Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles invited youth to share the Savior’s light and stand for truth with meekness and power in a worldwide broadcast on Sunday, Oct. 27.
The prerecorded broadcast of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints focused on the 2024 youth theme, “I am a disciple of Jesus Christ,” which comes from 3 Nephi 5:13 in the Book of Mormon.
Christ the Redeemer
Elder Soares stood below the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during the event and spoke to a small group of youth gathered there.
The statue is a “symbol of Christ’s enduring love and redemption for all mankind,” he said.
The iconic statue stands above the city of Rio de Janeiro with arms outstretched as a gesture of love and invitation to come unto Him and enjoy His love, according to Elder Soares.
“This magnificent work of art is a reminder to us all that Jesus Christ and His gospel are not meant to be hidden under a bushel,” he said. “Rather, like the statue, Jesus Christ and His gospel are set on a hill where they cannot be hid.”
The Savior’s light
“Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up — that which ye have seen me do,” the Savior told the Nephites in 3 Nephi 18:24.
“Jesus Christ has made wonderful promises to those who act in faith as they stand as witnesses of Him to the world,” Elder Soares said.
He quoted the Savior’s promise recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 84:88: “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.”
“Aren’t these wonderful promises?” Elder Soares asked.
“So share what you know about Jesus Christ and your love for Him without fear in conversations with friends, social media posts or any other opportunity that comes,” he said. “You will not be alone as you stand as His witness. He will be with you always.”
Elder Soares invited a young woman and young man to share why it is sometimes difficult to share the gospel.
A young man named Max said it’s difficult to share the gospel because youth are oftentimes afraid of the judgment of other people.
“But if we share the gospel, you almost feel full in your heart,” Max said. “It’s an amazing sensation.”
That message was echoed by a young woman named Laura: “Sometimes we can be scared to share what we know and feel. But that’s what Jesus wants us to do. He wants us to share with everyone what we know, what we feel about Him in the gospel. Because it can help other people.”
Elder Soares said standing up for a belief in Christ does not mean one is condemning or judging others.
“It means seeing them as God sees them and loving them as He loves them, as sons and daughters of God with infinite worth and potential,” he testified. “It means reaching out with understanding and compassion, inviting them to experience the joy and peace that comes from following the Savior, Jesus Christ.”
Solar eclipse from the Hill Cumorah
The broadcast included messages from Young Women General President Emily Belle Freeman and Young Men General President Steven J. Lund, which they filmed from the Hill Cumorah in Manchester, New York, during the total solar eclipse earlier this year on April 8.
President Freeman and President Lund stood with a small group of young men and young women as the sun was blocked from the earth’s view by the moon.
The young men and young women all commented on how it became darker and darker by the second.
President Lund noted as the darkness descended how there was still a sliver of light on the horizon surrounding them.
“So even in the darkest of times, if we have eyes to see, Heavenly Father’s light will penetrate to us,” he said. “It will help us see the way.”
Very quickly, the sun began to shine again on the group gathered, and one young man commented, “The light always returns.”
A young woman observed the saddest thing to her “is that some people don’t even know that there’s light. So they could be wandering in the darkness for all of their life.”
President Lund testified that the Restoration is that light that gives one a sense of divine purpose and identity.
“This is why we need you on missions,” he said. “This is why we need you already today, being a light to the people around you.”
President Freeman reminded the group to remember that the Savior testified that He is “the light of the world” (John 8:12).
“And it doesn’t matter how dark things get, He will be there,” she said. “And when we know that, when we believe that is true, the light we share is Him.”
The Restoration
Presidents Freeman and Lund then related the darkness they experienced during the eclipse to the darkness the world experienced before the Restoration of the gospel.
“We love the opportunity we have to be here to think of that moment when a young boy came and met Moroni here and learned what his purpose was, what his call would be,” President Freeman said. “And he learned it a little at a time, just like we all do. And it was a time of darkness and of light coming little by little into his life.”
“As we act as disciples of Jesus Christ, the blessings will flow into our lives,” President Lund promised. “Joy will flow into our lives. And the world will become a different place.”
Part of the broadcast included an invitation for local groups of young men and young women to share their testimonies of Jesus Christ with each other by talking about the one thing they learned from Him this year.
The broadcast is now available to watch in the Gospel Library (under Youth Events), at broadcasts.ChurchofJesusChrist.org, in the Media Library (see Broadcast and Live Event Recordings and click on Youth Events) and on the Strive To Be YouTube channel.
The broadcast is also available in ASL, Cantonese, Cebuano, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Samoan, Spanish, Tagalog and Tongan.
