Full summary of Sunday’s LDS General Conference: Dallin Oaks announces a pause in naming new temples

In his first major General Conference address Sunday as the top leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, senior apostle Dallin H. Oaks took a significant departure from the tradition of his predecessor: He announced no new temples.

“With the large number of temples now in the very earliest phases of planning and construction, it is appropriate that we slow down the announcement of new temples,” Oaks said. “Therefore, with the approval of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, we will not announce any new temples at this conference.”

The 93-year-old former Utah Supreme Court justice spoke as president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the wake of the recent death of former church President Russell M. Nelson.

Nelson “loved to announce new temples at the conclusion of each General Conference,” Oaks said, “and we all rejoiced with him.”

During his nearly eight-year tenure, Nelson had announced 200 temples, more than half of the church’s 382 planned and existing temples in the world.

Oaks offered brief remarks Saturday to open the conference — which is livestreamed across the globe from the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City — and said then that he would be “speaking in place of President Nelson in the closing session on Sunday afternoon.”

Oaks, poised to become in coming days the 18th prophet-president of the church of 17.5 million members, conducted Sunday morning’s session.

Here are the latest announcements and sermons from the final two sessions of this conference:

Afternoon session

President Dallin Oaks: ‘We are a family church’

Dallin H. Oaks, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the presumed next leader of the church, closed the conference by announcing that the faith would pause its temple-building announcements.

As of the April, President Russell M. Nelson — who died on Sept. 27 — had announced the construction of 200 new temples, Oaks said before offering remarks he said he had written months ago. “He loved to announce new temples at the conclusion of each General Conference.”

However, due to the “large number of temples now in the very earliest phases of planning and construction,” he said, “it is appropriate that we slow down the announcement of new temples.”

He then returned to what he had planned to say.

Latter-day Saint faith “centers on the family,” an emotional Oaks told his listeners. It is “sometimes known as a family-centered church,” adding, “It is.”

The gospel of Jesus Christ, the 93-year-old leader said, “is the plan of our Heavenly Father for the benefit of his spirit children.”

Oaks sees opposition to that principle in the United States, which seems to be “suffering from a deterioration in marriage and childbearing.”

He noted that for nearly a hundred years “the proportion of households headed by married couples has declined, and so has the birthrate.”

“The marriages and birthrates of our church members are much more positive,” Oaks said, “but they have also declined significantly.”

It is “vital,” he said, that Latter-day Saints don’t lose their understanding of the purpose of marriage and the value of children.

Oaks acknowledged that “not all of our families are traditional.”

Divorce, death and separation “are realities,” an even more emotional Oaks said, as he described losing his own dad when he was age 7.

His grandfather gave young Dallin “the tragic news that my father had died in faraway Denver, Colorado,” Oaks recalled. “I ran into the bedroom and knelt beside the bed crying my heart out. Grandpa followed me and went to his knees beside me and said, ‘I will be your father.’

“That tender promise,” Oaks added, “is a powerful example of what grandparents can do to fill in the gaps when families lose or are missing a member.”

Parents — single or married and others like grandparents who fill that role for children — “are the master teachers,” Oaks said. “Their most effective teaching is by example. The family circle is the ideal place to demonstrate and learn eternal values such as the importance of marriage and children, the purpose of life, and the true source of joy.”

Jesus Christ “is our ultimate role model,” he said. “We will be blessed if we model our lives after his teachings and self-sacrifice.”

Seventy Ozani Farias: An immeasurable treasure on our journey

Four decades ago, General Authority Seventy Ozani Farias recalled, a classmate he admired gave him a Book of Mormon to read, which led to conversion and membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Even since, the Brazilian native noted, the church’s signature scripture has been his companion and an “immeasurable treasure in my mortal journey.” He spoke to the Book of Mormon’s importance in outlining key gospel doctrines such as Christ’s Atonement and the plan of salvation.

