Finding Purpose Trough Our Educational Everest
Keith Vorkink
June 25, 2024 11:15 AM
" You are being called up so that you can see those you serve, not carried up to be seen by those that might serve you.<br/><br/>"
Thank you for the opportunity I have to be with you today. I am incredibly grateful for the hospitality of President and Sister Kusch, and, I’ll have to say, President, I don’t know who that testimony was for, in the room today, other than the two people sitting to your right. Marcie and I have our youngest daughter serving a mission right now. She’s going to be part of a mission split this week, and she’s going to a new mission and getting new mission leaders. We worry a little bit about what that’s going to be like, and it brings peace to our hearts and minds, President, hearing you bear your witness that God is behind all of this. Ever since I received the invitation to come and speak, I have looked forward to that and I pray that the Spirit will continue to be with us—it’s certainly been with us so far, and I pray that it will continue to be, as we discuss the items that I have felt impressed to share.
In preparation for this, I’ve tried to become a bit more familiar with Ensign College, and I’ve come to admire the student body in a more personal way than I ever have before, even though I work at a sister institution—part of the system, just about an hour south of here. Many of you students have overcome significant life challenges, and many of you continue to face significant life challenges, or come from an area of the world where education or access to it is difficult, perhaps to say the least. And yet you have demonstrated grit and determination to enroll and pursue your education here at Ensign College. And for that, I commend you. Your desire for education and life skills is going to change your trajectory. And the culture in the world today, particularly among young adults, seems to be centered around immediate gratification. And for you to counter that current culture by sacrificing your time, your energy, your resources, to invest in your future, is inspiring. And what makes it even more inspiring, is the fact that you have chosen to study at a school where the mission, here, is to develop capable, and trusted disciples of Jesus Christ.
And so, today, I’m going to center my remarks on the blessings and responsibilities of studying at a school sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, generally, and perhaps, from what I’ve been able to understand, how those might apply specifically at Ensign College. I hope and pray that my remarks will help you students along this path.
To begin with, I want to set the tone by considering the state of young adults today by highlighting some of the challenges that are rampant amongst your peers, particularly those who live in the United States, but these results likely apply to other areas of the world as well. To do so, I’ll cite a recent report out of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, that did a broad study on the status of mental and emotional health of young adults in the US. [1] As a part of that study the authors reported what I see as a disheartening statistic that nearly 3 in 5 young adults reported that they lacked “meaning or purpose” in their lives. This lack of purpose was reported by a higher percentage of young adults than other significant causes of stress and challenges such as worries about financial and achievement pressures, about deficits with family and friends and relationships, and a higher percentage than those who suffered from social or political issues. One might describe this challenge among young adults today, your peer group, as suffering from a famine of purpose. Perhaps you have felt those feelings, asking yourself questions such as: what role am I to play, what am I to do? Does the world need my contributions, do I have anything to offer? My hope today is to remind you, or more fully convince you, that being enrolled at Ensign College can fill your life with purpose and meaning, leading to a life of joy, accomplishment, and service…and purpose.
To help make this point I want to share an analogy that was used to describe my institution, but that I believe applies to all learning institutions sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In 1975, Spencer W. Kimball, gave a talk at Brigham Young University during their centennial celebration. They were turning 100 at that time. He was the prophet of the church and titled his remarks, “The Second Century of Brigham Young University.” In the context of that talk, he used a metaphor to describe what the university is and can become. He employed a phrase to describe the Brigham Young University as becoming an “educational Everest.” [2]
I believe there are multiple meanings found in that metaphor. Brigham Young University has been described as the flagship institution for the Church Educational System and so President Kimball would want BYU’s academics, arts, athletics, and extracurricular pursuits to be conducted in a distinctive manner, built upon the gospel of Jesus Christ, that would be a grand example, whose grandeur might be compared to Mount Everest, which is the tallest mountain in the world. This is certainly a valid application of this metaphor, and one that applies to Ensign College as well. But I’ve come to see this President Kimball’s use of Mount Everest in that speech in another light, one that I believe grounds or frames the way we think about education within our whole Church Educational System that certainly includes Ensign College and my hope is this interpretation of President Kimball’s metaphor can be helpful for you students in your studies and your search for purpose.
The distinguishing characteristic of Mount Everest in the context of this other interpretation, is less about that tallest mountain in the world’s summit’s height from sea level and more about that summit’s symbolic proximity to the heavens, to our Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ. President Kimball’s charge for BYU, or Ensign College--to become an educational Mount Everest starts with all of us associated with students on our campuses (and that includes students) ensuring that our end results in bringing you students closer to your Father in Heaven and your Savior Jesus Christ than any other higher education institution.
