Latest from Saturday’s LDS General Conference: Holland recounts near-death trial; women’s leader stresses wearing garments; Nelson attends

On April 6, 1830, Joseph Smith and five colleagues gathered before a small congregation of 40 or so family members, friends and followers near Fayette, New York, and formed a new religion.

On Saturday, 194 years to the day since that initial meeting, Smith’s then-fledgling faith, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will convene yet another General Conference before a vast audience of thousands in the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City and stream the services to millions more around the world.

Smith’s latest successor as prophet–president, Russell M. Nelson, did not attend Saturday morning’s session, but he did show up for the afternoon one. It marked the first time in a year that the 99-year-old leader was present in person for a General Conference session.

Nelson, who will turn 100 in September and has become the oldest ever to hold the top spot, took the church’s helm more than six years ago. He hinted in a social media post Thursday that he may deliver — as he did last autumn while recuperating from a fall — his remarks in a recorded message.

With Nelson’s red velvet chair empty in the morning, his right-hand man, 91-year-old apostle Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the three-member governing First Presidency and next in line to lead the global faith of 17.2 million members, presided.

Oaks also conducted the first session and noted that, in a not-unprecedented departure from tradition, members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles would be conducting some of the other sessions. Apostle Gary E. Stevenson, for instance, conducted the afternoon meeting, with Nelson presiding in person.

Like Oaks, the other member of the First Presidency, Henry B. Eyring, at 90, is also a nonagenarian. He delivered his sermon Saturday morning in a recorded message, although he was present on the stand in the Conference Center.

After the Saturday afternoon session, Nelson, Eyring and apostle Jeffrey Holland were escorted from the large hall in wheelchairs.

In the first order of business Saturday morning, Oaks conducted a “sustaining” in which members express their support for the faith’s top brass.

Of note, 61-year-old general authority Seventy Edward Dube, a native of Zimbabwe, became the first Black Latter-day Saint and the first of African descent to be named to the Presidency of the Seventy, which has become a proving ground of sorts for potential apostles. Of the past eight apostles named to the Quorum of the Twelve, six have come from this seven-member group: Patrick Kearon, Ulisses Soares, Gerrit Gong, Ronald Rasband, Neil Andersen and D. Todd Christofferson.

After the sustaining of church officers, Jared B. Larson, managing director of the church’s Auditing Department, reported on the faith’s money.

He followed the same pattern as in previous conferences, stating that “in all material respects, contributions received, expenditures made, and assets of the church for the year 2023 have been recorded and administered in accordance with church-approved budgets, accounting practices and policies.”

Larson pointed out that the Utah-based faith “follows the practices taught to its members of living within a budget, avoiding debt, and saving against a time of need.”

It was — as tradition has held for six decades — devoid of any dollar figures, coming in an era of increased scrutiny of the global church’s wealth and financial practices, along with calls from insiders and outsiders alike for more transparency about church assets.

Latter-day Saints around the world tune in via TV, radio and the internet to these twice-yearly gatherings to receive counsel and inspiration from their top leaders. These celebrations of sermons, songs, prayers and pronouncements are the highlight of the church’s calendar and become the topic of Sunday speeches and lessons until the next conference rolls around in six months.

Here are the latest updates on talks and announcements from Saturday’s three sessions:

Saturday afternoon

Apostle Quentin Cook: Being one with Christ

God’s mercy “is not dependent on lineage, education, economic status or race,” apostle Quentin L. Cook said. “It is based on being one with Christ and his commandments.”

Same with the requirements for baptism, he said. “It is significant that all the qualifications for baptism are spiritual. No economic or social attainment is necessary. The poor and the rich have the same spiritual requirements. There are no race, gender or ethnicity requirements.”

Striving to be the best “is a righteous and worthwhile endeavor,” Cook said. “It is consistent with the Lord’s doctrine. Efforts to diminish or deprecate others or create barriers to their success is contrary to the Lord’s doctrine. We cannot blame circumstances or others for a decision to act contrary to God’s commandments.”

