• Born 1927 Salt Lake City, Utah
• Baptized as a child; Aaronic Priesthood as a youth; Melchizedek Priesthood as a young man
• Married Frances Johnson 1948; three children
• Ordained Bishop 1949
• President of Canadian Mission 1959-1962
• Ordained Apostle and sustained to the Twelve 1963
• Second Couselor to Ezra Taft Benson 1985
• Second Counselor to Howard W. Hunter 1994
• President of the Twelve and First Counselor to Gordon B. Hinckley 1995
• Sixteenth President of the Church 2008

    Adapted primarily from the Ensign, February 1986, p. 10.; "Thomas S. Monson..." by Jeffrey R. Holland (then President of Brigham Young University) and from other material

---

    Twenty-three-year-old Tom Monson, relatively new bishop of the Sixth-Seventh Ward in the Temple View Stake, was uncharacteristically restless as the stake priesthood leadership meeting progressed. He had the distinct impression that he should leave the meeting immediately and drive to the Veterans’ Hospital high up on the Avenues of Salt Lake City. Before leaving home that night he had received a telephone call informing him that an older member of his ward was ill and had been admitted to the hospital for care. Could the bishop, the caller wondered, find a moment to go by the hospital sometime and give a blessing? The busy young leader explained that he was just on his way to a stake meeting but that he certainly would be pleased to go by the hospital as soon as the meeting was concluded.

    Now the prompting was stronger than ever: “Leave the meeting and proceed to the hospital at once.” But the stake president himself was speaking at the pulpit! It would be most discourteous to stand in the middle of the presiding officer’s message, make one’s way over an entire row of brethren, and then exit the building altogether. Painfully he waited out the final moments of the stake president’s message, then bolted for the door even before the benediction had been pronounced.

    Running the full length of the corridor on the fourth floor of the hospital, the young bishop saw a flurry of activity outside the designated room. A nurse stopped him and said, “Are you Bishop Monson?”

    “Yes,” was the anxious reply.

    “I’m sorry,” she said. “The patient was calling your name just before he passed away.”

    Fighting back the tears, Thomas S. Monson turned and walked back into the night. He vowed then and there that he would never again fail to act upon a prompting from the Lord. He would acknowledge the impressions of the Spirit when they came, and he would follow wherever they led him, ever to be “on the Lord’s errand.”

    You cannot understand President Thomas S. Monson, First Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church, without understanding the repetition of such promptings in his life and the absolute loyalty with which he has kept that early promise to obey them. Indeed, his life seems something of a sacred manuscript upon which the Holy Ghost has written—and is still writing—one remarkable spiritual message after another. In this and so many other ways he is much like Nephi of old. He is “exceedingly young”—called as a bishop at twenty-two, a counselor in a stake presidency at twenty-seven, a mission president at thirty-one, an Apostle at thirty-six (the youngest in fifty-three years), and a counselor in the First Presidency at fifty-eight (the youngest in this century). He is also “large in stature,” a robust, buoyant, whirlwind of a man who might have been a superb basketball player in his youth had it not been required of him (as it was of so many others in the Great Depression and its aftermath) that from his twelfth year on he forgo the pleasure of extracurricular school activities in order to work at his father’s side in the printing trade.

    But President Monson is most like young Nephi in his humility and in his faith. In all that he has so successfully accomplished, he has been resolute in his commitment to “go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded” (1 Ne. 3:7) regardless of the obstacles in the path. Furthermore, he has done it as Nephi himself did it—“led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.” (1 Ne. 4:6.) Little wonder that such men as these are enlisted to “bring forth my Zion … for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost.” (1 Ne. 13:37.) In light of that promise, surely no stake patriarch has been more prophetic than was Brother Frank B.Woodbury that fifteenth day of March, 1944, when he placed his hands on 16-year-old Tom Monson’s head and began to speak:

    “The Holy Ghost has been conferred upon you to be your inspiration and your guide, to direct you in your labors, and to bring to your mind the things that have passed and to show unto you things to come. …

    “You shall be indeed a leader among your fellows. … You shall have the privilege of going into the world to proclaim the message of the gospel … and you shall have the spirit of discernment. …

    “Seek the Lord in humility to guide and direct you, that you might know the proper course to pursue … in the high and holy callings unto which you shall be called. … ”

    Thomas Spencer Monson was born on a Sunday morning, 21 August 1927, in Salt Lake City, Utah. His parents, G. Spencer and Gladys Condie Monson, were of hardy Swedish/English and Scottish ancestry respectively—humble, hardworking, loving parents who had already been blessed with a daughter, Marjorie, and later would be blessed with Robert, Marilyn, Scott, and Barbara.

