Great Spiritual Strength and Steadfast and Immovable

 Although the world will experience large swings in its pendulums of popularity as people are tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, consistent gospel living helps us to be steadfast and immovable during the storms of life. We can also demonstrate consistency by accepting President Nelson’s invitation to “make time for the Lord.” Great spiritual strength comes from small and simple things like developing “holy habits and righteous routines” of daily prayer, repentance, scripture study, and service to others.

That They Might Know Thee

October 2022

General Conference

Jonathan S. Schmitt

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/53schmitt?lang=eng&verse=#p

In our ministering, texting and technology should be used to enhance, not replace, personal contact

 As good shepherds and as local conditions permit, we should seek to spend more time ministering to people in their homes. In our ministering, texting and technology should be used to enhance, not replace, personal contact....As Elder David A. Bednar observed: “Everybody thinks a text is enough [for ministering]. There are occasions where you need to be in the home and you need to look the people in the eyes, because you’re going to receive impressions and inspiration in the home that you’ll never get any other way” (“An Evening with Elder David A. Bednar” [broadcast for religious educators], Feb. 7, 2020], broadcasts.ChurchofJesusChrist.org).

That They Might Know Thee

October 2022

General Conference

Jonathan S. Schmitt

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/53schmitt?lang=eng&verse=#p

Serving is not about you; it is about the Savior.

 To those who will choose to serve, I can attest to the blessings that will come as you heed a prophet’s call. Serving is not about you; it is about the Savior. You will be called to a place, but more importantly you will be called to a people. You will have the great responsibility and blessing of helping new friends understand that the answer is Jesus.

The Answer Is Jesus

October 2022

General Conference

Ryan K. Olsen

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/52olsen?lang=eng&verse=#p

I plead with you now—to take charge of your own testimony of Jesus Christ and His gospel

 I plead with you now—to take charge of your own testimony of Jesus Christ and His gospel. Work for it. Nurture it so that it will grow. Feed it truth. Don’t pollute it with false philosophies of unbelieving men and women. As you make the continual strengthening of your testimony of Jesus Christ your highest priority, watch for miracles to happen in your life.

Overcome the World and Find Rest

October 2022

General Conference

Russell M. Nelson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/47nelson?lang=eng&verse=#p

Do the spiritual work to seek miracles. Prayerfully ask God to help you exercise that kind of faith

When we choose to put God first in our lives, His blessings come in abundance.

When we choose to put God first in our lives, His blessings come in abundance.

Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life

Chapter 1: The Great Commandment—Love the Lord

Ezra Taft Benson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-of-presidents-of-the-church-ezra-taft-benson/chapter-1-the-great-commandment-love-the-lord?lang=eng&verse=#p

What Does It Mean to Overcome the World

 What does it mean to overcome the world? It means overcoming the temptation to care more about the things of this world than the things of God. It means trusting the doctrine of Christ more than the philosophies of men. It means delighting in truth, denouncing deception, and becoming “humble followers of Christ.” It means choosing to refrain from anything that drives the Spirit away. It means being willing to “give away” even our favorite sins.

Overcome the World and Find Rest

October 2022

General Conference

Russell M. Nelson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/47nelson?lang=eng&verse=#p

Making and keeping covenants actually makes life easier!

 ear brothers and sisters, I grieve for those who leave the Church because they feel membership requires too much of them. They have not yet discovered that making and keeping covenants actually makes life easier! Each person who makes covenants in baptismal fonts and in temples—and keeps them—has increased access to the power of Jesus Christ. Please ponder that stunning truth!....entering into a covenant relationship with God binds us to Him in a way that makes everything about life easier. Please do not misunderstand me: I did not say that making covenants makes life easy. In fact, expect opposition, because the adversary does not want you to discover the power of Jesus Christ. But yoking yourself with the Savior means you have access to His strength and redeeming power.

Overcome the World and Find Rest

October 2022

General Conference

Russell M. Nelson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/47nelson?lang=eng&verse=#p

In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior’s power that the world has ever seen.

 my dear brothers and sisters, so many wonderful things are ahead. In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior’s power that the world has ever seen. Between now and the time He returns “with power and great glory,” He will bestow countless privileges, blessings, and miracles upon the faithful.

Nonetheless, we are presently living in what surely is a most complicated time in the history of the world. The complexities and challenges leave many people feeling overwhelmed and exhausted.

