By virtue of my calling as a Patriarch, holding the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood, I lay my hands upon your head on this beautiful Sabbath morning and bestow upon you your patriarchal blessing. Your Heavenly Father is pleased and happy that you are here this morning and that you have come in the spirit of fasting and prayer with a sincere desire to receive and understand the mind and will of your heavenly father as it pertains to your life and sojourn here upon the earth and throughout all eternity.

Your Heavenly Father is pleased that you are back in activity in the church. He has worried over you and been concerned for your spiritual welfare. Yes, your Heavenly Father has great love for you as he has watched over you and blessed you through your growing up years and into your adult life.

*****, it is important that you understand that you were in the pre-existent world when the plan of this earth life was presented, the plan that the Father has for his children to come here and to have a body of flesh and bones, to learn to be obedient, and to prepare themselves to one day return back into his presence. In the spirit world you accepted the role of the Savior as your Redeemer. You rejected Lucifer and your other brothers and sisters who rebelled against the Father and his Plan of Life, and you were there when they were driven out because of disobedience. So your heavenly father held you in reserve for many, many years so that you could be here upon the earth at this time when the Gospel had been restored and the message of the Plan of Happiness is spreading throughout the world under the direction of the Prophet and those who are ordained to preach and to baptize.

You are truly blessed to be of the house of Israel, and thus you are entitled to all the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, through the lineage of Ephraim the noble son of Joseph, even Joseph who was sold into Egypt.

Now your Heavenly Father desires that you, from this day forth, put the Gospel of Jesus Christ front and center in your life, that everything you do, the plans that you make, the dreams that you have, are all centered in the gospel plan of life. He wants you to be in the world but not of the world.

It is his desire that you set as one of your primary goals to so live and to prepare yourself to go to the House of the Lord and there be sealed to an eternal companion, and I bless you that if you will be obedient to Gospel principles, if you will be prayerful and if you will be willing to follow the counsel and direction that comes under the inspiration of the Spirit, you will be directed to someone who honors the Priesthood and who will have the desire to take you by the hand and covenant with you to be your eternal companion. Now be patient and your Heavenly Father will bless you and he will direct you so that you will know, without question, when that special individual will come into your life and ask for your hand in marriage.

Now it is important that you establish in your home in Zion as an exemplary home to all who will enter and who will witness your home and home life. In your home, it should be a place of happiness and not sarcasm. It should be a place where children are welcome and where they are taught at their parents' side to love the Lord and to keep his commandments, where they are taught to pray as a family and individually, where they have a sincere desire to study and to love the scriptures, to attend their church meetings, to partake of the sacrament and renew their covenants with their heavenly father each week. Your home should be a place where voices are never raised in anger, where husband and wife love each other and support and sustain each other in their callings. They should be examples to their children, not only in the things that they do, but in the things that they say, and above all by the examples they set in the lives that they live.

And I bless you that if you will be faithful in paying your tithes and offerings honestly, if you will be conservative in your expenditures and be frugal and learn to patch up and to mend and to repair and avoid unnecessary debt like a plague, I bless you that your Heavenly Father will open the windows of heaven and you will never want for the necessities of life in your home.

Now you will have the opportunity to go to the temple in the future and take out your endowment. In the endowment you will learn things that you do not completely understand now about where you came from, why you are here, and where you are going, and what you need to do to prepare yourself to one day enter back into the presence of your Heavenly Father. In the temple you will be asked to wear a sacred piece of clothing. Wear it as you should, as it is explained, and it will remind you to be modest in your dress. It will also remind you how your children and eternal companion should dress. It will remind you that your body is sacred, that it is a temple of God. Yes, go back to the temple often and there you will get a vision of where you want to go and what you need to do in order to qualify to enter into the Celestial Kingdom when life is completed.

Now your heavenly father does not want you to be afraid, even though you live in time where there are wars, rumors of wars, pestilence and plagues, and the seas are heaving beyond their bounds, and people are discouraged, and men's hearts are failing them. Remember that there is safety in righteous living. There will be safety in your stake, in your ward, and in your association with other righteous and good people.

