One of the great blessings of dedicated temples is the promise of closer communion with Heavenly Father, the Savior, and those we love who are in the spirit world.    I am grateful and honored to have been asked by President Dallin H. Oaks to dedicate the beautiful and sacred Montpelier Idaho Temple.    Temples are evidence that God is a God of covenants and that His plan reaches beyond mortality into eternity. The temple provides purpose for our lives. It brings peace to our souls. It allows us to reach through the veil of death and across generations to allow the Lord to unite families in the joy of eternal life.    My prayer is that we may feel, in the house of God, Heavenly Father's love for His children and of His desire to bring us back into His presence.

You might reasonably wonder why a loving and all-powerful God allows our mortal test to be so hard. It is because He knows that we must grow in spiritual cleanliness and stature to be able to live in His presence. My wise mother taught me this when I was a little boy. I had asked her, “Mother, why is life so hard?” She smiled and said firmly, “Hal, of course it’s hard. It’s supposed to be. Life is a test.” Years later I realized that as she spoke these words to me, she was passing through tests of her own and rising up through a lifetime of terrible medical trials. But, because she knew the words “Fear not, I am with thee,” were true, the Lord’s promise was fulfilled for her. We know that the Lord will comfort all of those who try to follow Him. And He offers us the great blessing and trust to help Him keep His promise to succor Heavenly Father’s children in their tests along their mortal journey toward home. #GeneralConference Used with permission. "Yoke" by Haley Miller. Courtesy of Altus Fine Art © 2026

Many years ago, I was first counselor to a district president in the eastern United States. More than once, as we were driving to our little branches, he said to me, “Hal, when you meet someone, treat them as if they were in serious trouble, and you will be right more than half the time.” The Lord has opportunities near you to feel and to share His love. You can pray with confidence for the Lord to lead you to love someone for Him. As you do so, you will feel the love of God for you and for the person you serve for Him. When you help others in their troubles, your own will seem lighter and your faith and hope will be strengthened. Artwork: "Return" by Kelsy & Jesse Lightweave

I know that Jesus Christ lives. He loves us and blesses us. He continues to offer us peace in our lives through sincere and fervent prayer.

Many of us, in moments of personal anguish, feel that God is far from us. The pavilion that seems to intercept divine aid does not cover God; it occasionally covers us. God is never hidden, yet sometimes we are, covered by a pavilion of motivations that draw us away from God and make Him seem distant and inaccessible. Our own desires, rather than a feeling of “Thy will be done” (Matthew 6:10), create the feeling of a pavilion blocking God. God is not unable to see us or communicate with us, but we may be unwilling to listen or submit to His will and His time. We remove the pavilion when we feel and pray, “Thy will be done” and “in Thine own time.” His time should be soon enough for us since we know that He wants only what is best. The Lord’s delays often seem long; some last a lifetime. But they are always calculated to bless. They need never be times of loneliness or sorrow or impatience. Although His time is not always our time, we can be sure that the Lord keeps His promises. For any of you who now feel that He is hard to reach, I testify that the day will come that we all will see Him face to face. Artwork: "Faith is Holding Both" by Jenna Conlin

This Mother’s Day, I express heartfelt gratitude to the women who love with Christlike charity, who strengthen faith, and who build the rising generation with hope and tenderness. You are the heart of the Lord’s work. I saw this love in my beloved wife, Kathleen. She displayed the Savior’s love through her compassion, her faithfulness, and her service. She embraced the sacred role of a mothering influence not only for our children, but for more than a hundred members of our direct family and for many hundreds more whom she welcomed into her motherly heart. While I do not fully know all the Lord’s purposes in giving the primary responsibility for nurturing to faithful sisters, I believe it is because of their capacity to love. To love in such a way that the needs of others are felt more deeply than their own—that is charity. That is the pure love of Christ.