As members face “the vicissitudes of life, many events occur over which we have little or no control,” he said. Yet on “matters of principle, conduct, religious observance and righteous living, we are in control.”

Young Men leader Michael Nelson: Parents, church leaders must focus on the ‘rising generation’

Follow the example of Helaman and the stripling sons of the people of Ammon in the Book of Mormon, the faith’s signature scripture, said Michael T. Nelson, second counselor in the Young Men General Presidency.

He urged the church’s young people to remain “resolute” in the face of “daunting challenges.” He also encouraged their parents to support them and remember that their “primary responsibility” is “teaching their children.”

Nelson said that wards, or congregations, “will be blessed and strengthened as members focus on the rising generation” and that lay “bishops, with a laserlike focus on the youth, will have an influence that will last for generations. … The youth today are among Heavenly Father’s most noble spirits.”

Apostle Gerrit Gong: ‘All things work together for good’

In this “fickle world,” many feel “tempest-tossed, uncertain, sometimes fortunate, and — too often — unfortunate,” said apostle Gerrit W. Gong. “Yet, in this world of tribulation, ‘we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.’”

Left to their own, individuals may not know “our own good,” Gong said. “When ‘I choose me,’ I am also choosing my own limitations, weaknesses, inadequacies.”

To do the “the most good, we must be good,” said the faith’s first and only Asian American apostle. “Since none save God is good, we seek perfection in Jesus Christ.”

When Latter-day Saints “trust God and his love for us, even our greatest heartbreaks,” he said, “can in the end work together for our good.”

Church congregations can “provide refuge and safety,” he said, but “many faithful families and individuals confront difficult challenges, even while knowing that (without yet knowing how) things will work together for their good.”

In the end, that is God’s purpose and nature, Gong said, “to bring all things together for our good.”

Seventy Jose L. Alonso: When faced with trials, look to Jesus

Those afflicted with trials, general authority Seventy Jose L. Alonso advised, should turn to “the unwavering love of Jesus Christ.”

“It is through his infinite Atonement that we are offered a gift beyond measure — one of hope, healing and the assurance of his constant, enduring presence in our lives,” said Alonso, a native of Mexico. “This gift is available to all who reach out with faith, embracing the peace and redemption he so freely offers.”

He told church members that, although “it’s easy to become engrossed in our difficulties,” they should follow the example of Christ, who “exemplified the power of focusing on his Father, offering gratitude, and acknowledging that solutions to our trials do not always lie within ourselves, but with God.”

Seventy Brent Nielson: Witnessing God’s work across the world

Scripture is filled with “eyewitnesses,” said general authority Seventy Brent H. Nielson, “who testified to what they both saw and heard.”

For his part, Nielson said, he himself is an eyewitness to “the ongoing restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ …. across the world.”

There has never been “a better time” to be a Latter-day Saint “than today,” Nielson said. “I know this of my own knowledge, independent of any other source, because of what I have both seen and heard.”

He described the church’s growth in regions where he has served or visited as the leader of the Missionary Department — the Pacific area, the Philippines, Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa.

The “most inspiring miracle of the restoration that I have witnessed is you,” Nielson said, “the faithful members of the church in every land.”

Seventy Massimo De Feo: Keep your ‘spiritual vision’ clear

General authority Seventy Massimo De Feo recounted an “uncomfortable wake-up call” he recently had when his vision “became blurry, dark and wavy,” and urged Latter-day Saints to pay attention to their “spiritual vision.”

De Feo, a native of Italy, said doctors told him he could lose his sight “in a matter of weeks” unless he began “intravitreal injections — injections right in the eye” every four weeks for the rest of his life. “I asked myself. ‘OK, my physical sight is not good, but what about my spiritual vision? Do I need any treatment there?’”

He counseled church members that keeping a “clear spiritual vision” requires focusing on Jesus Christ; leaving “the natural man behind” and repenting; and hearing “the voice of the Lord” and allowing him “to guide us.”

