SALT LAKE CITY -- The president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints thanked members Saturday for their dedication to their faith and service at the start of the 180th Annual General Conference.

"Thank you my brothers and sisters for your faith and devotion," President Thomas S. Monson said. "You serve willingly and well and accomplish great good."

Pres. Monson also encouraged members to reach out to new converts and those making their way back into the Church as he opened the conference Saturday morning.

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The event comes days before the Church marks the 180th anniversary of its founding -- April 6 -- by Joseph Smith, Jr.

It is also the 25th year that the 13 million-member, Utah-based Church has operated a worldwide humanitarian assistance program, which provides medical supplies, food, clothing, hygiene kits and other relief supplies. Since its start in 1985, the program has provided some $1.1 billion in aid in response to natural disasters, and to support initiatives that promote health and disease prevention, employment and other programs to ease poverty, according to a Church website.

Money for the program comes from donations and offerings that are separate from tithing funds collected annually by the Church from members.

Over the past three months, the Church has shipped disaster relief to aid to Haiti, Chile, French Polynesia, Mongolia, Bolivia, Peru, Arizona, Mexico, Portugal and Uganda, Pres. Monson reported.

"We will always strive to be among the first on the scene of disasters, wherever they may occur," he said. "We express profound gratitude to all of you for your willingness to assist with our humanitarian efforts by sharing your resources, and in many cases, your time, your talents and your expertise."

In the aftermath of Haiti's earthquake, another Church leader spoke of the Haitian Latter-day Saints who formed a committee and took in truckloads of provisions from the Dominican Republic, using their nine mostly undamaged chapels to house more than 5,000 of their countrymen.

Pres. Monson also provided an update on the health of his wife of more than 60 years, Sister Frances Monson, who suffered a broken hip and shoulder during a fall last October.

"She is doing well and continues to make progress toward a full recovery," he said. He noted that she was in attendance at conference Saturday.

"You can't keep a good girl down," he added, flavoring the conference with a spark of his well-known humor.

In Saturday night's meeting for the men and boys of the faith, the priesthood session, Pres. Monson addressed the young men, stressing honesty, clean language and physical self-control. He warned them to be careful what they read, listen to or watch.

President Monson said, "Pornography is especially dangerous and addictive. Curious exploration of pornography can become a controlling habit, leading to coarser material and to sexual transgression."

Other speakers called upon members of the Church to strengthen the priesthood and their families.

The president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Boyd K. Packer, spoke of the power of the priesthood. He said the Church has done well in distributing the authority of the priesthood.

"But distributing the authority of the priesthood has reached, I think, ahead of distributing the power of the priesthood. The priesthood does not have the strength that it should have and will not have until the power of the priesthood is firmly fixed in the families, as it should be," he said.

He said too many priesthood holder are living below their privileges and the Lord's expectations.

Sister Julie B. Beck, general president of the Relief Society, said there has never been a greater need for strong families and homes. She told mothers that with personal revelation, they can navigate through life confidently and prevail over opposition.

"The ability to qualify for, receive and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life," she said.

Sister Beck said personal revelation comes when people ask for it, prepare for it and go forward in faith, trusting that it will be poured out upon them. She said women can be blessed by the combined spiritual power of all the sisters of the Church's Relief Society.

Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles also spoke to the mothers and daughters of the Church. He spoke of the influence of a righteous woman and said popular culture disrespects women.

He called on mothers to set good examples, to teach their daughters to find joy in nurturing children, to teach them the dangers in gossiping or judging others, and to speak with them about modesty and sexual matters in a world that openly embraces casual promiscuity and immodesty.

President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency called on church members to help strengthen children while they are young. He said the most important assignments to that end are in the family.

He said people can help God's children best by providing ways to build faith in Jesus Christ.

Saturday afternoon, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland talked of the daily assault of immoral messages which leads many to pornography, which can turn into lust.

"Love makes us instinctively reach out to God and other people. Lust, on the other hand, is anything but godly and celebrates self-indulgence," he said.

We spoke with a mother and daughter from Kenya who told us, "It's amazing how the Lord speaks through his people."

An 8-year-old girl from California who was in attendance said, "It was very spiritual and it made me feel very comfortable and made me want to stay there."

Also speaking at the morning session were Bishop Keith B. McMullin of the Presiding Bishopric, and Elder Wilford W. Andersen of the Seventy.

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Story compiled with contributions from The Associated Press, Carole Mikita and Marc Giauque.

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