Overcome the World and Find Rest

October 2022

General Conference

Russell M. Nelson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/47nelson?lang=eng&verse=#p

Similar To:

Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives, Russell M. Nelson, April 2018 General Conference

Stuff of Heroes

It is one thing to “hear Him” (Joseph Smith—History 1:17) in a quiet place of contemplation with scriptures wide open. But it is quite another thing to carry our discipleship into this mortal flurry of distractions, where we must strive to “hear Him” even through the blur of self-concern and faltering confidence. Let there be no doubt: it is the very stuff of heroes displayed by our youth when they set their hearts and minds to standing upright against the shifting moral tectonics of our time.

Lasting Discipleship

October 2022

General Conference

Steven J. Lund

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/45lund?lang=eng&verse=#p

Drenching Ourselves In Scriptures

What Kinds of Things Can We Do to Maintain the Fire of Our Convictions?

Experiences like FSY conferences, camps, sacrament meetings, and missions can help to burnish our testimonies, taking us through arcs of growth and spiritual discovery to places of relative peace. But what must we do to stay there and continue to “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ” (2 Nephi 31:20) rather than slipping backward? We must continue to do those things that brought us there in the first place, like praying often, drenching ourselves in scripture, and serving sincerely.

For some of us, it may require an exercise of trusting in the Lord even to attend sacrament meeting. But once we are there, the healing influence of the Lord’s sacrament, infusions of gospel principles, and the nurture of the Church community can send us home on higher ground.

Lasting Discipleship

October 2022

General Conference

Steven J. Lund

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/45lund?lang=eng&verse=#p

When we respect and align what we do with these eternal realities, we experience internal peace and harmony

 This morning our two children and three grandchildren in North America, and about half of the world, saw the brightness of the sun rising majestically in the east. The other three children and seven grandchildren in Africa, and the other half of the world, saw darkness gradually creep upon them as the sun sank over the horizon in the west.

This timeless constancy of the onset of day and night is one daily reminder of realities that govern our lives that we cannot change. When we respect and align what we do with these eternal realities, we experience internal peace and harmony. When we don’t, we are unsettled, and things do not work as we expect.

Patterns of Discipleship

October 2022

General Conference

Joseph W. Sitati

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/44sitati?lang=eng&verse=#p

As we take up our crosses and follow Him, it would be tragic indeed if the weight of our challenges did not make us more empathetic for and more attentive to the burdens being carried by others

 As we take up our crosses and follow Him, it would be tragic indeed if the weight of our challenges did not make us more empathetic for and more attentive to the burdens being carried by others. It is one of the most powerful paradoxes of the Crucifixion that the arms of the Savior were stretched wide open and then nailed there, unwittingly but accurately portraying that every man, woman, and child in the entire human family is not only welcome but invited into His redeeming, exalting embrace.

Jeffrey R. Holland, October 2022 General Conference, Lifted Up Upon the Cross

As the glorious Resurrection followed the agonizing Crucifixion, so blessings of every kind are poured out on those who are willing...o obtain such blessings, may we follow Him—unfailingly, never faltering nor fleeing, never flinching at the task, not when our crosses may be heavy and not when, for a time, the path may grow dark.

As the glorious Resurrection followed the agonizing Crucifixion, so blessings of every kind are poured out on those who are willing, as the Book of Mormon prophet Jacob says, to “believe in Christ, and view his death, and suffer his cross.” Sometimes these blessings come soon and sometimes they come later, but the marvelous conclusion to our personal via dolorosa¹⁴ is the promise from the Master Himself that they do and will come. To obtain such blessings, may we follow Him—unfailingly, never faltering nor fleeing, never flinching at the task, not when our crosses may be heavy and not when, for a time, the path may grow dark.

Jeffrey R. Holland, October 2022 General Conference, Lifted Up Upon the Cross

A true Christian cannot follow the Master only in those matters with which he or she agrees. No. We follow Him everywhere, including, if necessary, into arenas filled with tears and trouble, where sometimes we may stand very much alone.

To be a follower of Jesus Christ, one must sometimes carry a burden—your own or someone else’s—and go where sacrifice is required and suffering is inevitable. A true Christian cannot follow the Master only in those matters with which he or she agrees. No. We follow Him everywhere, including, if necessary, into arenas filled with tears and trouble, where sometimes we may stand very much alone.

I know people, in and out of the Church, who are following Christ just that faithfully. I know children with severe physical disabilities, and I know the parents who care for them. I see all of them working sometimes to the point of total exhaustion, seeking strength, safety, and a few moments of joy that come no other way. I know many single adults who yearn for and deserve a loving companion, a wonderful marriage, and a home full of children of their own. No desire could be more righteous, but year after year such good fortune does not yet come. I know those who are fighting mental illness of many kinds, who plead for help as they pray and pine and claw for the promised land of emotional stability. I know those who live with debilitating poverty but, defying despair, ask only for the chance to make better lives for their loved ones and others in need around them. I know many who wrestle with wrenching matters of identity, gender, and sexuality. I weep for them, and I weep with them, knowing how significant the consequences of their decisions will be.

