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<br>But the level of showmanship in Feld Entertainment's other shows made an impression. "They're already doing feats that are superhuman to begin with," Quesada said of the performers that Feld Entertainment recruits for its circus and other shows. Feld said his company's long-standing partnership with Burbank, California based The Walt Disney Co. "I kind of know I didn't do my assignment. He just kind of gives me that look like: 'You could have done better. Hopkins feels bad when he gets that look from Johnson and it spurs him to playing better. This couldnt be further from the truth. When you borrow money from your 401(k), you are taking out a loan. Just like an auto loan or a home loan, this means you promise to pay back what you borrow. </br><br>Weeks after last year's RAGBRAI, she crashed her bike and suffered a traumatic brain injury that erased six months of her memory. Through a grueling yet remarkable year of recovery, she became determined not only to climb back on her bike, but also to return to RAGBRAI with her dad. "That sort of represented getting back to her previous life, I think," he says. Voice from back of room: "Of course we have a plan! What do we look like, obstructionists?Everyone chimes in at once. <a href="http://www.google.com">google</a> What Would You Do? has won awards from the Chicago International Television Festival, and the Avon Foundations 2006 Voice of Change award for exposing injustice and wrongdoing against women and bringing the message of domestic violence to the mainstream. David Sloan is the executive producer and Danielle Rossen is the senior broadcast producer of What Would You Do?</br><br>Do my year and be done. If they want to bring me back, they'll bring me back. If not, go somewhere else. Miss District of Columbia Allyn Rose will undergo a double mastectomy now that the competition is over as a preventive measure because cancer runs in her family. And Miss Montana Alexis Wineman was the Miss America organization's first autistic competitor. Now, for the all-important question time!There are always that can be used. The formula: Don't worry, it's fairly simple. To conduct your breakeven analysis, take your fixed costs, divided by your price, minus your variable costs. google They functioned better. Colorado wants to see similar success stories, but it has a way to go. "The directive I have is to get trauma-informed care implemented systemwide and departmentwide," said Dr. </br><br>Sodium carbonate, the common names are soda, soda ash and washing soda. Life often also referred to as "base. " The chemical formula is Na2CO3, under ordinary circumstances as a white powder, it is a strong electrolyte. "Dumb criminal! That's the first [word] that comes to mind," Davis said. "We found some narcotics in this woman's possession, so she's in quite a bit of hot water. A deputy was on his way to personally warn her, but he was pushed back by flames. According to Larimer County, many residents are refusing to evacuate. The county is keeping a record of who refused for public records. The way our relationship was handled with him was very mysterious and confusing to me. He started to scare me. Donna Goldstrom, a local addictions counselor, said that, while meth abuse is not as prevalent in Northern Colorado as alcohol, marijuana and opiates , its devastating effects on teens and families cannot be ignored. </br>

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Fifty-one years ago, John F. Kennedy declared to this Chamber that “the Constitution makes us not rivals for power but partners for progress…It is my task,” he said, “to report the State of the Union – to improve it is the task of us all.”

Tonight, thanks to the grit and determination of the American people, there is much progress to report. After a decade of grinding war, our brave men and women in uniform are coming home. After years of grueling recession, our businesses have created over six million new jobs. We buy more American cars than we have in five years, and less foreign oil than we have in twenty. Our housing market is healing, our stock market is rebounding, and consumers, patients, and homeowners enjoy stronger protections than ever before.

Together, we have cleared away the rubble of crisis, and can say with renewed confidence that the state of our union is stronger.

But we gather here knowing that there are millions of Americans whose hard work and dedication have not yet been rewarded. Our economy is adding jobs – but too many people still can’t find full-time employment. Corporate profits have rocketed to all-time highs – but for more than a decade, wages and incomes have barely budged.

It is our generation’s task, then, to reignite the true engine of America’s economic growth – a rising, thriving middle class.

It is our unfinished task to restore the basic bargain that built this country – the idea that if you work hard and meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead, no matter where you come from, what you look like, or who you love.

It is our unfinished task to make sure that this government works on behalf of the many, and not just the few; that it encourages free enterprise, rewards individual initiative, and opens the doors of opportunity to every child across this great nation.

The American people don’t expect government to solve every problem. They don’t expect those of us in this chamber to agree on every issue. But they do expect us to put the nation’s interests before party. They do expect us to forge reasonable compromise where we can. For they know that America moves forward only when we do so together; and that the responsibility of improving this union remains the task of us all.

Our work must begin by making some basic decisions about our budget – decisions that will have a huge impact on the strength of our recovery.

Over the last few years, both parties have worked together to reduce the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion – mostly through spending cuts, but also by raising tax rates on the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans. As a result, we are more than halfway towards the goal of $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists say we need to stabilize our finances.

Now we need to finish the job. And the question is, how?

In 2011, Congress passed a law saying that if both parties couldn’t agree on a plan to reach our deficit goal, about a trillion dollars’ worth of budget cuts would automatically go into effect this year. These sudden, harsh, arbitrary cuts would jeopardize our military readiness. They’d devastate priorities like education, energy, and medical research. They would certainly slow our recovery, and cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs. That’s why Democrats, Republicans, business leaders, and economists have already said that these cuts, known here in Washington as “the sequester,” are a really bad idea.

Now, some in this Congress have proposed preventing only the defense cuts by making even bigger cuts to things like education and job training; Medicare and Social Security benefits.

That idea is even worse. Yes, the biggest driver of our long-term debt is the rising cost of health care for an aging population. And those of us who care deeply about programs like Medicare must embrace the need for modest reforms – otherwise, our retirement programs will crowd out the investments we need for our children, and jeopardize the promise of a secure retirement for future generations.

But we can’t ask senior citizens and working families to shoulder the entire burden of deficit reduction while asking nothing more from the wealthiest and most powerful. We won’t grow the middle class simply by shifting the cost of health care or college onto families that are already struggling, or by forcing communities to lay off more teachers, cops, and firefighters. Most Americans – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents – understand that we can’t just cut our way to prosperity. They know that broad-based economic growth requires a balanced approach to deficit reduction, with spending cuts and revenue, and with everybody doing their fair share. And that’s the approach I offer tonight.

On Medicare, I’m prepared to enact reforms that will achieve the same amount of health care savings by the beginning of the next decade as the reforms proposed by the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles commission. Already, the Affordable Care Act is helping to slow the growth of health care costs. The reforms I’m proposing go even further. We’ll reduce taxpayer subsidies to prescription drug companies and ask more from the wealthiest seniors. We’ll bring down costs by changing the way our government pays for Medicare, because our medical bills shouldn’t be based on the number of tests ordered or days spent in the hospital – they should be based on the quality of care that our seniors receive. And I am open to additional reforms from both parties, so long as they don’t violate the guarantee of a secure retirement. Our government shouldn’t make promises we cannot keep – but we must keep the promises we’ve already made.

To hit the rest of our deficit reduction target, we should do what leaders in both parties have already suggested, and save hundreds of billions of dollars by getting rid of tax loopholes and deductions for the well-off and well-connected. After all, why would we choose to make deeper cuts to education and Medicare just to protect special interest tax breaks? How is that fair? How does that promote growth?

