Reach Out, Invite Others to Be Blessed
Thank you, Elder Norman and Sister Johnson. I hope you’ve been taught today—I’ve been
taught. You ought to take a minute and think about what you’ve learned. I’ll tell you a couple of
things I’ve learned. First of all, I watched my friend Ben Featherstone sing. Now, he’s shocked at
that, because he just got signed—his name. I’m going to ask Ben to stand up. Ben? Stand up and
wave—turn around and wave. Ben was signing the words of our hymn today. And I couldn’t
understand his signing at all. I understood the words I was singing, but I couldn’t understand his
words, though I knew we were singing from the same hymnal. And I’ll tell you what I learned
from Ben, and it ties with what Elder Norman had to say—that the Spirit has its own language
and we can learn that language. If we don’t learn the language, we will miss something. And for
the last 12 minutes today, I want to do something with you, because we need your help, and it
will involve the language of the Spirit.
Elder Norman talked to us about bad men becoming good, good men becoming better. As
President McKay said, that the very nature of our hearts and our lives will change. You’ve
experienced that change to one degree or another since you’ve been here. The longer you’re here
at the College, the greater the potential is for you to change even more. Why? Because the Spirit
is here, because this is the Lord’s institution and the Spirit is the agent of change Do you know
that there are only four places on the face of the earth, four places on the face of the earth, where
there is a temple to the Most High God and an institution of higher education operated by the
Church? There are only four. You are at one of them. Listen carefully to a familiar quote you
know from the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 2:2: “And it shall come to pass in the last days that the
mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the tops of the mountains, and shall be
exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow unto it.”
All of you who are international students, would you just raise your hand? “All nations shall
flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the
Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. And he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his
paths.” Now we did not coin the phrase that this school is a temple of learning. Some of the
Brethren have. Why? Because we go to the temple to learn how to make covenants, we come to
the college and through the Honor Code, and other things, we learn how to walk in His ways –
we learn how to keep covenants.
Now, Sister Johnson talked to you about creating your own world, creating your own life,
creating your own environment. And that’s what we have tried to do here. Let me tell you a
couple of things we have done for Fall to help you create your life, your environment. Number
one, we’ve made it more convenient for you and anybody else to come to the college, because
among other things we have increased the number of courses at night. We’ve enhanced our night
program for those who work during the day. Those who come here have more options in seeking
a skills-based education than you’ve ever had before. You don’t know this, but on May 14th we
initiated 20 new skills programs. How did we do that? We partnered with the Davis Applied
Technology College in Kaysville. You can get on a bus here and you can go up there, and you
can earn a skills credential in 20 programs. Then bring those skills back here, we’ll give you
academic credit for them, and you can get your degree. What kinds of things? Well, there are 20,
they range from culinary arts to surgical technology, automotive science. We actually have a
student who is signed up to get an AAS degree from LDS Business College in diesel mechanics.
Let me tell you about their program. The hardest part of the program at the DATC in diesel
mechanics is finishing it. Because the students get hired before they’re finished, and they start
somewhere around 50 and 60 thousand dollars a year. We’ve also added digital media design,
and about 15 others. We’ve made it more flexible for anybody to go to school here because we
will have more online classes this fall, including 10 general education courses that from BYU-
Idaho. So what does that mean? If you want to take a course at 10:00 at night, take it. If you want
to do it at 2:00 in the morning, you could. That would be poor use of your time, but you could.
And we will transfer those credits back here, add them to your AAS degree, and you can earn a
transfer degree. More convenience, more options, more flexibility for you and others..
So what are the results? More job-relevant skills are available to you and your friends and
relatives than ever before. You have a better way of stacking educational credentials. You have
less debt when you graduate. Do you know what the average debt is of a student who graduates
from a four-year school in the United States? It is $30,000. That’s like having a mortgage
without a home. You have less risk doing it this way, getting an AAS degree and moving on to
work or to additional education but getting a skills degree first. You have less risk in the
marketplace. I’m going to have this row of four people right down here, wonderful staff,
standup. Stand up and turn around so they can see you. For every four people that start a
bachelor’s degree in the United States, only one of them will finish. What does that mean? You
start a four-year degree and you have no skills under your belt when you drop out, because life
happens, what do you have?? Not much. Here, you have the ability to gain a skills degree and
move forward, which makes you more capable of being self-reliant, and serving in the Church.