    Family, including extended family, played an unusually important role in young Tom Monson’s life. His Grandfather Condie had purchased property on the southwest corner of Fifth South and Second West, built his own home there, and provided homes for each of the four Condie daughters and their husbands. These were joyful days filled with continual family get-togethers, not only with the Condie aunts on the same block but also with the Condie uncles out in Granger and the Monson relatives in Murray and Bountiful. And always those idyllic summers at Vivian Park with fishing on the Provo River!

    Although his family was without many of the luxuries of life (he remembers how terribly cold his bedroom was in winter), young Tom’s tender heart and compassionate nature soon made him aware of the many around him who were less fortunate than he. Unwilling to see the family of one of his childhood friends eat cereal (moistened with hot water rather than milk) for a Christmas dinner, he handed over his two prize rabbits, saying with a lump in his throat, “It isn’t turkey, but they will make you a good Christmas dinner.”

    Indeed, his childhood experiences seem to have been part of a divinely directed training process which would sensitize Thomas Monson to the plight of the poor for the rest of his life. When he later became bishop of that very Sixth-Seventh Ward into which he had been born and raised, he had 1,060 members, including some 85 widows and the largest welfare load in the Church.

    Many may know that young Bishop Monson took a week of his personal vacation time every Christmas season to visit all of those eighty-five widows in his ward. Many may not know that for the first several years the gift he would take them was one of the Barred Plymouth Rock or Rhode Island Red hens raised and dressed out by him in his own poultry coops. And although it has been more than thirty years since he was released as their bishop, President Monson has taken a gift and visited every one of those widows every Christmas for as long as each has lived. Some in their final moments have spoken to family members of where he stood in the room and what he said and how very much they loved him.

     Furthermore, these sweet folks never seem to die until Brother Monson is back in town from his many assignments, enabling him to speak at their funerals. Perhaps no one in the present leadership of the Church has spoken at so many funerals—he once had three services in one day—and always very personal remarks are given for the sometimes ordinary and otherwise unknown souls that he has met and loved somewhere during his ministry.

    “Tom is a man of the common people, the champion of the underdog,” says long-time friend Wendell J. Ashton. “When he brings friends to the basketball games, it isn’t the rich and famous or the leaders from the chamber of commerce. It is a handful of the ordinary folks gathered from his days ‘down by the tracks.’ He is like a pine tree—the top is high and ascending to heaven but the branches are broad, low to the ground, and protective of all who need shelter there.”

    “Few people know it, but Brother Monson is the self-appointed chaplain at a number of nursing homes around town,” notes Elder Boyd K. Packer, who sat next to Elder Monson in the Quorum of the Twelve for fifteen years. “He visits them anytime his busy schedule will permit, and sometimes even when it doesn’t permit.”

    (A well-meaning person once told President Monson that it was useless for him to visit these elderly people, talking at length with them when they seldom answered a word. “You might as well save your time and breath, Elder Monson. They don’t know who you are.”

    “Whether they know me or not is beside the point,” the determined Thomas Monson replied. “I don’t talk to them because they know me; I talk to them because I know them.”)

    W. James Mortimer, publisher of the Deseret News and longtime friend, observes: “I have served in business, church, and personal capacities with President Monson for the past twenty-five years. He is one of a kind. His strength is evident, but it is always blended with humility. His intellect is keen but always tempered with wisdom. The power he holds is always exercised with sound judgment. Through service and loyalty he has earned the love others have for him.”

    Elder James E. Faust, President Monson’s associate in the Quorum of the Twelve, suggests that “no one in this world is more loyal than Tom Monson. Once you are Tom’s friend, you are his friend forever. That mind of his doesn’t forget anything, but neither does his heart—especially people.”

    President Monson was “up-and-doing,” developing such loyalties and devotedly serving others very early in his life. “He was the kind who accomplished what most boys don’t,” says John R. Burt, a lifelong friend, former bishop, and one who served with Brother Monson as a counselor in the Temple View Stake presidency. “He’d meet with his quorum counselors and stir things up, even as a youngster. Usually you have to do a lot of prodding with young boys, but not with Tom. He was always ready to do something worthwhile.

    “That skill has continued with him. I’ve never seen him take the leadership of any project that didn’t do well. He has a great spiritual attitude about him that moves the work. He’s a great administrator and a spiritual giant.”

    As in so many other circumstances, the undeniable prompting of the Holy Spirit had its special influence when 17-year-old Tom, unlike the forty-one other recruits with whom he joined the armed services that day, chose the naval reserve (for the duration of the war plus six months) over the regular navy (for four years with a fixed promise of discharge). It was a decision he had made a matter of urgent prayer.