This perspective offers a number of powerful implications in my mind. I’m going to consider three of those in my remarks today, but I invite you to read President Kimball’s talks and study and ponder ways that this metaphor can guide you in your studies at Ensign College.
The first implication I’ve found, I would describe as source and priority. You might consider why President Kimball’s metaphor referenced an object that was constructed by deity and not by man. He could have used the CN Tower, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which in 1975, at the time of his speech, had become the tallest manmade structure in the world reaching 1,815 feet tall. The lesson, to me, teaches the importance of source: we cannot fall prey, like those after the flood, and like so many other higher education institutions who have come to believe that they know the best path to gain God’s wisdom and knowledge.
With a lack of faith and, perhaps, an excess of pride, both in those ancient times as well as in today, some set out to construct their own Educational Mount Everests, perhaps more aptly described as educational Towers of Babel, poor substitutes for the Lord's mountain. Perhaps myopically, perhaps arrogantly they believe their man-made paths will reach the highest summit better than or at least instead of following the Lord's designed paths for reaching His Summit. It is a question, in my mind, of both means and destination. The means employed by those unfamiliar with the Lord’s summits, will lead to some form of a hilltop, to be sure. But those are not the summits we seek, those paths will not lead us to close proximity to Him.
We must not follow that pattern and choose inferior sources of knowledge and truth. Even if those efforts are well intended, they are not our path because they are not directed by the Lord and as such will never have the power sufficient to lead you students in close proximity to your Father in Heaven and His son Jesus Christ and their direction, and their knowledge, and their wisdom.
So, I offer the following counsel. For those who think they, or the voices of the educational experts of today, can do a better job than our Board; better than prophets, seers, and revelators – in architecting a Church Education System student experience of climbing the spiritual, academic, character and service hills that culminate in an Everest-like summit, for each of you students, I suggest they consider the fate of those who constructed the Tower of Babel and how successful those efforts were. I also hope this perspective helps us to appreciate the monumental advantage that we enjoy with a Christ-Centered prophetically-directed educational approach.
The second implication of that metaphor is one of perspective. Beginning in the earliest dispensations, the Lord established a pattern of calling certain people up to the tops of the mountains. More than once Moses was called up to Mount Sinai where he was taught, or he was physically changed through an interaction with the Lord, as well as given the Lord’s covenant for the Children of Israel. On multiple occasions as well, Nephi was caught up and summoned to the mountains. Elijah, the Brother of Jared, even the Savior himself, these all had powerful, and in important ways, similar mountain experiences.
Students, and faculty, and staff, I invite you to study scriptural mountain experiences with two questions in mind [3] :
1. What are the consistent themes of lessons taught, or truths shared with those who are having mountain experiences across these different accounts?
2. What implications can you draw from those experiences for your own life?
I’ve studied these, and I’m going to offer some lessons that I believe, from that exercise, apply to those students at Ensign College and those at other Church Education Institutions. I’ll frame my observations about mountain experiences from the experience that Moses had, as recorded in Moses Chapter 1 of The Pearl of Great Price.
One truth taught consistently in these experiences is that our Father in Heaven and/or His son Jesus Christ witnessing to those brought to the mountains who they are:
“And God spake unto Moses, saying: Behold, I am the Lord God Almighty, and Endless is my name; for I am without beginning of days or end of years;” [4]
A second truth taught consistently in these experiences is the Lord teaching the identity to those brought up to the mountain:
“And, behold, thou art my son (or daughter)... and thou art in the similitude of mine Only Begotten; and mine Only Begotten is and shall be the Savior,” [5]
And finally, a truth taught consistently in these experiences is that those brought to the mountain are given direction on how they can contribute to the Lord’s work and how the Lord will enable them to accomplish this work:
“And I have a work for thee, Moses, my son;” [6]
These three powerful truths, delivered consistently throughout scriptural mountain experiences, offer critical guideposts as you think about your responsibilities and opportunities associated with your time at Ensign College. You have made covenants with the Lord and as a consequence of those covenants you have access to a relationship with Him that can provide a conviction of these truths. [7] They are yours to receive, each of you can experience those truths as you engage in your symbolic hike up to the Ensign College Everest Summit. To check your progress, on occasion, you might pose questions along the lines of “Is my experience at Ensign College leading me towards a spiritual confirmation that God is real, as is His son Jesus Christ?” Or you might ask yourself, “Is my experience at Ensign College leading me towards spiritual confirmations that I am a child of God, a child of the covenant, and a disciple of Jesus Christ, using our prophet President Nelson’s description of our primary identities.” [8] Or you might ask, “Is my experience at Ensign College leading me towards spiritual experiences that define and reinforce the roles that I have been prepared to play in the gathering of Israel - that God has a work for me to do and He has the power to enable me to accomplish that work.”
