PLACENTIA, California — In his first devotional address as Prophet, President Dallin H. Oaks spoke at Brigham Young University to young adults of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In those remarks, he said, “One of the many reasons you will need the constant influence of the Holy Ghost is that you live in a season where the adversary has become so effective at disguising truth that if you do not have the Holy Ghost, you will be deceived. Many obstacles lie ahead. The distractions will be many.”
President Oaks then outlined four ways to stay on the gospel path: strengthen faith in Jesus Christ, increase humility, seek help from others and be patient.
Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles expounded on these four principles while speaking during a young adult devotional on Saturday, May 16, in Placentia, California. More than 1,000 young adults turned out to hear the Apostle, who was joined by his wife, Sister Kathy Andersen, and by Elder Paul H. Sinclair, who was sustained as a General Authority Seventy during the April 2026 general conference.
Elder Takashi Wada, a General Authority Seventy and president of the United States West Area, conducted the meeting. A young adult choir sang “This Is the Christ,” after which Elder Andersen invited audience members standing in back to sit in the choir seats.
4 principles for staying on the gospel path
In his remarks, Elder Andersen frequently quoted President Oaks, with a particular focus on the four guidelines for staying on the gospel path.
Regarding the first point, strengthening faith in Jesus Christ, Elder Andersen said strong faith requires daily effort with prayer and scripture study.
“As a witness of Christ,” Elder Andersen said, “I give you this assurance: If you will continue on this path of believing in Him and putting trust in Him and reading His words and praying to the Father, you will have a most powerful assurance in your life — a steadiness that you can hold on to with firmness — that He is the Son of God.”
Elder Andersen also invited Sister Andersen to share her testimony of prayer. Sister Andersen said having a relationship with Heavenly Father through prayer is “one of the greatest things that we can do in our lives. … He will hear our prayers and answer us.”
She also bore witness of the Savior and of Elder Andersen’s sacred calling: “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. When He was on the earth, He called men to be His disciples to bear testimony of Him in all the world.”
Regarding the second point, increasing humility, Elder Andersen said that in a world where information is so readily available, it’s important for each person to remember how much they don’t know. For instance, very little is known about the next life or about the full scope of God’s creations.
“[So] we stay humble, willing to learn spiritually … We are open to solidifying and settling our faith in Christ,” Elder Andersen said.
Regarding the third point, seeking help from others, Elder Andersen emphasized that no one lives alone in this world. And while some circumstances are beyond individual control, each person bears much of the responsibility for who they surround themselves with.
That’s why it’s so important, Elder Andersen said, for young adults to choose friends who help strengthen their faith and refine their character.
“We choose where we go and what we do,” he said. “We’re careful with what we put into our minds, and we select the people we want to be with.”
Regarding the fourth point, patience, Elder Andersen encouraged young adults to be patient with others and with themselves. Patience is a divine quality, he said, and life requires a lot of it: “Patience with what we know and don’t know … patience with what we can do today and what we must wait to do another day.”
Testimony of Christ as history’s ‘central figure’
Elder Andersen closed the devotional by blessing the young adults with increased prayerfulness and with a greater ability to receive direction from the Holy Ghost.
He also bore his “sure and certain witness” that Jesus is the Christ.
“He is the central figure of all human history, and when the true history of the world is written, we will praise His name forever,” Elder Andersen said.
A spirit of prophecy
Speaking prior to Elder Andersen, Elder Sinclair said prophets sometimes explain what other prophets have said so that everyone gains a better understanding. For instance, the Book of Mormon prophet Nephi wrote often of the Prophet Isaiah and even called Isaiah’s words “plain unto all those that are filled with the spirit of prophecy” (2 Nephi 25:4).
One way to have the spirit of prophecy, Elder Sinclair said, is by gaining an understanding of what prophets teach.
“It’s my prayer that, tonight, we will have the spirit of prophecy among us as we are taught by a living prophet,” Elder Sinclair said, adding that Elder Andersen “masterfully brings to us the words of living prophets, particularly the President of the Church, and helps us to understand their application in our lives today.”
