For The Streng Of The Youth

Strength Strength of Youth of Youth

For the For the

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The First Presidency
OUR DEAR YOUNG MEN AND YOUNG WOMEN, we

Message to the Youth from

have great confidence in you. You are beloved sons and daughters of God and He is mindful of you. You have come to earth at a time of great opportunities and also of great challenges. The standards in this booklet will help you with theimportant choices you are making now and will yet make in the future. We promise that as you keep the covenants you have made and these standards, you will be blessed with the companionship of the Holy Ghost, your faith and testimony will grow stronger, and you will enjoy increasing happiness. In all that you do, stay focused on the temple. In the temple you will receive the greatest of all theLord’s blessings, including marriage for time and all eternity. Keeping the standards in this booklet will help you be worthy to attend the temple, where you can perform sacred ordinances for your ancestors now and make essential covenants for yourself in the future.

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Our Father in Heaven has placed great trust in you. He has a work for you to do. Seek His guidance in prayer, and counsel withyour parents and leaders. The decisions you make now will set the course for much of what will follow during your mortal life and throughout eternity. We testify that God lives. It is our fervent prayer that you will remain steadfast and valiant throughout your lives and that you will trust in the Savior and His promises. As you do this, you will be an influence for good in helping to build thekingdom of God and prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Savior.
The First Presidency

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Learn more by visiting the For the Strength of Youth website: standards.lds.org

The doors of the Salt Lake Temple

Published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Salt Lake City, Utah © 2001, 2011 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved Printed in the United States ofAmerica English approval: 9/11

Contents
Agency and Accountability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Dating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Dress and Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Entertainment and Media . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Gratitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Honesty and Integrity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Language . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Music and Dancing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Physical and Emotional Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Repentance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Sabbath Day Observance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Sexual Purity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Tithes and Offerings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Work and Self-Reliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Go Forward with Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 44

Agency and Accountability
Wherefore, men . . . are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death. 2 Nephi 2:27
Heavenly Father has given you agency, the ability to choose right from wrong and to act for yourself. Next to the bestowal of life itself, the right to direct your life is one of God’s...