It is my pleasure to introduce Elder Tom Perry.

I said to him when I saw him first just a few moments ago,
is this your first trip to Ricks College?
He said, no, of course not.
I was here 30 years ago.
So it's changed some since he saw it.
Both his father and his sister taught at Ricks College.
So he has feelings, I'm sure, that
are deep about this institution and this area in which it is.
He, in a lifetime, has had many experiences.
He's been, during World War II, a Marine in the South Pacific.
As well, he has served in business
in a number of positions as a controller of a firm in Boise,
a treasurer of a firm in Massachusetts.
He was educated at Utah State University
and served on their staff after graduation there.
He's had many assignments in the Church.
He's been a stake mission president in New York.
He has been, as well, in more than one stake presidency
and the president of the Boston stake.
He was called to be an assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve,
October 8, 1972.
You might be interested to know three of his assignments.
He is serving on the Church Personnel Committee.
He is a member of the Melchizedek Priesthood, MIA,
leadership for the Church.
And then, as well, has been asked
to coordinate the Church's observance
of the bicentennial of the United States,
an observance coming now in just two years.
I guess that seems it's coming quickly, I know.
But an exciting time for this country
and an exciting assignment for Elder Perry.
We're delighted to have him here with us.
May I introduce to you Elder Tom Perry,
assistant to the Council of the Twelve.
Elder Perry.
Thank you.
As I sat and listened to that beautiful music,
it always triggers a great desire I've had.
Oh, if I could stand up and wave my arms,
a group like those conductors do,
and get people to follow me
like they follow those great musicians,
I'd tell you I'd have you all
in the celestial kingdom before nightfall.
Yes, this is my second opportunity
to speak at a devotional at Ricks College.
The first time was 30 years ago.
At that time, I had just returned from a mission,
a very unique experience because I guess most of them
were not having opportunities to go on missions
in those days.
The war was closing in very rapidly,
but I had a determined mother
that wanted to be certain that I had a mission experience
before leaving and going into service.
And she was just waiting for the right opportunity.
And it came in rather a surprising way.
My father had been my bishop since I was six months old,
and I was in my 18th year.
One day we went to a stake conference,
and without issuing a call to my father,
they got up and announced that he would be a new counselor
in the stake presidency.
Of course, he was thunderstruck and surprised,
but that was the opportunity my mother needed.
You see, for two weeks, my father was both my bishop
and my stake president.
You guessed it, the next Sunday I went to church,
I was called in the bishop's office.
My father interviewed me as my bishop to go on a mission.
I accepted, he got up and went out and shook a few hands
and came back in and interviewed me
as a member of the stake presidency.
In a short time, I was on my way to my mission.
When I returned, my sister was teaching
at this great institution, and was responsible
for putting on one of the devotionals.
As I look over this group, what a contrast it is
from that group that I came and spoke to at that time.
The composition of the student body has changed just a little.
As I remember that group that I talked to,
the entire student body consisted of 103 girls
and three boys.
Oh, what a weekend I had that weekend.
But it's thrilling to see the excitement of the change
in this great institution, and the great power
that there is here, and the great opportunities
that are facing you as members of the church
in this particular era in which you live.
I'd like to talk to you just for a few minutes about that.
Lowell Thomas tells a great story that deeply impressed me
when I heard it a number of years ago.
It's about an account that happened in the 1700s.
When some freak of nature occurred about noon,
suddenly it grew dark.
Even the chickens went to roost at midday.
The darkness caused a great concern
among the small population.
They feared that it was the end of the world.
In Connecticut, the state senate was in session.
And when darkness descended,
a motion came from the floor that they adjourned.
Fearing it being the end of the world,
they wanted to have time to prepare to meet their maker.
But there was an old Yankee selectman by the name of
Abraham Davenport who arose in his best Yankee logic
reasoned with the lawmakers this way.
It is either the end of the world or it isn't.
If it isn't, there's no reason for adjournment.
