The October 2020 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave people around the world counsel and comfort in this trying time, and BYU students found some common themes as they listened to the conference this past weekend.
Carla Calderon, a BYU student from North Carolina, said a theme she noticed was that racism is real and it must end. “We were repeatedly asked to be united, and be like the Savior,” she said. “It’s our responsibility to seek to understand our neighbor and to extend a helping hand.”
She also said abandoning attitudes and actions of prejudice is a responsibility of Church members.
BYU student Caleb Hintze from West Jordan, Utah said his favorite part of conference was seeing the Church leaders together. “It gave me strength and hope to see them all sitting in the same room (masked up) because it felt a little more like a normal conference,” Hintze said.
Hintze was also grateful that new temples were announced. “It gives me hope that COVID life will eventually end and we can return to normal church and temple attendance,” he said.
BYU student Joe Lambert said he noticed a lot of speakers talked about preparing to enter the temple. “We should always be striving to live a righteous life so we can be prepared for what is to come,” he said.
“Even if we can’t go right now, we should still strive to be temple worthy,” Lambert said. “I like how it was mentioned that having a temple recommend is more than just being able to go into the temple. Our recommends show that we are standing right before God.”
McCall Rogers, a BYU student from Pennsylvania, said she loved how Elder Gary E. Stevenson pointed out how temple ordinances seem that much sweeter now given the current circumstances.
Rogers also said she was pleasantly surprised when Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf said “our best days are ahead of us, not behind us.”
Meredith Gerard, a BYU student from Roseville, California, said her favorite talks were from President Russell M. Nelson and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland.
“I enjoyed President Nelson’s talk because it really pinpointed some specific thoughts I have been having, and it felt really applicable to the world today,” Gerard said. “As more commotion happens in the world, I think President Nelson’s advice about letting God prevail will become even more important.”