Apostle David Bednar: ‘More than not talking’

God’s admonition to “be still” entails “much more than simply not talking or not moving, apostle David A. Bednar said Saturday afternoon. “Perhaps his intent is for us to remember and rely upon him.”

Being still may be “a way of reminding us to focus upon the Savior unfailingly as the ultimate source of the spiritual stillness of the soul,” Bednar said, “that strengthens us to do and overcome hard things.”

If Latter-day Saints can “be still” in their “holy places of worship,” the apostle added, they can “know ever more surely that God is our Heavenly Father, we are his children, and Jesus Christ is our Savior.”

They can “be blessed by the Holy Ghost to receive an individual and spiritual stillness of the soul,” Bednar said, “…and be blessed to do and overcome hard things.”

Saturday morning

President Henry B. Eyring: Attend the temple as frequently as possible

The Lord has “accelerated, and will continue to accelerate, the building of temples across the world,” said Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency. “This will allow all of God’s children the opportunity to receive the ordinances of salvation and exaltation, and to make and keep sacred covenants.”

In his recorded talk, Eyring, who was seated in the Conference Center, recounted a trip he and his wife made to the Idaho Falls Temple on June 5, 1976, leaving their children behind in Rexburg with a babysitter. That was the day that the Teton Dam burst, inundating Rexburg and leaving two-thirds of its residents homeless.

Forced to remain in Idaho Falls and unable to contact his children, Eyring was “able to put my mind at ease and fall asleep.” His wife, who died last fall, asked him, “How can you sleep at a time like this?” He replied, “Kathy, whatever the outcome, all will be well because of the temple. We have made covenants with God and have been sealed as an eternal family.”

And, he said, “There truly was no need to fear, and we were grateful later to learn that our boys were safe.”

Eyring said “there is nothing more important than honoring the covenants you have made, or may make, in the temple.” He urged church members to “become eligible to attend the temple” and to “visit as frequently as circumstances will allow.”

Seventy Jack N. Gerard: Living ‘a life of integrity’

Living a life of integrity requires Latter-day Saints “to be true to God, to each other and to our divine identity,” said Jack N. Gerard, a general authority Seventy. “Integrity means we do not lower our standards or behavior to impress or be accepted by others.…You do what is right and let the consequence follow.”

The “worldly pull” can be “as direct as to destroy fidelity in marriage or as subtle as posting anonymous comments critical of church doctrine or culture,” Gerard said. “Exercising integrity in our choices is an outward expression of an inner commitment to follow the Savior Jesus Christ.”

Some modern organizations “train employees to consider what their decisions or decision-making process would look like if published online or on the front page of a major newspaper,” he said. “As the church comes out of obscurity and darkness, we…must rise above the worldly expectations and become the face of the true and living God at all times and in all places.”

Claiming to have integrity, he said, “is insufficient if our actions are inconsistent with our words.”

Latter-day Saints should “avoid actions that may be perceived as serving our own interests, benefiting our family or favoring someone at the expense of another,” Gerard said. “We go out of our way to avoid any perception that our actions may be influenced by the honors of men, to receive personal recognition, generate more likes, be quoted or published.”

A life of integrity, he admonished, “requires us to be true to our divine identity.”

Apostle Ulisses Soares: Temple attendance is the ‘pinnacle of our divine connection with God’

Going to the temple “fortifies our ability to love and serve others,” apostle Ulisses Soares said, “and strengthens our souls to live in an unholy world that is increasingly dark and discouraging.”

Temple attendance is “the pinnacle of our divine connection with God,” he said, adding that it “empowers us to overcome the seeds of doubt and despair, fear and frustration, heartache and hopelessness that the enemy tries to drive deep into our hearts, especially when life is hard, trials are long or circumstances are difficult.”

Soares told church members that they can gain confidence in Jesus Christ “through humility, centering our lives on the Savior, living by the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, receiving the ordinances of salvation and exaltation and honoring the covenants we make with God in his holy house.”

