I have to tell you how humbled I am to be in this group.

A group of really courageous women and men.

And some people that I already know.

I've had the great opportunity to work quite a bit with Frank, and I hope he knows how much we love him, and how much we're going to miss him when he leaves us. He's been just such a great asset to the Priesthood and Family Department.

And so grateful to be working with Colonel/Brother Linton now, and I want you to know that your resume came through the Priesthood and Executive Family Council, which I sit on.

And I had an opportunity to read about you and feel of your spirit as we unanimously approved your name to be moved forward to the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve for approval.

And I look forward to working with you.

I'm so grateful to have my husband here, my husband Ron.

He is just my rock and my best support.

And as you heard, I am an army brat, and I wear that distinction with honor. Let me see if I can make this work. So my dad was in armor in

the Army.

We were not members of the Church to start with.

It's interesting though because both of my parents are from the Kirtland, Ohio area, that's where I was born.

Had no idea anything about the Church.

The only thing my dad could remember from those days - he went to Hyrum College even - is that one of his friends from high school lived in one of Brigham Young's old houses.

And his whole claim to fame, the only thing he knew about the Church was that he has danced on Brigham Young's front porch.

And that was it.

It wasn't until my father received an assignment to Fort Bliss, Texas that missionaries found us there.

And we always say to my dad, who really turned into a really loving teddy

bear, but we always said that he ate nails for breakfast.

And the miracle of all miracles, we said he allowed the missionaries to come into our home.

And we joined the Church.

I moved to Germany where we were later sealed in the Swiss Temple.

What a blessing it has been for me to be a military dependent.

I learned a lot of things moving almost every year.

I learned about different cultures, I learned about different places, different people.

In my high schools, and in the wards and branches that we attended, and I think you who are in the military can replace to this, we were so different.

We were so different that we were the same.

I did not grow up with a lot of the divisiveness that we see today. It just didn’t exist in my world because we were so different

that we were so much the same. We were talking about that at our table, about how unified this type of a group is.

And I remember moving from place to place, always with somebody there waiting

for us.

Whether a ward or a branch or a school, there was always somebody to take

us in and help us to get settled and feel comfortable in a new environment. And that's one of the things that has really served me well, I think as a mother, and especially in this calling that I have now, to serve with the Young Women worldwide, is just to see the goodness in everybody.

I love that.

What I would love to talk about, and oh, by the way that's me in there, in that tank.

This is in Germany.

Okay, what I'd like to talk about is buttons.

I want you to consider your buttons.

I mean just kind of look and see what kind of buttons you're wearing.

Buttons come in all different shapes and sizes and colors.

Some of them are really small, some of them are really shiny, some of them are

really ornate.

And some of them are just functional.

Their only purpose, really, is to hold things together, where other buttons are

really bright and beautiful, and their purpose is to look good.

They stand out there.

But I think about those little inner buttons, you know like the ones on like your waistband of your skirt?

You know, the one that nobody sees, that kind of keeps your skirt

together so the pretty button on the outside can look pretty.

And I hadn't really thought too much about that inner button until one day, given some undue holiday stress, that button broke.

But I thought I was okay because the outer button, that pretty outer button on my skirt was still there.

And I thought it could do the job on its own.

But it wasn't too long after that that I realized that my waistband was crooked, and that there was now undue pressure on the pretty outer button, and I thought I was going to lose that too.

And I started to think about how important that unseen inner button is.

We have so many great inner buttons in our lives.

They come in all different shapes and sizes and colors too.

Those personal inner buttons: Our spouses, our friends, our

bishops, our chaplains, our brothers and our sisters.

We all need inner buttons, we all need that support.

And just imagine what your life would be like if you didn't have these special

support people in your lives.

But the question that I want to ask you is, really just for you to consider how

often you are that personal inner button.

Because when I look at this room, that's exactly what you

are, that personal inner button that helps to hold things together.

I love this painting.

In fact I love this artist. He's somebody I have followed for a while.

His name is David Koch.

I hadn't seen this particular painting of his until just a couple of weeks ago.

Sister Amy Wright is the new second counselor in the Primary General Presidency.

