40. A Solemn Assembly

An excerpt from a talk I gave in the sacrament meeting of the BYU Eleventh Branch, BYU First Stake, on Sunday evening, April 7, 1974. This excerpt was published in a special family reunion issue of the Cleverly Newsletter in April 1974.

This has been a historic conference. It was the 144t annual conference of the Church, which means there have been 144 April conferences. But there have also been an equal number of semi-annual conferences in October—so 288 general conferences [more or less] since the beginning of the Church. And a formal solemn assembly has been held in only ten of those many conferences, so this has been historic.

The last time a solemn assembly was held—when President Lee was first sustained as prophet in 1972—I had a ticket to attend in the Tabernacle. It was a solemn, moving experience to see the quorums of the priesthood stand each in their turn to witness to the Lord and all the world that they sustained, upheld, and supported him whom the Lord had called and chosen. And then in the majesty of his prophetic calling, a very humble Harold B. Lee stood and bared his soul to the Church. Little did we then suspect that so soon a new prophet would preside in Israel.

Again I had the special blessing of attending this solemn assembly in the Tabernacle. As President Kimball stood to open the session, the Spirit came over me and powerfully and peacefully bore witness to my soul that Spencer W. Kimball was a prophet of God, the Lord’s appointed mouthpiece, a prophet, a seer, a revelator.

During the voting I had the privilege of standing eight times—four with the quorum of elders and four with the general membership of the Church—and of raising my hand to the square fourteen times to witness to the Lord that I would follow those whom He had called to lead the Church.

The experience reminded me of what Joshua said to Israel anciently: “Choose you this day whom ye will serve . . . but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). And Saturday night, as Claudia and I retired for the evening, we knelt in family prayer and covenanted with the Lord that, as a family, we would honor and sustain and obey President Kimball.

9. A Season of Thanksgiving

A bishopric message written on Tuesday afternoon, October 28, 1986, and published in the November 1986 issue of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward Newsette.

Autumn is a glorious time of year. It is the season of general conference. A special time for Latter-day Saints. A time of rejoicing, of spiritual refreshment, of waiting upon the Lord. A time envisioned thousands of years ago by Isaiah when he declared, “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3).

It is the season of harvest. A time of completion and fulfillment. A time when our physical labors are rewarded with the fruits of honest effort. A time to be reminded of even more important spiritual harvests: “For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul” (D&C 4:4).

It is the season of thanksgiving. A time when we count the Lord’s blessings in our lives, remembering that “all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart; . . . and it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion.

“And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments” (D&C 59:18–21).

As a bishopric, we express our love and appreciation for all that you do to serve the Lord and His children. Your quiet and faithful efforts are much appreciated.