Do not fear. Just remember that you are here upon this earth as a child of your Heavenly Father and you have been placed here with great responsibility to accept your part of the load of preaching the Gospel and helping the Gospel to move forth to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. And remember that no unhallowed hand will stop the work of the Lord from progressing and it will reach every nation. You will live to see many more missionaries called. You will live to see temples built where they are not permitted to be built now. You will see members coming into the church by the thousands. You will see our young people living more righteous lives so that they will be better prepared to serve as missionaries and then establish their own homes and bring children into the world and raise them in righteousness.

Yes, you have a great future before you. So look to the heavens where the light of truth and knowledge comes from and refrain from looking down at the filthy and ugly things of the world. Now Lucifer is running to and fro upon the earth with his angels trying to deceive the very elect of God. He is having great success with his evil, carnal, and sensual ways. he is turning the hearts of many people to pornography, immorality, and unrighteous and impure relationships. Now he is doing this through many means of communication such as the written word, things that can be seen in public, things that can be brought into your own home on the computer, the television, and other devices that have been and will be created. I bless you today with the Spirit of Discernment, to be able to choose between that which is good and that which is evil, that you will know when things are not right, when things should not be seen, when you should turn away, and your family should turn away from evil and run as Joseph did from Potiphar's wife when tempted. So go forth and fear not, for the times, even though they are difficult, will be made through righteous living.

Now your heavenly father wants you to be come involved in genealogical research. Study it out in your mind, as time progresses. Join with your family and those who are living as they should and have a desire to keep God's commandments. Research out your ancestors and then go to the temple and do the work for them as much as you can.

Now your Heavenly Father wants you to be prepared so that you can provide for your own needs until the time comes that you have someone to provide for you. Now I bless you that you heavenly father will open up the way so that the course of study that you should follow and pursue will be made known unto you as you humbly go to Him in prayer. He will not forsake you, but he will open up the way and guide and direct you in every step of the way. be willing to accept that which he wants you to do. Remember that you need to be prepared to provide for yourself, but also in time of need, if that arises in the future of your family, that you will have a profession that will make it much easier to find employment wherever you might be living. That is vital and important.

Now your Heavenly Father wants you to be a missionary to your family. And I bless you today that if you will be patient and understanding, if you set a good example, that you will be an influence of good in the life of your mother and your father.

Yes, your Heavenly father has things for you to do in the church, for there will be assignments that will come to you and your eternal companion. Prepare for those things that lie ahead through righteous living, through study of the scriptures and through prayer. You have many talents and gifts that you have not fully developed that your heavenly father needs to help build the kingdom. And I bless you that if you will go to him in humble prayer, he will make known unto you those gifts that you should develop and those talents that you should perfect, all of which can be used in building the kingdom, helping in your ward, in your stake, and in Zion.

Now I bless you to come forth on the morning of the first resurrection as an heir entitled to the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom, and there to live in the presence of your Heavenly Father, your Savior, the Holy Ghost, and all the righteous members of your family throughout all eternity. This is called eternal life, which is the greatest of all gifts. So as you walk the pathway of life keep in your mind's eye this vision of one day seeing the hand of the Lord extended to you and the Lord saying 'well done, my good and faithful servant. Enter into my kingdom.' Now you have the ability if you will always follow the promptings of the spirit that you have received, the Holy Ghost, at the time of your baptism, to resist every major temptation that Lucifer will put in your way. Remember that Lucifer can never force you to do anything. He can only do that which you let him do. But you have the strength within you to resist him on all sides. And this special blessing that you have if you will righteously, and learn to run from sin, because sin was never happiness.

Remember that virtue is priceless. It cannot be bought or sold, but is the fruit of self - discipline. now be happy. be cheerful. be one who does not criticize or find fault. be one who lifts and helps other, one who does not complain, but is always there with strength and energy and the love of others, because when you are in the service of others, you are in the service of your Heavenly Father. Now I bless you with the strength of body and mind that you will be able to go forth and do all the things that your Heavenly Father wants you to do. Just remember that they are all predicated upon your obedience and your remaining true and faithful to the end. This you can do, I promise you, in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, as I seal this blessing upon you in his Holy Name, Amen