[MUSIC - "JOSEPH SMITH'S FIRST PRAYER"]

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, ..." [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

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[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] "... that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not." "And it shall be given him." [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

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"But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering." [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

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[MUSIC - "JOSEPH SMITH'S FIRST PRAYER"]

Hi, everyone. I'm Coby. And I'm Natasha. Welcome to our live Face to Face event with President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency, and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. President Eyring, Elder Holland, thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you for letting us be here. We're delighted. Thank you. We're broadcasting today from the welcome center on the Smith family farm, where Joseph Smith was living when he experienced the First Vision. We hope that as we share this experience with you all today, that you'll feel the significance of all the sacred things that have taken place here. We'd like to welcome two youth groups who are joining us by videoconference, one from Plymouth, England. Hello, England. Hello. Hello. And another from Johannesburg, South Africa. Hello. Hi. We also would like to welcome you, the thousands of youth from all over the world who are joining us for this event. Our event today will be focused on the 2017 Mutual theme found in James chapter 1 verse 5, which states, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God." We've collected questions from youth all over the world in anticipation for this event. And we're really looking forward to our discussion. We'd like to begin with an opening hymn, "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet." It will be sung by Chris and Coby Orm and accompanied by Matthew Woodworth, Nate and Ben Ward, and Sister Sarah Crofts. Following the song, we'll have an opening prayer from [INAUDIBLE] in Johannesburg, South Africa.

[MUSIC - "WE THANK THEE, O GOD, FOR A PROPHET"]

We thank thee, O God, for a prophet To guide us in these latter days. We thank thee for sending the gospel To lighten our minds with its rays. We thank thee for every blessing Bestowed by thy bounteous hand. We feel it a pleasure to serve thee And love to obey thy command.

When dark clouds of trouble hang o'er us And threaten our peace to destroy, There is hope smiling brightly before us, And we know that deliv'rance is nigh. We doubt not the Lord nor his goodness. We've proved him in days that are past. The wicked who fight against Zion Shall surely be smitten at last.

We'll sing of his goodness and mercy. We'll praise him by day and by night, Rejoice in his glorious gospel, And bask in its life-giving light. Thus on to eternal perfection The honest and faithful will go, While they who reject this glad message Shall never such happiness know.

We thank thee, O God, for a prophet To guide us in these latter days.

Let us pray. O God, our most gracious Heavenly Father, we ask Thee to please bless us today as we're gathered together. We ask Thee to please be with us and help us learn from this experience and be able to teach others of this wonderful experience, and ask those things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Amen.

Thank you so much for that beautiful music. Now, President Eyring, before we get to our questions, would you like to share some opening remarks? I would love to. Thank you. My dear young friends, I am grateful to be with you today in this sacred place. The fact that you have chosen to participate with us in this broadcast says something important about you. You may not have considered that a significant decision. You may have come because you were invited by a friend, a parent, or a leader. Or perhaps you came because you felt drawn by the Holy Spirit. In any case, your choice is a sign to God that you are a seeker of truth. I testify that God honors those righteous desires in His own way. Yesterday I had the opportunity to spend some time in a few places where sacred events occurred. I would call them miracles. Just through the window to my right stands a replica of the home where Joseph Smith and his family lived when Joseph was a boy. Through this window to my left is the place we call the Sacred Grove, where Joseph experienced the First Vision. Most of you will never visit Palmyra, New York, in person. But that has never been a requirement for faith and testimony and for finding answers to spiritual questions. The requirements are much more simple, and they are found in the theme of this event. The theme for youth programs this year, and the verse of scripture that led young Joseph into that Sacred Grove--"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. ... Let him ask in faith." We have received many questions from you, and Elder Holland and I are eager to answer as many as we can. But the answers you really need will not come from us. God Himself, who is the true source of light, will answer you through His Spirit. Our hope is that something Elder Holland and I say may invite that Spirit, the Spirit of truth, and that He will guide you into all truth. Thank you. Thank you, President Eyring. Well, let's get started with our first question. OK. So our first question will come from a young woman in Mexico named Lulu. And she asks, "What can you do when you feel your faith decaying even though you already know you are in the true gospel and have felt the Spirit assure you that you were on the right path?" That is a wonderful question, and it tells us a lot about her. She has a testimony, and yet she's sensitive enough to wonder, "Am I still feeling the strength of testimony and faith that I had before? It seems to be diminishing." That's a little what she's asking. And my answer--Elder Holland, I'd love to hear yours. I think we understand her questions. Sure. We have the same one ourselves. Lulu, wherever you are, Lulu--I love that she used the word "decay." That, to me, suggests exactly what ought to be remembered about a testimony, and that is that it's living. It's organic. We think in the scriptures--I'm thinking of Alma, and later Jacob, who talk about nourishing and pruning and cultivating and fertilizing and watering. This is growing. It's supposed to be tended. I love her word. I do, too. And I think what's interesting in answering her question and for all of us is, what is it you do to nurture this living thing, a testimony? And there's some pretty simple things. Yep. At least, what I do. I think you're the same, Elder Holland. I go back to the scriptures and I pray. There's a wonderful thing President Kimball said one time, that when the heavens seem closed, he-- Yeah. Went to the scriptures. --to him, he goes to the scriptures and read the word of God. And that always brings back the Holy Ghost. At least it does for me. Exactly. I think we can learn something from the conversion experience. When the missionaries are out--and many in our audience will be new converts. What was the thing that brought them to faith in the first place? It was scripture. It was prayer. It was meeting with the missionaries. It was learning about the gospel. Well, that's what did it the first time. And that's what it'll do--that's the way it'll work the second time and the third time. We just need to keep revisiting and keep reinforcing those basic things that taught us the gospel in the first place. And the Prophet Joseph's experience itself is an example. I mean, he knew the scriptures. He cared enough about--he knew James, and he saw the promise there. And by going to that, he then had the faith to ask and asked without wondering whether it would be answered. He was sure. The greatest of all dispensations--the last and greatest of all dispensations would swing on the hinge of one verse of scripture from the book of James. Talk about the power of the scriptures and the power of the revelations! No wonder the Lord has cared so much about preserving them, providing them, having us in them. We've probably said all you want us to say about ... No. That was great. We're just getting warmed up here. That was fantastic. I wonder how she feels about our answer? I'm sure Lulu's very pleased. Thank you so much. Our next question will come from our studio audience here in New York. Who has a question for our guests? Yes, please. Please state your name and ask your question. Hi. I'm Leah from Rochester. And my question is, what can we learn about personal revelation from Joseph's experience with the First Vision?

