October 2006 General Conference -Sunday Afternoon

Gordon B. Hinckley -The Faith to Move Mountains

• In the on-working of this great cause, increased faith is what we most need. Without it, the work would stagnate. With it, no one can stop its progress.

Boyd K. Packer -A Defense and a Refuge

• We are bound to the standards by covenants, as administered through the ordinances of the gospel by those who have received priesthood and the keys of authority.
• Those faithful Brethren were not free, and we are not free, to alter the standards or to ignore them. We must live by them.
• It is not a cure or a comfort to simply say they do not matter. We all know they do matter, for all mankind is "instructed sufficiently that they know good from evil."
• It is a true principle that you cannot lift yourself by putting others down.
• Some suppose that our high standards will repel growth. It is just the opposite. High standards are a magnet. We are all children of God, drawn to the truth and to good.
• Fear is the opposite of faith.
• If a well-worn yellow bandanna was good enough to be an ensign to the world, then ordinary men who hold the priesthood and ordinary women and ordinary children in ordinary families, living the gospel as best they can all over the world, can shine forth as a standard, a defense, a refuge against whatever is to be poured out upon the earth.

David A. Bednar -And Nothing Shall Offend Them

• The time to stop being offended is now.
• It ultimately is impossible for another person to offend you or to offend me. Indeed, believing that another person offended us is fundamentally false. To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else.
• Endowed with agency, you and I are agents, and we primarily are to act and not just be acted upon. To believe that someone or something can make us feel offended, angry, hurt, or bitter diminishes our moral agency and transforms us into objects to be acted upon. As agents, however, you and I have the power to act and to choose how we will respond to an offensive or hurtful situation.
• The Church is not "a well-provisioned rest home for the already perfected." Rather, the Church is a learning laboratory and a workshop in which we gain experience as we practice on each other in the ongoing process of "perfecting the Saints."
• In some way and at some time, someone in this Church will do or say something that could be considered offensive. Such an event will surely happen to each and every one of us--and it certainly will occur more than once. Though people may not intend to injure or offend us, they nonetheless can be inconsiderate and tactless.
• You and I cannot control the intentions or behavior of other people. However, we do determine how we will act. Please remember that you and I are agents endowed with moral agency, and we can choose not to be offended.
• One of the greatest indicators of our own spiritual maturity is revealed in how we respond to the weaknesses, the inexperience, and the potentially offensive actions of others. A thing, an event, or an expression may be offensive, but you and I can choose not to be offended--and to say with Pahoran, "it mattereth not."

A. Roger Merrill -Receiving by the Spirit

• One cannot help but wonder how many gifts and blessings surround us that we do not receive. The Lord has said: "For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift."
• First, they seek.
• Second, those who receive, feel.
• Third, those who receive by the Spirit intend to act.

Craig A. Cardon -Moving Closer to Him

• Unfortunately, there are few within the Church who exhibit greater charity toward nonfamily members than toward their own spouses and children, siblings and parents. They may show feigned kindness publicly while privately sowing and cultivating seeds of contention, demeaning those who should be closest to them. These things should not be.

Don R. Clarke -Becoming Instruments in the Hands of God

• A person does not need to have a Church calling, an invitation to help someone, or even good health to become an instrument in God's hands.
• First, of all, we must have love for God's children.
• We must be willing to journey.
• Learn the importance of fasting and prayer.
• We ... also need to be receptive to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, for when we desire to be an instrument in the hands of God, we can receive revelation.
• "You can be powerful instruments in the hands of God to help bring about this great work. ... You can do something for another person that no one else ever born can do."

Keith R. Edwards -That They Might Know Thee

• "Know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."
• Although suffering may provide insight, we must be careful not to compare but rather to appreciate.

