Full summary of Sunday’s LDS General Conference: Nelson announces 17 new temples, including one more in Utah

President Russell M. Nelson, the 100-year-old leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, gave his only sermon at the conclusion of this weekend’s General Conference and announced 17 new temples.

Nelson, who attended one of three sessions Saturday at the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City, was on hand Sunday for the final meeting, with apostle D. Todd Christofferson conducting.

As he did last April, he announced the new temples in a recorded message (though he was present then at the session as well). Nelson has now announced 185, or more than half, of the church’s 367 planned or existing temples around the world.

He viewed Sunday’s morning session from his home, while 92-year-old Dallin H. Oaks, his first counselor in the governing First Presidency and next in line to lead the global faith of 17.2 million members, conducted.

At the end of the weekend, 34 sermons were given, three of them by women.

Here are the latest speeches and announcements from Sunday’s two sessions:

Afternoon session

President Russell M. Nelson: The ‘millennial Messiah’

The church is building so many temples — including the 17 new locations announced Sunday — President Russell M. Nelson said in a taped concluding speech, because “the Lord is indeed hastening his work.”

“The Savior is coming again!” he declared. “...The best is yet to come as we fully turn our hearts and our lives to Jesus Christ.”

The new temples will be built in the following cities:

• Juchitán de Zaragoza, Mexico.

· Santa Ana, El Salvador.

· Medellín, Colombia.

· Santiago, Dominican Republic.

· Puerto Montt, Chile.

· Dublin, Ireland.

· Milan, Italy.

· Abuja, Nigeria.

· Kampal, Uganda.

· Maputo, Mozambique.

· Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

· Queen Creek, Arizona.

· El Paso, Texas.

· Huntsville, Alabama.

· Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

· Summit, New Jersey.

· Price, Utah.

The Price structure will be the Beehive State’s 31st existing or planned temple.

Nelson has now announced 185, or more than half, of the church’s 367 planned or existing temples around the world.

The faith’s 100-year-old prophet-president made a promise to his Latter-day Saint listeners: “Every sincere seeker of Jesus Christ will find him in the temple. You will feel his mercy. You will find answers to your most vexing questions. You will better comprehend the joy of his gospel.”

On top of that, the “blessings of the temple” will “help to prepare … the world for the Second Coming of the Lord,” Nelson said. “...In a coming day, Jesus Christ will return to the Earth as the millennial messiah.”

Jesus Christ “will govern,” he said, from both Old Jerusalem and a New Jerusalem “built upon the American continent.”

“It is neither too early nor too late for you to become a devout disciple of Jesus Christ,” he urged the faithful. “Then you will experience fully the blessings of his atonement. You will also be more effective in helping to gather Israel.…So today, I call upon you to rededicate your lives to Jesus Christ. I call upon you to help gather scattered Israel and to prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord. I call upon you to talk of Christ, testify of Christ, have faith in Christ, and rejoice in Christ.”

General authority I. Raymond Egbo: Forgo distractions by focusing on Jesus Christ

Nigerian general authority Seventy I. Raymond Egbo instructed listeners to “ignore the distractions of the world and focus on Christ and his gospel.”

Doing so, he said, “guaranteed success beyond what we can fully imagine” and “great joy.”

This success and joy can come regardless of life’s circumstances, including those “who have children who have strayed.”

“Trust Jesus Christ with your child,” he advised, “for he is the strength of every parent and of every child.”

General authority Rubén V. Alliaud: The nature of God is ‘not metaphorical’

One teaching sets apart Latter-day Saints from other Christians, namely, the church’s position on the nature of God, said general authority Seventy Rubén V. Alliaud.

Many religious people “believe we are children of God,” the Argentine church leader said. “Yes, that is true, but their understanding may be a little different from the implication of its deeper meaning that we affirm. For Latter-day Saints, this teaching is not metaphorical. Rather, we truly believe that we are all literally the children of God. He is ‘the Father of [our] spirits,’ and because of that, we have the potential to become like him, which seems to be inconceivable to some.”