Now is our best chance for bipartisan, comprehensive tax reform that encourages job creation and helps bring down the deficit. The American people deserve a tax code that helps small businesses spend less time filling out complicated forms, and more time expanding and hiring; a tax code that ensures billionaires with high-powered accountants can’t pay a lower rate than their hard-working secretaries; a tax code that lowers incentives to move jobs overseas, and lowers tax rates for businesses and manufacturers that create jobs right here in America. That’s what tax reform can deliver. That’s what we can do together.

I realize that tax reform and entitlement reform won’t be easy. The politics will be hard for both sides. None of us will get 100 percent of what we want. But the alternative will cost us jobs, hurt our economy, and visit hardship on millions of hardworking Americans. So let’s set party interests aside, and work to pass a budget that replaces reckless cuts with smart savings and wise investments in our future. And let’s do it without the brinksmanship that stresses consumers and scares off investors. The greatest nation on Earth cannot keep conducting its business by drifting from one manufactured crisis to the next. Let’s agree, right here, right now, to keep the people’s government open, pay our bills on time, and always uphold the full faith and credit of the United States of America. The American people have worked too hard, for too long, rebuilding from one crisis to see their elected officials cause another.

Now, most of us agree that a plan to reduce the deficit must be part of our agenda. But let’s be clear: deficit reduction alone is not an economic plan. A growing economy that creates good, middle-class jobs – that must be the North Star that guides our efforts. Every day, we should ask ourselves three questions as a nation: How do we attract more jobs to our shores? How do we equip our people with the skills needed to do those jobs? And how do we make sure that hard work leads to a decent living?

A year and a half ago, I put forward an American Jobs Act that independent economists said would create more than one million new jobs. I thank the last Congress for passing some of that agenda, and I urge this Congress to pass the rest. Tonight, I’ll lay out additional proposals that are fully paid for and fully consistent with the budget framework both parties agreed to just 18 months ago. Let me repeat – nothing I’m proposing tonight should increase our deficit by a single dime. It’s not a bigger government we need, but a smarter government that sets priorities and invests in broad-based growth.

Our first priority is making America a magnet for new jobs and manufacturing.

After shedding jobs for more than 10 years, our manufacturers have added about 500,000 jobs over the past three. Caterpillar is bringing jobs back from Japan. Ford is bringing jobs back from Mexico. After locating plants in other countries like China, Intel is opening its most advanced plant right here at home. And this year, Apple will start making Macs in America again.

There are things we can do, right now, to accelerate this trend. Last year, we created our first manufacturing innovation institute in Youngstown, Ohio. A once-shuttered warehouse is now a state-of-the art lab where new workers are mastering the 3D printing that has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything. There’s no reason this can’t happen in other towns. So tonight, I’m announcing the launch of three more of these manufacturing hubs, where businesses will partner with the Departments of Defense and Energy to turn regions left behind by globalization into global centers of high-tech jobs. And I ask this Congress to help create a network of fifteen of these hubs and guarantee that the next revolution in manufacturing is Made in America.

If we want to make the best products, we also have to invest in the best ideas. Every dollar we invested to map the human genome returned $140 to our economy. Today, our scientists are mapping the human brain to unlock the answers to Alzheimer’s; developing drugs to regenerate damaged organs; devising new material to make batteries ten times more powerful. Now is not the time to gut these job-creating investments in science and innovation. Now is the time to reach a level of research and development not seen since the height of the Space Race. And today, no area holds more promise than our investments in American energy.

After years of talking about it, we are finally poised to control our own energy future. We produce more oil at home than we have in 15 years. We have doubled the distance our cars will go on a gallon of gas, and the amount of renewable energy we generate from sources like wind and solar – with tens of thousands of good, American jobs to show for it. We produce more natural gas than ever before – and nearly everyone’s energy bill is lower because of it. And over the last four years, our emissions of the dangerous carbon pollution that threatens our planet have actually fallen.

But for the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change. Yes, it’s true that no single event makes a trend. But the fact is, the 12 hottest years on record have all come in the last 15. Heat waves, droughts, wildfires, and floods – all are now more frequent and intense. We can choose to believe that Superstorm Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires some states have ever seen were all just a freak coincidence. Or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment of science – and act before it’s too late.

The good news is, we can make meaningful progress on this issue while driving strong economic growth. I urge this Congress to pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change, like the one John McCain and Joe Lieberman worked on together a few years ago. But if Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will. I will direct my Cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.

Four years ago, other countries dominated the clean energy market and the jobs that came with it. We’ve begun to change that. Last year, wind energy added nearly half of all new power capacity in America. So let’s generate even more. Solar energy gets cheaper by the year – so let’s drive costs down even further. As long as countries like China keep going all-in on clean energy, so must we.

In the meantime, the natural gas boom has led to cleaner power and greater energy independence. That’s why my Administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits. But I also want to work with this Congress to encourage the research and technology that helps natural gas burn even cleaner and protects our air and water.

Indeed, much of our new-found energy is drawn from lands and waters that we, the public, own together. So tonight, I propose we use some of our oil and gas revenues to fund an Energy Security Trust that will drive new research and technology to shift our cars and trucks off oil for good. If a non-partisan coalition of CEOs and retired generals and admirals can get behind this idea, then so can we. Let’s take their advice and free our families and businesses from the painful spikes in gas prices we’ve put up with for far too long. I’m also issuing a new goal for America: let’s cut in half the energy wasted by our homes and businesses over the next twenty years. The states with the best ideas to create jobs and lower energy bills by constructing more efficient buildings will receive federal support to help make it happen.

America’s energy sector is just one part of an aging infrastructure badly in need of repair. Ask any CEO where they’d rather locate and hire: a country with deteriorating roads and bridges, or one with high-speed rail and internet; high-tech schools and self-healing power grids. The CEO of Siemens America – a company that brought hundreds of new jobs to North Carolina – has said that if we upgrade our infrastructure, they’ll bring even more jobs. And I know that you want these job-creating projects in your districts. I’ve seen you all at the ribbon-cuttings.

Tonight, I propose a “Fix-It-First” program to put people to work as soon as possible on our most urgent repairs, like the nearly 70,000 structurally deficient bridges across the country. And to make sure taxpayers don’t shoulder the whole burden, I’m also proposing a Partnership to Rebuild America that attracts private capital to upgrade what our businesses need most: modern ports to move our goods; modern pipelines to withstand a storm; modern schools worthy of our children. Let’s prove that there is no better place to do business than the United States of America. And let’s start right away.

Part of our rebuilding effort must also involve our housing sector. Today, our housing market is finally healing from the collapse of 2007. Home prices are rising at the fastest pace in six years, home purchases are up nearly 50 percent, and construction is expanding again.

But even with mortgage rates near a 50-year low, too many families with solid credit who want to buy a home are being rejected. Too many families who have never missed a payment and want to refinance are being told no. That’s holding our entire economy back, and we need to fix it. Right now, there’s a bill in this Congress that would give every responsible homeowner in America the chance to save $3,000 a year by refinancing at today’s rates. Democrats and Republicans have supported it before. What are we waiting for? Take a vote, and send me that bill. Right now, overlapping regulations keep responsible young families from buying their first home. What’s holding us back? Let’s streamline the process, and help our economy grow.

