October 1991 General Conference Sunday Morning Session

Ah, a long hard day at work and the moment to relax and just read highlights from conference talks. :)

Gordon B. Hinckley -Our Mission of Saving

• "That is my religion; that is the dictation of the Holy Ghost that I possess. It is to save the people."
• I wish to remind everyone within my hearing that the comforts we have, the peace we have, and, most important, the faith and knowledge of the things of God that we have, were brought with a terrible price by those who have gone before us.
• In times of despair, in seasons of loneliness and fear, He is there on the horizon to bring succor and comfort and assurance and faith. He is our King, our Savior, our Deliverer, our Lord and our God.
• It is not with those on the high plains of Wyoming that we need be concerned today. It is with many immediately around us, in our families, in our wards and stakes, in our neighborhoods and communities.

Russell M. Nelson -"These ... Were Our Examples"

• Members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir are not superhuman. They are ordinary people with ordinary frailties. But therein lies the power of their example. They believe this promise from the Lord: "Because thou hast seen thy weakness, thou shalt be made strong."
• "Ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls."
• Have you not learned that strength comes to an ordinary soul when given an extraordinary calling?
• "The choir was trying to teach me a better way to live."
• That comment seemed profound to me. What inspired him to feel such a force for good? Was it complicated classical music or the excellence of its rendition? I doubt it. I believe it was more likely communication by the Spirit, which allowed both the giver and receiver to be edified.
• Their quest for knowledge did not begin or end with music. They eagerly studied the culture, history, and ways of the people they had come to serve. On a moment's notice their knowledge of the gospel had to be retrieved when questioned by the media or interested individuals.
• Just think of the good you can do if you accept a difficult challenge and pursue knowledge--then use it to bless others.
• Temperance suggests sobriety and self-restraint in action.
• Temperance can protect each of us from the aftermath of excess.
• "The whole body fitly joined together ... according to the effectual working ... of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."
• Extend that love to countless souls. For those in need, members quietly contributed money, food, and goods. They shared freely of their precious time and talent without any thought of personal acclaim or recompense. Truly, "charity never faileth" any of us.
• Examples of humility should ennoble our souls. 

Charles Didier -Testimony

• "Let me say to you, that many of you will see the time when you will have all the trouble, trial and persecution that you can stand, and plenty of opportunities to show that you are true to God and his work.
• "The time will come when no man nor woman will be able to endure on borrowed light. Each will have to be guided by the light within himself. If you do not have it, how can you stand?"
• Keys of the Spirit of revelation.
•    -Key Number 1 is to know for yourself. Do not be dependent on someone else.
•    -Key Number 2 is to know by the power of the Holy Ghost. Do not look at reason, logic, or the philosophies of men and theories of the world.
•    -Key Number 3 is to know by searching the scriptures and the revelations given and published in our day by the prophets--the First Presidency and the Twelve. Do not listen to apostate, unauthorized voices or speculation.
•    -Key Number 4 is to know by asking your Heavenly Father in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ. Do not turn to public discussions and forums.
• The purpose of having and using certain keys is always very simple: to open the right door with a particular key.

L. Tom Perry -Becoming Self-Reliant

• This is one of the more interesting stories we have in the scriptures because it tells of an instance in which the Lord provided help but then stepped aside to allow one of His sons to exercise his own initiative.
• It is seldom the Lord will do something for us that we can do for ourselves.
• He expects His children to be self-reliant to the degree they can be.
• "Instead of searching after what the Lord is going to do for us, let us inquire what we can do for ourselves."
• Unless we are continuously expanding our understanding and vision, we, too, will become out-of-date.
• Thems that understands it, earns it and thems that don't, pays it."

Thomas S. Monson -Precious Children-- A Gift from God

• It is our solemn duty, our precious privilege--even our sacred opportunity--to welcome to our homes and to our hearts the children who grace our lives.
• Oh, the importance in the lives of our children of teachers who lift their spirits, sharpen their intellects, and motivate their very lives!
• A word of encouragement here and a spiritual thought there can affect a precious life and leave an indelible imprint upon an immortal soul.
• "The Lord has blessed you with a beautiful face and body. Keep the inside just as beautiful as the outside, and you will be blessed with true happiness."
• It is in the home that hope is fostered or destroyed. our homes are the laboratories of our lives. What we do there determines the course of our lives when we leave home.
• "Despite all new inventions and modern designs, fads and fetishes, no one has yet invented, or will ever invent, a satisfying substitute for one's own family."
• A happy home is but an earlier heaven.
• "I love these little people, and it is not a slight thing when they who are so fresh from God love us."
• Children express their love in original and innovative ways.
• "Of all the dear sights in the world, nothing is so beautiful as a child when it is given something. Any small thing it gives. A child gives the world to you. It opens the world to you as if it were a book you'd never been able to read. But when a gift must be found, it is always some absurd little thing, pasted on crooked, ... an angel looking like a clown. A child has so little that it can give, because it never knows it has given you everything."
• When a child prays, God listens.
• Liars, bullies who abuse children, they will one day reap the whirlwind of their foul deeds.
• The Church does not condone such heinous and vile conduct. Rather, we condemn in the harshest of terms such treatment of God's precious children. Let the child be rescued, nurtured, loved, and healed. Let the offender be brought to justice, to accountability, for his actions and receive professional treatment to curtail such wicked and devilish conduct. When you and I know of such conduct and fail to take action to eradicate it, we become part of the problem. We share part of the guilt. We experience part of the punishment.
• May the laughter of children gladden our hearts. May the faith of children soothe our souls. May the love of children prompt our deeds.

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi