Brothers and sisters, we welcome you from the campus of Brigham Young University-Idaho to this worldwide devotional for young adults. We especially want to welcome those graduating high school seniors who are joining us for the very first time. We hope that these devotionals will strengthen and enrich your lives. My name is Alexis Parker. I am a member of the Rexburg YSA 52nd Ward and am currently a student at Brigham Young University-Idaho. We are excited to welcome Elder Patrick Kearon of the Presidency of the Seventy. He is accompanied by his wife, Jennifer. We are thrilled to be able to hear from them both this evening. We also recognize and welcome Elder Kim B. Clark, General Authority Seventy and Church Commissioner of Education, as well as Elder Bradford C. Bowen and Elder M. Dirk Driscoll, who serve as Area Seventies. Elder Driscoll is accompanied by his wife, Dayna. Also seated on the stand is President Henry J. Eyring, the president of Brigham Young University-Idaho, along with President Brent J. Nelson of the Idaho Idaho Falls Mission and President Gene E. Hancock of the Idaho Pocatello Mission. We also welcome President Fenton L. Broadhead of the Rexburg Idaho Temple, along with President Donald J. Archibald from the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple. We are also joined by many local stake presidents and administrators from the Church Educational System. They are accompanied by their spouses, and we are grateful that they are here with us this evening. We will begin with the congregation singing "Come, Ye Children of the Lord," hymn number 58 in the English hymnbook. We appreciate the assistance of Brother Benjamin Simmons, who will conduct the music, and Sister Katelyn Fitzen, who will be our accompanist. Brother Landon Winegar of the Pocatello YSA 10th Ward will then offer the invocation.

[MUSIC PLAYING - "COME, YE CHILDREN OF THE LORD"]

Our dear Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for this opportunity that we have to be gathered across the world today to be able to listen to our leaders and to Sister and Elder Kearon. And we thank Thee for this beautiful Sabbath day that we've had to enjoy and remember Thee and Thy Son, Jesus Christ. We ask Thee to help us this evening, that we can feel of Thy Spirit wherever we may be, and that we can understand its promptings, and that all those that have come seeking revelation and guidance will be able to receive the help that they need in their lives.

We thank Thee for the Atonement of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, and His sacrifice for us. And we ask Thee to bless us that we will always remember Him and that we can try to be more like Him and that we'll be able to find ways to do that this evening. We say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

This evening we are joined by a young adult choir from Brigham Young University-Idaho, who will sing "All Creatures of Our God and King." They are directed by Sister Eda Ashby and accompanied by Brother Andrew Woodruff. After the musical number, we will be pleased to hear from Sister Kearon, followed by Elder Kearon. At the conclusion of their remarks, the choir will sing "Come, Thou Fount." They will be under the direction of Brother David Lozano-Torres and accompanied by Brother Levi Kelley. The benediction will then be offered by Sister Lucie Belibi Minya, a member of the Rexburg YSA 20th Ward. It is now my privilege to introduce tonight's speakers. Sister Jennifer Kearon was raised in Saratoga, California, the youngest of eight children. She received her bachelor of arts degree from Brigham Young University in humanities, with an emphasis in English literature. She and Elder Kearon were married in the Oakland California Temple and are the parents of four children. The Kearons have lived in London and the west of England as well as Frankfurt, Germany, and now Salt Lake City, Utah. Sister Kearon has served and taught in various capacities in the Relief Society, Young Women, and Primary organizations and has also served as a seminary teacher. Sister Kearon enjoys reading, skiing, waterskiing, family history research, art museums, and playing the piano and flute. Elder Patrick Kearon was sustained as a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 3, 2010. At the time of his call, he had been serving as a member of the Third Quorum of the Seventy in the Europe Area. Elder Kearon was named a member of the Presidency of the Seventy on August 1, 2017. He currently has supervisory responsibilities in the North America West and North America Northwest Areas. He also assists Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf in supervising the Europe and Europe East Areas. Elder Kearon was educated in the Middle East and the United Kingdom. He has lived and worked in the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and the United States in a range of industries and ran his own communications consultancy. His civic and community involvement has included service on the boards of charities, a school, an enterprise agency, and a college. After joining the Church on Christmas Eve of 1987, Elder Kearon served in numerous Church callings, including assistant ward clerk, Young Men president, counselor in a bishopric, branch president, stake president, and Area Seventy. Elder Kearon was born in Carlisle, Cumberland, England, on July 18, 1961. He married Jennifer Carole Hulme in January 1991. The choir will now sing "All Creatures of our God and King."

