Editor’s note: To support personal and family gospel learning, the Church News is publishing articles on messages from April 2025 general conference. It is recommended to listen to or read the full address in addition to reviewing these resources.
About this talk
- “The Atonement of Jesus Christ Provides the Ultimate Rescue”
- Elder Quentin L. Cook | Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
- Saturday morning session of April 2025 general conference.
- Theme: The Atonement of Jesus Christ provides rescue from life’s adversities.
Read the full message here.
Read a summary of Elder Cook’s message here.
Outline
- Elder Cook dedicated the Casper Wyoming Temple in November 2024. The temple dedication “brought into clear focus the role temples play in rescuing God’s children through the Savior’s Atonement.”
- The Casper temple district includes a trail traveled by 60,000 Latter-day Saint pioneers from 1847 to 1868. Most pioneers came by wagon, though 3,000 crossed in 10 handcart companies. Eight of those handcart companies experienced remarkable success and few deaths. However, the Willie and Martin handcart companies of 1856 faced challenges caused by severe snowstorms.
- Found in the temple is art depicting the landscape where those handcart companies traveled. It “presented the beauty of the Lord’s creation, not just the challenges the pioneers faced in that horrible winter season.”
- When God’s children are faced with enormous challenges, Jesus Christ’s Atonement “rescues us from the storms of life.”
- For some, the migration had been planned for many years. For others, it began after President Brigham Young announced the handcart plan, intended to make emigration more affordable. One missionary in England said that after hearing the plan, “the poor Saints leapt with joy and gladness.”
- While most handcart Saints avoided major adverse events, the Willie and Martin handcart companies, which left too late, experienced starvation, freezing weather and many deaths.
- After hearing of the stranded pioneers, President Brigham Young sent mule teams, wagons and flour to save the approximately 1,100 Saints. While some 200 died along the trail, many more would have died without the needed assistance. The accounts of these pioneers describe devastating challenges after the storms began, and great joy when the rescuers arrived. The rescuers, like Elder Cook’s great-grandfather, spent hours in frigid water to heroically help the companies.
- Rescuers and emigrants alike followed the prophet. Though the journeys were difficult, President James E. Faust said that refining experiences like these are part of the purification processes “to become acquainted with God.”
- The Atonement of Jesus Christ “provides hope and light at a time that for many seems dark and dreary.”
- Three invitations: Don’t underestimate the importance of doing what one can to rescue others from physical and spiritual challenges, gratefully accept the Savior’s Atonement, and set aside time to contemplate His Atonement.
- The temple provides remembrance of the Savior’s Atonement and what it overcomes and rescue for deceased loved ones and more distant ancestors.
- While one should never forget sacrifices of prior generations, “adulation, appreciation and worship should be centered on the Savior of the world and His atoning sacrifice.” His Atonement is the key to the plan of happiness and “provides the ultimate rescue from the trials we face in this life.”
Reflection questions
Who is an example to you of providing rescue?
How can you “rescue” others from physical or spiritual challenges in your family or community?
What makes the temple a reminder of the Savior’s Atonement and what it overcomes?
How has your knowledge of Jesus Christ and His Atonement helped you in overcoming the trials you face in this life?
What can you do to put the Savior and His atoning sacrifice at the center of your worship?
Speaker quotes
- “In a world of great beauty, there are also enormous challenges. As we turn to Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, He rescues us from the storms of life through His Atonement in accordance with the Father’s plan.”
- “The Atonement provides hope and light at a time that for many seems dark and dreary.”
- “Temple attendance allows us to provide a spiritual rescue for our deceased loved ones and more distant ancestors.”
Reference scriptures
- “And thus God breaketh the bands of death, having gained the victory over death; giving the Son power to make intercession for the children of men — Having ascended into heaven, having the bowels of mercy; being filled with compassion towards the children of men; standing betwixt them and justice; having broken the bands of death, taken upon himself their iniquity and their transgressions, having redeemed them, and satisfied the demands of justice.”
- “And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption.”
Invitations and promises
- “First, do not underestimate the importance of doing what we can to rescue others from physical and especially spiritual challenges.”
- “Second, gratefully accept the Savior’s Atonement. We all should strive to exhibit joy and happiness even as we face the challenges of life. Our goal should be to live optimistically on the sunny side of the street. I have observed my precious companion, Mary, do this her entire life. I have appreciated her sparkling, uplifting approach even as we have faced problems throughout the years.”
- “My third counsel is to set aside consistent time to faithfully contemplate the Savior’s Atonement. There are many ways to do this in our personal religious observance. However, attending sacrament meeting and partaking of the sacrament are especially significant.”
Stories
- The Willie and Martin handcart companies experienced tragedy while emigrating to the Salt Lake Valley. Hundreds died, and others suffered from cold and inadequate food. Eventually being saved by rescuers sent by President Brigham Young, those who arrived to Utah received a “marvelous greeting and were welcomed into the homes of the Saints.”
- John and Maria Linford, along with their three sons, were members of the Willie company hoping to emigrate to Salt Lake. Waiting for help, John died hours before the first rescuers arrived. While he knew he wasn’t going to make it there, he expressed gratitude to his wife for the journey. “I shall not live to reach Salt Lake,” he said, “but you and the boys will, and I do not regret all we have gone through if our boys can grow up and raise their families in Zion.”
- Seventeen-year-old David Patten Kimball — the great-grandfather of Elder Cook — along with four friends traveled from Salt Lake to rescue the struggling handcart companies. Spending hours in frigid water, they heroically helped the company make the Sweetwater crossing.
From the footnotes
- 2. I became aware of the Willie and Martin companies and the tragedies they faced when I was very young. My great-grandfather David Patten Kimball was part of the team from the Salt Lake Valley that President Brigham Young sent to rescue these Saints.
- 16. On July 23, 1994, President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the Rock Creek Hollow Monument and paid tribute to the faithful Saints who died from the trek over Rocky Ridge. President Robert Scott Lorimer accompanied President Hinckley at the dedication. As stake president of the Riverton Wyoming Stake, he played a central role in identifying and overseeing historical and spiritual actions for those who experienced the tragedy.
- 19. My grandfather Crozier, the son of David Patten, taught me important lessons. He emphasized that David was following the prophet, and we should follow the prophet’s counsel in our day.
Additional resources
- Related image: “Helping the Martin Handcart Company Across the Sweetwater River” by Clark Kelley Price
- Related video: “Special Witness — Elder Rasband”
- Related hymn: No. 30, “Come, Come, Ye Saints”
Recent conference talks on Christ’s Atonement
- President Dallin H. Oaks: “Divine Helps for Mortality” (April 2025)
- Elder Gerrit W. Gong: “Eternity’s Great Gifts: Jesus Christ’s Atonement, Resurrection, Restoration” (April 2025)
- Sister Kristin M. Yee: “The Joy of Our Redemption” (October 2024)
Who is Elder Cook?
- Elder Quentin L. Cook was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on Oct. 6, 2007. He worked as an attorney and business executive in California. At the time of his calling as a General Authority Seventy in 1996, Elder Cook was vice chairman of Sutter/California Healthcare System.