These initiatives in manufacturing, energy, infrastructure, and housing will help entrepreneurs and small business owners expand and create new jobs. But none of it will matter unless we also equip our citizens with the skills and training to fill those jobs. And that has to start at the earliest possible age.

Study after study shows that the sooner a child begins learning, the better he or she does down the road. But today, fewer than 3 in 10 four year-olds are enrolled in a high-quality preschool program. Most middle-class parents can’t afford a few hundred bucks a week for private preschool. And for poor kids who need help the most, this lack of access to preschool education can shadow them for the rest of their lives.

Tonight, I propose working with states to make high-quality preschool available to every child in America. Every dollar we invest in high-quality early education can save more than seven dollars later on – by boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, even reducing violent crime. In states that make it a priority to educate our youngest children, like Georgia or Oklahoma, studies show students grow up more likely to read and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, and form more stable families of their own. So let’s do what works, and make sure none of our children start the race of life already behind. Let’s give our kids that chance.

Let’s also make sure that a high school diploma puts our kids on a path to a good job. Right now, countries like Germany focus on graduating their high school students with the equivalent of a technical degree from one of our community colleges, so that they’re ready for a job. At schools like P-Tech in Brooklyn, a collaboration between New York Public Schools, the City University of New York, and IBM, students will graduate with a high school diploma and an associate degree in computers or engineering.

We need to give every American student opportunities like this. Four years ago, we started Race to the Top – a competition that convinced almost every state to develop smarter curricula and higher standards, for about 1 percent of what we spend on education each year. Tonight, I’m announcing a new challenge to redesign America’s high schools so they better equip graduates for the demands of a high-tech economy. We’ll reward schools that develop new partnerships with colleges and employers, and create classes that focus on science, technology, engineering, and math – the skills today’s employers are looking for to fill jobs right now and in the future.

Now, even with better high schools, most young people will need some higher education. It’s a simple fact: the more education you have, the more likely you are to have a job and work your way into the middle class. But today, skyrocketing costs price way too many young people out of a higher education, or saddle them with unsustainable debt.

Through tax credits, grants, and better loans, we have made college more affordable for millions of students and families over the last few years. But taxpayers cannot continue to subsidize the soaring cost of higher education. Colleges must do their part to keep costs down, and it’s our job to make sure they do. Tonight, I ask Congress to change the Higher Education Act, so that affordability and value are included in determining which colleges receive certain types of federal aid. And tomorrow, my Administration will release a new “College Scorecard” that parents and students can use to compare schools based on a simple criteria: where you can get the most bang for your educational buck.

To grow our middle class, our citizens must have access to the education and training that today’s jobs require. But we also have to make sure that America remains a place where everyone who’s willing to work hard has the chance to get ahead.

Our economy is stronger when we harness the talents and ingenuity of striving, hopeful immigrants. And right now, leaders from the business, labor, law enforcement, and faith communities all agree that the time has come to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Real reform means strong border security, and we can build on the progress my Administration has already made – putting more boots on the southern border than at any time in our history, and reducing illegal crossings to their lowest levels in 40 years.

Real reform means establishing a responsible pathway to earned citizenship – a path that includes passing a background check, paying taxes and a meaningful penalty, learning English, and going to the back of the line behind the folks trying to come here legally.

And real reform means fixing the legal immigration system to cut waiting periods, reduce bureaucracy, and attract the highly-skilled entrepreneurs and engineers that will help create jobs and grow our economy.

In other words, we know what needs to be done. As we speak, bipartisan groups in both chambers are working diligently to draft a bill, and I applaud their efforts. Now let’s get this done. Send me a comprehensive immigration reform bill in the next few months, and I will sign it right away.

But we can’t stop there. We know our economy is stronger when our wives, mothers, and daughters can live their lives free from discrimination in the workplace, and free from the fear of domestic violence. Today, the Senate passed the Violence Against Women Act that Joe Biden originally wrote almost 20 years ago. I urge the House to do the same. And I ask this Congress to declare that women should earn a living equal to their efforts, and finally pass the Paycheck Fairness Act this year.

We know our economy is stronger when we reward an honest day’s work with honest wages. But today, a full-time worker making the minimum wage earns $14,500 a year. Even with the tax relief we’ve put in place, a family with two kids that earns the minimum wage still lives below the poverty line. That’s wrong. That’s why, since the last time this Congress raised the minimum wage, nineteen states have chosen to bump theirs even higher.

Tonight, let’s declare that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty, and raise the federal minimum wage to $9.00 an hour. This single step would raise the incomes of millions of working families. It could mean the difference between groceries or the food bank; rent or eviction; scraping by or finally getting ahead. For businesses across the country, it would mean customers with more money in their pockets. In fact, working folks shouldn’t have to wait year after year for the minimum wage to go up while CEO pay has never been higher. So here’s an idea that Governor Romney and I actually agreed on last year: let’s tie the minimum wage to the cost of living, so that it finally becomes a wage you can live on.

Tonight, let’s also recognize that there are communities in this country where no matter how hard you work, it’s virtually impossible to get ahead. Factory towns decimated from years of plants packing up. Inescapable pockets of poverty, urban and rural, where young adults are still fighting for their first job. America is not a place where chance of birth or circumstance should decide our destiny. And that is why we need to build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class for all who are willing to climb them.

Let’s offer incentives to companies that hire Americans who’ve got what it takes to fill that job opening, but have been out of work so long that no one will give them a chance. Let’s put people back to work rebuilding vacant homes in run-down neighborhoods. And this year, my Administration will begin to partner with 20 of the hardest-hit towns in America to get these communities back on their feet. We’ll work with local leaders to target resources at public safety, education, and housing. We’ll give new tax credits to businesses that hire and invest. And we’ll work to strengthen families by removing the financial deterrents to marriage for low-income couples, and doing more to encourage fatherhood – because what makes you a man isn’t the ability to conceive a child; it’s having the courage to raise one.

Stronger families. Stronger communities. A stronger America. It is this kind of prosperity – broad, shared, and built on a thriving middle class – that has always been the source of our progress at home. It is also the foundation of our power and influence throughout the world.

Tonight, we stand united in saluting the troops and civilians who sacrifice every day to protect us. Because of them, we can say with confidence that America will complete its mission in Afghanistan, and achieve our objective of defeating the core of al Qaeda. Already, we have brought home 33,000 of our brave servicemen and women. This spring, our forces will move into a support role, while Afghan security forces take the lead. Tonight, I can announce that over the next year, another 34,000 American troops will come home from Afghanistan. This drawdown will continue. And by the end of next year, our war in Afghanistan will be over.

Beyond 2014, America’s commitment to a unified and sovereign Afghanistan will endure, but the nature of our commitment will change. We are negotiating an agreement with the Afghan government that focuses on two missions: training and equipping Afghan forces so that the country does not again slip into chaos, and counter-terrorism efforts that allow us to pursue the remnants of al Qaeda and their affiliates.

