Thank you my beloved students and faculty for such a warm welcome home. We are so happy to be here,
but I want you to know, you're not fooling me. I know who you came here to hear.
And guess what, that's who I came to hear too, so i'll be brief, quick, and I'll enjoy hearing too.
It's such a thrill for Elder Holland and I to be back
on this beautiful campus that we love so much. We spent 15 wonderful years of our life here.
That sounds like a lifetime, but some of us are slower getting through school than others.
Most tender of all for me through those years is the fact that we raised our wonderful children
on this campus. The old president's home across from the Maiser Building is the only
real childhood home they knew for nearly a decade. I'm so grateful for all the
wonderful experiences we we had during those years, and the wonderful memories we had.
It was so handy for me to have 30 000 students as babysitters on my speed dial.
We know,
young friends, that these college years could be very very difficult, demanding, and stressful for
you. You have so many expectations placed upon you, many expectations you've put on yourself,
and some of the days are spent trying to meet those expectations. It could be painful, they
can be lonely and very frightening. When these days come, I ask you to remember this one truth
and a promise from your Heavenly Father that I have held on to desperately even when my own
life has been in jeopardy. God whispering to each of you, to all of us his children,
has said this, "I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the lord. Thoughts of
peace and not of evil to give you an expected end [and or a joyful end, the one you want].
Then shall ye call upon me, and I will hearken unto you and you shall seek me and find me.
When you shall search for me with all of her heart, I will be found of you saith the lord."
I'm old enough to bear witness of a God who thinks peace regarding us and not evil.
Of a god that will hearken unto every single one of us in our times of need. I
witness that Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten Son, and the Savior of this world,
and I will always always stand as a witness of him, and of his word,
and of his promises wherever I am. I have lived too long and I know too much and I've seen too
much to ever doubt the truth of those things that our prophets and apostles have revealed.
I know how much those apostles care for you because I live with one of them.
No one will ever know the prayers my husband has offered, or the tears he has shed for you and
those like you who may struggle with one kind of a challenge or another. He loves you and I love you,
and I pray that my testimony and his message today will bring you comfort and strengthen you
in good times and in bad. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
you