President Henry B. Eyring: Help Them on Their Way Home

President Eyring is speaking to those who work with youth - as parents and/or youth leaders in the church. He also starts off with a good story from when he was a bishop and had a youth with a problem. He also counseled:

Heavenly Father wants and needs our help to bring His spirit children home to Him again. And he needs our help to get them back to the path quickly should they begin to wander.


We help God's children best by providing ways to build faith in Jesus Christ and His restored gospel when they are young. Then we must help rekindle that faith quickly before it dims as they wander off the path.


Heavenly Father has assigned us to a great variety of stations to strengthen and, when needed, to lead travelers to safety. Our most important and powerful assignments are in the family.


We all can help. Grandmothers, grandfathers, and every member who knows a child can help. It doesn't take a formal calling in Primary. Nor is it limited by age.  As I read this section I had the impression that I need to pay attention to all of the children (and youth) at church and encourage them. I feel like I do that on a limited basis already. I just need to do more.

We encourage young people in the rising generation to see their own potential to build great spiritual strength. And we plead with those who care about those young people to rise to what the Lord requires of us to help them. I can do this in a limited extent at school too because everyone is a child of God.

Next, President Eyring spent a lot of time talking about the Personal Progress program and the new Duty to God program.

The Personal Progress booklet for young women makes the purpose clear for them."The Personal Progress program uses the eight Young Women values to help you understand more fully who you are, why you are here on the earth, and what you should be doing as a daughter of God to prepare for the day you go to the temple to make sacred covenants.
     It goes on to say that young women will "make commitments, carry them out, and report your progress to a parent or leader."  It also promises that "the patterns you establish as you work on Personal Progress - such as prayer, scripture study, service, and journal keeping - will become personal daily habits. These habits will strengthen your testimony and help you learn and improve throughout your life.


The Duty to God program . . . will be contained in one simple book for all three Aaronic Priesthood offices. It is a powerful tool. It will strengthen the testimonies of young men and their relationship with God. It will help them learn and want to fulfill their priesthood duties. It will strengthen their relationships with their parents, among quorum members, and with their leaders.


Both of these programs put great responsibility on the efforts of the young people themselves.  These programs expect consistency, great effort, and the accumulation of learning and spiritual experiences over the years.


Personal Progress helps young women prepare to receive the ordinances of the temple.


Of all the help we can give these young people, the greatest will be to let them feel our confidence that they are on the path home to God and that they can make it. We do that best by going with them. These inspired programs . . . will lead the young person to invite and receive the companionship of the Holy Ghost.


Then, speaking again in general to those who serve the youth:
The best counsel for us to give young people is that they can arrive back to Heavenly Father only as they are guided and corrected by the Spirit of God.


We then, get our assignments to help the youth.
So if we are wise, we will encourage, praise, and exemplify everything which invites the companionship of the Holy Ghost.  They will feel in our praise and our smiles the approval of God. And should we feel the need to give corrective counsel, they will feel our love and the love of God in it, not rebuke and rejection, which can permit Satan to lead them further away. (Great counsel for parents!)

The example they most need from us is to do what they must do.  We need to pray for the gifts of the Spirit.  We need to ponder in the scriptures and in the words of living prophets.  We need to make plans which are not only wishes but covenants. And then we need to keep our promises to the Lord.  And we need to lift others by sharing with them the blessings of the Atonement which have come in our lives.
     And we need to exemplify in our own lives the steady and prolonged faithfulness that the Lord expects of them. As we do, we will help them feel from the Spirit an assurance that if they will persist, they will hear the words from a loving Savior and Heavenly Father: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant.

Elder David A. Bednar: Watching with All Perseverance

This is a great talk on parenting and helping our children gain a testimony and then become valiant in that testimony.

Spiritual warnings should lead to increasingly vigilant watching. You and I live in “a day of warning” (D&C 63:58)

Elder Bednar introduces his thoughts on a “spiritual early warning system”:

I pray for the guidance of the Holy Ghost as I describe a spiritual early warning system that can help parents in Zion to be watchful and discerning concerning their children. This early warning system applies to children of all ages and contains three basic components: (1) reading and talking about the Book of Mormon with your children, (2) bearing testimony of gospel truths spontaneously with your children, and (3) inviting children as gospel learners to act and not merely be acted upon. Parents who do these things faithfully will be blessed to recognize early signals of spiritual growth in or challenges with their children and be better prepared to receive inspiration to strengthen and help those children.

Component Number One: Reading and Talking about the Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon speaks to the spirit and to the heart of the reader like no other volume of scripture.  Regular reading of and talking about the Book of Mormon invite the power to resist temptation and to produce feelings of love within our families.  And discussions about the doctrines and principles in the Book of Mormon provide opportunities for parents to observe their children, to listen to them, to learn from them, and to teach them.

