Marjorie and I had had nearly a 5-year courtship—much of it by letter. I was serving in the U.S. Navy, and was based in Japan. I was to be transferred to Morocco, North Africa for the last 18 months of my service.

I am a beloved son of God.
I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.
The Father knows me by name, and desires to bless me.

There was once a long trailer with no load, and seven small wheels on each side. Being small, the wheels had to turn very fast indeed to keep up with the big truck that was pulling it.

Lorenzo Snow’s conversion came two or three weeks after his baptism. He relates his experience with the Holy Ghost in Teachings of Presidents of the Church, Lorenzo Snow, pages 59-62.

There is a super species living among us whose admirable capacities and character exceed that of humans in many aspects. This species lives everywhere throughout the Americas except in the Amazonian rain forest

Two nights ago I had a brief flicker of a dream that gave me insight and understanding about the spiritual atmosphere to be found in the temple. I love being there and serving there.

There was once a woman with a beautiful, down-filled, red coat. The coat was perfect in every way except that the zipper didn’t work. The weather was very cold.

There was once a man and his wife with a house full of boys. The man and his boys worked hard and played hard, and were very hard on their clothes. They were good men.

There was once a man and his wife with a house full of boys. The man and his boys worked hard and played hard, and were very hard on their clothes.

“Write the things which ye have seen and heard,” Jesus told His Nephite disciples, “and behold, all things are written by the Father.” (3 Ne. 27:23, 26).
I once quoted this to Marjorie, and marveled at the sheer amount that He would have to write.

“Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels…” (D&C 13).
Sel Mastrude says that he and his wife, Glenda, were very protective of their firstborn baby, Curt.

Because of the beautiful imagery in three verses of Isaiah, I think they should be read together:

Because of the beautiful imagery in three verses of Isaiah, I think they should be read together:

I have come to Bremerton, Washington to ordain my son a high priest. He has received a calling which necessitates it. Getting here has involved a long road trip over dangerous, wintertime highways, but this is where I want to be.

A great bull moose was once walking through the forest when he came upon a long corridor that had recently been cleared of trees. Nothing was in the cleared corridor except 50-foot-tall poles spaced several hundred feet apart.

Once upon a summer, a troop of boy scouts went on a multi-day campout. One boy thought it would be very funny, and a great trick, to put a big rock in the packs of each of his companions. He stealthily carried out his plan.

“When my father was a young lad on the farm out west of Eugene he followed his father and four older brothers around the wheat field. Each carried a short steel sickle, and as the wheat fell from the blade, it fell onto the reaper’s left arm;

One of the greatest understatements of all time—perhaps the ultimate understatement—was uttered by Abraham Lincoln. In his famous Gettysburg Address he said, “The world will little note nor long remember, what we say here…”

As I look at the picture of the Condon castle (see the article, “A Quiet Coup” in this book) I marvel at the number of rocks and the work that went into building it.

The young deer bounded through the orchard toward the house where I was watching through the window. All four hooves hit the ground simultaneously and launched her three feet into the air for the next bound.

The young deer bounded through the orchard toward the house where I was watching through the window. All four hooves hit the ground simultaneously and launched her three feet into the air for the next bound.

For many years I’ve observed the families of couples who are devoted to the Church, but whose children drift into inactivity as they become youth and leave home. I’ve asked myself why.

For many years I’ve observed the families of couples who are devoted to the Church, but whose children drift into inactivity as they become youth and leave home. I’ve asked myself why.

If I called you “peculiar,” chances are that you would be offended. That is because in our current usage of the word “peculiar,” we mean something that is “odd” or “queer.” We don’t normally like to be perceived as being odd or queer.

If I called you “peculiar,” chances are that you would be offended. That is because in our current usage of the word “peculiar,” we mean something that is “odd” or “queer.” We don’t normally like to be perceived as being odd or queer.

A favorite activity of my grandchildren is to get the box of legos, or a box of toys or Lincoln logs, and dump it out on the floor. After stirring the spill around a bit, they’re off to another activity.

I’m thinking about the contents of my wallet. I worry about its thickness. I find that when I drive for extended distances, my hip begins to bother me. The longer and farther I drive, the more uncomfortable I become.

Each spring before our raspberry plants begin to bud out and produce new leaves, I go up and down the rows spraying Roundup on the grass which tries to encroach into the rows. The grass greens up before the raspberry plants do, so I’m generally able to kill the grass without harming the raspberries.

A day or two ago I read Richard G. Scott’s conference talk from last April wherein he spoke at length on helps we receive from loved ones beyond the veil.
Today I taught the Gospel Doctrine class in Sunday School from 3rd Nephi where angels came down and ministered to the little children.

