Elder Ballard continues the theme of his last talk about "raising the bar" on missionary preparation to discussing "raising the bar" on member missionary work.

• Throughout the Church we are working hard to help all of our missionaries to increase their spiritual maturity. This worldwide effort has been referred to as “raising the bar” or “raising the standard.”
• But as we raise the level of expectation for the performance of our missionaries, we must also raise the level of expectation for the performance of all of the members of the Church in fulfilling our missionary duties. We need your help, brothers and sisters, to support and assist our missionaries in finding and baptizing many more of our Heavenly Father’s children. We need you to watch over, protect, and inspire the missionaries, who are servants of the Lord. If the standard is to be raised, it is raised for all of us. We must be more faithful. We must be more spiritually in tune. We must prepare ourselves to assist the missionaries in finding those of our Heavenly Father’s children who will embrace the message of the Restoration.

Elder Ballard says that member missionary service is simple but can be frightening.  He suggests three things we can to do be more effective and less scared of this duty.

• Viewed from that eternal perspective, what we are to do seems so simple and clear, but I know that member missionary work can be challenging and sometimes frightening. Please allow me to suggest three simple things that we can do to assist in this divinely commissioned responsibility.
  

First, we should exercise our faith and pray individually and as families, asking for help in finding ways to share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

• Ask the Lord to open the way. Prayerfully set a date with your family to have someone in your home for the missionaries to teach. Remember, brothers and sisters, this is the Lord’s Church. Let Him guide you through constant prayer.

He shares a great quote by President Hinckley about this change of heart we need to see take place in each member missionary.

• President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “It will be a great day when our people not only pray for the missionaries throughout the world, but ask the Lord to help them to assist the missionaries who are laboring in their own ward.”
  

Second, leaders must lead by example.

• The Spirit will prompt and guide you in finding those interested in our message. Your personal worthiness will give you the courage and the spiritual power to inspire your members to actively help the missionaries.
  

Third, member missionary work does not require the development of strategies or gimmicks. It does require faith—real faith and trust in the Lord. It also requires genuine love.

• So let the power of love guide us in sharing the gospel with family members, friends, neighbors, business associates, and any other people we encounter as we go through life. Most everyone wants to enjoy peace and happiness. That is a natural human desire. People want to find answers to the problems they face. This is increasingly true in the world we now live in.
• Professional advancement, increased income, bigger homes, or newer cars and recreational equipment do not bring lasting peace and happiness. Happiness comes from understanding God and knowing that He has a plan for our eternal joy and peace. Happiness comes from knowing and loving the Savior and living our lives in accordance with His teachings. Happiness comes from strong family and Church relationships based on gospel values.

Elder Ballard concludes by emphasizing that we are not interested in people joining the church.  We are interested in bring people to the knowledge of Christ through the restoration of the church.

• We are not just trying to get people to join our Church; we are sharing with them the fulness of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. But as powerful as our message is, it cannot be imposed or forced upon people. It can only be shared—heart to heart, soul to soul, spirit to spirit—by being good neighbors and by caring and showing love. We need to be watchful for one another and reach out to one another. And as we do so, we will radiate the gospel in our own lives, and it will radiate to the people the blessings the gospel has to offer.

I have always found it easy to talk to people about my faith.  I think people naturally are willing to talk about things that inspire them, make them better people, and have helped them out of their biggest struggles in life.  For me, that is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  People love to know how your life has been influenced and what makes you the person you are.  That naturally becomes a conversation of the power of Jesus Christ in my life.  If you are struggling with how to talk about the gospel more, try talking about general things like going to church over the weekend, or something your family is involved with for an activity.  These are natural and nonthreatening ways to discuss where you focus your time and attention.  It shows what matters most in life without having to be nervous about asking someone to hear the missionary discussions.

Elder Hales speaks of the times we live in.  There are storms of life, war between nations, and destruction all around us. God knew of these trials in our lives and has prepared a way to see us through these trying times.

• We are living through turbulent times. A great storm of evil has come upon the earth. The winds of wickedness howl about us; the waves of war beat against our ship.
• Through the still, small voice of His Spirit, the Lord will protect us, help us, and guide us.

Elder Hales talks about the Brother of Jared in the Book of Mormon.  He shares that the Brother of Jared didn't just see a problem, he took a solution to the Lord.  We as parents need to look for solutions and ask the Lord to bless our efforts as we raise our children in these turbulent times.

• As parents and leaders, we must remember that “it is not meet that [the Lord] should command in all things.” Like the brother of Jared, we must carefully consider the needs of our family members, make a plan to meet those needs, and then take our plan to the Lord in prayer. This will require faith and effort on our part, but He will help us as we seek His assistance and do His will.

In our lives, we will be protected by listening and doing what the Lord's prophets have taught us.  There is safety in following the Lord's leaders.

• The living prophets have counseled us time and again to put our lives in order—to eliminate debt, to store food and other essential items, to pay our tithing, to obtain appropriate education, and to live the commandments. Have we obeyed these essential instructions?

