Hello!

How are you doing tonight?

Thank you for letting us do this. They want to take a picture with you. Is that OK?

We're doing something we've never done before, and that is to have a conversation like this with you around a theme, which is tonight's devotional. And we just are so grateful and thank you for being willing to be part of this experiment, because we've never done it before. I'm Ruvimbo; I'm originally from Zimbabwe. I'm Tyler Simpson. I'm Josh Milcreek. I'm Edie; I'm from the Big Island. I'm Meagan; I'm in Spokane. I'm Thomas; I'm from Wisconsin, Madison area. Hello, I'm Eugene; I'm from Austin. I'm Aubrey; I'm from Sandy. I'm Samantha; I'm from Nebraska. I'm Joel, from Canada. I'm Billy; I'm originally from China--that's where I grew up. If you have time to talk to people, you always find out that there's something remarkable about each person you meet. I'm looking forward to completing my goal to pay off my student loans. Right now they tell us that we're going to be able to play our basketball season still, so that's something that I'm looking forward to. I'm looking forward to an internship in the Middle East, since it had got cancelled last summer. I'm looking forward to going to law school this year, so hopefully I can get in. I'm looking forward to getting sealed. I'm really looking forward to attempting to go on a mission this year. I'm also hoping this next year to be going on my mission too, so hopefully, Emanuel, I'll see you out there as well. Jordan, how have you prepared to go? I've been going on a lot of splits with the branch missionaries and just trying to be as best as I can be. Those of you who are just back, there are challenges when you come back from a mission. Are you doing OK with the challenges? Coming home is certainly difficult, but it's also--going on a mission is also difficult. And every part of life I think has its own challenges, so it's wonderful to have the gospel to help us. Do any of you ever feel that life is sometimes pretty noisy and that it's not always easy to stop and to have it be quiet? What do you do when you want it to be quiet? So one thing that I've liked to do, is I like to have a special spot I go to. It's usually outside, so either like I hike there and then I read my scriptures. Since the temples are closed, it's kind of like my own little temple I can go to. I recently got my endowments out last month. And even though I can't go in the temple, obviously, still just the grounds are peaceful, and it helps me to disconnect from the world even though it's not entering into the temple. I agree. I used to go to the temple, but now I found--and this may sound silly and simple--but I just turn my phone on do not disturb. There's so many voices telling you what to think about what's going on, and I just need to turn it off. So when I look for peace, I just turn everything off. President Nelson shared in the Liahona, he said if we stay on our knees long enough after we pray, then we'll be able to hear the Lord a little bit more. So just taking a little bit more time to wait and listen and be quiet has been really important for me. Thank you Josh. We're looking at a picture of our second son's new baby, who was born at 6:30, so about 30 minutes ago. His wife is an OBGYN, and she's been advising people on how to have babies, and so she's had her first baby, so she's pretty excited. What did you feel? What did you think? I have struggled a lot with lack of hugs and physical affection, and when you talked about God cradling us, I just imagined being encircled in a hug. And I didn't know that I needed that so much, because that's something that I don't really get a lot anymore, and to get it from Him, in a spiritual warming feeling, was very much needed. And I loved that there was exposure to a lot of young adults. I truly felt like God was reaching out to the one--to so many people--to tell them that he loves them. So thank you for your message and the visualization.

Emily I think He cradles us--in the book of Alma, he talks about in the arms of safety--I think we have more of that that we know and I'm glad you felt it tonight.

Ryan? Emily thank you so much for sharing. I just wanted to thank you, Elder Gong, for sharing that nobody wants to be a project. I think so often in my efforts of leadership, branch council, missionary coordination meetings, or whatever, I treat people as this object to go and save instead of inviting them into the community and into the safe space that you talked about of sharing and building each other's faith. You must be a great leader, Ryan.

Just try to follow you and the Brethren and the Savior. None of us want to be a project, and none of us need to be a project. We can all be part pf the community, can't we? Thank you so much. Who else? I really enjoyed the theme of the devotional to really use our gifts and talents now. And it was in line with building relationships that can encourage the future generations. And for me, the feeling that I had as someone who joined the Church recently, I had a feeling of messaging the person who introduced me to the Church and just thanking them for what they did in my life. It was really a blessing, and I'm so glad I got to be part of this. It's such a blessing from the grace of God. Thank you for sharing that. Billy had an idea. Billy? So I really loved your story on your mother's side, the family conversion story. I can really relate to that a lot. I've seen trials from a totally different angle, and that's how I started to truly build a still relationship instead of a relationship that depends on circumstances. There was just a lot of things that stood out to me about the love of God and the power that has in our lives and the ability it has to change us and those around us for the better. Bryson did you have a thought? So I have a friend that I have been thinking a lot about. She's a fellow student at school, and she's not a member, and we've talked a fair amount about the Church. I got a stronger confirmation of just "Don't fear in sharing. Imagine what the future could be if you build that relationship and if that impacts her and her family." It encouraged me even more to be more fearless in sharing and strive to build that relationship and help her to understand more and come closer to God. I love the idea, "imagine what the future could be." And if we imagine what the future could be then we're not fearful of anything, are we? So I just really liked when you talked about God not expecting too much of us and that we just need to let our light shine right now. I think right now with what's going on in the world, we feel a little stagnant, a little bit like we can't do a lot, and knowing that God just needs us to do little things and be friends with people and let our light shine in small ways. I think that really helped me, and I really appreciate it. Even if I'm doing something small, like being someone's friend, it's really important. It matters. There's nothing small Emily. In eternity everything is big. Braxton?