If it is, I wish to be found.
I wish to be found doing my duty.
Therefore, I wish that candles would be brought
in order that we may continue.
Today I'd like to echo that cry
of this old Yankee selectman.
I wish to be found doing my duty.
What a great trait it is in an individual
who has the desire and the discipline
to make himself contribute to his fellow men.
One who can do his duty.
As I have journeyed through life,
I have been impressed with the great potential
that God has placed in each of us.
Of course, our talents fall in different areas.
But I have never met one of God's creations
who didn't have a gift or a power in some area
in which he could achieve or at least be above average.
One of our great feelings as mortals
is not because of the ability we have,
but because of the ambition to use that ability
which God has given us.
Do you remember the great teaching of the Savior
when he told of the parable of the talents,
of the man who was going away for a period
who I guess had accumulated considerable wealth?
As he was ready to leave,
he called in his choice servants
and gave them a portion of his assets.
The scriptures call talents
to one five, to one two, and to one only one.
And then straightway, went on his way on his journey.
The one that had five went out and multiplied that five
and earned five more.
The one that had two did likewise
and doubled his.
And the one that had five earned five more.
The one that had two did likewise
and doubled his investment and had two more.
But the one that was only given one
was afraid of the severity of this taskmaster
of which he was a servant.
And he went out and buried it in the ground.
When the time came for an accounting,
the one that had been given the five
came in and reported his stewardship
and brought in ten talents.
And he was blessed to the Lord.
Well done, thou good and faithful servant.
Thou hast been faithful over a few things.
I will make thee ruler over many things.
Enter thou into the joy of the Lord.
And so it was true of the one that had two.
But the one that had one came and explained
that he knew him to be a hard man.
And therefore he had just preserved that one talent.
And there it was.
And you remember what the Lord said to him?
Thou wicked and slothful servant.
And that one talent was taken from him
and given to the one who had been given ten.
You see, he told him that even if he only
had taken it to the bank and put it in a savings account,
at least he would have the interest on that reward.
But he had just taken it out and buried it
and had not used it.
And then the scripture records
that he cast the unprofitable servant
into outer darkness,
where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
You see, I am sort of an authority on this subject of talents.
I was blessed and privileged
to be born in a family of very talented children.
My brothers and sisters possessed a great many.
I was the only one on the other side
that had very few to offer.
It was interesting to read in my father's personal history
what he wrote about his children.
He spent about a page telling of each of his five children
on their accomplishments.
When he got to me, he simply wrote,
Tom surprised us.
And that was his whole comment.
My oldest sister had great artistic talent.
I thought there must be some of that in me.
So I decided to be a great singer.
I had a powerful, deep voice.
I thought I could develop that talent.
But that failed when I realized
that my range was only one note.
My next sister had great athletic ability.
On the block that we lived, she could run faster,
hit the ball further,
and catch it better than anyone around.
And I decided maybe there was some of my athletic talent in me.
So I decided to be a basketball player.
I was tall.
I was fast.
But then too I failed.
My reaction time was slow.
Instead of dribbling on the floor,
they were usually dribbling off the top of my head
and passes that were thrown to me.
So I failed on that score.
My next sister and brother just younger than me
were very brilliant.
During their grade school careers,
they skipped two grades
and still were the head of their class
all through their school experience.
I made no effort to compete with them.
They were above me.
But you'd think with all of this talent
arrayed in the family,
I would be rather discouraged
to think that the Lord had not blessed me
with some of this.
But then I found the talent that He had given me.
And it was superior in one thing
to my brothers and sisters.
He had given me the gift of enthusiasm.
And that made up for great weaknesses
in artistic, athletic,
or even mental ability.
Because I could take that gift of enthusiasm
and almost interpret it any way I wanted
to achieve what I wanted
to gain.
And I guess that's the reason
in my life
I've always set as my goals and my models
those great examples in history
of those who were enthusiastic leaders.