Such conversations can help parents to discern what their children are learning, thinking, and feeling about the truths contained in this sacred volume of scripture, as well as the difficulties they may be facing.

Reading this from Elder Bednar makes me grateful for two things. First, we have tried to follow this counsel as our children have been growing up. Though we didn’t study scriptures every day, there were many times we would have family scripture study together and we have read the Book of Mormon a few times as a family during that scripture study. Second, we have seen the blessings of having our children grow up to be fine people. I believe that has been a direct blessing from reading the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, as a family.

Component Number Two: Bearing Testimony Spontaneously

Testimony is personal knowledge, based upon the witness of the Holy Ghost, that certain facts of eternal significance are true.  The knowledge and spiritual conviction we receive from the Holy Ghost are the result of revelation.

Parents should be vigilant and spiritually attentive to spontaneously occurring opportunities to bear testimony to their children. Discussions – especially when parents are as eager to listen intently as they are to talk – can foster a supportive and secure environment in the home and encourage ongoing communication about difficult topics.

I really like that phrase “especially when parents are as eager to listen intently as they are to talk”. As parents we need to listen. It’s hard when we feel like we have so much to share, and that we are right! But we are still learning, and to learn we need to listen.

Component Number Three: Inviting Children to Act

As gospel learners, we should be “doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22)

Learning requires spiritual, mental, and physical exertion and not just passive reception.

I wish there was a way for my students to catch the visual of that preceding quote. Elder Bednar then expounds on this idea that learners (especially children) need to put forth effort to really learn.

Are you and I helping our children become agents who act and seek learning by study and by faith, or have we trained our children to wait to be taught and acted upon? [Great question?] Are we as parents primarily giving our children the equivalent of spiritual fish to eat, or are we consistently helping them to act, to learn for themselves, and to stand steadfast and immovable? Are we helping our children become anxiously engaged in asking, seeking, and knocking? (See 3 Nephi 14:&) I especially like the idea of “consistently helping”; that is an important principal in parenting.

The spiritual understanding you and I have been blessed to receive, and which has been confirmed as true in our hearts, simply cannot be given to our children. The tuition of diligence and of learning by study and also by faith must be paid to obtain and personally “own” such knowledge. [I like that analogy to tuition – the cost- is diligence, study and faith.] Only in this way can what is known in the mind also be felt in the heart. Only in this way can a child move beyond relying upon the spiritual knowledge and experiences of parents and adults and claim those blessings for himself or herself. Only in this way can our children be prepared spiritually for the challenges of mortality.

Elder Bednar finishes his talk with a promise to parents: The spiritual discernment and inspiration you will receive from the combination of these three holy habits will enable you to stand as watchmen on the tower for your families – “watching . . . with all perseverance” (Ephesians 6:18) – to the blessing of your immediate family and your future posterity.

Great talk!

Sister Cheryl C. Lant: That Our Children Might See the Face of the Savior

Sister Lant gave a very nice talk on the importance of teaching our children about Jesus. She also offered some suggestions on how to do it.

Christ's invitation to seek Him is an invitation to know who He is, what He has done for us, and what He has asked us to do.  Coming to Christ, and eventually seeing His face, comes only as we draw close to Him through our faith and our actions. It comes through a lifetime of effort.


It is our sacred responsibility as parents and leaders of this rising generation of children to bring them to the Savior so that they might wee His face and the face of our Father in Heaven as well.  As we do so, we also bring ourselves.


Again the question, how do we do this, especially in a world that is full of distractions?  Again I see this theme of distractions. Many of the speakers at the conference have talked about the fact that there are things 'distracting' us more and more and we need to aware and counteract that.

Sister Lant quotes a passage of scripture about what Christ asks parents to do:
"All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children." (3 Nephi 22:13)


Now, I would ask you to look around you at those you love. This is what matters most - our families.


The account in 3 Nephi can help us bring our children to Him because it gives us a pattern to follow.

• First, we must learn how to love the Lord and our families. This takes time, experience, and faith. It requires selfless service. Then, as we are filled with the love of the Lord, we can love.
• Second, we must become worthy examples. This is also a process. If we want our children to come to Christ so that they might see His face, it is important that we seek to see it as well. We must put our own lives in order so that the children can look to us and follow.
• And third, . . . teaching [our children] the truths of the gospel from the scriptures and the prophets and by helping them to feel and recognize the Spirit. They love the scriptures, and they love the prophet. They intuitively want to be good. It is up to us to help them keep that connection to heaven open. It is up to us to protect them from influences that detract from the Spirit.  We can help them find the joy of living the gospel.  This will build a firm foundation of faith and obedience in their lives that will strengthen them.

