Thank you. I'm happy to be here, as well. It's always great to be with fellow chaplains and especially feel the Spirit with all of you. Thank you for all of your service. Yesterday I had a fun time with the wives. I have to admit that I broke protocol a little bit again. To both of you, I should say that. [INAUDIBLE] rebel [INAUDIBLE]. I am a little bit of a rebel. I really want to be with the women. I am with men so often in my profession, and as a chaplain and religion professor, that sometimes it's just nice, when you see that the spouses are going somewhere else, to just be a woman and go with the spouses. So I appreciate being with the spouses yesterday. I just really loved the talks that were given, and especially I loved the conversations that we had around the table as we were talking about the struggles of young adults who are struggling with their testimonies and leaving the Church, and also with the importance of women. We have a huge responsibility, as all of us understand, as we are trying to work with our Heavenly Father's children, especially in these last days. I also, with you, enjoyed general conference. It was fun to be able to sit with you at general conference on Saturday, and have all of you in uniforms and beautiful dresses, and just feeling the spirit of the great service that everyone's doing. My favorite talk, I will say, at general conference was President Nelson's Saturday night session. For those of you women that were there--and I'm sure that there were a lot of men there, as well--I just want to hear from the women. I want you to think for a second, and then I just want to hear you shout out a phrase, or a word, or a thought. If you think about President Nelson's talk on Saturday night, what is the word, thought, phrase, feeling, whatever else that you heard? And I just want to hear a shout-out from the women at this moment. So on the count of three, whatever you want to say. One, two, three. [INAUDIBLE] [INAUDIBLE] you don't have the priesthood [INAUDIBLE].. [LAUGHTER] That was good. I heard a lot of power. I did hear priesthood. I did hear empowerment. I heard home at the very end of that one. There was so much that was going on. So today I kind of changed up my--well, I didn't kind of. I really changed up my presentation today because President Nelson's talk was so powerful, and it was so applicable to the topic that I was given on ministering with the power of God that I want to share some of his talk with you. I know that the women have seen this, so for you, it's going to be review. But if you were like me, I love reviewing the prophet's talks. And so I'm going to invite you to watch some of these clips that we have from President Nelson. Sisters, I want you to be thinking about the feelings that you had in the room, whether you were in the Conference Center, whether you were at home, wherever you were, at the church building. I want you to be thinking about the feelings that you had. Brethren, I also want you to be thinking about the understanding that you're getting from the prophet on the topic of women and the priesthood. I also want you to be thinking about what that means for you as a husband, as a father, as a chaplain, your relationships with other women, whether in your calling, in your assignments, in your families. So I'm going to start with the first clip. I just want you to listen, and I really invite you today--I know you have--a lot of you I'm seeing with notes. I do invite you to just think about--take your notes out. I'm going to give you a second to write after a number of these little clips. I want you to really pay attention to the Spirit. I want you to think about, really, what the Spirit is trying to teach you, what the Lord is trying to teach you, right here, right now, in your lives. And there will be some moments where we have time to share some of those thoughts and impressions, as well. So we're going to start with the first clip from President Nelson. [VIDEO PLAYBACK] - How I yearn for you to understand that the restoration of the priesthood is just as relevant to you as a woman as it is to any man. Because the Melchizedek Priesthood has been restored, both covenant-keeping women and men have access to "all the spiritual blessings of the church" or, we might say, to all the spiritual treasures the Lord has for His children. Every woman and every man who makes covenants with God and keeps those covenants, and who participates worthily in priesthood ordinances, has direct access to the power of God. Those who are endowed in the house of the Lord received a gift of God's priesthood power by virtue of their covenant, along with a gift of knowledge to know how to draw upon that power.

The heavens are just as open to women who are endowed with God's power, that power flowing from their priesthood covenants, as they are to men who bear the priesthood. I pray that truth will register upon each of your hearts, because I believe it will change your life.

