President Henry B. Eyring: Learning in the priesthood
E-mail story
It's easy. Send a link to the story you were just reading to a friend. Just fill out the form on this page and we'll send it along.
Your name and e-mail address are transmitted to the recipient. Otherwise, it is considered private information; see Privacy policy.
181st Annual General Conference — Church News coverage
Contrasting his experience as a youth where he was the only deacon in his New Jersey branch to later being a member of a deacons quorum in Utah, President Henry B. Eyring said, "It wasn't the well-established ward that made the difference. What was there could be anywhere, in whatever unit of the Church you are in."
President Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency, was referring to three things that sped his growth in the priesthood: a president who knew how to sit in council with his quorum members, great faith in Jesus Christ that led to love one for another in the quorum, and a shared conviction that the overarching priesthood purpose was to labor for the salvation of men.
"These three things may have been so much a part of your experience in the priesthood that you hardly notice them," he remarked. "For others you may not feel the need for growth so these helps may be invisible to you. Either way, I pray that the Spirit will help me make them clear and attractive to you."
President Eyring spoke of being a priest, with the bishop of the ward serving as president of the priests quorum.
"As nearly as I could tell, he treated the opinions of young priests as if we were the wisest men in the world," he said. "He waited until all who would speak had spoken. He listened. And when he decided what should be done, it seemed to me that the Spirit confirmed the decisions to us and to him."
Twenty years later as a bishop, President Eyring would see the effectiveness of a council. He told of being in the mountains during a Saturday activity when a priests quorum member became lost in the forest overnight. Searching without success, the quorum prayed together and then each spoke. "After a while, a feeling of peace settled on us. I felt that our lost quorum member was safe and dry somewhere."
When searchers found the lost quorum member and described where he was located, Bishop Eyring felt he recognized it.
"The miracle for me was to see the power of the faith in Jesus Christ of a united priesthood council bring revelation to the man with the priesthood keys," he said. "We all grew that day in the power of the priesthood."
A key to increased learning in the priesthood is to have mutual love that comes from great faith, President Eyring said. "I have seen it both a cause and an effect of learning gospel truths. Love invites the Holy Ghost to be present to confirm truth. And the joy of learning divine truths creates love in the hearts of people who shared the experience of learning."
He said the reverse is true as well, that discord or jealousy inhibits the ability of the Holy Ghost to teach and for priesthood holders to receive light and truth.
"With enough of the pure love of Christ and a desire to be peacemakers, unity is possible in council and in classes," President Eyring said. "It takes patience and humility, but I have seen it happen even when issues are difficult and the people in councils or classes come from vastly different backgrounds."
A shared conviction about why the Lord blesses and trusts men to hold the priesthood is another aid to learning in the priesthood, President Eyring said. "It is to labor for the salvation of men. This shared conviction brings unity in quorums."
He told of visiting an aging high priest in his home. The man, under the care of a nurse, expressed disappointment at not being able to get her baptized into the Church.
"He knew that the only way that young woman could have the blessing of salvation through the gospel of Jesus Christ was to make a covenant by being baptized," President Eyring commented. "He had been taught according to the covenants by every president of every quorum from the deacons to the high priests.
"He remembered and felt his own oath and covenant in the priesthood. He was still keeping it."
President Eyring told priesthood holders they should not only learn priesthood lessons in this life but they should be optimistic about what is possible. He told of a young man who left his Welsh village, came into the kingdom of God on earth, sailed with the saints to America and drove a wagon west across the plains. "His priesthood service included clearing and breaking ground for a farm."
The man sold the farm for pennies on the dollar to serve a mission for the Lord in the deserts to take care of sheep, President Eyring recounted. He then was called to serve a mission in the very village he had left.
While there, he contacted a man who was four times the prime minister of England. He could not persuade the man to accept baptism.
"But as they parted, that leader of one of the great empires of the world asked the humble missionary, 'Where did you get your education?'" President Eyring said. "His answer: 'In the priesthood of God.'"