Farias offered three suggestions to deepen members’ conversion to Jesus Christ through the study of the book:

• Be diligent and consistent in daily study.

• Feast on the word of Christ through pondering and savoring the scriptures.

• Bear testimony of the truthfulness of the book.

“I know as we feast upon the words of Christ found in the Book of Mormon,” Farias said, “the Spirit will help us understand eternal truths and share our testimony with conviction to those whom the Lord has prepared to hear his message.”

Seventy John D. Amos: The Good News Recipe

Scriptures and prayer are important keys in God’s recipe for a happy life, general authority Seventy John D. Amos told conferencegoers.

“I call it the Good News Recipe,” Amos said. “What do you do if something goes wrong when following the recipe? Well, embedded in the Good News Recipe is the ‘secret ingredient’ to ensure you always get it right in the end. The answer is always Jesus Christ.”

Amos talked about helping a downcast missionary who was having problem with his companion. Through prayer, scripture study and following the Lord’s counsel and the spirit, he said, the elder was able to find the secret ingredients to improving his relationship with his missionary companion.

“As you follow the Good News Recipe for happy living,” Amos said, “remember President Nelson’s teaching: ‘Whatever questions or problems you have, the answer is always found in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Learn more about his Atonement, his love, his mercy, his doctrine, and his restored gospel of healing and progression. Turn to him. Follow him.’”

Apostle Dale Renlund: Taking on Christ’s name

In 2018, the University of Utah created the Russell M. Nelson and Dantzel W. Nelson Presidential Chair in Cardiothoracic Surgery and chose Craig H. Selzman, a skilled heart surgeon who is not a Latter-day Saint as its first recipient.

Selzman studied the Latter-day Saint prophet-president’s work and life in order to emulate him and operate under Nelson’s name, said apostle Dale G. Renlund (a former cardiologist). It revealed a striking parallel to how members should respond to taking on Christ’s name.

The more members “identify with and remember Jesus Christ, the more we want to be like him,” Renlund said “As his disciples, we change for the better when we focus on him, more so than when we focus on ourselves. We strive to become like him and seek to be blessed with his attributes. We pray fervently to be filled with charity, the pure love of Christ.”

When Latter-day Saints “take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, we link our name with his. We identify with him. We gladly become known as Christian,” he said. “We acknowledge the Savior and unapologetically stand up to be counted as his.”

Doing this begins with baptism and is renewed each week by taking the sacrament, or Communion, he said, and expanded by making covenants and doing Christ’s work.

“When we take upon ourselves the name of the Savior, our Heavenly Father blesses us with his power to help us fulfill our mission in mortality,” he said. “...Consequently, God blesses us with more of his power….We become more spiritually receptive. We have more courage to confront seemingly impossible circumstances. We are strengthened more in our resolve to follow Jesus Christ. We more speedily repent and return to him when we transgress.”

He urged listeners to “etch his name in your heart.”

Seventy Carlos Godoy: Smiling faces and grateful hearts

In his remarks, general authority Seventy Carlos A. Godoy talked about the resilience and positive attitudes of the Latter-day Saints he is ministering to in Africa.

While the church is transforming many lives through educational programs such as EnglishConnect, BYU–Pathway and the Perpetual Education Fund, Godoy said, many members are beset with daunting challenges.

Nonetheless, he added, “They always approach it with a positive attitude. They embody well what President Nelson taught: ‘The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives. When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation ... and Jesus Christ and his gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening — or not happening — in our lives.’”

Godoy, a native Brazilian, cited several examples, including one in the “mountain kingdom” of Lesotho, visiting with the families and leaders of young Latter-day Saints involved in a fatal traffic accident. One of the survivors, 14-year-old Mpho Anicia Nku, told Godoy about the source of her resilience, saying: “Trust in Jesus and always look unto him, because through him you’ll find peace, and he will help you in the healing process.”

