Pres. Thomas S. Monson visits Toronto members: "Our goal is to obtain celestial glory, and we need to chart our course so that we can reach that goal"
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TORONTO, ONTARIO
From the moment President Thomas S. Monson set foot into the chapel of the Mississauga Ontario Stake center on Sunday morning, June 26, he felt he was in familiar territory as he recognized people he has known for five decades, back to the time he presided over the Canadian Mission.
As the day progressed and he had time to visit after addressing in a combined sacrament meeting members of the Etobicoke and Churchville YSA wards, he met with some of those friends. He immediately recalled incidents from bygone days and put together names with faces. When he met someone with a familiar name but an unfamiliar face he asked what relationship there might be to someone of an older generation.
President Monson returned to Toronto, which was headquarters of the Canadian Mission over which he presided from 1959-1962 to dedicate on June 25 a camp that bears his name.
“What a joy it is, my brothers and sisters, to be here with you this morning,” he said in the sacrament meeting Sunday. “This visit has been a homecoming for me—to be back in this part of the world which I love, not only with cherished friends but also with the children and grandchildren of cherished friends—many of whom have departed mortality.
“How good it is to see my dear friend and your patriarch, Ev Pallin, who served as my first counselor when I was president of the Canadian Mission fifty years ago. There are so many of you I don’t recognize, either by name or by face, but I claim you as friends and fellow saints as well. I feel like something of an adopted Canadian citizen myself. Whenever and wherever I hear the rich strains of ‘O Canada,’ I’m proud and honored to stand.”
He brought greetings from his wife, Sister Frances J. Monson, expressing her love for the members.
He expressed gratitude that their daughter, Ann Dibb, was able to travel to Canada with him. She and her older brother, Tom, attended school in Canada, and her younger brother, Clark, was born in Canada while President Monson served as mission president.
“Those glorious days of presiding over the mission, the rich chapters in our lives that are affiliated with our beloved Canada, will be eternal and cherished memories,” he said.
Addressing members of the Etobicoke and Churchville YSA wards of the Mississauga Ontario Stake in a combined sacrament meeting, President Monson spoke about choices and consequences.
“It has been said that the gate of history turns on small hinges, and so do people’s lives. My brothers and sisters, we become what we choose. Our choices determine our destiny.”
He quoted Joshua in the Old Testament who declared, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve. . .but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Some choices may seem more important than others, he said, but no choice is insignificant. “Our goal is to obtain celestial glory, and we need to chart our course so that we can reach that goal.”
He shared a three-part formula to help achieve the goal of gaining celestial glory:
Fill your mind with faith.
Fill your heart with love.
Fill your life with service.
He said faith has always been a fundamental principle of strength for Latter-day Saints. “Without it we go nowhere. With it we can accomplish anything in building the kingdom of God,” he declared.
He drew from the experience of a couple in Ontario, Roy and Dorothy Fraser, as an example of faith. Parents of seven children, they came to him as their mission president to get recommends to go to the Salt Lake Temple – the nearest to them at that time – to be sealed as a family with their seven children. President Monson said when he saw the old car they had purchased for the trip, he said, “As you know, Canadian winters are cruel to cars, but they had been unusually cruel to this car. Parts of it were held together with baling wire. I said to the Frasers, ‘That car will never get you to Salt Lake City.’
“Sister Fraser responded, ‘That car will get us to the temple in Salt Lake City, and that’s the difference.’”
President Monson said he learned a lesson in faith that day as he waved goodbye to them as they drove from the mission home on their way to Salt Lake City. The Frasers reached their goal.
To illustrate the filling of the heart with love, he spoke of how the Savior ministered among men and his answer to the lawyer who boldly asked, ‘“Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” (Matthew 22:36).
“Matthew records that Jesus said unto him, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matt. 37-39). And Mark concludes the account with the Savior’s statement, ‘There is none other command greater than these’ (Mark 12:31).
“Love is the catalyst that causes change. Love is the balm that brings healing to the soul.”
President Monson spoke of a young man in Toronto who faithfully sat by the bedside of his grandmother, Olive Davies, as she was dying. He said he did it because he loved her and he knew that was what his Heavenly Father would have him do.
Of filling one’s life with service, President Monson spoke of Gustav Wacker, who was a branch president in Kingston, Ontario, when President Monson presided over the Canadian Mission. A barber, he cut hair for the missionaries without charge. Although he earned little money himself, he would pay for a taxi to take missionaries home when it was raining and then he would walk to his own home in the rain.
President Monson said, “Our opportunities to give of ourselves are indeed limitless, but they are also perishable. There are hearts to gladden. There are kind words to say. There are gifts to be given. There are deeds to be done. There are souls to save.
“During your life you may achieve wealth or fame or social standing. Real success, however, comes from helping others.”
After the sacrament meeting, President Monson went with Dorothy Davies to a care center where he visited her husband, Pat, age 94. Brother Davies was the first patriarch of the Toronto Stake, which was created while President Monson presided over the Canadian Mission.
