Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009 @ 7:00pm PST

My life has been so interesting because I have traveled to so many places. I like people and I have learned so much about people as I have traveled to different places. When you are with the people you really get to learn about their different idiosyncrasies and cultures and why they do what they do. And I have seen how each country has its own culture.

Several times I have given a talk at universities in the U.S.--USC, UCLA and others--and we visited with students. They say, "Why should we learn their different languages?" Everyone in those other countries can speak English. And I say to them, "It is not just the languages, it is the different idiosyncrasies and nuances and culture that they have." You have to get to know the people to be able to understand those things. And when they do learn about the people and their culture, they learn to respect them and appreciate the things they see without comparing it to what we have in the U.S. or what we think we do better here. If you don't respect them, you never pay attention to them, and you never learn about them.

If you go to the smallest country or the biggest country in the world, you will find the high, the middle, and the lower classes. It doesn't matter where you go, you will always find that. One time I went to Morocco. You know that I do not like things that crawl, and there were crawling things everywhere. I didn't eat anything in Morocco for two days because there were flies all over. The people are talking to you and they have flies in their mouth, and, oh! Other people were able to eat, but I just could not. But, you don't just think, "Look how dirty these people are." You think, "How can these people live this way? How are they able to live this way?"

Everywhere is different. Some people think that they are better then others, but that is a fallacy. You need to have respect for others, no matter what.

Your mother and all of your uncles are good people and are noble in heart. They do not think they are better than other people. That makes me so happy. You try to interject those things in your children so that they can become better than you. That is how the world is supposed to keep getting better and better. But, now the world is getting worse and worse. My father used to say to us, "You need to grow up to be better than your mother and I." And that is how it should be. I wish everyone would experience that. Your mother and your uncles are better than me and they are better than their father, and that makes me very happy.

You should read the autobiography of Charles Dickens. It is wonderful. He got to live many years, and in this book he reflects on what he went through in life--poor times in England when he was young, and many other things. It is so interesting to read about his reflections on life. As you read more you learn more about the human race, and you realize how much we need the gospel of Jesus Christ, in the simple and in the great matters in life.

(Matthew)