[MUSIC PLAYING - "ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING"]

Thank you to the choir for that beautiful hymn in praise of our Creator. It is an absolute delight and privilege to be with you for this devotional. We relish any opportunity to be with the young adults of the Church. We just love you! How thrilling to be active participants with you in such a vibrant period in the ongoing Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Young or old, we all enjoy a good fairy tale, especially when it's a love story. I have to say that our love story was a beautiful and totally unexpected fairy tale. I grew up in California; my husband, in England and Saudi Arabia. I was raised in the Church from birth; my husband was a convert to the Church in his mid-20s. We were brought together from two separate continents in the great city of London. He had been a member of the Church for two years and was attending the young single adult ward there in London when I arrived to spend six months studying art history and English literature. I never intended, or expected, to fall head over heels in love while studying in the U.K., but life can take some very unpredictable--and magnificent--turns. Hang on, hang on. You, like me (please put that photo back up), you're looking at that photo and thinking, "Well, we see him, and we see him, and what happened to the first fellow?" Well, welcome to your future. This is what happens when a few years elapse.

[LAUGHTER] Yeah, for a minute there he was concerned we had put the wrong photo on. OK. But I am so grateful that the Lord led us to one another. We married in the Oakland California Temple, and I moved straight back to England, where we lived for the next 19 years, until the time of my husband's call as a General Authority in 2010. We have been blessed with four beautiful children. We lost our eldest child, a son, in heart surgery when he was 19 days old. His heart defect was discovered during my pregnancy, and our fierce and steadfast fight for his short life taught us of miracles, God's will, and the intimate, personal reality of the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our sweet son was followed by our three precious daughters, whom we adore, respect, and learn from every day. They are treasures to us. With uncommon faith, they have willingly moved--all through their teenage years--from their home in England to Utah, to Germany, and now back again to Utah as their father has been assigned to serve in various capacities in the Church.

Now, are there things you really didn't like as a child that you love now as an adult? How about naptime?

I bet you never wanted to take naps when you were a child. I didn't! But now the chance to get a little extra sleep is a luxury! I love naptime. OK, what about broccoli or some other food that you just didn't like as a child? Well, do you like it now? Regardless of how you feel about naps or broccoli, there are things that you didn't like as a child--plenty of them--that you still don't like as an adult. We never liked falling down and skinning our knees. We never liked trying out for a sports team and not making it. We never liked being picked on, made fun of, left out, or deliberately hurt by someone else. And we still don't. I remember in primary school that I was fairly successful academically in the classroom, but I was a dancer, and a total failure out on the sports field. I could pirouette, but I couldn't pass--or shoot or throw or kick or catch or swing. Some kids would call me names and make fun of my skinny arms. I did have skinny arms, it is true, but it still hurt! I distinctly remember that if we were ever choosing our own teams for some kind of academic competition, I was chosen by my peers somewhere near the top-ish. But if we were ever choosing teams for an athletic competition, I was always chosen dead last. It felt terrible! Now, why do I share any of this with you several decades after the fact? Because, as you can see, that kind of stuff sticks with us. We remember how it felt to be rejected or not wanted or disapproved of by our peers and perhaps, tragically, by our own family members. And that doesn't change just because we grow up and become adults. You may have felt this way just yesterday. Peers, parents, siblings, spouses, teachers, work colleagues, friends--they can all say and do things that hurt deeply. Often it's unintentional, but sometimes it can be very deliberate. And occasionally we retaliate. Learning to find, feel, and understand our individual worth regardless of what other people might think or say about us is critical to our lifelong emotional and spiritual well-being. When we permit others' words, actions, or opinions of us to dictate how we feel about ourselves, we become fragile victims, never knowing when someone's approval of us will turn to disdain. Likewise, if we base our worth solely on our achievements, our performance, or our visible, perceived gifts, we set ourselves up for failure and disappointment as soon as we don't measure up and come out on top. You know this, but those of you who struggle with it need to hear it often and be reassured of your infinite worth, which is entirely unconnected to your attainments but intrinsically linked to your relationship with God. What does infinite mean? Unlimited, boundless, without end. You, each of you is of unlimited, boundless, endless worth. To whom? To the person who metaphorically calls you names on the playground? No. You are of unlimited, boundless, endless worth to your Father in Heaven, the One who knows you best, no matter what anyone else might think or say about you. Just let the beauty and stillness of that truth weigh on your soul for a moment. You are "precious in [His] sight." When someone hurts you or you experience a failure of some kind, come to where you are never rejected and never ridiculed. Your Father in Heaven loves you, whoever you are, whatever you are struggling with. You are enough.

