Our beloved young men and women,
We want you to know that we love you. We have great confidence in you. Because of that,
we talk to you frankly and honestly.
We desire everything in this world for you that is right and good. You are not just
ordinary young men and women. You are choice spirits who have been held in reserve to come
forth in this day when the temptations, responsibilities, and opportunities are the very
greatest. You are at a critical time in your lives. This is a time for you not only to
live righteously but also to set an example for your peers. As you seek to live the
standards of the Church, you will be able to reach out and lift and build your brothers
and sisters.
God loves you as He loves each and every one of His children. His desire, purpose, and
glory is to have you return to Him pure and undefiled, having proven yourselves worthy of
an eternity of joy in His presence.
Your Father in Heaven is mindful of you. He has given you commandments to guide you, to
discipline you. He has also given you your agency—freedom of choice—"to see if
[you] will do all things whatsoever [He] shall command" (Abraham 3:25). Freedom of
choice is a God-given, eternal principle that carries with it moral responsibilities for
the choices made.
We counsel you to choose to live a morally clean life. The prophet Alma declared,
"Wickedness never was happiness" (Alma 41:10). Truer words were never spoken!
You cannot do wrong and feel right. It is impossible! Years of happiness can be lost in
the foolish gratification of a momentary desire for pleasure. Satan would have you believe
that happiness comes only as you surrender to his enticement to self-indulgence. We need
only to look at the shattered lives of those who violate God's laws to know why Satan is
called the "father of all lies" (2 Nephi 2:18).
You can avoid the burden of guilt and sin and all of the attending heartaches if you
will but heed the standards provided you through the teachings of the Lord and His
servants.
We bear witness of the truth of these principles and promise you the blessings of the
Lord as you keep the standards outlined in the scriptures and emphasized in this pamphlet.
Among those blessings will be the constant and calming companionship of the Holy Ghost and
the feelings of peace and happiness that you will experience.
We pray that you—the young and rising generation—will keep your bodies and minds
clean, free from the contaminations of the world, that you will be fit and pure vessels to
bear triumphantly the responsibilities of the kingdom of God in preparation for the second
coming of our Savior.
The First Presidency
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