181st Annual General Conference — Church News coverage
President Thomas S. Monson began his Sunday morning conference address by commenting on the 75th anniversary of the Church's Welfare program, which has blessed the lives of many.
He referred to addresses delivered earlier in the session by Presiding Bishop H. David Burton and Sister Silvia H. Allred, first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency. As both mentioned, President Monson said, the bishop of the ward is given the responsibility to care for those in need who reside within the boundaries of his ward.
He said that he presided as a young bishop in Salt Lake City over a ward of 1,080 members, including 84 widows; many members needed assistance. "How grateful I was for the Welfare Program of the Church and for the help of the Relief Society and the priesthood quorums," he said.
"I declare that the Welfare Program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is inspired of Almighty God."
President Monson noted that this conference marked three years since he was sustained as President of the Church. They have been busy years, he said, filled with many challenges but also with countless blessings. Among the most enjoyable and sacred blessings, he said, was the opportunity to dedicate and rededicate temples. He focused the remainder of his address on temples.
He quoted Church President Joseph F. Smith who, during October 1902 general conference, expressed the hope that one day the Church would have "temples built in the various parts of the [world] where they are needed for the convenience of the people."
President Monson said that during the first 150 years following the organization of the Church, from 1830 to 1980, 21 temples were built, including the temples in Kirtland, Ohio, and Nauvoo, Illinois.
"Contrast that with the 30 years since 1980 during which one 115 temples were built and dedicated. With the announcement yesterday of three new temples, there are additionally 26 temples either under construction or in pre-construction stages. These numbers will continue to grow.
"The goal President Joseph F. Smith hoped for in 1902 is becoming a reality. Our desire is to make the temple as accessible as possible to our members."
He spoke of the temple under construction in Manaus, Brazil, and how members traveled seven days and nights by boat on the Amazon River and its tributaries and on buses over bumpy roads with little to eat and uncomfortable places to sleep before they arrived at the Sao Paulo Brazil Temple where ordinances eternal in nature were performed.
"Now, many years later, our members in Manaus are rejoicing as they watch their own temple take shape on the banks of the Rio Negro River," President Monson said.
"Reports of the sacrifices made in order to receive the blessings found only in temples of God never fail to touch my heart and bring to me a renewed sense of thankfulness for temples."
He spoke of Tihi and Tararaina Mou Tham and their ten children, converts in the 1960s on an island about 100 miles south of Tahiti. The father and two sons did backbreaking work for four years in the nickel mines of New Caledonia to save money for the family to travel to the Hamilton New Zealand Temple, some 3,000 miles from their home. All went except for one daughter. They were sealed for time and eternity, an indescribable and joyful experience, he said.
"Brother Mou Tham returned from the temple directly to New Caledonia, where he worked for two more years to pay for the passage of the one daughter who had not been at the temple with them — a married daughter and her child and husband."
In their later years, Brother and Sister Mou Tham served two missions in the Papeete Tahiti Temple.
"My brothers and sisters, temples are more than stone and mortar," President Monson declared. "They are filled with faith and fasting. They are built of trials and testimonies. They are sanctified by sacrifice and service."
He spoke of how the impoverished saints built the Kirtland Temple, the first temple in this dispensation, and the Nauvoo Temple, which they had to abandon shortly after it was completed. He told of the 40 years of struggle and sacrifice members underwent to build the Salt Lake Temple.
"Some degree of sacrifice has ever been associated with temple building and with temple attendance," he noted. "Countless are those who have labored and struggled in order to obtain for themselves and for their families the blessings which are found in the temples of God."
He said those who understand the eternal blessings which come from the temple know that no sacrifice is too great, no price too heavy, no struggle too difficult in order to receive the blessings of the temple.
"There are never too many miles to travel, too many obstacles to overcome or too much discomfort to endure. They understand that the saving ordinances received in the temple that permit us to someday return to our Heavenly Father in an eternal family relationship and to be endowed with blessings and power from on high are worth every sacrifice and every effort."
He said that today 85 per cent of the membership of the Church live within 200 miles of a temple and, for a great many, that distance is much shorter. He told members who live within relatively close proximity to a temple that their sacrifice could be setting aside the time in their busy lives to visit the temple regularly.
"If you have not yet been to the temple, or if you have been but currently do not qualify for a recommend, there is no more important goal for you to work toward than being worthy to go to the temple," President Monson said. "Your sacrifice may be bringing your life into compliance with what is required to receive a recommend, perhaps by forsaking long-held habits which disqualify you. It may be having the faith and the discipline to pay your tithing. Whatever it is, qualify to enter the temple of God. Secure a temple recommend and regard it as a precious possession, for such it is. Until you have entered the House of the Lord and have received all the blessings which await you there, you have not obtained everything the Church has to offer."
President Monson counseled LDS teens to always have the temple in their sights. "Do nothing which will keep you from entering its doors and partaking of the sacred and eternal blessings there. I commend those of you who already go to the temple regularly to perform baptisms for the dead, arising in the early hours of the morning so you can participate in such baptisms before school begins. I can think of no better way to start a day."
He encouraged parents of young children to follow the advice from President Spencer W. Kimball to place a picture of the temple in the bedrooms of their homes. "I plead with you to teach your children of the temple's importance," President Monson said.
"The world can be a challenging and difficult place in which to live. We are often surrounded by that which would drag us down. As you and I go to the holy houses of God, as we remember the covenants we make within, we will be more able to bear every trial and to overcome each temptation. In this sacred sanctuary we will find peace; we will be renewed and fortified."
He spoke of the Rome Italy Temple, being constructed "in one of the most historic locations in the world, a city where the ancient apostles Peter and Paul preached the gospel of Christ and where each was martyred."
He told of offering a prayer of dedication on the temple site in preparation for breaking ground to mark the beginning of construction.
"I felt impressed to call upon Italian Senator Lucio Malan and Rome's vice mayor Giuseppe Ciardi to be among the first to turn a shovelful of earth. Each had been a part of the decision to allow us to build a temple in their city," he said.
"The day was overcast but warm, and although rain threatened, not more than a drop or two fell. As the magnificent choir sang, in Italian, the beautiful strains of 'The Spirit of God,' one felt as though heaven and earth were joined in a glorious hymn of praise and gratitude to Almighty God. Tears could not be restrained.
"In a coming day, the faithful in this, the 'Eternal City,' will receive ordinances eternal in nature in a holy House of God.
"I express my undying gratitude to my Heavenly Father for the temple now being built in Rome and for all of our temples, wherever they are. Each one stands as a beacon to the world, an expression of our testimony that God our Eternal Father lives, that He desires to bless us and, indeed, to bless His sons and daughters of all generations. Each of our temples is an expression of our testimony that life beyond the grave is as real and as certain as is our life here on earth."
President Monson encouraged members to "make whatever sacrifices are necessary to attend the temple and to have the spirit of the temple in our hearts and in our homes."
