I rejoice with you on this sacred occasion.
I never cease to stand all amazed at the miracle the Lord has enacted and continues to bring forth at Brigham Young University-Idaho. At this pulpit as I look over this large congregation and into your faces, it is clear to me that this facility has been constructed at this time and in this place for reasons we do not yet fully comprehend or understand. As “we wait upon the Lord," [1] His purposes will be revealed and accomplished—and you and I will declare that indeed the Lord is able to do His own work. [2] This dedicatory service today truly is historic, and you will one day tell your children and grandchildren that you were present when this remarkable facility was dedicated by President Henry B. Eyring.
Repetition helps us learn. Important truths and lessons are repeated frequently in the scriptures, in the messages of the living apostles and prophets, and in many of our daily experiences. Please permit me now to repeat several key elements of a warning and a promise that I expressed during the groundbreaking service for this building and the addition to the Manwaring Center on October 31, 2006:
If the day ever were to come that intellectual arrogance, a lack of appreciation, and a spirit of demanding entitlement take root on this campus—among the students, faculty, employees, the administration, or within the community—then in that day, the Spirit of Ricks will be well on the way to being extinguished—and the heavenly influence and blessings that have prospered this institution and the people associated with it will be withdrawn. Conversely, as long as intellectual modesty, humility, gratitude, obedience, and frugality continue to characterize those who learn and serve at and who support BYU–Idaho, then this university will shine forth ever brighter as a beacon of righteousness and of inspired educational innovation. [3]
My dear brothers and sisters, please do not take for granted or become complacent about the spiritual and temporal blessings that have been poured out upon this campus. Today and always, please have a grateful heart.
I thank Latter-day Saints from all over the world whose faithfulness in obeying the law of tithing makes your experience at this university possible. I express my appreciation to and admiration for all of the people and organizations that have contributed in any way to the successful completion of the BYU–Idaho Center and the Manwaring Center. Mostly importantly, I acknowledge our loving Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son for their bounteous blessings and tender mercies—in our individual lives and at this great university.
I am privileged to be the first member of the Quorum of the Twelve to bear my testimony in the BYU–Idaho Center.
I declare my apostolic witness of the reality and divinity of God the Eternal Father and of His Only Begotten Son, even Jesus the Christ. I know and witness that They live, that They know us as individuals, and that They speak today. I testify Jesus Christ is our Redeemer and Savior. His true Church has been restored to the earth in these latter days through the Prophet Joseph Smith. And a resurrected and living Savior directs the affairs of His living Church through a living prophet, even President Thomas S. Monson. With my love and with all of the energy of my soul, I witness these things are true, in the sacred name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Isaiah 40:31
[2] See 2 Nephi 27:21
[3] Groundbreaking at the Manwaring Center, Oct. 31, 2006.