We all owe a debt of gratitude to those who have gone before us. Let us thank God for them and humbly add our part to what they accomplished. Let us work as hard as they did to build Zion.

Because of the Internet, artificial intelligence, and other technological innovations, we often expect results or information to be available almost instantly. Realistically, however, we ought not to expect in this life to know all the answers. Especially in matters of eternal significance, sometimes “the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith” (Mosiah 23:21). While some answers may come quickly, others are simply not available for the moment because information or evidence is lacking. Please do not suppose, however, that a lack of evidence about something today means that evidence doesn’t exist or that it will not be forthcoming in the future. When answers are incomplete or lacking altogether, patient study and patient waiting for new information and discoveries to unfold will often be rewarded with understanding. Please remember, “search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted” (Doctrine and Covenants 90:24).

I marvel at the gingerbread houses that Kathy creates to raise funds to cover medical expenses for children in need. Christmas and Christmas traditions are about giving to others. May we remember that the greatest gift ever given was the life and Atonement of the Savior, Jesus Christ. #LightTheWorld

In this season of thanksgiving, I have reflected on an editorial that appears each year in the Wall Street Journal around the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. Titled “The Desolate Wilderness,” this piece not only recounts the Pilgrims’ journey to America in 1620 and their eventual arrival in Plymouth, but also emphasizes their hardships, determination, and faith in Jesus Christ. Surely it was a daunting voyage across the ocean to a new land, which they braved because of their desire to worship God and serve Him as they felt best. We owe a great deal to them and others like them for the wonderful blessings and prosperity we enjoy now in comparison to their situation. Because of their efforts and faith, 200 years later the gospel of Jesus Christ would be restored in its fulness through the Prophet Joseph Smith beginning in 1820. How grateful we are for the sustaining influence of heaven that built the nation that allowed for the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in this last dispensation. I am so grateful that we, despite all the imperfections of mere mortals, can serve the Lord and that the @Ch_JesusChrist can prosper and be the foundation for expanding the Restoration across the entire world.

The Lord has more to give for those who feel and express gratitude for what they have already received. Let us be grateful and express that gratitude to Him constantly.

The Lord is not only concerned for our spiritual welfare but also our temporal well-being. BYU-Pathway Worldwide is an evidence of this. I am always thrilled to learn of the miraculous growth of @BYUPathwayWorld and their continual efforts to connect students to jobs at home and remote job opportunities abroad. I was recently intrigued to learn that more than 6,000 BYU-Pathway Worldwide students have found remote employment in roles at companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, and JP Morgan Chase. Of these, 2,888 students in Africa have been connected to these remote jobs—allowing them to build up their own nations and communities while receiving competitive wages. We are grateful for the progress that has been made in recent years and recognize the continued need for growth, improvement, and job opportunities. May we remember that “God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth” (Alma 26:37).

We were pleased to receive a visit from the First Lady of Sierra Leone, Her Excellency Dr. Fatima Jabbe Maada Bio, yesterday here in Salt Lake City, Utah. After she toured Welfare Square and the Relief Society Building with leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, @FirstLadyBio and I had a discussion about our shared interest in humanitarian work, environmental stewardship, and strengthening families in Sierra Leone. In 2025, Dr. Bio will host the seventh annual Strengthening Families Conference—an international, interfaith event sponsored by @Ch_JesusChrist—in Freetown, Sierra Leone. It is a privilege for us to work collaboratively in matters of eternal significance such as this.

We all possess a common sense of right and wrong, sometimes referred to as our conscience. While moral relativism is an increasingly popular belief in the world today, whether we recognize it or not, each of us are imbued with the Light of Christ. Core truth—the central reality of our existence—must be taught with pure conviction and all the power God gives us. Jesus Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), and “the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:45).

The key to enduring conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ is exemplified by the humble example of a group of penitent believers in the Book of Mormon: “For they became a righteous people; they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more, neither against any of their brethren” (Alma 23:7). This reference to “weapons of rebellion” was both literal and figurative. It meant their swords and other weapons of war but also their disobedience to God and His commandments. For us today, burying our weapons of rebellion against God simply means yielding to the enticing of the Holy Spirit, putting off the natural man, and becoming a saint through the Atonement of Jesus Christ (see Mosiah 3:19). May we bury any element of rebellion against God in our lives, replace it with a willing heart and a willing mind, and joyfully anticipate the day “when the Lord shall bring again Zion” (Mosiah 15:29).

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are experiencing two kinds of gatherings: the gathering of Israel into the Church and the gathering together of Church members and friends within our stakes and missions. It is very powerful when members, missionaries, and friends gather together in Christ. It was special to experience this joy in gathering during a recent visit to Armenia, Georgia, and Kazakhstan. In these areas, while Church membership is spread out geographically, there is still a great sense of unity as they gather together. The @Ch_JesusChrist is their refuge from the storm, a place of great safety as they lift one another and worship the Savior. We held a devotional in Tbilisi, the capital city of Georgia. The number present was comparatively small, yet it was the largest Church meeting ever held in that country. More than 160 people attended—many of them not yet members of the Church. As members of this global community, we have the responsibility and opportunity to watch over one another. We help one another stay on the covenant path. We are a diverse group from many nations with different backgrounds. The one thing that truly unites us is our faith in Jesus Christ. Ask for the love of Christ as you go about your service in your wards and stakes. Suffer with those who suffer; rejoice with those who rejoice. Share His love as widely and effectively as possible. We’re all one in the body of Christ.

