General Conference - October 2021
Saturday Morning Session
President Russell M. Nelson: ‘Pure Truth, Pure Doctrine and Pure Revelation’
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland: ‘The Greatest Possession’
President Bonnie H. Cordon: ‘Come Unto Christ, and Don’t Come Alone’
Elder Ulisses Soares: ‘The Savior’s Abiding Compassion’
Elder D. Todd Christofferson: ‘The Love of God’
Elder Clark G. Gilbert: ‘Becoming More in Christ: The Parable of the Slope’
Elder Patricio M. Giuffra: ‘A Faithful Search Rewarded’
President Dallin H. Oaks: ‘The Need for a Church’
“I invite you to listen for three things during this conference: pure truth, the pure doctrine of Christ, and pure revelation.”
“The first great truth in the universe is that God loves us... wholeheartedly, without reservation or compromise, with all of His heart, might, mind and strength. And when those majestic forces from His heart and ours meet without restraint, there is a veritable explosion of spiritual moral power.
If we love God enough to try to be fully faithful to Him, He will give us the ability, the capacity, the will, and the way to love our neighbor and ourselves. ”
“The Lord has a plan for you. He has prepared for you this day, right now, to be a strength and force for good in His mighty work. We need you! It simply will no be as grand without you!
The Savior’s love for us is unfailing - even when we fail! Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Remembering this love can help you push back the confusion of the world that tries to weaken your confidence in your divine identity and blind you of your potential.”
Scott writes… “We loved the story this morning about the little boy getting distracted and tangled in the net. Our kids all thought that picture was pretty funny. Great lesson too. Satan wants to distract us and has come up with so many ways to do it, all of which lead to spiritual tangles. Don’t get tangled in Satan’s worldly nets!
“The compassionate attitude of Jesus is rooted in charity, namely, in His pure and perfect love, which is the essence of His atoning sacrifice. Compassion is a fundamental characteristic of those who strive for sanctification, and this divine quality intertwines with other Christian traits such as mourning with those who mourn and having empathy, mercy and kindness. The expression of compassion for others is, in fact, the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ and a marked evidence of our spiritual and emotional closeness to the Savior. Furthermore, it shows the level of influence He has on our way of life and demonstrates the magnitude of our Spirits.”
Cassie’s thoughts… “My favorite talk from conference was Elder Soares’ from the Saturday morning session. He was the fourth speaker of the whole conference and his words stuck with me throughout all the sessions.
Elder Soares talked about the importance of compassion and how it’s a “fundamental characteristic” that we all need to adapt more into our daily lives. He said that Jesus’s compassionate acts were everyday occurrences because of his pure love. I want to strive to be better by having more compassion for everyone around me and incorporate having a compassionate attitude in my every day life.
Some of my church leaders growing up that have impacted me the most are the ones that had the most compassion for the youth, and for others in the ward that were struggling. I have always wondered how some of these women were able to be so kind to every person in our ward, even some that others had a hard time connecting with and were often forgotten, and I have wondered how I can be more like them. Elder Soares taught me that appearances can be deceptive and Jesus always looks on hearts, not on appearances. I want to improve by being slower to judge and finding people that are struggling and show them my compassion. I want to work on being better at finding people who may feel forgotten and serving them. We can all be instruments in the Lords hands if we have an open heart and are actively seeking ways to show others how much God loves them. President Nelson said in his closing remarks that “we decide how we treat one another” and I think that’s something that everyone can think about and be better on. I love general conference!!
“Because they love you, they do not want to leave you ‘just as you are.’ Because They love you, they want you to have joy and success. Because They love you, They want you to repent, because that is the path to happiness. ”
“We believe in the divine potential of God’s children and in our ability to become something more in Christ. In the Lord’s timing, it is not where we start, but where we are headed that matters most.”
Chris’ thoughts… (Chris invited our kids to share their thoughts about one conference talk during the weekend. Here’s what he texted to the kids…) “I loved the talk by Elder Clark G. Gilbert. “Our future will be determined not by our starting point but by our slope.” It is true that everyone in this world has a different starting point in life. I have studied a lot recently about the very difficult circumstances that many people have to overcome because of race or poverty or abuse or depression or same sex attraction, etc. Personally I have been very blessed to be given a very high starting point in life. I am a white male born in the United States to a middle class family with the gospel taught to me from my birth. But I need to focus not on my starting point but on the slope of my progress. Am I doing what I need to do in my life to be improving in all areas, particularly spiritually? He taught us that we accomplish this by ‘focusing on where we are headed and what our potential is.” I also loved his story about his work with youth in downtown Boston who were given a low starting point in life. He made it a point to show them love by not lowering his expectations of them. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from conference a few years ago that we should show “high love and high expectations”. The high expectations he gave them helped them achieve greatness in their lives.