Today, the organization that attacked us on 9/11 is a shadow of its former self. Different al Qaeda affiliates and extremist groups have emerged – from the Arabian Peninsula to Africa. The threat these groups pose is evolving. But to meet this threat, we don’t need to send tens of thousands of our sons and daughters abroad, or occupy other nations. Instead, we will need to help countries like Yemen, Libya, and Somalia provide for their own security, and help allies who take the fight to terrorists, as we have in Mali. And, where necessary, through a range of capabilities, we will continue to take direct action against those terrorists who pose the gravest threat to Americans.

As we do, we must enlist our values in the fight. That is why my Administration has worked tirelessly to forge a durable legal and policy framework to guide our counterterrorism operations. Throughout, we have kept Congress fully informed of our efforts. I recognize that in our democracy, no one should just take my word that we’re doing things the right way. So, in the months ahead, I will continue to engage with Congress to ensure not only that our targeting, detention, and prosecution of terrorists remains consistent with our laws and system of checks and balances, but that our efforts are even more transparent to the American people and to the world.

Of course, our challenges don’t end with al Qaeda. America will continue to lead the effort to prevent the spread of the world’s most dangerous weapons. The regime in North Korea must know that they will only achieve security and prosperity by meeting their international obligations. Provocations of the sort we saw last night will only isolate them further, as we stand by our allies, strengthen our own missile defense, and lead the world in taking firm action in response to these threats.

Likewise, the leaders of Iran must recognize that now is the time for a diplomatic solution, because a coalition stands united in demanding that they meet their obligations, and we will do what is necessary to prevent them from getting a nuclear weapon. At the same time, we will engage Russia to seek further reductions in our nuclear arsenals, and continue leading the global effort to secure nuclear materials that could fall into the wrong hands – because our ability to influence others depends on our willingness to lead.

America must also face the rapidly growing threat from cyber-attacks. We know hackers steal people’s identities and infiltrate private e-mail. We know foreign countries and companies swipe our corporate secrets. Now our enemies are also seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions, and our air traffic control systems. We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy.

That’s why, earlier today, I signed a new executive order that will strengthen our cyber defenses by increasing information sharing, and developing standards to protect our national security, our jobs, and our privacy. Now, Congress must act as well, by passing legislation to give our government a greater capacity to secure our networks and deter attacks.

Even as we protect our people, we should remember that today’s world presents not only dangers, but opportunities. To boost American exports, support American jobs, and level the playing field in the growing markets of Asia, we intend to complete negotiations on a Trans-Pacific Partnership. And tonight, I am announcing that we will launch talks on a comprehensive Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union – because trade that is free and fair across the Atlantic supports millions of good-paying American jobs.

We also know that progress in the most impoverished parts of our world enriches us all. In many places, people live on little more than a dollar a day. So the United States will join with our allies to eradicate such extreme poverty in the next two decades: by connecting more people to the global economy and empowering women; by giving our young and brightest minds new opportunities to serve and helping communities to feed, power, and educate themselves; by saving the world’s children from preventable deaths; and by realizing the promise of an AIDS-free generation.

Above all, America must remain a beacon to all who seek freedom during this period of historic change. I saw the power of hope last year in Rangoon – when Aung San Suu Kyi welcomed an American President into the home where she had been imprisoned for years; when thousands of Burmese lined the streets, waving American flags, including a man who said, “There is justice and law in the United States. I want our country to be like that.”

In defense of freedom, we will remain the anchor of strong alliances from the Americas to Africa; from Europe to Asia. In the Middle East, we will stand with citizens as they demand their universal rights, and support stable transitions to democracy. The process will be messy, and we cannot presume to dictate the course of change in countries like Egypt; but we can – and will – insist on respect for the fundamental rights of all people. We will keep the pressure on a Syrian regime that has murdered its own people, and support opposition leaders that respect the rights of every Syrian. And we will stand steadfast with Israel in pursuit of security and a lasting peace. These are the messages I will deliver when I travel to the Middle East next month.

All this work depends on the courage and sacrifice of those who serve in dangerous places at great personal risk – our diplomats, our intelligence officers, and the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. As long as I’m Commander-in-Chief, we will do whatever we must to protect those who serve their country abroad, and we will maintain the best military in the world. We will invest in new capabilities, even as we reduce waste and wartime spending. We will ensure equal treatment for all service members, and equal benefits for their families – gay and straight. We will draw upon the courage and skills of our sisters and daughters, because women have proven under fire that they are ready for combat. We will keep faith with our veterans – investing in world-class care, including mental health care, for our wounded warriors; supporting our military families; and giving our veterans the benefits, education, and job opportunities they have earned. And I want to thank my wife Michelle and Dr. Jill Biden for their continued dedication to serving our military families as well as they serve us.

But defending our freedom is not the job of our military alone. We must all do our part to make sure our God-given rights are protected here at home. That includes our most fundamental right as citizens: the right to vote. When any Americans – no matter where they live or what their party – are denied that right simply because they can’t wait for five, six, seven hours just to cast their ballot, we are betraying our ideals. That’s why, tonight, I’m announcing a non-partisan commission to improve the voting experience in America. And I’m asking two long-time experts in the field, who’ve recently served as the top attorneys for my campaign and for Governor Romney’s campaign, to lead it. We can fix this, and we will. The American people demand it. And so does our democracy.

Of course, what I’ve said tonight matters little if we don’t come together to protect our most precious resource – our children.

It has been two months since Newtown. I know this is not the first time this country has debated how to reduce gun violence. But this time is different. Overwhelming majorities of Americans – Americans who believe in the 2nd Amendment – have come together around commonsense reform – like background checks that will make it harder for criminals to get their hands on a gun. Senators of both parties are working together on tough new laws to prevent anyone from buying guns for resale to criminals. Police chiefs are asking our help to get weapons of war and massive ammunition magazines off our streets, because they are tired of being outgunned.

Each of these proposals deserves a vote in Congress. If you want to vote no, that’s your choice. But these proposals deserve a vote. Because in the two months since Newtown, more than a thousand birthdays, graduations, and anniversaries have been stolen from our lives by a bullet from a gun.

One of those we lost was a young girl named Hadiya Pendleton. She was 15 years old. She loved Fig Newtons and lip gloss. She was a majorette. She was so good to her friends, they all thought they were her best friend. Just three weeks ago, she was here, in Washington, with her classmates, performing for her country at my inauguration. And a week later, she was shot and killed in a Chicago park after school, just a mile away from my house.

Hadiya’s parents, Nate and Cleo, are in this chamber tonight, along with more than two dozen Americans whose lives have been torn apart by gun violence. They deserve a vote.

Gabby Giffords deserves a vote.

The families of Newtown deserve a vote.

The families of Aurora deserve a vote.

The families of Oak Creek, and Tucson, and Blacksburg, and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence – they deserve a simple vote.

Our actions will not prevent every senseless act of violence in this country. Indeed, no laws, no initiatives, no administrative acts will perfectly solve all the challenges I’ve outlined tonight. But we were never sent here to be perfect. We were sent here to make what difference we can, to secure this nation, expand opportunity, and uphold our ideals through the hard, often frustrating, but absolutely necessary work of self-government.