While Sister Lant was discussing her second item above, she asked an interesting question and had some excellent counsel:

"What do my children see when they look at my face? Do they see the image of the Savior in my countenance because of how I live my life?"

Now remember, none of us will be the perfect example for our children, but we all can become worthy parents and leaders. Our striving to be worthy is an example in itself.  I like that comparison between 'perfect' (which is basically unattainable in this life) and 'worthy' (which is well within the capacity of each of us.)

Elder Neil L. Andersen: Tell Me the Stories of Jesus

Elder Andersen started is talk with his testimony of General Conference. After having studied all of the talks in the conference I would agree and add my testimony to what he says here so eloquently:

When you are assigned to speak at the end of the final session of general conference, you listen to every word, wondering which parts of you talk will be given before your turn comes. There are no assigned subjects, no collaboration of themes. The Lord's way, or course, is always the best way. He takes the individual prayerful efforts of each speaker and orchestrates a spiritual symphony full of revelation and power. Repeated themes, principle building upon principle, prophetic warnings, uplifting promises - the divine harmony is a miracle! I testify that in this conference we have heard and felt the mind and will of the Lord.


The next part of Elder Andersen's talk was about preparing our children for the challenges ahead. This is one of many talks about families and especially, parents teaching their children.

We hold in our arms the rising generation. They come to this earth with important responsibilities and great spiritual capacities. We cannot be casual in how we prepare them. Our challenge as parents and teachers is not to create a spiritual core in their souls but rather to fan the flame of their spiritual core already aglow with the fire of their premortal faith.


The theme of Elder Andersen's talk is the Primary song "Tell Me the Stories of Jesus". He quoted part of the song: "Tell me the stories of Jesus I love to hear, things I would ask him to tell me if he were here." He then continued with some excellent teaching strategy based on formative assessment questions for both them and for us as their parents and teachers.

Are the life and teachings of Jesus Christ embedded in the minds and souls of our children? Do they think about the Savior's life when they wonder what to do in their own lives? This will be more and more important in the years ahead.


Have our children visualized the premortal council, where Jesus - the greatest of all - declared, "Here am I, send me"?  Do they see their own willingness to serve as following His example?


Do they think about His humble birth, the Savior of the world lying in a manger? Do His circumstances help them better understand the proper place of material possessions?


Elder Anderson continues with more questions. Those struck me as a sort of checklist of questions that we as parents can ask ourselves about how we are doing with our children. The responses to those questions will give us a picture of how our children are doing. These are great formative assessment questions. I have put the questions I thought we especially interesting in bold font.

Do they know that Jesus often talk, "Ask, and ye shall receive"? Do His prayers of thankfulness and His pleadings to His Father flow through our children's minds as they kneel in prayer with their own concerns?


Have we told them of the love Jesus has for children, how He held them in His arms, prayed for them, and wept? Do our children know that Jesus stands ready "with open arms to receive [them]"?


Do they take strength in the stories of Jesus fasting - as we teach them the law of the fast?


In their own loneliness, do our children know the loneliness the Savior felt as His friends deserted Him and as He asked His apostles, "Will ye also go away?"


Have our children felt the power of the Savior's miracles? Jesus healed the leper, gave sight to the blind. He fed the 5,000, calmed the sea, and raised Lazarus from the dead. Do our children believe that "it is by faith that miracles are wrought," and do they pray for miracles in their own lives?


Have our children taken courage from the Savior's words to the ruler of the synagogue: "Be not afraid, only believe"?


Do our children know about His perfect life, His selfless ministry, His betrayal and cruel Crucifixion? Have we testified to them of the certainty of His Resurrection, of His visit to the Nephites in the Americas, of His appearance to the Prophet Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove?


Do they anticipate His majestic return, when all will be made right and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ?


Do our children say, "Tell me the stories of Jesus, I love to hear"?


The next piece of counsel was for the youth as well as the children:
Live up to your important responsibilities and great spiritual capacities. Seek to know more about Jesus; open the scriptures. One idea would be to read again the book of John and then discuss it with your parents, teachers, and each other.


To those of us who are older, Elder Andersen said:
To fathers and mothers, to grandfathers and grandmothers, and to those without children of their own who lovingly nurture children and youth, my counsel is to speak more frequently about Jesus Christ. In His holy name is great spiritual power.


If a child is not listening, don't despair. Time and truth are on your side. At the right moment, your words will return as if from heaven itself. You testimony will never leave your children.


As your reverently speak about he Savior - in the car, on the bus, at the dinner table, as you kneel in prayer, during scripture study, or in late-night conversations - the Spirit of the Lord will accompany your words.