FAMILY
The family is the center of the Lord’s plan. It is vital to the plan of happiness. We have the promise of eternity with our family so long as we make and keep our sacred covenants. The promise of eternal families is very near and dear to my heart. When I have heard the fears of others, of dying or of not seeing their loved ones again, it saddens me. I know that someday we will all be together again. My grandparents all died while I was still very young and I do not have very many memories of them. However, I feel them close to me even now. I know that someday I will be able to sit around them and to hear their stories and witness their testament of this gospel and their love for me. I feel their guiding hands and their protection over me constantly. I know that they are always their laughing with me, crying with me, or simply being there. There is no greater promise to me than that of eternal families. I cannot wait until I have the opportunity to start my own family. I know that this gospel is true and I know, through the promptings of the Spirit that I will have an eternity with my family.
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"Crisis or transition of any kind reminds us of what matters most. In the routine of life, we often take our families—our parents and children and siblings—for granted. But in times of danger and need and change, there is no question that what we care about most is our families! It will be even more so when we leave this life and enter into the spirit world. Surely the first people we will seek to find there will be father, mother, spouse, children, and siblings."
M. Russell Ballard, October 2005 General Conference, Saturday Afternoon Session
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2005/10/what-matters-most-is-what-lasts-longest?lang=eng&query=family
M. Russell Ballard, October 2005 General Conference, Saturday Afternoon Session
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2005/10/what-matters-most-is-what-lasts-longest?lang=eng&query=family
"If we live and act upon this knowledge, we will attract the world to us. Parents who place a high priority on their families will gravitate to the Church because it offers the family structure, values, doctrine, and eternal perspective that they seek and cannot find elsewhere."
M. Russell Ballard, October 2005 General Conference, Saturday Afternoon Session
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2005/10/what-matters-most-is-what-lasts-longest?lang=eng&query=family
M. Russell Ballard, October 2005 General Conference, Saturday Afternoon Session
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2005/10/what-matters-most-is-what-lasts-longest?lang=eng&query=family
"As taught in this scripture, an eternal bond doesn’t just happen as a result of sealing covenants we make in the temple. How we conduct ourselves in this life will determine what we will be in all the eternities to come. To receive the blessings of the sealing that our Heavenly Father has given to us, we have to keep the commandments and conduct ourselves in such a way that our families will want to live with us in the eternities. The family relationships we have here on this earth are important, but they are much more important for their effect on our families for generations in mortality and throughout all eternity."
Robert D. Hales, October 1996, Sunday Morning Session
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1996/10/the-eternal-family?lang=eng&query=family#watch=video
Robert D. Hales, October 1996, Sunday Morning Session
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1996/10/the-eternal-family?lang=eng&query=family#watch=video
"While our individual salvation is based on our individual obedience, it is equally important that we understand that we are each an important and integral part of a family and the highest blessings can be received only within an eternal family. When families are functioning as designed by God, the relationships found therein are the most valued of mortality. The plan of the Father is that family love and companionship will continue into the eternities. Being one in a family carries a great responsibility of caring, loving, lifting, and strengthening each member of the family so that all can righteously endure to the end in mortality and dwell together throughout eternity. It is not enough just to save ourselves. It is equally important that parents, brothers, and sisters are saved in our families. If we return home alone to our Heavenly Father, we will be asked, “Where is the rest of the family?” This is why we teach that families are forever. The eternal nature of an individual becomes the eternal nature of the family."
Robert D. Hales, October 1996, Sunday Morning Session
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1996/10/the-eternal-family?lang=eng&query=family#watch=video
Robert D. Hales, October 1996, Sunday Morning Session
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1996/10/the-eternal-family?lang=eng&query=family#watch=video
"One of the great messages of the gospel is the doctrine of the eternal nature of the family unit. We declare to the world the value and importance of family life, but much of the confusion and difficulty we find existing in the world today is being traced to the deterioration of the family."