What a big one that is. We learn a lot of things. We've already talked about some of them, and that is that he knew the scriptures and believed them. And that was the beginning of what he did. I would think, in addition to that, we can learn that he--he did something interesting. He went off by himself. And he went off in a setting--this grove that we're near here. I was walking here yesterday and I tried praying in it, too. And I realized--maybe it was partly because of the weather. It was so cold and nobody else was there. So I was able to be alone. And I knelt down and asked if I could feel again that this really was the place that the Father and the Son appeared, and got a sweet assurance that it was true. And so prayer, the scriptures-- President Eyring has shared that with me personally yesterday. It was very moving to me to hear his response that he's just given to you. I'm also reminded that in the Joseph Smith account, if I can quote it, he said, "Never did any passage of scripture come with [greater] power to the heart of man than [that] did [to mine at that time]." And then he said, "It seemed to [come] with [such] great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again [and again]." There's a difference between just doing your scripture reading, just doing kind of your verse for the day or your five minutes or whatever it's going to be to fulfill your seminary obligation. What he said: It came with force. It came with power. And he reflected on it again and again, taking that reflection right out to the grove. The power is going to be in the depth of the scriptures, my young friends. I think, occasionally, we can just kind of glide through and do something that will sustain us for the day. But the real impact is going to come when we reflect and dive down and those feelings--great feeling, great power, those are his words--that came into his heart. I think that's the beginning of revelation. It's one of the reasons why you'd hope that the young and everyone around the world who wants to have answers to their prayers and have the revelation that we need--I would think, early in the morning, for me at least--I did it this morning. I tried to get the day set so that we'd have, today, the Holy Ghost with us. I went into the scriptures and stayed with them long enough that I began to feel what you're talking about. A feeling of my heart being drawn into them--not just the words, but some feelings. And that has a lot to do with whether or not the Holy Ghost is able to work with us through the day. I hope the young people with early-morning seminary, by the way, that some of them may go to, is a great thing. And I used to teach it, and I know what it's like early in the morning. But what's nice is if before you even get there, you've been in the scriptures. Would you mind if I ask a follow-up question?

We're hardly into this. Please. Please. We're counting on you. Yeah. We're counting on you. So we also can learn a lot about the nature of God from Joseph Smith's First Vision. So would either of you like to share some thoughts on that? Well, I'd like to rush in, and I'll let-- Fire away. --President Eyring correct me. But obviously, the great, powerful, powerful message for time and all eternity out of that is how personal God is. Personal as a Father. His Son, Jesus Christ, as a person. These are beings. This is family. And They're personal with us. They knew Joseph's name. They know President Eyring's name. They know Natasha and Coby's name. So that can't be more personal. The whole experience of the Sacred Grove was the personal nature of it. And how revealing that was to Joseph against the teaching--basically, the Christian teachings of the day. Also with what he said is--what's interesting is the two of Them, the way They work together, Heavenly Father--"This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" So it was not just personal to Joseph. They knew his name. Personal back and forth. But They--with each other. The fact that the Father and the Son are one in heart and love each other, that's a wonderful--for me anyway, one of the great things when I think of the First Vision. I agree. May I just slip in, too, for all the parents who may be learning about this as they can over the shoulders of their youth. I'm impressed that Joseph went to his mother after that experience. She's the first person that he talked to after that. And then with Moroni, a few years later, when he had the experience out in the field with his father, he told his father about this experience. And he said-- It's of God. It's of God. It's of God. He confirmed it. So you've got a mother and a father playing a crucial intermediary role between heaven and earth and reinforcing a 14-year-old. That's a great thing in our lives and a great thing for our parents. And parents, we love you. We love you more than we can say. By the way, too, along that line is, not only did He know the name, but He knew of Joseph long before. The ancestry. He knew the ancestry. So He didn't just know his name. He knew Joseph and had known him forever. And that's a touching thing that those of us in the room are wondering: "Does Heavenly Father know me?" Oh my, does He know you. Very personal. And He's been watching you, and He knows everything about you and your heart. And that's partly what we know, both from our own experience but also from what happened in the grove. Thank you. Thank you. We've had a lot of questions about how to improve scripture study. Tessa from Arkansas wrote, "I have a goal to read the scriptures every single day, both personally and with my family. But I feel that I'm not getting much out of my study. How can I better understand and feast on the scriptures?" Wonderful word, "feast." That echoes from Nephi's great, last testimony. The last thing he's saying to us in that final chapter, where he talks about the doctrine of Christ, that's the word he uses. I love the choice your friends have used in their questions, because that'll be that difference between maybe something a little more skimming across the top versus depth and power and feeling. She wants to feast on it. And I love that. And I think that suggests real depth, real time. This is not fast food. This is going to be a Sunday meal. We're going to take time with it. I love her choice of words. Let me try a little personal thing. I think your idea of feasting is interesting. They need to be delicious to you. Good. And it really is interesting. My sweetheart, for instance, we read the Book of Mormon and have all our married life. And I know that we read together, and she doesn't like some parts of it because they're unhappy. Some parts of Alma where it's really going badly. And what I realize is that she's feeling filled when it's good, when it's about the Savior, when it's positive. And it's-- A little hungry when it's just war. A little hungry when it's just wars and "Here we go again with another battle." Good point. In fact, I send a scripture to our family. And I always want to put a chapter in that I think she'd like, a little verse or two. And it's always the good news. And that is the notion of a feeling of being filled as you read the scriptures. You sometimes have to read a while, by the way, and have to want to have that. I love that. I love President Eyring's use of the word "fill." Love it. It says that the sacrament--taking the sacrament is supposed to fill us. That little crust of bread isn't going to be a temporal filling, or that little cup of water. There's a filling of the Spirit. That's what's going to fill us. And I love the scriptures as a source of that kind of just feeling larger than life. You feel like you could take on any Goliath out there with that substance, that kind of feeling in you. You almost feel strength come to you. I get a feeling of spiritual strength when I stay long enough with the scriptures and I'm after that. But you have to want it. You're not reading it for information. You're reading it for feelings. We're reading it for nourishment. Love it. Thank you. We would love to hear from our youth in Johannesburg, South Africa. Who has a question for our guests?