Our children need to see our faith in action so that their faith is strengthened.  Their fear of the future will be decreased as they follow our example of faith in action.

• They need to see us continuing to pray and study the scriptures together, to hold family home evening and family councils, to serve faithfully in our Church callings, to attend the temple regularly, and to be obedient to our covenants. When they see our steadfastness in keeping the commandments, their fears will subside and their confidence in the Lord will increase. By showing our faith through tribulation, we assure them that the fury of the adversary is not fatal.

Just because we listen to the prophets and make good decisions in our lives, doesn't mean we will be without trials.  We all have experiences that will cause us to be tested.  But our faith will see us through those experiences in a strong manner.

• Each of us must go through certain experiences to become more like our Savior. In the school of mortality, the tutor is often pain and tribulation, but the lessons are meant to refine and bless us and strengthen us, not to destroy us.
• Tests of our faith are priceless opportunities to discover how deeply the Master cares about the welfare of our souls to help us endure to the end.

Elder Hales speaks about the Saviors final days and what we can learn when we change our perspective a bit.  We can look at the last days as trials and pain, or we can look at the good that was done in those same moments.

• When we observe the last week of the Savior’s life from our earthly perspective, our first impression may be one of suffering and destruction. We may see only the Savior’s mother and others weeping at the cross, soldiers afraid, the earth in great commotion, rocks broken up, the veil of the temple rent in twain, and three hours of darkness covering the land. A similar scene of storms and destruction unfolded in the New World. In short, we see the terrible tempest raging.
• But look again—this time through the eye of faith.
• In the last, most agonizing weeks of His life, consider that Jesus taught, testified, lifted, blessed, and strengthened those around Him. He raised Lazarus from the dead, taught about His Father, set the temple in order, gave several parables, witnessed the widow offering her mite, instructed His disciples about the signs of His Second Coming, visited the house of Simon the leper, instituted the sacrament, washed the feet of the Apostles, and taught His disciples to love one another. He testified of His divinity as the Son of God and taught of the Comforter—the Holy Ghost. In His great Intercessory Prayer, He prayed to His Father for His Apostles and all who believe on their words, “that they might have [His] joy fulfilled in themselves.”
• In His darkest hour, the light of peace and joy did not fade. It grew brighter! After His death, He appeared to Mary Magdalene. What joy must have been felt that morning as the news spread: “He is risen”! In time He came to the women on the road, to Cleopas and a disciple who were traveling to Emmaus, to the Apostles and disciples in the upper room, to Thomas, who doubted, and to others. Again, there was joy and rejoicing in the Atonement and the Resurrection.
• But this was not all. In vision, President Joseph F. Smith—a prophet, seer, and revelator—saw the Savior’s visit to the spirit world.

He promises us that the light of Christ will shine in our lives as we exercise our faith.

• My brothers and sisters, however dark conditions may seem in this world today, whatever the storms we are facing personally, in our homes and our families, this joy can be ours now. Sometimes we don’t understand death, illness, mental and physical disabilities, personal tragedies, war, and other conflict. Some of these are a necessary part of our mortal probation. Others, as Enoch foresaw, are part of the preparation for the Savior’s Second Coming, when “the heavens shall be darkened, and a veil of darkness shall cover the earth; and the heavens shall shake, and also the earth; and great tribulations shall be among the children of men, but,” said the Lord, “my people will I preserve.” And when Enoch saw all these things, he “received a fulness of joy.”

Elder Hales ends by sharing his testimony of the Savior.

• I bear special witness with joy and rejoicing that He did come into this world, suffered for our sins, and will return again. Our faith in Him and obedience to His commandments will bring “a perfect brightness of hope” and dispel the darkness and gloom of despair in these troubled times. The One who had power to calm the elements of earth has power to calm our souls, to give us refuge from the storm.

Elder Hales shares a message of hope.  We will not be without trials in our lives.  But through our faith, we can be given peace and joy while enduring life's struggles.  There is hope in the Savior and all that he offers.

Elder Holland speaks about the need to help our children say on the right path.  He recognizes that parents can do all things right, and the agency of some children still is exercised in the wrong direction.  He gives hope to parents who are trying to do all they can.

• In such times as we are in, whether the threats be global or local or in individual lives, I too pray for the children. Some days it seems that a sea of temptation and transgression inundates them, simply washes over them before they can successfully withstand it, before they should have to face it. And often at least some of the forces at work seem beyond our personal control. Well, some of them may be beyond our control, but I testify with faith in the living God that they are not beyond His. He lives, and priesthood power is at work on both sides of the veil. We are not alone, and we do not tremble as if abandoned. In doing our part, we can live the gospel and defend its principles. We can declare to others the sure Way, the saving Truth, the joyful Life. We can personally repent in any way we need to repent, and when we have done all, we can pray. In all these ways we can bless one another and especially those who need our protection the most—the children. As parents we can hold life together the way it is always held together—with love and faith, passed on to the next generation, one child at a time.
  