L. Tom Perry, April 1994 General Conference, Saturday Afternoon Sesson
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1994/04/therefore-i-was-taught?lang=eng&query=family
L. Tom Perry, April 1994 General Conference, Saturday Afternoon Sesson
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1994/04/therefore-i-was-taught?lang=eng&query=family
"We encourage each of you to follow the counsel of our prophet. In all the family units throughout the Church, evaluate again the progress you are making in holding regular family home evenings. The application of this program will be a shield and a protection to you against the evils of our time and will bring you, individually and collectively, greater and abundant joy now and in the eternities hereafter."
L. Tom Perry, April 1994 General Conference, Saturday Afternoon Sesson
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1994/04/therefore-i-was-taught?lang=eng&query=family
L. Tom Perry, April 1994 General Conference, Saturday Afternoon Sesson
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1994/04/therefore-i-was-taught?lang=eng&query=family
"In our theology and in our practice, the family and the Church have a mutually reinforcing relationship. The family is dependent upon the Church for doctrine, ordinances, and priesthood keys. The Church provides the teachings, authority, and ordinances necessary to perpetuate family relationships to the eternities... Each is so interrelated that service to one is service to the other. When children see their parents faithfully perform Church callings, it strengthens their family relationships. When families are strong, the Church is strong. The two run in parallel. Each is important and necessary, and each must be conducted with careful concern for the other. Church programs and activities should not be so all-encompassing that families cannot have everyone present for family time. And family activities should not be scheduled in conflict with sacrament meeting or other vital Church meetings."
Dallin H. Oaks, October 2005 General Conference, Saturday Afternoon Session
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2005/10/priesthood-authority-in-the-family-and-the-church?lang=eng&query=family#watch=video
Dallin H. Oaks, October 2005 General Conference, Saturday Afternoon Session
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2005/10/priesthood-authority-in-the-family-and-the-church?lang=eng&query=family#watch=video
"The theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints centers on the family. Our relationship to God and the purpose of earth life are explained in terms of the family. We are the spirit children of heavenly parents. The gospel plan is implemented through earthly families, and our highest aspiration is to perpetuate those family relationships throughout eternity. The ultimate mission of our Savior’s Church is to help us achieve exaltation in the celestial kingdom, and that can only be accomplished in a family relationship."
Dallin H. Oaks, October 2005 General Conference, Saturday Afternoon Session
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2005/10/priesthood-authority-in-the-family-and-the-church?lang=eng&query=family#watch=video
Dallin H. Oaks, October 2005 General Conference, Saturday Afternoon Session
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2005/10/priesthood-authority-in-the-family-and-the-church?lang=eng&query=family#watch=video
"If you understand the great plan of happiness and follow it, what goes on in the world will not determine your happiness. You will be tried, for that is part of the plan, but 'thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high.'"
Boyd K. Packer, April 1994 General Conference, Saturday Morning Session
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1994/04/the-father-and-the-family?lang=eng&query=family#watch=video
Boyd K. Packer, April 1994 General Conference, Saturday Morning Session
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1994/04/the-father-and-the-family?lang=eng&query=family#watch=video
"We can only imagine where we would be if we were just now reacting to this terrible redefinition of the family. But that is not the case. We are not casting frantically about trying to decide what to do. We know what to do and what to teach.
"The family is very much alive and well in the Church. Hundreds of thousands of happy families face life with an unwavering faith in the future.
"The course we follow is not of our own making. The plan of salvation, the great plan of happiness, was revealed to us, and the prophets and Apostles continue to receive revelation as the Church and its members stand in need of more."
Boyd K. Packer, April 1994 General Conference, Saturday Morning Session
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1994/04/the-father-and-the-family?lang=eng&query=family#watch=video
"The family is very much alive and well in the Church. Hundreds of thousands of happy families face life with an unwavering faith in the future.
"The course we follow is not of our own making. The plan of salvation, the great plan of happiness, was revealed to us, and the prophets and Apostles continue to receive revelation as the Church and its members stand in need of more."
Boyd K. Packer, April 1994 General Conference, Saturday Morning Session
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1994/04/the-father-and-the-family?lang=eng&query=family#watch=video