Recently, the "Church News" sat down with President Thomas S. Monson and talked about the Aaronic Priesthood of the Church.
A lifelong champion of Scouting and the Church's Young Men program, President Monson spoke enthusiastically about the worth of each boy in the Church. The Church president said it's vital that every young man develop confidence, prepare wisely and enjoy the support of dutiful parents and leaders.
He expressed his own faith in the young men of the Church, worldwide. He's optimistic about their future.
Indeed, there are tens of thousands of Aaronic Priesthood-age young men in the Church today. It would be impossible for President Monson to interview each individually. But if the Church president could speak to every young man face-to-face, he would likely share with each boy the same counsel he offered to his missionaries decades ago when he was a mission president in Canada.
"I'd tell them to be their very best," President Monson said. "Be the best of which you are capable in all things."
A Good Education
During his exit interviews with departing missionaries, President Monson stressed the importance of acquiring a quality education. That timeless direction to "seek learning" remains especially relevant in today's competitive, high-tech world.
"You want to be prepared to take advantage of the opportunities that come your way. If you're not prepared, you're in difficulty," he said, before quoting the scripture, "if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." (See Doctrine and Covenants 38:30.)
It isn't enough to simply get an education, added President Monson. Young men should plan to study something that they enjoy and will allow them to earn a living. A person may possess a fondness for, say, Egyptian pottery — but the job opportunities in such a field may be limited.
"Study something you like to do and something that will enable you to have a family and sustain your family," he said.
The Lord's Tenth and Temple Marriage
President Monson said that during his exit interviews with missionaries, he also spoke of the safety found in satisfying one's financial obligation to the Lord. "Pay your tithing," he said, "that's the big divider between those who stay fully active in the Church and those who do not. Tithing is the first law (some) slip on, then there is slippage all the way through."
Lastly, President Monson would tell his departing missionaries to marry in the temple. "Date only a girl you can take to the temple — you're going to fall in love with someone you date."
Gain Confidence
As a boy, young Tommy Monson developed a passion for softball. The sport would teach him lessons that reach beyond the softball diamond. Lessons that served him well as an athlete and, later, as a Church leader presiding over young men.
"When I was in the sixth grade, I wasn't very coordinated...I wasn't very good," said President Monson, recalling his youthful image with a smile. He was usually chosen last when the other boys picked sides for sandlot softball games.
Then one day something special happened. Young Tommy was playing center field, one of his favorite positions. The opposing team's batter hit a long fly ball deep into the outfield in Tommy's direction. As he ran to the descending ball, the future Church president heard someone say, "He won't catch that."
"I ran as hard as I could, put my bare hand out and caught the ball," President Monson said. "From that point on, I could hold my own in softball. With just that one bit of confidence, I knew I could do it."
It's essential, he added, that every young man in the Church experience such confidence-inspiring moments.
Softball would also teach President Monson a lesson in humility — and the danger of judging another by his or her appearance.
When he was a little older, Tom Monson often took to the mound during his fastpitch softball games. During a Decoration Day game against another ward, pitcher Monson watched as a one-armed batter stepped into the box.
"I lobbed an easy one to him — and he hit it! The ball landed right over second base." The next batter he faced sent his pitch sailing out of the park for a home run. President Monson said he can still see that one-armed player smiling at him as he jogged around the base path and touched home plate.
Young Men Need Leaders
Later, while serving as a mission president, President Monson used a preparation day game of softball with his missionaries to teach an important lesson of leadership. A young elder who was pitching invited his mission president to take a few swings.
"Oh, I don't know," President Monson told the elder, "I haven't played for a long time." But he handed his suit coat to his wife, Sister Frances Monson, selected a bat, stepped inside the batter's box, and told the elder "give me the best pitch you've got." The mission president smacked the ball out of the park.
The pitcher sent him another ball. Again, President Monson made solid contact. Then he handed the bat to the elder who was playing catcher. The catcher asked him if he was going to run the bases.
