LAIE, HAWAII — Near the end of his five-day ministry in Hawaii, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf invited the thousands of students attending BYU–Hawaii to do good now and not wait for a future day to fully commit to living the gospel of Jesus Christ.
On Sunday night, the new acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles revisited his 2008 general conference message titled “Lift Where You Stand.” President Uchtdorf, who was accompanied by his wife, Sister Harriet Uchtdorf, applied the principles of that message to the lives of students at the Church’s school in Laie on the North Shore of the island of Oahu.
“We have much to share with the world,” President Uchtdorf said. “And what does [the Lord] expect us to do with the abundance of spiritual blessings that He has given us?”
Answering his own question, he taught that the Lord desires individuals to follow His teachings and become His disciples.
“This means filling the earth with ‘the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea’ (Isaiah 11:6-9),“ President Uchtdorf said. ”It means overcoming the ‘walls of separation’ (Ephesians 2:14, New King James Version) that divide God’s children and inviting them to become ‘of one heart and one mind,’ dwelling together ‘in righteousness’ with ‘no poor among [us]’ (Moses 7:18).”
BYU–Hawaii fulfills a unique purpose among the Church Educational System’s family of universities as it serves the Saints in the Pacific Islands and Asia.
“Here, you gather from various nations and cultures,” President Uchtdorf said. “Here you are learning to overcome this world’s artificial walls of separation. Here you learn how to stand in holy places — even holy places in the most challenging times. Here you see, every day, how the gospel of Jesus Christ unites our hearts and minds.”
Serve and contribute now
Individuals can find it easy to postpone service in the Church for various reasons, President Uchtdorf said. Whether that reason is to study for a pending chemistry test or another of life’s many circumstances, he invited Church members to serve where they can right now.
“Finding time to dedicate to the cause of Christ will not get easier,” he said. “What will make it easier, however, is learning now how to ‘seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness,’ no matter what else is going on in your life, and trusting the Lord’s promise that all needful things ‘shall be added unto you’ (Matthew 6:33, NKJV).”
President Uchtdorf invited listeners to embrace the present moment in preparation for an important future.
“I hear people say that the youth and young adults are the future of the Church,” he said. “In some ways, that is true, I agree. But you are also the present. You are the present. This is your time. … Please do not ever underestimate or procrastinate the good you can do.”
Moving the grand piano of life
President Uchtdorf told a story from one of his previous wards in Darmstadt, Germany. He said the meetinghouse there had a beautiful grand piano that needed to be moved from the chapel to the cultural hall for an event.
After many failed plans and attempts to maneuver the piano, those faced with the giant task took the advice of one man in the group to stand close together and lift from wherever they stood.
The simple plan worked.
“It moves because each lift where they stand, … not where you think you will be someday,” President Uchtdorf said, speaking of both the piano and other obstacles in life.
Becoming rooted in the Lord
Sister Uchtdorf and President Uchtdorf both encouraged those in attendance to see all their responsibilities and opportunities as being rooted in the Lord. Sister Uchtdorf paired dating with educational pursuits.
“As you are thinking about your future in life, please consider that education and dating work together,” she said.
“Education trains your mind; dating refines your heart. Education teaches analysis and discipline; dating teaches empathy and communication. Education prepares you for a life in the world; dating prepares you for a covenant partnership.”
She said that being engaged in both dating and academic learning is more than doing two things at once. Both efforts, she said, require similar personal characteristics.
“Both require humility. Both require effort. Both require patience. … You are not choosing between building a mind or building a heart. You are building both,” she said.
President Uchtdorf taught similarly about pursuing an education and serving the Lord at the same time.
“Gaining an education and serving the Lord are not competing interests,” he said.
He invited listeners to see all of life’s opportunities as coming from God.
“[There is] one thing to do — to love God and to serve God’s children. And then, a hundred joyful, exciting ways to do it," he said.
Those “joyful, exciting ways” help each follower of the Savior to become a disciple, he taught.
“Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is not just one of many things you do,” President Uchtdorf said. “Jesus Christ is the motivating power behind everything you do. And if there is something you are doing that cannot be motivated by His plan, then, probably, it is time to consider and reconsider and perhaps even stop doing that.”
One way President Uchtdorf suggested everyone could make good decisions is to study a resource provided by the Church to its young men and young women.
“I recommend to you studying ‘For the Strength of Youth’ as a very practical guide for making choices — and regardless of age or situation in life," he said.
Confidence before the Lord
In his April 2025 general conference message, the late President Russell M. Nelson taught about growing in confidence before the Lord. In Hawaii, President Uchtdorf said that putting in effort to do God’s will would help increase that confidence.
“There may be times when you lack confidence in yourself. That happens to all of us,” he said. “In those moments, put your confidence in Jesus Christ, and you will see your confidence will multiply like the loaves and fishes by the Sea of Galilee. Your Savior will lead you to stand where He wants you to stand and where He wants you to lift.”
At the same time, President Uchtdorf said he knows that each individual hears competing voices around them telling them what is best or most important.
“Do not spend too much time worrying about where others are standing or about other places you could be standing,” he said. “You don’t have to lift the whole piano — just the part in front of you.”
Doing the best one can in the place where one is will bring blessings, President Uchtdorf explained.
“‘Behold, I have seen your sacrifices’ (Doctrine and Covenants 132:50). And your Father in Heaven knows, in ways no one else can, how much you are willing to follow the Savior," President Uchtdorf said.
Some of those efforts are known only to Heavenly Father, and that is enough, he continued.
“We do not mind if our contribution remains anonymous, because our reward comes from our ‘Father [who] seeth in secret’ (Matthew 6:1-4)," he said.
President Uchtdorf used the example of the 2,000 stripling warriors and pointed out that the Book of Mormon never includes the names of those valiant defenders of their families and community.
“As individuals, they are anonymous. As a group, however, they stood close together and lifted where they stood,” he said.
The ‘best and only hope’
The act of comparing one person’s efforts to another’s is a fruitless endeavor, President Uchtdorf said, because the outcome isn’t as important as the obedience and faith being shown.
He said sometimes individuals think others around them are more capable of doing a task than they are. And perhaps they are — but that’s not the point.
“The point is that the Lord asked you to do it,” President Uchtdorf said. “He put you here, now. And He did it for a reason. You may not see the reason clearly now, but faith requires that we proceed without seeing.”
President Uchtdorf shared a teaching given by Church President Dallin H. Oaks at BYU in February.
“We are all a work in progress,” President Oaks said. “We are all at different places on … the covenant path. We need to be patient with one another and, occasionally, even with ourselves.”
As that patience is learned, President Uchtdorf said, it is important to remember that life is not about the piano that needs to be moved.
“Heavenly Father is trying to move you,” President Uchtdorf said. “He wants to give you opportunities to stand close together with your sisters and brothers, to become stronger together and eventually return to Him — holy, united and purified — as one eternal family.”
Returning to Heavenly Father is made possible through the Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the only way, President Uchtdorf concluded.
“His gospel has been restored, and His gospel and His Church are our best and only hope for peace and for joy in this life and in the life to come,” he said.