Because the Savior suffered all things, the Seventy added, he knows how to succor his people in whatever challenges they confront.

Seventy Matthew Holland: Despite human flaws, divine healing is always available

General authority Seventy Matthew S. Holland urged his listeners not to “forsake your own mercy.”

Latter-day Saints “have immediate access to divine help and healing despite your human flaws,” Holland said. “This awe-inspiring mercy comes in and through Jesus Christ.”

Because he knows and “loves you perfectly, he offers it to you as your ‘own,’ meaning it is perfectly suited to you, designed to relieve your individual agonies and heal your particular pains,” the church leader said. “For heaven’s sake and yours, do not turn your back on that. Accept it. Cry unto God. Turn to the temple. Cling to your covenants. Serve the Lord, his church and others with sacrifice and thanksgiving.”

Doing these things “brings a vision of God’s special covenantal love for you,” Holland said. “You will see and feel the power of God’s loyal, untiring, inexhaustible and ‘tender mercies’ that can make you ‘mighty unto deliverance’ from any sin or any setback.”

Seventy Corey Cuvelier: The name by which ye are called

Taking upon yourself the name of Christ and striving to be his disciple and following him are important than anything else you can be known by, general authority Seventy B. Corey Cuvelier said.

Quoting King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon, the faith leader said: “There is no other name given whereby salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ ... and it shall come to pass that whosoever doeth this shall be found at the right hand of God, for he shall know the name by which he is called, for he shall be called by the name of Christ.”

Taking on Christ’s name, Cuvelier said, “means making and keeping covenants,” always remembering the Lord, helping church leaders spread Jesus’ message across the world, relieving others’ suffering and being a light that brings hope in the Savior.

Cuvelier talked about his German great-grandfather, who was a heavy drinker but was shown the light of the gospel by the lay leader of a small Latter-day Saint congregation, which led to the family’s conversion and several generations of the family to be sealed in a temple.

“There is a saying that you can count the seeds in an apple, but you can’t count the apples that come from one seed,” Cuvelier said. “The seed planted by the branch president has produced countless fruit.”

Cuvelier counseled members to follow Christ’s example and make discipleship a priority so that others with whom they interact “will feel God’s love and the confirming power of the Holy Ghost.”

Apostle David Bednar: ‘We are our own judges’

Many Latter-day Saints seem to fear God’s final judgment as they meet “at the bar,” said apostle David A. Bednar.

They imagine that it will be “similar to a proceeding in a worldly court of law. A judge will preside. Evidence will be presented. A verdict will be rendered. And we likely will be uncertain and fearful until we learn the eventual outcome,” Bednar said. “But I believe such a characterization is inaccurate.”

He quotes a Book of Mormon figure who says, “I am brought forth triumphant through the air, to meet you before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead.”

Some might wonder at the phrase “pleasing bar,” but Bednar defends it.

“If our desires have been for righteousness and our works good — we have exercised faith in Jesus Christ, made and kept covenants with God and repented of our sins — then the judgment bar will be pleasing,” he said. “Conversely, if our desires have been for evil and our works wicked, then the judgment bar will be a cause of dread.”

Ultimately, Bednar said, “we are our own judges.”

In God’s presence, he said, “we will acknowledge what we have chosen to become in mortality and know for ourselves where we should be in eternity.”

Morning session

Apostle Henry Eyring: Christ ‘strengthenth me’

As a college student, apostle Henry B. Eyring struggled to learn physics and mathematics, which were his majors then. He even considered quitting the fields and trying easier topics.

“I felt weak,” Eyring said. “As I prayed, I felt the quiet assurance of the Lord. I felt him say to my mind, ‘I am proving you, but I am also with you.’”

He learned that his college struggle “was actually a gift from the Lord,” the apostle said. God “was working to prove and strengthen me.”

