I trust, my brethren that the Lord will bless me so that I may contribute at least a bit to the thoughtfulness of this conference.

THE HERITAGE LEFT BY THE PIONEERS

The other day a man came into the office, we began to talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and our families. This man's grandfather and his parents were among the early pioneers of the Church. They had made every necessary sacrifice in order to come to this country in the early pioneer days. In talking with the man I found that he hadn't been doing the things that ought to be done. He had not been quite faithful to the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, nor had he lived up to the privileges that were his as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ.

After talking with him, this thought came to me: These pioneers of ours, our fathers and mothers and grandparents, have been gathered from all the nations of the earth. It was not such an easy thing to leave the advantages of their homes and their country. They had made considerable sacrifice in order to come. Many of them had abandoned good positions and wealth, and all that they owned, in order that they might come to the valleys of the mountains to worship the Lord. They were honest people. They had the characteristic of playing fair with all men. They taught that it was necessary to be good citizens and to keep the laws of our government which would enable them to live more righteously and help them to enjoy freedom in this great land of ours. They had an abiding sense of modesty and decency, and protected themselves and their own and everyone else, that out of life might come the finest things possible. They were willing, when arriving here, to be sent out in the various places to build up other sections. They were obedient not only to the laws of their land but obedient to the laws of their Church. They had the loyalty that made them steadfast to the prophets, seers, and revelators, and the men who presided over them. In every way, they seemed to be willing to do the things that ought to be done. I am quite sure that they had faults, but they were few compared to their many splendid qualities.

Their love of the Gospel, their desire to be obedient, their desire to go to Church, their desire to honor the Priesthood which had been given to them has been handed down to us as a heritage. The pioneers measure their success in life by their ability to give to their children a heritage that eventually, if cherished, would lead them back into the presence of God, the Eternal Father.

I wondered as I talked to the man and after he left me, just what we as Latter-day Saints are doing with our precious heritage, a heritage paid for with so much toil, service, faithfulness, and in many instances sacrifice of life that those who followed after might live just a bit finer and better.

OBLIGATION OF PRESENT DAY LATTER-DAY SAINTS

I am wondering whether we are feeling that it is quite as necessary to follow the heritage that has to do with the Gospel of Jesus Christ as we do the heritage that has come to us, to succeed in a material way, and to make money. While this ability is a valuable and important one to receive from our parents, it is not worth while if we lose the other heritage of being splendid and decent and kind and honest. There is no higher compliment that we can pay to those who gave us our heritage than in using it in establishing ourselves upon the earth in righteousness and laying up treasures in heaven and thus becoming worthy to be with our parents after we have finished our lives here upon the earth.

We know the story of Jacob and Esau  Gen. 25:34 The birthright didn't seem to be so important to Esau, and so the birthright came to another. Sometimes it seems to me we get the idea that because we have been born in the Church all the blessings that God can give to us, such as good health and good brains and many other fine things naturally belong to us. But these gifts are valuable and helpful only as we make use of them. It seems to me, brethren, that as fathers we are responsible for laying such a splendid foundation and getting into the hearts of our children in such a way that after we pass on, they will consider the Gospel of Jesus Christ the finest heritage that we could have left them to enable them to be helpful as they labor here on the earth and to keep them safe until they find their way back into the presence of God, their Eternal Father.

As we live our lives, I hope and pray that all of us will not be satisfied to be merely born in the Church. There is no royal road to learning, neither is there a royal road into the presence of God, the Eternal Father. Whether they be our children or somebody else's children, gaining salvation and attaining God's kingdom is totally dependent on the type of life each one lives as he spends his time here upon the earth.

May we not lose our parents because of our unfaithfulness. May the Lord be good enough to us that we shall not lose our children because of our lack of teaching or training or love or sympathy or tolerance; but may they remember us because of our good works, and the principles of righteousness which we have placed in their hearts, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Amen.