Enduring Together by Bishop Richard C. Edgley

"From bearing one another's burden's as ward members, we have learned several lessons:

1. The Lord's organization is fully adequate to know and care for those with even the most dire emotional and spiritual needs.
2. Adversity can bring us closer to God, with a renewed and enlightened appreciation for prayer and the Atonement, which covers pain and suffering in all their manifestations.
3. Members who suffer tragedy firsthand often experience an increased capacity for love, compassion, and understanding. They become the first, last, and often the most effective responders in giving comfort and showing compassion to others.
4. A ward, as well as a family, draws closer together as it endures together - what happens to one happens to all.
5. And perhaps most important, we can each be more compassionate and caring because we have each had our own personal experiences to draw from. We can endure together."

"I rejoice in belonging to such a loving and caring organization. No one knows better how to bear one another's burdens, mourn with those who mourn, and comfort those who stand in need of comfort. I choose to call it "enduring together." What happens to one happens to all. We endure together.

May we be an instrument in lightening the burden of others, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

The Weak and Simple of the Church by President Boyd K. Packer

"When I was a young man, I was a home teacher to a very old sister. She taught me from her life experience.
"When she was a little girl, President Brigham Young came to Brigham City, a great event in the town named after him. To honor him, the Primary children, all dressed in white, were lined up along the road coming into town, each with a basket of flowers to spread before the carriage of the President of the Church.
"Something displeased her. Instead of throwing her blossoms, she kicked a rock in front of the carriage, saying, 'He ain't one bit better than my Granpa Lovelund.'"

"There is a natural tendency to look at those who are sustained to presiding positions, to consider them to be higher and of maor value in the Church or to their families than an ordinary member. Somehow we feel they are worth more to the Lord than are we. It just does not work that way!"

"No service could be more important to the Lord than the devotion they give to one another and to their little children. The ultimate end of all activity in the Church centers in the home and the family.
"As General Authorities of the Church, we are just the same as you are, and you are just the same as we are. You have the same access to the powers of revelation for your families and for your work and for your calling as we do."

The Sustaining of the Church Officers by President Gordon B. Hinckley

"I should like to take note of the recent passing of President James E. Faust, Second Counselor in the First Presidency. He was an extremely able man, a man of great faith and capacity, who contributed much to our meetings. We greatly miss him. We extend our condolences to his beloved companion, Ruth, and their children."