To prove something “is not simply to test it. It is to increase its strength,” said Eyring, who delivered his sermon while seated. “To prove a piece of steel is to place it under strain. Heat, weight and pressure are added until its true nature is enhanced and revealed. The steel is not weakened by the proving. In fact, it becomes something that can be trusted, something strong enough to bear greater burdens.”

God proves believers “in much the same way to strengthen us,” he said. “That proving does not come in moments of ease or comfort….But it will come. It may come quietly, through the trials of family life. It may come through illness or disappointment or grief or loneliness.”

These moments are not evidence of God’s abandonment, Eyring said, but rather evidence that he “loves you enough to refine and strengthen you…making you strong enough to carry the weight of eternal life.”

Young Women counselor Andrea Spannaus: Prophets of God

Just as the spirit gave the biblical woman of Shunem a testimony of the prophetic calling of Elisha in ancient Israel, young people today can receive the same witness about church leaders, said Andrea Muñoz Spannaus, second counselor in the church’s worldwide Young Women organization.

“We too can receive a personal testimony of God’s prophets today,” Spannaus said, “and open our hearts and minds — our house — to the message that our Heavenly Father has for us in these latter days.”

A native of Argentina, Spannaus said prophets are also seers and revelators who can perceive hidden truths and prophesy future events. Just as ancient Book of Mormon prophets testified of Jesus Christ, she added, so do latter-day prophets, which includes the faith’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

“Parenting is also important in teaching youth eternal truths,” Spannaus said. “Parents, in this world where there are many voices and sometimes much darkness, God himself has commanded us to raise our children in light and truth.”

Listening to and obeying the prophet, she added, will enable young people to “hold on to every good thing” and be prepared for the Lord’s Second Coming.

Apostle D. Todd Christofferson: ‘Look to God and live’

In June, a small bus carrying 20 young Latter-day Saints from a Lesotho congregation collided with another vehicle, and 15 people died, including six of the youths, two Young Women leaders, and the branch president and his wife.

At a funeral, apostle D. Todd Christofferson reported, a female leader of a neighboring congregation urged those grieving to “turn to the Lord, and find the strength to accept his will. Jesus Christ is ‘the author and finisher of our faith.’ Don’t look away but look to him.”

That is a crucial gospel teaching for all believers, Christofferson said. “‘Look to God and live,’ has meaning for us not only in eternity but also makes all the difference in the character and quality of our mortal lives.”

Such a perspective is the only way that “individuals, families, and even nations can flourish,” the apostle said. “In looking to God, we can find peace in difficulty and our faith can continue to grow even in times of doubt and spiritual challenge. We can receive strength in the face of opposition and isolation.”

Looking to God “is not just one of our priorities,” Christofferson said, “it means rather that he is our one highest priority.”

Seventy Peter Johnson: Ministering to the one

Ministering to the one with love and without judgment can help those who feel unimportant, alone, discouraged and unseen, general authority Seventy Peter M. Johnson instructed conferencegoers.

Just as Jesus Christ ministered to the Samaritan woman at the well with love, and his apostles later healed a man who was lame from birth and who lay daily at the gate of the temple, Johnson said, it is important to minister to the one.

“As we minister to the one, we invite the one to come unto Jesus Christ and to worship in the House of the Lord to receive of his redeeming power,” Johnson said. “In other words, we help one another become devoted disciples as we minister to the one in ways that lead to the House of the Lord.”

Johnson, who became the faith’s first African American general authority in 2019, recalled how discouraged he felt as a young missionary when he found out that Black members were once denied the priesthood and temple entry. He credited his missionary companion at the time for his patience and love in directing him to resolve his doubts and questions through prayer. He also harked back to his belief and testimony of the Book of Mormon, the faith’s foundational scripture.

“My friends, I promise that as we live the doctrine of Christ and minister to the one in ways that lead to the House of the Lord,” Johnson said, “we will press forward with faith in Jesus Christ even amid unanswered questions and feelings of being unimportant, alone, discouraged and unseen.”