“Attendance and activity in a church help us become better people and better influences in the lives of others. In church we are taught how to apply religious principles. We learn from one another. A persuasive example is more powerful than a sermon. We are strengthened by associating with others of like minds. In church attendance and participation, our hearts are, as the Bible says, ‘knit together in love.’ ”
Just a few General Conference treats. My favorite - the Trader Jo’s dark chocolate peanut butter cups.
Saturday Afternoon Session
Elder David A. Bednar: ‘With the Power of God in Great Glory’
Elder Ciro Schmeil: ‘Faith to Act and Become’
Sister Susan H. Porter: ‘God’s Love: The Most Joyous to the Soul’
Elder Erich W. Kopischke: ‘Addressing Mental Health’
Elder Ronald A. Rasband: ‘The Things of My Soul’
Elder Christoffel Golden: ‘Preparing for The Second Coming of Christ’
Elder Moisés Villanueva: ‘Favored of the Lord in All My Days’
Elder Gary E. Stevenson: ‘Simply Beautiful — Beautifully Simple’
“Covenant promises and blessings are possible only because of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He invites us to look to Him, come unto Him, learn of Him, and bind ourselves to Him through the covenants and ordinances of his restored gospel. I testify and promise that honoring covenants arms us with righteousness and with the power of God”
“As we study the scriptures the Lord will give us the answers or the necessary strength to get through one more day, one more week, and to try one more time.”
“When you know and understand how completely you are loved as a child of God, it changes everything.”
Emily’s thoughts… I feel like every conference there are a couple things that stand out to me that every speaker seems to mention. this time my takeaways were:
- god knows me and loves me
- i can go to god with my questions
- becoming a disciple takes work, faith & courage
My favorite talk was by Susan H Porter. She talked about how knowing God loves us can change our lives and that we should use that knowledge to serve others. Some of my goals are to work on becoming more Christlike, focusing on feeling Gods love in my life and serving others to help them feel it as well.
“The most important words we can hear, ponder, and follow are those revealed through our living prophet. I bear witness that I have sat in counsel with Presiden Russel M. Nelson to discuss weighty matters of the Church and of the world, and I have seen revelation flow through him. He knows the Lord, he knows His ways, and he desires that all of God’s children will hear Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. ”
Ryan’s thoughts… I thought I would start my conference thought by sharing my 8, 9, and 10 per Elder Rasband’s invitation. I put:
8. Spend Time with and Have Meaningful Conversations with Friends and Family
9. Take Time to Think
10. Ask God for Help
I love conference because it gives me time to think about the gospel and reminds me that I can do more of that. Elder Uchtdorf talked about taking time to reflect and recalibrate our systems, and that seems to be increasingly important in the world we’re living in. Elder Nelson said “Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures.” I need to give more of my mental energy to the Lord and to my personal recalibration. This includes taking time to “rehearse in your mind the covenants you have made” (President Nelson).
“1% gains can make a huge difference” and “minutes and hours well spent are the building blocks of a life well lived.” I hope that I can implement small gains in my every day going forward. I would appreciate help and support from all of you, and I love have meaningful conversations with each one of you, so please call me anytime! Or come over if you are in Provo! Thanks for being my family and for being so supportive and loving. I love you all! -Ryan
“Learning will lead to more understanding, more acceptance, more compassion, more love. ”
“For those who have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to fell, more than every before, we are required to confront the reality that we are getting ever closer to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. True, great difficulties yet await those on the earth at His return, but in this regard, the faithful need not fear.”
Luke shares… “I loved the talk by Moisés Villanueva. He was mainly talking about how people had lost things or were going through a hard time and was still… going. They were still living and smiling! Like the guy in the hospital they were wondering how he was smiling while going through the hard thing. There are times where we are hurting or are sad, and we feel that it is too hard to just be happy again like nothing ever happened. But when we think of our sad experience compared to the ones he talked about, we wonder why we’re so sad when it is definitely not as hard. Yes we are allowed to be affected and sad by it, but we should easily be able to be happy again if the people from the talk could. Most of the time our problems are not big deals and are definitely as bad as other people’s challenges in the world.