Elder Holland speaks about parents needing to show their personal commitment to the church to their children.  Our children shoudl have no questions about our commitment to follow the Savior.

• But no child in this Church should be left with uncertainty about his or her parents’ devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Restoration of His Church, and the reality of living prophets and apostles who, now as in earlier days, lead that Church according to “the will of the Lord, … the mind of the Lord, … the word of the Lord, … and the power of God unto salvation.” In such basic matters of faith, prophets do not apologize for requesting unity, indeed conformity, in the eloquent sense that the Prophet Joseph Smith used that latter word. In any case, as Elder Neal Maxwell once said to me in a hallway conversation, “There didn’t seem to be any problem with conformity the day the Red Sea opened.”
  
• Parents simply cannot flirt with skepticism or cynicism, then be surprised when their children expand that flirtation into full-blown romance. If in matters of faith and belief children are at risk of being swept downstream by this intellectual current or that cultural rapid, we as their parents must be more certain than ever to hold to anchored, unmistakable moorings clearly recognizable to those of our own household. It won’t help anyone if we go over the edge with them, explaining through the roar of the falls all the way down that we really did know the Church was true and that the keys of the priesthood really were lodged there but we just didn’t want to stifle anyone’s freedom to think otherwise. No, we can hardly expect the children to get to shore safely if the parents don’t seem to know where to anchor their own boat.
  
• I think some parents may not understand that even when they feel secure in their own minds regarding matters of personal testimony, they can nevertheless make that faith too difficult for their children to detect. We can be reasonably active, meeting-going Latter-day Saints, but if we do not live lives of gospel integrity and convey to our children powerful heartfelt convictions regarding the truthfulness of the Restoration and the divine guidance of the Church from the First Vision to this very hour, then those children may, to our regret but not surprise, turn out not to be visibly active, meeting-going Latter-day Saints or sometimes anything close to it.
  

He warns parents that they are the example to their children.  He quotes Elder Richard L. Evans with this quote.

• If a parent goes a little off course, the children are likely to exceed the parent’s example.
  

He provides hope to parents who are doing right and encourages them to stay faithful dispite the decisions that others make.

• Moms and dads can do everything right and yet have children who stray. Moral agency still obtains. But even in such painful hours it will be comforting for you to know that your children knew of your abiding faith in Christ, in His true Church, in the keys of the priesthood and in those who hold them. It will be comforting then for you to know that if your children choose to leave the straight and narrow way, they leave it very conscious that their parents were firmly in it. Furthermore, they will be much more likely to return to that path when they come to themselves and recall the loving example and gentle teachings you offered them there.
  
• Live the gospel as conspicuously as you can. Keep the covenants your children know you have made. Give priesthood blessings. And bear your testimony! Don’t just assume your children will somehow get the drift of your beliefs on their own.
  

Elder Holland asks us a series of questions to allow us to self-reflect on our lives.

• Do our children know that we love the scriptures? Do they see us reading them and marking them and clinging to them in daily life? Have our children ever unexpectedly opened a closed door and found us on our knees in prayer? Have they heard us not only pray with them but also pray for them out of nothing more than sheer parental love? Do our children know we believe in fasting as something more than an obligatory first-Sunday-of-the-month hardship? Do they know that we have fasted for them and for their future on days about which they knew nothing? Do they know we love being in the temple, not least because it provides a bond to them that neither death nor the legions of hell can break? Do they know we love and sustain local and general leaders, imperfect as they are, for their willingness to accept callings they did not seek in order to preserve a standard of righteousness they did not create? Do those children know that we love God with all our heart and that we long to see the face—and fall at the feet—of His Only Begotten Son? I pray that they know this.
  

He uses the analogy of an arrow to talk about parental guidance.  Parents have the responsibility to aim their children in the right direction.

• Brothers and sisters, our children take their flight into the future with our thrust and with our aim. We take courage in remembering that the most important mortal factor in determining that arrow’s destination will be the stability, strength, and unwavering certainty of the holder of the bow.

He concludes with this advice.

• Be believing. Keep loving and keep testifying. Keep praying. Those prayers will be heard and answered in the most unexpected hour. God will send aid to no one more readily than He will send it to a child—and to the parent of a child.
  

Talks about children making decisions in their lives are so inspiring to me.  I guess part of that is because that is where I am in my life.  I have a college age daughter, another daughter graduating in the coming year, and other children still growing.  I see so many things that they do that cause them heartache, pain, and unhappiness.  I believe the greatest gift I can give to my children is a clear anchor in the storms of life.  My children know when the pains of the world are weighing on them, they can come to me and find peace, direction, and encouragement in the same way that the Savior would give.  It is my job to make sure they know where to find peace, how to find peace, and have that assurance that they can always find direction in their life through the Savior.  It took me a long time to learn this myself so I understand it will take them time, but I knew my parents knew the church was true and when I needed guidance and direction, I always knew that my parents had a strong conviction that true happiness only comes from living the gospel of Jesus Christ.