    Within just a few weeks of his joining, there was an armistice in Europe and only a few months later came peace in the Pacific. Less than a year after he began his active duty, Ensign Thomas S. Monson returned home to graduate with honors from the University of Utah, just one quarter behind those members of his class who had not given military service. The impressions of the Spirit had spared him three years of post-war military duty. Little did he know that even then he was being fitted with “the whole armour of God” (Eph. 6:11) for quite a different kind of battle and a much longer tour of duty. He was “on the Lord’s errand” and time was of the essence.

    One of the sweetest chapters in a book of life filled with things of the heart and of the spirit begins with President Monson’s courtship of Frances Johnson. “Mom is the other half of Dad’s success story, the half no one really knows,” says their daughter Ann Monson Dibb. “He gave a conference address once entitled ‘Anonymous’ about people who serve so faithfully and give so much, yet never seek recognition. That talk applies beautifully to my mother; maybe he even wrote it with her in mind. He couldn’t have done what he has done without her.”

    It was obviously to be a marriage-made-in-heaven when on that first evening as young Tom called at the Johnson household, Brother Franz Johnson said, “Monson! Monson! That’s a Swedish name, isn’t it?”

    “Yes, sir!” the young suitor quickly reassured him.

    At that, Brother Johnson went to the bureau drawer and brought out a picture of two missionaries in their top hats. He said, pointing to one of them, “Are you related to this Monson?”

    “Yes, sir, that is Elias Monson, my great-uncle,” affirmed the young visitor.

    Brother Johnson’s eyes filled with tears as he exclaimed, “He was one of the missionaries who helped bring the gospel to my mother and father and my entire family in the land of Sweden.” On that strong foundation, the romance between Tom and Frances flourished and the two were married in the Salt Lake Temple for time and eternity on 7 October 1948. “Tom was serving as ward clerk, then as superintendent of the YMMIA when we were first married, and he has gone from one assignment to another since then,” Sister Monson recalls. “Some have asked how a new bride adjusts to that, but it has never been a sacrifice to see my husband doing the Lord’s work. It has blessed me, and it has blessed our children. He always knew that if it was for the Church, I expected him to do what he had to do.”

    “In thirty-seven years of marriage I have never known Frances to complain once of my Church responsibilities,” says President Monson lovingly. “In those thirty-seven years I have been gone many days and many nights, and I have rarely been able to sit with her in the congregation. But there is no one like her—absolutely no one. She is in every way supportive and is a woman of quiet and profoundly powerful faith.”

    With Frances at his side and increasing Church responsibilities coming at every turn, Brother Monson continued the preparation that would one day aid him in his service as a counselor in the First Presidency of the Church.

    Strongly committed to education (he holds a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Utah and an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Brigham Young University, on whose Board of Trustees he sits), Tom graduated cum laude in business administration from the University of Utah in 1948. “Tom was an outstanding student,” remembers Dr. O. Preston Robinson, Brother Monson’s former department head at the “U”. “He got straight A’s in everything he did. I could see right then that the world was certain to hear more of him. He started out working for me at the university, then taught with me, then joined me at the Deseret News. Later it was my privilege to work for him. I can’t say enough of him as a man and as a true friend. I love him like a son.” In a remarkable display of determination, President Monson would later finish an M.B.A. degree at BYU several years after being called as a General Authority.

    The early career in advertising sales and management at the Deseret News (of which he became the president and chairman of the board) and later the Deseret Press (of which he was to become general manager) was interrupted by service as president of the Canadian Mission from 1959 to 1962. The mission covered a very large geographical area, with no stakes and few adequate buildings.

    “He had a dramatic impact on that mission,” remembers former missionary F. Wayne Chamberlain. “Here he was, younger than some of the full-time elders. But the minute he arrived in Toronto he was in charge. In one quick tour of the mission he knew every missionary’s name and many of the members. He lifted everyone, everywhere he went—he completely energized the entire mission. With what I saw there, I truly believe he could have become the successful chief executive officer of any major corporation in the world.” Needless to say, the work of the Church flourished in eastern Canada under this young president’s direction.

    Just a little more than a year and a half after his return to Salt Lake City, and after having served on several general committees of the Church, Thomas S. Monson was called to be a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on 4 October 1963.

    In addition to Brother Monson’s apostolic labor, there came significant professional and civic duties as well, including service on the boards of KSL, Bonneville International Corporation, Mountain Bell, Commercial Security Bank, Beneficial Life Insurance Company, Utah State System of Higher Education’s Board of Regents, National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America (from which he received Scouting’s prestigious Silver Buffalo Award) and President Ronald Reagan’s Task Force for Private Sector Initiatives.

