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Every six months, LDS leaders speak to thousands in Salt Lake City's Conference Center and to millions more around the world.

But for many members, these General Conference talks aren't meant for the Mormon masses, but rather for one person: themselves.

Some sermons just resonate. They may pierce a heart or enlighten a mind. They may reveal a truth or deconstruct a myth. They may provide long-sought answers or spur newfound questions.

Either way, they are referenced, remembered, even revered.

We asked several Latter-day Saints to recall their favorite conference sermons and why those messages stick with them.

Eric Samuelsen • Retired Brigham Young University theater professor and playwright

I have been troubled by friends and family members who decided that their personal search for truth required that they separate themselves from the church. It's heartbreaking. But I took great comfort in this passage from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's October 2013 sermon:

"In this church that honors personal agency so strongly, that was restored by a young man who asked questions and sought answers, we respect those who honestly search for truth. It may break our hearts when their journey takes them away from the church we love and the truth we have found, but we honor their right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own conscience, just as we claim that privilege for ourselves."

President Uchtdorf then pointed out that there were many reasons for people to doubt the official church narrative and that we shouldn't judge those for whom those doubts prove overwhelming. A lovely talk.

Marguerite Driessen • Lawyer in Washington, D.C., and former women's Relief Society president for the Genesis Group, a support organization for black Mormons

One of my favorite conference talks was given in October 1995 by LDS apostle Richard G. Scott titled "Trust in the Lord."

I have never had a hard time dealing with why bad things happen to good people. I understand that we have agency and that we live in a fallen world in which consequences for transgression or careless actions may be unpleasant, tragic even, for us and for innocent people who happen to get caught in their wake.

I do, however, periodically wrestle with why good things, the righteous desires of a sincere heart, do not happen for good people. Why are there times when the prayers of the faithful saint — for the healing of a loved one, for the desired new job or greater income, for a temple marriage or children, for a straying child or spouse, for that one blessing most desirable for our happiness or to relieve our present suffering — go unavailing? If you do what you are supposed to do, why you are not blessed as we are taught to expect? In this talk, Elder Scott recognizes this particular trial.

"It is so hard when sincere prayer about something we desire very much is not answered the way we want," he said. " ... It is hard to understand why our exercise of deep and sincere faith from an obedient life does not bring the desired result."

Thankfully, Elder Scott offers an explanation.

"When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more. He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understanding and compassion which polish you for your everlasting benefit," he said. "To get you from where you are to where he wants you to be requires a lot of stretching, and that generally entails discomfort and pain."

Finally, he offers insights and coping strategies for "what otherwise appear to be unjust, unfair, unreasonable challenges in life." I often carry an old, marked up, much-folded copy of this talk so I can relearn its lessons when life makes me forget.

Wilfried Decoo • Retired LDS professor who has taught at the University of Antwerp in Belgium and at BYU

I'd suggest President Gordon B. Hinckley's April 2000 talk called "A Time of New Beginnings."

"Let us as Latter-day Saints reach out to others not of our faith. Let us never act in a spirit of arrogance or with a holier-than-thou attitude. Rather, may we show love and respect and helpfulness toward them," he urged "We are greatly misunderstood, and I fear that much of it is of our own making. We can be more tolerant, more neighborly, more friendly, more of an example than we have been in the past. Let us teach our children to treat others with friendship, respect, love and admiration. That will yield a far better result than will an attitude of egotism and arrogance."

It is a still-needed message — to counter tendencies to insularity and fundamentalization. Talks of "us versus the world" may easily lead to arrogance and contribute, as President Hinckley warned, to us being misunderstood.

Rachel Hunt Steenblik • Doctoral student in philosophy of religion and theology at Claremont Graduate University. Her first book, "Mormon Feminism: Essential Writings," co-edited with Joanna Brooks and Hannah Wheelwright, is due out in November

LDS apostle Jeffrey R. Holland's October 2003 address, "The Grandeur of God," has meant something big to me for a long time, with its emphasis that God's grandeur is found not in God's power, God's knowledge or God's presence, but in God's love, God's tears and God's work for us.

Elder Holland does this in part by tenderly — and a bit tearfully — recollecting the tender, tearful God who Enoch catches weeping, and who cries out in Jacob's olive tree allegory, "What could I have done more for my vineyard?" This God tells me that my own love, my own tears and my own work have glory, and that there is strength in openness and vulnerability. It is the God that I can believe in, that I can worship, and that I can love.

"There," Elder Holland said, "in the midst of a grand vision of humankind which heaven opened to his view, Enoch, observing both the blessings and challenges of mortality, turns his gaze toward the Father and is stunned to see him weeping. He says in wonder and amazement to this most powerful being in the universe: 'How is it that thou canst weep? … Thou art just [and] merciful and kind forever; … Peace … is the habitation of thy throne; and mercy shall go before thy face and have no end; how is it thou canst weep?'

"Looking out on the events of almost any day, God replies: 'Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands. … I gave unto them … [a] commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood. … Wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?'

"That single, riveting scene does more to teach the true nature of God than any theological treatise could ever convey," Elder Holland said. "It also helps us understand much more emphatically that vivid moment in the Book of Mormon allegory of the olive tree, when after digging and dunging, watering and weeding, trimming, pruning, transplanting and grafting, the great Lord of the vineyard throws down his spade and his pruning shears and weeps, crying out to any who would listen, 'What could I have done more for my vineyard?' "

More recently, I love the warmth found in President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's October 2014 sermon, "Receiving a Testimony of Light and Truth." He begins with the starry heavens above and ends with a beautiful vision of what the earthly church can and should be.

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a place for people with all kinds of testimonies. There are some members of the church whose testimony is sure and burns brightly within them. Others are still striving to know for themselves," he said. "The church is a home for all to come together, regardless of the depth or the height of our testimony. I know of no sign on the doors of our meetinghouses that says, 'Your testimony must be this tall to enter.'

"The church is not just for perfect people, but it is for all to 'come unto Christ, and be perfected in him.' … The church is a place of welcoming and nurturing, not of separating or criticizing. It is a place where we reach out to encourage, uplift and sustain one another as we pursue our individual search for divine truth.

"In the end," President Uchtdorf said, "we are all pilgrims seeking God's light as we journey on the path of discipleship. We do not condemn others for the amount of light they may or may not have; rather, we nourish and encourage all light until it grows clear, bright and true."

All of us are welcomed and invited to come unto Christ, as all of us are encouraged to show welcoming and kindness to others, as they journey on their own path, in their own time. There is room here.

Holly Richardson • Utah County mother, blogger and conservative political activist

I've often wondered just how it is that every General Conference session has something meant specifically for me, right where I'm at. Nonetheless, it happens every time — from motherhood to grief, from overcoming adversity to politics, there is always something that really speaks to me.

Last October, LDS apostle Dallin H. Oaks gave a powerful talk on "Loving Others and Living With Differences."

As someone deeply involved with politics, this was a particularly meaty talk. One section really stood out to me.

"The Savior taught that contention is a tool of the devil. That surely teaches against some of the current language and practices of politics," Elder Oaks said. "Living with policy differences is essential to politics, but policy differences need not involve personal attacks that poison the process of government and punish participants. All of us should banish hateful communications and practice civility for differences of opinion."

I hope one day to see more civility in our political discourse but, in the meantime, I know I will work to make sure that policy differences on my part do not lead to personal attacks.