A Catholic theologian once said, "You Mormons are all ignoramuses. You don’t even know the strength of your own position. It is so strong that there is only one other tenable in the whole Christian world, and that is the position of the Catholic Church. The issue is between Catholicism and Mormonism. If we are right, you are wrong; if you are right, we are wrong; and that’s all there is to it. The Protestants haven’t a leg to stand on. If we are wrong, they are wrong with us, for they were a part of us and went out from us; while if we are right, they are apostates whom we cut off long ago. If we really have, as we claim, the apostolic succession from St. Peter, there was no need for Joseph Smith and Mormonism; but if we have not that succession, then such a man as Joseph Smith was necessary, and Mormonism’s attitude is the only consistent one. It is either the perpetuation of the Gospel from ancient times, or the restoration of the Gospel in latter days.”

That is a most insightful observation, and that Catholic theologian is right: We're ignoramuses. Not only do we not realize the strength of our own position, we give little thought to how amazingly blessed we are.

Why were you so lucky to have been born when you were instead of hundreds or thousands of years ago?

Why were you born in America instead of elsewhere?

Why are you a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints instead of being an atheist, or belonging to a sect that believes in what Nephi called "false and vain and foolish doctrines?" (2 Nephi 28:9).

Why do you have access to such amazing technology?

When I was a teenager my own mother was still cooking on a wood cook stove. Polio was raging, and we all knew someone living in an iron lung. My family was one of the first in the valley to get a TV. Computers and the Internet were only theories. Our telephone was a big box with a crank that hung on the wall. Our number was 5. Our ring was one long, as opposed to maybe a short, a long, and a short for someone else. As you were talking on your party line you would hear a little sound if you were listening closely, and then you'd have to say, "Get off the line, Shirley," and you'd hear your nosy neighbor hang up.

When I became bishop I had to get a private phone line just so Shirley wouldn't be listening in on my phone conversations that were church business.

My father had a combine that didn't have a cab. He also had asthma. That combine nearly killed him. My 10-year-old brother had to do the grain harvest. Tractors were a new innovation. They were small, and didn't have cabs, either.

Dad was still using a team of horses and a wagon to feed the cows when he came to this valley in 1939.

I was born in 1947, and all of these changes have happened in my lifetime. I was born in Baker, Oregon in the old hospital on 4th Street.

My daughter asked me if we ever went to La Grande when I was young. My mind searched and searched, and couldn't come up with a single memory of ever being in La Grande. My family went to Halfway once, and to Wallowa once, both times to see my older sister while she lived in those places. When I was four my mother and I took the train to Eugene to see her father. When I was in the third grade we all took the train to Montana to see my dad's mother, the only time that I ever got to see her.

As a youth those trips are just about the sum total of the times that I ever set foot out of this valley.

I was probably six years old when missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints knocked on our farmhouse door. Dad let them in. They came three times. I couldn't understand a thing they were talking about. I was relieved when Dad told them we weren't really interested. Thankfully the Lord gave me another chance when I was older and able to understand.

Why me? Why have I been so blessed to have seen all these changes, and to have the Church, and knowledge, and covenants, and the Priesthood, and a testimony, and know the Savior, and have an eternal marriage, and opportunities to serve?

There are reasons. Elder Gary E. Stevenson said last October that "You are here on earth now because you were selected to be here now. You have the strength and capacity to be disciples of Christ in an unprecedented way." (Liahona, pg. 91).

My own grandfather wrote an article which he entitled "My Father's Day and Mine." He pointed out that his grandfather came through this valley on the Oregon Trail in 1853 in a covered wagon pulled by oxen. Nothing back then moved any faster than a horse. No white men lived in this valley then. Neither did any Indians during the winters. The snows were too deep. These valleys have only been inhabited for 162 years. That second great grandfather of mine settled in the Willamette Valley where he and his boys planted wheat by broadcasting seed by hand, and harvesting it using a small hand-held scythe. He and his father had come from Scotland a few years earlier on a sailing vessel powered by wind. It was the same sort of boat, and the same method of planting and harvesting wheat, that had been used for thousands of years with no changes.

My grandfather asked the question, "Why was it that God in his infinite wisdom did permit the world to stand still for three thousand years and then in your time and mine pull the plug as it were and permit the world to rush to its full and final destiny? That is truly the sixty-four dollar question of our day."

He couldn't answer that question, but we can.

My father-in-law once found an article published by the Union Pacific Railroad. The Union Pacific Railroad had sponsored a study. They wanted to pinpoint when the world "took off." The scholars who made that study pinpointed the date when the world took off. They cataloged all the inventions which made our world what it is today and chose the year 1830 as the year when the world took off.

That does not surprise members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That is the year when the Book of Mormon was published and the Church was organized. That was when the Restoration of the gospel began. That was 195 years ago. We are just five years away from the bicentennial celebration of the organization of the Church.

Elder Gary E. Stevenson told us in the last general conference that we have just "commenced a decade that may prove to be as momentous as any that had followed that unparalleled founding decade almost two centuries ago." (Liahona, November 2024, 90). We're going to see amazing things happen.

As I wrote this talk I astonished myself when I realized the extent of the changes that I've seen just in my lifetime. In our ancestors' days change took centuries. In the early days of this country change took a hundred years. After Joseph Smith and the Restoration change took just decades, but everything was still slow in comparison to today. For instance in 1853 it took that grandfather of mine three or four days in his covered wagon to make my 40-minute drive from here to La Grande.

The Lord said that He would hasten the work in its time. (D&C 88:73). Change now doesn't even require a year. You and I are witnesses. Things that were prophesied thousands of years ago are happening before our eyes. Some really big ones are all set to burst upon the world. I'm witnessing the gathering of Israel. I'm thinking that I might stay around long enough to see the building of the New Jerusalem in Jackson County, Missouri. I'm expecting to see the return of the 10 tribes. I'm seeing the fulfillment of Joseph Smith's prophecy that there will be hundreds of temples dotting the earth, and that the Church will fill North and South America and the world. I'm even going to see the Lord's Second Coming. I might be on the other side of the veil then, but I'll see it. I'll be there. I'll either be caught up to meet Him, or I'll be with Him when He comes. If I can hold on until then, they won't even have to hold a funeral for me because I'll be changed in the twinkling of an eye. I'm going to get to read all of the additional scripture that's been promised. The 10 tribes are going to bring their records, the rest of the golden plates will be given, we'll get the brass plates that Lehi brought from Jerusalem, and we'll get the writings of John the Beloved and of Joseph who was sold into Egypt.

I am excited about this gospel of Jesus Christ that we're allowed to have. I'm grateful for our comforts, and I'm trying to not be an ignoramus and take all of this for granted. I think that I'm grateful for all of the technology with which we've been blessed, but I can't keep up with it. We live in the most magnificent era in the history of the world. We must not take our blessings for granted. We each have the responsibility to share the light, knowledge, and testimony that we have. Elder Stevenson said to "Let your friends see the joy you feel in living the gospel, and you will be the best gospel message they ever receive." And then he admonished us to "have the name of the Savior upon (our) lips and the Holy Spirit in (our) souls." (Liahona, November 2024, 92-93).

Things are happening.  Things are happening at an increasing pace. We may not realize what we're seeing, even as we're seeing it, but don't be an ignoramus. We're entering an exciting decade, so get aboard, and hang on.