Saturday Morning Session - 181st General Conference

President Thomas S. Monson
-3 New Temples- (I love when they announce new temples!)
Ft. Collins, CO; Meridian, ID; Winnepeg, Canada
MERIDIAN! That's awesome, I bet my Uncle Allen is thrilled!

L. Tom Perry
The Old Testament is a focus on prophets and people.
The New Testament focuses on the life of Jesus Christ.

Timothy 4: "These things command and teach, be thou an example of the believers in word, in charity, it spirit, in faith and purity."

We can be an example of the believers by our observance of the Sabbath day. The pattern of the seventh day observance must include worship.

1. Keep ourselves unspotted. - Sunday best has not gone out of style.
2. Go to the house of prayer and offer up our sacraments. - We all make mistakes and must forsake our sins. We offer up our sacraments, confess our sins before the Lord. The sacrament table is a place for self-investigation where we can bring ourselves in harmony with the Church, and with God. We covenant to take the Savior's name upon us, and receive His Spirit to be with us.
3. Rest from our labors. - Labor includes the everyday work of our lives. Trifle not with sacred things. The Sacrament was made for men, not men for the sacrament.

The adversary gains advantage when we relax in our commitments to the Lord.
The greatest joy we receive in this life is by following the Savior.

Kent F. Richards
None of us is immune to pain, but we all cope with it differently. Pain is a gauge of the healing process. Pain brings you to a humility that allows you to ponder. Everyone deals with it differently. We can either turn to or from our Savior.

Much of our suffering is not our fault. Some comes through life experience, some from the choices and actions at others.

The Savior is not a silent observer during our pain. There is a physician. The Atonement of Jesus Christ covers all this pain.

Other pain can come from our own sins and lack of repentance. The consequences of our choices can bring about pain.

During His mortal life, Christ chose to experience pain and afflictions in order to understand us. We should strive to understand the depths of mortality and eternity in order to understand Him. He chose to learn through personal experience. He heals all that come to Him. Sometimes healing includes the lift of the burden, but sometimes it is through the strength to continue forward. Either way, we can find rest in Him, His peace and His healing balm.

"Ye are little children, and ye cannot bear all."

Quentin L. Cook
"Their women were incredible." - Critic of the Church
Women were given qualities of divine strength.

Elizabeth Jackson, Martin Hancock Company, "My suffering will be sanctified unto me for my good." Hoped that posterity would suffer and sacrifice for the Kingdom of God.

LDS have the strongest attachment to our faith.

Our women are not incredible because they avoid the difficulty of life. They are incredible because of the way they handle the disappointments that come in this life.

In the world, marriage and family has become a menu choice. Women have many choices and options available to them that they should prayerfully take to the Lord. People should not be judgmental to those who choose to work outside the home (I know that this is something that happens, but why? Of course there should be no judgment to those who work.)

Errand of angels is given to women - it is to do the direct and immediate bidding of God.

Henry B. Eyring - The Church Welfare Program
Consecrate time, means and selves to help those in need.
We are invited and commanded to help others. We make those covenants in baptism. We should renew our commitment to act.

The Lord regularly sends wake-up calls, through pangs of sympathy. Turn your feelings of sympathy in a commitment - seize the opportunity - to act.

The church is celebrating the 75th year of the Church Welfare Program. It was started during the Great Depression for those that had lost jobs and were struggling to support themselves and their families.

Self-reliance is the goal. Everyone is happier and feels more self-respect when they can provide for themselves and their families and then reach out and help others with any surplus they may have. A person cannot give a crust to the Lord, without receiving a loaf in return. When we are generous to others, the Lord is generous to us.

When we join hands to serve those in need, the Lord unites our hearts. That giving brings a feeling of common brotherhood. That brotherhood is true for both the receiver and the givers.

Draw your family in the work with you, so they learn to care for their family as they work together to serve others.

"Seek out the poor" - it is the duty of the bishop to find and provide help for those that still need assistance after they have done all that they can do. The RS president is also able to be directed to those in need.

Day of Service
1. Prepare yourself spiritually. Only hearts softened by the Atonement will help you see clearly the goals of the project.
2. Choose as recipients of your service within the kingdom and the world, whose needs will touch those that are serving them.
3. Draw on the power of bonds of families and organizations, in the community. Those bonds will last far longer than the amount of time given in this one area of service.

You can be purified and strengthened by serving God and His children.