Sisters, dear sisters, you have the right to draw liberally upon the Savior's power to help your family and others you love. [END PLAYBACK] I'm just going to give you a few more seconds for those of you that are writing. I can see some are still writing. Just your thoughts, impressions from the Spirit.

And I think we had a mic that was going around. I just want to hear from just a couple of people on this one. So can I just have one or two people just write down thoughts, impressions, insights, whatever you'd like to share from that first clip? [INAUDIBLE] While I was listening to President Nelson, I had a thought of all the blessings that I had given to my children. And I was thinking that almost every single one of those was prompted by my wife. And then the thought came to me that the power that she has in the priesthood was just as much responsible for our children's healing as my faith in the blessing that I gave. Beautiful comment. Thank you. Excellent. And then I see one more sister that we're going to listen to.

Hi, I'm Peggy, a hospice chaplain.

I'll be honest. It was a hard night.

I have a daughter who struggles with gay transgender, and I'd gone to get her prescription and left the TV on. My husband had taken my in-laws to the Jazz game. And I came home, and the TV was off. And I knew right when it was during Oaks's talk. And I stayed in my car and had listened to President Nelson's talk, and so before I went down to find my child, I got on my knees, because I knew what President Oaks was saying was absolute truth. But we've been battling this for a while, and the thought on my knees was your husband's not here, but I am. Go down and love her. And so I knocked on her door, and she was on her bed staring at the ceiling. And I just said, "Did you turn the TV off?" And she said, "Yes." And I said, "Well, how did it make you feel?" And she went on to tell me. And the thought was, crawl in bed with her, hold her, and tell her how loved she is.

And that's what I did. I didn't undo what President Oaks had said. It's true doctrine. And I was very amazed. Just showing those two principles--love God and love your neighbor, but put Him first. And we had company over, and the next day she came up and watched both sessions with us, but it really testified to me that, as her mother, God loves her and our family and will direct us through this. And we don't have to give up on our covenants or our principles to show someone that we're companioning through this. Is it Peggy? Yes. Peggy, thank you so much for your thoughts and insights. There are a number of amazing things that you just said, of which I'm sure we're all grateful. I love that, as a mother, you understood that your responsibility is to understand the law and the love, and that you used them both very well. Not that I'm the judge of that, but just from hearing what you said, that was phenomenal. One of the major reasons, if not the reason for the priesthood, is to save souls. And it sounds like that's what you were doing with all the love in the world. It's the power of God in order to save families, and you did that. I also appreciate that you didn't back off and try to make excuses for President Oaks. You understood that what he was teaching was doctrine, but you also understood the importance of loving your daughter. I would imagine that many of us, if not all of us in here, understand and love deeply those who struggle with a variety of gender issues. So I appreciate your wisdom and your using that. You are blessed with the power of God in what you have done there. I'm going to I share with you the next video, and I want you just, again, to pay attention to what President Nelson is teaching. This time, specifically, I want you to look at what he tells you to do to be endowed with this power and to be able, as women, to understand this power better. So let's do the next video clip. And again, please continue to write notes, and think, and be guided by the Spirit.

[VIDEO PLAYBACK] - Now, you might be saying to yourself, "This sounds wonderful, but how do I do it?

How do I draw the Savior's power into my life?" You won't find this process spelled out in any manual. The Holy Ghost will be your personal tutor as you seek to understand what the Lord would have you know and do. This process is neither quick nor easy, but it is spiritually invigorating. What could possibly be more exciting than to labor with the Spirit to understand God's power--priesthood power?

What I can tell you is that accessing the power of God in your life requires the same things that the Lord instructed Emma and each of you to do. So I invite you to study prayerfully section 25 of the Doctrine and Covenants and discover what the Holy Ghost will teach you. Your personal spiritual endeavor will bring you joy as you gain, understand, and use the power with which you have been endowed.

Part of this endeavor will require you to put aside many things of this world. Sometimes we speak almost casually about walking away from the world with its contention, pervasive temptations, and false philosophies. But truly doing so requires you to examine your life meticulously and regularly. As you do so, the Holy Ghost will prompt you about what is no longer needful, what is no longer worthy of your time and energy.