If you feel the answer to any of those questions is not quite as strong as you think it should be, as a “yes”, I recommend you find more ways to fully embrace the mission of Ensign College and find ways to strengthen your covenant relationship with the Savior. By further aligning yourself with the mission of this school and your covenants, you will have the needed experiences for God to confirm these truths in your heart and mind and in doing so this institution will become the “educational Everest” as prophesied by President Kimball.
I think of Nephi—imagine Nephi coming down the mountain after being shown in a mountain experience with the Lord that his next role was to build a ship that would carry his family across the oceans to the promised land. [9] Without the conviction in his heart about those first two truths, about who God and Jesus Christ were and without knowing his own primary identities, that task, that work to be done, would have felt impossible and he might not have been able to summon the faith and courage to complete this assignment. Perhaps he may have not even felt a purpose—like so many young adults experience today.
I’m confident, though, that Nephi had developed himself throughout his life with a wide range of skills and abilities. We might compare those, and think they’re analogous to those that are obtained here at Ensign College, but for him it was those skills and abilities paired with those divinely delivered truths that led Nephi to walk down that mountain experienced and inspired, with faith and confidence that would enable him to accomplish this work that would bless thousands of lives. The Lord enabled Nephi to ‘think big’ and gave him the confidence and direction to accomplish that task. The Lord has similar ‘big’ opportunities for each of you at Ensign College. And that can provide you with the spiritual and practical and life skills necessary to make a needed contribution to His work. While so many of today’s young adults suffer from a lack of feeling of purpose, you can become part of the biggest and most important work happening on the earth today, and the Lord has a role for you to play.
Ensign College’s objective is to get you to the symbolic summit of Everest, that spot closest to the heavens, not only because of the proximity to the heavens but also because of the perspective that that height, that summit offers; it’s about getting you to a place where the Lord can symbolically show you the inhabitants of your world and NOT about getting you to the highest spot of the world to see you. This is where so many people get that perspective wrong. You are being called up so that you can see those you serve, not carried up to be seen by those that might serve you.
This perspective of why we seek to become educated and build these life skills was taught by President Nelson when he stated:
“We educate our minds so that one day we can render service of worth to somebody else. Being educated is the difference between wishing you could do some good and being able to do some good.” [10]
(testimony of President Nelson)
The final implication that I want to discuss about the mountain metaphor stems from a tie between temples and mountains. As we all know, mountains in the scriptures frequently have symbolically represented temples.
Let me share two connections between mountains and temples and Ensign College and I invite you to ponder and consider this connection even further in your own life.
First, temples are holy places, so it is not surprising that we are asked by our Board to create a holy atmosphere here at Ensign College. When Moses first went up to Sinai, the Lord instructed him to “put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” [11] All of us that are engaged in climbing the steep slopes towards our Everest summits, we need a modern-day analog to Moses’ shoe removal as our sign to the Lord of our commitment to holiness. You might consider our CES honor code and dress and grooming standards as one such a sign. I want to take just a moment for us to consider the principles of the honor code and dress and grooming standards. They include:
1. Represent the Savior Jesus Christ, the Church, and the Church Educational System
2. Preserve an inspiring environment, without distraction or disruption, where covenants are kept in a spirit of unity so the Holy Ghost can teach truth
3. Promote modesty, cleanliness, neatness, and restraint in dress and grooming
4. Maintain an elevated standard distinctive to educational institutions of the Church of Jesus Christ. [12]
We might think of, sort of connecting this to mountains, this list of principles as being elements of an essential packing list that we take up on our hike up Ensign Everest, and like all needed climbing items, it is our responsibility to obtain a functional understanding of what they are and how they can help us. As we do this our personal commitment to them will be strong and we will also be in a position to help others understand how a commitment to these principles are essential to their climbing. This act of working together as a campus community to build a commitment to these standards can bring power as described by the prophet Joseph Smith in a statement he made to the early relief society sisters, “by union of feeling we obtain power with God.” [13] – a union or unity to these standards will bring power and strength – something we might compare to a climbing group’s commitment to each other by all connecting to a common rope– tying each other’s—every member of that climbing party’s-- summitting fate to every other member of the climbing party. This is a regular practice for those who are working to summit the high peaks, including Everest.
