General Conference October 2011 -Sunday Morning

Henry B. Erying -A Witness

• The effect of the Book of Mormon on your character, power, and courage to be a witness for God is certain.

Robert D. Hales -Waiting upon the Lord: Thy Will Be Done

• The purpose of our life on earth is to grow, develop, and be strengthened through our own experiences.
• In my life I have learned that sometimes I do not receive an answer to a prayer because the Lord knows I am not ready. When He does answer, it is often "here a little and there a little" because that is all that I can bear or all I am willing to do.
• Too often we pray to have patience, but we want it right now.
• Sincere prayer is answered 'sometime, somewhere.
• Every one of us is more beloved to the Lord than we can possibly understand or imagine. Let us therefore be kinder to one another and kinder toward ourselves.

Tad R. Callister -The Book of Mormon--a Book from God

• That is the genius of the Book of Mormon--there is no middle ground. It is either the word of God as professed, or it is a total fraud. This book does not merely claim to be a moral treatise or theological commentary or collection of insightful writings. It claims to be the word of God--every sentence, every verse, every page. Joseph Smith declared that an angel of God directed him to gold plates, which contained the writings of prophets in ancient America, and that he translated those plates by divine powers. If that story is true, then the Book of Mormon is holy scripture, just as it professes to be; if not, it is a sophisticated but, nonetheless, diabolical hoax.
• "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I am ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. ... You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. ... But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
• "And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?"
• If the foregoing scriptures from the Book of Mormon teach us to worship and love and serve the Savior (which they do), how can they be from the devil? If so, he would be divided against himself and thus be destroying his own kingdom, the very condition the Savior said could not exist.

Elaine S. Dalton -Love Her Mother

• "The most important thing a father can do for his [daughter] is to love [her] mother." By the way you love her mother, you will teach your daughter about tenderness, loyalty, respect, compassion, and devotion. She will learn from your example what to expect from young men and what qualities to seek in a future spouse. You can show your daughter by the way you love and honor your wife that she should never settle for less. Your example will teach your daughter to value womanhood. You are showing her that she is a daughter of our Heavenly Father, who loves her.
• Your example, as her father, speaks louder than our important words.
• Your personal virtue will model for your daughters, and also your sons, what true strength and moral courage are. By being a guardian of virtue in your own life, in your home, and in the lives of your children, you are showing your wife and daughters what true love really is. Your personal purity will give you power.
• Be present in your daughter's life.
• If in her teenage years she should not come home from a date on time, go get her. She will resist and tell you that you have ruined her social life, but she will inwardly know that you love her and that you care enough to be her guardian.
• You are not ordinary men. Because of your valiance in the premortal realms, you qualified to be leaders and to possess priesthood power. There you exhibited and to posses priesthood power. There you exhibited "exceedingly faith and good works," and you are here now to do the same. Your priesthood sets you apart.
• Fathers, you are your daughter's hero.

M. Russell Ballard -The Importance of a Name

• The words Church of Jesus Christ declare that it is His Church. In the Book of Mormon, Jesus taught: "And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses' name then it be Moses' church; or if it be called in the name of a man [like Mormon] then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel."
• The name the Savior has given to His Church tells us exactly who we are and what we believe. We believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior and the Redeemer of the world. He atoned for all who would repent of their sins, and He broke the bands of death and provided the resurrection from the dead. We follow Jesus Christ.
• People and organizations are often given nicknames by others. A nickname may be a shortened form of a name, or it may be derived from an event or some physical or other characteristic. While nicknames do not have the same status or significance as actual names, they can be properly used.
• The Lord's Church in both ancient and modern times has had nicknames. The Saints in New Testament times were called Christians because they professed a belief in Jesus Christ. That name, first used derogatorily by their detractors, is now a name of distinction; and we are honored to be called a Christian church.
• Our members have been called Mormons because we believe in the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Others may try to use the word Mormon more broadly to include and refer to those who have left the Church and formed various splinter groups. Such use only leads to confusion. We are grateful for the efforts of the media to refrain from using the word Mormon in a way that may cause the public to confuse the Church with polygamists or other fundamentalist groups. Let me state clearly that no polygamist group, including those calling themselves fundamentalist Mormons or other derivatives of our name, has an affiliation whatsoever with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• While Mormon is not the full and correct name of the Church, and even though it was originally given by our detractors during our early years of persecution, it has become an acceptable nickname when applied to members rather than the institution. We do not need to stop using the name Mormon when appropriate, but we should continue to give emphasis to the full and correct name of the Church itself. In other words, we should avoid and discourage the term "Mormon Church."

Thomas S. Monson -Stand in Holy Places 

• Also evolving at a rapid rate has been the moral compass of society. Behaviors which once were considered inappropriate and immoral are now not only tolerated but also viewed by ever so many as acceptable.
• "There are large parts of [the world] where religion is a thing of the past and there is no counter-voice to the culture of buy it, spend it, wear it, flaunt it, because you're worth it. The message is that morality is passé, conscience is for wimps, and the single overriding command is 'Thou shalt not be found out.'"
• My brothers and sisters, this--unfortunately--describes much of the world around us. Do we wring our hands in despair and wonder how we'll ever survive in such a world? No. Indeed, we have in our lives the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we know that morality is not passé, that our conscience is there to guide us, and that we are responsible for our actions.
• Although the world has changed, the laws of God remain constant. They have not changed, the laws of God remain constant. They have not changed; they will not change. The Ten Commandments are just that--commandments. They are not suggestions. They are every bit as requisite today as they were when God gave them to the children of Israel. If we but listen, we hear the echo of God's voice, speaking to us here and now:
• "Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
• "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
• "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
• "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
• "Honour thy father and thy mother.
• "Thou shalt not kill.
• "Thou shalt not commit adultery.
• "Thou shalt not steal.
• "Thou shalt not bear false witness.
• "Thou shalt not covet."
• Our code of conduct is definitive; it is not negotiable.
• It may appear to you at times that those out in the world are having much more fun than you are. Some of you may feel restricted by the code of conduct to which we in the Church adhere. My brothers and sisters, I declare to you, however, that there is nothing which can bring more joy into our lives or more peace to our souls than the Spirit which can come us as we follow the Savior and keep the commandments. That Spirit cannot be present at the kinds of activities in which so much of the world participates.
• "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

Until you next read these words;

I'll be watching the leaves.

Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi