5 general conference talks I’ll love forever

That transformed me in lovely, important ways

My favorite general conference memory is tied up in Fruit Loops. As a kid (and still to this day actually) my mom would buy a giant bag of knock-off brand fruit loops and we would spend Sunday making necklaces, bracelets, anklets, crowns, and anything else imaginable.

By the end of the day the roof of our mouths were sore from munching on the dry cereal all day. But we wouldn’t have it any other way. 

So in honor of one of my favorite weeks of the year, I wanted to share five talks that are so special to me. For one reason or another, these messages shaped how I think about life, in a very positive, very hopeful way. They made (and do still make) my life feel sparkly!

Reading or listening to these messages is like eating a big bowl of cereal at night—pure delight. 

So without further ado … here are my most influential general conference talks from when I was 18 until about age 22:

1. “Choose the Light”

This is by Elder Vern P. Stanfill. A member of the seventy whom I know nothing about! (But his latest conference talk was also a straight banger, so I like this guy.) 

I love this talk because it introduced me to the idea of spiritual integrity. A really pretty, interesting term I don’t think we talk about enough. Here is my favorite quote from the talk to give you a taste:

In my home ward, a young man recently said, “There are things I have felt that cannot be explained in any other way except that they are of God.” This is spiritual integrity.

When faced with questions or tempted to doubt, we should remember the spiritual blessings and feelings that have penetrated our hearts and lives in the past and place our faith in Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. I am reminded of the counsel given in a familiar hymn: “Doubt not the Lord nor his goodness [for] we’ve proved him in days that are past.” To ignore and discount past spiritual experiences will distance us from God.

I envision those moments when Heavenly Father feels remarkably close as glittering flecks of gold. But no matter how many flecks of gold I collect in my life pouch, if I don’t open it up and admire them, what are they good for? They are still there, sparkling and untarnished, waiting for me to open up the bag and enjoy their beauty. 

Taking time to read through a journal, or ponder on past good moments, is like surrounding yourself in a sparkling bubble of gold—reminding you life is pretty incredible and you are going to be OK.

2. “Truly Good and without Guile”

This talk is also by a member of the seventy I don’t know much about Elder Michael T. Ringwood.

But reading this talk is like being wrapped in a warm blanket of sincerity and humility. I hand wrote this quote from the talk on a sticky note and taped it to the front of my paper planner as a college freshman, where is lived for a year: (Shiblon is a righteous character in the Book of Mormon who is a less known, less celebrated character than his more illustrious older brothers):

“It appears that Shiblon was a son who wanted to please his father and went about doing what was right for right’s sake rather than for praise, position, power, accolades, or authority.”

I guess maybe I was drawn to this talk because I never felt like the type of person who was going to do anything especially spectacular in life. And I don’t mean that self-deprecating way. I think I’ve just always been pretty enchanted by little things like toddlers’ chubby fingers and making homemade root beer with my dad. That’s always been enough for me.

Not to say I don’t want to deeply enjoy life and meaningfully contribute to my sphere of influence, but a simple, honest life focused on Christ always seemed good enough to me. 

Little college freshman me wanted so much to be a “Shiblon-like soul” as Elder Ringwood describes it. To be someone who knows and lives by the truth “that the service that counts most is usually recognized by God alone.”

3. “He Will Place You on His Shoulders and Carry You Home”

I might cheat a little bit on this one. This talk was given my Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf and I really loved his messages during my first years of college. I do still love his talks, for the record, but there was a string of them back in the day that just really spoke to me.

But in thinking about it, “He Will Place You on His Shoulders and Carry You Home.” Is my favorite—easily.

I think my love for the concept of obedience to a higher, holier power comes from this talk. I don’t have it anymore, but for months on my mission I carried around this small piece of yellow scrapbook paper on which, in my best handwriting, I’d copied down this quote from that talk:

“We come to see obedience not as a punishment but as a liberating path to our divine destiny. And gradually, the corruption, dust, and limitations of this earth begin to fall away. Eventually, the priceless, eternal spirit of the heavenly being within us is revealed, and a radiance of goodness becomes our nature.”

