Such as I am, I am at the Master’s pleasure. He died for me, and I hope that I shall never consider my life as too great a sacrifice to offer unto Him, if necessary, in return.

 Evan S. Morgan, age 62, accepted his mission call even with health concerns, stating, “Such as I am, I am at the Master’s pleasure. He died for me, and I hope that I shall never consider my life as too great a sacrifice to offer unto Him, if necessary, in return.” To this, President Smith replied, “God bless and heal that man, for he has a noble spirit; and his generous offering of sacrifice for the gospel’s sake is accepted. Let him be honorably released from the call with our blessing.”

Liahona March 2021, Early Missionary Calls: Voices from a Century Ago

Tribute to a Seminary Principal

Tribute to a Seminary Principal, By Joyann Bergevin, Washington, USA

My husband, Jerry, had been in poor health for several years when he became seminary principal for the wards that met in our meetinghouse. I don’t think anyone knew how difficult it was for him to get up early every morning—especially during the dark, cold winter months—and go to our building. Sometime later, he passed away.

Several years after Jerry’s passing, I was surprised to receive a touching letter from a young woman who had moved away years earlier. She had tucked it into her wedding announcement. The letter read:

“I absolutely adored your husband and was so sad to hear he had passed away. He was the best seminary principal we ever had. Every morning he would wait in between the doors and open them as he wished everyone a good morning. After class, he would open the door again and say, ‘Have a good day at school!’

“I always made sure to say thank you and occasionally tell him how grateful we were to have him. I felt safer with him there.

“He was always so humble, and his kindness was recognized by all. I think my attendance was better because I didn’t want Brother Bergevin waiting in the cold, thinking I was on my way or I was late. He was an incredible man and he will always be remembered.”

I’m sure that Jerry had no idea anyone would still think of him so many years later. Yet this thoughtful young woman still did, and she was kind enough to send me this sweet letter, which I was grateful to receive.

The hymn “Each Life That Touches Ours for Good” (no. 293) begins with these lines:


Each life that touches ours for good

Reflects thine own great mercy, Lord;

Thou sendest blessings from above

Thru words and deeds of those who love.

I chose this hymn for Jerry’s funeral because I believe that we often bless the lives of others without realizing it. I know that Jerry blessed many lives with his generosity, service, and love.

The gospel story is a family story—nothing more, nothing less.

The gospel story is a family story—nothing more, nothing less. It begins with heavenly parents, and it ends with children making their way through the sometimes exhilarating, sometimes overwhelming challenges of mortality and back to their heavenly home, having received all of the essential ordinances of eternal exaltation.

That’s the story of our lives. God has given us the outline, but He leaves it up to us to flesh out the details through our choices and faithfulness. There is an extraordinarily happy ending in store for all who desire it. But before we can claim it, we have to become more than just His children—we have to become His disciples.

  The Essential Role of Women, Liahona March 2021, M. Russell Ballard

Some women wish they could find more stories of women in the scriptures and in Church history.

Some women wish they could find more stories of women in the scriptures and in Church history. We need to develop the skill to find their influence, as did one young sister. She said, “Mormon must have had an amazing wife to have raised a remarkable son like Moroni!”

If you look carefully and with the right spirit, you can find similar manifestations of effective nurturing throughout the scriptures.

 The Essential Role of Women, Liahona March 2021, M. Russell Ballard

Joseph spoke upon the subject, he advised every one to be up and a doing, and liberate their friends from bondage as quick as possible.

The Kimballs had moved from New York to be with the Saints in Kirtland, Ohio, and then moved to Far West, Missouri. Just a year later, in 1839, they had to flee Missouri with thousands of other Latter-day Saints to escape persecution at the hands of violent mobs. They made their home in Nauvoo, hundreds of miles from where their journey had started.

Although their arrival in Nauvoo had been under trying circumstances, Vilate’s October 1840 letter to her husband was teeming with excitement. “I want to be baptised for my Mother,” she exclaimed. “I calculated to wait until you come home, but the last time Joseph spoke upon the subject, he advised every one to be up and a doing, and liberate their friends from bondage as quick as possible. … Thus you see there is a chance for all. Is not this a glorious doctrine?”

Vilate was one of the first women to be baptized for the dead in Nauvoo.

A Glorious Doctrine,  Vilate Kimball, October 2021 Liahona

Submit to the hand of the Lord, … and acknowledge his hand in all things … , then you will be exactly right, and until you come to that point you cannot be entirely right.

“Submit to the hand of the Lord, … and acknowledge his hand in all things … , then you will be exactly right, and until you come to that point you cannot be entirely right. That is what we have to come to.”