You are enough. He loves you just the way you are right here, right now, in all your beautiful messiness. But He also loves you enough not to let you stay the way you are right here, right now. He has much bigger plans for you! You are "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ," and so you must continue to learn to keep the commandments, make mistakes, grow, struggle, and change until you reach your divine potential, refined and purified--and some eternal day, perfected--through the grace of Christ. If we laid out the design for our own lives, we would likely plan for ourselves a life of happiness, success, and relative ease, perhaps with a smattering of mild difficulties that we could overcome without too much effort. Who wants to experience failure, struggle, or any kind of loss or suffering? Who wants to do hard things? If we lived the life we wanted to live, we would always be accepted to our top-choice university or grad school, get the dream job, and marry our perfect soul mate with whom we would never have an argument. We would never have to wrestle with a Church calling, all our loved ones would remain heart-and-soul converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and anyone we shared our faith with would be baptized within the week. Our mothers wouldn't get cancer, our fathers wouldn't leave, and our siblings wouldn't die young in tragic accidents. We wouldn't lose babies in heart surgery, and we would never have to wait on the Lord's timing. You get the picture. But we also wouldn't develop any meaningful degree of patience, compassion, humility, long-suffering, loving-kindness, endurance, discipline, selflessness, or faith, hope, and charity. We would return to our Father in Heaven in just about the same state we were in when we left His presence, because we wouldn't have experienced anything that required change or growth or our complete and utter dependence on God. But we are not living self-designed lives of ease. We are living the lives God has planned for our maximum joy and progression. So rest assured that the infinite and gentle love of God will invite you to make changes in your life through the experiences that come your way, both the bitter and the sweet. But He will always invite change in a loving, encouraging, affirming way. Don't listen to the voices in your head--that may have been there from your childhood--that tell you you can't change, you aren't good enough, and you will fail yet again. Listen only to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit and "the pleasing word of God, ... which healeth the wounded soul," that confirm your infinite worth and God's loving reassurance that you can do it. When you're exhausted with life and feeling like you can't see anything good coming from all your efforts to live righteously, don't give up. Don't compromise your dreams and goals. Increase your faith that it is always worth waiting for the Lord's timing. And when awful, painful, tragic things do happen in your life, and you truly do not know how you will survive the path through your own personal Gethsemane, remember that Christ, the Anointed One, has already borne your griefs and carried your sorrows. He has been bruised for your iniquities, and with His stripes you are healed. He knows, intimately and personally, the pain you bear. He is the Firstborn of the Father, and He has first borne your suffering in its entirety, be it mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual. Never doubt His promises of hope and healing. You have been created for a joyful, abundant existence. Your worth is infinite, and so is God's love for you. I am excited for you to hear from my husband. I want you to know--relevant to your age and stage of life, as you are dating and marrying--that this man I love deeply has been unfailingly kind to me for 27 years of marriage. He has never once, not once, made me feel small or unloved, and he has never made a joke at my expense. I hope that you can learn from that. I wish to express my living faith in the living Christ, who truly "is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come." This is His Church, led by His prophet. In the sacred, saving name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I'm so grateful for Jen, who, without exception, lives what she teaches. She knows who she is and rejoices in knowing who she is. And she is bold in sharing that with others wherever she is, and I'm so grateful that we met two years after I joined the Church. And she's been a blessed example to me and for me since then and continues to be.

It's wonderful to think of you gathering around the world, and I pray that in the spirit of Landon's beautiful opening prayer, that you will be given what you need--that if you need inspiration, that you will receive it; if you need something exceptional, that it will come. There's such power when we gather like this, when we prepare for moments like this. There is power in gathering. If you need healing, may you have healing. If you need comfort, may you receive comfort. If you need peace, may you have peace.