As you shift your focus away from worldly distractions, some things that seem important to you now will recede in priority. You will need to say no to some things, even though they may seem harmless. As you embark upon and continue this lifelong process of consecrating your life to the Lord, the changes in your perspective, feelings, and spiritual strength will amaze you! [END PLAYBACK] I'm going to do just a little bit of talking here myself, and I'm going to share with you some experiences that I've had. When I was serving as a chaplain at Harvard and MIT, and as I continue to teach religion, as you can imagine, a lot of young adults have asked so many questions about priesthood, and women, and the Church's stance on a lot of the gender issues and things. I recognized, in order to help these women and men understand the priesthood, I needed to understand the priesthood better myself. I have learned over and over again, especially from the scriptures--I love, in the book of Nephi, where Laman and Lemuel are murmuring, and Nephi says in there, "because they knew not the dealings of ... God." And then I also love where Sariah is murmuring. And Sariah doesn't get enough praise, I don't think, for this. Sariah is murmuring, and some of you have seen these videos, but you think, of course she's murmuring. I mean, I would murmur. I mean, I do murmur about things like this. I mean, she's taken from her home, her money, her wealth, her family, her friends, her church, her neighborhood. She's going across this wilderness. She has no idea where she's going, and you know the whole story. I don't have to lay it all out for you. But then her sons are being sent back to go to this place that they had just left. And so she says, finally, in the scriptures, to her husband, something to the effect of, you think you're a visionary man? Like, really? I mean, it's just this hard moment for Sariah. But then the sons come back. She testifies that he is a visionary man, and then you never hear Sariah murmur again. Not once. Laman and Lemuel keep murmuring. Lehi even murmurs. Lehi murmurs when Nephi loses--that bow was broken. Even Lehi, the prophet, murmurs. But Sariah doesn't murmur. And I really believe that Sariah doesn't murmur because she understands and knows the doctrine of Jesus Christ, and she has had a personal testimony of the prophet, who was right there by her side. That's what it takes for most of us not to be murmuring. So I have learned in my life, if there is something that's wrong, I want to get to the bottom of it, and I want to get to the doctrine of it. I want to know what it is at the very base that I'm confused by, because I have learned the doctrine isn't confusing. It's me that's confused. So I've done this. I've done exactly what he's asked us to do, and I will continue to do this probably for the rest of my life. I have studied the priesthood in depth. I have read every possible talk I could read on the priesthood many, many times. I have fasted and prayed so much to have the Lord guide me to understand what this means, especially in regards to women. I have read the scriptures, burned candle lights at night and in the morning. I have testified just to make sure that my testimony is true. I have especially gone to the temple. In fact, I remember, on one occasion, memorizing the oath and covenant of the priesthood because Sister Burton, the General Relief Society President, asked us to memorize that. And I went to the temple, after having that memorized, into an initiatory session, and I was blown away by what the Lord taught me in the initiatory session, so much so that I had to do an endowment session just to stay calm. And in the endowment session, I was blown away that much more by what the Lord was teaching women about the priesthood. It was there for 20 years, but it took me until I was 40 years old to figure it out, to start figuring it out. And then, of course, I had to do an initiatory session, and I was blown away again. And I started realizing, as Elder Bruce R. McConkie says, that the way you gain a testimony and the way you understand the priesthood is through the Holy Ghost. All of the books and everything I've read, as wonderful as they are--and they are fantastic--nothing has taught me the truth and the importance of women and the priesthood as much as the Holy Ghost and the Spirit of God. So I challenge you, as President Nelson just challenged you, to continue, especially sisters: study, go to the temple, memorize scriptures, fast, and pray. You'll see him say that later, as well, in this talk. But I challenge you to do that. I promise you that the doctrine of the priesthood, as it teaches us in the Doctrine and Covenants, will literally distill upon you, and you will understand the power that you need in this, the final days of the gospel of Jesus Christ on this earth, until the Second Coming of the Lord. So from there, we're going to go to the next clip. Again, these are all President Nelson. This is President Nelson. I want you to listen to this warning he gives to sisters. So just listen. Again, I invite you to listen to the Spirit. Pay attention. And as men, I want you to listen and say, what warning is President Nelson giving to my wives, my daughters, the ladies in my ward, the women of the Church? President Nelson again. [VIDEO PLAYBACK] - Now a little word of warning. There are those who would undermine your ability to call upon the power of God. There are some who would have you doubt yourself and minimize your stellar spiritual capacity as a righteous woman.