It is unsurprising “that every time we are taught about our divine nature and destiny, the adversary of all righteousness tempts us to call them into question,” Alliaud said. “How different our decisions would be if we really knew who we really are.”

These days, the world is challenging for believers, with “increasing commotion, where honorable people strive to at least emphasize our human dignity,” he said, “while we belong to a church and embrace a gospel that lifts our vision and invites us into the divine.”

Apostle Quentin L. Cook: ‘Avoid dark internet rabbit holes’

Apostle Quentin L. Cook admonished listeners to seek out faith-supporting material on the internet and focus one’s attention on the scriptures and the words of the prophets, along with other similarly uplifting content.

“Do not entertain immoral, dishonest or unrighteous material,” he warned. “If you do, algorithms can lead you down a path that destroys faith and impairs your eternal progression.”

Rather, Cook counseled, individuals should “seek righteousness, and avoid dark internet rabbit holes, and doomscrolling.”

The issues cited today to undermine faith in the church are, he said, “remarkably similar” to those used in the 1960s, when Cook was in his 20s.

“Fill your life with positive, righteous ideas,” Cook admonished: “Be joyful. Have fun but avoid foolishness. There is a difference.”

Apostle Ronald A. Rasband: ‘Holding up’ the prophet — and one another

Latter-day Saints raise their hands to “sustain” their leaders, including the church president, his counselors, the 12 apostles and all the other lay leaders and officers.

“To sustain means to hold up another person, to give them our attention, to be faithful to their trust, to act upon their words,” apostle Ronald A. Rasband said. “They speak by inspiration of the Lord, they understand the current issues, the moral decline of society and the adversary’s increasing efforts to thwart the Father’s plan. In holding up our hands, we are committing our support, not just for that moment but in our daily lives.”

Closer to home, Rasband said, “we hold up our wives and husbands, children, parents, extended family and neighbors.”

At age 100, Nelson “has been kept and preserved by the Lord.”

To hold up the prophet “is a sacred work,” Rasband said. “We do not sit quietly by, but actively defend him, follow his counsel, teach his words, and pray for him.”

The apostle encouraged members to “do more lifting and less murmuring, more upholding the word of the Lord, his ways and his prophet.”

Everyone needs to “be lifted up by the Lord with peace, comfort and most of all with personal revelation,” Rasband said, “to counter the fear, darkness and contention encompassing the world.”

General authority Takashi Wada: Finding purpose through scripture and prayer

Growing up in Japan, general authority Seventy Takashi Wada struggled with understanding the purpose of life. That changed after he was given and began to read a Bible.

“I had never felt like I felt that day,” Wada recalled. “I felt I was loved. I felt that Jesus Christ was someone I knew.”

Later, that feeling was compounded when he met Latter-day Saint missionaries who taught him to pray.

“Praying to Heavenly Father,” he said, “helped me know who he is and my relationship with him — that I was his beloved spirit son…and that I had a divine potential and destiny.”

Apostle Dieter F. Uchtdorf: What is eternal — and what is not

In an unusually personal speech, apostle Dieter F. Uchtdorf reminisced about a church in Germany, where he worshipped as a boy, which has now been torn down.

“It was a sacred building to me. But it was just a building,” he said. “By contrast, the spiritual witness I gained from the Holy Ghost those many years ago has not passed away. In fact, it has grown stronger.”

It is important to learn “the difference between what is eternal and what is not,” the charismatic German said. “Once we understand that, everything changes — our relationships, the choices we make, the way we treat people.”

Some truths are “essential, the root of our faith,” he said. “Others are appendages or branches — valuable, but only when they are connected to the fundamental.”

He suggested that members “sometimes mistake the branches for the roots,” Uchtdorf said. “This was the mistake Jesus observed in the Pharisees of his day. They paid so much attention to the relatively minor details of the law that they ended up neglecting what the Savior called ‘the weightier matters’ — fundamental principles like ‘justice and mercy and faith.’”