These are just a few of so many trying circumstances we may face in life, solemn reminders that there is a cost to discipleship. To Araunah, who attempted to give him free oxen and free wood for his burnt offering, King David said, “Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: … [for I] will [not] offer … unto the Lord my God … that which doth cost me nothing.”12 So too say we all.

Jeffrey R. Holland, October 2022 General Conference, Lifted Up Upon the Cross

It is a wondrous journey to be wheat among the tares, sometimes fraught with heartache but always calmed by the maturing and assuring settling of our faith

 We are all “children of the covenant” stretching across the earth in nations and cultures on every continent, numbering in the millions, as we await the glorious return of our Lord and Savior. Shining as a light to those around us, we consciously shape our desires, thoughts, choices, and actions. Seeking with all our heart to know and love the Savior, we separate ourselves from the world through covenants with God, being distinct, uncommon, and special, as we honor Him and His teachings without isolating ourselves from others who believe differently.

It is a wondrous journey to be wheat among the tares, sometimes fraught with heartache but always calmed by the maturing and assuring settling of our faith. As you allow your love for the Savior and His love for you to sink deep into your heart, I promise you added confidence, peace, and joy in meeting the challenges of your life. And the Savior promises us: “I [will] gather together my people, according to the parable of the wheat and the tares, that the wheat may be secured in the garners to possess eternal life, and be crowned with celestial glory.”

Drawing Closer to the Savior

October 2022

General Conference

Neil L. Andersen

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/35andersen?lang=eng&verse=#p

Treasure, protect, defend, and safeguard the gift of the Holy Ghost...Do [you] ‘dare to be different?’ … [Especially] important … are the choices you are making in your personal life. … Are you going forward against the world’s opposition?

Treasure, protect, defend, and safeguard the gift of the Holy Ghost...President Nelson’s prophetic warning that I will repeat again: “It will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.” It is a gift beyond price. We do our very best to protect our daily experiences so the influence of the Holy Ghost remains with us. We are a light to the world, and when necessary, we willingly choose to be different from others. President Dallin H. Oaks recently asked young adults: “Do [you] ‘dare to be different?’ … [Especially] important … are the choices you are making in your personal life. … Are you going forward against the world’s opposition?”

Drawing Closer to the Savior

October 2022

General Conference

Neil L. Andersen

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/35andersen?lang=eng&verse=#p

Please, young men, do not postpone your preparation to serve the Lord as missionaries

Please, young men, do not postpone your preparation to serve the Lord as missionaries. As you face situations that may make the decision to serve a mission a difficult one—such as interrupting your studies for a time, saying goodbye to your girlfriend without any guarantee that you will ever date her again, or even having to walk away from a job—remember the Savior’s example. During His ministry, He likewise faced difficulty, including criticism, persecution, and ultimately the bitter cup of His atoning sacrifice. Yet in all circumstances He sought to do the will of His Father and give glory to Him. (See John 5:30; 6:38–39; 3 Nephi 11:11; Doctrine and Covenants 19:18–19.)

Courage to Proclaim the Truth

October 2022

General Conference

Denelson Silva

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/34silva?lang=eng&verse=#p

if we do give up, we will never know how the end of our journey would have been in the kingdom of God.

 The challenges of life can knock us down, but know that when we exercise faith in Jesus Christ, “[our] afflictions shall be but a small moment” (Doctrine and Covenants 121:7) in the grand scope of eternity. Please do not create a deadline for the end of your difficulties and challenges. Trust in Heavenly Father and do not give up, for if we do give up, we will never know how the end of our journey would have been in the kingdom of God.

Hold on to the truth, learning from the sources of truth:

The scriptures (see 2 Nephi 32:3).

The words of the prophets (see Amos 3:7).

The Holy Ghost (see John 16:13).

Courage to Proclaim the Truth

October 2022

General Conference

Denelson Silva

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/34silva?lang=eng&verse=#p

Casual and inconsistent covenant keeping leads to spiritual casualty

 The most powerful spiritual influence in the life of a child is the righteous example of loving parents and grandparents who faithfully keep their own sacred covenants. Intentional parents teach their children faith in the Lord Jesus Christ so that they too “may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” Casual and inconsistent covenant keeping leads to spiritual casualty. The spiritual damage is often greatest on our children and grandchildren. Parents and grandparents, are we still willing?

Are You Still Willing?