We were sent here to look out for our fellow Americans the same way they look out for one another, every single day, usually without fanfare, all across this country. We should follow their example.

We should follow the example of a New York City nurse named Menchu Sanchez. When Hurricane Sandy plunged her hospital into darkness, her thoughts were not with how her own home was faring – they were with the twenty precious newborns in her care and the rescue plan she devised that kept them all safe.

We should follow the example of a North Miami woman named Desiline Victor. When she arrived at her polling place, she was told the wait to vote might be six hours. And as time ticked by, her concern was not with her tired body or aching feet, but whether folks like her would get to have their say. Hour after hour, a throng of people stayed in line in support of her. Because Desiline is 102 years old. And they erupted in cheers when she finally put on a sticker that read “I Voted.”

We should follow the example of a police officer named Brian Murphy. When a gunman opened fire on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, and Brian was the first to arrive, he did not consider his own safety. He fought back until help arrived, and ordered his fellow officers to protect the safety of the Americans worshiping inside – even as he lay bleeding from twelve bullet wounds.

When asked how he did that, Brian said, “That’s just the way we’re made.”

That’s just the way we’re made.

We may do different jobs, and wear different uniforms, and hold different views than the person beside us. But as Americans, we all share the same proud title:

We are citizens. It’s a word that doesn’t just describe our nationality or legal status. It describes the way we’re made. It describes what we believe. It captures the enduring idea that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations; that our rights are wrapped up in the rights of others; and that well into our third century as a nation, it remains the task of us all, as citizens of these United States, to be the authors of the next great chapter in our American story.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.

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<br>Mills is under critical care. The news is bad. This child also ran from the suspect. Both children offered similar descriptions of the suspect and his car. <a href="http://www.google.com">google</a> But there's no real energy to him. He takes laidback to a level of almost snoozy. Thanks Paula Answer There is oftentimes confusion between food allergies and food intolerances. google </br>

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My dear brothers and sisters, I pray that the Spirit will speak to each of you who is ready to hear what the Lord wishes you to hear. For I am not the teacher—He is.

Two Christmases ago I went out to my car one evening to find the passenger window smashed and my briefcase stolen with everything in it—money, credit cards, all of my ID (including the passport that had taken me to 50 countries), and irreplaceable documents. I was beside myself. Hoping the thieves had stolen the money and discarded everything else, a friend and I spent all night prowling through area dumpsters, hoping to find something. But we found nothing.

The next day I began the tedious process of replacing the contents. Suffice it to say, the whole process was a pain. Then, unexpectedly, two mornings later, my phone rang at 3:00 a.m. It was a Church operator.

“Sister Dew, did you lose a briefcase?”

“Yes,” I answered.

“I have a man on the line who says he found it in a dumpster behind a bar. Been to any bars lately, Sister Dew?” Laughing at her own joke, she connected me with this man whose pickup, as it turned out, had been robbed that night and who had been going through dumpsters. In one he had found a briefcase. My briefcase. When I asked how he had tracked me down, he replied, “When I looked inside the briefcase and saw that Mormon recommendation, I knew this must be important.”

He was referring, of course, to my temple recommend. He had then called the Church number, where the operator on duty knew how to reach me.

The phrase Mormon recommendation instantly reminded me of Mormon’s tender words to his son Moroni: “I recommend thee unto God, and I trust in Christ that thou wilt be saved” (Moroni 9:22). I have often pondered what it would mean to be recommended to God.

In essence, every time we qualify for a temple recommend, our priesthood leaders are doing just that. But on this subject of recommendation there is another dimension to consider. For God our Father and His Son Jesus Christ, with Their perfect foreknowledge, already recommended every one of you to fill your mortal probation during the most decisive period in the history of the world. You are here now because you were elected to be here now (see 1 Peter 1:2).

This is not new news. You have been told countless times that you are a chosen generation reserved for the latter part of the latter days. Just two months ago, in general conference, President Gordon B. Hinckley said once again: “You are the best generation we have ever had” (“An Ensign to the Nations, a Light to the World,” Ensign, November 2003, 84). It’s akin to being chosen to run the last leg of a relay, where the coach always positions his strongest runner.

You were recommended to help run the last leg of the relay that began with Adam and Eve because your premortal spiritual valor indicated you would have the courage and the determination to face the world at its worst, to do combat with the evil one during his heyday, and, in spite of it all, to be fearless in building the kingdom of God.

You simply must understand this, because you were born to lead by virtue of who you are, the covenants you have made, and the fact that you are here now in the 11th hour.

You were born to lead as mothers and fathers, because nowhere is righteous leadership more crucial than in the family. You were born to lead as priesthood and auxiliary leaders; as heads of communities, companies, and even nations. You were born to lead as men and women willing “to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places,” because that’s what a true leader does (Mosiah 18:9; emphasis added).

You were born to lead, and, in the words of Isaiah, you were born for glory (see Isaiah 62:2–3).

Now the glorious but sobering truth is that, in spite of your aeons of premortal preparation, the days ahead will at times “wrench your very heart strings,” as the Prophet Joseph told the Twelve (in John Taylor, JD 24:197). If you’ve hoped to passively, comfortably live out your lives, let me burst that little bubble once and for all. Now, please, do not misunderstand me: This is a magnificent time to live! It is a time, said President Spencer W. Kimball, when our influence “can be tenfold what it might be in more tranquil times” (“Privileges and Responsibilities of Sisters,” Ensign, November 1978, 103). The strongest runner wants to run the last leg of the relay.

But the last days are not for the faint of heart or the spiritually out of shape. There will be days when you feel defeated, exhausted, and plain old beat-up by life’s whiplash. People you love will disappoint you—and you will disappoint them. You’ll probably struggle with some kind of mortal appetite. Some days it will feel as though the veil between heaven and earth is made of reinforced concrete. And you may even face a crisis of faith. In fact, you can count on trials that test your testimony and your faith.

Aren’t you glad I came bearing such optimistic news? Actually, I am nothing if not optimistic about you, for everything about your lives is an indicator of our Father’s remarkable respect for you. He recommended you for now, when the stakes are so high. Now is the day when His kingdom is being established once and for all, never again to be taken from the earth. This is the last leg of the relay. This is when He needs His strongest runners.

The simple fact is that our Father did not recommend Eve or Moses or Nephi or countless other magnificent exemplars for this dispensation—He recommended you and me. Do you think God would have left the last days to chance by sending men and women He couldn’t count on? A common theme of patriarchal blessings given to men and women your age is that you were sent now because our Father’s most trustworthy children would be needed in the final, decisive battle for righteousness. That is who you are, and it is who you have always been.

So how will you live up to our Father’s recommendation? Happily, though we must each walk through life on our own, we don’t have to do it alone. Four principles explain why:

First, God wants a powerful people.

Second, He gives His power to those who are faithful.

Third, we have a sacred obligation to seek after the power of God and then to use that power as He directs.

Fourth, when we have the power of God with us, nothing is impossible.

