Mormon Life - Devotional tag

Courage is essential, students told

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 09:09:00 -0600

source: news.lds.org

Individuals must exercise courage to choose wisely, Elder Stanley G. Ellis of the Seventy told Brigham Young University students during the campus devotional on March 13.

“Brothers and sisters, there are, and will be, surprises in life,” he said. “There have been in mine, and there will be in yours.”

Elder Cook charges young single adults to build the kingdom

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 21:22:00 -0700

source: news.lds.org

While serving his mission to Scotland in the late 1890s, then Elder David O. McKay (who served as Church President between 1951 and 1970) and his companion passed a building where the stone above the door was inscribed with a quotation usually attributed to Shakespeare: “What e’er thou art, act well thy part.”

Recalling this experience while giving a talk in 1957, President McKay said he thought to himself, “You are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. More than that, you are here as a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. … Then I thought [about] what we had done that afternoon. We had been sightseeing, we had gained historical instruction and information, it is true, and I was thrilled with it. … However, that was not missionary work. … I accepted the message given to me on that stone, and from that moment we tried to do our part as missionaries in Scotland” (“Lesson 29: David O. McKay—Worldwide Ambassador of God,” The Presidents of the Church: Teacher’s Manual, [1996]).

Elder Patrick Kearon of the Seventy speaks of love on Valentine's Day

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:18:00 -0700

source: news.byu.edu

“Happy Valentine’s Day!” Elder Patrick Kearon, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, wished students as he began Tuesday’s devotional. And then he spoke to them about messages of love.

When he was 10 years old, Elder Kearon went to boarding school in England while his parents lived in Saudi Arabia. Each week, he anxiously looked forward to a letter his mother would send, full of love, reassurance and advice.

BYU Devotional: "Harvey and Howard: Lessons From Two Grandfathers"

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:24:00 -0700

source: news.byu.edu

Thomas H. Fletcher, a professor in the Brigham Young University Chemical Engineering Department, addressed students Tuesday in a campus devotional address he called, “Harvey and Howard: Lessons from Two Grandfathers.”

Fletcher is the grandson of Harvey Fletcher, whom the university honored during Homecoming Week in 2010. Though Harvey was a renowned scientist, Fletcher’s message was that he learned lessons from both this famous grandfather and his other grandfather, a man named Howard Tonks, who quietly raised his family and worked on a farm his entire life.

From his two grandfathers, he learned the following lessons:

President Hugh B. Brown’s Most Famous Statement

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:06:00 -0700

source: keepapitchinin.org

One of the best-known, most famous of General Authority statements is Hugh B. Brown’s admonition to BYU students during a May 13, 1969, campus-wide Devotional that “We are not so much concerned with whether your thoughts are orthodox or heterodox as we are that you shall have thoughts.” Brown, at the time, was First Counselor to Church President David O. McKay. Few other “official” statements articulate so succinctly the Church’s commitment to freedom of the mind.

Does it, should it, matter that President Brown never actually spoke those words?

Professor discusses repentance and the miracle of forgiveness at BYU Devotional

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:00:00 -0700

source: news.byu.edu

Michael Dunn, an associate professor in the Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Science, spoke to students Tuesday in the Marriott Center in a heartfelt devotional about repentance and the miracle of forgiveness.

In the New Testament account of the woman who approached Jesus in the house of Simon the Pharisee, as well as the record of Enos, the two experience their sins being forgiven.

MTC celebrates 50-year anniversary with devotional

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:55:00 -0700

source: deseretnews.com

Fifty years ago last year, newly called missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints going to two foreign-language missions began receiving preparatory language instruction in Provo prior to their departure.

"Tonight, we join in joyous jubilee to commemorate 50 years of missionary training here," said Elder Russell M. Nelson of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Tuesday evening at the regular weekly devotional at today's sprawling Missionary Training Center, located just north and east of the Brigham Young University campus.

Elder Zwick counsels leaders 'to let the Spirit guide them'

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:53:00 -0700

source: ldschurchnews.com

When the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ visited the Nephites and instructed them, the 12 disciples whom the Lord had chosen knelt and prayed to the Father in the name of Jesus for "that which they most desired" (see 3 Nephi 19:9).

Elder W. Craig Zwick finds it striking that of all the things they could have prayed for on that occasion, "they desired that the Holy Ghost should be given unto them."

Restoration of the gospel, Elder Duncan shares personal testimony

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:52:00 -0700

source: ldschurchnews.com

Like the glow of the morning sun coming over Y Mountain east of the Provo Missionary Training Center is the Restoration of the gospel, said Elder Kevin R. Duncan of the Seventy in his Jan. 11 address at the Seminar for New Missionary Training Center Presidents and Visitors' Center Directors.

Elder Zwick counsels leaders 'to let the Spirit guide them'

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:19:00 -0700

source: deseretnews.com

Elder W. Craig Zwick finds it striking that of all the things they could have prayed for on that occasion, "they desired that the Holy Ghost should be given unto them."

Elder Zwick of the Seventy was a speaker Jan. 11 at the Provo Missionary Training Center for the three-day Seminar for New Missionary Training Center Presidents and Visitors' Center Directors.

Elder Perry: The Church is scaffolding for lives

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:58:00 -0700

source: ldschurchnews.com

The Church is the scaffolding for individuals and families as they engage the most important building projects of their lives, Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve told students during a campus devotional at Brigham Young University-Idaho on Jan. 24. Elder Perry addressed the students in the BYU-Idaho Center on the university's campus in Rexburg.