At times, Latter-day Saints “may be drawn to the Savior’s gospel and church because we are impressed by the friendly members or by the kind bishop or the clean looks of the chapel. These circumstances are certainly important to grow the church,” he said. “Nevertheless, if the roots of our testimony never grow deeper than that, what will happen when we move to a ward that meets in a less impressive building, with members who aren’t so friendly, and the bishop says something that offends us?”

The apostle acknowledged that he misses “the old Zwickau chapel and its stained-glass windows,” he said. “But over the past 75 years, Jesus Christ has led me on a journey through life that is more thrilling than I could ever have imagined. He has comforted me in my afflictions, helped me to recognize my weaknesses, healed my spiritual wounds and nourished me in my growing faith.”

Morning session

President Henry B. Eyring: Preaching, not pressuring

Many Latter-day Saint parents, watching their children turn away from the church, have sought the best way to keep them in the fold.

Just teach the Savior’s basic doctrine, advised Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency.

“That can be hard to do when you love the person you are trying to influence. He or she may have ignored the doctrine that has been taught,” Erying said, while sitting. “It is tempting to try something new or sensational. But the Holy Ghost will reveal the spirit of truth only as we are cautious and careful not to go beyond teaching true doctrine.”

Teaching simply allows parents “to share the saving doctrine early on,” he said, “while children remain untouched by the deceiver’s temptations that will later confront them, long before the truths they need to learn are drowned out by the noise of social media, peers and their own personal struggles.”

Latter-day Saints should “seize every opportunity to share the teachings of Jesus Christ with children,” Eyring said. “These teaching moments are precious and far fewer compared to the relentless efforts of opposing forces. For every hour spent instilling doctrine into a child’s life, there are countless hours of opposition filled with messages and images that challenge or ignore these saving truths.”

It doesn’t guarantee success, he said. “Some may still not respond. Doubts may creep into your mind. You might question whether you know the Savior’s doctrine well enough to teach it effectively. And if you’ve already made attempts to teach it, you may wonder why the positive effects aren’t more visible. Don’t give in to those doubts. Turn to God for help.”

Young Men leader Bradley R. Wilcox: Understanding one’s birthright

Wherever Bradley R. Wilcox, first counselor in the Young Men General Presidency, goes in the world, he said, he hears the same question from the church’s young people: “Why must Latter-day Saints live so differently from others?”

The reason, Wilcox explained, has to do with the weighty task God has given Latter-day Saints as they make covenants with him.

“Is it too much for God to expect you to live differently than his other children so you can better lead and serve them?” he asked. “Not when you consider the blessings — both temporal and spiritual — that you have been given.”

Wilcox explained that this birthright, a sign of God’s love and trust, does not make a person better than those without it.

“But it does mean you are expected to help others be better,” he said. Likewise, it means that the individual is chosen — “but not chosen to rule over others; you are chosen to serve them.”

Wilcox compared the responsibility to that of a crew working aboard a cruise ship.

“When you look around on this cruise ship called earth,” he said, “you might see other people sitting in lounge chairs drinking, gambling in casinos, wearing clothing that is too revealing, scrolling endlessly on cellphones and wasting too much time playing electronic games.”

Rather than “wondering, ‘Why can’t I do that?’ you can remember that you are not an ordinary passenger,” he told listeners. “You are a member of the crew.”

And that, he said, means “you have responsibilities that passengers do not have.”

Apostle Gary E. Stevenson: A momentous — and prophetic — decade awaits

Between now, 2024, and 2034, Latter-day Saints “will experience seminal events that will result in extraordinary opportunities to serve, to unite with members and friends,” apostle Gary E. Stevenson said, and to introduce the church “to more people than ever before.”