If you need help with exams--I supposed it's a little early for that in most of your semesters, but when that time comes, may you have that too. I pray, then, that as you're prompted, as you receive a message for you, that you will then have the strength and the conviction to act on it and not just drift back to whatever your current habits may be--that if you need a moment of change, if you need a moment of renewed strength and faith, that that may be your gift.

When I was 15 or 16, I was deeply self-absorbed and going through many of those unsettled and uncertain and vulnerable feelings which can come as being part of an adolescent. Some of those feelings lingered on, but they were most acute in those teenage years. I felt lost and self-conscious and awkward.

It didn't help that I was at boarding school on a desolate bit of coast in England. My parents lived far away in Saudi Arabia, and in terms of the school, Hogwarts with Snape would have been more welcoming.

Bad weather was common along that coast, but one winter a particularly formidable storm blew in across the Irish Sea, with winds gusting to a force-12 gale. The sea crashed over the defenses and in some cases breached them, and then around 5,000 homes were flooded in the surrounding area. And people were left cut off without electricity or any means of heating or lighting their homes, and they were running out of food. As the flood started to subside, we were dispatched by the school. I had not seen a natural disaster on that scale before, and I was astonished to experience it close-up. Water and mud were everywhere. The faces of those who had been flooded were ashen and gaunt. They had been deprived of sleep for days. My fellow schoolboys and I went to work, moving waterlogged belongings to upper floors where they could be dried and pulling up carpet which had been ruined by the flood. I remember the sodden carpet was impossibly heavy and the stench in the homes was dreadful. What struck me next was the camaraderie that developed between those of us helping and those receiving help. There was just a wonderful, good-natured feeling between people united in a worthy cause under challenging circumstances. I later reflected that all those insecure feelings which consumed so much of my regular teenage thought left while I was involved in this great effort to assist our neighbors. I wish that realization had lasted, but it didn't. The discovery that helping others was the antidote to my gloomy, self-obsessed state should have been transforming. But it wasn't, because the discovery didn't sink deep enough, and I failed to reflect more thoughtfully on what had taken place. That understanding came later. You have probably discovered this truth in your own life. It might be helpful for you to think about when this happened for you and how. I was considering this myself during general conference. I do feel so fortunate to have this opportunity to speak to you so soon after that landmark conference just a few weeks ago. The impressions, peace, and infusion of energy received are still with me. At the heart of the conference messages was the repeated call to minister as the Savior ministers--and to do so out of love, in recognition that we are all--and those around us--children of our Heavenly Father. We will serve not because our service is being counted and measured, but because we love our Father in Heaven and are motivated by a higher and nobler pursuit: helping our friends find and stay on the path home to Him. We are loving and serving our neighbors as Jesus would if He were in our place, truly trying to improve people's lives and lighten their burdens. This is where joy and lasting fulfillment come from for both the giver and the receiver as we share the fruits of knowing and feeling our infinite worth and God's eternal love for each of us. This message was summarized by President Nelson in this way: "A hallmark of the Lord's true and living Church will always be an organized, directed effort to minister to individual children of God and their families. Because it is His Church, we as His servants will minister to the one, just as He did. We will minister in His name, with His power and authority, and with His loving-kindness."