And she just had some art put in her office a couple of weeks ago, and the original of this is hanging in her office right now.

I walked in to see what she had done with her office and saw this, and I thought

I wanted to share this with you.

I love this painting.

It's the scene that we read about in John 21.

This is the occasion where Peter, and some of the disciples were out

on the Sea of Galilee fishing all night long, and they caught nothing. Do you remember that story?

They caught nothing.

But that next morning, as the sun rose, they looked to the shore and there was a man standing on the shore who just asked them, “Did you catch anything?” And they said no. He said, "So cast your net on the right side and ye shall find." And so they did.

And they did catch many fish.

And then they realized who it was on the shores, it was the Savior.

And of course Peter, he couldn't wait to get to the shore to greet the Savior, so he jumped out of the boat and tried to get there faster than the rest.

And when the rest of the disciples brought the fish and the little ship to the shores, there waiting for them was a fish lying on a coal fire, and some bread.

This was the setting that the Savior created to teach His disciples and invite them to feed His sheep.

And of course in only the way the Savior does, He fed them first before He asked them to go and feed the rest, to give them the bread of life, which would leave

no man hungry if they were to partake.

The description that the artist put with this painting that he wrote is: When we come to Christ, we are invited to show Him how much we love Him by feeding His sheep.

So who are those sheep that we're supposed to feed, and what are we supposed to feed them?

And how are we to be that inner button in other people's lives?

So each year, our prophet, seers, and revelators, they, through inspiration, determine some focuses,

some topics and focuses that are to be taught for the next year by general authorities and general officers as they travel.

Some of those for this last year, and you'll have heard a lot of these in general conference as well, is strengthening the faith of the rising generation, embracing the children and youth program in

gathering Israel on both sides of the veil.

Those are some of the topics that we have been focusing on this year.

One topic has not changed from year to year, and that is the topic of loving God

with all our might, and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

And didn't we hear a lot about loving our neighbors and loving God, and what it takes to love both of them.

We heard a lot of that during our General Conference.

In the meeting where our presidency was set apart by the First

Presidency, President Nelson said that everything that we do should go through the filter of loving God and our neighbor.

And I have never thought that.

But what a difference that has made in my life and in my ministry with the Young Women, is to filter everything that I think, and everything that I

do, through that filter of loving God and loving our neighbors.

And that loving of God comes through knowing who we are.

And in a world that is full of confusion right now, it's important that we remember who we are.

Not just as children of Heavenly Father, but specifically as His sons

and His daughters.

That is a critical thing to understand.

But when we understand that, it helps us also to know who our neighbor

is, also children of heavenly parents, also our brothers and sisters.

They are the sheep that we are feeding, and this is something that you do so beautifully every single day of your lives.

And you are making a difference in the world.

And I know I can say "in the world" because I know that you're coming from lots of different places.

As covenant disciples of Jesus Christ, we're in the spiritual business of building.

We're building character, we're building up each other, we're building Zion with

the love of our Heavenly Father and of our neighbor, solidly in our heart.

Now sometimes when it comes to serving, and I don't know if any of you are like this, but sometimes I paralyze myself, trying to figure out what I should do.

It's not that I should do something, it's like I overthink what I should do.

And sometimes then I end up doing nothing.

And then I always feel really bad that I did nothing.

When the reality is, we just need to be there.

We just need to show up.

Let me just share a couple of examples of

how insignificant of what we sometimes actually do, but just that we do.

It's been a few years now, but our oldest daughter, or excuse me, our youngest daughter, had a pretty serious medical condition. She lives up in Idaho.

And it required her to be down for a few weeks.

And I was able to be there for part of that time.

But what always happens in the Church is that

the ward just rallies around.

And so while I was up there, the first day, I got there as soon as I could. And that very first day

a pot of chicken noodle soup showed up at the door, and a plate of chocolate chip cookies.

And that was a delicious dinner for us.

And it was especially helpful to me as well because I was taking care of

children and running them around. A delicious pot of chicken noodle soup and chocolate chip cookies.

Well, the next day, unbeknownst to our daughter, her girlfriend came at

lunchtime, and heard that she was sick.

