It is a joy to be with you on this very special day. I express my love for you and my happiness for you. This is a day of joy and happiness, a day of hope and love. It is also a day of beginnings and anticipations.
You all have important work to do in the years ahead. You all have much joy to experience and much to learn. You all have many people to love and to serve. There are people whom you do not know, perhaps even eternal companions and children, whose lives you will bless and even save in a coming day.
You will see many miracles and wonders and great light in God's kingdom in the years ahead. And, of course, you will see much darkness, evil, and wickedness. These are the last days.
You will face many distractions and temptations. You already know many of them. There will be more, and it will be more difficult to stay on the path that leads to joy, peace, and happiness in this life, and eternal life and exaltation in the world to come. Yet you are highly favored of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are true to your covenants, He will bless you, strengthen you, and lift you up all the days of your life.
On this day of beginnings, I invite you to resolve to establish patterns of righteousness in your everyday lives that will anchor you to the Lord Jesus Christ, to His everlasting gospel, and to His Church and kingdom on the earth. I have in mind patterns like praying morning and night, obeying the commandments, repenting, searching the word of God, serving the Lord, worshipping in the temple, and following the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Today I want to focus on one of these patterns. It is this: Follow the prophet. Speaking of His Prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ said:
"Thou shalt give heed unto all his words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me;
"For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith." [1]
Here is a very recent and very important example. Last April, President Thomas S. Monson, the Lord's prophet, said:
"My dear associates in the work of the Lord, I implore each of us to prayerfully study and ponder the Book of Mormon each day. As we do so, we will be in a position to hear the voice of the Spirit, to resist temptation, to overcome doubt and fear, and to receive heaven's help in our lives." [2]
And so, tonight, I encourage you to accept and act on this invitation from the Lord's prophet. Take this book, the Book of Mormon, into your hands every day. Read it, study it, ponder and pray about what you learn, every single day.
The Book of Mormon was written for our day. It was written to us by ancient prophets who saw us and our lives and times. It was preserved by the hand of the Lord and translated by the gift and power of God so that you could read it, learn from it, and pray about it every day. It will speak to your personal life and bless you every day.
The most important and most powerful blessing of the Book of Mormon is its sure witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nephi, Mormon, and Moroni knew that in our day false prophets and apostates would arise to deny the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the divine call of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the Lord's Church. And so these great prophets who saw and talked with the Savior face to face bore powerful, sacred witness that He lives and that the book they produced, the Book of Mormon, is true. [3]
My dear brothers and sisters, I have done what I am asking you to do. I bear solemn witness that if you will prayerfully read and study the Book of Mormon every day, you will gain a witness of its truth. You will know, as I know, through the power of the Holy Ghost that this book is the word of the Lord to you in your day; that Jesus is the Christ; that Joseph Smith is His Prophet; and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. It is all true.
I leave you with my love and my hope that each of you will establish patterns of righteousness in your daily lives, that you will follow the prophet and read the Book of Mormon every day. I bear you my witness that just as the prophet declared, you will hear the voice of the Spirit; you will resist temptation, overcome doubt and fear, and receive heaven's help in your life. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Doctrine and Covenants 21:4-5
[2] Thomas S. Monson, "The Power of the Book of Mormon," Ensign, May 2017
[3] 1 Nephi 2:16, 1 Nephi 3:1, Mormon 1:15, Ether 12:39.