The following is making the email rounds with lightning speed. It claims to be talk given recently by President Packer. Can anyone confirm or deny?<\/p>\n
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\nPresident Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve
\nApostles
\nSpeaking at the Forest Bend Ward, Salt Lake City UT Sunday, October
\n12, 2008<\/p>\n
“Even though I regularly have the opportunity to attend Fast and
\nTestimony meeting, I don’t usually stand to speak. But today, I feel
\nmoved upon by the Spirit to share a message\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6
\nLast weekend’s General Conference was different than any before. We
\nfelt that down at Church Headquarters and have been talking about it
\nall week. We live in troubled times. There is great financial crisis
\nand we’ve seen something that hasn’t happened in the last 60 years:
\nthe world’s financial markets are collapsing. I was six years old
\nwhen the Great Depression began: the 10th of 11 children. My father
\nwas a mechanic and times were difficult for all of us. Many families
\nwere suddenly out of work all at once. There were large public
\nprojects to try and provide employment \u00e2\u20ac\u201c like the great ditch or
\ncanal I remember being dug here in our city. It was at least six feet
\ndeep and dug by hand, with pick and ax. Nowadays, we’d use a piece of
\nmachinery to do it. But in those days, people worked with what we
\nhad. They were desperate times for many. There were things as a child
\nthat I didn’t understand and was afraid of. I didn’t like to go
\ninto the basement of our home. I thought the Boogeyman lived there.
\nBut as I grew older and we got some lights down there, I realized
\nthat the great dark space underneath the stairs was a large pile of
\nold shoes. As a pair of shoes we were wearing would wear out or break
\ndown, we didn’t throw them out. We would use a shoe from that old
\npile as spare parts to repair our shoes or make new ones. It was just
\nthe way you did things in those times.
\nThere’s a scripture that says “Yet learn we obedience by the same
\nthings we suffer.” It seems sometimes that we don’t learn until we
\nneed to turn and rely upon the Lord. In the Book of Mormon, well, if
\nyou looked in my copy, in the Book of Helaman about chapter 12 or 13,
\nyou’d see that I’ve written-in a swirling chain of circles across the
\ntop of the page. It might look like old cursive, but that’s not what
\nit’s meant to be. It’s meant to remind me of the cycles of the
\npeople. In times when they were blessed with great prosperity and
\nwealth, they forgot the Lord.
\nThen when they fell to bad habits which led some to wickedness and
\nplaced many in peril, the righteous would turn\/return to the Lord in
\ntheir humbler circumstances. It’s a cycle of prosperity and
\nwickedness we see repeated over and over again in the scriptures and
\nnow again in our day.
\nI remember once I went deer hunting with Brother Tuttle and some
\nothers. We were up in the mountains, riding on horseback. He went up
\none side of the canyon, and I went up the other. As I was riding, I
\nbent over and just nearly kissed the saddle horn as we passed a low
\ncedar tree that was right by the path. Well as we passed the cedar
\ntree, there was no more path on the other side of it and the way
\nbefore us was just a dropping hillside covered with loose shaley
\nrock. I kicked my feet clear of the stirrups, just in case the horse
\nreacted badly, and it was a good thing I did. She reared up and I was
\nthrown back. I hit my head on some rocks and got a cut right
\nabove my eyebrow that was bleeding heavily. I’d been holding my rifle
\nin my hand and as my hand flew back and hit heavily against a rock,
\nit broke as well. So I was laying there hurt and
\nshaken. My companions on the other side of the canyon had seen what
\nhappened and I heard Brother Tuttle call out “Are you hurt?” I
\nreplied “Yes, I’m bleeding!” He called out again “Are you hurt?” I
\ncalled again “Yes, I’m bleeding!”, but the wind was blowing the wrong
\nway and they couldn’t hear me. The fourth time this happened, I
\nyelled in response “No!” And they called back “Okay!” and continued
\nto ride on up the mountain. That’s lesson one!<\/p>\n
I finally got myself up, caught my horse down the mountain where she
\nhad gotten caught in some branches, and managed to get into town
\nwhere I was bandaged up and my hand was tended to.
