Prepare Before the Sacrament

“For the sacrament to be a spiritually cleansing experience each week, we need to prepare ourselves before coming to sacrament meeting. We do this by deliberately leaving behind our daily work and recreation and letting go of worldly thoughts and concerns. As we do, we make room in our minds and hearts for the Holy Ghost. …

“As we sing the sacrament hymn, participate in the sacrament prayers, and partake of the emblems of His flesh and blood, we prayerfully seek forgiveness for our sins and shortcomings. We think about the promises we made and kept during the previous week and make specific personal commitments to follow the Savior during the coming week.”

Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “Coming to Ourselves: The Sacrament, the Temple, and Sacrifice in Service,” Ensign,May 2012, 34.

Our Eternal Happiness

“Our eternal happiness will be in proportion to the way that we devote ourselves to helping others.”

George Albert Smith, in Daughters in My Kingdom, 77.

Family History

“We, as spirit children of our Heavenly Father, were sent to earth at this time that we might participate in hastening this great work…

“The Lord expects you and me to perform our family history work well. I think the first thing we must do if we are to perform our work well is to have the Spirit of our Heavenly Father with us. When we live as righteously as we know how to live, He will open the way for the fulfillment of the blessings that so earnestly and diligently we seek.

We are going to make mistakes, but none of us can become an expert in family history work without first being a novice. Therefore, we must plunge into this work, and we must prepare for some uphill climbing. This is not an easy task, but the Lord has placed it upon you, and He has placed it upon me.

As you pursue family history work, you are going to find yourself running into roadblocks, and you are going to say to yourself, “There is nothing else I can do.” When you come to that point, get down on your knees and ask the Lord to open the way, and He will open the way for you. I testify that this is true.

My brothers and sisters, I testify that the Lord will bless us as we accept and respond to this challenge.”

President Thomas S. Monson, “Hastening the Work,” Ensign, Jun 2014, 4.

Does God Know me, and is He Aware of my Circumstances in Life?

“Whether is it the best of times or the worst of times, He is with us. He has promised that this will never change. . . . May we have a commitment to our Heavenly Father that does not ebb and flow with the years of the crises of our lives. We should not need to experience difficulties for us to remember Him, and we should not be driven to humility before giving Him our faith and trust. May we ever strive to be close to our Heavenly Father. To do so, we must pray to Him and listen to Him every day. We truly need Him every hour, whether they be hours or sunshine or of rain. May His promise ever be our watchword: ‘I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee’ [Joshua 1:5].”

President Thomas S. Monson, “I Will Not Fail Thee, nor Forsake Thee,” Ensign, Nov 2013, 87.