Imagine what the collective Ensign College experience would be for those on this campus when we embrace a commitment to this type of holiness.
The second connection I’ve found is that temples can teach the role of what I’ll call ‘climbing helpers’. A little over a year ago our youngest daughter attended the temple to make temple covenants and receive temple ordinances. This was her first time participating in these ordinances and she had some anxiety about what that experience would be like. But much of her anxiety was reduced when she learned that her mother, my wife Marcie, would be assigned to be her temple escort throughout that whole process. This experience led me to consider the role of temple escorts for those ascending the temple mountain, making covenants and receiving ordinances relative to students studying at CES institutions and climbing their educational mountains. Now, the dictionary’s definition of an escort is “a person or group of persons, accompanying another to give protection, or guidance. In fact, this concept connects deeply with the role of sherpas, if you’ve heard that term before, in the world of climbing mountains. Sherpas have been defined as “highly regarded elite mountaineers and experts…, serving as guides at the extreme altitudes of the peaks and passes, particularly for expeditions to climb Mount Everest. Sherpas are renowned in the international climbing and mountaineering community for their hardiness, expertise, and experience at very high altitudes.” [14] Our students need assistance from expert Ensign College escorts and sherpas.
An instructive observation of temple escorts and Mount Everest sherpas is that they walk along with those that they are helping. They don’t jump on a tram and ride to the top of a mountain and then, with a megaphone, at a comfortable spot, shout down instructions to those hiking. They don’t check in every so often and make sure the hike is progressing well. They walk stride for stride with those that they are guiding. What does this mean for the students that we all have a stewardship to mentor? And that includes other students. We might ask ourselves, “Am I developing a relationship with my fellow students so that they know that I am there walking with them?”
Let me attempt to summarize my takeaways from my study of President Kimball’s Everest metaphor. My hope is that students at Ensign College, in addition to your educational training and skill development, are learning key eternal truths that need to sink deep into your hearts and that you can receive only by climbing the Lord’s symbolic spiritual and educational mountains here at Ensign College. By committing to the climb and summiting those symbolic mountains, you can be blessed to have burned into your hearts and minds the truths that God and Jesus Christ are real; that everyone, including you, are literally the offspring of God; that through covenants each can develop a special relationship with God and Jesus Christ that will bring power and knowledge into your life; and that the Lord has a work for each and every one of you to do. And He will enable you to accomplish that work. That work will be a key part of His work, that of bringing souls on either side of the veil towards Him, through ordinances and covenants. Studying at Ensign College certainly includes the study of accounting, interior design, project management, or one of the many great programs of this college, but I hope you understand and appreciate that it’s much more than that.
We can all, students, faculty and staff, commit to become an even more consecrated escort, a more dedicated sherpa, to at least one more student. And if we have prepared ourselves, these interactions will help guide our fellow students up the challenging climbs to the spiritual summits where God will bless them. The Lord will not leave you alone in this effort. As we tie our ropes together as a covenant community to reach the summits, know that the Master Climber the Master Escort, and the Master Sherpa will tie His rope to ours and we can all successfully summit the educational Mount Everests regardless of the obstacles that lie in our path.
As we all embrace this mission, you students will leave this campus and become beacons of His light all throughout the world. You can be blessed with a burning sense of purpose as you become part of “the greatest work on earth” [15] and go out, with faith and confidence to serve a world that desperately needs you and your light. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
[1] Richard Weissbourd, Milena Batanova, Joseph McIntyre, and Eric Torres with Shanae Irving, Sawsan Eskander, and Kiran Bhai, “On Edge: Understanding and Preventing Young Adults’ Mental Health Challenges,” Harvard Graduate School of Education, October 2023.
[2] Kimball, Spencer “The Second Century of Brigham Young University,” October 1975
[3] 1 Nephi 11, 1 Nephi 16 - 17, Ether 2, Moses 1, Exodus 19, 1 King 19 are examples of scriptural mountain experiences.
[4] Moses 1:3
[5] Moses 1:4, 6
[6] Moses 1: 6
[7] Nelson, Russell M., “The Everlasting Covenant,” Liahona, October 2022.
