Pioneers are still needed. A pioneer is described as one who goes before, preparing the way for others. He is a leader, first in his field in discovery and invention. He will be followed by settlers and developers who expand and exploit his discoveries. Anyone seeking to become a pioneer will take care to fill his mind with what is known about the route he plans to take. Some of the qualities needed in pioneering are interest, intelligence, imagination, and determination. A pioneer must investigate, plan, experiment, and work.

Though nothing in our lives seems to require the courage and patient long-suffering of those early Latter-day Saints, still almost every worthwhile endeavor I can imagine takes something of that same determination. Certainly an education does, including paying off your student loans. But it can be done. I've done it. It just takes time. Even love at first sight--if there is such a thing--is nothing like love after nineteen years, seven months, and eleven days, if my marriage to Sister Holland is any indication. Indeed "the best is [always] yet to be" (Robert Browning, "Rabbi Ben Ezra").

In that sense Troilus, whose impatient love for Cressida makes him something of a basket case, teaches us a valuable lesson. "He that will have a cake out of the wheat must tarry the grinding," Pandarus says to Troilus. "Have I not tarried?" Troilus pouts.

Pandarus: Ay, the grinding; but you must tarry the bolting.

Troilus: Have I not tarried?

Pandarus: Ay, the bolting; but you must tarry the leavening.

Troilus: Still have I tarried?

Pandarus: Ay, to the leavening; but here's yet . . . the kneading, the making of the cake, the heating of the oven, and the baking; nay, you must stay the cooling too, or you may chance to burn your lips.

[Troilus and Cressida, act 1, scene 1, lines 14ff]

The baking of life's best cakes takes time. Don't despair of tarrying and trying.

"[R]emember...who you are"

Imagine the impact if this year every woman with a testimony helped one other woman gain a testimony and begin to find out who she is and was and may become. I'll take the challenge. Will you join me? Ask the Lord to help you, and He will. Begin by reading Doctrine and Covenants 138 and Abraham 3 about the noble and great ones, and see what the Spirit reveals to you about you. When you understand that you were chosen and reserved for now, and when you live in harmony with that mission, you'll be happier than you have ever been before. Listen to these words from President Gordon B. Hinckley: "Woman is God's supreme creation. . . . "Of all the creations of the Almighty, there is none more . . . inspiring than a . . . daughter of God who walks in virtue with an understanding of why she should do so." "Rise above the dust of the world. Know that you are daughters of God . . . and that there is for you a great work to be done which cannot be left to others." My dear sisters, will you seek to remember with the help of the Holy Ghost who you are and who you have always been? Will you remember that you stood by our Savior without flinching? Remember that you were reserved for now because you would have the courage and determination to face the world at its worst and to help rear and lead a chosen generation. Remember the covenants you have made and the power they carry. Remember that you are noble and great and a potential heir of all our Father has. Remember that you are the daughter of a King.

In order get what you have never had, you must do what you have never done!

I'd rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are; because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star. I'd rather be a has-been than a might-have-been, by far; for a might-have-been has never been, but a has was once an are.

I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do.

First, we must never, in any age or circumstance, let fear and the father of fear (Satan himself) divert us from our faith and faithful living. There have always been questions about the future. Every young person or every young couple in every era has had to walk by faith into what has always been some uncertainty—starting with Adam and Eve in those first tremulous steps out of the Garden of Eden. But that is all right. This is the plan. It will be okay. Just be faithful. God is in charge. He knows your name and He knows your need.

Our Father in Heaven expects you to have enough faith and determination, and enough trust in Him, to keep moving, keep living, keep rejoicing. In fact, He expects you not simply to face the future (that sounds pretty grim and stoic); He expects you to embrace and shape the future—to love it and rejoice in it and delight in your opportunities. God is anxiously waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. So pray on, dream on, and move ahead, “with faith in every footstep.”

Or do ye suppose that the Lord awill still deliver us, while we sit upon our thrones and do not make use of the means which the Lord has provided for us?

Humanity is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence! Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent! Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts! Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb! Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.