So here’s what I’m going to ask you to do for the last couple of minutes we have together. I
want you to think about someone, and this is the language of the Spirit. Let me tell you how it
will come to you. It will either come as a very quick impression, a name, it’ll come maybe as a
face. Usually it will come as a name or a face. Here’s what I’m going to ask you to do. I’m going
to read some characteristics about some people that you may know. If you know someone that
fits one of these description, say you know a name or you see a face, I’m going to ask you to
stand up. And just watch what happens by the time we’re through, okay? Are you with me? The
language of the Spirit is an impression, a name, or a face. Here we go.
If you know a soon-to-be returned missionary who may be uncertain about the next step in their
life when they come home, will you please stand? Stay standing.
Think of a person you may know who doesn’t know what they want to do for work, or to
study, but know that from parents and mission presidents and the principles of the Church, that
they need some education. If you know someone like that, please stand.
Think of a person you may know who may lack confidence about their ability to do
college. Please stand.
Think of someone that you know that would be blessed by finding what you have found
here. Please stand.
Think of someone that you know who’s very smart, but for a variety of reasons maybe
didn’t do so well in high school. Please stand.
Think of someone that you may know who needs a quick entry into the workforce,
because going to a four-year institution and taking six years to do it is just too long of a process.
Please stand.
Here are a couple more. Think of someone that you may know who’s unemployed or
underemployed. But if they had some short-term training skills could improve their financial
situation. Please stand.
Here’s the last one. Think of someone you know who is a single parent now, and needs
new or refreshed skills in order to enter the workforce to improve their earnings. Please stand.
Now I invite you, brothers and sisters, to look around the congregation. . Every one of
you knows someone who would benefit by what LDS Business College offers. They need to be
here, and you need to invite them. Now I’m going to ask you to sit down.
Now here’s what I’m going to ask you to do. I’m going to ask you to use your faith,
based upon the impression, the name, or the face that you saw, and take some action. And I’m
going to ask you to take action in the reverse order of what you really want to do when you
contact people. Because I know the order of things. The first thing you want to do is text. The
second maybe is to email, and the third is to call, right? Because you really don’t like human
interaction anymore. I understand. But I’m going to use Elder Bednar’s philosophy when he
says, “Look at the direction the world is going, and if you want to find out the way you should
be, more often than not, turn 180 degrees and look in the opposite direction,” (“Elder David A.
Bednar: Going Forward in the Strength of the Lord,” talk given by Elder Henry B. Eyring in
March 2005 Liahona Magazine). So I’m going to invite you to call, email, or finally, text the
person you saw, the name you heard, the impression you felt. And simply tell them what you
have found here. And invite them to call this number, write it down: 801-524-8100.
And here’s what you ask them to say: “My friend, family member, missionary
companion, whatever … told me to call and ask about Fall 2014.” That’s all you need to do.
Because the Spirit will do the rest. You have had a prompting, and now we act and not wait to be
acted upon. So I don’t want you to pick up the phone right now and call, but I want you to make
a note, and I want you to make a commitment before the witnesses in this room, who are both
seen and unseen, who have family members who need what you have found. Would you make a
commitment by raising your hand that you will call? If you can’t call, will you email, if you can’t
email will you text? And tell that person you know what you have found. Are you willing to do
it? And then, watch the miracle happen. Thank you. You will be blessed because you will help
someone create a new world, a new environment. You will help good men and women become
better, as their very natures change. The Lord may create in them, and in you, the leaders of the
kingdom to carry it off triumphantly.
Please live to your commitment. I plan to. I leave it with you as a testimony, that the Lord
will bless you. What is in it for you? Nothing. Congratulations. But if someone comes because
you have asked and invited, the day will come when you will realize the blessing for them, and
thereby, you will be blessed. I leave that as a promise, and do so in the name of Jesus Christ,
amen.