    “Tom moves with equal ability and ease as a leader among members and nonmembers alike,” muses Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Quorum of the Twelve associate. “His administrative strength and executive ability are not to be wholly accounted for in his academic training or professional opportunities, distinguished as they are. It is something more fundamental than that— something inherent and innate. He doesn’t need twenty years with an issue to grasp its significance and retain its meaning. He has devoured the contents of most matters while everybody else is still trying to get the wrapper off.”

    John W. Gallivan, a member of the Roman Catholic Church, a leader in the Salt Lake community, and past publisher of the Salt Lake Tribune, comments: “If he’s ever met you, Tom Monson is your friend. This warm, genuine, gregarious man doesn’t love his neighbor because that is the mandate; Tom Monson is your friend because he loves mankind. That’s his nature. The Church gave this community special unification through friendship when it elevated Tom Monson to the First Presidency.”

    His diplomatic skill in working with non-LDS groups is very evident in President Monson’s nearly two decades of work in the countries of Eastern Europe. Following his efforts in helping to create the first stake there in August of 1982, a personal dream was fulfilled when a temple was dedicated on 29 June 1985, in Freiberg, German Democratic Republic.

    “If it weren’t for Brother Monson, there would be little for our Saints in this part of Europe,” says close friend and Europe Area President Joseph B. Wirthlin. “Now we have stakes, wards, chapels and—miracle of miracles—a temple. Tom has given everything to those people, including the shirt off his back. I mean it! I’ve seen him give away his suits and his shirts and his shoes. I’ll bet he’s given away twenty suits to those destitute Saints in Eastern Europe. He says they were used, old ones that he was going to throw away, but they always looked brand new to me.”

    As a member of the Council of the Twelve for twenty-two years, Brother Monson’s administrative opportunities have included assignments—and invaluable training—reaching across the breadth of LDS life: missionary work, welfare services, education, genealogy, home teaching, leadership training, correlation, curriculum development, priesthood quorum and auxiliary programs—and on and on. “He is a genius at organization,” says Elder Packer. “If I were to choose someone to steer an important matter successfully through all the necessary channels and past all the necessary checkpoints, I would choose Tom Monson.”

    “His life is as systematic as his mind,” reveals President Monson’s capable secretary Lynne F. Cannegieter. “He never puts anything off, and it seems that he never ever forgets anything.”

    One weekend in August 1974 an unexpected change of conference assignment came, sending Elder Monson to the Shreveport Louisiana Stake. The Saturday afternoon schedule was filled with a busy slate of meetings. Rather apologetically, the stake president asked Brother Monson if time would permit him to provide a blessing to ten-year-old Christal Methvin, who was afflicted with cancer. Brother Monson said he would be pleased to do so and then asked if she would be coming to the conference meetings or if she were confined to a Shreveport hospital. Almost reluctantly, the stake president said Christal was unable to leave her home many miles from Shreveport.

    Elder Monson examined the meeting schedule and found that there simply was no available time. As an alternative, he suggested that she be remembered in the public prayers which would be offered throughout the conference. Surely, he consoled, the Lord would understand and bless the Methvin family accordingly.

    Prior to the stake conference, and unbeknown to Brother Monson, Christal had lost her leg to surgery, only to discover later that the cancer had spread to her tiny lungs. A trip had been planned to Salt Lake City, where she might receive a blessing from one of the General Authorities. The Methvins knew none of the Brethren personally, so they placed before Christal a picture of all the Church leaders. She pointed to the photograph of Elder Thomas S. Monson and said, “I would like him to give me a blessing.”

    But Christal’s condition had deteriorated so rapidly that the flight to Salt Lake City had to be cancelled. She was growing weaker in body but not in faith. She said, “Since a General Authority is coming to our stake conference, why not Brother Monson? If I can’t go to him, the Lord can send him to me.” At about the same time, Brother Monson received the unexpected change in his stake conference assignment which sent him to Shreveport.

    As one final favor to Christal, the family agreed to kneel by her bedside and ask for just one more blessing; the chance to enjoy Brother Monson’s personal visit.

    After receiving word from the stake president that Brother Monson would be unable to visit Christal because of the extremely tight meeting schedule, the Methvins were understandably very disappointed. They knelt again around Christal’s bedside, pleading for a final favor on her behalf: that somehow her desire for a blessing at the hands of Brother Monson would be realized.