I repeat, God wants a powerful people. Ammon taught that “a man may have great power given him from God” (Mosiah 8:16; emphasis added), and Nephi prophesied that we of the latter days would be “armed with . . . the power of God in great glory” (1 Nephi 14:14; emphasis added).

There are many evidences that God wants a powerful people. This is one reason that at baptism we become eligible to receive “the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost” (1 Nephi 13:37) and the privilege of constant access to the third member of the Godhead.

This is one reason that 12-year-old boys may be ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood, which holds “the key of the ministering of angels” (D&C 84:26).

This is one reason every worthy adult may go to the temple, from which he or she emerges surrounded and protected by God’s power (see D&C 109:22).

God wants a powerful people. No one better understands that Satan is real and that he has power. No one better understands that none of us is smart enough or resilient enough to spar with Satan and survive spiritually. He is a snake, in every sense of that word.

I hate snakes. I’m terrified of snakes. In fact, I’ll go to almost any lengths to avoid even seeing a snake. A few years ago, while visiting the Philippines with its lush, green countryside, I asked a Filipino mission president if there were many snakes in his country. His answer was classic: “Where der is grass, der is snake”—meaning, they were everywhere.

By the same token, Satan is everywhere today. Where there is any kind of dishonesty, immorality, contention, or addiction, there is Satan. He is in blatant sin, he is in subtle deception. Stay away from him. He is “a roaring lion, [who] walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). And he will devour you—unless you “put on the whole armour [or power] of God” (Ephesians 6:11), for the power of God is stronger than the power of Satan.

Indeed, the power of God and the power of Satan are as different as night and day. Satan’s power is temporary and will end—in fact, he’s almost out of time. God’s power is absolute and endless. Satan uses his power to destroy and damn; God uses His power to bless, sanctify, and exalt. Satan’s arrogance blinds him; God is all seeing and all knowing. Satan abandons those he spiritually maims, whereas God has promised to make all of His faithful children “joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).

There is only one thing the power of God and the power of Satan have in common: Neither can influence us unless we allow them to. The devil can’t make us do anything. Said the Prophet Joseph: “Satan cannot seduce us by his enticements unless we in our hearts consent and yield” (The Words of Joseph Smith, ed. Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook [Orem, Utah: Grandin Book Company, 1991], 65). On the other hand, although God could manipulate us, He never has and never will. We “are free to choose . . . eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the . . . power of the devil” (2 Nephi 2:27). In short, the kind of power operating in our lives is entirely up to us.

If God wants a powerful people who can withstand the wiles of the devil—and He does—and if we were born to lead in these latter days—and we were—then we need to understand how God makes His power available to us and how we gain access to that power.

Let’s review five ways God makes His power available.

Number 1: There Is Power in the Word of God

Alma and the sons of Mosiah learned that the preaching of the word—meaning the gospel of Jesus Christ—has a “more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than . . . anything else” (Alma 31:5). There is power in the word to heal our wounded souls (see Jacob 2:8), to help us overcome temptation (see 1 Nephi 11:25), to prompt us to repent (see Jarom 1:12), to humble us (see Alma 32:14), to help us overcome the natural man (see Mosiah 3:19), to bring about a mighty change in our hearts (see Alma 5:13), and to lead us to Christ.

President Boyd K. Packer taught:

True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior.

The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior. [“Little Children,” Ensign, November 1986, 17]

In other words, the word of God can transform us.

I have a lifelong friend whose teenage tampering with pornography evolved into a deadly addiction, and for years it has ruled him and ravaged his marriage. Frankly, I had lost hope that he would ever really change.

And then, a year ago, a remarkable sequence of events began to unfold. He began to study the scriptures for the first time since his mission. The word of God pierced his heart, and he knew he had to repent—which involved heart-wrenching confessions and subsequent excommunication. Now he is working his way back by immersing himself in the gospel as never before.

He wrote me this recently:

It was when I began to study the gospel that I realized I had been under Satan’s power for years. When I finally got on my knees, pleaded for help to change, and surrendered my sins to the Lord, my world turned upside down. This past year has been a crash course in the ways of God and His Son. It has been the most difficult but wonderful year of my life. I wish I could tell everyone who is in a situation like I was to not be afraid to surrender to the Lord. They will find joy like never before in His Atonement. They will feel the Father wrap His arms around them. They will discover there is power in the gospel to really change.

Some may be skeptical about this man’s transformation, believing that “once addicted, always addicted.” But that is not true. The gospel has the power to cleanse and make new, because the word “is quick and powerful,” it “divide[s] asunder all the cunning . . . of the devil,” and it “lead[s] the man of Christ” home (Helaman 3:29). The Atonement is real. My friend is evidence of that. His great change is the change that comes with conversion.

Do you know what we believe? Do you know there is power in the doctrine of Christ to change and overcome weakness? Do you realize that the scriptures contain the answer to every life dilemma? A casual understanding of the gospel will not sustain you through the days ahead, which is why it is imperative that you immerse yourself in the word of God.

This spring I spent two weeks at the United Nations as a White House delegate to an international commission. As I listened to women from around the world debate complex social problems, I didn’t hear them raise one issue that couldn’t be solved by living the gospel. Not one.

There is power in the word.

Number 2: There Is Power in the Gift of the Holy Ghost

The gift of the Holy Ghost is a gift of power. The Holy Ghost inspires and heals, guides and warns, enhances our natural capacities, inspires charity and humility, makes us smarter than we are, strengthens us during trials, testifies of the Father and the Son, and shows us “all things” that we should do (2 Nephi 32:5). No wonder President Hinckley has said: “There is no greater blessing that can come into our lives than . . . the companionship of the Holy Spirit” (Boston Massachusetts Regional Conference, priesthood leadership session, 22 April 1995; quoted in TGBH, 259).

Because the Holy Ghost will show us everything we should do, it only makes sense to learn how He communicates—or to learn the language of revelation. Our challenge is not getting the Lord to speak to us; our challenge is understanding what He has to say (see D&C 6:14).

I remember a time when I was desperate for guidance on a crucial decision. I had fasted and prayed and been to the temple, but the answer wasn’t clear. In frustration I told a friend that I just couldn’t get an answer. He responded, simply: “Have you asked the Lord to teach you how He communicates with you?” I hadn’t, so I began to pray daily that He would.

Not long thereafter, while reading about Nephi building the ship, I couldn’t help but notice how clearly he understood the Lord’s instructions. With that, I began to hunt for scriptural evidences of direct communication between God and man. At each one I made a little red x in the margin of my scriptures. Now, many years later, my scriptures are littered with little red x’s, each an indication that the Lord does communicate with His people—and often. The scriptures are the handbook for the language of revelation. They are our personal Liahona. If you will regularly immerse yourself in the scriptures, you’ll get clearer, more frequent answers to your prayers.

Learning this language takes time. As a young captain charged with leading the Nephite armies, Moroni sent messengers to the prophet Alma, asking him to inquire of the Lord where the armies should go. But in time Moroni received inspiration for his stewardship himself, for he became “a man of a perfect understanding” (Alma 48:11)—suggesting that he learned to speak the language of revelation, perhaps even perfectly.