And guess what, she brought chicken noodle soup and chocolate chip cookies.

And it was delicious.

Well, that night somebody else from the ward assigned or somebody who had volunteered brought dinner, and it was...

noodle soup and chocolate chip cookies.

It was delicious.

The very next evening another good Samaritan came and brought chicken noodle soup and snickerdoodle cookies.

It

came time for me to go home, and so I left her in the care of

others, and she was doing a little bit better.

And then she texted me the next day, and she sent me a picture of a pot of...

chicken noodle soup and chocolate chip cookies that had come for dinner

the night after I left.

So this could be a funny story about chicken noodle soup and chocolate chip cookies.

But the reality is that each one of these bowls of soup, and with each bite of a cookie was just a profound witness of love and sharing and caring.

Nobody coordinating what they were going to bring what somebody else was going to bring the day before, it just came.

Every pot of soup tasted different.

Every chocolate chip tasted different.

Why?

Because they were made from the recipes of these unique sisters who loved our daughter and her family.

It didn't matter if chicken noodle soup came every day, what mattered was

on outpouring of love.

The feeding of the sheep, whatever that looks like is somebody just not overthinking it.

Somebody just being there.

And that's what we do isn't it, sisters?

We just show up.

In our own unique ways, we just serve.

And when we just do it, when we're just there.

It doesn't matter what that offering is.

Our new presidency was sustained in April of 2018.

And I will have to tell you that I was pretty overwhelmed.

That was the same conference that visiting teaching and home teaching was retired and ministering became the new higher and holier way to take care of each other, to feed the Lord's sheep.

Well, this was like two days after conference and I had a knock on my door.

And I opened the door, and there was Christy Chambers.

She had been my visiting teacher for a few years.

And she just looked at me, and held out this little potted plant, this little ivy

with my name in the middle of it.

And she just stood at the door like this.

And she said, "I don't know how to be a ministering sister,

but I thought you would like this plant."

She had no idea how much she had ministered to me that day.

It was such a simple thing.

Here, with ministering being so new, and for Christy thinking, "I don't know what I'm supposed to do as a ministering sister," she just showed up with this plant.

She had no idea that I was feeling the way I was feeling.

I was kind of a mess, really.

And yet she came and she offered this little offering with just love

and support.

And I just love Christy for not overthinking something that I might need.

She just came, not knowing what it meant to be a ministering sister, but in every

sense, she ministered to me that day.

She was just totally heaven-sent.

When we're willing, the Lord will put us in the right places at the right times to bless the lives of His children, to feed His sheep, and to be that support button.

And each of us has a personal ministry, and we support many, many people; our spouses especially.

I love how we support each other.

But how many times have you received inspiration that has helped your spouse

and their responsibilities as chaplains or them for you in your responsibilities?

How many times does that inspiration come the other way to help you, or for you to help them?

Just an example, I was getting ready for bed one night, I was washing my face, it was after 9 o'clock.

And I received this impression.

My husband was in the stake presidency at the time, and he was at a stake

meeting, he wasn't home. But I had this impression:

When Ron gets home, he needs to go see this particular elderly couple. And it was a really strong impression.

In fact, I got really anxious waiting for him to come home. He came home well after 9 o’clock, closer to 9:30, and I told him about this impression. I said, "You need to go see this couple." And it was winter, it was dark, it was cold, it was late.

And he said, "I think you're right, I need to do this.

We'll do that tomorrow, we'll do that tomorrow." Because it was dark and late

and for sure we thought they would be in bed.

But that feeling that I had was pretty strong, it was like, "No, you've got to do it now." And he was so agreeable.

He said, "Well let's just get in the car and drive over there, and we'll see if

their lights are on." And so we drove over, it was closer to 10 o'clock at this

point, and the lights were on in their home.

And so, we knocked on the door softly, and immediately this dear sister came to the door, and she looked at my husband and said, "President, I knew you

would come." And then she went on to tell us that her husband had passed away just the hour before.

How many times do those things happen to you?

Ron does this for me all the time.

I can't believe how many times he has impressions of people I need to call, people I need to see, things I need to write in a talk.