    At the very moment the Methvin family knelt around Christal’s bed, Elder Monson was shuffling his notes, preparing to speak at the concluding portion of the Saturday evening session. However, as he began his move to the pulpit, a voice whispered in near-audible tones a brief but very familiar message: “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.”

    His notes became a blur. He attempted to pursue the theme of the meeting as outlined, but the name and image of Christal Methvin would not leave his mind. Then, ever faithful to the precious gift so demonstrably his, he responded to the spiritual message. He instructed that changes in the next day’s conference schedule be made, whatever the cost in confusion and disruption. Then the meeting continued.

    After a very early Sunday drive over many miles, Elder Monson gazed down upon a child too ill to rise, too weak to speak. Her illness had now rendered her sightless. Deeply touched by the scene and the Spirit of the Lord which was so prevalent, Brother Monson dropped to his knees and took the child’s frail hand in his own. “Christal,” he whispered, “I am here.”

    With great effort she whispered back, “Brother Monson, I just knew you would come.”

    A blessing was pronounced commending a sweet child’s body and spirit to the loving watchcare of her Heavenly Father, who surely must have been observing that tender scene. Her barely audible “Thank you” gave eloquent benediction to the blessing and to the sweet life of faith she had lived. The next Thursday, as she was being remembered in the prayer circle of the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve where Elder Monson had placed her name, Christal Methvin’s pure spirit left its disease-ravaged body and entered the paradise of God.

    Even though their father has been very busy all of their lives, the three Monson children do not see themselves as having been slighted. “Other children’s fathers seemed to be home more than our dad was,” they remembered, “but they didn’t seem to do as much with their children as Dad did with us. We were always doing something together, and we cherish those memories.”

    The Monson’s oldest son, Tom, said he hardly ever had free time with his dad during those demanding years in the Canadian Mission (the Monsons had three days in three years when they ate alone as a family, exclusive of missionaries or other mission guests). Nevertheless, every night before young Tommy went to bed, he would go upstairs to his father’s office and whatever his dad was doing would be put aside in deference to a game of checkers. “In its own way, that memory is as sweet to me as the one I have of my father flying all the way to Louisville, Kentucky, years later to give me a blessing against the pneumonia I had contracted during my military basic training there,” Tom said.

    Ann remembers that although the ubiquitous briefcase was always open and her father was always reading some necessary papers, he made his children feel part of his ministry and invariably shared spiritual experiences from his assignments. “My fondest memories,” she says, “are of him coming home Sunday evenings after a stake conference assignment or mission tour and hearing him tell of the special inspiration he had in calling a patriarch or of the faith-promoting experiences he had interviewing missionaries.” There were plenty of such stories for the Monson children to enjoy because daily, weekly, monthly their father was having special impressions and inspired promptings regarding calls to be extended and actions to be taken.

    Clark was deeply touched when, on a typically marvelous Monson fishing experience, his father asked him to reel in his line for a moment. When the lines were in and the rods set aside in the boat, Brother Monson said, “In about five minutes your brother Tom will be sitting down to take the bar exam admitting him to the practice of law. He has worked hard through three years of law school for this and he will be a little apprehensive. Let’s just kneel here in the boat. I’ll offer a prayer for him, and then you offer one.”

    That was one of the greatest experiences of my life,” Clark later reported. He was also deeply touched years later when his father turned the car around and drove forty miles out of his way to let Clark get a good look at a hawk’s nest located near Randolph, Utah. “I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that he would do that. It’s exactly the kind of thing he has done all his life for those he sees in need.”

    While swimming in his beloved Provo River, the teenage Tom Monson saw a crowd of vacationers shouting frantically that a member of their party had fallen into the river and was likely to drown in the whirlpools toward which she was being swept. At just that moment, she thrashed her way into Tom’s view. He swam to her side, took her in tow, and made his way to the bank.

    “They were very generous in their gratitude and credited me with saving her life,” Brother Monson would later report. “But I think I just happened to be in the right place at the right time in order to provide assistance.”

    Such has always been the case with Thomas S. Monson, a modern Nephi resolutely following the promptings of the Spirit—always in the right place at the right time, always “on the Lord’s errand.”

    President Monson was ordained to the Holy Apostleship and sustained to the Twelve October 4, 1963 at the age of thirty-six. Twelve years later, on November 10, 1985, President Ezra Taft Benson called him as his Second Counselor. He served until President Benson's death on May  30, 1994. President Howard W. Hunter also called him to serve as Second Counselor from 1994 until 1995. When President  Hunter died and President Gordon B. Hinckley was sustained as President of the Church, he chose Thomas S. Monson as his First Couselor.

