You can watch or read President Eyring’s talk at: Legacy of Encouragement (churchofjesuschrist.org)

I encourage you to continue striving to qualify to return to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Wherever you are on the covenant path, you will find a struggle against the physical trials of mortality and the opposition of Satan.

As my mother told me when I complained of how hard something was, “Oh, Hal, of course it’s hard. It’s supposed to be. Life is a test.”

Is life a test? In what ways? What are the benefits of doing tests?

The commandments and covenants He offers you are not tests to control you. They are a gift to lift you toward receiving all the gifts of God and returning home to your Heavenly Father and the Lord, who love you.

In what ways are commandments and covenants a gift? How do they lift us?

President Eyring spoke about the importance of encouragement and quoted Moroni 7:38-48. You may want to read these verses and mark whatever you find that encourages you. Which verses might you use to encourage those you minister to?

President Eyring spoke tenderly about his wife:We have been married for 60 years. It is because of that experience that I now understand the meaning of these scriptural words: faith, hope, meekness, enduring, seeking not our own, rejoicing in the truth, not thinking evil, and above all, charity. On the basis of that experience, I can bear testimony that apparently ordinary human beings can take all of those wonderful ideals into their daily lives as they rise through the buffetings of life.

Who has taught you about these ‘wonderful ideals’ by the way that they lived their life?

Which of these qualities do you need to work on?

When you sit with someone as their ministering sister or brother, you represent the Lord. Think of what He would do or say. He would invite them to come unto Him. He would encourage them. He would notice and praise the beginning of the changes they will need to make. And He would be the perfect example for them to emulate.

If we understood and applied these principles how might it impact on our ministering efforts?

“We are surrounded by those in need of our attention, our encouragement, our support, our comfort, our kindness. … We are the Lord’s hands here upon the earth, with the mandate to serve and to lift His children. He is dependent upon each of us.” (Thomas S Monson, “What Have I Done for Someone Today?” Ensign, Nov. 2009, 86.

How can I more effectively minister to others as the Lord did?

NB: Passages in italics are excerpts from President Eyring’s address.