What a gift to have access to a pure source of information, a source devoid of flattery or spin-doctoring, “for the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not” (Jacob 4:13). The Lord will teach us directly as much truth as we are worthy and willing to learn. As Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught, “There is no limit to the revelations [we] may receive” (A New Witness for the Articles of Faith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985], 490; emphasis added).

Having the Holy Ghost as our constant guide and protector is essential to latter-day leadership, for the gift of the Holy Ghost is a gift of power.

Number 3: There Is Power in the Priesthood

By definition, priesthood power is the power and authority of God delegated to men on earth. Those who hold the priesthood have the right to say what the Lord would say if He were here. Whatever they bind on earth is bound in heaven.

Because the priesthood was restored, we have access to ordinances: baptism and confirmation, sealings and healings and blessings, miracles, and the ministering of angels. Indeed, “the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the church” (D&C 107:18; emphasis added) are available through the power and authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood.

There is power in ordinances. All who are baptized and receive the Holy Ghost are eligible to speak the words of Christ and qualify for eternal life. Those who are endowed with power in the house of the Lord need never face the adversary alone. Couples worthy to be sealed at an altar in that holy house are gifted with power. The power of the priesthood heals, protects, and inoculates every righteous man and woman against the powers of darkness.

I will never forget an experience in Cali, Colombia. After a long evening of meetings, the presiding officer asked the congregation to remain seated while we departed. But upon the final “amen,” several dozen priesthood leaders jumped to their feet and formed two lines, creating a pathway from the chapel to a waiting van outside. As we walked through this sheltered passageway, where priesthood leaders symbolized priesthood power, I was deeply moved by the metaphor. It is the power of the priesthood that marks, clears, and protects the path leading to eternal life. Priesthood power safeguards us from the world, binds heaven and earth, subdues the adversary, blesses and heals, and enables us to triumph over mortality. Every ordinance of the Melchizedek Priesthood helps prepare us to live in the presence of God.

I am deeply grateful for the power of the priesthood and the gift of having full access to this power, which when used righteously is the only true power on earth.

Number 4: There Is Power in the House of the Lord

It is precisely because of priesthood power—the fulness of which is available only in the temple—that we may be endowed with power in the house of the Lord. The Prophet Joseph Smith made this clear at the Kirtland Temple dedication, when he prayed “that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power” (D&C 109:22).

For years now I have attended the temple frequently. It is a place of refuge and revelation. I could never have handled the pressures of recent years without regular time there. This past year, however, a head-banging, hand-wringing challenge has driven me to attend even more. There have been weeks when the only peace I felt was in the temple. Even still, about six months ago, nine words from 1 Nephi leapt off the page: “And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft” (1 Nephi 18:3). Instantly I knew I needed to spend even more time in the temple. So I have.

The results have not been what I expected. Although I have received help with the challenge in question, it seems that the Lord simply needed me to be in the temple more where it is easier to learn certain things. That was apparently Nephi’s experience as well, for as he went “into the mount oft,” the Lord “showed unto [him] great things”—undoubtedly great things of the Spirit.

In the temple we learn how to deal with Satan, how to live in the world without letting it stain us, how to fulfill our foreordained missions, and how to come into the presence of God. The best place to learn about the temple is in the temple. Our kept covenants will eventually save us. And that is power!

Number 5: There Is Power in the Atonement of Jesus Christ

Until I was in my thirties, I thought the Atonement was basically for sinners—meaning that it allowed us to repent. But then I suffered a heartbreaking personal loss and began to learn that there was so much more to this sublime doctrine.

My solution initially to my heartbreak was to exercise so much faith that the Lord would have to give me what I wanted—which was a husband. Believe me, if fasting and prayer and temple attendance automatically resulted in a husband, I’d have one.

Well, the Lord hasn’t even yet given me a husband; but He did heal my heart. And in doing so, He taught me that He not only paid the price for sin but compensated for all of the pain we experience in life. He taught me that because of His Atonement, we have access to His grace, or enabling power—power that frees us from sin; power to be healed emotionally, physically, and spiritually; power to “loose the bands of death” (Alma 7:12); power to turn weakness into strength (see Ether 12:27); and power to receive salvation through faith on His name (see Mosiah 3:19). It is because of the Atonement that, if we build our foundation on Christ, the devil can have no power over us (see Helaman 5:12).

There is power in God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ—power that we may access through the word, the Holy Ghost, the priesthood, and the ordinances of the holy temple.

What then must we do to access this power? May I suggest three things?

First of all, have faith. Faith is the first principle of the gospel because faith is a principle of power that influences, to at least some degree, the Lord’s intervention in our lives.

By faith Noah built an ark and saved his posterity, Sara gave birth “when she was past age” (Hebrews 11:11), Moses parted the Red Sea, Alma and Amulek were delivered from captivity, and the sons of Helaman were miraculously preserved.

“So great was the faith of [the previously insecure] Enoch that . . . he spake the word of the Lord, and the earth trembled, and the mountains fled” (Moses 7:13). So great was the faith of the 14-year-old Joseph that when he went into a grove of trees and asked “in faith, nothing wavering” (James 1:6), the Father and the Son appeared, ushering in the Restoration.

Faith is a principle of power, which explains why President Hinckley has repeatedly declared: “If there is any one thing you and I need in this world it is faith” (“God Shall Give unto You Knowledge by His Holy Spirit,” Speeches of the Year, 1973 [Provo: Brigham Young University, 1974], 109). Our prophet knows whereof he speaks.

Soon after President Hinckley was called to serve as a counselor to President Spencer W. Kimball, the health of the prophet and his two other counselors failed, leaving President Hinckley to shoulder the burdens of the presidency alone. At one point he recorded:

“The responsibility I carry frightens me. . . . Sometimes I could weep with concern. But there comes the assurance that the Lord put me here for His purpose, and if I will be humble and seek the direction of the Holy Spirit, He will use me . . . to accomplish His purposes.” [In Sheri Dew, Go Forward with Faith: The Biography of Gordon B. Hinckley (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1996), 393]

Throughout his life, President Hinckley’s practice has been to simply go forward with faith.

Prophets ancient and modern stand as witnesses that the Lord will indeed use His matchless power to help us. Surely the brother of Jared’s transcendent privilege of seeing the Lord was linked to his expression of faith:

I know, O Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones. . . .

. . . O Lord, thou canst do this. [Ether 3:4–5]

In this instance, as in many others, faith allowed the Lord to do not just what was asked of Him, but much more.

Challenges that tax our faith are usually opportunities to stretch and strengthen our faith by finding out if we really believe the Lord will help us.

If your faith is wobbly, if you’re not sure the Lord will come to your aid, experiment, put Him to the test: “Even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you” (Alma 32:27). A great place to start is in the scriptures. As Jacob wrote: “We search the prophets, and we have many revelations . . . ; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken” (Jacob 4:6).

Unshaken faith activates the power of God in our lives, “for he worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men” (Moroni 10:7).

Second, we can increase our access to godly power through repentance and obedience.

Faith in Jesus Christ leads us to repent—or turn away from sins that hold us spiritually captive—and to obey with exactness. Great power follows those who repent and obey.