Apostle Ulisses Soares: Building a spiritual foundation

When describing the need to renovate and restore the Salt Lake Temple, then-President Russell M. Nelson once described the iconic pioneer edifice as built with spiritual strength yet the foundation was facing some “erosion.”

“Our beloved prophet then taught us that just as it was necessary to implement major measures to strengthen the foundation of the temple in order for it to withstand the forces of nature, we also need to take extraordinary measures,” said apostle Ulisses Soares, “perhaps measures we have never before taken — to strengthen our own spiritual foundation in Jesus Christ.”

Temperance is “an essential reinforcement for a firm foundation in Jesus Christ,” the Brazilian said. “It is one of the indispensable virtues, not only for those who have been called to serve, but for all who have made sacred covenants with the Lord and accept to follow him faithfully. Temperance harmonizes and strengthens other Christ-like attributes…: humility, faith, hope, charity and the pure love that flows from him.”

Cultivating temperance is “a meaningful way,” Soares said, “to protect our souls against the subtle yet constant spiritual erosion caused by worldly influences.”

Indeed, “the world exalts behaviors born of aggressiveness, arrogance, impatience and excessiveness, often justifying such attitudes by the pressures of daily life and the inclination toward validation and popularity,” Soares said. “When we turn our gaze away from the virtue of temperance and ignore the gentle and moderating influence of the Holy Spirit in our way of acting and speaking, we easily fall into the enemy’s trap which inevitably leads us to utter words and adopt attitudes we will deeply regret, whether in our social, family or even ecclesiastical relationships.”

The gospel of Jesus Christ invites followers “to exercise” tolerance “especially in times of challenge,” he said, “for it is precisely on these occasions that the true character of individuals is revealed.”

Seventy James Evanson: Go and do likewise

Latter-day Saint service missionaries are modern-day examples of the good Samaritan that the Savior invited his followers to become, general authority Seventy James E. Evanson taught.

These emissaries, he continued, exemplify the fact that serving opens hearts to the Lord’s gospel. They minister to others regardless of their circumstances and bring the power of Christ into their lives.

“To all of you who serve, and especially to the over 4,000 young service missionaries, we love you,!” Evanson said. “If teaching missionaries are the Lord’s mouth, then service missionaries are the Lord’s hands, and you are not second-class missionaries.”

To illustrate the point, the faith leader talked about a Sister Bevan, who had to return home from a proselytizing mission but continued at home as a service missionary and was able to help a family receive temporal assistance and find the gospel.

“Service has the power to open hearts to the gospel and allows all of us to give our whole soul to Christ,” Evanson said. It changes our hearts to become more like him, and, in the process, we lift others.”

Apostle Jeffrey Holland: Evidence of God’s truth

Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland opened his remarks Sunday with a mention of the death of President Russell M. Nelson on Sept. 27 and the attack the morning after on a Latter-day Saint chapel in Michigan.

Holland then turned to the New Testament story of Jesus curing a young man’s blindness as “evidence” of his healing powers. The apostle went on to detail what he said were “evidences” of the truthfulness of his church, beginning with its signature scripture, the Book of Mormon.

That Latter-day Saint text “has been, for me, a rod of safety for my soul, a transcendent and penetrating light of revelation,” Holland said, “an illumination on the path when mists of darkness come as surely they have and as surely they will.”

Holland said he had seen “evidence” as clearly as the blind man who could see.

“The newly blessed man’s parents said their son should be heard because he was ‘of age,’” the apostle said. “Well, so am I. He was old enough to be taken seriously. Well, so am I. I am two months away from my 85th birthday [and was, at one point, near death]. I have walked with kings and prophets, presidents and apostles. Best of all, I have at times been overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit.”

Holland believes his “witness” should “be given at least some consideration here.”

He ended by quoting and semi-singing the famous Christian hymn “Amazing Grace,” with its powerful lyric, “was blind, but now I see.”