The “momentous” decade will include: an increasing number of temples to be completed, the reopening and rededication of the renovated Salt Lake Temple, the 2030 bicentennial of the organization of the church, and the 2034 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

“While this upcoming decade may be filled with days never to be forgotten for every member of the church, this especially can be true for you of the rising generation,” Stevenson said. “You are here on Earth now because you were selected to be here now. You have the strength and capacity to be disciples of Christ in an unprecedented way.”

Bishop L. Todd Budge: Be still and seek the Lord each day

In today’s world of endless tasks, “being still is an act of faith and requires effort,” observed L. Todd Budge, a member of the Presiding Bishopric, which oversees the church’s vast real estate, financial, investment and charitable operations.

Nevertheless, he stressed, doing so is vital for anyone seeking to remain close to God.

Quoting former church President David O. McKay, he explained: “We pay too little attention to the value of meditation, a principle of devotion. ...Meditation is one of the...most sacred doors through which we pass into the presence of the Lord.”

For him, Budge said that the phrase to “be still’ means to to “slow down and to live with greater spiritual awareness.”

In doing so, he told his listeners, “our worship becomes an expression of our love for him.”

General authority Brook P. Hales: Life is a ‘testing ground’

Despite challenges, heartaches and difficulties everyone faces, a loving God “has designed the plan of happiness such that we are not destined to fail,” said Brook P. Hales, a general authority Seventy. “His plan provides a way for us to rise above our mortal failures.”

Seeing human life as a “testing ground,” Latter-day Saints “must expect to be schooled and taught, and to pass through the refiner’s fire — sometimes to our utter limits,” he said. “To completely avoid the problems, challenges and difficulties of this world would be to sidestep the process that is truly necessary for mortality to work.”

As a result of his life’s experiences — good and bad — Hales hopes he is “kinder to others, treats others as the Savior would, has greater understanding for the sinner, and that I have complete integrity.”

Primary leader Tracy Y. Browning: On obtaining answers to gospel questions

Membership in God’s kingdom is not a passive matter, Tracy Y. Browning, second counselor in the worldwide children’s Primary presidency, told listeners Sunday morning.

“Our residency therein requires aligning our life to divine principles,” explained the first Black woman to serve in a general presidency and the third female speaker during the two-day conference, “and putting in the effort to grow spiritually.”

Part of that growth, she explained, comes from asking questions and patiently working toward answers through scripture study, temple worship and seeking out the words of modern leaders. Further, it requires obedience to God’s commands and putting trust in him.

“Despite all of these efforts,” she noted, “some questions may persist until God, who ‘has all power’ and ‘all wisdom, and all understanding,’ who ‘comprehendeth all things’ in his mercy, provides enlightenment through our belief on his name.”

In 2022, Browning became the first Black woman to speak at General Conference.

Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland: Jesus is not ‘a one-dimensional caricature’

Believers cannot watch Jesus “respond to difficult, often devious situations without bearing witness that he was not and is not a one-dimensional caricature,” declared apostle Jeffrey R. Holland in the opening speech of the second day of the church’s General Conference.

Indeed, said Holland, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “he is rather a divine being of profoundly rich character.”

The true nature of Jesus, considered by the faithful to be a “refuge from the storm, this prince of peace, and high priest of good things to come,” said the 83-year-old apostle, who spoke while sitting, “challenges our often shallow, very human perception.”

Believers have a tendency “to simplify, sometimes even trivialize, our image of him,” Holland said. “Down through human history, some people have reduced his righteousness to mere prudishness, his justice to mere anger, his mercy to mere permissiveness.”

Latter-day Saints must beware of and not fall for, he said, “any such simplistic versions of him that conveniently ignore teachings we find uncomfortable.”

To best understand this complex Savior, “through abundance as well as poverty, through private acclaim as well as public criticism, through the divine elements of the [church] as well as the human foibles that will inevitably be part of it,” Holland said, members must “stay the course with the true church of Christ.”

After all, he said, members “signed on for the whole term.”