pg.44 - About his primary teacher Nancy Taylor and her ability to motivate himself and the other boys: "It wasn't necessarily that our teacher was well educated and had a lot of degrees after her name; she had none of those. It wasn't because the boys in the class were particularly enlightened or unusually well behaved; on the contrary. But that which cemented the relationship between the teacher and her boys was the fact that she loved us, and she taught us the gospel."
I like that he mentions there are two parts to being a liked teacher. You need to love and teach the gospel. Sometimes teachers believe that they're there to teach lesson, but that's only partially correct. They're called to teach people, not give a lesson, and love those students. Also, it's important to not just be a friend and show "love" but to teach the gospel. The combination is what's powerful.
pg. 69 - concerning Aaronic Priesthood quorums and presidencies' capabilities:
"His counsel is clear: ' We could well expect more today from our Aaronic Priesthood quorum presidencies, for I know we would achieve better performance if we expected such.'"
It's vital to expect things from our youth and believe what we say when we say that they hold the keys of the priesthood.
Mischievous story about the prophet in his youth:
One halloween Tommy and his friends "came into possession" of a life-size dummy, stuffed with straw and dressed in shabby men's clothing..... The boys' minds began to race: How could they make use of this dummy they dubbed "Charlie"? It didn't take long before they were huddled in the honeysuckle bushes at the side of the chapel, and when a car would approach, they would throw the dummy out in front of the vehicle, giving the impression that the driver had hit someone. They would hear the brakes screech and the driver scream, and they thought this was great fun. The boys would then retrieve "Charlie" and wait for the next car. And the next. It was when they threw him in front of a city Lines bus that things got out of hand. The driver slammed on the brakes, passengers screamed, and one lady fainted. For Tommy and his chums, "That was the highlight of the evening."
Now my words: a bishopric counselor was told, he threw the dummy in the furnace, and the boys threatened to not pass the sacrament on Sunday (all deacons). They started the meeting not sitting in their places to pass the sacrament, but they then felt bad and passed the sacrament.
Just in case you think your mischievous boy won't amount to anything, he still might .... :)
"The family holds its preeminent place in our way of life because it is the only possible base upon which a society of responsible human beings has ever found it practicable to build for the future and maintain the values they cherish in the present."
Excellent explanation of the value of the family for all of society.
President Monson usually went to priesthood session on his own. Remember this was the time when church meetings were split up during the day, but that's interesting that his dad wasn't so faithful in attending that meeting. And a prophet came from that family...
Story: Tom and his sister were in the road show. His sister was the lead in the play but came down with laryngitis on the day of the presentation. Tom and the deacons prayed for her, and her voice came back.
Very impressive faith at a young age...
A neighbor boy went to war at 15 and died a week before his 19th birthday. So Thomas, a teenager, went to his Mom's house "hoping words of comfort would come to him." Mrs. Patton (the mom) went to no church and asked Tommy, "will Arthur live again?" Years later Pres. Monson made that question the subject of his conference talk. He said in his talk, "Mrs. Patton, whever you are, from the backdrop of my personal experience I should like once more to answer your question, 'Will Arthur live again?'" He then outlined the basic elements of the plan of salvation.
"'I had little or no hope that Mrs. Patton would actually hear the talk,' he said. She was not a member of the church.... however, she had moved to California and some Mormon neighbors invited her to a session of conference. She went and heard the message addressed to her.'"
She wrote President Monson saying, "I don't know how to thank you for the comforting talk you gave. It was wonderful of you to think of Arhur and me. I don't know how to thank you for your comforting words, both when Arthur died and again in your talk. I have had many questions over the years, and you have answered them. I am now at peace concerning Arthur.... God bless and keep you always."
Important to reach out to people. Obviously reaching out to the lady when young had an effect on President Monson and when he tried to reach out again, God helped his message arrive. When we make efforts, I believe God will use his power to help the right people benefit from those efforts...
Pg. 87 - "It is not the number of hours you put in, but what you put in the hours that counts." President Monson said this after talking about how he studied. He would try to listen to a lecture and pretend that he may need to give the lecture again. He would read with the dea that he would be asked to explain that which the author wrote and its application to the subject it covered.
In other words, President Monson found that always thinking about how to teach what he was learning helped him be a very effective learner. Also, being effective is much more important than putting in a lot of time. I believe that is vital in work and difficult to do.
Pg. 101 - President Monson was in charge of assigning people to different battle stations during part of his time in the navy. Occasionally he used that to his advantage. A friend of his in the Navy came up to him once with a letter from his girlfriend. The letter said something like this: 'So happy that you are now assigned in the classification division of the US Navy. Since you've been in the navy, our mutual friend Robert from Minneapolis has been dating me, and I would feel it a great honor if you would arrange to have Robert assigned to a based near Minneapolis so that we could continue dating while you are serving there in San Diego.' Olsen (the friend) turned to me and said, 'do me a favor, will you? How far away from Minneapolis can you send this man?' I said, 'How about San Francisco?' 'Not far enough!' 'Well, how about Hawaii?' 'Nor far enough!' Well, here's a ship going to Hong Kong, how about that?' 'Just right, just right' I confess that we cut Robert's orders for Hong Kong"
Now that's great. Prophets are normal people too; they just learn faster than the rest of us and strive to do God's will more than the rest of us (see D.C. explanation giving guidance to the 3 witnesses about how to find the 12 Apostles)
Pg. 106 - concerning studying in school - "Refuse to compromise with expedience. Maintain the courage to defy the consensus. Choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong. By so doing, you will not detour, but rather will ever remain on the way to perfection."
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