Most certainly, the adversary does not want you to understand the covenant you made at baptism or the profound endowment of knowledge and power you've received or will receive in the temple--the house of the Lord.

And Satan certainly does not want you to understand that every time you worthily serve and worship in the temple, you leave armed with God's power and with His angels having "charge over" you.

Satan and his minions will constantly contrive roadblocks to prevent you from understanding the spiritual gifts with which you have been and can be blessed.

Unfortunately, some roadblocks may be the result of another-- [END PLAYBACK] So I'm just going to throw this out for you to think about. The opposite of trying to get in the way of each other or trying to stop each other from progressing is obviously synergy and helping each other. I remember the first time I listened to President Oaks, and he talked about women and priesthood authority, and he said, what other authority could it be? I had a conversation with a wonderful person. I'm sure the motivation was great, but I remember the person saying, "Well, President Oaks--he probably didn't think carefully about the words he was using, because women clearly don't have the power of the priesthood." And I remember thinking, in that moment, two things. Number one, President Oaks thinks very carefully about every word he says. He is an attorney, Supreme Court, First Presidency, although at that time he was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. So that one just kind of wiped out, thank you for that thought, but clearly not the case. But the second thought was, why wouldn't you want that to be true? Why wouldn't you want, why wouldn't all of us want, to have President Oaks's words and have President Nelson's words be exactly right? Why wouldn't we want to have each other have the greatest priesthood power on the face of the earth? Why wouldn't a husband want his wife to be equally yoked with him in priesthood power? Why wouldn't he? Why wouldn't a wife want to be equally yoked with her husband? Why wouldn't they want to be the strongest force that God has on the earth together? Why wouldn't they want to have priesthood power? Why wouldn't they, together, want to save souls? Why wouldn't they, together, as a couple, totally synergize, do everything they possibly could in their callings, and their families, and the world, to save the children of God? Priesthood power is not a matter of competition. Priesthood power is a matter of helping people bring other people to Jesus Christ and helping them have eternal salvation. I hope and pray that, as we continue on in our callings, and our assignments, our responsibilities, and especially as parents and family members, that we do everything we can to build and build and build each other in the power of God. I remember, on one occasion, I was on a Young Women's trek, and the young women--we were doing the women's pull. Many of you have done this. Please just raise your hands if you know what I'm talking about here, the women's pull. I see about half, so I'll just kind of describe a little bit of it. We were at Rocky Ridge, and we do the women's pull. The men usually are standing by the side. In this case, the young men were told not to help the women, no matter what. It was a really hot Wyoming day. In fact, I hope this doesn't sound in any way negative, but I'm just going to share this. When we pulled up with all of the youth--I was the stake Young Women's president. Actually, I was not the stake Young Women's president at this time. I was in the stake Relief Society presidency. When we pulled up to this place, we looked out, and there was a Polynesian stake of youth that was right before us. And they were literally laying on the ground all over Wyoming. And we thought, we're dead meat. If the Polynesians can't pull these, we're going to be dying here, right? I mean, it was kind of a scary--a lot of the kids were getting dehydrated, and all this stuff. But we were pioneers. Anyway, so we had all these girls dressed up in their pioneer garb. And we had the Relief Society women on the side. We had the men and all the young men on the other side. And then we had these young women who were supposed to take this handcart and pull it up to the top of Rocky Ridge. And it's what it says. It's rocky, and it's a very sharp, high ridge. So the young women started pulling up, and they're singing songs and having a great time, but there were a lot of young women. And you could tell the ones that at first were in really good shape, and they were just running up and skipping up the hill. I mean, it was ridiculous how great of shape they were in. They kept coming down, whistling and singing, and helping these younger girls at the bottom go up and down. But it wasn't just a few minutes that had gone by. It was more time, and then an hour, and then it was getting longer. And we still had these young women, and some of them were handicapped, and some of them were exhausted, and some of them were getting dehydrated. And so in my desire to help these young women that I loved, I started running down the hill--or waddling--and one of the other ladies grabbed me by my apron and pulled me back. And she said, "No, no, Barb. Don't go help them. This is a young women's pull. We want to help the young women do it by themselves." And I remember thinking at that moment, OK, I'm going to be obedient here, but those young women need help. And we're the Relief Society, and why wouldn't we be helping them? But I watched. Instead of us going down as women, the young men couldn't take it anymore. And they ran behind these young women, and together they pushed these wagons up the hill until everyone was finally done. And I remember thinking to myself, that should be me. Why am I not helping? But at the same time, I was so grateful for these men who were not going to allow these women to fall on their faces and eat dirt. They were not saying that the women couldn't do it. They were saying, together we can make it really great. So I want you to watch this next clip from President Nelson. [VIDEO PLAYBACK] - --of another's misbehavior. It grieves me to think that any of you have felt marginalized or have not been believed by a priesthood leader or have been abused or betrayed by a husband, father, or a supposed friend.

