Winter 2010

Thank you, Brent, for that introduction. We just need to lower me into the ground now, and pull the grass over the top, and we’d be done.

Thank you, students, for being here. It’s always a big question if anybody’s going to show up when you’re the president of the College and it is your turn to speak. So I appreciate your faith and your confidence, and I pray for your continued faith and your continued confidence.

I want to say  something about music in the Church for a just a moment. Isn’t it powerful? Isn’t it wonderful how easily the Spirit is invoked and brought into a meeting when there is good music? Now, I’ve heard this choir before, and it’s magnified in the moment, isn’t it? It’s wonderful.

It is a bit daunting to look out among all of you, but I must begin by saying that I thought Jen did a wonderful job with the thought that she shared about not fearing, and I loved that Leah and Brittany together performed one of the most beautiful renditions I believe I’ve ever heard, of “I Know That My Redeemer Lives.” We’ve all three shared the podium already, and I think it is a little bit fearful to stand up in this room because the greatest fear I have in my heart is that I won’t be able to adequately express what is in my heart—to touch your heart in a way that maybe your heart needs touching today. But I firmly do know that my Redeemer lives, and I know that He helps all of us to do the things that we’re asked to do.

My wife and I recently visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a French-speaking country located in Central Africa. This is a country of nearly 70 million people, 80 percent of whom have no employment and many of whom go to bed hungry every night. We were in the city of Kinshasa, a city with a population of more than 10 million people. In the stake conference meeting we attended there, more than 1,500 Saints filled every available square inch in the stake center.

 

My dear young friends and students, Sister Christensen and I are delighted to have this opportunity to be with you today. What a marvelous sight you are. To look out over this audience and be in your presence is humbling and exciting.

I’m even more awed as I contemplate your futures and what you will become as you use the experiences and training received here at the College and then go forth to serve. Many of you have come from other lands and cultures—60 countries I believe I heard—and from every state in the Union. That’s a compliment to you. I’m confident that the education, the training that you receive here will be the means of establishing social stability wherever you live or will live. That is so vital in today’s world.

There’s a saying—I don’t know who said it, but it goes like this. I kind of put my own spin on it, but—facts are facts, and stories are how we learn. So I’m going to tell you a couple of stories and in the 25 minutes or so that I have, I want to get just a couple of points across. I’ve learned not to try to cram too many things into a talk or try to unload the wagon all at one time—my missionaries used to do that. They’d ride into town, poetically speaking, and we had cars in South Africa and everything, but we want to tell everything that we know. It doesn’t leave much for the future. So I hope to not unload the whole wagon, but mention a few things to you that will help you in your studies, in your job search and in your life. Because there’s a blend that you have to have; there’s a mixture that you need that has to happen. You can’t become lop-sided.

I am grateful, my dear young brothers and sisters, to be here with you. This is a very special occasion for me, and I just want you to know how grateful we are for you, and for what you do.