My dear brothers and sisters, I pray
humbly that the Spirit of the Lord
will be with us as I speak today.
My heart is full of gratitude to the Lord, whose Church this
is, for the inspiration we have felt in fervent prayers,
inspired sermons, and angelic singing in this conference.
Last April, President Thomas S. Monson
gave a message that stirred hearts across the world,
including mine.
He spoke of the power of the Book of Mormon.
He urged us to study, ponder, and apply its teachings.
He promised that if we dedicated time each day to studying
and pondering and kept the commandments the Book of Mormon
that it contains, we would have a vital testimony of its truth,
and the resultant testimony of the living Christ
would see us through to safety in times of trouble.
Like many of you, I heard the prophet's words
as the voice of the Lord to me.
And also like many of you, I decided to obey those words.
Now, since I was a young boy, I have felt the witness
that the Book of Mormon is the word of God,
that the Father and the Son appeared and spoke
with Joseph Smith, and that ancient Apostles came
to the Prophet Joseph to restore priesthood keys to the Lord's
Church.
With that testimony, I have read the Book of Mormon every day
for more than 50 years.
So perhaps I could reasonably have
thought that President Monson's words were for someone else.
Yet, like many of you, I felt the prophet's encouragement
and his promise invite me to make a greater effort.
Many of you have done what I did: prayed
with increased intent, pondered scripture more intently,
and tried harder to serve the Lord and others for Him.
The happy result for me, and for many of you,
has been what the prophet promised.
Those of us who took his inspired counsel to heart
have heard the Spirit more distinctly.
We have found a greater power to resist temptation and have
felt greater faith in a resurrected Jesus Christ,
in His gospel, and in His living Church.
In a season of increasing tumult in the world,
those increases in testimony have driven out doubt and fear
and have brought us feelings of peace.
Heeding President Monson's counsel
has had two other wonderful effects for me.
First, the Spirit he promised has
produced a sense of optimism about what
lies ahead, even as the commotion in the world
seems to increase.
And second, the Lord has given me--and you--an even greater
feeling of His love for those in distress.
We have felt an increase in the desire
to go to the rescue of others.
That desire has been at the heart of President Monson's
ministry and teaching.
The Lord promised love for others and courage
to the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery
when the tasks ahead of them could have seemed overwhelming.
The Lord said that needed courage
would come from their faith in Him as their rock:
"Fear not to do good, my sons, for whatsoever ye sow, that
shall ye also reap; therefore, if ye sow good ye shall also
reap good for your reward.
"Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good;
let earth and hell combine against you,
for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail.
"Behold, I do not condemn you; go your ways and sin no more;
perform with soberness the work which I have commanded you.
"Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.
"Behold the wounds which pierced my side, and also
the prints of the nails in my hands and feet;
be faithful, keep my commandments, and ye
shall inherit the kingdom of heaven."
The Lord told His leaders of the Restoration,
and He tells us, that when we stand with faith upon His rock,
doubt and fear are diminished; the desire
to do good increases.
As we accept President Monson's invitation
to plant in our hearts a testimony of Jesus Christ,
we gain the power, the desire, and the courage
to go to the rescue of others without concern
for our own needs.
I have seen that faith and courage many times
when believing Latter-day Saints have faced fearsome trials.
For one example, I was in Idaho when the Teton Dam
broke on June 5, 1976.
A wall of water came down.
Thousands fled from their homes.
Thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed.
Miraculously, fewer than 15 people were killed.
What I saw there, I have seen whenever Latter-day Saints
stand firmly on the rock of a testimony of Jesus Christ.
Because they have no doubt He watches over them,
they become fearless.
They ignore their own trials to go to the relief of others.
And they do so out of love for the Lord, asking no recompense.
For example, when the Teton Dam broke,
a Latter-day Saint couple was traveling miles away
from their home.
As soon as they heard the news on the radio,
they hurried back to Rexburg.
Rather than going to their own home
to see if it was destroyed, they went looking for their bishop.
He was in a building that was being
used as the recovery center.
He was helping to direct the thousands of volunteers
who were arriving in yellow school buses.
The couple walked up to the bishop
and said, "We just got back.
Bishop, where can we go to help?"
He gave them the names of a family.
That couple stayed mucking out mud and water in one home
after another.
They worked from dawn to dark for days.
They finally took a break to go see about their own home.
It was gone in the flood, leaving nothing to clean up.
So they turned around quickly to go again to their bishop.
They asked, "Bishop, do you have someone for us to help?"
That miracle of quiet courage and charity--the pure love
of Christ--has been repeated over the years and across
the world.
It happened in the terrible days of the persecutions and trials
at the time of the Prophet Joseph Smith in Missouri.
It happened as Brigham Young led the exodus from Nauvoo
and then called Saints to desert places
all over the western United States
to help each other create Zion for the Lord.
If you read the journal entries of those pioneers,
you see the miracle of faith driving out doubt and fear.
And you read of Saints leaving their own interests
to help someone else for the Lord
before getting back to their own sheep
or to their own unplowed fields.
I saw that same miracle a few short days
ago in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma in Puerto
Rico, Saint Thomas, and Florida, where
Latter-day Saints partnered with other churches, local community
groups, and national organizations
to begin cleanup efforts.
Like my friends in Rexburg, one nonmember couple in Florida
focused on helping the community rather than
laboring on their own property.
When some Latter-day Saint neighbors offered help
with the two large trees blocking their driveway,
the couple explained that they had been overwhelmed
and so had turned to helping others,
having faith the Lord would provide the aid they
needed at their own home.
The husband then shared that before our Church members
arrived with offers of assistance,
the couple had been praying.
