Elder Eyring made a salient point about the ability of the LDS priesthood organization to cope with the most trying of circumstances. I appreciated the story about local LDS leaders handling an Idaho disaster in way that surprised and apparently humbled Federal officials. I also was touched by some of the LDS World News broadcast between today’s conference sessions that included comments from officials in Florida about LDS support in providing relief to hurricane victims.

When Hurricane Andrew struck Florida over 10 years ago, I was living in Atlanta and was asked to go down with other Mormons to help in the Homestead area. It was amazing to see 5,000 Mormons move in and work in a highly organized and coordinated way. We weren’t sitting around wondering what to do. So much had been planned and organized, allowing so much good to be done. The priesthood organization was truly impressive. I haven’t seen anything else like it. There is a power and a strength in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that goes far beyond anything you could expect from a bogus cult with good social programs. The ability to bring the best out of men and women in trying times and achieve miracles in serving humanity is a credit to the real origins and real source of inspiration in the Church.