Below is a talk I gave in Sacrament meeting the Sunday before Thanksgiving 2015.

I’d like to begin by reading a favorite hymn of mine, Hymn #127, “Does the Journey Seem Long?”.

Following is a talk I gave in Sacrament meeting on Sunday, January 26, 2014.

It is done.

I have completed graduate school for the second time in my life and am thrilled beyond measure. There were aspects of it the first time around that I loved, but writing a book that only three people would read and possibly cite in their research was not one of them. Now I have written two books that 10 people (at the most) will read.

When the Savior was preparing to begin His earthly ministry, and He most urgently and earnestly needed His Father’s assistance and reassurance and strength to sustain him through what He knew lay ahead, what did He do? He fasted and prayed (Matthew 4:1–2; Mark 1:12–13; Luke 4:1–2).