President Monson served as a Counselor to President Hinckley until the latter's daeth on January 27, 2008. With President Hinckley's death, and the disolution of the First Presidency, President Monson returned to the Quorum of the Twelve, taking his place as the President thereof. Then on February 4, 2008, it was announced that the First Presidency has been reorganized with Thomas S. Monson as the President of the Church. President Monson chose Henry B. Eyring as his First Counselor and Dieter F. Uchtdorf as his Second Counselor. They continue to serve at this writing.

    Grampa Bill wishes to bear his testimony that he knows Thomas S. Monson to be a Prophet of God. If the Saints will follow him, he will lead them in paths of Godliness. In the name of Jesus Christ... AMEN.

You will note that some are available only as text; some are available only in an audio (ASX or MP3) format; while still others are available in both text and audio formats.

Talks marked with an asterisk (*) are not (to my knowledge) available anywhere else on the web. As a service, they have been copied onto this web site.

Let Him be Humble * Note: This is Elder Monson's first talk as a General Authority, delivered just minutes after the 133rd Semiannual General Conference sustained him as an Apostle and as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve.	General Conference 4 October 1963
The Women’s Movement: Liberation or Deception?	Ensign, January, 1971
Lost Battalions	Ensign, June, 1971
With Hand and Heart	Ensign, December, 1971
“Finishers Wanted”	Ensign, July, 1972
Hands	Ensign, January, 1973
Only a Teacher: A Personal Observation	Ensign, May, 1973
Yellow Canaries with Gray on Their Wings	Ensign, July, 1973
“Behold Thy Mother”	Ensign, January, 1974
The Paths Jesus Walked	General Conference, April, 1974
My Personal Hall of Fame	General Conference, October, 1974
The Way Home	General Conference, April, 1975
The Faith of a Child	General Conference, October, 1975
Hopeless Dawn—Joyful Morning	General Conference, April, 1976
Which Road Will You Travel?	General Conference, October, 1976
Your Jericho Road	General Conference, April, 1977
The Way of the Lord	General Conference, October, 1977
Status Report on Missionary Work	Ensign, October, 1977
The Prayer of Faith	General Conference, April, 1978
Profiles of Faith	General Conference, October, 1978
The Army of the Lord	General Conference, April, 1979
Pornography—the Deadly Carrier	General Conference, October, 1979
Preparing the Way	General Conference, April, 1980
The Bishop—Center Stage in Welfare	General Conference, October, 1980
The Long Line of the Lonely	General Conference, April, 1981
“He Is Risen”	General Conference, October, 1981
“I Know That My Redeemer Lives”	Ensign, April, 1982
Sailing Safely the Seas of Life	General Conference, April, 1982
“Run, Boy, Run!”	General Conference, October, 1982
“Anonymous”	General Conference, April, 1983
Labels	General Conference, October, 1983
Mark E. Petersen—A Giant among Men	Ensign, March, 1984
Building Your Eternal Home	General Conference, April, 1984
An Invitation to Exaltation	Ensign, July, 1984
The Aaronic Priesthood Pathway	General Conference, October, 1984
Welfare Work	Ensign, January, 1985
Seven Steps to Success with Aaronic Priesthood Youth	Ensign, February, 1985
“The Spirit Giveth Life”	General Conference, April, 1985
Those Who Love Jesus	General Conference, October, 1985
“Come, Learn of Me”	Ensign, December, 1985
Heavenly Homes—Forever Families	General Conference, April, 1986
The Call of Duty	General Conference, April, 1986
A Provident Plan—A Precious Promise	General Conference, April, 1986
Guiding Principles of Personal and Family Welfare	Ensign, September, 1986
Your Patriarchal Blessing: A Liahona of Light	General Conference, October, 1986
Courage Counts	General Conference, October, 1986
Meeting Your Goliath	Ensign, January, 1987
Lost Battalions	Ensign, April, 1987
The Will Within	General Conference, April, 1987
Tears, Trials, Trust, Testimony	General Conference, April, 1987
Yellow Canaries with Gray on Their Wings	Ensign, August, 1987
A Doorway Called Love	General Conference, October, 1987
Missionary Memories	General Conference, October, 1987
In Search of the Christmas Spirit	Ensign, December, 1987
In Quest of the Abundant Life	Ensign, March, 1988
An Invitation to Exaltation	General Conference, April, 1988
You Make a Difference	General Conference, April, 1988
