BE CLEAN
I hope you young people will keep yourselves clean from the sins of the world. Stay away from pornography. It will destroy you. Stay away from drugs. They will destroy you. You cannot afford to touch these things. You are members of the Church of Jesus Christ. You have taken upon yourself a covenant with the Lord to keep His commandments and to do His will. Keep the faith, my dear young friends. Keep your lives clean. You know what is right. You know what is wrong. I don't need to describe those things to you. You know. You know when you're doing the right thing. Do it. It may be difficult at times. If you have to run from evil as Joseph of old ran from Potiphar's wife, you do it, and you will be forever grateful. - From Mexico City member meeting, Nov. 1, 1997
CHURCH FAMILY
My brothers and sisters, we have become a great family across the earth - 10 million strong in 160 nations - we are no longer a small, little group. We are a great cosmopolitan group, but the marvelous and wonderful thing is that we are all one. We sing the same songs. We offer the same kind of prayers. We teach the same gospel, wherever we are. There are now more than 15,000 wards in the Church, and everywhere across the world on Sunday morning, you will be able to walk into any one of those congregations and find the same thing taking place. It is a miraculous and wonderful thing. - From Harare, Zimbabwe, member meeting, Feb. 18, 1998
EDUCATION
It is so important that you young men and you young women get all of the education that you can. The Lord has said very plainly that His people are to gain knowledge of countries and kingdoms and of things of the world through the process of education, even by study and by faith. Education is the key which will unlock the door of opportunity for you. It is worth sacrificing for. It is worth working at, and if you educate your mind and your hands, you will be able to make a great contribution to the society of which you are a part, and you will be able to reflect honorably to the Church of which you are a member. My dear young brothers and sisters, take advantage of every educational opportunity that you can possibly afford, and you fathers and mothers, encourage your sons and daughters, to gain an education which will bless their lives. - From Hermosillo, Mexico, member meeting, March 9, 1998
HUSBANDS
You men who are husbands of wives how great is your responsibility to be good men. To be good husbands. Never to abuse your wives. Never to abuse your children. But to gather them in your arms and make them feel of your love and your appreciation and your respect. Be good husbands. Be good fathers. Don't you ever forget that if you ever go to the highest degree of glory in the Celestial Kingdom, you will go hand in hand with your wife. You will not go alone. If you go, you will go together. She is a daughter of God, just as you are a son of God, and deserves the very best that you can give. Love, appreciate and be true to the one you married. - From Ciudad, Juarez, regional conference priesthood leadership session, March 14, 1998
RETENTION OF NEW CONVERTS
Now, my brothers and sisters, you older people, you young men and young women, I plead with you tonight. I plead with every one of you tonight to find out about the converts to the Church and put your arms around them and make friends of them, and you bishops and branch presidents, put them to work. Give them something to do. As they work, they will grow in faith. Faith is like the muscle of my arm. If I use it, if I nurture it, it will grow strong. If I put it in a sling and leave it there, it will grow weak. Brothers and sisters, please, please, reach out to every convert in the Church and help him or her to become established in the faith. It will not help if the missionaries baptize people and we don't retain them. Their job is to teach and baptize. Your job is to work with all of those who are baptized, and the Lord will hold us responsible, my brothers and sisters. - From Guadalajara, Mexico, member meeting, March 19, 1998
TEMPLE RECOMMEND
I have here my temple recommend. To me, it is a very precious and wonderful thing. I urge each one of you who is an adult in this Church, to go to your bishop and get a temple recommend, and carry it in your pocket once again, and look upon it, and think what it means. It says, `I have been to my bishop. I have been to my stake president. They have interviewed me and they have found me worthy as a member of this Church. I have a testimony of its truths. I sustain its officers. I am kind and dear to my family. I live the Word of Wisdom. I pay my tithing, and I am proud to be faithful member of the Church.' Brethren and sisters, get a temple recommend and let it influence your behavior as a member of this Church. - From Guadalajara, Mexico, member meeting, March 10, 1998
WHOLESOME FAMILY LIFE
If we live the gospel, people will come into the Church. They will see the virtue of our lives and they will be attracted to the message we have to teach. That message places great emphasis on the family. The family becomes a very important thing in our teaching and in our practice. We believe that the family is the basic unit of society. You can't have a strong community without strong families. You can't have a strong nation without strong families - the father, the mother, the children, as one unit working together. Now the family is falling apart all over America, all over the world. If we can just cultivate good wholesome family life among our members I don't worry much about the future of this Church. - From an interview in Salt Lake City with Ignacio Carrion of Madrid, Spain's El Pais newspaper, Nov. 7, 1997