NEPHI’S JERUSALEMLehi and Nephi were born and raised in tumultuous times. Lehi was born at about the time that 8-year-old Josiah became king over Judah. Judah had just endured the bloody and wicked 55-year reign of Josiah’s grandfather, Manasseh, and the equally wicked
2-year reign of his father, Amon.

Moroni and Ether have always intrigued me. Imagine being the sole survivor of an entire civilization! How interesting that these two prophets should both have been accorded the same privilege. Talk about being alone! Their situation puts a whole different spin on the word loneliness. Moroni wandered around alone for some 36 years.

Perhaps the most serious of all handicaps is to have a personality defect. We’ve all known people with various physical handicaps, but many, or most, of them have beautiful personalities—perhaps because of those physical handicaps. Physical or mental handicaps might be considered a great blessing when looked at in that light.

When Jesus ministered in person to the Nephites it is of interest to me that He quoted numerous prophets. He had their words memorized. He didn’t have to read them. Their words were, in reality, His words. He originally inspired those prophets to write, and by His quoting them, He legitimized and approved their writings.

As I read about Samuel the Lamanite I began wondering about him. He is the only Lamanite prophet mentioned in the scriptures. Given the fact that there were many righteous Lamanites from about 90 B.C. to 200 A.D., I would suppose that there were other Lamanites who might have been prophets besides Samuel; but Samuel is the only one of whom we have record.

Traveling home today from Bremerton, I was surrounded by ultimates. I had the company and companionship of the ultimate mortal—my wife. I was eating the ultimate candy—peanut M & Ms. I was listening to the ultimate music—Handel’s Messiah, sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the ultimate choir.

Chapter 5 in the Book of Jacob is the longest chapter in the Book of Mormon. It’s Zenos’ allegory of the tame and wild olive trees. It’s 77 verses long. Zenos was a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel. When he wrote the allegory, the story of the scattering and gathering of Israel was just beginning.

I remember three distinct times since joining the Church when I felt especially stressed, and mad at the world. I don’t know that anything I was doing, or not doing, caused those episodes. I suppose that I was as worthy during the times that led up to those events as I was at any other time.

“I want to take Mulek out of the palace, and keep him until the danger is over,” Zibiah told Jehoiada. “You’re the keeper of the king’s sons. When the Chaldeans come, and if they overthrow Jerusalem, they’ll destroy all the seed royal.”
“You love him, don’t you?” Jehoiada said to the woman.

As I quietly lay in bed this morning with the window wide open, I heard two big thunders off to the north. That got my attention. As I listened for more I began hearing a symphony—one of the most beautiful I’ve ever heard. Someone smarter and more talented than me needs to compose it and put it to music.

Yesterday evening I finished rereading the Doctrine and Covenants. A thing that impresses me every time I read the book is the fact that neither Joseph Smith nor any other man could have been capable of writing it.

When I was a kid there were no skunks in this valley. A disease went through them the year I was born, and completely wiped out the population. The first skunk I ever knew about was the one I hit with a swather on the Lillard Place when I was 16 or 17.

Tom Bruce was having trouble with the end gun of a pivot. The end gun contains the last nozzle of the sprinkler system, and shoots water a hundred feet beyond the reach of the pivot. The end gun is on a long arm that sticks out from the last tower of the pivot.

As I came awake a few minutes ago the thought in my head was “subsequent hills, subsequent mountains, or subsequent vistas.” Where the thought came from, and what it means, I’m not sure; but it needs to be explored.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (pronounced GUR-tuh) was the most celebrated European writer by the early 1800s. He was much admired not only for his writings, but also for his thinking and accomplishments in science, philosophy and other fields.

As I read the scriptures last night, I came to the account in the Book of Mormon of the Jaredites’ crossing of the great waters. I read how they made eight small (Ether 2:16) barges that were the “length of a tree” and “tight like unto a dish.”

As a sailor in the U.S. Navy I was assigned to the USS Banner—a small, 180-foot vessel carrying 82 men. I distinctly remember my first trip to sea. Perhaps the sea wasn’t all that rough, but it was rough enough to greatly impress me.

When I compose a talk for a Church setting, I cast about in my mind for stories and experiences from my life that could illustrate the principle that I want to teach. My experience is that the talk will be remembered for more than five minutes if a story accompanies it.

The Old Testament ends with these attention-getting words:
“For behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” (Mal. 4:1).

How many of us are familiar with the names James Covill, Jesse Gause, and Merrill Buckley?
James Covill was the subject of two sections in Doctrine and Covenants. He “covenanted with the Lord that he would obey any command that the Lord would give him through Joseph the Prophet.”

We’re to liken the scriptures to ourselves. (1 Ne. 19:23). The scriptures also tell us that there is nothing new under the sun. (Eccl. 1:9). This week I was told of two stories of bank fraud, couldn’t sleep last night because of them, got up and read my Book of Mormon, and found myself reading of the exact situation in the scriptures.