The Sustaining of Church Officers

This entry is part of my general conference application series.

The Sustaining of Church Officers, President Henry B. Eyring
First Counselor in the First Presidency

Shortly after we were married, Maryann and I were in a ward with only other young married students. We had a wonderfully spiritual and social time with our friends. For some time, all the talks in sacrament meeting were form the most recent general conference, where those speaking chose whichever talk they felt impressed to share and delivered a message from it. I really liked those talks, but I will always remember one in particular.

David Porcaro took the stand and announced that the talk he had chosen was not really a talk at all; he was going to speak on the sustaining of church officers. Based on the laughs that followed, we all must have thought it was just a little joke at the start of his talk—after all, who can fill a ten-to-fifteen minute talk on such a short portion of conference? He wasn't joking, and he helped to open my eyes on the importance of sustaining in the Lord's church.

Each time since then—twice a year for at least five years—I've thought of his talk, the things I learned from it, and the Spirit I felt as a result of it. In other words, I've never thought of the power and opportunity that come from sustaining the same again. Sustaining really is important; President Eyring concluded with a sincere:

Thank you, brothers and sisters, for your sustaining vote, your faith, devotion, and prayers.

Sustaining. Faith. Devotion. Prayers.