General David Petraeus Top 10 reasons BYU grads make good soldiers

As Gen. David Petraeus began his remarks at BYU Thursday night, the commanding general of U.S. Central Command shared his sense of humor by reading the following list, which was received by waves of laughter and applause.

General Petraeus' Top 10 reasons BYU grads make good soldiers:

10 — They have already been on many a mission.

9 — Army chow is no problem for folks accustomed to eating green Jell-o and shredded carrots.

8 — It's not a problem if they don't know what rank someone is, they just refer to them as Brother or Sister so-and-so.

7 — They never go AWOL. They just call it being less active.

6 — They will seize any objective swiftly if you tell them refreshments will be served.

5 — They know how to make things happen. In fact if you ever need a base built quickly in a barren wasteland, stride out to where you want them to start, plant your walking stick down and say in a loud voice, "This is the place."

4 — They have innovative ideas for handling insurgents — like assigning them home teachers.

3 — They always have a years' supply of provisions on hand.
2 — They are the world's most reliable designated drivers.
1 — They understand how far Iraq has come over the last seven years, and they think that Iraq's old spot in the "Axis of Evil" can now be filled by the University of Utah.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700019691/General-Petraeus-Top-10-reasons-BYU-grads-make-great-soldiers.html

Is There Something Better?

This video is an excerpt from a devotional address given by Stephen H. Russell at BYU-Hawaii on March 18, 2004. Professor Russell quotes LeGrand Richards concerning an experience Elder Richards had while serving as president of the Netherlands LDS Mission in 1913.

LeGrand Richards was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1952 until his death in 1993 at age 96. As can be noted from the quote in this video, Elder Richards was an enthusiastic champion of the gospel of Jesus Christ and quick to share the glorious truths of the Restoration. In the foreword to Elder Richards biography "Beloved Apostle," President Gordon B. Hinckley wrote, "Few men in our generation have done more to advance the work of the Lord than has Elder LeGrand Richards."

The Divine Companionship

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve, speaking to nearly 600 missionaries in the Provo Missionary Training Center, and another 100 mission presidents and their wives attending the 2009 New Mission Presidents Seminar, June 26 taught the following:

"I have entitled these remarks 'The Divine Companionship,' " he said.

"My point tonight is to stress that the Spirit must be with you and you must teach by it when you teach because that is the way the lesson ceases to be your lesson and becomes His, becomes under the power of the Spirit a vehicle for lifting your investigators out of the temporal world.

"We are charged with the responsibility of getting people out of their ruts and routines, out of their problems and their pain, out of their earthly little arguments and ignorance and sins, and take them to the Gods — to the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost — ultimately we are to take them toward their own Godhood. In short, we are to take them to the divine. And the Holy Ghost is the connecting link which the Godhead has agreed to give us here in mortality for that heavenly connection. …

"The Godhead will bear testimony of you and your companion — frail, little uncelestial souls that you are — when you have earnestly tried to become part of the Divine Order. You have prayed and studied and fasted appropriately, and have always exerted great faith. You have been obedient to the commandments, to the rules of the mission, and to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. You have kept yourself morally clean in thought, in word, in deed, and have helped your companion do the same. You have tried to develop Christlike attributes, have worked diligent hours and have tried to be a witness of God 'at all times and in all things and in all places' (Mosiah 18:9).

"If you try to live this way — try with all the best that is within you — the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost above you will smile and say, 'It is enough. We will let these missionaries and their investigators feel a portion of the power of heaven. We will let them feel the touch of our unity and our divinity. …'

"Welcome to the work of angels," he said in closing. "Welcome to the work of divinity."

source:http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/57544/Divine-companion-Teaching-by-the-Spirit.html

Divine companion: Teaching by the Spirit

Key to missionary work is the 'ultimate teacher'

By Shaun D. Stahle
Church News staff writer

Published: Saturday, July 4, 2009

Prayers for Missionary Work

"We properly pray for the safety and success of the full-time missionaries throughout the world. And a common element in many of our prayers is a request that the missionaries will be led to individuals and families who are prepared to receive the message of the Restoration. But ultimately it is my responsibility and your responsibility to find people for the missionaries to teach. Missionaries are full-time teachers; you and I are full-time finders. And you and I as lifelong missionaries should not be praying for the full-time missionaries to do our work!"

David A. Bednar, “Ask in Faith,” Ensign, May 2008, 94–97

A man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone

“Love is one of the chief characteristics of Deity, and ought to be manifested by those who aspire to be the sons of God. A man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race. This has been your feeling, and caused you to forego the pleasures of home, that you might be a blessing to others, who are candidates for immortality, but strangers to truth; and for so doing, I pray that heaven’s choicest blessings may rest upon you.”

- Joseph Smith
History of the Church, 4:226–27; punctuation and grammar modernized; from a letter from Joseph Smith to the Twelve, Dec. 15, 1840, Nauvoo, Illinois, published in Times and Seasons, Jan. 1, 1841, p. 258; this letter is incorrectly dated Oct. 19, 1840, in History of the Church.

A 20 Year-Old Harvard Students Response to her Mormon Faith

Sent to me by my cousin - the following video appears to be from a forum discussion at Harvard University and focuses in on one students view of her LDS faith.


Day of Faith: Personal Quests for a Purpose - 3. Rachel Esplin from Harvard Hillel on Vimeo.