Isn’t that beautiful? “A radiance of goodness.” Who doesn’t want that to fill their lives.

It makes me think of a beloved quote from Pablo Picasso: “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”

Jesus Christ, and our obedience to Him, washes away the dust of life as often as we’d like it too. Christ’s promise isn’t that life won’t get dusty or even really muddy sometimes, but that through Him we can be clean and radiant again. Happy again. What a wonderful idea to grasp onto at 19. 

My other favorites of Elder Uchtdorf talks include: “A Summer with Great Aunt Rose, ”which I once read to a mission companion as bedtime story after a rough day (she fell right to peaceful sleep if that tells you anything about how calming this talk is); “Three Sisters,” which would be another perfect bedtime story, reminding you to claim your joy in the morning; and “Fourth Floor, Last Door,” which inspires me to keep going no matter how discouraged I am when I start reading. 

4. “Bear Up Their Burdens with Ease”

Elder David A. Bednar is probably Adam’s favorite apostle, and this talk is a great example of why. 

The punchline of the talk is this: “It was the load.” Elder Bednar repeats that phrase in one way or another five times in the talk.

He tells a short story at the beginning about how a truck was unable to get out of the snow until its bed was loaded with wood. The load provided the weight needed to create enough traction for the truck to move. Elder Bednar says, “Each of us also carries a load. Our individual load is comprised of demands and opportunities, obligations and privileges, afflictions and blessings, and options and constraints.”

And then later, “Sometimes we mistakenly may believe that happiness is the absence of a load. But bearing a load is a necessary and essential part of the plan of happiness.”

Again, what a concept to (start to) embrace at 19 years old. 

This talk was given three years before I left on a mission, but I thought about it after receiving a priesthood blessing from my mission president. He blessed me that I would be able to bear the burdens that would be placed on upon my shoulders.

In that moment I remember not feeling scared, but sacred—honored that I would be asked to carry something. Our loads are sacred. Important. Knowing that doesn’t makes carrying them easy, but it can make it meaningful. (which is a pretty incredible gift!!)

And Elder Bednar oh-so-importantly reminds us we aren’t expected to carry our loads alone:

“There is no physical pain, no spiritual wound, no anguish of soul or heartache, no infirmity or weakness you or I ever confront in mortality that the Savior did not experience first. In a moment of weakness we may cry out, ‘No one knows what it is like. No one understands.’ But the Son of God perfectly knows and understands, for He has felt and borne our individual burdens.”

5. “The Things of My Soul”

When I studied this talk, I felt like I discovered a secret about general conference. I figured out how speakers decide on their topics (since they are not given one): they speak about the things of their soul.

You can hear it in their voices, their emotion. Try watching for it. I believe general conference speakers share what, at that time, is most filling their soul. And I believe a very loving God helps shape and prepare those “things” for the benefit of all of us.

This talk was given by Elder Ronald A. Rasband, and his voice is full of such emotion. But beyond that, I just love the concept of things of my soul—the things that you, independent of anyone else, are really loving or needing right now. The truths that feel really special and important to you right now. The gems that belong in just your treasure chest. Things that if we slow down, identify, and admire, I’ve found bring a lot of joy and a precious sense of security.

I even included this quote from the talk on the about page of this newsletter to help explain what I wanted to write about: “The things that prepare me to hear promptings, that lift my sights beyond the ways of the world, that give purpose to my work in the gospel and to my very life. …  and help [me] feel secure in the arms of the Lord.” 

Things no one told me to love, but that I just really, truly do!!

And that is why I am excited for general conference. To find even more “things of my soul”—things to lift my eyes a little higher, heal my heart a little more, expand upon the best parts of myself, and most of all, welcome in the radiant goodness of Jesus with an even wider window. I hope you’ll join in :)

And I’d love to hear what talks have been transformative for you!! Leave me a comment below <3