Our Sacred Purpose

Education is something indispensable in people’s life. Many Church authorities and leaders have talked about the sacredness of being educated and its eternal meaning. BYU inspires their students to understand this truth by providing buildings where the Holy Ghost dwells in every room and hallway. As an ELC student I recognize the blessings of study under this ideology. Our building was dedicated by Elder Henry B. Eyring, an Apostle of Jesus Christ. This dedicatory has taught us many things about what BYU wants and expects from its students. Furthermore, BYU inspires its students to see no difference between academic and spiritual learning. Students at the ELC can feel BYU’s love by being benefited with all the instruments it has to be more efficient and consecrated. ELC students are benefited because of authorities' inspiration and for having access to sacred buildings at BYU.

Authorities’ inspiration helps students to understand better the sacred meaning of education, both in an ecclesiastic and academic way. Thanks to them, students can change their perspective about why being educated is such an important thing in God’s plan. One way in which authorities have helped students to be closer to God is by doing weekly devotionals. This idea has given much inspiration to BYU students and has been a perfect way to connect them with their Heavenly Father. Another way that authorities have helped students to be closer to God is by comparing academic education with the gospel teachings. President Henry B. Eyring said, “Life is far more subtle and a far more powerful educational design. It must be to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of our Father in Heaven’s children. He takes away our memory at the registration process with only a scripture or two to reassure us that we were the more promising of his children” (H. Eyring, 1999, Elder Henry B. Eyring’s talk and dedicatory prayer, para. 9). Elder Eyring’s speech talks about how God send us to this World to learn about it. Students at BYU can be nourished with temporal and eternal knowledge. There is no doubt that authorities are a big inspiration for BYU students so they can be good disciples of Jesus Christ.

BYU buildings are spaces where students can feel the Holy Ghost and closer to God. BYU has multiple buildings on campus. All these buildings have been dedicated by Apostles of Jesus Christ. These dedications make BYU buildings holy places where the Holy Ghost can dwell. The sacredness of BYU buildings is an important factor for its students’ spirituality. Thanks to this, every building at BYU can be felt as a house of the Lord. One example of this is the ELC dedicatory prayer made by President Henry B. Eyring in 1999. Other examples of sacred buildings are temples. Temples are the house of the Lord. In temples people can do covenants and receive instruction and knowledge about the Creation and the sacred Origin of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. President Henry B. Eyring said, “The very purpose of our mortal life is true education” (H. Eyring, 1999, Elder Henry B. Eyring’s talk and dedicatory prayer, para. 9). President Eyring shares what is our goal here in this World, which is to learn about this life and the gospel of Jesus Christ. BYU buildings can be as holy as temples. Their sacredness helps students to have the influence of the Holy Ghost in every activity they do.

And of course, ELC students are also participants of BYU buildings and inspiration. In the ELC Official website says that one of the ways English Language Center help their students is by “providing BYU students with opportunities to apply university study in practical contexts and to develop excellence in English language teaching, tutoring, curriculum design, materials development, technology use, assessment, evaluation, and research” (ELC Official Website). Students at the ELC have the blessing of being able to use every facility at BYU campus. We can enter to every building and to learn everything about each department at BYU. ELC students can also use the revelation received by authorities to be inspired and to learn English in a better way. In the other hand, ELC students can understand and speak English faster thanks to all the resources and blessings we receive by being part of BYU. Thanks to Elder Eyring’s dedicatory prayer in 1999, ELC is a holy place where every student can receive guidance and personal revelation about learning a new language. One of ELC’s goal is to prepare its students for applying to superior education. ELC students who go to BYU will have the opportunity to keep receiving all the blessings we are currently receiving. There is no doubt ELC is being inspired by BYU to maintain its standard of spirituality and sacredness and by having students who are enduring to be more like Jesus Christ.

In conclusion, ELC students are constantly being nourished by what our leaders want us to know, and we are also being strengthened because of what BYU buildings provide to us. BYU students have the privileges of enjoying a big quantity of not only academic, but spiritual blessing. Apostles, prophets, and authorities are constantly helping BYU students to not decrease their testimonies of Jesus Christ and to add spiritual knowledge to the one they are receiving in their classes. ELC students can see the reflection of this. BYU inspires us to be more like our Savior and to keep being truth disciples of him. It also inspires us to apply to superior education, such as BYU, BYUI, BYU Hawaii, or Ensign College. BYU institution is always giving us the opportunity of being part of the university of God. Furthermore, ELC students have been blessed by the dedication Elder Eyring made years ago. Thanks to this, we have seen miracles and blessings learning a new language by holding the Lord´s hand. BYU is an expert by taking care of its community. Because of this we, as part of BYU, are grateful for everything what the institution has done for us.