I\u2019m tempted to tell you a story. My wife would say that I shouldn\u2019t, but oftentimes introductions include statements that are inaccurate. A speaker at a Rotary Club was introduced as a man from Oklahoma who had just made $10,000 on a cattle deal. When he responded to the introduction, he said there were some inaccuracies: \u201cIt wasn\u2019t Oklahoma, it was Texas. It wasn\u2019t cattle, it was oil. It wasn\u2019t $10,000, it was $40,000. It wasn\u2019t me, it was my brother, and he didn\u2019t win it, he lost it!\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019m honored to be here this night and to look out at this vast audience. My wife, Ruby, and I enjoyed the few months we spent at BYU and, of course, in this beautiful valley. As we were driving down this evening there was a haze hovering just below the peak of Timpanogos. I don\u2019t recall that we had ever seen it quite as beautiful as it appeared this evening. We could see the traditional image of the Indian maiden more clearly than ever before. We commented as we were driving along, \u201cWhat a beautiful valley, what a great people, what a haven in which to live.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stand at this pulpit, my dear friends, in deep humility. As the eventide settles over this peaceful valley, I reflect on my responsibilities and my desire to communicate to you some encouragement in your own personal lives. And I bring to you not an argument or a doubt, but a heavensent conviction I have that this is the Church of Jesus Christ, restored to the earth in these latter days, that God lives, that he\u2019s real, that he has flesh and bones just as you have and as I have. Jesus is <\/i>the Christ, the Son of the living God. The story told by the Prophet Joseph Smith when he came out of that little grove of trees we affectionately refer to as the \u201cSacred Grove\u201d is true; he did see God the Father, and the Son, as he reported, and the Church is led by a prophet of God today.<\/p>\nGreat Moments of Life<\/b><\/h2>\n
Some events happen in our lives that are so overwhelming, yet are linked so clearly to divine power and influence, that however we feel at the time they happen in our lives\u2014and they do or will happen to you, as they have happened to me\u2014we feel so inadequate and unprepared. We see the hand of the Lord in so many ways in this Church, not the least being the calling and spiritual development of ordinary people like you and me. Someone has likened each of our lives to a mighty river as it flows into the sea. It is the product of many streams\u2014some large, some small\u2014and even brooks, created by the melting snow high in the mountains. I thank God for the streams, clear and pure, that have influenced my life: for the goodly parents who taught me the goodness of life\u2014honor and virtue\u2014and who taught me to love the Lord; for the small towns where we made our own fun and adventure; for my widowed mother, who always taught correct principles; for the priesthood and the scouting program; for the chance to go away to college and for the blessing of finding a girl I knew should be my companion. I saw her first at a dance at the Old Mill in a canyon east of Salt Lake. I remember the dress she was wearing. I remember how much fun she was having with her date. I was sitting there with someone else. As I watched this girl dancing by, I asked my date, \u201cDo you know her?\u201d<\/p>\n
She said, \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I recall saying, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you introduce me to her?\u201d Now that isn\u2019t the way you win friends and influence people!<\/p>\n
I remember how hard I worked to get a date with her. I would phone her. She would have a date, and I would say, \u201cWhat time is he coming?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEight o\u2019clock.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow about seeing me at six?\u201d I was determined, because I had a deep impression that this was the girl I should marry. I wanted to marry the right person in the right place. I remind all of you who are here that the most important decision you will make in your life is who you marry and where you marry that person. Never forget it. Never deemphasize it.<\/p>\n
I have moved my wife and our family all over America. She still is beautiful and understanding\u2014sustaining me, provoking me when needed, but always by my side. We are blessed with a lovely daughter and two fine sons, choice and wonderful daughters-in-law and a son-in-law, and with eighteen grandchildren. They\u2019re all perfect, we think.<\/p>\n
When I was younger than most of you, growing up in a little town in Idaho, I thought the great moment of my life would be that I would be a successful baseball player for the New York Yankees. We would be in the World Series; the games would be three and three. Now, the seventh game\u2014the deciding game\u2014the ninth inning, score tied. And guess who would get up to bat? The pitcher would put the ball in just where I would like it, and I would knock it out of Yankee Stadium. The ball would become lost in the parking lot. I would be the hero of the World Series. I thought that would be the great moment of my life. But I want you to know that that isn\u2019t so. Not that the World Series happened; however, I found the moment.<\/p>\n
A few years ago I sat in a little white room in the Los Angeles Temple\u2014a little, plain, simple room with no fancy adornments on the wall. My wife was there by my side. One son and his wife were there along with our daughter and her new husband. Our other son was kneeling at the altar holding the hand of the young lady he was about to marry. As I looked around the room, I thought, \u201cDavid, you had your priorities out of order. Some athletic event or being the hero of some worldly event isn\u2019t the great moment of your life.\u201d I knew the great moment of my life was there, then, because all I had that was really important\u2014remember, really important\u2014was in that room. Some bishops and stake presidents somewhere had found all of my family worthy to be in that room. It is not the number of cars you own, or the number of white-faced cattle you might have in the hills, or the size of your bank account, but the eternal values that count. You remember the Lord said something about moth and rust getting through to our worldly possessions (see Matthew 6:20). I knew that the greatest moment in my life was having all of our family in that room in the Los Angeles Temple. Moments, reflection, blessings\u2014these are the great moments of our lives.<\/p>\n
