Decisions

It is a great privilege to be with you today. I have served as an Institute director for many years and I love to be with you good university students. And I would like especially to show my gratitude for the spirit that you bring to this campus.  I always feel a strong spirit here with you.  Thank you so much.

I would like to start by sharing with you part of the life history of my father and his family. My father was born in 1922. His family consisted of his father, his mother and five boys. He was the next to the youngest of the boys. When my grandmother, my father's mother, was just 23 years old, it became necessary for her to raise her four boys alone. One of the boys had passed away when he was 10 months old. My grandmother did a very good job raising her four boys; in fact, my three uncles were very kind and very nice to me. I remember so many sweet experiences that we had. They were honest and hard workers and they taught me good things. But they committed some mistakes. Let me share with you one mistake that all three of them committed. They each made the decision to not get married. They decided to not marry. My father was the only one who chose to get married. He chose to keep the law of chastity even though he was not a Church member, and to find a good lady to marry. He married my mom-a good and worthy lady.

What would have happened if my father had followed the example of his brothers in their decision to not marry? One consequence surely would have been that the name Mendes Costa, our family name, would not have continued. But because he chose to marry my mom and have children, they have two boys and two girls, our family name continues. And because my brother and I made the same decision as my father, our sons continue to carry the Mendes Costa name.

Another choice of my father was to receive the missionaries and be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a consequence of his choice, all of his children and his children's children became Church members, and the following generations have been born in the covenant. In fact, he gave a good example in the year 2000 when he passed away, faithful and crossed the veil at a Sunday church meeting.

Now a question for you: What could have happened if Nephi chose to not go into the desert because his father had a dream? What could have happened?

Let's think for a moment about some parts of the life of Nephi. I will do it in a different way. I will transfer Nephi's time for our time.

Suppose that tomorrow at five o'clock in the morning, your father wakes you up and says to you: "Son/Daughter, I have had a dream and in my dream, the Lord instructed us to leave our home and go to the desert. We will leave our good home, our comfortable home, our car, the air conditioning, refrigerator, microwave; there will be no Costco or Wal-Mart in the desert. We will go to the desert without any knowledge about what will happen. He has instructed us to leave and all we will take is a tent and our family."

You are smart young people. You understand what the desert means, and particularly the desert Nephi entered. It was hot during the day and cold during the night. Remember, there was no heat, air conditioning, bathtub, or shower.  Absolutely, just sand. Do you remember the last time you were at the beach? What was the first thing you did when you returned home, or to the motel? You took a shower because you had sand all over your body and it was uncomfortable.

Let's go back to the desert and Nephi. He had sand on the outside of his body and the inside.  It took a lot of faith, but he chose to say,

What would be your answer to your father? Would your answer be the same as Nephi's answer? Or, would you say, "Daddy, it is five o'clock in the morning! Let me sleep. You are a dreamer. It was just a dream."

I have faith that you are like Nephi and I believe your decision would be the same decision as Nephi chose to do-to follow his father to the desert just because his father had a dream. Nothing more than a dream.

Let's continue in the desert with Nephi and the next part of his journey. They walked for three days in the desert, and after three days they found a nice oasis. Now you are there, and after three days of walking you find a small lake with clear and fresh water. You have a waterfall so you can shower. You have fish for a meal, you can pick fresh fruit from the tree, there are animals to hunt and prepare for a barbecue, and soft grass on which to place your tent and sleep. What a wonderful night. You sleep well.

At five o'clock the next morning, your daddy wakes you up and says to you, "Son/Daughter, I have had a dream. In this dream the Lord commanded that I would stay here in this marvelous oasis, and you will go three days back to the city. There is a man named Laban. He has 50 soldiers ready to kill anyone who tries to take anything, but don't worry because in my dream you will be safe. You go and I will stay here waiting for you.

What would be your answer? Nephi said, "I will go and [I will] do."