Please state your name and your question. [INAUDIBLE] I'm from [INAUDIBLE]. My question is, how can we distinguish between the Holy Ghost and other emotions or feelings we may have and mistaking it for the Holy Ghost? Well, I work on that one all the time, don't you? You and I have talked about that. We've talked about that. My feeling is this--it is hard. Let's be honest with you. It is hard, because we all have wants and we have feelings. And we sometimes then are thinking more of our own feelings and not trying to find out, "Is this a feeling that I'm getting from the Holy Ghost?" My little way of knowing is this--and it'll be interesting to hear your view on the thing. I have found that I do best in discerning that it's not just my want when, in fact, I feel a feeling of peace. When the Savior said, "My peace I give ... you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you," I'm sure that had many meanings. But for me, it's the feeling of when I'm wrestling with something and I go to the scriptures and I get a feeling or I hear someone like you or someone else or one of the Lord's anointed talking, if I hear it and I get a feeling--not just "It's true," but a sweet feeling of peace. That, to me, is--very often, for instance, I'll have things where I'm praying over and I have feelings of not peace. And I think that by and large, there is a feeling of comfort and peace that comes. And if that's not there, then it's probably something else. I'd agree. I think that's maybe the pivotal anchor point, I think, for that formula. I would add to that, which seems to me to flow from it, and that is, it would have to be pretty consistent with other revelations the Lord has given. That's why He's given us scripture. That's why He's given us leaders. That's why He's given us parents. We've got a way to kind of test our impressions, test our revelation. And it can be unique. It can be as personal as our personal relationship with Him. But it probably better fit with the other things He's said and the other revelations He would have given. And we'd be a little cautious if it didn't, because I don't think you'd be very peaceful if you seem to be going against virtually every other commandment He might have given. I think your point is a wonderful one. Probably the peace comes because it seems consistent with other things that you've been told, either in the scriptures or from living prophets. If it's not consistent there, you won't feel the peace. Exactly. I think those fit together. I'd also say to our friend in Johannesburg, too, that I think the Lord gives us line upon line and precept upon precept. And that might be just a little revelation at a time, and we need to keep moving. I think we can't be immobilized. We probably can't just wait. But we act on what we feel. And if we're honest and pure and trying to live the gospel and really respond to Him, He'll guide us and direct us as we go. But we ought to probably be on the move and trust what we feel. And then if it's wrong or needs adjusting, He can adjust us. By one of the consistencies, at least for me, that your comment made me realize is that if I get a feeling about something or get what I think is an answer, and it doesn't have in it a feeling of love of the Savior and love of the Lord's servants, I'm concerned. Do you see what I mean? That is, I think, "Well, that's just my opinion." And I worry about that. The question was, how do you know whether it's your opinion or not? I would think, by and large, for me it is--I'll feel better if I feel it's consistent with loving the Savior and loving the Savior's prophets. And if it doesn't fit there, I'd say, well, be careful, because that could be just your own-- Perfect. Perfect. That could be your own thinking, not what God's trying to tell you. Great question. Can I ask a connected question? You bet. So [INAUDIBLE] in Zimbabwe asked a similar question: "Sometimes I feel the presence of the Spirit, but sometimes I don't feel it at all. So how can I feel it everywhere I am?" Alexis in Tennessee also asks, "How can I listen to the still, small voice of the Holy Ghost when the world is so loud?" Actually, she's saying--this last part of the question, at least for me, is I've had experiences--they're very personal, so you don't talk completely about them--of absolute assurance that I heard the voice of God. Absolute. It hasn't happened very often. But I'll tell you this. Every time it's ever happened, of the times it's happened, I was quiet inside. I really reached the point where I said, "I've got a choice to make here. I have to do something. I'm not wise enough. I give up. I'll do whatever You want. Tell me." And whenever that has come as an answer has always been when I was so quiet in my--I think "quiet" is the way to say it, just because it is a still, small voice. And if you're noisy--and at least for me, I'll put it more positively--the times I've really heard have been when I was really--I just had a feeling of complete quiet inside. And saying, "I give up. I just want what You want." And then I could hear it. And I realized that if I had been noisy in terms of my own thinking, then I couldn't have. But yet there's a kind of coming to a point where you say, "Father, Thy will be done. I'll do what You want. I can't go without You." And then you get an answer. Those key words, "still" and "small." Just as I hear President Eyring use them--"still" and "small." I don't think He'll--He's not willing to compete. And He's not willing to do unneeded battle with the world. He's going to wait until we care enough to provide an environment that He can be still and small and, therefore, penetrating and deep. I think related to that, our earlier questions about prayer--I think so often we make prayer a kind of a laundry list of requests. It's sort of like we want to go to the store and get this and this and this and I need it right now and I want it in the bag and on my way. And we fail to remember that He's supposed to speak back to us. We'll finish a prayer and be up and on our way and back into the hubbub of the world. We need to let Him speak to us in a quiet setting, in a still setting, and that probably means after we're through talking. And I hope it isn't just requests. But when we're through talking or in the course of our having been the voice, we need His voice. We've got to provide an environment for Him to speak to us. And that means stay on your knees. Stay quiet. Stay in the private setting. Let it happen. We often deny Him the chance to reply. In fact, what he and I were both praying about before this thing began is to say, "Help us to say something so that at least some people out there might have confidence that if they can just really truly feel, 'Thy will be done.' That's all I want. If they can just feel that and then ask for direction, they can receive it." They also have to be willing, like Joseph was, to go do it. Do something about it. Whatever it is, to do something about it. The quietness has to be almost like, "I'll do anything You want." And then when that comes, you can get answers and, I think, be fairly confident you're not doing it on your own. Thank you. Thank you. A lot of youth have concerns about families and friends. For example, Holly in Utah said, "I have family members that are less active. They are wonderful people and do good things, but they say they just don't believe it anymore. I know we all have agency. But heaven, for me, would not be heaven if my family is not with me. What can I do?" Oh, this one just tears at my heart because we're all this way, where we have dear friends, often in our families, who somehow have lost their faith. At least, they feel they've lost their faith. I don't know if I ever quite believe that they-- No. But they feel they have. And then we have the feeling of saying, "Oh my, what can I do? I don't want to be in heaven without them." And many, many--in fact, there's almost nobody who isn't listening to this who doesn't have someone like that that they love, that they're wondering. And you're asking--I guess the question is, what do you do about it? I wish I--I think we better be personal about that and say, look, I've tried. I have tried. You can call people to repentance. You can try all kinds of things. But it probably is going to be different for each person, what is the best thing to do. What's your feeling? And it will be different. It will be different. It will be different for individuals. It'll be different for families. But I think somehow, probably at the heart of it is that you can't control everybody else's life. And we do have agency. We can influence. We can testify. We can do some things with other people. But what you do have control over is your life. And if you can be that disciple, if you can be that exemplary Latter-day Saint, that is powerful. It's more powerful than anything. It's more powerful--it's why, what, a third of the people who meet the missionaries know the Church is true before they've ever heard them open their mouths. They don't even know who they are yet. We're the first sermon that a lot of people are going to hear. And so I would just encourage, even in a lonely family situation, to live resolutely the gospel. And that part, you can control. That's within our agency. And that means being the best example of Christlike compassion and charity that we know how to be. And let that spirit carry. In fact, the little I know about it is that keep loving them. Keep loving them. They probably won't respond to anything quite the way they do that way.

Sometimes we do the very best we can, and still the people do not respond. And yet I think of the father of the prodigal son who, when he was returning, he rushed out-- To see him. --to meet him. So what you could tell is, even though the boy had been far away and seemingly lost, but the father never stopped loving him. Yeah. Exactly. And my guess is--that's the advice we give to these people and to all of us who are struggling one way or another, is that the Lord--they have to choose to come back, and they have to choose to exercise faith. But our loving them is the best thing we can possibly do, so they would know that not are we just being an example to them, but we're an example of the Savior's love. Because they've got to believe that the Savior loves them. And maybe if we seemed to reflect that love to them, that's the best thing we could possibly do. And then hope that they'll--as they said, "He came to himself," you see. Nobody else did it. But he said, "Wait a minute. Things are good at home compared to where I am now. I think I'll go back." And I think the feeling that his father continued to love him was probably the best example we can imagine. I agree. I agree. And I think we all--I personally have to make sure that my love for the gospel is so personal and so intense--and I come out of a family tradition that is a convert family and didn't always have the gospel. And I didn't always see it in every way. I am so committed that I need to make sure that that passion and that intensity doesn't come across as overpowering or insistent. It's just that if anybody doesn't have what I feel and what I love so much, it kind of makes me sick. I'm really affected. And we need to be disciplined in that and make sure the love comes through. I need to make sure that's always true for me. I think it's true for all of us, that the love is always there, even if there is a little intensity because we care so much. In fact, a dear friend of mine who I worked with in the Church talked about his grandmother who had lived a faithful life and done everything she could. And she had this one child who was in such terrible states. He was in prison. And she was on her way--as he told me the story--to visit this wayward son, and on the way was praying and saying, "After all I've done, how did I ever get this--why did You give me this tragedy?" and felt that the answer came--the mother said the voice said, "Well, I gave him to you because I knew you were the only one who could love him." And that's-- After all he had done. And I really believe that as we worry about trying to bring these people back or have the Lord bring them back, the main thing to do is to say the Lord probably put us in that family as someone He could trust to love them no matter what. Thank you. Thank you. So may we ask some questions about prayer and personal revelation? Please. So we've received many, many questions about becoming better at praying in general. Lily in Illinois said, "I'm a senior in high school, and I'm having trouble having good prayers, more like conversations with God. Do you have any suggestions, or what do you do?"

