Among the snacks and freebies that young adults were given at the start of the 2024 Utah Area Young Single Adult Conference was what would become the perfect icebreaker — Connection Bingo.
Spots on the bingo card ranged from “Loves romantic comedies” to “Was born in the same month as you” to “Shares the same favorite ice cream flavor.”
Attendees of the convention portion of the YSA conference — held Aug. 2-3 in the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City — got to know other YSAs in classes, activities and service projects as they signed squares on one another’s bingo cards.
“The young adult life is kind of lonely if you don’t know what you’re doing,” said Alissa Castro from Riverton, Utah. “And so I think that having ways for people to gather and meet each other and be comfortable in a place where maybe it’s easier to be open than if you just see somebody on the street, I think that’s a really important aspect.”
Isaac Ruff from Kaysville, Utah, said of the conference: “I hope that everyone’s able to make more friends and to feel comfortable and welcome and to just have a good time, just have fun. I think that’s why we’re all here.”
Record-breaking birthday card
Saturday afternoon, Aug. 3, thousands of young adults beat the record “Most Contributions to a Greeting Card” from Guinness World Records. Throughout Friday and Saturday, young adults lined up to sign the massive card with their name and a short birthday message.
The card celebrates Church President Russell M. Nelson’s upcoming 100th birthday on Sept. 9. Participants amassed a total of 31,384 birthday wishes to celebrate the Prophet and pioneer heart surgeon. By 8 p.m. Saturday, and with the help of a virtual form, 83,000 people had written birthday wishes.
Among the myriad messages included:
- “Thank you for sharing your testimony. It’s changed my life.”
- “I hope this card shows as much love as you show us.”
- “Thank you for making me want to love God more.”
- “You’re loved more than words can express.”
- “Here’s to a century of inspired living.”
- “Our family loves and prays for you.”
- “I want to be a doctor just like you.”
- “We love you and your example.”
- “You radiate love.”
It wasn’t uncommon to see exclamation points, hearts or sentiment in another language.
The previous record for greeting card contributions was 20,482, which was achieved by Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi on Jan. 14, 2022, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Megan Peck from Hurricane, Utah, said: “The Prophet has done so many great, amazing things that have blessed my life. So I think it’s an awesome way that I can just give back and say that I’m grateful for him.”
Braxton Pickett — also from Hurricane — agreed, saying, “Just to know that we could all express our own gratitude for our Prophet and say happy birthday to him is pretty cool.”
Chris O’Brien from Alberta, Canada — now living in Holladay, Utah — said, “I imagine his reaction to seeing this, and the happiness that it’s going to bring him, and I like the thought of being part of that.”
O’Brien said President Nelson has inspired him and given him hope. “Whether you believe he’s a Prophet or not, he’s just a good man, and he just makes so many people smile.”
Record-breaking speed dating
The YSA conference also broke the Guinness World Record for “Largest Speed Dating Event,” with 2,060 participants.
This event broke the record by more than double the previous record, 964 participants, which was set in Dublin, Ireland, on Feb. 14, 2019.
Michael Empric, an official adjudicator for Guinness World Records, declared the previous record broken shortly before the final keynote speaker on Saturday afternoon.
In order to qualify for the speed dating event, participants were required to speed date with at least 20 individuals for three minutes. Conference volunteers acted as proctors to ensure that participants were fully engaged with the event.
Caroline Howell, a volunteer from Sandy, Utah, said that she wanted to be a part of breaking the world record. She signed up after receiving an email from her stake requesting volunteers. She said that the speed dating activity was a good way to get people out of their comfort zones.
“I think for a lot of people, they might feel lonely in their beliefs,” Howell said, “so this has been a good opportunity for people to connect with others and know they are not alone in their beliefs.”
Karina Blocker from Rancho Cucamonga, California, said it was “super awesome” that she was able to participate in the world record. “You can always click with certain people, and three minutes is enough time to do that,” she said.
Her sister, Paige Blocker, said that the speed dating event and the YSA conference itself made it “easy to meet people and to get to know people where you can have a good time and just have fun together and potentially lead on to deeper life friendships.”
Jeremy Rich from Huntington Beach, California, said, “It was super fun, and it was super engaging just to connect with other young single adults who center their lives in Christ but also make it fun, and just get to know people better quicker.”
There were two sections available for speed daters, allowing participants to interact with those closer to their age groups with some overlap between groups. The younger group, aged 18-28, had more participants compared to their older counterparts, ranging from age 25-35.
FamilySearch activities
The young adults’ experience in joining “Together in Christ” expanded generations as they engaged in several activities hosted by FamilySearch:
- Ordinances Ready: Young adults were shown how to use the “Ordinances Ready” feature of FamilySearch.org to find a name to take to the temple. Participants then wrote the name they found on a leaf-shaped sticky note to place on a large wooden tree. They also received a temple recommend holder with a depiction of the Savior and a QR code that leads to the Ordinances Ready feature when scanned.
- Record My Story: Soundproof booths provided a location for participants to tell and save their story for future generations.
- Writing station: Typewriters, cursive and drawing Chinese characters helped YSAs to experience writing like other generations and cultures.
- Together app: Information directed YSAs on how to try out FamilySearch’s experimental “Together” app — announced at RootsTech 2024 — to find activities, learn about ancestors and document personal histories.
- Picture My Heritage: A green screen and cameras virtually put young adults in locations where their ancestors lived.
- FamilySearch Discovery Experiences: Activities for participants let them explore famous relatives in their family tree, compared which ancestors they look most like and showed where they came from.
- Visit My Homelands: Virtual reality goggles put YSAs in virtual locations to experience where their ancestors lived.
ShelterBox tent competition
Teams of young adults competed to set up a tent from the international disaster relief charity ShelterBox, which donates emergency shelters to families displaced by disaster. The winning team completed its tent in eight minutes and 40 seconds.
Serena Kelsch, humanitarian director of strategic partnerships, was impressed by the young adults’ competitive yet fun spirit at the conference, as well as their enthusiasm to do good. “Every single person I met just automatically connected with what we were doing and really wanted to do good in the world,” said Kelsch.
Most people displaced by disaster and war, she said, are women and children. Yet with the support of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ShelterBox has served over 500,000 people in 20 countries since 2017.
“We’re putting their donation to the Church hard at work,” Kelsch said of young adults’ monetary donations to the Church. “They’re building the resilience of these families through working with us, and we know that these families no longer need help around the world because of the good work that [young adults] are doing.”
More photos of events at the 2024 Utah Area YSA Conference
