Love, honor, respect each other
Attend Church, read scriptures, pray daily- Conduct life by principles
in proclamation on family
"Our homes can be, and should be, a refuge and a sanctuary from the troubled world we live in," Elder Eran A. Call said Saturday afternoon.
In his first address in general conference since he was called to the Second Quorum of the Seventy last April, Elder Call said his father "was a marvelous example to me of love, faith, integrity and commitment to the gospel."
He also spoke of a boyhood incident when his "mother exercised her faith and prayed fervently to Heavenly Father as she held me lovingly in her arms," after he had severely burned the pupil of his eye with a hot, metal lid lifter from a wood-burning stove.
"Her prayers were answered and my eye was healed," he said. "I am very grateful to have been raised in a loving home by goodly parents.
"The home is being threatend and challenged more today than ever before," Elder Call declared.
"The home and the family are the fundamental basic unit of society: as the homes and families are, so will be the community, city, state and nation," he continued. "As Latter-day Saints, we have been given much, and much is expected of us."
Elder Call offered "a few time-tested and proven ways" to avoid the pitfalls and temptations of a troubled world:
Love, honor and respect each other.
Attend Church meetings together regularly.
Read the scriptures and pray together daily.
Live lives of virtue and integrity so you can sleep at night, knowing you have done your best with a conscience void of offence to anyone. A virtuous life is built step by step, brick by brick. Beware of small sins that erode integrity.
Communicate, talk, take time for each other. A teenager comes home from a date, seems concerned: what an opportunity for loving parents to listen and help.
Faithfully pay tithes and offerings.
Avoid unnecessary foolish debt.
Never make major purchases or decisions without prayer and mutual agreement as equal partners.
Elder Call quoted the counsel of ancient and modern prophets on establishing a home. He concluded by focusing on the Proclamation on the Family.
"I challenge each of you to read, study and live by this inspired proclamation. May it become the guideline and standard by which we live in our homes and raise our children."