I feel deep sorrow that any of you have felt sidelined, disrespected, or misjudged. Such offenses have no place in the kingdom of God.

Conversely, it thrills me when I learn of priesthood leaders that eagerly seek the participation of women in ward and stake councils.

I am inspired by each husband who demonstrates that his most important priesthood responsibility is to care for his wife.

I praise that man who deeply respects his wife's ability to receive revelation, and he treasures her as an equal partner in their marriage.

When a man understands the majesty and power of a righteous, seeking, endowed Latter-day Saint woman, is it any wonder that he feels like standing when she enters the room?

[END PLAYBACK] I am so grateful for the men in this room. I'm grateful for my husband, who is sitting in the very front. I'm grateful for these wonderful men here. I'm grateful for Brother Dan Judd, who is the dean of our department. A lot of times when women talk about the blessings of the priesthood they receive, they refer to the men in their lives, which is so good. I am so grateful for a father who was able at any moment to give me a patriarchal--sorry, he is patriarch--but a priesthood blessing when I needed it. I am so grateful for a husband that, when I come home, I know I'm safe. I know I'm cared for. I know I'm loved. I know that he holds the priesthood in our home. I love having a companionship where there is synergy. I love when I'm with chaplains that I know there is a level of respect that you have been taught and you use with women. And I appreciate that. It is godly. It is godly. So the next clip. Women on this one, especially, and men, as well, but women, I want you to think about your role on this earth right now and what President Nelson is basically going to warn you about again. So next clip. [VIDEO PLAYBACK] - From the dawning of time, women have been blessed with a unique moral compass--the ability to distinguish right from wrong. This gift is enhanced in those who make and keep covenants. And it diminishes in those who willfully ignore the commandments of God.

I hasten to add that I do not absolve men in any way from God's requirement for them also to distinguish between right and wrong. But my dear sisters, your ability to discern truth from error, to be society's guardians of morality, is crucial in these latter days, as we depend upon you to teach others to do likewise. Let me be very clear about this: if the world loses the moral rectitude of its women, the world will never recover.