[8] Nelson, Russell M., “Choices For Eternity,” World Wide Devotional for Young Adults, May 2022
[9] 1 Nephi 17: 7-10
[10] Nelson, Russell M., “Focus on Values,” The New Era, February 2013
[11] Exodus 3:5
[12] CES Honor Code, August 24, 2023
[13] “Minutes and Discourse, 9 June 1842,” 61, Joseph Smith Papers, josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/minutes-and-discourse-9-june-1842/1.
[14] Wikipedia entry on Sherpa ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherpa_people )
[15] Nelson, Russell M., “Hope of Israel,” World Wide Devotional for Youth, June 2018
In preparation for this, I’ve tried to become a bit more familiar with Ensign College, and I’ve come to admire the student body in a more personal way than I ever have before, even though I work at a sister institution—part of the system, just about an hour south of here. Many of you students have overcome significant life challenges, and many of you continue to face significant life challenges, or come from an area of the world where education or access to it is difficult, perhaps to say the least. And yet you have demonstrated grit and determination to enroll and pursue your education here at Ensign College. And for that, I commend you. Your desire for education and life skills is going to change your trajectory. And the culture in the world today, particularly among young adults, seems to be centered around immediate gratification. And for you to counter that current culture by sacrificing your time, your energy, your resources, to invest in your future, is inspiring. And what makes it even more inspiring, is the fact that you have chosen to study at a school where the mission, here, is to develop capable, and trusted disciples of Jesus Christ.
And so, today, I’m going to center my remarks on the blessings and responsibilities of studying at a school sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, generally, and perhaps, from what I’ve been able to understand, how those might apply specifically at Ensign College. I hope and pray that my remarks will help you students along this path.
To begin with, I want to set the tone by considering the state of young adults today by highlighting some of the challenges that are rampant amongst your peers, particularly those who live in the United States, but these results likely apply to other areas of the world as well. To do so, I’ll cite a recent report out of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, that did a broad study on the status of mental and emotional health of young adults in the US. [1] As a part of that study the authors reported what I see as a disheartening statistic that nearly 3 in 5 young adults reported that they lacked “meaning or purpose” in their lives. This lack of purpose was reported by a higher percentage of young adults than other significant causes of stress and challenges such as worries about financial and achievement pressures, about deficits with family and friends and relationships, and a higher percentage than those who suffered from social or political issues. One might describe this challenge among young adults today, your peer group, as suffering from a famine of purpose. Perhaps you have felt those feelings, asking yourself questions such as: what role am I to play, what am I to do? Does the world need my contributions, do I have anything to offer? My hope today is to remind you, or more fully convince you, that being enrolled at Ensign College can fill your life with purpose and meaning, leading to a life of joy, accomplishment, and service…and purpose.
To help make this point I want to share an analogy that was used to describe my institution, but that I believe applies to all learning institutions sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In 1975, Spencer W. Kimball, gave a talk at Brigham Young University during their centennial celebration. They were turning 100 at that time. He was the prophet of the church and titled his remarks, “The Second Century of Brigham Young University.” In the context of that talk, he used a metaphor to describe what the university is and can become. He employed a phrase to describe the Brigham Young University as becoming an “educational Everest.” [2]
I believe there are multiple meanings found in that metaphor. Brigham Young University has been described as the flagship institution for the Church Educational System and so President Kimball would want BYU’s academics, arts, athletics, and extracurricular pursuits to be conducted in a distinctive manner, built upon the gospel of Jesus Christ, that would be a grand example, whose grandeur might be compared to Mount Everest, which is the tallest mountain in the world. This is certainly a valid application of this metaphor, and one that applies to Ensign College as well. But I’ve come to see this President Kimball’s use of Mount Everest in that speech in another light, one that I believe grounds or frames the way we think about education within our whole Church Educational System that certainly includes Ensign College and my hope is this interpretation of President Kimball’s metaphor can be helpful for you students in your studies and your search for purpose.
The distinguishing characteristic of Mount Everest in the context of this other interpretation, is less about that tallest mountain in the world’s summit’s height from sea level and more about that summit’s symbolic proximity to the heavens, to our Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ. President Kimball’s charge for BYU, or Ensign College--to become an educational Mount Everest starts with all of us associated with students on our campuses (and that includes students) ensuring that our end results in bringing you students closer to your Father in Heaven and your Savior Jesus Christ than any other higher education institution.
This perspective offers a number of powerful implications in my mind. I’m going to consider three of those in my remarks today, but I invite you to read President Kimball’s talks and study and ponder ways that this metaphor can guide you in your studies at Ensign College.