\nShortly after that, I was traveling on business and was at the
\nairport. A fellow traveler, an older man not of our faith, saw my
\nbandaged hand and asked if I was all right. I replied rather
\noffhandedly. And he responded that it was something I would remember
\nall the rest of my days. He then told me that he had once worked at
\ndigging a canal \u00e2\u20ac\u201c now that caught my attention because I remembered
\nthe canal I have mentioned. He said that he was out of work at the
\ntime [the Great Depression] and couldn’t find employment. He saw the
\ncanal being dug and knew that if he asked the foreman for a job, he
\nwould be turned away. He saw a spare pick laying there, so he picked
\nit up and started working. A short while later, the foreman walked by
\nand, not recognizing him, asked him what he was doing. He explained
\nto me that he told the foreman he was out of work and stated “I need
\nto work. You don’t have to pay me, but I need to work.”
\nWell, as you might expect, they worked things out and he was paid for
\nhis labors. We then proceeded to talk, this older fellow and I, and I
\nhave remembered his counsel. Now I am the old man giving counsel to
\nyou. In the Great Depression, people were frightened and growing
\nmore so. They began to be very resourceful. They had to be. Looking
\nforward, we’re all going to learn that lesson, one way or another.
\nThe Church is in excellent condition. You don’t need to worry about
\nthat. But as individuals we will face difficulty. Some will come to
\nthe Bishop seeking financial aid and counsel. And as judges in
\nIsrael, the Bishop will respond. The time for financial largess in
\nour ward activities is over.” [President Packer then turned directly
\nto our Bishop and counseled him that last year’s youth trip to
\nNauvoo, which was, President Packer said, a great opportunity for
\ntestimonybuilding and missionary work, will not happen again. Times
\nof\/for that sort of expense in the Church are past.]<\/p>\n
President Packer then shared experiences of providing aid and service
\nafter the great Tsunami devastated Indonesia. He recalled… “I was
\nspeaking on the phone with a government minister who said “I’m
\nstanding in Banda Aceh and you cannot imagine what I am seeing. A
\ncity of a million people has been swept away and there is nothing.” A
\nweek later, I was standing in area of Banda Aceh and the need was
\nimmense.
\n“What do you need?” I asked. “Body bags” was the reply. So we found
\n20,000 body bags in China and had them on a plane the next day.
\nA call came, “we need 30 [thousand] more.” We found them and they
\nwere sent. The next call “do you have any motorcycles? We need to
\nget back into the mountain villages with aid and medical supplies,
\nbut the roads are gone. Trucks can’t get through and elephants
\nare too slow. If we had motorcycles, we could get through.”
\n“Are they to be found in Asia” I asked. “Yes,” he said. So we found
\nthe motorcycles and had them on their way the next day.
\nThe Church is sound and is able to provide these types of aid as a
\nback-up where there is need. We [as members and in our individual
\nwards] are the back-up position of the Church. Learn to<\/p>\n
apply the old Pioneer adage \u00e2\u20ac\u201c “Eat [use] it up. Wear it out. Make do,
\nor do without.” We’re going to have to learn to do without.
\nAgain, “Eat it up. Wear it out. Make do, or do without.”
\nEven if we have the resources, we need to do more to be thrifty.
\nOthers will rely on us. The Church will rely on us. It is our
\nresponsibility and duty to be caring for ourselves, our family,
\nand those around us. Be watching for need. Set something by that we
\ncan be of help to others when the time comes. Trust in the counsel of
\nour wise elders\/older people.<\/p>\n
There are nearly 60,000 missionaries serving throughout the world
\ntoday. The cost to support a missionary is right about $400 a month
\ntoday. That’s $4,800 a year. Consider if we have the resources that
\nthere may be others who don’t and who have a need. When Brother
\nTuttle was a young man, he had a strong desire to serve a mission.
