls that come to you. You look after each other. You 'lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees,' as the scripture encourages us to do. Thank you for your dedicated and devoted service."
Elder Hales began his remarks by speaking about President Monson. "I have known him many years," he said. "I have traveled with him throughout the world."
He told the congregation that the words "caring and loving" describe who President Monson is as a prophet. "That is how he conducts his life," he noted.
He said during weekly temple meetings with the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, each General Authority speaks about what he did with the callings and assignments he has been given.
President Monson, he said, "speaks of his sweetheart. He speaks with appreciation for his family. He speaks of going to care centers and homes and how he gives blessings."
After hearing President Monson speak, Elder Hales said the brethren go into the dressing room and remind themselves "who we should be and how we should conduct our lives."
Elder Hales spoke about the importance of obedience, of partaking of the sacrament and of attending the temple.
"In the eyes of the world, many feel that living the commandments is so limiting and restrictive. But, to me, obedience opens up so much freedom. It makes all of the joy possible."
At the center of what Latter-day Saints believe, Elder Hales continued, is the Savior Jesus Christ. Prophets of all dispensations foretold of the coming of Jesus Christ.
"We must know and feel the spirit of the Atonement in our lives," he emphasized. "We need to not only know it to be true, but we must feel it in our hearts."
He closed by asking Church members to be worthy to attend the temple, be worthy to take the sacrament, and be worthy to follow the prophet's voice.
"Our Heavenly Father and Jesus care about us and want us to return to Them," he said.
Elder Costa asked the congregation to follow the counsel of living prophets.
"It is a great blessing to receive the commandments and guidance of the Lord in these difficult days of the earth. The prophet can be inspired to see the future in benefit of mankind. …
"We learn from the scripture that the Lord will reveal to His prophets absolutely anything that He feels is necessary to communicate to us, His church. The Lord will reveal His will to us through His living prophets."
Today, Elder Costa said, President Monson has asked Church members to love their fellowman, to serve, to take care of the rising generation, and to rescue the inactive or less-active members of the Church. "We need to understand that these priorities are God's priorities, and the prophet is His voice in communicating it to all of the Church and the world."
He told members of the congregation they would receive blessings by following the prophet. "We have here today our beloved President Thomas S. Monson and Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. They will transmit the word of God and His counsel for us. Pay attention and obey their teachings, and I testify to you that your life will be completely blessed, as the lives of my family have been."
Sister Matsumori said Church members from other areas often imply that it is easier to be a Latter-day Saint in Utah – where there are many temples and meetinghouses within walking distance – than in other parts of the world. "May I suggest that, at times, it is not easier – but actually more difficult to be faithful if we have become so reliant on the testimony of others that we have not developed our own testimonies and made personal commitments to live the standards of the Church at all times and in all places."
She said that when Church members live in this area, surrounded by loving family members and good friends, they might not make a conscious decision to live LDS standards.
"Without our own testimony, when challenges come or when we are placed in situations when we do not have a support system, we may waver in our resolve," she said. "Each of us must choose today."
Individuals choose to serve the Lord, she said, when they live the standards of the Church, including being modest, avoiding degrading material and using only uplifting language.
President Child said temple building and temple worship have always been part of Heavenly Father's plan.
"The temples are built," he told the congregation that lives where two new temples were recently dedicated. "It is now up to us to fill them."
President Chamberlain called the temple a "great safeguard" to the home and the family.
"If our prophets and our apostles can set aside two hours each week to attend and worship in the temple, is there a message for us in their example?"