As I have reflected on what we were taught, I know that if we heed this call to minister, we have the opportunity to rise out of ourselves; grow in faith, confidence, and happiness; and overcome our self-focus and the sense of emptiness and gloom which comes with it. I wish I had come to this realization much earlier in my life. But I am so grateful that I have learnt it by increasing degrees over the years and that we are given constant reminders of this great truth. The beauty of this kind of service, ministry, or discipleship is that it helps others in ways too numerous to list, but it also transforms us by taking us away from our worries, fears, anxieties, and doubts. At first the service simply distracts us from our own problems, but that swiftly converts into something much higher and more beautiful. We begin to experience light and peace almost without realizing it. We are calmed, warmed, and comforted, and we recognize a joy that comes in no other way. These gifts settle upon us out of all proportion to what we have actually done in terms of helping another. President Spencer W. Kimball explained it, in part, as follows: "The abundant life noted in the scriptures is the spiritual sum that is arrived at by the multiplying of our service to others and by investing our talents in service to God and to man." "We become more substantive as we serve others--indeed, it is easier to 'find' ourselves because there is so much more of us to find!" This transformation is what new missionaries discover when they stop worrying about themselves and ask instead, "Who can I help, and how?" What happens is, they stop thinking of themselves and turn to their purpose of bringing souls to Christ. This discovery is often hard-won for missionaries. They can be so consumed with being in a new place with different people, food, customs, and often a challenging language that it is very hard for them to turn outward and serve. But when they do, everything changes for them. They stop worrying, get to work, and get on with the selfless task before them, and they discover a whole new dimension to their missions and to their lives, with peace and a sense of purpose. Sadly, the reverse of this discovery too often plays out for missionaries when they return home and begin to address the needs of their next phase of life, be it education, employment, or personal and family concerns. They have spent 18 months to two years learning that we are at our happiest when we are not concerned with ourselves, or, as President Hinckley put it, when we forget ourselves and go to work. Often when they return from their missions to the life they left behind, they also return to many of the more self-focused habits which were a part of that life. In particular, they return to being consumed with themselves, how they are doing, how they are looking or sounding, and what others are thinking of them. As surely as looking outward and helping others brings light, peace, and joy, so turning inward brings doubt, anxiety, and gloom. I had an experience a couple of months ago where I had been lying awake for many hours, trying to sleep but unable to do so. Finally I got up and walked around the house a little, then returned to bed to try and sleep again. As sleep continued to elude me, a transformative thought suddenly dawned on me: "Stop thinking about yourself." And then came the question, "Who can I help?" I lay there praying mightily, "Who can I help now, and how?" An impression came to contact and encourage a friend. It wasn't a big thing, but the next morning I responded to it and, hopefully, did some good. What I do know is that once I prayed that way, asking to know who I could help, I found the peace which had been evading me, and I was finally able to sleep. The Savior "went about doing good," always looking for someone to help, "healing all that were oppressed." He constantly blessed, taught, and guided others to change their point of view and therefore their lives. It is instructive that when He called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to follow Him, their change of direction and focus was instant: "They straightway left their nets, and followed him." Later, after the Crucifixion, when the Savior had been taken from them in the cruelest way, they returned to their fishing, to what they felt they knew. On one occasion, the resurrected Savior came to them as they fished in vain. "And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes." This was a demonstration that He had lost none of His power, but also a very bold picture that they were looking in the wrong place and focusing on the wrong thing. As they ate fish together on the shore, the Savior asked Peter three times if he loved Him. Each time, and with a growing sense of anxiety, Peter answered that he did. Following each of Peter's answers, Jesus asked Peter to feed His sheep. Why did the Savior ask him three times if he loved Him? Well, Peter had been called to follow Jesus before, and he had responded instantly, leaving his fishing behind. But when Jesus was taken from them, Peter grieved; he was lost. He went back to the only thing he felt he knew--fishing. Now Jesus wanted Peter to really hear Him and to comprehend the gravity of the invitation this time; He needed Peter to understand what it meant to be a disciple and follower of the resurrected Christ now that He would no longer be physically by their side. What did the Lord want from Peter? He wanted Peter to feed His sheep, His lambs. This was the job that needed doing. Peter recognized this gentle, direct call from his Master, and the chief Apostle responded, valiantly and fearlessly giving the remainder of his life to the ministry he had been called to.