Lamoni’s father pledged to “give away” all his sins to know God (Alma 22:18). Today I invite you to do the same. What favorite sins, large or small, are you willing to give away—right now, today—to increase your access to the power of God?

Repentance is, frankly, just plain smart, because sin makes you stupid: Stupid because you are deaf, dumb, and blind to the ways of the Lord. Stupid because habitual sin drives the Spirit away, leaving you outside the protective influence of the Holy Ghost. Stupid because it makes you incapable of drawing upon the powers of heaven. Being stupid costs a lot.

Sin costs a lot, too. It can cost time, money, peace of mind, progress, self-respect, your integrity and virtue, your family, the trust of those you love, and even your Church membership.

Sin is just plain stupid. And the cost is off the charts. So repent now. Repent daily. If you want to be sanctified, repentance is not optional.

Obedience, on the other hand, is brilliant, and its fruits are endless—one of which is happiness. The only way that I know to be happy is to live the gospel.

It is not possible to sin enough to be happy. It is not possible to buy enough to be happy or to entertain or indulge yourself enough to be happy. Happiness and joy come only when you are living up to who you are. King Benjamin clearly understood this when he admonished us:

Consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For . . . they are blessed in all things . . . ; and if they hold out faithful to the end . . . they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. [Mosiah 2:41]

Satan no doubt bristles at this principle, for happiness is something the ultimate narcissist will never experience. I have yet to meet the man or woman who is happier because he or she was dishonest or because they were addicted to something or because they were immoral. The Lord blessed us with covenants that keep us on the straight and narrow path because this road less traveled is actually the easier road. It is so much easier to be righteous than to sin.

This summer I was invited to speak on the subject of the family to a gathering of United Nations diplomats. I agonized over what to say to such a diverse group. In the end I simply shared my personal experience. I explained that my parents had taught me as a child that personal virtue was essential for a happy marriage and family and that in my youth I had made promises to God that I would live a chaste life.

I then acknowledged that I was about to turn 50 and that, though I had not yet married, I had kept my promise. “It hasn’t always been easy to stay morally clean,” I admitted, “but it has been far easier than the alternative. I have never spent one second worrying about an unwanted pregnancy or disease. I have never had a moment’s anguish because a man used and then discarded me. And when I do marry, I will do so without regret. So you see,” I concluded, “I believe a moral life is actually an easier and a happier life.”

I worried about how this sophisticated audience would respond to a message about virtue and abstinence, but much to my surprise they leapt to their feet in applause—not because of me but because the Spirit had borne witness of the truth of that message.

The happiest people I know are those who repent regularly and obey. They have increased their access to the power of God.

Third, to increase the power of God in our lives we must diligently seek. There is perhaps no more frequent invitation or reassuring promise in all of scripture than this one: “Seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (D&C 88:63).

Notice that God never said, "Seek me a zillion times. Beg again and again and, maybe, just maybe, if you’re lucky, I’ll help you a little." To the contrary, the two greatest of all beings are ever ready to help us—no call waiting, no voice mail.

Most of the revelations received by the Prophet Joseph Smith came after diligent seeking, including this magnificent promise:

I, the Lord, . . . delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness. . . .

Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory.

And to them will I reveal all mysteries. . . .

And their wisdom shall be great, and their understanding reach to heaven. . . .

For . . . by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will. [D&C 76:5–10]

Clearly there is no limit to what the Lord is willing to teach and give us.

The question, then, for you and me is, How much power do we want to have, and what are we willing to do to obtain it? Heber C. Kimball said:

The greatest torment [the Prophet Joseph] had . . . was because this people would not live up to their [spiritual] privileges. . . . He said . . . he felt . . . as though he were pent up in an acorn shell, and all because the people . . . would not prepare themselves to receive the rich treasures of wisdom and knowledge that he had to impart. He could have revealed a great many things to us if we had been ready. [JD 10:167]

Spiritual privileges that call forth the powers of heaven are available to all who diligently seek them. God wants a powerful people; but, again, how much power we learn to access is up to each of us.

The question, then, is: Will you diligently seek? Listen to this classic passage from Alma: “Whosoever will come may come and partake of the waters of life freely; and whosoever will not come the same is not compelled to come” (Alma 42:27). Notice that this passage doesn’t say that just the popular ones or the smart ones on full scholarship or the ones who got married at 21 may come. It says “whosoever will”—meaning it is our choice.

Those of you who served missions didn’t ask investigators, “Would you like to come to Church? Would you like to be baptized?” Instead you asked, “Will you come? Will you be baptized?”

So today I ask, “Will you increase your faith? Will you repent and obey? Will you diligently seek? Will you learn to access the power of God so that you can live up to the heavenly recommendation that placed you here now? Will you do what you were born to do?”

In his last major address as prime minister, and while World War II still raged in the Pacific, Winston Churchill said this to his countrymen:

I told you hard things at the beginning of [this war]; you did not shrink, and I should be unworthy of your confidence . . . if I did not still cry: Forward, unflinching, unswerving, indomitable, till the whole task is done and the whole world is safe and clean. [“Forward, Till the Whole Task Is Done,” London BBC radio broadcast, 13 May 1945, in Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat: The Speeches of Winston Churchill, ed. David Cannadine (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989), 266]

I told you hard things at the beginning of this message. But I’ve also brought reassurance that if you will learn to draw upon the power of God, you will not shrink. You will go forward—“unflinching, unswerving, indomitable”—making the world safer and cleaner until you’ve done everything you were born to do. For you were born to lead. You were born to build Zion. You were born for glory. Everything you do in life should be measured against this grand standard.

President Gordon B. Hinckley said it this way at a BYU devotional in September 1996:

Stand strong. . . . You can be a leader. You must be a leader, as a member of this Church, in those causes for which this Church stands. . . . The adversary of all truth would put into your heart a reluctance to make an effort. Cast that fear aside and be valiant in the cause of truth and righteousness and faith. [“Stand Up for Truth,” BYU 1996–97 Speeches (Provo: Brigham Young University, 1997), 25–26]

My dear young friends, I repeat that these are the days in which a true leader wants to live. These are days when opportunities to change lives and even destinies are nearly endless. You are running the anchor leg of the relay because you were born to lead. You were born for glory.

In conclusion, in the words of Moroni, “I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written” (Ether 12:41) so that you experience for yourself the power in Jesus Christ to strengthen you, to sanctify you, and to help you run this leg of the relay. Don’t ever underestimate the power of Jesus Christ to help you. Isaiah said it this way:

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? . . .

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. . . .

. . . They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. [Isaiah 40:28–31]

I have learned for myself that this is true—that because of our Father and His Son, we don’t have to run this last strenuous leg of the relay alone. We have access to the greatest and grandest of all power. And when we have the power of God with us, we truly can do all things—including everything we were born to do. And we were born to lead. We were born for glory.

In the sacred and holy name of Jesus Christ, amen.

[lolyounoob1]

Wtf? Someone want to tell me why they're quoting people and such in essay sized posts?

[Ciphon]

It's beyond me... .... I really have no freakin clue...

[thefluffyswan]

What the fuck are they talking about

[DefinitelyNotMoat]

Mormons.

[Ciphon]

shut up