My dear brothers and sisters, this is a happy day in your lives and a very happy day in the lives of your families and friends. I am happy for you!
I want to share a thought with you this evening about the Holy Ghost and the journey ahead. I hope it will be helpful to you.
Many years ago, I served a mission in southern Germany. When I arrived in the mission field, the mission president sent me to my first area and assigned me a companion. It was a blessing to have a companion who knew the language and how to navigate around the city. It was an even greater blessing to have a companion who had a testimony of the gospel, who knew how to teach, and who loved the people and the work.
The mission president had impressed upon me the blessings and protection that would come to me if I would always stay close to my companion. His concern was real and intense. I felt it, and I believed his promises. All through my mission, I stayed close to my companion.
You and I experience this same pattern in our mortal journey. We prepared and qualified to come to the earth in the pre-mortal realm. We accepted the Father's plan and followed the Savior. Heavenly Father called us into mortality. Once we arrived and made sacred covenants with Him in the waters of baptism, Heavenly Father assigned us a divine companion: the Holy Ghost.
That assignment means that Heavenly Father gives us the privilege to have the Holy Ghost with us all the time, all through our lives. The greatest gift God gives us in mortality is to have the Holy Ghost as our companion.
The Holy Ghost knows the language; He knows the way; He knows what to do; He will guide us and warn us against danger and evil; He will bear witness of all truth; He knows how to teach us, comfort us, bless us with spiritual gifts, purify our hearts, sanctify us, and make us holy.
This is why Heavenly Father has inspired His prophets to implore us with real and intense concern to stay close to this marvelous divine companion--to listen to Him and act on His promptings. Here is a beautiful example from the Prophet Joseph:
Tell the people to be humble and faithful and be sure to keep the Spirit of the Lord and it will lead them right. Be careful and not turn away the small still voice; it will teach [them what] to do and where to go; it will yield the fruits of the kingdom.... The Holy Ghost ... will whisper peace and joy to their souls ... and their whole desire will be to do good, bring forth righteousness, and build up the kingdom of God. Tell the brethren [and sisters] if they will follow the Spirit of the Lord they will go right.[1]
The Prophet makes it very clear that having the Holy Ghost with us is not supposed to be a rare event. The Father sent His Son to suffer and die for us so that we always could have the Savior's redeeming and strengthening power in our lives through the ministry of the Holy Ghost. Each week when we partake of the sacrament, we hear this glorious promise: "that they [might] always have his Spirit to be with them."[2] The Holy Ghost is always there, always ready to bless us, if we will receive that gift and stay close to our divine companion.
We stay close to the Spirit by living the plain and simple principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ: have faith in Jesus Christ, repent of our sins, keep our covenants, say our prayers, read the Book of Mormon every day, worship in the temple, and keep the Sabbath day holy.
So, brothers and sisters, this is my message to you: Just be good. Don't do anything that will drive the Holy Ghost away. Temptations are all around you. Don't let them into your heart. Stay close to your divine companion. Listen to what He tells you to do, and act on His promptings. If you do, I promise you that the Lord's blessings will flow into your lives through the power of the Holy Ghost.
I know this promise is true from my own experience and by the witness of the Holy Ghost. I leave you with my witness that God lives. Jesus is the Christ. His mercy, His grace, and His love make possible the gift of the Holy Ghost, a divine companion to every one of us. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2011], 88-100, https://www.lds.org/manual/teachings-joseph-smith/chapter-7?lang=eng
[2] Moroni 4:3