Let me tell you just about two of them.
Of course, you good brothers from New England
will recognize why I always pick
Ben Franklin,
one of my favorite characters in history.
Let's recall about this great man, Ben Franklin.
He was born in Boston in 1706.
The 15th child,
or the 15th son,
no, the 15th child and youngest son
in a family of 17.
His parents were hardworking
and God-fearing folk.
His father made soap and candles
at the sign of the Blue Ball on Milk Street,
a place that I've passed so many times.
It was the bank that we did business with
that was on Milk Street.
I used to go down this street all of the time
during my workaday world in Boston.
Ben was only privileged to attend school
for two years.
But he made a great effort
in those two years.
At the age of 10, his father decided
he couldn't support him in school any longer.
He took him out and put him in the shop
making candles.
But you see, that didn't discourage him.
He continued to educate himself
and became one of the foremost scholars of his day.
After two years of making candles,
he became restless and wanted to try something else.
His older brother gave him an opportunity
of learning the printing trade.
His brother was a good teacher
and Ben was a good student.
But once again he wasn't content
with being just a printer.
He started to write articles
under the name of Silence Do Good.
He would slip them under the door
as he would go home at night.
His brother would find them in the morning
and he would be impressed with the writing
that he started to print them
in his little paper.
That is, until he found his younger brother
was the author
and that was the end of the writings
of Silence Do Good.
At 17, he ran away from home to Philadelphia
and soon had a job in a printing firm.
At 24, he owned his own printing shop
and he started a newspaper
one of the foremost in the early colonies.
Franklin had a simple formula
for business success.
He believed that a successful man
should work a little harder
than his competitors.
One of his neighbors said of him,
The industry of that Franklin
is superior to anything I have ever seen.
I see him still at work
when I go home from the club at night.
He is at work again
before his neighbors are out of bed in the morning.
Ben Franklin never actually sought
public office,
although he had a keen interest in public affairs
that led him into civic service.
Now listen at this array of accomplishments.
When he found the postal service to be poor,
he reorganized the postal department
and they made him the postmaster.
He formed the first subscription library.
When fire losses were high,
he reorganized the fire department.
He reformed the city police
when he found the criminals were getting away
without punishment.
The people of Pennsylvania shamefully neglected
the criminal, the insane, in that day.
And he set up a hospital for them.
He got the scientists together
and formed a society to help bring them together.
They had no school of higher learning,
and he formed an academy,
which later grew into the University of Pennsylvania.
As a result of these projects,
Philadelphia became the most advanced city
in the thirteen colonies.
Then in 1757,
the Pennsylvania legislature sent him to London
to speak for the colonies in a tax dispute.
He spent eighteen years over there
as the unofficial ambassador of the colonies,
explaining the American view.
He was highly regarded in the British Isles
and respected with those with whom he worked.
When political relations became difficult
between Great Britain and the colonies,
and he could see that they were steadily deteriorating,
he returned just at the beginning of the Revolutionary War.
The next day, after he arrived,
he was asked to serve in the Continental Congress.
It was this service that enabled Franklin
to lay much of the groundwork
for the Articles of Confederation.
Much of his writings and papers were adopted in the Constitution.
He was the only man to sign the famous four documents
that brought about the establishment of this great nation.
The Declaration of Independence,
the Treaty of Alliance with France,
the Treaty of Paris,
and the end of the Revolutionary War in the Constitution.
Of course, he and his two colleagues
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
formed much of these great documents
and put them into words.
Shortly after the Declaration of Independence was adopted,
Franklin was appointed Minister to France.
The war was not going well at that time,
and Congress realized that an alliance with France
might mean the difference between victory and defeat.
At the age of 70 years old,
he was sent on this important mission.
He received a tremendous welcome in Paris.
The French people were charmed with his kindness,
in his simple dress and manner,
in his wise and witty sayings.
He was able to greet noblemen and common people alike
with courtesy and respect.
