Messages about connection, trusting in the Lord, and adversity were shared this week on the social media channels of leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles posted a message of gratitude for his friendship with the Rev. Dr. Andrew Teal, chaplain and theologian at Oxford University.
“When we met, it felt as if we had known each other forever,” Elder Holland wrote. “I have learned a great deal from Andrew’s innate ability to love and accept his fellow brothers and sisters.”
Primary General President Camille N. Johnson told her social media followers about a dear friend that she made while serving as a mission leader alongside her husband in Peru. Her friend still lives in Peru, but “thousands of miles can’t keep us apart,” she said. “We chose to stay connected, because relationships matter—now and for the eternities.”
In a video, Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles extended an invitation to participate in RootsTech 2022 to build meaningful connections, which is more important than ever in light of “the fractured state of the world and the commotion that is taking place around us.”
Sister Reyna Isabel Aburto, second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, recently had the opportunity to visit the meetinghouse in California where she was baptized. She recalled the difficult life circumstances she was under the first time she went to church and how grateful she was then for “the members who embraced me when I joined the Church and for their invitation to come to Christ.”
Sister Aburto also shared an old family photo that her cousin Paul recently sent her. “It does not take a lot of time or effort to #ChooseConnection with our family members or our friends,” she said.
“Connection with God, family, and each other (what I call covenant belonging) gives our lives our greatest, tenderest, deepest meaning,” Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles wrote in a social media post.
Sister Amy A. Wright, second counselor in the Primary general presidency, wrote about the special connection she made to Danish ancestors through a sequence of sacred events.
Sister Wright also shared a video she recorded for RootsTech about a place that “became a symbol of faith and strength for me and my family.”
Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles encouraged his social media followers to remember that “family history isn’t all about the distant past. It is a combination of the past and the present that makes you uniquely you,” and invited them to participate in RootsTech Family Discovery Day on Saturday, March 5.
A simple way to help children make connections with their ancestors, Sister Susan H. Porter, first counselor in the Primary general presidency, said, is to share stories that will relate to them, especially through their likes and dislikes.
As Brother Milton Camargo, first counselor in the Sunday School general presidency, studied the story in the Old Testament of Jacob and Esau’s reconciliation this week, he pondered an observation he has made about the best reconciliations that he knows of: “The two people who were reconciled first sought strength through prayer.”
“For most of us, most of the time, we are not ‘living the dream,’ “ Sister Michelle D. Craig, first counselor in the Young Women general presidency, wrote. “There are deadlines to meet, unexpected physical and mental health challenges to deal with, financial setbacks, and I could go on and on. But the beautiful thing is — we CAN always trust the Lord; we CAN live the theme.”
As Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Sister Kathy Christofferson, visited with various government leaders in West Africa, they let the government officials know that they were there to make a contribution. Though there are a number of challenges, Elder Christofferson is “optimistic we can meet them because this is God’s work.”
Elder Christofferson also wrote a post about adversity, and testified that trials “refine us and help us grow into who our Heavenly Father wants us to be.”
In Relief Society General President Jean B. Bingham’s “stop-and-start” pursuit of education, she learned that education looks different for everyone.
“The Lord invites us to use personal revelation to uncover our life’s path — including when it comes to education,” she said.
When Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was asked in a recent meeting with missionaries, “What is the Book of Mormon for you?” He answered by turning to the last two paragraphs of the introduction to the Book of Mormon.
“Every aspect of those two paragraphs in the Book of Mormon introduction apply to me,” he wrote.
President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, wrote a brief testimony on Twitter that “Heavenly Father and Jesus will never forget us.”
Young Women General President Bonnie H. Cordon shared a video about For the Strength of Youth conferences and promised that “it is absolutely worth every effort to get our youth to these conferences.”
President Cordon also shared a video of Elder Wright, a full-time missionary who trusts in the Lord, even when his mission has taken “unexpected turns, one after another.”
When Sister Rebecca L. Craven, second counselor in the Young Women general presidency, visited an FSY conference last year, she spoke to some young women who told her that they did not want to be there, but on the last day, they told her they didn’t want to leave.
“Do you know if FSY is happening in your area this year?” she wrote. “Please move heaven and earth to be there if so!”