I realize that there are those who consider themselves religious or spiritual and yet reject participation in a church or even the need for such an institution. Yet it is worth pausing to consider why Jesus Christ chooses to use a church, His Church—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—to carry out His and His Father’s work “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). One major reason the Savior works through His Church is to achieve needful things that cannot be accomplished by individuals or smaller groups. For example, together in the Church, through Relief Societies and priesthood quorums, the ability to care for the poor and needy is multiplied to meet global needs. In 2023, the work of welfare, self-reliance, humanitarian aid, and volunteer service added up to more than $1.3 billion in expenditures and 6.2 million volunteer hours. Over 4,000 humanitarian projects took place in 191 countries and territories. In the Church, we not only learn divine doctrine; we also experience its application. This religion is not concerned only with self; rather, we are all called to serve. We are the eyes, hands, head, feet, and other members of the body of Christ. We learn to get outside ourselves in loving our neighbors. As the body of Christ, the members of the Church minister to one another in the reality of day-to-day life. In the body of Christ, we have to go beyond concepts and exalted words and have a real “hands-on” experience as we learn to “live together in love” (Doctrine and Covenants 42:45).

Our Heavenly Father loves us profoundly and perfectly. Jesus Christ shares with the Father this same perfect love.   This divine love should give us abundant comfort and confidence. Not one of us is a stranger to Them. We need not hesitate to call upon God, even when we feel unworthy. We can rely on the mercy and merits of Jesus Christ to be heard.   As we abide in God’s love, we depend less and less on the approval of others to guide us. He is willing to guide each of us along His covenant path with steps designed to our individual needs and tailored to His plan for our ultimate happiness with Him.

Reflecting on the Savior’s parable of the lost sheep (see Luke 15:3–7) and President @NelsonRussellM’s request for each of us to reach out to the one for his upcoming 100th birthday, I wanted to share a story of how my mother ministered to a woman in need that has long left an impression on me. When I was still young, my mother underwent a serious operation that nearly took her life and left her bedridden much of the time for nearly a year. Many family and ward members helped us, but for additional help the Relief Society president recommended that my parents hire a woman in the ward who desperately needed work. I’ll refer to her as Sara. Through the weeks, we learned more about Sara’s story. Because she was hard of hearing, she didn’t do well in school and eventually dropped out. She married young to a dissolute man who abandoned the family, leaving Sara and her daughter by the side of the highway, never to be seen again. Because of this, Sara was looking for work. Sara was a great cook and kept the house clean, maintained the household laundry, and spent time with us and read to us—which my mother asked Sara to prioritize. After my mother recovered, we took Sara to an ear doctor, and she got a hearing aid. She agreed to take adult schooling, and she got her high school diploma. She went to night school and later graduated from college and taught special education. She bought a little home, and her daughter was married in the temple and had two children. Years later Sara retired and even served a mission. I believe my mother and Sara were both “the ones” in need of ministering and service. I am grateful for both of their examples to me of Christlike love. #99plus1

Several years ago, I was visiting with a minister of another Christian faith who had come to Salt Lake City, Utah, with several of his students to learn about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In our conversation, he not only expressed appreciation for the many faithful Christians standing firm in the faith but also lamented the spiritual weakness, as he termed it, of many Christians who lose faith and fail to stand up to the challenges of our day. He said that we need more “muscular Christians” today. From this I understood that he meant we need followers of Jesus Christ who can persevere through situations of hardship, who can sustain hope during tragedy, who lift others with compassion and by example, who consistently overcome temptation, and who defend the truth and stand up for the Lord. I believe that this is the power we gain from making and keeping covenants with God. With His power, we can stand strong in our faith, love others with sincerity, follow the example of Jesus Christ, and invite others to do the same with conviction.

Kathy and I had a moving experience while we visited Tambo Memorial Hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa. As we spent time with the doctors and nurses caring for newborn infants in neonatal and pediatric wards, we could sense the exemplary love that is being provided. As we visited the very tiny newborns, the older children, and their mothers, we felt that each life truly matters. Each one is sacred. Each one is a child of God. When you see a life hanging in the balance and the tender care given to each child, it becomes more real and more clear. It is care inspired by the Spirit and given in the name of and following the example of Christ. This is faith in action—the most beautiful example of faith in action that I can imagine. So, I go away deeply touched by the experience and grateful for the privilege we have to participate in this cause. We’ve made a donation in the past, and we’ll make another major contribution now to help their work. We can help Tambo Memorial Hospital truly make a difference for good because of the generosity of the members of the Church through their offerings and tithing.

Speaking to youth and young single adults during a devotional in Maputo, Mozambique, I wanted to share with them three things I feel will bless their lives greatly. First, read the Book of Mormon every day. It is a guide for our lives and will help us prepare for the Lord’s return. Second, prepare for and receive their patriarchal blessing. That will provide specific guidance for them in their lives and help them accomplish everything Heavenly Father expects of them. Third, prepare to serve a mission. They can bless people in miraculous ways and they will be grateful their whole lives that they decided to choose the Lord in this way.

It was a privilege to meet in-person and online with youth throughout the Africa South Area and talk with them about their lives. I could feel their joy for the gospel of Jesus Christ during our time together.

We cherish mothers and motherhood, and on Mother’s Day we try to express those feelings with varying degrees of success. Sometimes women may feel that the praise is overdone and they cannot possibly measure up to the implied expectations. At other times, some may feel disappointed we have not done justice to the role and sacrifices of mothers. My advice to husbands, sons, and daughters is let’s be sincere in our expressions of love and appreciation. My advice to mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers is please receive and enjoy our imperfect but heartfelt expressions. Happy Mother’s Day! We love you!

I’ve been thinking about the precious gift of repentance. Jesus Christ paid a terrible price so that He could offer us this gift. He could atone for our sins and offer us forgiveness and sanctification.