"I would like to issue a challenge to you — the future graduates of BYU-Idaho," he said. "Prepare yourselves now to take advantage of the significant opportunities the new year will bring to all members of the Church. Demonstrate by what you say and the way you live the teachings of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Exemplify a Latter-day Saint, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ."

Evangelical speaker: True Christians don’t demonize Mormons

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:31:00 -0700

source: sltrib.com

Mormon Life says: DeMoss, an Evangelical PR man, has been an unpaid adviser to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign for the past five years. Mark DeMoss has a message for his fellow evangelicals: You can’t attack and demean Mormons or President Barack Obama and still consider yourself a follower of Jesus Christ.

It is impossible to abide by Paul’s admonition to regard others as more important than yourself, DeMoss said Tuesday during a Brigham Young University devotional, "and also stand outside [LDS] General Conference hurling insults as [Mormons] walk by to worship with [their] fellow Latter-day Saints."

Just because the First Amendment gives everyone the right to "demonize" others with their speech, he said, "doesn’t make it right."

Fundamental principle: Know for certainty the character of God

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:09:00 -0700

source: ldschurchnews.com

At the heart of LDS missionaries' message is the doctrine concerning the Godhead, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland told 21 couples gathered for a three-day seminar in Provo and Salt Lake City Jan. 10-12.

Speaking at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building Jan. 12, Elder Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve gave the closing presentation of the annual Seminar for New Missionary Training Center Presidents and Visitors' Center Directors. Other addresses from the seminar are covered on page 5 of this issue; addresses to the couples and to the MTC devotional in connection with the seminar by Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve were covered in the Jan. 14 Church News.

Growth in the Church: Retaining the spiritual change of heart

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:08:00 -0700

source: ldschurchnews.com

Teaching others the doctrine of Christ, inviting them to come unto Him and helping them endure to the end are components of what many of the Brethren are now calling "real growth" in the Church, Elder David F. Evans of the Seventy said in his presentation Jan. 10 at the Seminar for New Missionary Training Center Presidents and Visitors' Center Directors.

"For the Church to be built up, we must have real growth," said Elder Evans, executive director of the Missionary Department, who addressed the 21 departing couples in one of the opening sessions at the Provo Missionary Training Center.

President Packer seminary centennial: How to survive in enemy territory

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:18:00 -0700

source: ldschurchnews.com

Fifty years and more than 2.5 million miles of worldwide travel later, President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve still has an ever-deepening interest in the seminary and institute programs of the Church, and more particularly in the youth of the Church.

“We invest in our youth,” President Packer said during the seminary centennial broadcast held in the Conference Center on Jan. 22. “We know of your worth and potential. I speak as one who has seen the past and would prepare you for the future.”

Seminary 100th anniversary commemorated in worldwide broadcast

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:50:00 -0700

source: Newsroom.lds.org

President Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, will speak at a broadcast on the 100-year anniversary of the Church’s seminary program, where high school age students learn about the Holy Scriptures.

The event will be held in Salt Lake City at the Conference Center 22 January 2012 at 6:00 p.m. mountain standard time and broadcast to Church meetinghouses worldwide. A rebroadcast is scheduled on 29 January. The fireside will also be streamed live on seminary.lds.org.

Sister Julie B. Beck on roles of Relief Society and Priesthood

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:19:00 -0700

source: ldschurchnews.com

Mormon Life says: What a good BYU devotional. We will miss her when she's released. Quorums and Relief Societies are meant to be a safety and a refuge in these difficult days and to support and strengthen the identity, roles and responsibilities of Heavenly Father's sons and daughters, said Sister Julie B. Beck on Jan. 17.

"What the Lord envisioned regarding quorums and Relief Society has not yet been fully utilized," said the Church's Relief Society general president. "Many quorums and Relief Societies are at present much like sleeping giants waiting for you to breathe new life into them."

President and Sister Samuelson express appreciation for BYU

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:02:00 -0700

source: news.byu.edu

President Cecil O. Samuelson and his wife, Sharon, addressed students Tuesday morning in the Marriott Center in the winter semester opening devotional. They told students why they appreciate BYU and encouraged them to be stronger in their studies as well as in their commitment to the Honor Code.

“We love the people we meet at BYU,” Sister Samuelson said. “This includes, of course, the students, faculty, staff and administration, but also the many loyal supporters, donors and friends who contribute in such significant and diverse ways.”

Julie B. Beck to speak at BYU devotional Jan. 17

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:36:00 -0700

source: news.byu.edu

Julie B. Beck, general president of the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will speak Tuesday, Jan. 17, at 11:05 a.m. in the Marriott Center for a Brigham Young University campus devotional.

Elder Jensen Testifies of Holy Ghost at CES Devotional

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 09:31:00 -0700

source: news.lds.org

Elder Jay E. Jensen of the Presidency of the Seventy spoke about “the importance of the Holy Ghost and the unspeakable gift that He is,” as mentioned in Doctrine and Covenants 121:26, at a Church Educational System devotional on Sunday, January 8, 2011.

The devotional was broadcast from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, USA. Elder Jensen emphasized the importance of the Holy Ghost by relating the Savior’s visit to the people in the Book of Mormon.