When we obey what we are taught in the temple with all our hearts, it makes possible our receiving the gift of peace.    During the Lindon Utah Temple dedication today, I shared that in the temples of God, we are taught the simple truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ: The Plan of Salvation, our relationship to the loving God who created us, and our divine potential to be with the Savior again, to live in glory and peace forever.     Each time you return to the temple you will, by the Spirit, learn more of Him and of His Father. The peace He promises us can come, even as the storms of life beat upon us.   Those feelings of peace can go with us in our busy lives, if we are faithful to the covenants we make here. Trials, challenges, and heartaches will surely come to all of us. None of us are immune from “thorns of the flesh.” Yet, as we attend the temple and remember our covenants, we will feel peace from the Lord.

The feelings of your heart and the love for our Heavenly Father and for His beloved Son can be so constant that your prayers will ascend always.

The world today seems to be in commotion. There are wars and rumors of wars. The economies of whole continents seem to be faltering. Prophesied wickedness seems to be accelerating as the Savior’s return draws nearer. Yet despite turmoil and difficulty, faithful Latter-day Saints in hardship across the world have flooded heaven with prayers. In public, and in private, they are petitioning the Lord for help, for comfort, for direction, and personal peace for those they love. Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, lives, knows us, watches over us, and cares for us. As we pray continually, no matter the circumstances of life, the Lord will offer us His peace and abiding support. Consistent prayer during joyous times and also during seasons of distress and grief will surely be rewarded according to His will and perfect timing. #GeneralConference Artwork: “Angels Among Us” by Annie Henrie Nader

The Savior’s invitation is simple: “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:63). As you are faithful, you will find that the Lord keeps His promises.

It is never too early to help a child grow their testimony in Jesus Christ. Young children are often more sensitive to the Spirit than we realize. Daily family prayer, family scripture study, and sharing your testimony in sacrament meeting are easier and more effective when children are young. When they are older, they will remember the hymns they sang with you. Even more than recalling music, they will remember the words of scripture and testimony. The Holy Ghost can bring all things to their remembrance, but the words of scriptures and hymns will last the longest. When trials come, those memories will be a source of strength throughout their life.

My dear brothers and sisters, opportunities await each of us this Christmas season to reach out and show kindness with Christlike love and compassion and to make a difference.

The Lord is preparing His Church and His people, those who bear His name, to receive Him. As part of our preparation for His coming, He will lift each of us so we may rise to spiritual challenges and opportunities unlike any seen in the history of this world. How, then, can each of us participate in this work of such magnitude and grandeur? When we take repentance as a joyful opportunity because of our growing faith that Jesus is the Christ, when we understand and believe that Heavenly Father hears our every prayer, when we strive to obey and live the commandments, we grow in our power to receive continuing revelation. The Holy Ghost can be our constant companion. A feeling of light will stay with us even as the world around us becomes darker. As we pray and grow our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and our Heavenly Father as our loving Father, we become a vital part in the Lord’s work as He prepares the world for His Second Coming.

God knows you. He knows the trials you face. He is with you. He will not forsake you. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is our strength, our Redeemer, our hope. If we trust Him, He will make our spiritual power equal to every trial we are called to bear.

There is something we can choose to do in our daily life that will provide a constant protection against spiritual hazards. It is simply to remember who God is and what it means to be His child. When we remember the Savior we see Him as the creator of all things. We remember our dependence on His sacrifice when we think of the fall of man and of our own sins. We remember His unfailing love for us and His arms extended in invitation to us when we think of the little we understand of what He did to atone for our sins. Those memories, if we choose to invite them, can produce a powerful blend of courage and meekness. No problem is too hard for us with His help. No price is too great to pay for what He offers us.

There is nothing more important than honoring the covenants you have made or may make in the temple. Trials, challenges, and heartaches will surely come to all of us. Yet, as we attend the temple and remember our covenants, we can prepare to receive personal direction from the Lord. We can be reminded of the eternal nature of our spirits, our relationship with the Father and His Divine Son, and our ultimate desire to return to our heavenly home. All will be well because of temple covenants.