A few days ago I had the opportunity of being in a radio broadcasting studio in Melbourne, Australia. We were there with President Kimball, as you know, holding area conferences. I was to be interviewed for thirty minutes. As it turned out, Mr. Norman Banks, the radio personality, kept me for an hour. As we conversed and answered phone calls on the air about the Church, I felt again the great blessings and truths of this gospel. I would say to you, \u201cNever doubt that this is the Lord\u2019s work. There are times or situations you are in when you know that the Lord blesses you.\u201d I didn\u2019t know we were going to have a \u201clive\u201d broadcast. I thought I would be interviewed \u201con tape\u201d and have an opportunity to make corrections if necessary. Then I was informed we were going on the air live, that it was a talk show.<\/p>\n
I know that, if we desire, the Lord will magnify us and bless us. I was impressed as this radio program got underway with the clarity of my mind and the calmness that came over me. We all felt the hand of the Lord. I had an opportunity to reply to questions that came in over the telephone: \u201cWhat is a prophet?\u201d \u201cHow is he appointed?\u201d \u201cAre you really an apostle?\u201d \u201cHow were you selected?\u201d \u201cWhat special training or schooling have you had to be called a prophet?\u201d \u201cWhy are all of you in Australia?\u201d \u201cAre you concerned what ministers say about your doctrine? You must know that they use some very strong language about you.\u201d \u201cAre you carrying on a dialogue with any other church, hoping to merge with them?\u201d \u201cWhat do you hope to accomplish in Australia?\u201d<\/p>\n
The lights kept flashing on the switchboard as the calls came in. Ninety percent of them were the most positive, wonderful expressions you could imagine. \u201cI\u2019ve just been baptized. My whole life has changed. Thank you, thank you for bringing the Church to Australia,\u201d a voice said. Another voice: \u201cWe\u2019re now holding family home evening. Our family is now back together. Thank you for the Church and the prophet coming to Australia.\u201d The radio commentator caught the enthusiasm and the spirit of most of these callers, and when a caller wanted to take issue with me, the commentator said, \u201cYou\u2019ve made your point, and you need to develop some love in your heart!\u201d He was on my side! As these episodes were unfolding, I would wonder at times, \u201cAm I saying, am I doing, what I should be? I\u2019m now a special witness of the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n
I want you to know that I have grown up in the Church just as you have. I\u2019ve gone through the steps and the challenges that you have and that you are going through. I understand your concerns, but I also have a concept of your opportunities.<\/p>\n
Fifty-nine days ago today President Kimball phoned me at my office and requested me to meet him in the Salt Lake Temple. It was about two o\u2019clock. I walked to the Temple wondering what I had done wrong. Did he plan to change my assignments or my responsibilities? Perhaps I wasn\u2019t measuring up to my calling. As we met on the fourth floor in the Temple, he had his usual warm greeting, which was reassuring to me. President Tanner and President Romney and the eleven were meeting in another room. President Kimball invited me into an empty room there on the fourth floor where we were alone\u2014alone in this beautiful room in the House of the Lord with the Lord\u2019s prophet. After some inquiry about my life President Kimball took me by both of my hands and, looking deeply but kindly into my eyes (and, it seemed, right into my soul), he said he was calling me to fill the vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve. I was overcome. I could hardly say a word. Words are inadequate to describe my feelings even as I stand here with you. There comes a swelling within that is indescribable. You think, \u201cMe? Why is he calling me? How can I? There are so many that are more worthy. Such great men have been so honored.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the two of us all alone, communicating with our hearts and our souls, the Lord\u2019s prophet calling me, I knew I was in the presence of the Lord\u2019s anointed. Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote that there are times \u201ctoo full for sound and foam\u201d (\u201cCrossing the Bar,\u201d 1889). I understand what he was writing about. The prophet invited me to meet the other Brethren. As we walked across the hall and into the room where they were waiting, they were all so warm and friendly. It helped my feet get back on the floor. President Kimball said, \u201cDo you want to call Ruby?\u201d As I stood there in sort of a daze looking at the telephone, President Kimball jokingly said, \u201cDo you remember your phone number?\u201d I was having such a difficult time dialing, Elder Boyd Packer inquired, \u201cDo you remember Ruby\u2019s name?\u201d And then my Brethren, with their great warmth and understanding, assured me that they had all had the same experience. As Ruby answered the phone, she detected some strangeness in my voice. I\u2019m sure it was a little unsteady, weak, and shaky. She said, \u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
I said, \u201cI\u2019m in the Temple.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said, \u201cWhat are you doing in the Temple?\u201d Then I told her what had happened, and she began to cry.<\/p>\n
All of you young men, and the rest of you, what would we do without loving, understanding companions? Be grateful for the Lord\u2019s plan. We understand that Mother Eve is a joint heir with Father Adam to the blessings of exaltation. That blessing is for all of you who are so married in the House of the Lord and are valiant to the end.<\/p>\n
President Kimball, joined by all the Brethren of the First Presidency and the Quorum, placed his hands on my head. He ordained me to this calling with words I will always remember: \u201can apostle is entitled to the revelations of the Lord in very deed\u201d; \u201cwe promise our lives, all of our efforts, our thoughts\u201d; \u201ckeys, powers of the apostleship.\u201d I was reminded, \u201cYou are the eighty-second so chosen in this dispensation.\u201d I have been called to join the finest group of men on earth. There is no group of men like them anywhere.<\/p>\n