The first implication I’ve found, I would describe as source and priority. You might consider why President Kimball’s metaphor referenced an object that was constructed by deity and not by man. He could have used the CN Tower, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which in 1975, at the time of his speech, had become the tallest manmade structure in the world reaching 1,815 feet tall. The lesson, to me, teaches the importance of source: we cannot fall prey, like those after the flood, and like so many other higher education institutions who have come to believe that they know the best path to gain God’s wisdom and knowledge.
With a lack of faith and, perhaps, an excess of pride, both in those ancient times as well as in today, some set out to construct their own Educational Mount Everests, perhaps more aptly described as educational Towers of Babel, poor substitutes for the Lord's mountain. Perhaps myopically, perhaps arrogantly they believe their man-made paths will reach the highest summit better than or at least instead of following the Lord's designed paths for reaching His Summit. It is a question, in my mind, of both means and destination. The means employed by those unfamiliar with the Lord’s summits, will lead to some form of a hilltop, to be sure. But those are not the summits we seek, those paths will not lead us to close proximity to Him.
We must not follow that pattern and choose inferior sources of knowledge and truth. Even if those efforts are well intended, they are not our path because they are not directed by the Lord and as such will never have the power sufficient to lead you students in close proximity to your Father in Heaven and His son Jesus Christ and their direction, and their knowledge, and their wisdom.
So, I offer the following counsel. For those who think they, or the voices of the educational experts of today, can do a better job than our Board; better than prophets, seers, and revelators – in architecting a Church Education System student experience of climbing the spiritual, academic, character and service hills that culminate in an Everest-like summit, for each of you students, I suggest they consider the fate of those who constructed the Tower of Babel and how successful those efforts were. I also hope this perspective helps us to appreciate the monumental advantage that we enjoy with a Christ-Centered prophetically-directed educational approach.
The second implication of that metaphor is one of perspective. Beginning in the earliest dispensations, the Lord established a pattern of calling certain people up to the tops of the mountains. More than once Moses was called up to Mount Sinai where he was taught, or he was physically changed through an interaction with the Lord, as well as given the Lord’s covenant for the Children of Israel. On multiple occasions as well, Nephi was caught up and summoned to the mountains. Elijah, the Brother of Jared, even the Savior himself, these all had powerful, and in important ways, similar mountain experiences.
Students, and faculty, and staff, I invite you to study scriptural mountain experiences with two questions in mind [3] :
1. What are the consistent themes of lessons taught, or truths shared with those who are having mountain experiences across these different accounts?
2. What implications can you draw from those experiences for your own life?
I’ve studied these, and I’m going to offer some lessons that I believe, from that exercise, apply to those students at Ensign College and those at other Church Education Institutions. I’ll frame my observations about mountain experiences from the experience that Moses had, as recorded in Moses Chapter 1 of The Pearl of Great Price.
One truth taught consistently in these experiences is that our Father in Heaven and/or His son Jesus Christ witnessing to those brought to the mountains who they are:
“And God spake unto Moses, saying: Behold, I am the Lord God Almighty, and Endless is my name; for I am without beginning of days or end of years;” [4]
A second truth taught consistently in these experiences is the Lord teaching the identity to those brought up to the mountain:
“And, behold, thou art my son (or daughter)... and thou art in the similitude of mine Only Begotten; and mine Only Begotten is and shall be the Savior,” [5]
And finally, a truth taught consistently in these experiences is that those brought to the mountain are given direction on how they can contribute to the Lord’s work and how the Lord will enable them to accomplish this work:
“And I have a work for thee, Moses, my son;” [6]
These three powerful truths, delivered consistently throughout scriptural mountain experiences, offer critical guideposts as you think about your responsibilities and opportunities associated with your time at Ensign College. You have made covenants with the Lord and as a consequence of those covenants you have access to a relationship with Him that can provide a conviction of these truths. [7] They are yours to receive, each of you can experience those truths as you engage in your symbolic hike up to the Ensign College Everest Summit. To check your progress, on occasion, you might pose questions along the lines of “Is my experience at Ensign College leading me towards a spiritual confirmation that God is real, as is His son Jesus Christ?” Or you might ask yourself, “Is my experience at Ensign College leading me towards spiritual confirmations that I am a child of God, a child of the covenant, and a disciple of Jesus Christ, using our prophet President Nelson’s description of our primary identities.” [8] Or you might ask, “Is my experience at Ensign College leading me towards spiritual experiences that define and reinforce the roles that I have been prepared to play in the gathering of Israel - that God has a work for me to do and He has the power to enable me to accomplish that work.”
