Let Every Man Learn His Duty to God Young Men Open House, Fall 2006 Charles W. Dahlquist, II Young Men General President My dear brethren, what an awesome sight you are! We are grateful for the opportunity to be in the Salt Palace, thanks to you and many like you who have attended the Young Men open house and workshops at general conference time. As a result of your enthusiasm and desire to strengthen the quorums of the Aaronic Priesthood and the young men of the Church, we have outgrown the Conference Center Theater and are grateful for this beautiful new facility. And, as has been our tradition, we are grateful for the young men choruses of the Aaronic Priesthood and their participation in this wonderful open house, which is designed especially for those who have been “called to serve.” [Singing by a chorus of Aaronic Priesthood holders and fathers: “Called to Serve,” Hymns, no. 249; followed by music by Vaughn J. Featherstone and Larry Bastian, “The Clarion Call,” New Era, June 1987, 10–11.] What beautiful music. Thank you, brethren—to you, your fathers, and your leaders—for that stirring addition to our program. You are the youth of the noble birthright of whom we speak and of whom we sing. May God bless you richly as you prepare to receive the ordinances of the temple, to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood, and to serve full-time missions. We love you and continually pray for you. Thank you for sharing your talents with us. We are also grateful for the wonderful work we see throughout the Church as we visit your quorums and others just like them—from Africa to Argentina, from Sacramento to Stockholm, and from Vernal to Vladivostok. We are thrilled at the way many have caught the vision of the role of the Aaronic Priesthood and priesthood quorums in the lives of our young men. Elder David A. Bednar gave us a marvelous charge in a recent conference when he challenged each young man to become a missionary before he is called on a mission. Remember the challenge? In meetings with young members of the Church around the world, I often invite those in attendance to ask questions. One of the questions I am asked most frequently by young men is this: “What can I do to prepare most effectively to serve as a full-time missionary?” Such a sincere question deserves a serious response. . . .  My earnest hope for each of you young men is that you will not simply go on a mission—but that you will become missionaries long before you submit your mission papers, long before you receive a call to serve, long before you are set apart by your stake president, and long before you enter the MTC. [“Becoming a Missionary,” Ensign, Nov. 2005, 45] Let me share with you an experience I had just a couple of weeks ago. I received a call from a friend of mine who had been called to serve as the priests quorum adviser and the Venturer adviser in a ward not far from Temple Square. In his quorum he had young men with very busy schedules. They were so busy individually doing things—good things, for the most part—that they really had little time to come to Mutual and participate in their Aaronic Priesthood activity program. Yet my friend knew that if they were to become missionaries before they entered the MTC; if they were to have their hearts prepared and become the type of young men who are worthy to have the Spirit touch their hearts when they enter the temple; if they were to become the type of young men who will be worthy husbands and fathers when they return from their full-time missions, then they must experience just what a quorum is and what it can do to help them become true Latter-day Saints. So under the direction of his bishop, who also serves as the president of the Aaronic Priesthood and of the priests quorum, my friend took to heart the instruction that in the United States and Canada, Scouting in all its families is part of the activity program of the Aaronic Priesthood—designed to help the members of the quorum accomplish the purposes of the Aaronic Priesthood. He set about to help the members of the Cottonwood 14th Ward organize a Venturing crew. I saw them several months into their experience. When they visited my office, they were dressed in blazers and ties and gave me a wonderful report of the activity of their quorum, which included service projects; spiritual experiences; and visits to businesses, including our law firm, to understand various occupations—and the report was delivered by the young men themselves, and not the adult advisers or even the bishop, who was in attendance. These brethren understood the words of Paul to Timothy when he counseled, “Let no man despise thy youth” (1 Timothy 4:12), as well as the words of the Lord to the Prophet Joseph in the 107th section of the Doctrine and Covenants when He said, “Now let every man learn his duty” (D&C 107:99). These young men were learning and becoming—before they were called. I realize that in many parts of the world, including parts of the Salt Lake Valley, there are few young men in Aaronic Priesthood quorums. Yet even with a small number of young men, vitalizing the quorums of the Aaronic Priesthood can have a profound effect in helping a young man become a missionary long before