Brigham Young, Remarks, Deseret New, Octo 25, 1857

Our flight from the world should be noticed, and this itself will be a message to the disobedient.

In fact, the Lord says that not only should we be obedient ourselves, but we should encourage others to do the same. He says, “Every man [and woman] should take righteousness in his [or her] hands … and lift a warning voice unto the inhabitants of the earth; and declare both by word and by flight that desolation shall come upon the wicked” (verse 37).

“Both by word and by flight.” I love this phrase. Those who are obedient will flee the world and gather in Zion. That used to mean to gather to the headquarters of the Church; today, it means to gather together in places of righteousness, including the temple. As President Russell M. Nelson has said, “Each one of us needs the ongoing spiritual strengthening and tutoring that is possible only in the house of the Lord.”

As we gather to Zion, that should be a message to others. In other words, people should notice that we don’t participate in certain things. We remove from certain places; we flee to the temples, to chapels, and to our homes. It should be clear to others what we consume and don’t consume, what we watch or don’t watch, what we read or don’t read, and what we say or don’t say. Our flight from the world should be noticed, and this itself will be a message to the disobedient.

Also, the Lord expects us to use our voices. While we flee the evils of the world, we must also declare the glories of the gospel. In normal and natural ways, people will be curious about why we don’t participate in certain worldly things, and we should have the courage to answer them, not out of condescension or pity but out of love and a genuine desire to save them.

As Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said: “I am not asking that you stand on a street corner with a megaphone and shout out Book of Mormon verses. What I am asking is that you always look for opportunities to bring up your faith in natural and normal ways with people—both in person as well as online. I am asking that you ‘stand as witnesses’ [Mosiah 18:9] of the power of the gospel at all times—and when necessary, use words.”

What Comes from Above Is Sacred, Elder Jorge M. Alvarado, Liahona June 2021

If you will keep your boys close to your heart, within the clasp of your arms; if you will make them to feel that you love them, that you are their parents, that they are your children, and keep them near to you, they will not go very far from you,

 Oh! my brethren, be true to your families, be true to your wives and children. Teach them the way of life. Do not allow them to get so far from you that they will become oblivious to you or to any principle of honor, purity or truth. … If you will keep your boys close to your heart, within the clasp of your arms; if you will make them to feel that you love them, that you are their parents, that they are your children, and keep them near to you, they will not go very far from you, and they will not commit any very great sin. But it is when you turn them out of the home, turn them out of your affection—out into the darkness of the night into the society of the depraved or degraded; it is when they become tiresome to you, or you are tired of their innocent noise and prattle at home, and you say, “Go off somewhere else,” it is this sort of treatment of your children that drives them from you.

Our children are like we are; we couldn’t be driven; we can’t be driven now. We are like some other animals that we know of in the world. You can coax them; you can lead them, by holding out inducements to them, and by speaking kindly to them, but you can’t drive them; they won’t be driven. We won’t be driven. Men are not in the habit of being driven; they are not made that way. …

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith, 253

They Cannot Do For Our Children What We Would Not Do For Them

 It is increasingly clear that we must teach the gospel to our families personally, live those teachings in our homes, or run the risk of discovering too late that a Primary teacher or priesthood adviser or seminary instructor could not do for our children what we would not do for them.

June 2021 Liahona, Jeffrey R. Holland, Keeping Our Children Close to Our Hearts

Patience means to abide in faith, knowing that sometimes it is in the waiting rather than in the receiving that we grow the most.

Patience is a process of perfection. The Savior Himself said that in your patience you possess your souls. Or, to use another translation of the Greek text, in your patience you win mastery of your souls. Patience means to abide in faith, knowing that sometimes it is in the waiting rather than in the receiving that we grow the most. This was true in the time of the Savior. It is true in our time as well, for we are commanded in these latter days to “continue in patience until ye are perfected.”

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Continue in Patience", Ensign, May 2010, 56–59

when we dwell upon our public image and believe our own press clippings—that’s when the trouble begins.

That is a good lesson for us all, brethren, in any calling or life situation. We can be grateful for our health, wealth, possessions, or positions, but when we begin to inhale it—when we become obsessed with our status; when we focus on our own importance, power, or reputation; when we dwell upon our public image and believe our own press clippings(Website administrators thought: Social Media Posts)—that’s when the trouble begins; that’s when pride begins to corrupt.

 Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Pride in the Priesthood, October 2010 General Conference

When our heart is in the right place, we do not complain that our assigned task is unworthy of our abilities.

When our heart is in the right place, we do not complain that our assigned task is unworthy of our abilities. We gladly serve wherever we are asked. When we do this, the Lord can use us in ways beyond our understanding to accomplish His work.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Pride in the Priesthood, October 2010 General Conference