Happiness through Service	General Conference, April, 1988
“Come, Follow Me”	Ensign, July, 1988
“Can There Any Good Thing Come Out of Nazareth?”	Ensign, October, 1988
Hallmarks of a Happy Home	General Conference, October, 1988
Goal beyond Victory	General Conference, October, 1988
Your Jericho Road	Ensign, February, 1989
Thanks Be to God	General Conference, April, 1989
“Finishers Wanted”	General Conference, April, 1989
Go For It!	General Conference, April, 1989
All That the Father Has	Ensign, July, 1989
The Precious Gift of Sight	Ensign, September, 1989
Windows	General Conference, October, 1989
The Service That Counts	General Conference, October, 1989
Only a Teacher	Ensign, January, 1990
Conference Is Here	General Conference, April, 1990
“A Little Child Shall Lead Them”	General Conference, April, 1990
“I Know That My Redeemer Lives”	Ensign, April, 1990
The Lord’s Way	General Conference, April, 1990
My Brother’s Keeper	General Conference, April, 1990
The Prayer of Faith	Ensign, August, 1990
That We May Touch Heaven	General Conference, October, 1990
Days Never to Be Forgotten	General Conference, October, 1990
“God Be with You Till We Meet Again”	General Conference, October, 1990
The Lighthouse of the Lord	General Conference, October, 1990
The Search for Jesus	Ensign, December, 1990
Which Road Will You Travel?	Ensign, March, 1991
The Power of Prayer	General Conference, April, 1991
Never Alone	General Conference, April, 1991
A Royal Priesthood	General Conference, April, 1991
My Personal Hall of Fame	Ensign, July, 1991
Heavenly Homes, Forever Families	Ensign, October, 1991
“The Lord Bless You”	General Conference, October, 1991
Precious Children—A Gift from God	General Conference, October, 1991
“Called to Serve”	General Conference, October, 1991
The Long Line of the Lonely	Ensign, February, 1992
An Attitude of Gratitude	General Conference, April, 1992
Memories of Yesterday, Counsel for Today	General Conference, April, 1992
“See Thou Tell No Man”	General Conference, April, 1992
The Spirit of Relief Society	General Conference, April, 1992
To Learn, To Do, To Be	General Conference, April, 1992
The Paths Jesus Walked	Ensign, September, 1992
The Priesthood in Action	General Conference, October, 1992
At Parting	General Conference, October, 1992
Miracles—Then and Now	General Conference, October, 1992
“An Example of the Believers”	General Conference, October, 1992
Hopeless Dawn—Joyful Morning	Ensign, February, 1993
The Temple of the Lord	General Conference, April, 1993
Gifts	General Conference, April, 1993
Invitation to Exaltation	General Conference, April, 1993
Search and Rescue	General Conference, April, 1993
Preparation Precedes Performance	Ensign, September, 1993
Happiness—The Universal Quest	Ensign, October, 1993
Meeting Life’s Challenges	General Conference, October, 1993
The Upward Reach	General Conference, October, 1993
The Key of Faith	Ensign, February, 1994
The Prophet Joseph Smith: Teacher by Example	General Conference, April, 1994
The Path to Peace	General Conference, April, 1994
The Priesthood—A Sacred Trust	General Conference, April, 1994
What He Would Have Us Do	General Conference, April, 1994
Primary Days	Ensign, April, 1994
President Ezra Taft Benson—A Giant among Men	Ensign, July, 1994
The Fatherless and the Widows—Beloved of God	General Conference, October, 1994
My Brother’s Keeper	General Conference, October, 1994
With Hand and Heart	Ensign, January, 1995
Happy Birthday	Ensign, March, 1995
Mercy—The Divine Gift	General Conference, April, 1995
That All May Hear	General Conference, April, 1995
A Time to Choose	General Conference, April, 1995
President Howard W. Hunter: A Man for All Seasons	Ensign, April, 1995
Patience—A Heavenly Virtue	General Conference, October, 1995
Who Honors God, God Honors	General Conference, October, 1995
Christmas Gifts, Christmas Blessings	Ensign, December, 1995
Formula for Success	Ensign, March, 1996
The Way of the Master	General Conference, April, 1996
Duty Calls	General Conference, April, 1996
Strength through Obedience	Ensign, July, 1996
The Doorway of Love	Ensign, October, 1996
“Be Thou an Example”	General Conference, October, 1996
Christ at Bethesda’s Pool	General Conference, October, 1996
Profiles of Faith	Ensign, February, 1997
“The Spirit Giveth Life”	General Conference, April, 1997
They Showed the Way	General Conference, April, 1997
They Will Come	General Conference, April, 1997