I'll start-- Go, go. --by saying, be modest in your expectations. God is close, and He loves you. And He would love to have a conversation, but remember He is God. And the idea that you're going to--I always worry when someone is speaking to Him in too familiar a way, because it is not easy. Heavenly Father's words, His ideas, are not exactly ours. And so the idea of having really a conversation where you're chatting with Heavenly Father is probably a little bit of a lofty goal. My own feeling is, I pray as if He's there, as if He is listening. And He is listening. I believe He's always sending messages to me. I really do. But sometimes there's long silences, for me at least. And so when she speaks, you see, of a conversation in her prayers, she's making it sound a little more casual than I think it's possible to be. We're dealing with God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. And They are so far above us in terms of Their powers that--in fact, I've been with people who chat as if they're chatting when I've heard them pray. And I thought, "You're a little more familiar than I am with that one." Because I would think that if you can just get the feeling that He is hearing you, and then if, on occasion, answers come back often clearly in your mind--sometimes not--maybe by just reading the scriptures. I think the answer comes that way. But the conversation is not quite like he and I together, for instance. We talk with each other, and it's very personal. Elder Holland and I have had wonderful conversations. But I don't have conversations with Heavenly Father like that, at least I don't.

I do a lot of the asking. And then I wait and then I wait. And then answers come, but not in what you'd call a conversational mode. I agree. I think, in busy young lives, you're off to seminary and off to school and off to this and you've got an after-school job. Not every prayer is going to be able to be so carefully focused. But some prayers should be if you want this depth. And it won't be casual. It won't be overly familiar. Sister Holland's in the audience, and she loves to talk to young people. Remembering an example that President David O. McKay gave when he said for some of his prayers--and probably not all--but for some of his prayers, he would go into a darkened room, a private room, with the curtains drawn. And he would kneel in the center of the room. Not on a chair and not against a bed. He'd kneel in the center of the room. And he would kneel and say nothing. This is not at the end of the prayer. This is before the prayer started. He would say nothing for a matter of minutes until he felt like he was worthy to approach the throne of the Lord, to come before Deity. And he was dressed properly and approached God that way. And he would pray, and then he would wait. Then he would wait and give the Lord a way to answer and speak back. Now, that's more formal than some of our prayers. And it's more formal than some of mine are. But since those teachings have come into our lives, from time to time to time, we try to do that. And we try to do it among the General Authorities of the Church to make sure that some prayers are that carefully prepared to go before Deity. And that will carry over. And then when we have a slightly more hurried prayer--I don't--that's not a good word. But a prayer where we don't have quite as much time to set the stage, the Lord will know the intent of our heart, and maybe the spirit of that can carry over. The thing that makes me realize that the times that I've prayed when I was most determined to be given revelations so that I could be speaking for God is when I give blessings. And I was just thinking, it is true that the Lord--when we give priesthood blessings, we wear a tie and we wear a white shirt. Get dressed for it. We dress carefully. We use consecrated oil. We do things to make it clear that this is not just, "I'm going to give a blessing here as I seal it," but I need to do it in the name of God. And I've had the experience, when it's done that way, of giving a blessing to a little girl--the doctors were saying, "Get out of the hospital room. She's going to die." And my companion and I put hands on her head. But we prepared carefully. And I sealed the anointing and I said, "She'll live." And the doctors were disgusted, and they walked away. And she did live. And then the next time we went back, the doctors said, "Well, she'll never walk because she's got palsy from this terrible accident." And we went in again and--my companion was very wise, by the way. He let me seal the anointing. He was pretty wise. And so I did it, and again, because I had prepared myself and carefully--and saw it as going before the throne of God, I was told, "She'll walk." And the last Sunday I was in that city, that little girl walked down the aisle. And I'm absolutely convinced, if we will prepare and really see ourselves as coming to the throne of God, then remarkable things can come. But it probably--never casual. No. I agree. Never casual. Is it fair to share a personal thing from Sister Holland and me in our marriage? We were young once, back before the clay beds formed the earth. And we were very busy, as you'll be in your young lives and your young married lives and when your children start to come. You're busy now. And we were finding ourselves having our evening closing prayer at the close of the day, having had our prayer to start the day, but at night we were exhausted. We were just--she'd been raising children, and I'd been off to school or work or something. And we could hardly stay awake. And we just decided that there's no requirement that this has to be a prayer at 11:00 at night when you can hardly form the words. We just moved it up. We just took a time and said, "We're going to pray together earlier, and it won't be flopped against the bed or almost asleep by the time you get into the conversation with the Lord, just out of fatigue." And it really, materially changed our lives and our ability to make that evening prayer a meaningful experience with the Lord and not quite so much just, "Well, it's the end of the day, and I can't wait to get into bed." And you may find yourselves that busy. And it seems to me that that's what's triggered in my mind as President Eyring talks about preparation, that you really think through how you're going to do this and what are some of the optimum benefits and circumstances that can provide that. Again, what you're saying is, I realized that the feeling that I am going before the throne, there's a beautiful way of thinking of that, that God is real. He's on a throne. And when I approach in prayer, I'm approaching a throne. And the way you do that is different than if you just say, "I'd like a chat. I want a conversation." It's approaching a throne, for me at least, when I'm doing it right. Thank you. Thank you. We have a question about patriarchal blessings. One youth from Utah said, "I love my patriarchal blessing. But I must admit there are times where the sacred document seems to cause more stress than comfort. There are times where I read the counsel given and wonder if I'm walking up to the promises of the blessing. In what way should I use or view my patriarchal blessing to make sure these feelings don't arise?" I've heard you on patriarchal blessings. Now, you've got to respond to that. Yeah, yeah. I shall. I got a patriarchal blessing when I was 11 years old. And I got it from a patriarch named Gaskell Romney. And he had never--I don't think he'd ever seen me before. I was in the mission field, and so I had to go to Utah to get a patriarch. That was before they had patriarchs everywhere. And so Uncle Gaskell was my grandmother's brother. And I went to Uncle Gaskell, and he put his hands on my head and began to talk about my future and began to describe it in words from 1 Corinthians, the 13th chapter. Charity--of charity. And I opened my eyes because I thought, "How does this old man, whom I've never seen before, know that since I've been a little boy, that scripture has every time"--by the way, it was before the Supreme Court said you couldn't do church things in public schools. And so we had a thing where the kids, everybody got to pick a scripture. So you had 30 kids in the class, so every 30 days it would come my turn. I always picked the same scripture--always the same. The kids must have thought--oh, I don't know what they thought. And then here's this patriarch saying, "You'll have a family someday.