They had received an answer that help would come.
It came within hours of that assurance.
I have heard a report that some have started
calling the Latter-day Saints who
are wearing yellow Helping Hands T-shirts "The Yellow Angels."
One Latter-day Saint took her car in for service,
and the man helping her described
the "spiritual experience" he had
when people in yellow shirts removed trees from his yard
and then, he said, they "sang a song to me about being
a child of God."
[LAUGHTER]
Another Florida resident--also not of our faith--
related that Latter-day Saints came to her home
when she was working in her devastated yard
and feeling overwhelmed, overheated, and close to tears.
The volunteers created, in her words, "a pure miracle."
They served not only with diligence but with laughter
and smiles, accepting nothing in return.
I saw that diligence and heard that laughter
when, late on a Saturday, I visited
with a group of Latter-day Saints in Florida.
The volunteers stopped their cleanup labor long enough
to let me shake some hands.
They said that 90 members of their stake in Georgia
had created a plan to join in the rescue
in Florida just the night before.
THEY LEFT GEORGIA AT 4: 00 in the morning, drove for hours,
worked through the day and into the night,
and planned to labor again the next day.
They described it all with smiles and good humor.
The only stress I sensed was that they
wanted to stop being thanked so they could get back to work.
The stake president had restarted his chainsaw
and was working on a downed tree,
and a bishop was moving tree limbs
as we got into our vehicle to go to the next rescue team.
I don't think they even waved back to us.
They were so busy.
Earlier that day, as we pulled away from another site,
a man walked up to the car, took off his hat,
and thanked us for the volunteers.
He said, "I'm not a member of your church.
I can't believe what you have done for us.
God bless you."
The LDS volunteer standing next to him In his yellow shirt
smiled and shrugged his shoulders,
as if he deserved no praise.
While the volunteers from Georgia
had come to help this man who couldn't believe it,
hundreds of Latter-day Saints from that very devastated part
of Florida had gone hundreds of miles
to another place in Florida where they had heard
the people were harder hit.
That day I remembered, and understood better,
the prophetic words of the Prophet Joseph Smith:
"A man filled with the love of God,
is not content with blessing his family alone,
but ranges through the whole world,
[in this case all of Florida,] anxious to bless the whole
human race."
We see such love in the lives of Latter-day Saints everywhere.
Each time there is a tragic event
anywhere in the world, Latter-day Saints donate
and volunteer to the Church's humanitarian efforts.
An appeal is seldom needed.
In fact, on some occasions, we have
to ask those who would volunteer to wait
to travel to the recovery site until those directing the work
are prepared to receive them.
That desire to bless is the fruit
of people gaining a testimony of Jesus Christ, His gospel,
His restored Church, and His prophet.
That is why the Lord's people doubt not and fear not.
That is why missionaries volunteer for service
in every corner of the world.
That is why parents pray with their children for others.
That is why leaders challenge their youth
to take President Monson's request to immerse themselves
in the Book of Mormon to heart.
The fruit comes not by being urged by leaders,
but by the youth and members acting on faith.
That faith, put into action, which
requires selfless sacrifice, brings the change of heart
that allows them to feel the love of God.
Our hearts, however, remain changed
only as we continue to follow the prophet's counsel.
If we stop trying after one burst of effort,
the change will fade.
Faithful Latter-day Saints have increased their faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Book
of Mormon as the word of God, and in the restoration
of priesthood keys in His true Church.
That increased testimony has given us
greater courage and concern for others of God's children.
But the challenges and opportunities
ahead will require even more.
We cannot foresee the details, but we know the larger picture.
We know that in the last days, the world will be in commotion.
We know that in the midst of whatever trouble comes,
the Lord will lead faithful Latter-day Saints to take
the gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation, kindred, tongue,
and people.
And we know that the Lord's true disciples
will be worthy and prepared to receive Him
when He comes again.
We need not fear.
So, as much as we have already built faith and courage
in our hearts, the Lord expects more from us--and from
the generations after us.
They will need to be stronger and braver
because they will do even greater and harder things
than we have done.
And they will face increasing opposition
from the enemy of our souls.
The way to optimism as we go forward was given by the Lord:
"Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not."
President Monson told us how to do that.
We are to ponder and apply the Book of Mormon
and the words of prophets.
Pray always.
Be believing.
Serve the Lord with all our heart, might, mind,
and strength.
We are to pray with all the energy of our hearts
for the gift of charity, the pure love of Christ.
And above all, we are to be consistent and persistent
in following prophetic counsel.
When the way is difficult, we can rely
on the Lord's promise--the promise President Monson has
often reminded us of when he has often quoted these words
of the Savior: "Whoso receiveth you, there I will be also,
for I will go before your face.
I will be on your right hand and on your left,
and my Spirit shall be in your hearts,
and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."
I testify that the Lord goes before your face
whenever you are on His errand.
Sometimes you will be the angel the Lord sends
to bear others up.
Sometimes you will be the one surrounded
by angels who bear you up.
But always you will have His Spirit to be in your heart,
as you have been promised in every sacrament service.
You have only to keep His commandments.
The best days are ahead for the kingdom of God on the earth.
Opposition will strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ,
as it has since the days of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Faith always defeats fear.
Standing together produces unity.
And your prayers for those in need
are heard and answered by a loving God.
He neither slumbers nor does He sleep.
I bear my witness that God the Father lives and wants
you to come home to Him.
This is the true Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He knows you, He loves you, and He watches over you.
He atoned for your sins and mine and the sins of all
of Heavenly Father's children.
Following Him in your life and in your service to others
is the only way to eternal life.
I so testify and leave you my blessing and my love.
In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.