he is called to serve. I learned recently of a fine young man in the Milwaukee City Branch of the Milwaukee North Stake who stands out among his peers. Let me introduce you to Rodney Johnson, who recently received his Duty to God Award. Rodney is the only active member of the Church in his family. He lives in one of the toughest areas of Milwaukee, filled with abandoned homes, street violence, and generational poverty. The other day, for example, a stray bullet broke a window in his home and hit a wall above his mother’s bed. For Rodney, life is not easy. In the early part of his high school years, Rodney experienced a variety of medical problems which kept him from attending school regularly. And yet this young man, in spite of the challenges, is a fine example of one who holds the Aaronic Priesthood. Recently he became the first in his family ever to graduate from high school. He is also the first young man in the Milwaukee City Branch to receive the Duty to God Award. His achievements in earning that award included cutting wood for an elderly family in preparation for winter, fellowshipping and then baptizing a friend, and speaking at a stake general priesthood meeting. Rodney is a great example of one who is becoming—long before he is called. We are also grateful for the reports we hear about many who have been trained in the past six months through BSA basic training, Wood Badge, and regular attendance at roundtables. We have had local councils throughout the country generously sponsor Wood Badge courses that do not go over Sunday in order to accommodate our brethren and their desire to keep the Sabbath holy. In doing so, they have been surprised to see those courses fill to overflowing. The result is an increased understanding of why the Church, nearly one hundred years ago, adopted Scouting as part of the activity program of the Aaronic Priesthood, and why it has such a profound effect in strengthening young men of the Aaronic Priesthood in so many ways—with many presidents of the Church speaking out on the value of Scouting as a vital part of the Aaronic Priesthood experience. In 1963, when Scouting in the Church was just 50 years old, David O. McKay was the President of the Church. Of Scouting and its values, President McKay said, during a radio broadcast to Scouts and Scouters: Fellow Scouts and Scouters. I am happy to participate with you tonight in this recommittal ceremony in which we will dedicate ourselves to the principles of the Scout Oath and Law. . . .  These ideals are in keeping with the ideals of the Church and the ideals of good citizenship. I urge and encourage you to incorporate these principles into your daily lives and into your dealings with your friends and associates, so that you may become better members of your families, church, and better citizens in this great land. [“Scouts Hear President McKay,” Church News, Feb. 12, 1966, 3] Today, Scouting is nearly 100 years old. President Gordon B. Hinckley has said: I love the Scouting movement. The promise of the Scout Oath and the twelve points of the Scout Law point young men along the path of being prepared for the 21st century. They provide a solid and powerful magnetic force toward development of a well-rounded and noteworthy character that counts. If every boy in America knew and observed the Scout Oath, we would do away with most of the jails and prisons in this country. If each of us would live up to those few words, “On my honor, I will do my best,” whether it be in school, whether it be in our social life, whether it be in our business or professional life, if I will do my very best, success and happiness will be mine. [Boy Scout Jamboral, Fillmore, Utah, Sept. 27, 1996] Thank you, brethren, for your diligent service in immersing yourselves in this grand movement and its timeless values as you seek to vitalize the Aaronic Priesthood quorums within your wards and stakes. And yet, as vital as Scouting stands as part of the activity arm of the priesthood, I am reminded of an experience Brother Allan Packer had while in the New Orleans area following Hurricane Katrina. He was with several of the Brethren when someone asked, “What is most important, Scouting or Duty to God?” Elder M. Russell Ballard said, “I can answer that—it’s the priesthood.” And so it is. All that we do in the kingdom must be to help these great young men of the Aaronic Priesthood to come unto Christ, to learn of the majesty of the priesthood they bear, and to learn how, by magnifying their priesthood, they will bless the lives of those they meet—throughout their lives. And that is our charge—regardless of what resource we are using—to further the work of the Lord and to help these great young men come unto the Savior—in the words of Elder Bednar, “to become missionaries long before [they] submit [their] mission papers, long before [they] receive a call to serve, long before [they] are set apart by [their] stake president, and long before [they] enter the MTC” (“Becoming a Missionary,” Ensign, Nov. 2005, 45). The other day, as part of my personal gospel study I read a scripture that is printed on the back of each Duty to God guidebook. It is found in Alma chapter 7, verse 22: “And now my beloved brethren, I have said these things unto you that I might awaken you to a sense of your duty to God, that ye may walk blameless before him, that ye may walk after the holy order of God, after which ye have been received.” As I read and then reread, I wondered to myself, “What are ‘these things’ of which Alma speaks?” I then returned to the beginning of the chapter as Alma has left the people of Zarahemla and traveled to Gideon, where he found a people living their covenants and prepared to receive his message. As I read his words to these good people, I realized that “these things” refers to the Atonement and the message of the gospel which has been given to each of us, that we might be awakened to a sense of our duty to God. It is that message that is found throughout the Book of Mormon in the form of an invitation. At the very conclusion of the book which bears his name, the Nephite prophet Moroni writes: “I would exhort you that ye would come unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good gift, and touch not the evil gift, nor the unclean thing. . . . Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him” (Moroni 10:30, 32). This is much the same as the message given to the Prophet Joseph in the 68th section of the Doctrine and Covenants when the Lord said, “And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion . . . that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, . . . the sin be upon the heads of the parents” (D&C 68:25). That, then—in teaching our young men of the Aaronic Priesthood their duty to God—is our charge: to help them feel deep in their souls the invitation to “come unto Christ.” This evening during our workshops, we will have an opportunity to counsel together and be taught about the Duty to God program. We hope this will be a rewarding experience for you and beneficial to the young men you serve. We hope that it will help you to help them become missionaries long before they go on a mission. But before we speak of helping our young men earn their Duty to God Award (or better still, learn how to fulfill their duty to God), I wonder if it might be beneficial for us to examine our duty to God. In the words of Alma, have we been awakened to a sense of how we, as priesthood and Young Men leaders, can fulfill our duty to God? In reviewing how we as leaders can fulfill our duty to God, I would like to use a term that has become fairly commonplace recently, as we have “raised the bar” for missionary service. In previous workshops, we have spoken of what it means to be a “raised-bar missionary.” We even showed a clip from President Hinckley speaking to the topic. However, in that same vein, if we are to have raised-bar missionaries, we also need to be “raised-bar leaders.” May I offer a few suggestions to becoming raised-bar leaders. First, our lives must be in order. We must be living that which we teach. Elder Richard G. Scott once said to missionaries, “Recognize and conscientiously use the three ways that they will learn from you; by what you say, by what they see you do, and most importantly, by what they feel in your presence” (Seminar for New Mission Presidents, June 20, 1991). And it is the same with us. A poet once wrote: You are called to be true under-shepherds, To keep watch o'er the lambs of the fold: And to point out the way to green pastures. Of more value than silver or gold. Unto you is entrusted the children, Priceless treasures from heaven above. You're to teach them the truth of the Gospel— Let them bask in the warmth of your love. Do you ask for the help of our Father, In teaching His children so dear? Do you put forth a true, honest effort? Is your message impressive and clear? Are you living a worthy example? Is your character what it should be? When the children have gathered around you, Can you say to them, “Come, follow me”? Earnest effort is always rewarded: Righteous lives are inspiring to all. You can render your thanks to our Savior, By making the most of your call. [Jayne Bradford Terry, “To Those Who Teach Children,” The Instructor, Nov. 1956, 338] When President McKay passed away, it was said of him, “President McKay was a pure vessel through whom the revelation could flow to the Church.” Wouldn’t it be grand if the same could be said of us in each of our callings—as husband, father, stake president, bishop, adviser, home teacher, or Scoutmaster? Particularly where there is difficulty in a young man’s home or no righteous father figure, it may be through you—through your example and your testimony—that a young man comes to develop a love for the Savior, for the scriptures, for the Prophet Joseph, and an understanding of the plan of happiness. Those things which he receives through you and your example may be just what he needs when mortality becomes difficult and he must stand on his own. At those times he may be driven to reflect, as did Enos and Alma the Younger, on that which they were taught as boys. From Enos: And the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart. And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul. [Enos 1:3–4] And from Alma: And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world. Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me. . . .  And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more. . . .  And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain! [Alma 36:17–20; italics added] Secondly, we must be dedicated to doing what is necessary to touch and strengthen the young men in our charge—whether it is convenient or not. We must understand that our work is to help our Father in Heaven bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of all those in our charge. We must do all we can to retain the active, reclaim the less-active, and grow the quorums of the Aaronic Priesthood. And as President Hinckley has often reminded us, “We are not asking for perfection. The work of the Lord is done by ordinary people who work in an extraordinary way” (“Missionary Service,” First Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting, Jan. 11, 2003, 18). That also means becoming trained and being in a calling long enough to make a difference. Thirdly, we must be scholars of the Aaronic Priesthood and understand the doctrines and purposes of the Aaronic Priesthood so we can help our young brethren apply them in their lives. For example, the scriptures tell us that one of the roles of the Aaronic Priesthood is to be responsible for the temporal well-being of the Saints. One member of a stake presidency who understood that principle recently wrote that, given that understanding, in their stake they had concluded to include the young men of the Aaronic Priesthood as a vital part of their stake emergency response plan. He wrote: No matter what time of day an emergency might occur, our Aaronic Priesthood young men will collectively be more available than will the Melchizedek Priesthood. They are the bishop’s messengers. Having them act as the communication link between priesthood leaders is possible even if all communication means and lines are disrupted or destroyed. . . . Their Aaronic Priesthood Scouting prepares them in emergency preparation, first aid, safety, rescue, pioneering—and the list goes on. As you might know, our area was one of the hardest hit in the storm that took place about a month ago. The damage to the area was considerable. Our young men played a key role in the immediate and long-term effort of assessment and cleanup. Even before we had proposed this initiative, one of the first calls after the storm to [our stake president] was from a priest in one of our wards who took it upon himself to assess the personal and property damage in his ward and contacted his bishop and stake president to report in. [Personal correspondence] And finally, we must love these great young men of the Aaronic Priesthood who have so much potential—and who have been given such a mighty mission here on earth. Trite but true, we have all heard the quip “The youth don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” And as in any relationship, your love and caring for these young men will be manifest by how well you listen to them, how well you help them build self-esteem through that which they experience and feel, how much you express your confidence in them and their abilities, and how well you prepare them to meet the challenges of life. I have mentioned before that I have a mirror at home that simply reads, “I believe in you!” Just as when I look into that mirror and am buoyed up by that simple message, when your young men look into your eyes, they must know and feel that you believe in them and in their abilities to succeed. When I graduated from BYU and was headed for law school at the University of Utah, my Aunt Mary, the consummate teacher, gave me a tiny gavel and block and said, “Charles, there will be dark days during law school when you think you just can’t make it. On those days, look at this little gavel and remember that there are many of us who know you can succeed and who are praying for you.” I mounted that little gavel and placed it on a bookshelf in our little apartment. Indeed, as Aunt Mary said, there were those days when I wondered if it was all worth it and when I was tempted to toss in the towel. At those times I would look at that tiny gavel, my courage would return, and I thought, “If they believe in me, then I know I can do it!” And though Aunt Mary passed away many years ago, I still have that gavel in my office today for those days when I need a bit of reassurance. And so, in the words of the hymn, I charge each of us in our duties to— Rise up, O men of God! Have done with lesser things. Give heart and soul and mind and strength To serve the King of Kings. [“Rise Up, O Men of God,” Hymns, no. 324] [Singing: “Rise Up, O Men of God,” Hymns, no. 324.] Thanks, brethren, for touching our hearts with your music. May God bless us that the message of this stirring hymn will be our watch cry and our charge as we go forth to serve. Now, brethren, as I have mentioned, in our workshops tonight we will focus on helping our young men of the Aaronic Priesthood learn how to fulfill their duty to God—especially through the Duty to God program. As you listen and participate in the workshops, keep in mind that the full name of the program is “Aaronic Priesthood: Fulfilling Our Duty to God.” This is a program with a promise, as articulated by the First Presidency in their message to each young man at the beginning of each Duty to God guidebook: You live in a day of great challenges and opportunities. You have been called to make a difference in the world. As a son of God, with the power of the Aaronic Priesthood, you can be a wonderful force for good. . . .  You will feel a great sense of accomplishment as you fulfill your duty and prepare for the exciting challenges of the future. [“Message from the First Presidency,” Aaronic Priesthood: Fulfilling Our Duty to God (Deacon) (2001), 4–5] Not wanting to preempt the workshops, there are just a couple of things that I would like to emphasize as we focus on this great program designed to help our young men become missionaries before they are called. First, the key to Duty to God becoming a powerful force in the lives of our young men lies in five steps: First, learn the program. Second, inspire parents to participate. Third, implement the program. Fourth, track and record progress. And fifth, recognize progress and achievement. In other words, celebrate success. Each of these will be considered individually in our workshop sessions in some detail. May I take just a few moments and comment briefly on just a couple of them. When we were at Philmont Scout Ranch this summer for the LDS Scouting Leadership Conference, a mother gave a stirring testimony of the powerful effect of the Duty to God program in her family, which she subsequently included in a letter to me. With her permission, I share a portion of that touching letter. It is a bit lengthy but, in my opinion, worth every word. She writes: We have had three boys working on the Duty to God program at the same time. I keep all of the Duty to God books and Faith in God books in my cupboard in the kitchen for quick reference. Usually not a week goes by that we don’t use those books in some way. We have Duty to God family home evenings where each boy completes a requirement out of their book. We have had Duty to God devotionals on Sunday evening. We have planned family service projects and activities out of the requirements in those books. During the school year my boys usually are assigned one Duty to God requirement on their Saturday job list. During the summer they get assignments on their daily job lists to work on their Duty to God and Scouting. It is a program that has required constant and diligent effort on the part of the parents. If it were left to my sons, unfortunately it probably would not get done, but it has blessed the whole family as we have worked on these requirements together.          I have seen many blessings that have come to our family from being constantly involved in the Duty to God program and have seen miracles in their individual lives. One of my sons came to me after having received his first Duty to God book as a deacon. He asked me if I would be disappointed in him if he did not earn his Duty to God Award. When I inquired why, he showed me some of the requirements that he was afraid of, namely, giving a three- to five-minute talk in church and the one about bearing his testimony. I understood why he was so afraid. Nathan had never given a successful talk in Primary or shared his testimony. In fact, he had a lot of fears. He would not call people on the telephone. If he wanted to play with friends as a child, if I did not make the phone call he would never play. He was also afraid of new situations and very self-conscious and afraid of being in front of people. . . .  One time while he was in Primary, I helped him prepare a talk on the prophet Nephi, but as usual he just stood in the front, frozen and unable to talk. I went and stood beside him and as usual ended up giving his talk for him. Wanting him to feel like it was still his talk, I ended the talk by saying, “Nathan hopes that you can all learn to be obedient like Nephi.” He was embarrassed because I said his name, so he blurted out, “No, I don’t.” Well, everyone started to laugh, and he became more afraid because everyone was laughing at him. So when Nathan shared his concerns about the Duty to God requirements, I knew it would take a miracle for him to succeed at fulfilling these requirements. I read to him out of Ether chapter 12, verse 27, about how the Lord can take our weakness and make it a strength. I told him that if he was humble and prayed diligently that the Lord would help him fulfill these requirements. He asked me why the prophet had asked him to do such hard things. I told him that it was those hard things that would help him become the missionary that the Lord needed him to be. He said that he had prayed many times to overcome his fears, and that prayer had not worked. He still had not been able to bear his testimony or overcome his fears. I told him that sometimes our problems are so big that we need to do more than pray; we also need to fast for additional help. He said he had not fasted about his fear. I offered to fast with him, but he said I did not need to as he knew how to fast. Several fast Sundays went by, and he came to me again. He said that he had fasted several times to be able to overcome his fear and to bear his testimony, but each fast Sunday he was still filled with fear. He did not know why the Lord would