This is a description of what will be in that family." And so I'll tell you, the way to look at a patriarchal blessing--my suggestion is, look, it may be kind of tough. I know my wife's patriarchal blessing said, "Be careful when you go to university. Somebody's going to come after your faith. And you'd better protect yourself, and you'd better listen to your parents." [INAUDIBLE] So here's this patriarchal blessing. You'd say, "Oh, that's tough." Well, you know, it's a warning. Well, it turns out when she came back to where I was in Boston, and she was there for the summer, the summer that I met her, there was a guy there at Harvard who actually told people, "I'm going to get that girl. I'll get her faith."

And I'm telling you, a patriarchal blessing--I would take it very, very seriously but not expect it to be comforting. It could be a warning. And I won't tell other stories. But I can tell others of being a bishop of a girl who had a disaster. And she had said that her patriarchal blessing had warned her in detail of what that was going to be, and it came. And so a patriarchal blessing is whatever the Lord wants it to be for you. But I wouldn't read it--I wouldn't read it for sweetness. I would read it for "What does God know about my life, and what can I do better?" And I would look at it that way. And it's not supposed to make you feel sweet. It's supposed to make you know what it is God has in store for you. And it's a wonderful--I'll just bear you my testimony; they're real. Gaskell Romney knew things he couldn't have known if God hadn't told him. So that's my suggestion. The patriarch is someone who God does direct, and you are wise to take whatever it--if it's a warning, take that. If it's comfort, take that. If it's direction, take that, but just--it's one of the--by the way, speaking of having a conversation with God, a patriarchal blessing comes pretty close. In fact, these are all variations--so many of these questions are on some variation of prayer, the blessings we give, that blessing given to us. Those are all this relationship with the divine in matters of prayer. And I would add this, too, that like President Eyring's administering to that little girl and experiences we've all had, true miracles that have come in response to prayer and in response to the power of the priesthood, I think we're not at liberty to kind of put a stopwatch on the Lord and say, "I am going to determine now how You are going to answer this prayer and this blessing." I think we have to live with the faith that says, "I will wait and learn to see that my blessing was fulfilled." Elder LeGrand Richards told a wonderful story about the death of one of his sons, who had a great patriarchal blessing. And he thought for years--this is a General Authority of the Church wondering, well, how was that blessing going to be fulfilled? And yet, counting the amount of life he had and the promises of eternity, he lived in his old age to see that every aspect of that blessing was fulfilled. But it took some time. So someone said, "You live life going forward, but you learn from it looking back." And so I think we all need to give that blessing that President Eyring gave--those doctors needed to not be sitting there with a stopwatch about how this is going to be answered. It'll be answered when the Lord chooses to answer it, and He does. It will be fulfilled. I believe that. I bear witness of the fulfillment of those promises. But it's not always in our control as to the timing and the moment in which it'll be fulfilled. Thank you. Thank you. So, as youth, we always want to be sharing the gospel. But I want to know how we can do that without being seen as judgmental. So we have a question from John in the Philippines. And he asked, "If I bear my testimony about the Church and others get offended because of its truthfulness and plainness, is it just OK? How can I be bold but not overbearing?" What a great question. That's just super. What a terrific question. He asks that in his youth. He'll ask it again as a missionary. He'll ask it again as a father. Oh, boy. He'll ask it when he's the adviser to the priests quorum when he's 48. We're all going to be in this position of, how do I make sure that people know how I feel without it impinging on them or offending them or hurting them? And again, President Eyring, I'll let you answer it and clarify it. But I would say if we're honest, if we're trying to be in tune--again, so many of these have to do with the Spirit. If we're really striving and asking for the Spirit, the Lord will give us words to say. He'll put words in our heart. That wonderful passage from Paul in Romans, where we're not even sure what we're sometimes supposed to pray for, and he says the Spirit will intervene. The Spirit will, in effect, either tell you what to pray for--it'll do your praying for you. I think we count on that kind of help. In this situation with my little sister, my big brother, the neighbor, the guy I'm on the basketball team with, or the girl that I sit next to in the orchestra, we want to bear testimony. We want to do that. But I think it'll be different. And I think the Spirit will tell us how to do that. But I think the boldness can come through. I don't think they're antithetical. I think the boldness, the self-confidence can come through without giving offense. I think we have lots of examples in our lives where we've been blessed to say that and do that, and people understand. It is spirit to spirit. And they recognize that this was not an affront. This wasn't arrogance. This is something somebody really believes. And you want that. You want them to know that you care, even if they don't. I think that, too, the key, at least for me, is I can say quite hard things to people about my testimony, knowing that it's something they don't believe and that they could see it as a rebuke. If they can hear love in my voice, if they feel I'm doing it because I care about them, it's different than to say, "I'm calling you to repentance. You ought to be what--" I'm thinking of some people in this room, for instance.

How can I bear my testimony to you that, in fact, there's things you need to change and yet not be offensive? You see this, when you're talking about bearing your testimony, what you're saying is, "You ought to be baptized. You've got real trouble if you don't come." But if that seems to be an invitation, if that seems to be out of love, of saying, "I care about you," then my guess is some will be offended, but you don't--you've done the best you could do. But if it's honestly not that I'm better than you, but I want something for you, I really care about you--if they feel that, they can probably take a pretty strict, straight testimony. If they can hear in your voice that it's not that you think you're better than they are; it's that you want them to be better than they are and that they can be. I agree. If you can indulge in a personal experience just of a week ago, I was in Asia and invited to speak to a university group of graduate students with a professor in religious studies--the history of Christian religions. And I was invited to be very straightforward about what Latter-day Saints believe. And I knew that there were going to be those in the room who would be either skeptical or offended on social positions, things we believe about marriage and family and so on and so forth. So I had the, what I would like to believe was the inspiration of the moment as I, in effect, bore my testimony for 30 minutes in these questions and answers. I said, "My courtesy to you is that I don't expect you to believe this just because I say it. And I don't say it to offend what you do believe." But I said, "The reverse of that is the courtesy I hope you'll give me, is that you know I believe it with all my heart." And suddenly the playing field was level. And I could say what I believed, and I think the groundwork had been set for that not to be offensive. But I also didn't mean that I was trying to criticize them or say that what they believed was useless or wrong or whatever. We just kind of had a gentlemen's agreement that I could believe what I believed. They could what they did. But we had a courtesy back and forth. Now, that's more formal than friends and neighbors in high school. But there may be something there about just making sure you extend that 1 Corinthians 13 of President Eyring's, that there's a charitableness about it. By the way, at the risk of telling too many personal stories, this wonderful suggestion of yours, I had something like that, where I was asked to be the commencement speaker at a university in the United States. And the woman who invited me said, "Now, I understand you're a special witness of Jesus Christ. I've read your biography. And I just want to tell you something, that at this university, this is a place where you will not be able to do that work. You will not be a witness of Jesus Christ. And I just want you to know we have people here of other religions and no religion at all. And we are respectful of the law. And you cannot be a special witness of Jesus Christ in this place." And I went there terrified, as you'd imagine, saying, "Do I--" In fact, President Packer, when I told him about it, he says, "Well, now we'll find out what you're made out of." And so I prayed, and the Lord answered. He said, "You can talk about how Jesus Christ has affected your Church to do some of the same wonderful things this university is doing in the impoverished area around them." And I was able to say, "This is what our faith in Jesus Christ has allowed us to do to try to help the unfortunate. And you are doing exactly the same thing. You are--" And what I was able to do, you see, is to bear my testimony. When she said, "You can't do that here"--yeah, I could, because what I said is, "Well, our beliefs have led us to do exactly this wonderful thing you're doing." They've been written up in Time magazine by the greatest--the university taking care of their local community. And it was doing exactly the kinds of things that the Lord has led us to do. So I was able to bear testimony about the Lord Jesus Christ in a way that--in fact, that evening at dinner, the archbishop was there, who'd been the previous baccalaureate speaker in this fancy place. And the president of the university, not a member of the Church, said, "We may not all have been in the meeting where Elder Eyring spoke. But I want to tell you we didn't hear Elder Eyring. We heard the voice of God."