If you feel the answer to any of those questions is not quite as strong as you think it should be, as a “yes”, I recommend you find more ways to fully embrace the mission of Ensign College and find ways to strengthen your covenant relationship with the Savior. By further aligning yourself with the mission of this school and your covenants, you will have the needed experiences for God to confirm these truths in your heart and mind and in doing so this institution will become the “educational Everest” as prophesied by President Kimball.
I think of Nephi—imagine Nephi coming down the mountain after being shown in a mountain experience with the Lord that his next role was to build a ship that would carry his family across the oceans to the promised land. [9] Without the conviction in his heart about those first two truths, about who God and Jesus Christ were and without knowing his own primary identities, that task, that work to be done, would have felt impossible and he might not have been able to summon the faith and courage to complete this assignment. Perhaps he may have not even felt a purpose—like so many young adults experience today.
I’m confident, though, that Nephi had developed himself throughout his life with a wide range of skills and abilities. We might compare those, and think they’re analogous to those that are obtained here at Ensign College, but for him it was those skills and abilities paired with those divinely delivered truths that led Nephi to walk down that mountain experienced and inspired, with faith and confidence that would enable him to accomplish this work that would bless thousands of lives. The Lord enabled Nephi to ‘think big’ and gave him the confidence and direction to accomplish that task. The Lord has similar ‘big’ opportunities for each of you at Ensign College. And that can provide you with the spiritual and practical and life skills necessary to make a needed contribution to His work. While so many of today’s young adults suffer from a lack of feeling of purpose, you can become part of the biggest and most important work happening on the earth today, and the Lord has a role for you to play.
Ensign College’s objective is to get you to the symbolic summit of Everest, that spot closest to the heavens, not only because of the proximity to the heavens but also because of the perspective that that height, that summit offers; it’s about getting you to a place where the Lord can symbolically show you the inhabitants of your world and NOT about getting you to the highest spot of the world to see you. This is where so many people get that perspective wrong. You are being called up so that you can see those you serve, not carried up to be seen by those that might serve you.
This perspective of why we seek to become educated and build these life skills was taught by President Nelson when he stated:
“We educate our minds so that one day we can render service of worth to somebody else. Being educated is the difference between wishing you could do some good and being able to do some good.” [10]
(testimony of President Nelson)
The final implication that I want to discuss about the mountain metaphor stems from a tie between temples and mountains. As we all know, mountains in the scriptures frequently have symbolically represented temples.
Let me share two connections between mountains and temples and Ensign College and I invite you to ponder and consider this connection even further in your own life.
First, temples are holy places, so it is not surprising that we are asked by our Board to create a holy atmosphere here at Ensign College. When Moses first went up to Sinai, the Lord instructed him to “put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” [11] All of us that are engaged in climbing the steep slopes towards our Everest summits, we need a modern-day analog to Moses’ shoe removal as our sign to the Lord of our commitment to holiness. You might consider our CES honor code and dress and grooming standards as one such a sign. I want to take just a moment for us to consider the principles of the honor code and dress and grooming standards. They include:
1. Represent the Savior Jesus Christ, the Church, and the Church Educational System
2. Preserve an inspiring environment, without distraction or disruption, where covenants are kept in a spirit of unity so the Holy Ghost can teach truth
3. Promote modesty, cleanliness, neatness, and restraint in dress and grooming
4. Maintain an elevated standard distinctive to educational institutions of the Church of Jesus Christ. [12]
We might think of, sort of connecting this to mountains, this list of principles as being elements of an essential packing list that we take up on our hike up Ensign Everest, and like all needed climbing items, it is our responsibility to obtain a functional understanding of what they are and how they can help us. As we do this our personal commitment to them will be strong and we will also be in a position to help others understand how a commitment to these principles are essential to their climbing. This act of working together as a campus community to build a commitment to these standards can bring power as described by the prophet Joseph Smith in a statement he made to the early relief society sisters, “by union of feeling we obtain power with God.” [13] – a union or unity to these standards will bring power and strength – something we might compare to a climbing group’s commitment to each other by all connecting to a common rope– tying each other’s—every member of that climbing party’s-- summitting fate to every other member of the climbing party. This is a regular practice for those who are working to summit the high peaks, including Everest.
Imagine what the collective Ensign College experience would be for those on this campus when we embrace a commitment to this type of holiness.