Through the Resurrection, we now have another chief Apostle on earth today. President Nelson is extending the invitation to you and to me to feed Jesus's sheep. We heard it in general conference in the clearest and most loving terms possible. We were moved and inspired, but were we changed? With all the distractions around us and so many lesser things demanding our attention, the challenge is to respond to this invitation and act--actually do something, really make a change, and live differently. Your question might be, in response to the call to minister, "Where do I start?" Begin with prayer. President Nelson challenged us to "stretch beyond [our] current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation, for the Lord has promised that 'if thou shalt [seek], thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things--that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.'" Ask your Father in Heaven what you might do and for whom. Any small act of kindness causes us to look outward and brings its own blessings. Respond to any impression you receive, however insignificant it might seem. Act on it. It could be a kind text to someone who won't expect it. Maybe it is a message of some kind. Perhaps it's a flower, some cookies, or a kind word. Maybe it is more, like clearing a garden or yard, doing some laundry for someone who isn't as mobile as he or she once was, washing a car, cutting grass, clearing snow, or just listening as a friend talks about the challenges they are facing. As Sister Jean B. Bingham put it, "Sometimes we think we have to do something grand and heroic to 'count' as serving our neighbors. Yet simple acts of service can have profound effects on others--as well as on ourselves." You might be reluctant to take the first step, convinced you don't have time or you can't really make a difference, but you will be amazed at what even some little thing can do. If you find yourself worried about a friend who is drifting from the Church and losing his or her once-bright faith and hope, invite them to join you in some act of service or ministering. There is no better way to soften hearts to the things of God and rediscover His love in our lives than engage in meaningful service to someone in need. We must constantly remind ourselves why we serve and minister. We are children of our Heavenly Father, on earth to learn and grow through myriad experiences so that we will be more complete when we return to Him. Learning to look outward, not inward, and serve one another is so much a part of our purpose here. In fact, it is at the heart of it. The miracle of looking outward and ministering to another person in need is that in the process, we learn that we can forget ourselves and our own problems. President Nelson is laying out a higher and holier pattern of service for you and me. When we respond, we will discover how fulfilling, liberating, and calming it is for us and how we can be an agent for change and comfort in the lives of others. When you have been endowed in the temple and served a mission, there is a temptation to say, "Well, I'm done now. I've been a full-time service machine for 18 months or two years. It's someone else's turn now." The same can be said after we get married. We might think, "Well, I did it.

Now it's time for a break." But this kind of ministry doesn't pause. It is a way of life. We might take breaks from our regular activities and holidays to rest and rejuvenate, to "unstring the bow," as Joseph Smith put it. But our covenant responsibility to love one another as He has loved us and to feed His sheep doesn't take a break. I have been both the beneficiary of this kind of ministry, and I have also discovered the peace and joy which comes from being an instrument in God's hands on behalf of another. Jen referred to the fight we had for the life of our infant son. After his loss, we wondered if we would ever recover. Through that time we received an extraordinary outpouring of love, kindness, and help from family and friends as well as people we hardly knew. A beloved couple who were already dear friends were constant ministers through the whole period. They remained by our side, praying with us and for us and providing blessings, meals, comforting words as well as silence. Somehow they always appeared when some critical piece of information had been delivered or when we were sinking with exhaustion and then with grief. They have demonstrated over the years that this is their way of life. They quietly and consistently minister. While serving in the Europe Area of the Church over the last few years--we were living in Germany--I witnessed this principle being applied to astonishing effect as members of the Church and our friends of other faiths mobilized to help countless thousands of refugees who had lost everything as they fled the fighting and devastation of a war that still rages in the Middle East. They came, sometimes walking thousands of miles carrying only small bags of belongings. Seeing a need, seeing brothers and sisters, seeing His lambs, our people stepped in to help, clothe, feed, shelter, and comfort these refugees who had lost everything. In doing so, those who helped were transformed. They were blessed with light, energy, and joy that they had either never experienced before or that had faded as they focused on self and life's mundane routines. Our people continue this wonderful relief effort all across the world. Refugees have immediate and highly apparent needs, but there are others all around us whose challenges might not be so apparent who need our help, and we likewise have a need to help them. Our ministry and service doesn't have to be on the other side of the world. In many senses it is better if it is close to home. I am so proud to belong to a church which puts this into practice. Last year alone, over seven million voluntary hours were donated to growing, harvesting, and distributing food for the poor and the needy. Again, last year the Church provided clean water for half a million people who wouldn't have had it otherwise. Forty-nine thousand people were provided with wheelchairs in 41 countries. Volunteers restored sight and trained 97,000 caregivers for those with sight challenges in 40 countries. Thirty-three thousand caregivers were trained in maternal and newborn care in 38 countries. Not to mention Helping Hands, where in recent years, hundreds of thousands of our people have donated many millions of hours as they jump to help those affected by disasters big and small as well as improve their neighborhoods and communities. The Church's budding JustServe initiative, which is a great place to look for service opportunities if you have it nearby, already has over 350,000 registered volunteers who have contributed millions of hours helping in their local communities. This is the Church of action. This is what we do. This is what you do. Let this be a defining characteristic of who you are. This is the way we find joy and peace because this is one of the highest, best, and most tangible ways to follow the example of the Savior.