And what I'm telling you is, there is a way. There is a way. The Lord will help you to be able to be bold in the sense of declaring what you know in such a way that you won't convert everyone, but at least the good people will see that there is goodness in what you've testified of. Some will maybe be attracted to the gospel. But the Lord will--He'll help you out. He'll help you. Yeah, the Lord will bless you in that setting. And He'll bless those to whom you speak. He hasn't abandoned them either. They're going to be helped. They're going to be blessed. You have to believe your testimony, you see, is real. The fact is that they have felt some of the things that you've felt. The Spirit of Christ is abroad in the world so that good people will resonate when you bear your testimony. They may not believe it. But they will sense in it something good because it is the pure love of Christ. The Light of Christ is in all the world. And so even the apparently hostile audience, they have felt some things that if you bear your testimony in the way the Lord gives you the power to do, it'll resonate with them to some degree, enough that the president of the university said, "We didn't hear Elder Eyring. We heard the voice of--the voice of God." And I can't promise you that kind of a miracle all the time. But at least you have to go forward with faith that if you testify of the truth with love, you'll at least--don't worry about how the reaction is. The reaction will be better than you would probably even ask for. I would never ask for that, you see. Exactly. There's a difference between being righteous and being self-righteous. We want you to be righteous. And you can find in other people a lot of righteousness. And that will diminish the idea that anybody is feeling too self-righteous. That's what President Eyring did. That's what he just told me in that story, is he found something righteous to say and change the whole atmosphere, changed the whole environment. And suddenly we were on the same team and not opposing teams. What a way to do it. Thank you. Here's a great question dealing with the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Julia in Utah asked, "What exactly is the Atonement of Jesus Christ? And how can I receive its blessings?" Another youth in Utah asked, "One thing I have always wondered and never been able to find my answer to is how do I access the Atonement? Is all I have to do is just ask God for the Atonement to take place in my life?" Could I? Please, start. May I try? We need a couple hours on this one. Yeah, we're not going to make it through on this one. There couldn't be a more important question. First thing to do is to get a few facts straight. The Atonement was something Jesus Christ did. It's not a thing itself. He atoned for our sins, and He paid the price to allow us to be forgiven and to be resurrected. So it's what He did that qualified Him to give us forgiveness, to change our hearts. And it's the Holy Ghost doing that. It's not the Atonement as if it's a thing itself. You with me? The Atonement is something the Savior did. And the Father has given Him, because of that great sacrifice that He made for us, the power to forgive us. And so when you feel forgiveness, that's not the Atonement. That's the Savior giving you a feeling of forgiveness because of the Atonement. That's a very important distinction to make. It's very common for us to hear the Atonement talked about as an abstraction, as if it were free-standing out in the middle of the field. It's always an extension of the Savior. It's His act. Could I share a verse, please? This is a wonderful question, how to access the Atonement, what does it mean in my life? I happened to cross Moroni 8 one night and read it differently than I'd ever read it. This is Mormon's stern lesson about the impropriety of infant baptism. It's a very powerful chapter, and it's all on the Atonement. The reason you don't need to baptize a child is because the child is already saved by the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the grace and goodness of the Savior of the world. You know the context. But what I hadn't read, or hadn't paid enough attention to, is what he went on to say about all the rest of us. When he talks about the blessings of His Atonement in our lives--the fruits of that, as it were--after 25 verses, he says, "The remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart." If we understand the Atonement, we're going to be meek and lowly and very grateful. "And because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost"--now you start to tie those together--"which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, [and] love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end ... , when all the saints shall dwell with God." We've just been swept right into the celestial kingdom here on the strength of the Atonement of Christ because it made us meek. It made us lowly. It made us grateful. It made us know somebody helped us. And that brings the Holy Ghost. I don't know that I had ever quite tied the gift of the Holy Ghost as an extension of the Savior's Atonement. You remember in the New Testament, He said, "Unless I go away, the Holy Ghost can't come." I wondered about that for 30 years. Well, I think what He means is, "Unless I fulfill my Atonement--that requires my death and Resurrection and absence, my Ascension--the Holy Ghost can't come. And that's what you're really going to need to get through once I've provided the Atonement." She can access that Atonement by being meek and lowly and grateful and feeling the Spirit in our lives. And the Holy Ghost is the cleansing agent, you see, that comes. And it can come because of the Atonement. It's the Lord Jesus Christ who is allowing the Holy Ghost to come. And then when it comes to us and we feel that, you feel cleansed. It's one of the things that happens because of the Atonement. And so for me, at least, I worry about this too. I do. I said, "Do I know the Atonement's working in my life? How do I know?" And actually, I learned it this way. It hasn't yet worked for me that I have no more desire to do evil. Do you remember there's a scripture that says-- King Benjamin. --King Benjamin. They had no more--I haven't gotten to that yet. I'm not purged of every temptation or taken care of. But I tell you this, I'm better than I ever was. I can just feel a little more meek, a little more loving. And I know where that comes from. That comes by the Savior's Atonement having the effect that He can let me have by, I think, the influence of the Holy Ghost, an actual change in my nature. And I have felt it. I'm getting better. I'm getting better all the time. And everyone in the room, actually, can look--if you want to know about how you feel the Atonement, look at some moments. There's some of you that'll be missionaries that'll listen to this someday. I'll tell you, there's missionaries that go out and they notice, after a little while of being faithful, they're not troubled by the same temptations. They really--their natures have changed. They're more inclined to want to be good. I've got some grandchildren that are in places right now where they keep writing about their missions, and I say, "That can't be the mission that I know," I mean, because I know how tough it is in that place. But not to them. The Atonement has changed even their perception of where they are. And they're feeling things that their real circumstances--I won't say which country in case it's someone who's listening. But there are some countries where it's just really tough. And yet I keep getting these letters from this young grandson, and he's describing a world I can't even imagine. And what it is, the Atonement has worked in his life by his faithfulness. The Holy Ghost has been there. And he's seeing goodness, and he's seeing things that you and I couldn't even see. His nature is being changed. And I just testify to you that you're all having, from time to time, those kinds of experiences that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is allowing Him--let you have the Holy Ghost. And in that process of receiving the Holy Ghost, you're actually changing and becoming better than you were or better than you even thought you could be. I love that, President. Something President Eyring just said triggers in me this desire to reassure you that the Atonement's already been provided. Christ has already done it for every one of us. It is finished. The victory is on the scoreboard. We already know who wins. You don't have to worry about "Can I get the Atonement to work for me?" At least as far as the Savior's concerned, that part's done. You do have faith and repentance and baptism and honest living in the way President Eyring's just described. That's the thought he's just given me. There are some things we need to do to take advantage of that, to make it fully efficacious in our life. But I wouldn't have one of you anywhere in this room or out in that world out there thinking, "Well, I guess the Savior provided an Atonement for everybody but me." No. No, He took care of everybody. He took care of every one of us. Now the duty is for us to respond in the way that President Eyring just described. In fact, the very thing he was suggesting is for me, at least, every time I take the sacrament, I try a little experiment, is--I try to repent before I do it and listen to those words that says, "That they may have his Spirit to be with them," and pray that I may feel that. And it doesn't happen every time. I know how you are. Sometimes in the sacrament meeting, your mind is motoring off somewhere else. But when it isn't, you've all had the experience, at least if you've tried. You can have the experience of feeling that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is working in your life. And you will feel the Spirit with you. And that's one of the ways it's being done, is the Holy Ghost is a purifier. And if you can just have that, that's why these missionaries are getting better, is they're out there preaching the gospel in faith in Jesus Christ and pleading to have the Holy Ghost with them to do the work. And in the process, the Atonement is working in their lives. Thank you. I love it. Thank you for that wonderful answer. So at times it can be really tough being teenagers. I know that we both can attest to that. So we have a youth from Idaho who asked, "I always doubt that I can make it back to our Father in Heaven. Sometimes I cry myself to sleep because after looking over the events of the day, I realize that I wasn't good enough today. What can I do to stay positive and know that I am enough?"