He has thoughts and impressions that sometimes I'm just a little bit too busy

to pick up on my own, and I'm grateful that he is my support button.

But think about how often you do that for your spouses as well, that the impressions come to you, and that you serve together in this great work that you’re doing. We're never alone, and how great it is that we have our spouses to support

and for them to support us.

I think it's just remarkable, especially in my worldwide assignment right

now, that...

and you have the same, I know that this happens to you as well, that when you're

with a group of people, something that you might say or something you might do

might just touch the one.

And maybe it doesn't touch anybody else.

But there's just that one that you may be the support button for at any given time.

I bear you my testimony that our greatest support button is Jesus Christ.

We don't see Him,

but He's there.

He is there to give us comfort, support, strength, He's there to hold us together.

How many times I have felt the Savior holding me together, and yet I don't see

Him, but I know that He's there.

And He makes everything okay in my life.

He keeps everything straight and tidy so what you have to see on the

outside, what you have to do on the outside shines the way it needs to shine.

And I'm so grateful for Him.

I love that He says "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy

laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in

heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." And when I think about that

yoke, I think about what we heard so much in conference about binding our self to the Savior through our covenants and ordinances.

And as we do that, then we have the greater capacity to feel His support and love in our lives, and also the greater ability and inspiration to be that support to other people.

I love that the Savior often stooped down to lift other people up.

When you think about a lot of the art that depicts the Savior and His miracles in the stories, and in the scriptures that talk about Him bending over or stooping down.

What I love about those stories is that He never stays there.

He never stays on the ground with them, He always takes them by the hand

and He lifts them up to be better and healthier, and happier than they were previous.

And sisters and brothers, this is what you do.

And we're just so grateful for the influence that you are.

We're involved in a great work and we're doing it together.

And as I look at all of you, and realize that we have this support of each other, and we have this great work that we're involved in, that the youth theme

for this year is found in Doctrine and Covenants 64.

And it's just so simple: "Be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work, and out of small things proceedeth that which is great." And I know that sometimes you may feel that your works are small,

that that little bit of service or that little bit of support might be just really small, and nobody sees it, because nobody's giving you

the medal or the promotion.

You just do it so quietly.

But that little bit of support that you give, that small work out of small

things, proceedeth that which is great.

In the lives of those who you are touching, it is a great work.

We're surrounded by miracles.

I loved that song so much, thank you.

It's one of my favorite songs, it has been for a long time.

I love that there are angels amongst us, I know that.

And I know that miracles abound.

Often they're right in front of our face.

And other times we have to look behind us, we have to look in that rear-view mirror to see that they even happened, but they were miracles nonetheless.

And I promise that as we continue to help those in need the way you do now, that miracles will happen in our own lives, and that you'll be the means of

allowing miracles to happen in the lives of others.

When Jesus fed the multitude with two small fishes and

five loaves of barley bread,

it says, "There remained over and above unto them that had eaten." With those two

fishes and those five loaves, there was abundant for all.

And there was an abundant leftover.

And that's what happens when you are serving.

And being that little, maybe even a hidden button, that

the Lord will multiply your efforts, and that there will be more that will be received from your small efforts.

I have seen that time and time again, and I just love that that happens continually.

I just want to tell you how much I love you, and how grateful I am for the service that you render in your capacities as husbands and wives

and mothers and fathers, and as chaplain supporters, and in your various callings that you're doing.

Thank you for the influence that you have on others.

Thank you for feeding His sheep.

I bear you my testimony that Jesus Christ is at the head of this church.

There are a lot of people in the world who love Jesus.

We served our mission in the South, and everybody loves Jesus there. You can talk to anybody about Jesus.

It's on the billboards.

It's on the Wendy's board at Easter, "Jesus is risen." We can't do that here in Utah, it just doesn't go over.

There are people in the world that love Jesus.

We love Jesus.

What makes us different is that we believe in His restored church, and we have made covenants with Him that we will follow Him.

And part of that covenant is to continue to feed His sheep.

And I know that as we do so that we'll be blessed in our lives, and that our loaves and fishes will be multiplied as well, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.