Helping priesthood holders recognize that they are prepared for that role and to draw courage from it was President Henry B. Eyring's stated purpose in his priesthood session address.

"We may come to think of priesthood preparation as occurring in the Aaronic Priesthood years," said President Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency. "But our Heavenly Father has been preparing us since we were taught at His knee in His kingdom before we were born. He is preparing us tonight. And, He will continue to prepare us as long as we will let Him."

Part of priesthood preparation in mortality will be opportunities to serve and teach others, President Eyring said. "It may include being teachers, wise and loving fathers, members of a quorum and missionaries for the Lord. The Lord will offer the opportunities, but whether we are prepared will depend on us."

President Eyring listed some of the ways the Lord prepares His priesthood servants.

"First, He calls people, young and old, who appear to worldly eyes, and even themselves to be weak and simple. The Lord can turn those apparent weaknesses into strengths. Knowing that will change the way the wise leader chooses to train. And it can change how the priesthood holder responds to the development opportunities he is offered."

He told a personal experience when his bishop called him as a youth one Sunday afternoon and said, "I need your help." The bishop asked him as the newly called first assistant in the priests quorum to go with him as his companion to visit a woman who was without food and needed to learn to manage her finances better.

"He saw in me a golden opportunity to prepare a priesthood holder in whom he saw promise," President Eyring remarked. "I am sure that he did not foresee in that untrained boy a future member of the Presiding Bishopric. But he treated me that day, and all the days I knew him over the years, as a preparation project he loved to work on."

President Eyring told of a testimony recently given by a deacons quorum president. "He said he knew that he had been able to help the new deacons when they felt overwhelmed because he had felt that way when he came into the priesthood."

Citing Paul's counsel to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12-14, 16, President Eyring remarked, "Paul gave good counsel for all of us. Don't worry about how inexperienced you are but think about what, with the Lord's help, you can become."

He advised that priesthood holders are being prepared for service that will become more challenging with time.

"Our bodies age as we do," he said. "Our capacity to learn and remember what we have read will diminish. To give priesthood service the Lord expects of us will take more and more self-discipline every day of our lives. We can be prepared for that test by building faith through service as we go."

Referring to the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood, President Eyring said it is a covenant with God to keep all His commandments and serve as He would serve.

"Great priesthood trainers have shown me how to build that strength," he said. "It is to form a habit of pushing on through fatigue and fear that make me think of quitting. The Lord's great mentors have shown me that spiritual staying power comes from working past the point when others would have taken a rest."

He said President Thomas S. Monson at the end of almost every meeting asks the secretary to the First Presidency, "Am I up to date on my work?"

"And he always smiles when the answer comes back, 'Yes, President, you are,'" President Eyring said. "President Monson's pleased smile sends a message to me. It makes me think, 'Is there something more I could do on my assignments?' And then I go back to my office to work."

He said great teachers have shown him how to prepare to keep the oath and covenant when time and age make it harder. "They have shown and taught me how to discipline myself to work harder than I thought I could while I still have health and strength. I can't be a perfect servant every hour, but can try to give more effort than I thought I could. With that habit formed early on I will be prepared for trials later. You and I can be prepared with the strength to keep our oath and covenant through the tests that will surely come at the end of life."

President Eyring told of being in a Church Board of Education meeting chaired by President Spencer W. Kimball who, by then, had given many years of service while enduring a series of health challenges. At one point in the meeting, President Kimball slumped in his chair. President Eyring said he and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland carried him back to his nearby office. While they were doing so President Kimball urged them to be careful and not hurt their backs. In the office, he asked, "Don't you think that you ought to get back to the meeting?"

"We left and hurried back, knowing that somehow our being there must matter to the Lord," he said. "President Kimball had since childhood pushed himself beyond his limits of endurance to serve and to love the Lord. It was a habit so ingrained that it was there when he needed it."