I want to be better at handling things and always knowing there’s someone in the world that is going through something worse. So there is no need for me to overreact on things. My life is great and there is no need to spend my time being sad about things that won’t even matter in the future. I love you all! Luke
“In moments of difficulty and trial, there are few things that bring us greater peace and satisfaction than serving our fellow man. ”
“It has been said that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is simply beautiful, and beautifully simple. The world is not. It is complicated, complex, and filled with turmoil and strife. We are blessed as we exercise care not to allow complexity, so common in the world, to enter into the way we receive and practice the gospel.”
David shares… The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstance sof our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives. That’s twice that President Nelson' has been quoted as saying that today. I think that’s a great quote. (It ended up being quoted four times over the Conference weekend. So good!)
Saturday Evening Session
President M. Russell Ballard: ’Lovest Thou Me More Than These?’
Sister Sharon Eubank: ‘I Pray He’ll Use Us’
Elder Brent H. Nielson: ‘Is There No Balm in Gilead?’
Elder Arnulfo Valenzuela: ‘Deepening Our Conversion to Jesus Christ’
Brother Bradley R. Wilcox: ‘Worthiness is Not Flawlessness’
Elder Alfred Kyungu: ‘To Be a Follower of Christ’
Elder Marcus B. Nash: ‘Hold Up Your Light’
President Henry B. Eyring: ‘The Faith to Ask and Then to Act’
“When we love and follow Him, we have faith in Him. We repent. We follow His example and are baptized and receive the Holy Ghost. We endure to the end and stay on the covenant path. We forgive family members and neighbors by letting go of grudges we may be holding. We earnestly strive to keep God’s commandments. We strive to be obedient. We make and skeep covenants. We honor our fathers and mothers. We set aside negative worldly influences. We prepare ourselves for His Second Coming. ”
“God loves us as we are, but He also loves us too much to leave us this way. Growing up unto the Lord is what mortality is all about.”
Matt’s thoughts… I liked brother Wilcox’s talk. I liked the parable about the gas station and all of the things things he said. Life is like a road trip, the fastest route is going on the highway but sometimes you get off the highway to get gas. The spirit works like that too. The gas station is when you repent. You try to go on the fastest route but when you make mistakes, you have to go to the gas station to repent. Once you repent, god fills up your fuel for you to get to your destination. The destination is heaven.
“Through your ministry, donations, time and love, you have been the answer to so many prayers. And yet there is so much more to do. As baptized members of the Church, we are under covenant to care for those in need. ”
“We must seek everything that invites the influence of the Spirit and reject anything that deviates from this influence.”
“With sufficient faith, we will ask for direction with the intent to go and do whatever He asks. We will have developed the faith to know that whatever He asks will bless others, and we can be purified in the process because of His love for us.”
Great talks, fun treats and a game or two of 7Wonders.
Sunday Morning Session
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf: ‘Daily Restoration’
President Camille N. Johnson: ‘Invite Christ to Author Your Story’
Elder Dale G. Renlund: ‘The Peace of Christ Abolishes Enmity’
Elder Vaiangina Sikahema: ‘A House of Sequential Order’
Elder Quentin L. Cook: ‘Personal Peace in Challenging Times’
President Russell M. Nelson: ‘The Temple and your Spiritual Foundation’
“We cannot be content with spiritual experiences of the past. We need a steady flow.”
Megan’s thoughts… I liked Uchtdorf’s talk from this morning. He talked about how the lord provides us with reliable, visible landmarks to keep us walking in a straight line. He wants to keep us on the path so he will always help us through it. I liked when he mentioned how moving water is always pure meaning we have to keeping moving forward and improving ourselves each day. We cannot stand still in our faith and relationship with our heavenly father.
One of my favorite quotes from it is “He will draw near to all who draw near to him“. I can definitely be better on drawing near to him!! love y’all and happy hunger games.
“It is through the manifestations of the Spirit that we will feel the Master’s hand, writing our stories with us.”