\nBut he didn’t have the money to pay for it, and his family didn’t
\nhave the money for it. So Brother Tuttle thought of who was the
\nrichest man in his town and, after saying a prayer, he approached
\nhim. A loan was made, a mission served, and the loan repaid. Those
\nwho need our help may not always ask us.
\nIt’s about time the Lord taught us a lesson. A great catastrophe is
\ncoming. Now I probably shouldn’t say that because then it will
\nhappen. But it is going to happen. That’s what it will take
\nto turn our hearts to the Lord. And we will learn from it.
\nOur prayers will be different, less selfish. The scripture says “If
\nye are prepared, ye need not fear.” Renew your prayers. You can
\n[also] think a prayer. Carry a prayer in your heart
\nthroughout the day. Learn to pray for that which is of worth. Another
\nscripture says “\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6do not spend money for that which is of no worth,
\nnor your labor for that which cannot satisfy.” (2 Nephi 9:51) That
\ncan be applied both spiritually [to prayer] and physically. Use what
\nwe have. If something is broken, fix it. Our young people are going
\nto see different times than what they are used to. To you teenagers,
\nyour life will be different. Things are changing. You will have to
\ndo without some of the things you are used to expecting. Don’t be
\nafraid. Change your life to do without the extravagances and luxuries
\nthat you’ve expected.
\nLearn to pray. There’s a difference between `saying prayers’ and
\npraying. A wonderful time is coming \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it’s not going to be easy, and
\nit’s not going to be short. But don’t be afraid.
\nBrother Tuttle was one of the Seventy when there were just seven of
\nthem. Now there are eight quorums of the Seventy called to go
\nthroughout all the world. It’s an apostolic calling to teach
\nthe gospel to every nation, people and tongue. They’ll know what to
\ndo and will lead and counsel where they are called.
\nTake care of what we’ve got. Begin to save. The rainy day is coming \u00e2\u20ac\u201c
\nin fact, the snowy day is already here [in reference to today’s first
\nwinter snow]. Reset our expectations. Give up selfishness. Wickedness
\nis all around us. In today’s world, it’s not safe for children to be
\noutside alone. We need to be ever watchful. We need to protect
\nourselves from the wickedness, avarice, and greed in the world.
\nRead the scriptures and the revelations. The guidance and counsel are
\nthere. Read with new eyes, and the scriptures, the Book of Mormon,
\nwill take on new meaning.<\/p>\n
As President Bush and world leaders gather in the coming week and the
\nweeks ahead, there will be no easy answers or solutions. Hard times
\nare ahead and it’s difficult for them to see what to do. It’s
\nimportant to listen to the Sprit. We are led by prophets and
\napostles. We can see ahead. We can be and are prepared.
\nI pronounce upon you an Apostolic blessing. Comfort our children.
\nLittle children can be afraid of things we might not think of.
\nComfort them and strengthen our families. Turn off the television and
\nfocus on family. Pay your tithing. The promise is there \u00e2\u20ac\u201c pay your
\ntithing and you’ll be watched over. You’ll be alright. None of us is
\nexempt from trials. If hard times come upon you and your income
\ndwindles, remember that tithing is equitable for everyone: 10%. If
\nyou have nothing, then it’s 10% of practically nothing. Pay your
\ntithing, do what you’re supposed to do. You’ll be comforted.
\nSure trials will come. Because of them, faith will increase.
\nHappiness will increase. Security will increase. You’ll be glad to be
\nalive at this time. It’s a good time to be living. To be raising
\nchildren. I leave this testimony, counsel, and blessing with you in
\nthe holy name of Jesus Christ.
\nAmen.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The following is making the email rounds with lightning speed. It claims to be talk given recently by President Packer. Can anyone confirm or deny?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-doctrine","category-mormon-studies"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4817"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6130,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4817\/revisions\/6130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}