October 2022

General Conference

Kevin W. Pearson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/33pearson?lang=eng&verse=#p

Similar to:

It Won't Help Anyone If We Go Over The Edge...Explaining Through the Roar of the Falls...That We Really Did Know the Church Was True

Discipleship is not cheap, because the companionship of the Holy Ghost is priceless.

 The covenant path is not a simple checklist; it is a process of spiritual growth and deepening commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. The central purpose of every commandment, principle, covenant, and ordinance is to build faith and trust in Christ. Our determination to center our lives on Christ, therefore, must be consistent—not conditional, situational, or superficial. We cannot afford to take vacation days or personal time off from our willingness to “stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places.” Discipleship is not cheap, because the companionship of the Holy Ghost is priceless.

Are You Still Willing?

October 2022

General Conference

Kevin W. Pearson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/33pearson?lang=eng&verse=#p

The Book of Mormon is our most powerful resource for growing and restoring our faith.

 Yet faith in Jesus Christ is a choice. “If [we] can no more than desire to believe” in His words, we have a starting point to begin or to reset our journey of faith. His words, if planted in our hearts like a seed and nourished with great care, will take root and our faith will grow into assurance and become a principle of action and power. The Book of Mormon is our most powerful resource for growing and restoring our faith.

Are You Still Willing?

October 2022

General Conference

Kevin W. Pearson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/33pearson?lang=eng&verse=#p

Powerful Indicators of Our Willingness

 The importance we place on our Sabbath day observance, paying an honest tithe, holding a current temple recommend, attending the temple, and honoring our sacred temple covenants are all powerful indicators of our willingness and evidence of our commitment. Are we willing to put forth more than a superficial effort into strengthening our faith in Christ?

Are You Still Willing?

October 2022

General Conference

Kevin W. Pearson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/33pearson?lang=eng&verse=#p

I understood clearly in that moment that keeping my covenants must be more than good intentions....willingness is directly proportionate to the amount of time we commit to be in holy places where the influence of the Holy Ghost is present.

 As I pondered the significance of those sacred words, the word willing impressed me as never before. A flood of sweet and sacred experiences filled my mind and heart with love and gratitude for the atoning sacrifice of the Savior and His crucial role in the Father’s plan of redemption for my family and me. Then I heard and felt the penetrating words of the prayer on the water: “That they may witness unto thee … that they do always remember him.” I understood clearly in that moment that keeping my covenants must be more than good intentions....The Church is a gathering place for imperfect individuals who love God and who are willing to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. That willingness is rooted in the reality that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. This divine truth can be known only by the power of the Holy Ghost. Therefore, our willingness is directly proportionate to the amount of time we commit to be in holy places where the influence of the Holy Ghost is present.

Are You Still Willing?

October 2022

General Conference

Kevin W. Pearson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/33pearson?lang=eng&verse=#p

This is my path of discipleship.

 My fellow disciples of Jesus Christ, with all my heart, I choose to stand with the Lord. I choose to stand with His chosen servants—President Russell M. Nelson and his fellow Apostles—for they speak for Him and are the stewards of the ordinances and covenants that tie me to the Savior.

When I stumble, I will keep getting up, relying on the grace and enabling power of Jesus Christ. I will stay in my covenant with Him and work through my questions by study of God’s word, by faith, and with the help of the Holy Ghost, whose guidance I trust. I will seek His Spirit every day by doing the small and simple things.

This is my path of discipleship.

And until the day that the everyday wounds of mortality are healed, I will wait upon the Lord and trust Him—His timing, His wisdom, His plan.

Arm in arm with you, I want to stand with Him forever. Wholehearted. Knowing that when we love Jesus Christ with all our hearts, He gives us all in return.

Wholehearted

October 2022

General Conference

Michelle D. Craig

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/32craig?lang=eng&verse=#p

The point of walking the covenant path is to approach the Savior. He is the point, not our perfect progress.

The point of walking the covenant path is to approach the Savior. He is the point, not our perfect progress. It is not a race, and we must not compare our journey to others’. Even when we stumble, He is there.

Wholehearted

October 2022

General Conference

Michelle D. Craig

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/32craig?lang=eng&verse=#p

I am learning that Heavenly Father is more interested in my growth as a disciple of Jesus Christ than He is with my comfort. I may not always want it to be that way—but it is! Living in convenience does not bring power. The power we need to withstand the heat of our day is the Lord’s power, and His power flows through our covenants with Him. Wholehearted October 2022 General Conference Michelle D. Craig

I am learning that Heavenly Father is more interested in my growth as a disciple of Jesus Christ than He is with my comfort. I may not always want it to be that way—but it is!