I'll say a word, and President Eyring can teach us. Every single one of us worry that we're not as good as we ought to be. Every single one of us think we fall short and know we fall short. And that's because we do. Nobody in this world has ever been perfect except the living Son of the living God. Jesus is the only perfect person who ever lived. So don't beat yourself up over not being perfect. However, that is not to let anybody off the hook. That is not to say, "Well, then, it doesn't matter." It does matter. But that's the whole point, it seems to me, of the Atonement. That is the gifts of the Spirit. That's the answers to prayer we've been talking about, is there are all these ways. The Savior lived His life and made His sacrifice for us. The Father never sleeps nor slumbers. I loved the idea that He never sleeps nor slumbers. He's on the job 24/7 in an effort to bless us. We've got help. There are ways to do this. We all--of course we fall short. But we've got help, and a plan has been established for us to pursue and steps to take and people around us and people on this side of the veil and people on the other side of the veil. And don't underestimate all of your family on the other side of the veil, all those grandparents and great-grandparents that you don't even know and you've never even met. They're over there working for you and cheering for you and helping you. We've got help. And you can make that improvement. It would be wrong for you to think that you're self-satisfied and perfect and therefore you don't need to improve, because you do, and so do I. But the flip side of that is it would certainly be self-defeating, it would be counterproductive to think, "Well, I'm a mess, so I might as well give up and not do anything." That isn't the plan. That isn't the purpose. We're to make this progress and to take these steps that our Father in Heaven has helped us outline. And all that divine help, first and foremost in the Atonement of the Savior, but all the other things--the teachings of President Eyring and general conference and seminary teachers and youth teachers and Aaronic Priesthood advisers and Scoutmasters and Laurel advisers and on and on and on and on. We got help. We can do it. And don't be too hard on yourself. Don't be too hard on yourself. Could I suggest also, as you review your life--that's why I like the idea of the sacrament as a place to review your life. In addition to thinking of what--just before you partake of the sacrament, just before they bless it and you're about to partake of it--in addition to thinking of what you've done wrong--and you won't have too much trouble finding things you've done not perfectly--try reviewing things that you've done that were right, where you actually felt that Heavenly Father and the Savior were pleased. And if you'll do that, you'll notice something. Not only will you be repentant because there are things you need to change, but you'll have hope that you really are getting better. You really are. And that's real. You are children of God. You are His sons and His daughters. And you have come from royal parentage, whatever your circumstances are in this life. Let me tell you what they were in the world before. And you were one of the valiant ones. A lot of people didn't make it here. You made it here. You found the gospel of Jesus Christ. You're very special. And He has great confidence. Heavenly Father and the Savior, They have confidence in you. And you need to have confidence in yourself as well. And Satan's favorite trick, and he's played it on me--"Oh, golly, I've made a mistake. I might as well go ahead make more mistakes. I'm doomed." He's good at that. "I'm just not good enough." And that is from Satan. And you are a child of God, and the Atonement was done for you. And there is a power that you can just--even if you're struggling, and all of you are. We're all struggling a little bit, my goodness. Do you feel perfect? I don't feel perfect. You know better. But on the other hand, I'm getting better. And the Atonement is working in my life. And so let's just try a step at a time, one more time. And don't believe Satan when he says you're doomed. Just don't do that. You're not doomed. The Atonement is sufficient for you for where you are, wherever you are, to move closer to where you really want to be, which is to be able to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in families--which, by the way, since we're talking about Joseph Smith here too, of all the blessings that came from the Restoration, nothing is quite like when he let us know that there is a sealing power and there is a way that families can be together forever in the presence of God. And when I think of him, by the way, it always gives me hope that there is a Prophet Joseph Smith who really did receive revelation. And I testify to you it's true that you are a child of God who wants to go home again and to be in families. And because of the revelation that came through the Prophet Joseph Smith, you know that's possible. And I bear you my testimony that's true. I hope that will encourage you, that you know that--never be discouraged. Never give up. I think, President, looking out of that window at that grove right here within our eyesight, we need to remember that the Prophet Joseph was not uncontested in that first vision--that he had opposition, and you'll have opposition. And you ought not to be surprised when you do. It's a fact of life. There is an enemy. We have an opponent. And Joseph said he thought he was going to be destroyed. He said this was not an imaginary ruin, but the actual being from an unseen world. He thought he was going to be destroyed. But he said, "Exerting all my [power]"--"Exerting all my [power, I called] upon God." What the adversary doesn't want him to do and doesn't want you to do is to pray, don't say those words. And Joseph was determined to say them. And that prayer brought the greatest and last dispensation on this earth. Fight through it, but don't underestimate the fact that you've got an opponent out there. Thank you. Thank you. So our time has flown by. We've really enjoyed it. Our last question will come from our friends in Plymouth, England. So our friend who has a question, and please state your name.

[INAUDIBLE]

We weren't able to hear your question. Could you try repeating it? If not, we can read it for you.

What does it mean in James 1:6 when it says--is that fine? Yes, thank you. So what he said was-- "Nothing wavering." I think he actually meant "nothing wavering." Yes. So he was asking in James 1:6, when it says "nothing wavering," what would be the repercussions of the answers you'll receive?

