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Excerpt from Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Guided by the Holy Spirit, Ensign, May 2011
A Latter-day Saint is quite an ordinary individual. We are now everywhere in the world, 14 million of us. This is only the beginning. We are taught to be in the world but not of the world. 17 Therefore, we live ordinary lives in ordinary families mixed in with the general population.
We are taught not to lie or steal or cheat. 18 We do not use profanity. We are positive and happy and not afraid of life.
We are “willing to mourn with those that mourn … and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places.” 19
If someone is looking for a church that requires very little, this is not the one. It is not easy to be a Latter-day Saint, but in the long run it is the only true course.
Regardless of opposition or “wars, rumors of wars, and earthquakes in divers places,” 20 no power or influence can stop this work. Every one of us can be guided by the spirit of revelation and the gift of the Holy Ghost. “As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream, as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints.” 21
If you are carrying some burden, forget it, let it alone. Do a lot of forgiving and a little repenting, and you will be visited by the Spirit of the Holy Ghost and confirmed by the testimony that you did not know existed. You will be watched over and blessed—you and yours. This is an invitation to come unto Him. This church—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth,” 22 by His own declaration—is where we find “the great plan of happiness.” 23 Of this I bear witness in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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