Pioneers All	General Conference, April, 1997
Tears, Trials, Trust, Testimony	Ensign, September, 1997
Teach the Children	General Conference, October, 1997
Home Teaching—a Divine Service	General Conference, October, 1997
The Mighty Strength of the Relief Society	General Conference, October, 1997
How Do We Show Our Love?	Ensign, January, 1998
“Behold Thy Mother”	Ensign, April, 1998
Our Brothers’ Keepers	General Conference, April, 1998
Look to God and Live	General Conference, April, 1998
In Harm’s Way	General Conference, April, 1998
The Faith of a Child	Ensign, August, 1998
Think to Thank	General Conference, October, 1998
Today Determines Tomorrow	General Conference, October, 1998
What Is Christmas?	Ensign, December, 1998
Those Who Love Jesus	Ensign, March, 1999
For I Was Blind, but Now I See	General Conference, April, 1999
Your Celestial Journey	General Conference, April, 1999
The Priesthood—Mighty Army of the Lord	General Conference, April, 1999
Sailing Safely the Seas of Life	Ensign, July, 1999
Becoming Our Best Selves	General Conference, October, 1999
Priesthood Power	General Conference, October, 1999
Building Your Eternal Home	Ensign, October, 1999
An Attitude of Gratitude	Ensign, February, 2000
Your Eternal Home	General Conference, April, 2000
Your Eternal Voyage	General Conference, April, 2000
Precious Children, a Gift from God	General Conference, April, 2000
Labels	Ensign, September, 2000
Dedication Day	General Conference, October, 2000
The Call to Serve	General Conference, October, 2000
Three Gates to Open	CES Fireside, 14 January 2001	ASX
The Lighthouse of the Lord	Ensign, February, 2001
Compassion	General Conference, April, 2001
To the Rescue	General Conference, April, 2001
Pornography, the Deadly Carrier	Ensign, July, 2001
Now Is the Time	General Conference, October, 2001
“Be Thou an Example”	General Conference, October, 2001
Duty Calls	General Conference, October, 2001
Hallmarks of a Happy Home	Ensign, October, 2001
Preparing the Way	Ensign, February, 2002
A Little Child Shall Lead Them	General Conference, April, 2002
Pathways to Perfection	General Conference, April, 2002
Hidden Wedges	General Conference, April, 2002
They Pray and They Go	General Conference, April, 2002
Patience, a Heavenly Virtue	Ensign, September, 2002
Models to Follow	General Conference, October, 2002
Peace, Be Still	General Conference, October, 2002
The Way of the Master	Ensign, January, 2003
Life’s Greatest Decisions	CES Fireside, 197 February 2003	ASX
He Is Risen	Ensign, April, 2003
In Search of Treasure	General Conference, April, 2003
Stand in Your Appointed Place	General Conference, April, 2003
The Fatherless and the Widows: Beloved of God	Ensign, August, 2003
The Bridge Builder	General Conference, October, 2003
Bring Him Home	General Conference, October, 2003
The Gifts of Christmas	Ensign, December, 2003
Finding Peace	Ensign, March, 2004
Your Personal Influence	General Conference, April, 2004
The Call for Courage	General Conference, April, 2004
Miracles of Faith	Ensign, July, 2004
Choose You This Day	General Conference, October, 2004
Teaching Our Children	Ensign, October, 2004
If Ye Are Prepared Ye Shall Not Fear	General Conference, October, 2004
Anxiously Engaged	General Conference, October, 2004
To Truly See	Ensign, February, 2005
Peace in Our Savior	General Conference, April, 2005
Be Thou an Example	General Conference, April, 2005
The Sacred Call of Service	General Conference, April, 2005
Constant Truths for Changing Times	General Conference, April, 2005
The Profound Power of Gratitude	Ensign, September, 2005
The Prophet Joseph Smith: Teacher by Example	General Conference, October, 2005
Do Your Duty—That Is Best	General Conference, October, 2005
Decisions Determine Destiny	CES Fireside, 6 November 2005	ASX
The Master’s Blueprint	Ensign, January, 2006
True to the Faith	General Conference, April, 2006
Our Sacred Priesthood Trust	General Conference, April, 2006
Heavenly Homes, Forever Families	General Conference, April, 2006
Becoming Our Best Selves	Ensign, April, 2006
Led by Spiritual Pioneers	Ensign, August, 2006
How Firm a Foundation	Ensign, November, 2006
True to Our Priesthood Trust	Ensign, November, 2006
Treasured Gifts	Ensign, December, 2006
The Gift of Compassion	Ensign, March, 2007
Tabernacle Memories	General Conference, April, 2007
I Know That My Redeemer Lives!	General Conference, April, 2007
The Priesthood—a Sacred Gift	General Conference, April, 2007