Poets wrote glowing verses about him in his honor.
Buses and pictures of him appeared everywhere.
And after several difficult years,
he drafted the Treaty of Paris
that brought about the end of the Revolutionary War.
And that was a great accomplishment,
because he ended the conflict
and brought the understanding with Spain, Great Britain,
and France to such a degree that they satisfied them all.
George Washington spoke for a whole generation of Americans
just a year before Franklin's death,
when he wrote,
If to be venerated for benevolence,
if to be admired for talent,
if to be esteemed for patriotism,
if to be beloved for philanthropy,
if to be able to gratify the human mind,
you must have the pleasing consolation
to know that you have not lived in vain.
Thus was the great Ben Franklin,
a man who was an enthusiastic doer of deeds,
wanting to contribute to mankind,
to lift them and build them.
And his contribution will ring for many years.
Forever in the hearts of free men everywhere.
Well, now another example of a great leader.
The Book of Mormon records a story of a father
who had great love and concern for his son.
He must have loved him a great deal because he gave him his own name.
But as the son grew to manhood,
he entered a period of rebellion against his father
and his responsibilities as chief high priest in the land.
The scripture records,
Now the sons of Messiah were numbered among the unbelievers,
and also one of the sons of Alma was numbered among them,
he being called Alma after his father.
Nevertheless he became very wicked and an adulterous man.
He was a man of many words and did speak much flattery to the people.
Therefore he led many of the people after him.
And he became a great hindrance to the prosperity of the Church of God,
stealing away the hearts of the people,
causing much dissension among them,
giving a chance for the enemy of God
to exercise his power over them.
Now can you imagine the feeling that must have been in the heart of this great
father,
the religious leader of that time,
when his son was leading people away from the true Church.
And the father tried to reason with him and failed
and finally called upon the Lord to return his son to him.
In reply a great and marvelous event occurred.
An angel was sent to Alma and he fell to earth for fear.
The angel called him to repentance.
After the visitation was over, he lay dumb and couldn't speak.
His friends carried him before his father and laid him at his feet.
Alma, the great high priest, recognized that the Lord had answered his prayers
and rejoiced in the return of his son.
Alma called on the people to join in the appeal to the Lord
that his son might be restored.
After they had fasted and prayed for the space of two days and two nights,
the limbs of Alma received their strength.
He stood before them and started to speak,
bidding them to be of good comfort.
For he said, I have repented of my sins.
I have been redeemed of the Lord.
Behold, I am born of the Spirit.
The birth of the Spirit was complete in Alma the Younger.
He becomes then one of the most enthusiastic leaders
the kingdom of God has ever known.
He becomes the type of leader we need in the world today.
He was so enthusiastic for the work of the Lord
that he was only lamenting the fact that he was mortal and thus limited.
Listen to what he cries out in these words.
Oh, that I were an angel, could have the wish of my heart,
that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God,
with a voice to shake the earth, and to cry repentance unto every people.
Yea, I would declare to every soul, as with the voice of thunder,
repentance and the plan of redemption,
that they should repent and come unto God,
that there might not be more sorrow on all the face of the earth.
And then a few verses later he states,
I know that which God has commanded of me, and I glory in it.
I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which God has commanded of me.
Yea, and this is my glory.
Perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God
to bring some soul to repentance.
And this is my joy.
What a contribution we could make in a troubled world today
if we were caught up with the same spirit of Alma.
We were so intent on what we were doing
that the only thing we cared about was the limiting factor
of the mortality placed on us.
That we would have the fire and enthusiasm
to embark on the great cause
with a penetrating voice of thunder
to declare repentance to the children of men.
Oh, what a difference such a spirit would make in the world today.
Once again, this blessed land in which we live
is having the challenge of trying to find that type of inspired leadership.
We're starting to detect signs of decay
in the past few years that seem to mark us for a big fall
because we've lost our path and discarded the techniques
and the ways of the Lord and turned to the philosophies of man.