What would be your answer?  "Daddy, you are a dreamer. Why don't you dream that you should go with us?" Or, "Father, we don't need the plates. They are not essential in the desert!" Perhaps you would answer like that.

But I believe, really believe, that you are like Nephi and you tell your father you will travel for three days back to the city and you will talk to Laban, and you will come back with the plates. Full of faith in your heart.

So you arrive in the city and you do everything that Nephi did, including cutting off the head of Laban, and you travel for three days to the tent of your father. When you are back, there is a great party with barbecue, fruits, a shower and all you want. You sleep over the grass again.

The next morning at five o'clock your daddy wakes you up again and says, "Son, I had another dream. It was for you. I will stay here in this oasis, and you will walk for three days back to the city. There is a man named Ishmael.

Can you imagine being like Nephi and saying, "I will go and [I will] do the things which the Lord hath commanded."

You arrive at the house of Ishmael and you knock on his door. And you say, "Ishmael, I am the son of Lehi."

Can you imagine him saying, "I heard about your family! Your father had a dream and you did the most crazy thing. You left for the desert."

You say to Ishmael, "Yes, we are the family you heard about, and my father has had a dream for you. You are to leave your home and all your possessions and join us in the desert, and don't forget to bring your daughters with you because they will marry us."

Can you imagine better how hard it was for Nephi to follow his father and do what the Lord asked them to do? But Nephi made the right decision. He was moved by the Spirit, and because he made the right choice he declared that he was "favored of the Lord in all my days."^[2]

How blessed he was!

Think for just a moment what would have happened if our beloved pioneers had not made the decision to follow the prophets, and chose not to suffer the challenges along the way, and did not come to this beautiful place?

What could have happened if Joseph Smith, after reading and pondering James 1:5, thought to himself, "My parents have a religion. I can follow their religion."

What would have happened if our youth-19 to 26 years old of age-did not make the decision to serve missions?  Would the Church have 13 million members? Would the Lord have 13 million of His children who have repented and chosen to be baptized? Could the millions and millions of dead people have received their temple ordinances? 

Can you imagine if our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ had not made the decision to follow the plan of salvation given by a loving Father in Heaven? Can you imagine if He had not made the decision to give His life for us, to suffer for our physical and spiritual pains and sins? What might have happened?

Now think for a moment. You are in a period of your life when you are making a lot of decisions: You need to decide your career, many of you will decide whether or not to serve a mission, to marry or not to marry, to follow or not to follow the prophets, to know or not to know that the scriptures are the word of God, to keep or not to keep the laws and commandments of God, to attend or to not attend church, to participate or not to  participate in church activities, to choose friends who will or friends who will not help you stay on the path of righteousness, to serve or to not serve in the Church, and many other decisions.

You need to make decisions every day and I hope that you are making your decisions after a conversation with the Lord, after prayer and meditation, finding in the scriptures what happened with people in the same situation that you are in before you make your decision. We are living in different times.  Do you remember President Hinckley many times said that we are living in the most challenging of times, but times with more opportunities. It is true.

When I was in your age, there was not a single university in my city. It was different. Now, you can come to a university like BYU.  The best in the whole world. And you can associate with so many good people.  You have the privilege of being taught by professors who understand the code of honor, who understand the laws of God, and who are very good examples for you. 

You are able to come for your Sunday meetings and for church activities on this campus. You have so many opportunities and you also have many challenges. Every day you need to choose to do or not to do many things. Every day you need to choose what to watch on TV.  Every day you have an opportunity to choose if you will visit an inappropriate site on the Internet or not. And obviously, you are listening to a lot of news in our days. 

Many of you are very close to finishing college and will go to work. You may hear that there will be no employment, no future, but don't believe any of it. The Lord promised in the Book of Mormon many times that if you choose to keep the commandments, you will be prosperous in the land.  He didn't say in the celestial kingdom, He said in the land. That means here, on the earth. I am sure that you will be blessed if you continue to keep the commandments of God; if you continue to make the right choices; if you continue to give your best. I know that the Lord will bless you.