[END PLAYBACK] So for Peggy, again, I appreciate her comment. You can feel the moral rectitude of Peggy when she was talking about that experience that she had with her daughter. With all of the love in the world, Peggy understood the doctrine of Jesus Christ, and she was going to stand by it. But that being said, because Peggy is a woman and she also has the ability to love, which we do, but she loves in a special way for her children, as she is nurturing and teaching, as President Eyring taught last year, she is able to be the primary gospel teacher in her family. That's what she has been authorized to do. She is able to love. She is able to share. She is able to have that moral rectitude. We know it, women. Sometimes as women we kind of try to back down, or maybe we're not as open. We try not to share our opinions too strongly, but that is not what President Nelson is asking us to do. President Nelson is asking the women of the Church to speak up and to speak out. Use the power that you have been endowed with to understand the doctrines of Jesus Christ and bear your testimony at campfires, to bear your testimonies in your families, to bear testimonies in PTA meetings, or whatever it is appropriate in the right way. I absolutely know, as I just testified of the men and how grateful I am for the men, I am so grateful for the women of my life. I am grateful for a mother who passed away a few years ago, and I remember one of the things I said to her before she passed away was, "Mom, what would you like future people to know about you?" And her response, with brain cancer, not able to play the piano anymore, not able to get out of her bed, not able to even think straight most of the time--but in those final moments of her life, her answer was, "I want my family to know that I have courage and faith in Jesus Christ, and that I know the truth, and I live by it no matter what. And that's what I want my children to do, too." Those are the last words I remember from my mother, but more importantly, that was the life she led. Sisters, sisters, not just our children, although that's extremely important, and not just the people in our ward, but our husbands, our family members, our neighbors, everyone that we come into contact, those we have stewardship over, need to know the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we have been told by the prophet of the earth that we have the moral rectitude. I challenge you with all of the love in the world to know the doctrine of Jesus Christ very, very well. The more you know about the doctrine of Jesus Christ, the more power you have. The more power you have, the more lives you will save. The more lives you will save, the happier we will all be in eternity as we have one powerful family reunion with everyone on the earth that we can save. That's the moral authority. That's the power of the priesthood that we have all been given. One of the final things that President Nelson said--I'm going to skip a couple of slides here, so just ignore this--is this. This was last year's general conference. He says, "Oh, there is so much more that your Father in Heaven wants you to know." Brothers and sisters, after studying the scriptures and studying in the topic of the priesthood alone, just that one topic, I absolutely testify that there are treasures that the Lord is trying to give us, that there are teachings He's trying to fill us with, that there are ideas He's trying to put into our minds, and there are things that He's trying to get us to remember and clarify. God is speaking today. I testify of it just on this topic, but I can testify of it on many other topics. Most importantly, I testify that God wants us to know that He lives, that we have Heavenly Parents, that we have a Savior, Jesus Christ, who really did save us, who lived a perfect life, who absolutely taught the truth, who made it possible for us not only to be able to have and live great lives here, but that we can have an eternal family forever. I testify also, and I know that we can know for ourselves, that President Nelson is a prophet of God today. I have no question that that is true. In fact, I remember, as a small little BYU student--although I was never small--as a BYU student, I remember studying and taking the class "Living Prophets." And I remember reading in this class the biography of President Nelson. I was sitting on a blue floor--why I wasn't on the couch I don't know--with white walls, a blue couch behind me, the light coming through the window. And in this moment, when I was in my early 20s, I literally, whether it was a voice, or a spirit, whatever it was, I really don't know--but I was told, "That man that you are reading about right now will one day be the prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Listen carefully to him now." When he was set apart and ordained as a prophet of the Church and I raised my hand, prophecy had been fulfilled. But the Spirit had taught that to me. I already knew before it had happened. Brothers and sisters, we can all have our sacred experiences, but we can also all help other people have their sacred experiences. We can be in positions where we can guide and lead and direct. And I know we're already doing that. But women, especially in this room, I plead with you to step up to the plate. I plead with you to understand and recognize the power that you have, pay the price, stretch as far as you can, and use that power. I know that the Lord will bless us all together as we are unified in this cause with Him. And I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Amen.