President M. Russell Ballard has said: "Great things are wrought through simple and small things. Like the small flecks of gold that accumulate over time into a large treasure, our small and simple acts of kindness and service will accumulate into a life filled with love for Heavenly Father, devotion to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and a sense of [joy and peace] each time we reach out to one another." I would like to highlight three broad kinds of service we each have the opportunity to engage in. The first is the kind of service that we are assigned or invited to perform as a responsibility at church. This was so beautifully and inspiringly addressed at general conference. We will strive for the kind of ministry that is treasured, not measured, where we think about, pray for, and help those we have been given the responsibility to care for. The second is the kind of service we choose to do of our own volition. This is an expansion of the first, which will flow into all of our daily actions and interactions as we more consciously seek to forget ourselves and turn outward toward others. There is no formal assignment, but we are motivated by a desire to follow Christ, starting by being more kind and considerate to those around us. Acts of kindness and quiet generosity change hearts and lead to warmer, more meaningful relationships.

Third is public service. Even at your age, you can serve on school boards, charities, and in local, regional, and national governments. I would encourage men and women alike to engage this way. Where appropriate, involve yourself in politics with an eye on service and building individuals and communities. Avoid the political tribalism which has become so polarized, strident, and destructive across communities, countries, and continents. Join other politicians who are finding common cause to bring healing to troubled lives in their own jurisdiction and beyond. You can be a voice of balance and reason, advocating fairness in all corners of society. There is a growing need for you to contribute your energy to this kind of worthy civic engagement.

When we read the news, we might feel the world is sliding away. If each of us act in ways big and small each day, we can change our own world and that of those around us. As you serve your neighbor and serve with your neighbor in your community, you will make friends who share your desire to help. These will become strong friendships, building bridges across cultures and belief. Antoine de Saint-Exupery said, "Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction. There is no comradeship except through union in the same high effort. Even in our age of material well-being this must be so, else how should we explain the happiness we feel in sharing our last crust with others in the desert?"

If each of you will respond to the invitation to minister as Jesus does, you will be transformed, becoming ever more selfless rather than selfish. You will discover the joy that comes from ministering in the Savior's way, leaving behind your anxieties and uncertainties and the gloom that comes from your perceived inadequacies. Perhaps as you have been listening, a name or a cause has come to mind. This is likely an invitation from the Spirit--and perhaps you have received it before. Reach out, look up, and lift up. Choose to respond to this invitation, and pray today to know what you can do. When you see and feel the blessings this brings to you and those you minister to, you will want to make this a daily pattern. Our highest and best endeavor is to share the light, hope, joy, and purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ with all of God's children and help them find the path home. Helping, serving, and ministering to them are manifestations of the gospel in action. As we make this a way of life, we will discover that it is uniquely fulfilling, and it is how we can find the peace and joy which may have eluded us. Let me repeat President Nelson's charge to each of us: "A hallmark of the Lord's true and living Church will always be an organized, directed effort to minister to individual children of God and their families. Because it is His Church, we as His servants will minister to the one, just as He did. We will minister in His name, with His power and authority, and with His loving-kindness."

This is how the Savior lived, and this is why He lived--to provide the perfect balm and the ultimate healing through His great, infinite, atoning gift for you and for me. May we follow the living Christ ever more willingly, ever more effectively, as we strive to become His true disciples through ministering as He would. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

[MUSIC PLAYING - "COME, THOU FOUNT OF EVERY BLESSING"]

Our dear Heavenly Father, we are so grateful for the words of Elder and Sister Kearon and for their kindness in addressing us. And we are very thankful for this beautiful organization, for the Church, and for having the ability to learn a better way to serve and love one another. We ask Thee, Heavenly Father, to help us understand our potential as well as to understand the potential of others, and to feel always our Savior's love, and that we may be able to show that love to others with acts of kindness, and that we may reach out, uplift, and strengthen others through small and simple things. We're thankful, Father, for His love, His Atonement, and that He is continually with us individually no matter how hard life is. We are thankful, Father, for our leaders, that we have living apostles and prophets who guide and lead this Church. And we ask Thee, Heavenly Father, to bless them and to strengthen them as well in their service. We love Thee, Heavenly Father. We love Thy Son. And we say these things in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.