Not only are you building the relationships, but you're part of the relationship so you're changing as well. I just found that very powerful. What a great thought. The relationship is changing, and so are we. Thank you, Braxton. That kind of goes with the idea of changing the future now. I really liked the thought of making the Church a place with less judgment and building ourselves to help build those relationships with others. So I just kind of connected those ideas and really liked the comparisons you made. I really loved something that you had mentioned about Sister Gong, when you said the useful things that we learn now will help shape us later throughout life. When I was pondering about that, it started making me wonder how we can know when the useful stuff happens. We don't actually see the results of it until later throughout life. So no matter what, we're always supposed to be getting active and putting that faith out there so we may be able to use that and help us better ourselves. I love how we can just press forward and have faith and just do the things we can in our best ability, and be our best self. And I think for a lot of us, or for me, we're in social media a lot, and it can bring a negative impact sometimes, comparing others with ourself. But just looking at our own how God sees us and just being the best we can and moving forward, that really helped me a lot in what I need to do for this year in just moving forward so I really appreciate that. One thing that really stood out to me throughout the entire devotional was the aspect of hard work. Especially when we were talking about the law of the harvest, and becoming our best selves, I think that's something that we're always continually trying to work toward is becoming our best self because the hard work is what's going to allow us to become who we need to be and that experience is what we need at that time. The thing that stuck out to me was when you said we need to collect mentors, and you described different people that could be mentors to us and then you described the Savior. We have lots of names for the savior, but I've never thought of "Mentor" as one of them. That He's like our mediator and our Savior, but He can also be someone who's not just a teacher but a mentor who can walk beside us personalized one on one feedback of how we can improve and be more like Him. So thank you for opening my eyes to that. I think the main thing that has stood out to me has been this "what does it mean to truly be still and know that he is God?" It's also about actively trusting in him. And trusting isn't just doing nothing either. Trusting is an active thing that we do. If we truly trust in God, then it will invite us to motivate us to act to want to change to want to repent to want to be better. So I can leave here today feeling a renewed commitment and a greater desire to truly give more earnest effort and to really be all in and to commit myself to whatever it is that the Lord needs me to do and wherever it is that He needs me to be I will do.

What a great thought that you can be still and be active at the same time. I was just thinking about the relationship between agency and revelation. And I know some people who get paralyzed in these decisions, and they're just waiting for an answer. And so I'd love to hear your perspective on the balance between waiting for revelation and then moving forward with choices and agency and using our talents. It's a very important question and a very detailed one. But I've always loved the comment, "The Pioneers received revelation as the wagon wheels turned."

Make sense? That does, yes. We do our best each day, we listen very carefully as we go, but as we're moving, as we heard just a few minutes ago, we can be still and active at the same time. Sometimes when we're most open to revelation is when we're most moving forward, when we're most active. And sometimes we have to stop, and sometimes we have to go. And sometimes it's in the balance of those that the Lord can guide us. It's a great question, Tyler. One thing that I would add, if that's OK. Please. Sometimes we receive very clear revelation, but that doesn't mean the problem is solved. I feel like I had very clear revelation about some important decisions in my life, and I acted to pursue those decisions.But that didn't mean that I had all the answers or that everything was easy once the answer was there. You have to go back to that source of revelation for strength and for direction to continue in the path that the Lord really wants you to be on, I think. Does that make sense? Yeah, that's fantastic. We have a hymn, "Lead Kindly Light."

We go with the light, we go with the light, we go with the light, one step enough for me. I have a hard time with this too, but I hope we can all be able to just know that God still loves us no matter what goals we are able to accomplish or rather unable to accomplish for now, and just be able to strive for living with happiness and peace.

Thank you Mike. My wish is that people would recognize themselves as His signature. We are His greatest creations, and we can look at the world around us and be in awe of the majesty of it, but it's hard to see ourselves in that light, and so I wish people would see that in themselves and others. What a great wish. Thank you, Samantha. Joseph? I have two short wishes. First is that we all can see the good that we do and appreciate when we are able to serve as God's hands and as tools for Him that we can see the results. And secondly, just that we can be certain of the truths and the things we do know. That we can have that firm faith in Christ to keep us steady as the winds get rougher. Thank you, John. I feel like we really need some compassion and some unity and some friendship, so that's my wish is to be more unified. I would also agree with Janeva. And I would also add that my wish for every young adult in the world is to find their calling in life and where and how they can contribute, especially during these harder times. Yeah, you know, I think one wish for me would be for the young adults to be able to see themselves when their divine potential is fulfilled. I think for me that kind of makes a big difference because then I know what I could be and what I'm working toward and how important it is.

Well, our hope and our prayer is that each of you will feel in some special way tonight your divine potential and the fact that the Lord really does cradle you in His love. And that that's true for us together too. I hope that you felt in some way by us being able to talk together, we've had a time we could share. We've never done this before. If you were voting, would you say it was worth the experiment? Is this a good thing to do to try to let us be gathered like this? One thumb? How many of you are two thumbs? Any of you down thumbs? Thank you for being part. We extend our love, we extend the Lord's love, and I hope you've met some new friends. I hope you felt from Hawaii to Tennessee to Florida and everything in between, including Canada, that we're all in this together. And we're grateful we could be here with you and just thank you again. The gospel is true. It's all true. We just thank you in the name of the Lord, even in His name, Jesus Christ, amen. Amen.