“The other day I received a letter of apology, as I have on many occasions. It came from someone I do not know. This letter told how resentful and angry that member had been for a long period of time toward me because of a talk I had given. It was a request for forgiveness.
“I am quick to forgive. I am only an agent both in giving the talk and in extending forgiveness.
“… It is so easy to resist the teaching and resent the teacher. That has been the lot of the prophets and apostles from the beginning. …
“Typically those letters of apology say, ‘I could not understand why you felt the need to make me feel so uncomfortable and so guilty.’ Then, out of their struggle, there emerges an insight, an inspiration, an understanding of causes and effects. Finally they come to see and understand why the gospel is as it is” (Boyd K. Packer, “Teach the Children,” Ensign,Feb. 2000, 15–16).
“The Nephites officiated by virtue of the Melchizedek Priesthood from the days of Lehi to the days of the appearance of our Savior among them. It is true that Nephi ‘consecrated Jacob and Joseph’ that they should be priests and teachers over the land of the Nephites, but the fact that plural terms priests and teachers were used indicates that this was not a reference to the definite office in the priesthood in either case, but it was a general assignment to teach, direct, and admonish the people” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, comp. Joseph Fielding Smith Jr. [1957], 1:124).
“What does it mean to magnify a calling? It means to build it up in dignity and importance, to make it honorable and commendable in the eyes of all men, to enlarge and strengthen it, to let the light of heaven shine through it to the view of other men.
“And how does one magnify a calling? Simply by performing the service that pertains to it” (Thomas S. Monson, “The Sacred Call of Service,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2005, 54).
“If you do not magnify your callings, God will hold you responsible for those whom you might have saved had you done your duty” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: John Taylor [2001], 164).