Believe in the great principles of the gospel, President Gordon B. Hinckley counseled more than 2,200 Church members gathered here Sept. 10.
"I never dreamed I could come to Moscow, Russia, and see a congregation of this kind," said President Hinckley, the first Church president to visit Russia. "I am so thankful to be with you. It's just been a wonderful day to be here in this great city, this great and ancient city, where so much has occurred of history."
President Hinckley told members of the congregation that they are good people. "You are good citizens of Russia," he said. "The gospel teaches you to be good citizens of Russia and you are better people because you have embraced the gospel. May heaven's blessings rest upon you."
In the opening moments of his address, President Hinckley spoke directly to the youth.
"There are many, many young people here," he said. "You are the future of this Church in this land. You are the pioneers, these boys and girls. We count on you so much to live the gospel, to be the kind of people that you ought to be: clean in your lives; strong in your faith; acquiring all the education that you can; serving the Lord in every way."
The young men, he said, ought to prepare to go on missions. "It will do something wonderful for you. It will not be easy and it will be difficult. It will be hard, but it will be wonderful. As a young man I served a mission. I think those two years had greater effect upon my life than any other two years of my life. And so I urge you to prepare yourself, live the kind of life you ought to live."
President Hinckley also spoke of the vast evil in the world. "It's on television. It's in the magazines. It's everywhere. Rise above it. Stand tall and be clean. Be Latter-day Saints in a very real light. . . .
"You have a marvelous future ahead of you. A wonderful future. Now is the time to prepare for it."
Missionaries have been serving in Russia only since 1990; therefore, the vast majority of those in the congregation have been members of the Church only a few years. President Hinckley took the opportunity to instruct members pertaining to basic doctrines and principles of the gospel.
First, he spoke of God the Eternal Father and His son Jesus Christ. "He is the great governor of the universe. But He is our Father and our God in whom we may go in prayer," President Hinckley said. "We are His sons and daughters. Have you ever really thought that you are a child of God and that you have something of divinity within you?"
Of the Savior, President Hinckley said, "He is the Son of God who came to earth, who left the royal courts on high and came and dwelled among men and gave His life for each of us, for you and for me, and it's it through Him that we approach the Father."
President Hinckley added that both the Father and the Son visited Joseph Smith in a vision. "After centuries of time, the curtains were parted and they spoke to him and he spoke to them and he knows who they were and their form and their substance."
Of the Book of Mormon, he said, "I cannot understand why the world will not accept the Book of Mormon. It has come forth as a witness of the Lord Jesus Christ and I would think that everyone who believed in Jesus Christ would accept this second witness of His divinity and His reality."
Continuing, he spoke of the priesthood of God. It "has come again to the earth unto the hands of those who held it anciently and the keys of that priesthood which, when exercised in the temple of God, binds together a family, not only for this life but for all eternity."
He told the congregation to believe in their capacity do something great and good. "Accept every responsibility that comes to you in this Church. . . . It is not a sacrifice to serve; it is an investment because of the growth that comes to a man."
President Hinckley also asked the Russian Latter-day Saints to be good parents. "You have no greater responsibility in this world than to be a father or mother, a parent who brings into the world children, to rear them in righteousness and truth. When life is over and you look back, you will not take any money with you. The only things that will give you satisfaction is what you see in the lives of your children and you will have an understanding that comes of the gospel, that these children are also our Father in Heaven's children and you have been given the responsibility for their rearing. Rear them in love."
Speaking of tithing, he told the congregation that the Church will go on if they don't pay their tithing. "Your tithing may be ever so small but you take the Lord at His word to pay your tithes and offerings and God will bless you."