Living in convenience does not bring power. The power we need to withstand the heat of our day is the Lord’s power, and His power flows through our covenants with Him.

 Wholehearted

October 2022

General Conference

Michelle D. Craig

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/32craig?lang=eng&verse=#p

The call of our day—disciples who dig deep to find the strength to keep pulling when called to walk through the wilderness, disciples with convictions that have been revealed to us by God

 A dear friend of mine sent me an old article from the Nebraska Advertiser, a Midwestern United States newspaper, dated July 9, 1857. It read: “This morning early a company of Mormons passed through on their journey to Salt Lake. Women (not very delicate to be sure) dragging hand carts like beasts, one [woman] tumbled down in this black mud which caused a slight halt in the procession, little children trudged along in their [strange] foreign dress looking as determined as their mothers.”

I’ve thought a lot about this mud-drenched woman. Why was she pulling alone? Was she a single mother? What gave her the inner strength, the grit, the perseverance to make such a wrenching journey through mud, pulling all her possessions in a handcart to an unknown desert home—at times being mocked by observers?

President Joseph F. Smith spoke of the inner strength of these pioneer women, saying: “Could you turn one of these women away from their convictions in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Could you darken their minds as to the mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith? Could you blind them with reference to the divine mission of Jesus Christ, the Son of God? No, never in the world could you do it. Why? Because they knew it. God revealed it to them, and they understood it, and no power on earth could turn them from what they knew to be that truth.”

Brothers and sisters, to be such men and women is the call of our day—disciples who dig deep to find the strength to keep pulling when called to walk through the wilderness, disciples with convictions that have been revealed to us by God, followers of Jesus who are joyful and wholehearted in our own personal journey of discipleship. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we believe and can grow in three important truths.

Wholehearted

October 2022

General Conference

Michelle D. Craig

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/32craig?lang=eng&verse=#p

And we are all the beneficiaries of their endurance

Our pioneer forebears derived a deep sense of belonging, unity, and hope in Christ by the sacrifices they made to serve missions, build temples, abandon comfortable homes under duress and begin again, and in a multitude of other ways consecrate themselves and their means to the cause of Zion. They were willing to sacrifice even their lives if necessary. And we are all the beneficiaries of their endurance.

The Doctrine of Belonging

October 2022

General Conference

D. Todd Christofferson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/28christofferson?lang=eng&verse=#p

Much of our belonging comes from our service and the sacrifices we make for others and for the Lord. Excessive focus on our personal needs or our own comfort can frustrate that sense of belonging.

 A second facet of the doctrine of belonging has to do with our own contributions. Although we rarely think about it, much of our belonging comes from our service and the sacrifices we make for others and for the Lord. Excessive focus on our personal needs or our own comfort can frustrate that sense of belonging.

The Doctrine of Belonging

October 2022

General Conference

D. Todd Christofferson

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/28christofferson?lang=eng&verse=#p

I was looking at the most important class taking place in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that day.

 Nearly 25 years ago, our family lived in Massachusetts, where I was enrolled in graduate school. My program of study was very demanding, leaving me little free time. One Sunday in church the ward Primary president approached me and asked if I might substitute as a Primary teacher for two weeks. Primary was then held on a weekday afternoon, and I knew it would be difficult to find room in my schedule to teach the class. But after some hesitation, I agreed.

The appointed day came to teach Primary. That afternoon I was in the university library, absorbed in a book on international politics. The subject I was studying seemed somehow more important than the upcoming Primary class. Consequently, I procrastinated until just 30 minutes before the class was to begin to review the lesson I was to teach. Then I walked from the library down to our ward chapel on the edge of campus. My reluctant attitude must have slowed my steps, for I arrived a few minutes late. As I stepped to the door of the Primary room, the children were just beginning to sing the opening hymn. It was a song I had never heard before, a song whose melody and message touched me deeply:

As I have loved you,

Love one another.

This new commandment:

Love one another.

By this shall men know

Ye are my disciples,

If ye have love

One to another.

(“Love One Another,” Hymns, no. 308)

As I stood there, transfixed in the doorway, the Spirit bore witness that I was looking at the most important class taking place in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that day.

Back at the university in dozens of classrooms and laboratories, dedicated scholars were pursuing answers to the world’s problems. Yet valuable though such efforts may have been, the university did not and could not hold the ultimate answers to the problems of a troubled world. Here before me was the Lord’s answer: the quiet building up of His kingdom on earth by the teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What was taking place in Primary that day was a small part of a divinely revealed plan for the salvation of a fallen world.

Building the Kingdom, Elder Bruce D. Porter,  April 2001