Once again, the cry is heard to provide us with new leaders.
And where can we reasonably expect that leadership to come from?
Of course, there is only one source, if it is to be successful,
from men who trust in God and understand his ways and his values.
Now for a minute consider your position here in this great church school
where you're having the opportunities to grow, to understand and develop.
Then consider your important time in coming to this world.
You know, for the first time the Lord has revealed to you,
the young adult and youth of the Church,
that you need to be a leader in this great world.
You need to understand leadership at a much earlier age
than has ever been allowed in the history of the Church in modern times.
He has organized his programs today to have you assume the roles of leadership
with those more experienced to only be advisors
in a different way and a different climate than we've known in the Church before.
And that should be exciting to you who are growing up under this new opportunity.
And why do you think this is coming at this important time?
I don't think you have to analyze very long or listen to what's being heard by a
prophet
without knowing that you were a chosen generation
brought forth at this critical time to assume the roles of leadership
at a much earlier age than your parents and grandparents were required to assume
that leadership role.
Why? Because of the need in the world in which you live.
And that leadership will soon be totally entrusted to you
in a great and magnificent way to embark on the ways that the Lord has before us.
Those righteous desires of Alma should not be foreign to you as a group.
You have been blessed with a greater knowledge of the gospel
than any generation before you has possessed.
Now the question is, do you have the courage to stand up and be counted
for that which you know to be right?
Have you the courage and the strength to steer a straight course
when worldly pressures surrounding you would offer you a seemingly easier, softer,
and more comfortable way?
Can you be honest in your dealings with your fellow men?
Are you willing to go beyond that which they require of you?
Can you be an example of right, of truth, and of justice?
Are you strong enough to say no to a short-term gain
if the long-range effects will cause damage to future generations?
Are you willing to enter into a partnership with the Lord to allow him to have
controlling interests?
Are you willing to seek his counsel and follow his direction?
I have no doubt concerning your great potential
that there has never been a better trained group or a more enthusiastic generation,
a more determined group than we find among the young people in the Church today.
I challenge you to use those tools which the Lord has blessed you with
and now acquire a desire to be a builder in our Father in Heaven's Kingdom.
How great is the need in all of my business experience
in the many areas that I have lived.
The one crying need were individuals that were willing to work, sacrifice, grow,
and develop.
It is not an easy life in which you live.
You can become obsolete so early in life today.
You can be trained and spend a lot of money for your education
to only spend just a few years before technology changes and you find yourself
obsolete.
The challenge is continually to update, stay abreast, and keep ahead.
In the stake that I presided over, the only unemployment problem we had in the
stake
was with Ph.D. physicists and we had a number of them.
Some of them had to be trained again in a different way.
One is an electrician today with his own truck going around building homes
and doing electrical work because his field passed him by.
That can happen so rapidly in the world in which we live.
In conclusion today, I want to excite you to have the enthusiastic desire
to be at building, doing your duty for your fellow men.
Where else will the world turn if it isn't to the priesthood of God?
Or do you find sisters who know purity, understanding, and love?
There are literally hundreds of thousands being reared today
who will never experience love in their lives
because they have been so deprived during their early existence.
In the darkness that has fallen on this nation today,
are you among those who want to hide because of fear at the end of the world?
Are you numbered with those who want to call for the candle of the Lord
to be brought in order that you might be about your business?
My dear young brothers and sisters, I know today that we are being led by a prophet
of the Lord.
You have had just a recent experience to be in his presence.
I wish each of you would have the opportunity of going into the temple with him
and there witnessing the great events that occur when the general authorities
assemble.
You cannot attend one of those meetings and walk out of that room and ever be the
same again.
Now if you have that witness in your soul, never be the same again.
But stand up for that which you believe and embark on building the kingdom of God.
It's not an easy role, but it's been entrusted to you.
May the Lord bless us that you may have that faith and courage to respond to this
type of leadership.
I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.