Larry W. Gibbons -Wherefore, Settle This in Your Hearts

• If God created us, it is not logical that He would then leave us alone. It makes sense He would give us guidance. Some of this guidance has come in the form of what we call commandments.
• Commandments are not given to burden or restrict us. Rather, they are guideposts from an all-wise Heavenly Father to keep us out of trouble, to bring us a fullness of happiness in this life, and to bring us safely back home to Him.
• "... I am not diminished by being told there are certain things I may not do because they are wrong. Rather, it enhances me."
• "The Lord has given us His standards of worthiness. He has not done it to keep us away from Him but to draw us to Him."
• We cannot keep one foot in the Church and one foot in the world. One reason is the world and the Church are rapidly diverging. We will lose our balance.
• "As Latter-day Saints we need not look like the world. We need not entertain like the world. Our personal habits should be different. Our recreation should be different."
• Brothers and sisters, let's sell that summer cottage in Babylon. Let us be not "almost" but "altogether" Latter-day Saints.
• "There is but one path of safety to the Latter-day Saints, and that is the path of duty. It is not a testimony, it is not marvelous manifestations, it is not knowing that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true, ... it is not actually knowing that the Savior is the Redeemer, and that Joseph Smith was His prophet, that will save you and me, but it is the keeping of the commandments of God, the living the life of a Latter-day Saint."
• You lived with your Heavenly Father in a premortal life. You were there with Him. Your spirit knows what it is like to live in celestial realms. You can never be truly happy in an uncelestial environment. You know too much. That is one of the reasons that for you, wickedness never can be happiness. What a great thing it is to decide once and for all early in life what you will do and what you will not do with regards to honesty, modesty, chastity, the Word of Wisdom, and temple marriage.
• Brothers and sisters, stay on the straight and narrow path. No, stay in the middle  of the straight and narrow path. Don't drift; don't wander; don't dabble' be careful.
• Remember, do not flirt with evil. Stay out of the devil's territory. Do not give Satan any home-field advantage. Living the commandments will bring you the happiness that too many look for in other places.

Jeffrey R. Holland -Prophets in the Land Again

• First, they declare eagerly and unequivocally that there is again a living prophet on the earth speaking in the name of the Lord.
• Secondly, each of these conferences marks a call to action not only in our own lives but also on behalf of others around us, those who are of our own family and faith and those who are not.
• Lastly, a general conference of the Church is a declaration to all the world that Jesus is the Christ that He and His Father, the God and Father of us all, appeared to the boy prophet Joseph Smith in fulfillment of that ancient promise that the resurrected Jesus of Nazareth would again restore His Church on earth and again "come in like manner as [those Judean Saints had] seen him [ascend] into heaven."

Gordon B. Hinckley -Closing Remarks

• We wish that there were peace in the earth and constantly pray that I may come.

General Relief Society Meeting

Bonnie D. Parkin -Eternally Encircled in His Love

• I fear sometimes we see the Lord's love only in the big events in our lives; we must also see his love in the smallest of things. Don't underestimate your ability to share His love through a simple, genuine gesture such as sitting next to another sister and making her feel welcome.

Kathleen H. Hughes -Remembering the Lord's Love

• Everyday, when I seek it, I experience the Lord's love in my life and feel His arms encircle me.
• The Lord is everywhere when we open our eyes and hearts to His love.
• Women are asked to be nurturers to their families, but we must also be firm; we must be the hard rock footings on which our homes can stand. Our families need us to speak peace to them, just as the Lord speaks peace to us.

Anne C. Pingree -To Look, Reach, and Come unto Christ

• We must demonstrate that faith in the Lord has penetrated our hearts deeply enough to move us to action.
• He extends "the arm of mercy towards them that put their trust in him."

Gordon B. Hinckley -In the Arms of His Love

• Relief Society stands for love.
• It is the natural instinct of women to reach out in love to those in distress and need.
• Relief Society stands for education.
• Relief Society stands for self-reliance.
• Relief Society means sacrifice.
• "God bless you, mothers. When all the victories and defeats of men's efforts are tallied, when the dust of life's battles begins to settle, when all for which we labor so hard in this world of conquest fades before our eyes, you will be there, you must be there, as the strength for a new generation, the ever-improving onward movement of the race."
• Relief Society means faith.
• Now, my dear sisters, just a word in conclusion. I remind you that you are not second-class citizens in the kingdom of God. You are His divine creation. Men hold the priesthood. Yours is a different role, but also extremely important. Without you, our Father's plan of happiness would be frustrated and have no real meaning. You are 50 percent of the membership of the Church and mothers of the other 50 percent. No one can dismiss you lightly.

Until you next read these words;

I'll be watching the leaves.

Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi