Did You Know?

Following are a few significant events that happened in Church history during the month of June.

9 June 1830. Twenty-seven members attended the Church’s first conference, held in Fayette, New York.

6 June 1840. Forty-one Church members left Liverpool, England, for the United States. They were the first of many Saints to cross the sea to Zion.

27 June 1844. The Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred in Carthage, Illinois.

27 June 2002. The Nauvoo Illinois Temple is dedicated (see news insert in this issue).

“We have faith, we live by faith; we came to these mountains by faith.” President Brigham Young spoke these words after entering the Salt Lake Valley in July 1847. The valley was barren, but President Young believed the desert could blossom as a rose.

President Young said: “We had not the least encouragement—from natural reasoning and all that we could learn of this country. … We had faith that we could raise grain; was there any harm in this? Not at all. If we had not had faith, what would have become of us? We would have gone down in unbelief.”

But the Saints did have faith. They were greatly blessed in that barren land. “There never has been a land, from the days of Adam until now, that has been blessed more than this land has been blessed by our Father in Heaven; and it will still be blessed more and more, if we are faithful and humble, and thankful to God” (see Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young [1997], 104–6).

Listen effectively. This means listening attentively to others as the Savior did. Listening with full and sincere attention also helps convey a leader’s love and concern. While a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Thomas S. Monson explained: “A good leader must learn to listen. Listening is not a passive activity. To actively listen to another person requires willpower, concentration, and great mental effort. Its rewards are many, because only then do we really learn to understand” (“Building Bridges,” New Era, November 1985, 66).

Effective listening also means listening attentively to the whisperings of the still, small voice (see D&C 84:88). Listening for the promptings of the Spirit conveys a leader’s willingness to follow the Lord.