The second connection I’ve found is that temples can teach the role of what I’ll call ‘climbing helpers’. A little over a year ago our youngest daughter attended the temple to make temple covenants and receive temple ordinances. This was her first time participating in these ordinances and she had some anxiety about what that experience would be like. But much of her anxiety was reduced when she learned that her mother, my wife Marcie, would be assigned to be her temple escort throughout that whole process. This experience led me to consider the role of temple escorts for those ascending the temple mountain, making covenants and receiving ordinances relative to students studying at CES institutions and climbing their educational mountains. Now, the dictionary’s definition of an escort is “a person or group of persons, accompanying another to give protection, or guidance. In fact, this concept connects deeply with the role of sherpas, if you’ve heard that term before, in the world of climbing mountains. Sherpas have been defined as “highly regarded elite mountaineers and experts…, serving as guides at the extreme altitudes of the peaks and passes, particularly for expeditions to climb Mount Everest. Sherpas are renowned in the international climbing and mountaineering community for their hardiness, expertise, and experience at very high altitudes.” [14] Our students need assistance from expert Ensign College escorts and sherpas.
An instructive observation of temple escorts and Mount Everest sherpas is that they walk along with those that they are helping. They don’t jump on a tram and ride to the top of a mountain and then, with a megaphone, at a comfortable spot, shout down instructions to those hiking. They don’t check in every so often and make sure the hike is progressing well. They walk stride for stride with those that they are guiding. What does this mean for the students that we all have a stewardship to mentor? And that includes other students. We might ask ourselves, “Am I developing a relationship with my fellow students so that they know that I am there walking with them?”
Let me attempt to summarize my takeaways from my study of President Kimball’s Everest metaphor. My hope is that students at Ensign College, in addition to your educational training and skill development, are learning key eternal truths that need to sink deep into your hearts and that you can receive only by climbing the Lord’s symbolic spiritual and educational mountains here at Ensign College. By committing to the climb and summiting those symbolic mountains, you can be blessed to have burned into your hearts and minds the truths that God and Jesus Christ are real; that everyone, including you, are literally the offspring of God; that through covenants each can develop a special relationship with God and Jesus Christ that will bring power and knowledge into your life; and that the Lord has a work for each and every one of you to do. And He will enable you to accomplish that work. That work will be a key part of His work, that of bringing souls on either side of the veil towards Him, through ordinances and covenants. Studying at Ensign College certainly includes the study of accounting, interior design, project management, or one of the many great programs of this college, but I hope you understand and appreciate that it’s much more than that.
We can all, students, faculty and staff, commit to become an even more consecrated escort, a more dedicated sherpa, to at least one more student. And if we have prepared ourselves, these interactions will help guide our fellow students up the challenging climbs to the spiritual summits where God will bless them. The Lord will not leave you alone in this effort. As we tie our ropes together as a covenant community to reach the summits, know that the Master Climber the Master Escort, and the Master Sherpa will tie His rope to ours and we can all successfully summit the educational Mount Everests regardless of the obstacles that lie in our path.
As we all embrace this mission, you students will leave this campus and become beacons of His light all throughout the world. You can be blessed with a burning sense of purpose as you become part of “the greatest work on earth” [15] and go out, with faith and confidence to serve a world that desperately needs you and your light. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
[1] Richard Weissbourd, Milena Batanova, Joseph McIntyre, and Eric Torres with Shanae Irving, Sawsan Eskander, and Kiran Bhai, “On Edge: Understanding and Preventing Young Adults’ Mental Health Challenges,” Harvard Graduate School of Education, October 2023.
[2] Kimball, Spencer “The Second Century of Brigham Young University,” October 1975
[3] 1 Nephi 11, 1 Nephi 16 - 17, Ether 2, Moses 1, Exodus 19, 1 King 19 are examples of scriptural mountain experiences.
[4] Moses 1:3
[5] Moses 1:4, 6
[6] Moses 1: 6
[7] Nelson, Russell M., “The Everlasting Covenant,” Liahona, October 2022.
[8] Nelson, Russell M., “Choices For Eternity,” World Wide Devotional for Young Adults, May 2022
[9] 1 Nephi 17: 7-10
[10] Nelson, Russell M., “Focus on Values,” The New Era, February 2013
[11] Exodus 3:5
[12] CES Honor Code, August 24, 2023
[13] “Minutes and Discourse, 9 June 1842,” 61, Joseph Smith Papers, josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/minutes-and-discourse-9-june-1842/1.
[14] Wikipedia entry on Sherpa ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherpa_people )
[15] Nelson, Russell M., “Hope of Israel,” World Wide Devotional for Youth, June 2018