Every morning I read the news in Portuguese and Spanish. In the afternoon, I read the news in English.  It is interesting how many people are pessimists. Do you know the difference between a pessimist and an optimist? The optimist is the person who can always see a light at the end of the tunnel. The pessimist is the person who turns off the light.  We need more people with the capacity to look to the future with great enthusiasm.

The future is bright.  It is beautiful.  I know that because I am in front of the future.  You are the great promise that our future is wonderful. You are trying to follow the counsel of the living prophets, you are trying to do your best, you are trying to make good choices every day.  You will make the decision that my father made and that I made, to marry.  I have faith that will happen with each of you.

It is wonderful to live in these days when we can communicate with absolutely any part of the world. My young grandchildren are in Brazil.  We talk to them using the computer. They call my wife the "virtual" mom. When we have finished the conversation, they hug the computer and kiss the monitor just to say good bye.  They believe grandma and grandpa are very small and that we live in the computer.

And you have so much opportunity.  When I was your age, no computers! I remember the first computer that came to the company that I was working for. It was in a big room with a lot of machines there and perhaps we got a half gigabyte. Now I can take my telephone and use it any place in the world.

My counsel to you today is that before you make decisions, take time and think about the consequences of your decisions, because these decisions will build your future. Sometimes you will need to go to the temple and sit there quietly and ask the Lord for confirmation of your decisions.  When you receive His direction, go ahead and do what the Lord approved you to do. Your decisions will open or close doors for you, and will make you happy or unhappy. Your decisions will conduct you either to the celestial kingdom, or to another kingdom that is not desirable for you and for me.

On Saturday evening, August 23, prior to a cultural program held in conjunction with the Twin Falls Idaho Temple dedication, President Monson spoke to the youth and said, "There isn't a simple decision in life. Everything is important. Every decision you make. So make your decisions with a prayerful heart." Then he gave them a little saying to help them remember: "Decisions Determine Destiny." He said he calls it the "Three D's."^[3]

Before I made the decision to marry my wife, I asked her a question and the question was this: Will you follow the prophets of God? Both of us are converts of the Church. After she gave me her answer, which was Yes! I was sure that she was the perfect person to become my eternal companion.

We made the decision to follow the prophets of God. If they ask us to do things we like or we don't like, if they ask us to do things that are easy for us or hard for us to do, it doesn't matter. We chose one time to follow the prophets our whole life and because of that choice, we are 100 percent happy.

We have a motto in our family. The Costa Motto is:

I have a great love for the youth of the Church. You are the future of the Church.  You are the future of the nations. You are the future of the world. And I believe that each of you is like Nephi. You will be ready to say to the Lord, "I will do, Lord, I will do."

You are great examples for me. I love you. I love my Savior, my Redeemer. I know that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ.  To know that the Church is the true Church of Jesus Christ took me 14 hours of praying and talking with the Lord. He gave me a complete knowledge that Joseph Smith is a prophet. I know, perfectly, what happened that beautiful morning of 1820 in the sacred grove and I testify to you that Joseph is a prophet of God. 

I testify to you that the Book of Mormon is a sacred scripture; and you can guide your life by the teachings of this precious and perfect book of scriptures. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God.  I love President Monson.  He is a great prophet.  President Monson is a prophet for our days.  I know that Jesus is the Christ; He is our Savior, our Redeemer. I know that He suffered all the pains of the spiritual death and the physical death for each of us. He loves us.  He loves you. I invoke His blessings upon you-perhaps not the blessings that you are asking for, but the blessings that you need. We love you.  Make right and wise decisions in life and I promise you that you will be 100 percent happy.  The Lord bless you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Notes

[1] 1 Nephi 3:7

[2] 1 Nephi 1:1

[3] New Temple is Dedicated in Idaho," Church News, August 30, 2008, 3

[4] Joshua 24:15