He counseled that “all of us should” have “our next appointment scheduled with the Lord in his holy house, whether the temple is near or far away. … I assure you that having the spirit of the Lord’s house in us changes us completely.”

As the number of temples continues to swell, Soares said, it is “more important” that members “change our experience in the temple, which will transform our lives outside of the temple.”

Seventy Alexander Dushku: Not everyone will experience a ‘pillar of light’

General authority Seventy Alexander Dushku recounted the story of Joseph Smith’s “First Vision” — when the church founder said that, as a 14-year-old boy, he had a vision of God and Jesus Christ speaking to him — saying Latter-day Saints “must be wary of a spiritual trap” of expecting the same sort of experience.

“Sometimes faithful church members become discouraged and even drift away because they haven’t had overwhelming spiritual experience — because they haven’t experienced their own pillar of light,” Dushku said. “…Rather than sending us a pillar of light, the Lord sends us a ray of light, and then another, and another.”

Everyone’s experiences are different, he said. “No two people experience God’s light and truth in exactly the same way,” from “bursts of light and testimony” to “a still, small voice.”

Relief Society leader J. Anette Dennis: ‘A sacred obligation and a sacred privilege’

The wearing of sacred underwear by Latter-day Saint men and women “is both a sacred obligation and a sacred privilege,” said J. Anette Dennis, first counselor in the worldwide women’s Relief Society presidency. The “garment” (as this underclothing is known) “is deeply symbolic and points to the Savior.”

Members wear “the garment of the holy priesthood, both during temple worship and in our everyday lives,” Dennis said Saturday morning. The holy underclothing “reminds us that the Savior and the blessings of his Atonement cover us throughout our lives. As we put [it] on …. that beautiful symbol becomes a part of us.”

Some leaders have worried publicly about Latter-day Saints who don their garments only on Sunday and to the temple, rather than every day.

Dennis declared that her “willingness to wear the holy garment becomes my symbol to [Christ]. It is my own personal sign to God, not a sign to others,” she said, and expresses her “love and gratitude for my Savior, Jesus Christ, and my desire to have him with me always.”

The garment is a reminder of her covenants with God, she said. “I have symbolically put on Christ, who himself is an armor of light.”

Dennis made headlines last month in a worldwide Relief Society broadcast when she declared that “no other religious organization in the world that I know of … has so broadly given power and authority to women.”

Latter-day Saint women cannot be ordained — unlike in a number of other faiths — and hold no priesthood offices.

After thousands of women took issue with her remarks, Dennis thanked those who shared their feelings on social media.

“As we read through the comments, we were moved by some of the experiences you’ve had,” she stated. “As a member of the General Relief Society Presidency, I can assure you that we and our church leaders are listening and learning from the things you have shared with us.”

Apostle Jeffrey Holland returns to conference, speaks of his health trials

Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, spoke at General Conference for the first time since October 2022 and joked about learning a “painful lesson” from that.

“That lesson is — if you don’t give an acceptable talk, you can be banned from the next several conferences,” he said. “You can see I am assigned early in the first session of this one. What you can’t see is that I am positioned on a trapdoor with a very delicate latch. If this talk doesn’t go well, I am gone again.”

Holland, 83, who spoked seated as he delivered the first talk Saturday morning, was hospitalized for six weeks this past summer, entering the hospital just after the death of his wife, Pat. He said he spent “the first four weeks of a six-week stay in and out of the intensive care unit and in and out of consciousness.”

Holland said that during the near-death encounter, he “received … an admonition to return to my ministry with more urgency, more consecration, more focus on the Savior and more faith in his word… Since that experience, I have tried to take up my cross more earnestly, with more resolve to find where I can raise an apostolic voice of both warmth and warning in the morning, during the day and into the night.

The apostle said these past months of loss and illness have filled him with “endless gratitude for the efficacy of resolute prayers — your prayers — of which I have been the beneficiary.”

He told church members that “God hears every prayer we offer and responds to each of them according to the path he has outlined for our perfection. … We should pray individually, in our families, and in congregations of all sizes.”