Gerald N. Lund, former member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy, will speak at the Prospective Missionary Fireside on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m in the Wilkinson Center Ballroom.
Brad Farnsworth, professor of religion at BYU, organized this fireside, which is held once during Fall Semester and once during Winter Semester.
“I think Elder Lund is one of the great teachers in the Church today,” Farnsworth said, explaining why Elder Lund was chosen to speak at the fireside.
According to Farnsworth, this is not only due to the number of books he has written, but also because of his experience as a member of the Seventy.
“We’ve been asked to use this pool of former general authorities because they’re still very quality but they don’t have all the demands of a general authority,” he said.
Farnsworth said Elder Lund mentioned “Faith in Jesus Christ” as a topic to focus on during the fireside, but warned that Elder Lund may change that.
“He’s trying to keep it very simple, like most of the speakers do,” he said.
While the fireside is geared toward prospective missionaries and is going to be held at BYU, anyone is welcome and encouraged to attend.
“When I sit on the stand, I’m able to look out over this audience of about 2000 students,” Farnsworth said, “and they’re students from BYU and Utah Valley. A lot of them are students from the Young Single Adult Stakes. You can just feel the excitement of all these future missionaries.”
Olivia Boone, a BYU nutritional science major from St. George, can attest to the spirit and atmosphere of these firesides.
Boone attended last semester. She said it was crowded and it was difficult to hear the speaker at times, but it was still a wonderful experience.
“It’s great to feel the spirit of the meeting and have hundreds of fellow students right there with you as a modern-day Army of Helaman,” she said.