We've talked about this together. We have. We knew this question was coming. Not wavering--I think what it means has to do with not whether or not you are certain, but whether or not your faith in Jesus Christ is strong. "Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering." I don't mean that you have to always know that you're going to get exactly what you ask for. But you have to believe that Jesus is the Christ, and never wavering in that. I agree. I think that's exactly it. Many prayers, you go wondering. The very nature of prayer might be that is it this, or is it that? I don't think that's what it means about wavering. I think it means when you pray, believe you're going to get an answer to prayer. Don't go into this thinking, "Well, if nothing happens, I won't be surprised." Well, that's a way to guarantee that nothing's going to happen, I think. I think that's what I hear President Eyring saying. It's going to happen. But just don't dictate to the Lord how it's going to happen. But you need to believe that He's going to give an answer to prayer. Well, with that idea, too, I think that never wavering is never wavering in your determination to do whatever it is the Lord tells you to do. That's--you think of what Joseph went through. Can you imagine a boy going through the terrible buffetings that he had and did not waver, just did not waver? That didn't mean he didn't worry. He went through a period, you remember, where the plates were taken away from him. I mean, it didn't go well. It was not a perfect thing. But he didn't waver in his determination. He was going to do what the Lord wanted him to do. And that's the wavering that--the not wavering that I think is-- Wonderful. And you just reminded me that that passage from his account is when he told the story and nobody believed him. He said, "Well, the problem is, I know it happened. I knew, and I knew that God knew that I'd had a vision." And so come what may, whether people believe or not or accept the message or not, he knew. And that's a classic example, President, perfect for using it. Thanks. I know we're done. But I just, I want to bear my testimony. I know Jesus is the Christ. I know that He really did pay for all of the sins of Heavenly Father's children. I know that. I know that He really was resurrected. I know that He and the Father really came near here on a lovely day and, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, began the Restoration of the full gospel of Jesus Christ for the last time, never to be taken. No apostasy this time. Go through to the glorious finish. I testify to you I know that's true and that His Atonement is working in your life and mine all the time that we allow it. And I say it in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you, President Eyring. Thank you, Elder Holland. Thank you. I know we've been so blessed sharing this time with you. You've been perfect. Thank you. No matter where you are, we'd love to hear what you have learned and felt during the broadcast. You can do that in a few different ways. You can share your experiences on face2face.lds.org. You can also share them via social media using the hashtag #LDSface2face.

We have one more song to hear, and then we would love to hear any concluding thoughts the two of you may have for us. Would that be OK? Thank you. Sure. Thank you. Thank you This song, "Thy Will Be Done," is from our youth theme album. It will be performed by Marty Winn. She will be accompanied by Caitlin Jones, Nate and Ben Ward, and Sister Sarah Crofts. After the song and closing remarks, we will have a prayer from Aaron Law in England. Let's go ahead with the song.

[MUSIC PLAYING] (SINGING) Thy will be done, oh Lord, not mine Whether in brightest day or darkest night And give me strength to carry on. Whatever comes, thy will be done. And though I walk on paths unknown And pass through fire or wear a crown of thorns, I know I'll never be alone. This is my song. Thy will be done. Though I don't always understand What thou hast willed, what thou hast planned, I'll leave it all inside thy hands And trust thy will until we meet again.

Thy will be done, oh Lord, not mine. Though tears may fall and loved ones say goodbye. Thou seest so much more than I. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.

Though I don't always understand What thou hast willed, what thou hast planned, I'll leave it all inside thy hands And trust thy will until we meet again.

Thy will be done, oh Lord, not mine Whether in brightest day or darkest night And give me strength to carry on.

Whatever comes, thy will be done.

Thank you. Thank you so much for the music, for your narration and guidance in this discussion and for your attendance here and your attendance out around the world. I'll be pleased to, in response to that invitation, give a final greeting. And we'll all hear President Eyring conclude for us. I want all of you here and afar to know that I know that this is the work and kingdom of God on earth. I am more certain of that than anything I know, anything I've seen, anything I've ever heard, and anything I hope to embrace in the future. I am absolutely certain that the Father and the Son appeared to a boy just a few yards away from here and that that began the great and last final dispensation, uninterrupted by apostasy, not unencumbered by difficulty or opposition, but nevertheless destined to succeed. The victory has already been won in this contest. And the Savior and the Redeemer of the world is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is Alpha and Omega for me. He's the beginning and the end. In effect, in short, He is everything to me, from start to finish. The Father and the Son were there before this began, and They'll be there when it's over. And They're there with us through every step of the journey. I want you to know that. And I want you to know that President Eyring and I come out of sheer love for you. There are other things we could do today. Sister Eyring's not entirely well at home. And all of us have family issues, and some grandchild somewhere may be playing soccer. Or there might even be a baptism.

But we're here, and President Eyring is here out of love for you and love for the Lord to declare that this is the truth. Peter said that some might accuse us of pursuing "cunningly devised fables." This is not a cunningly devised fable. This is God's truth. And we want you to lean on our faith. If you're just young and struggling and just getting started, great. So were we once. And since then we've been a lot of places and gone to some schools and read some books and said a lot of prayers. And we come to you to look back over a half a century or so to say, lean on us. This is the truth. And we need you, and God loves you. And I bear witness of the truth of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost in our lives, of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and of the prophet Thomas S. Monson. And I bear witness of you. Have hope. Take heart. Be good. Be strong. You are wonderful to us. We are thrilled with you. We cherish every thought we have of you. We know you have some struggles, but you're a chosen, a royal generation, the scripture says, and we are a chosen and blessed people. I love you and honor you and want the last thing you hear from me to be my testimony that this is the truth, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Amen.

In the log home behind me there is a replica of the fireplace in the Smith family home. From this fireplace they received light and warmth. It was leaning upon the mantel where Joseph, having just returned from the Sacred Grove, said to his mother, "I have learned for myself."

Our dear young friends, that is our desire for each of you, that you may know for yourselves, independent of anyone else, that the God of heaven is real, that He knows you, and that His Son has atoned for the sins of the world. Our hope is that you will gain for yourself an unshakable testimony that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth for the last time. Joseph Smith's mission was unique, yet his humble prayer is a helpful model for you and for me. Joseph started for the grove to pray, with faith that a loving God would answer his prayer and relieve his confusion. He gained that assurance reading the word of God and receiving a witness that it was true. Joseph also prayed with the intent not only to listen, but to obey at whatever the cost. He was committed to act upon whatever God would communicate to him. In that spirit, I would like to extend a challenge to the youth of the Church. The challenge is this. Come to know for yourself that these things are true. You can do this by following Joseph Smith's example. Study the scriptures. Let the words sink deep into your heart. Reflect on them again and again, and then ask God with a willingness to accept His guidance--truly, His will be done. While this challenge may sound like a simple invitation, I promise you it may take significant effort. I cannot promise that your answers will come in a day or in a week. But I can promise that God will speak to you in His own way and in His own time if you ask in faith. As you accept and act upon this invitation, you will find that not only will answers come, but you will also establish a pattern of acquiring spiritual knowledge that will bless you for the rest of your life. My dear friends, we love you. The Lord loves you. He knows your situation. He knows your weaknesses and strengths. He knows your concerns and questions. And He knows your potential. I bear my solemn witness of these truths as one of the Savior's special witnesses. And I do it in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen. Amen.

Dear Heavenly Father, we're so grateful for the opportunity that we've had to learn from President Eyring and Elder Holland. We're grateful for the love that they show for the youth and for the marvelous spirit that goes with them. We're grateful for Joseph Smith and his part in the Restoration of this beautiful gospel. We're grateful for the spirit that has attended. And we pray that as we go, it may go with us and that we may be able to share what we have learned with others. And we say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Amen.