Carly said… “This talk about using the love of Christ to overcome disagreements and contention was just SO relevant and beautifully delivered. I want to be more loving and accepting of everyone despite disagreements on political issues. Thanks to all for sharing your thoughts! I love reading favorite quotes and stories because it helps me remember what was said! Our house was fun and wild during conference with Becca crawling around and trying to help the girls listen for special conference words. Whitney’s favorite words were LOVE and JESUS CHRIST and Mara’s favorite word was HOLY GHOST. It was cute and is becoming a fun tradition for our family. I’m looking forward to re-listening for better personal revelation in the coming weeks. I definitely felt several times overwhelmed with the spirit and felt so so grateful to belong to our church with such directed and caring leaders.
“I testify that as we shun contention and become ‘like-minded with the Lord in love and united with Him in faith,’ His peace will be ours.”
“We will be blessed as we look for and follow the patterns and the sequence in which the Lord teaches what’s most important to him.”
Shelley texted… I also really liked Clark Gilbert’s talk and even made a little graph about it! That was good. The one that stuck with me was Via Sikahema’s talk about how our lives need to be lived sequentially and in order. Line upon line, precept on precept. I liked him a lot. I have loved all the talks so far!
“Love and kindness are at the center of having Zion in our hearts and homes.”
“It is now time that we each implement extraordinary measures - perhaps measures we have never taken before - to strengthen our personal spiritual foundations. Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures. — The safest place to be spiritually is living inside your temple covenants.”
My thoughts: There were so many favorite talks, great quotes, good analogies and sweet testimonies but I was truly moved listening to our prophet talk about the temple. I appreciated when he talked about re-examination of our own foundations… “It is now time that we each implement extraordinary measures to strengthen our personal spiritual foundation.” And then said, “The safest place of pure truth, pure doctrine and pure revelation. I’m excited to truly study about the temple and our covenants during the next six months — along with my goal to go frequently. Grateful for our faithful prophet and grateful for such a great Conference. I’ve loved reading through all of your thoughts and goals. It helps me desire to be better. I’m so glad we are bound together.
Sunday Afternoon Session
Elder Gerrit W. Gong: ‘Trust Again’
Bishop L. Todd Budge: ‘Giving Holiness to the Lord’
Elder Anthony D. Perkins: ‘Remember Thy Suffering Saints, O Our God’
Elder Michael A. Dunn: ‘One Percent Better’
Elder Sean Douglas: ‘Facing Our Spiritual Hurricanes by Believing in Christ’
Elder Carlos G. Revillo Jr: ‘Micracles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ’
Elder Alvin F. Meredith lll: ‘Look Down the Road’
Elder Neil L. Andersen: ‘The Name of the Church is Not Negotiable’
President Russell M. Nelson: ‘Make Time for the Lord’
“With God’s blessing, process of time, and continuing faith and obedience, we can find resolution and peace.”
“Together as we hasten to give to God and our fellowmen, wherever we go, lives are enriched and blessed.”
“Whatever the cause of your sufferings, Heavenly Father can direct them to refine your soul. Refined souls can bear others’ burdens with true empathy.”
“Each of us has weathered, and will weather, spiritual hurricanes that threaten our peace and try our faith. Our belief (in Christ) and obedience link us to power beyond our own.”
“Every effort to change we make - no matter how tiny it seems to us - just might make the biggest difference in your life.”
“The gospel is truly the way to a happy, abundant life. ”
“If you only look at what is directly in front of you, you will never drive straight. Focusing on the things that are the most important - especially those things down the road, those eternal things - is a key to maneuvering through this life.”
“The Lord always keeps His promise, He opens the way for us as we do His work.”
“I plead with you to make time for the Lord! Make your own spiritual foundation firm and able to stand the test of time by doing those things that allow the Holy Ghost to be with you always.
If most of the information you get comes from social or other media, your ability to hear the whisperings of the Spirit will be diminished.”
Katie’s thoughts… Love all of your thoughts!!! Thanks for sharing!!! ❤️I loved Elder Gilbert’s talk too dad. I loved the theme of us putting in the work for the Lord. Elder Ballard said to BELIEVE = to love and follow our Savior and keep the commandments, even in hard times. President Nelson talked repeatedly about us making time for the Lord EACH & EVERY DAY. Another thing I heard from several people was the importance of 1) studying the words of Christ and 2) that the Holy Ghost will tell us all things we should do! 🙌I am trying to put in the work to receive answers and become a more dedicated disciple of Christ so God can use me more! 💪🏽
Mary’s thoughts… It was a wonderful weekend and I’m so grateful! I feel motivated.