"No," he said, "I'm not competing with you missionaries, I'm your mission president. I just wanted you to know I could hit the ball."
President Monson sometimes shares that softball moment with new mission presidents. It's important that Aaronic Priesthood leaders establish "a little line" between themselves and the young men they lead. What if, say, that missionary-pitcher had lost his father a week after that softball game. "That's when that missionary needed a mission president — not another ball player."
Young men don't need another buddy or playmate, said President Monson. They need leaders to direct them.
Scouting
President Monson once saw a sign in a furniture store that read: "Finishers Wanted."
Scouting, he said, can help craft Aaronic Priesthood holders into finishers. Scouting's merit badge program can expose young men to a wide variety of vocations, professions and hobbies that will help them hone skills needed to be "finishers."
Bishops, young men leaders and Scoutmasters must help young men navigate the "finishers"' path, said President Monson.
"You've got to demonstrate to the young men that they are important to you," he said. "You don't walk out on them. They need to know that on evenings when you have your Scout meetings, you'll be there."
While speaking about the importance of devoted leaders, President Monson remembered his first overnight Scout camp at Utah's Tracy Wigwam. Tommy and his fellow Scouts were joined on the camp by their Scoutmaster, a fellow ward member named Carl who walked on an artificial leg.
It was winter and the young boys were cold and maybe a little homesick. "Who should show up but my mother and father with a freezer of ice cream," said President Monson, laughing. "We were all freezing. Hot chili would have been a lot better."
As the Scouts bedded down for the night in their cabin, Tommy and the others watched Carl remove his artificial leg and place it next to his sleeping bag. During the night, one of the boys climbed from his sleeping bag, swiped Carl's artificial leg and hid it in his own bunk.
When Carl awoke he discovered the leg was missing. But instead of raising his voice and demanding his property be immediately returned, Carl simply said he needed to step outside the cabin for a moment. The Scouts watched their leader hop on one leg out the door. "I think every boy felt ashamed," said President Monson.
Carl soon returned and discovered his artificial leg resting where he had left it the night before. "I don't know how I overlooked this the first time I looked," said Carl, "but I'm sure glad it's here."
President Monson said Carl knew well he'd been the victim of a boy's prank, but he chose to respond with softness. "We were all better boys for his not jumping on us."
Reason for Optimism
As the longest-serving member of Scouting's national executive board (approaching 40 years), President Monson has spoken to countless audiences of Boy Scouts and their leaders. He spoke of one special assignment in 2005 when he addressed some 5,000 LDS Scouters gathered for the National Scout Jamboree at Ft. A.P. Hill, Va.
Tragedy had visited the jamboree days earlier when an electrical accident claimed the lives of several Scout leaders from Alaska, including Church member Michael LaCroix. During his address, President Monson paid tribute to Brother LaCroix and his widow, Carol LaCroix.
President Monson invited the thousands in attendance at that Sabbath-day meeting to stand and, at his lead, raise their right hands in an official Scout salute in tribute to the LaCroix family. A photo of that dramatic moment of unity was sent to Sister LaCroix.
The young men of the Church "learn by example more than they learn from anything else," said President Monson, "That's how you teach them to think of another person....You can be part of their lives."
In recent years, several newspaper and magazine articles have noted an unwillingness in young men across the world to set goals for their future and to make the effort to achieve them. President Monson said he isn't buying it as far as the young men in the Church are concerned. When he considers today's Aaronic Priesthood holders, the president of the Church said he's happy and hopeful.
"If you have the leaders, there is definitely reason for optimism," he said. "If you don't have a leader, you make one."
(This story is provided by the LDS Church News, an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is
produced weekly by the Deseret News. The contents of each week's edition of LDS
Church News are available to subscribers online at ldschurchnews.com. To subscribe to LDS Church News, please click here.)
E-mail to: jswensen@desnews.com