I have now lived long enough to know that, whatever our situation, our troubles melt and disappear like frost in the morning sun when we dwell upon our blessings rather than our disappointments. No matter how pessimistic one's view may become of the times and the seasons, we can always fall back on special friendship, on faithful, personal love, and on simple, true dealings in our own personal lives.

If you take each challenge one step at a time, with faith in every footstep, your strength and understanding will increase.

Some, like Ebenezer Scrooge in Dickens's A Christmas Carol, have a hard time loving anyone, even themselves, because of their selfishness. Love seeks to give rather than to get. Charity towards and compassion for others is a way to overcome too much self-love

Missionary work will never be what it might be without the help of the members. Stake presidents need to feel some responsibility and ownership of missionary work. The stake president is the one who has the presiding priesthood keys over both the members and non-members in his stake. The missionaries are his helpers.

Faith is the power, obedience is the price, love is the motive, the Spirit is the key and Christ is the reason.

We should not allow our personal values to erode, even if others think we are peculiar.

I urge the husbands and fathers of this church to be the kind of a man your wife would not want to be without.