not help him. I asked him to tell me about his fast. He said that he said two prayers, one to start his fast and one to end his fast. I told him that saying two prayers was a good thing, but I told him that when we have a serious problem to overcome, it takes many prayers—that we need to get on our knees many times and plead with the Lord for help. I told him to pray over and over again on fast Sunday that the Lord would help him control his fear and comfort his heart so that he could bear his testimony. I also told him that his mom and dad would fast and pray many times in his behalf. The next fast and testimony meeting we attended, Nathan got out of his seat and walked to the front of the chapel and bore a short but sincere testimony of the Book of Mormon and his love for the Lord and his family and sat down. That day was the beginning of some wonderful accomplishments. Not long afterward our son gave his first talk in sacrament meeting. He is now serving as the deacons quorum president and frequently makes phone calls on his own to remind his presidency and quorum of meetings and assignments. He still is somewhat shy, but he is gaining confidence in his ability to do things and in his confidence that the Lord will help him. She then concludes as follows: I have a testimony of the Duty to God program. It is like any other program or principle of the gospel: you do not gain a testimony of it until you have exercised your faith in the program and lived and applied it to your life to the best of your ability. I have confidence that by encouraging my sons in this program that the Lord will help us, as parents, to raise our sons to be the kind of missionaries and fathers that they need to be. I believe with all of my heart that the prophet has the vision to know what is necessary to raise young men who know and love the Lord and will do His work. [Personal correspondence] Oh, that all could share this mother’s testimony of the impact that the Duty to God program can have on helping our young men of the Aaronic Priesthood learn how to fulfill their duty to God. Now, just two final thoughts on Duty to God: First, if we are to implement the program, we must understand it. And though there is no Churchwide Duty to God Award for adults, there are tangible benefits in accomplishing the requirements of the Duty to God program yourself as you strive to encourage your young men to do the same. I am currently working on the deacon Duty to God requirements. I know many of you are doing the same. If you are actively working on accomplishing the requirements of the deacon, teacher, or priest Duty to God program, I invite you to stand. As you can see, as a Young Men general presidency and board, we have taken this seriously and invite you to join us. Finally, though it is vital to record and track progress, don’t assume that the only effective way is by use of complicated computer programs. There are, indeed, those programs out there for those of you who are computer whizzes. But most of us aren’t. Some find that a piece of lined notebook paper works very well. I am not a computer genius, but the other day I took a few minutes, as part of my work on the Duty to God program, and put together a very simple chart using a spreadsheet program to track the efforts of each member of the Young Men general presidency and board as we work on our individual goals. The chart is simple, but it works for us. Remember, the format is not important. The important thing is to track and record progress, so that progress may be rewarded. May God bless you as you immerse yourselves in this work that you may be instruments in the hands of a kind Father in Heaven in strengthening and vitalizing the young men of the Aaronic Priesthood. May you be true undershepherds as you feed the lambs of the Lord. And may we never forget that our charge—and that of the presidency of each quorum—is to strengthen every young man in the quorum: to retain the active, reclaim the less active, and grow the quorum. May God bless us in these next six months that we may do all in our power to strengthen the young men of the Aaronic Priesthood by utilizing all our resources, including Scouting, in all its families, and Duty to God in the process. May we utilize each of these resources effectively to continue the challenge to reactivate one young man in each Aaronic Priesthood quorum in the next six months. We have already seen some wonderful success from our previous challenge and encourage you to continue to reach out to retain, to reclaim, and to grow the quorums of the Aaronic Priesthood. I testify of the truthfulness of this grand work of strengthening the quorums of the Aaronic Priesthood and of the everlasting effect it will have in strengthening families as well as the Melchizedek Priesthood quorums of the future. For the best way I know to strengthen an elders quorum is to begin with the deacons quorum. God lives. This is His work. This is His priesthood. The young men we serve are His sons. Rise up, O men of God! Have done with lesser things. Give heart and soul and mind and strength To serve the King of Kings. [“Rise Up, O Men of God,” Hymns, no. 324] In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.