THE VALUE OF CHILDREN      can be described in many many different ways.  They are "us" in the future.  They are our legacy.  They are the innocence and beauty of life.  They carry a unique spirit.  They carry our values into the future.  They represent our optimism about the future of the world we live in...... The following is an experience shared by Elder Eduardo Ayala of the Seventy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that was published in THE FRIEND magazine in March, 1996.  I thought the spirit of it might encourage all of us to be good to our children, to set a good example for them, and to cherish them as did President Spencer W Kimball, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in those years.

" One of the greatest expressions of love for children that I have seen occurred when I was serving as a stake president in Chile.  President Spencer W Kimball visited Chile for an area conference. Members of the Church from four countries met together in a stadium that held about fifteen thousand people.  We asked President Kimball what he would like to do after the conference.  His eyes full of tears, he said, ' I would like to see the children.'  One of the priesthood leaders announced over the microphone that President Kimball would like to shake the3 hands of or bless each of the children in the stadium.  The people were astounded--there was a great silence. President Kimball greeted abut two thousand children one by one, crying as he shook their hands or kissed them or put his hands on theirs heads and blessed them.  The children were very reverent and looked at him and cried, too.  He said he'd never felt this kind of spirit in his life.  It was a tremendous moment in the lives of all the Church members there.  We felt closer to the children, too, because of this experience with President Kimball."

My own children and grandchildren have taught me more than any other source of learning I have experienced in my life.  They inspire me to be true to what I know, believe, and cherish.  They will be custodians of all of it when I am gone.  Jim