SALT LAKE CITY — Changes to the Young Women program include adding “heavenly parents” to the theme recited in classes while deleting the Young Women values and retiring the terms “Beehive,” “Mia Maid” and “Laurel” from the lexicon of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The revisions to the Young Women theme memorized by hundreds of thousands of teenage girls are significant, based on the announcement by Sister Bonnie H. Cordon, the Young Women General President on Saturday evening during the women’s session of the faith’s 189th Semiannual General Conference.
Meanwhile, President Russell M. Nelson told about 20,000 women and girls in the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City and millions more watching or listening remotely that they have access to all the spiritual blessings of the church, direct access to the power of God, an endowment of priesthood power and act with priesthood authority when set apart in a calling to serve in the church.
He also announced eight new temples.
Sister Cordon announced four adjustments:
• The revised Young Women theme.
• New flexibility to the basic organizational structure that previously included three age-group classes.
• The retirement of the iconic names for those classes.
• A renewed emphasis on having the young women in each class presidency lead.
The revised theme begins by emphasizing individual progress by changing the word “we” to “I.” Then it refers to heavenly parents, a change from the previous theme that referred to Heavenly Father.
“These truths apply to you individually,” Sister Cordon said, adding that those and other updates she announced are “inspired adjustments that will help you ‘develop your sacred personal potential’ and increase your righteous influence.”
Sister Cordon read the revised Young Women theme:
I am a beloved daughter of heavenly parents, with a divine nature and eternal destiny.
As a disciple of Jesus Christ, I strive to become like Him. I seek and act upon personal revelation and minister to others in His holy name.
I will stand as a witness of God at all times and in all things and in all places.
As I strive to qualify for exaltation, I cherish the gift of repentance and seek to improve each day. With faith, I will strengthen my home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, and receive the ordinances and blessings of the holy temple.
She said all classes now will be called Young Women classes, marking the end of Beehives, Mia Maids and Laurels. A ward with fewer young women might have one class. A ward with many young women might have six, she said.
No matter how many classes there are, she said, “Every class should have a class presidency,” which she said is called of God and trusted to lead a group of his daughters.
She counseled that ward Young Women leaders should stay close to the presidency, “but don’t take over,” echoing the same advice given in the Saturday afternoon session by Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who announced major changes to the church’s Young Men program.
Those presidencies are set apart by priesthood authority, a key fact being emphasized by church leaders.
Sister Cordon said class presidents also will serve on the new ward youth council announced earlier by Elder Cook.
The adjustments can be effective immediately or instituted by Jan. 1.
”You have been set apart by one who has priesthood authority,” Sister Cordon said. “This means as you perform the duties of your calling you exercise priesthood authority. You have an important work to do. Be sensitive to and act on the promptings of the Holy Ghost. As you do so, you can serve with confidence, for you do not serve alone!”
President Nelson strongly underscored Sister Cordon’s statements later in the session.
“How I yearn for you to understand that the restoration of the priesthood is just as relevant to you as a woman as it is to any man,” he said.
“Every woman and every man who makes covenants with God and keeps those covenants, and who participates worthily in priesthood ordinances, has direct access to the power of God,” he added. “Those who are endowed in the house of the Lord receive a gift of God’s priesthood power by virtue of their covenant, along with a gift of knowledge to know how to draw upon that power.”
President Nelson said again that women set apart to serve in a calling serve with priesthood authority.
“Similarly,” he said, “in the holy temple, you are authorized to perform and officiate in priesthood ordinances every time you attend. Your temple endowment prepares you to do so.”
He also corrected a mistaken impression some have.
“If you are endowed but not currently married to a man who bears the priesthood and someone says to you, ‘I’m sorry that you don’t have the priesthood in your home,’ please understand that that statement is incorrect,” he said. “You may not have a priesthood-bearer in your home, but you have made sacred covenants with God in his temple. From those covenants flows an endowment of his priesthood power upon you. And remember, if your husband should die, you would preside in your home.”
Endowed woman also speak and teach with power and authority from God, he said, imploring women to speak up and participate fully in church councils. Finally, he invoked a blessing on the women that they would understand their endowed priesthood power.
Sister Reyna I. Aburto, second counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, gave a landmark talk on toxic perfectionism, mental illness, suicide and ministering.
“Untreated mental or emotional illness can lead to increased isolation, misunderstandings, broken relationships, self-harm and even suicide,” she said.
In fact, her father died by suicide.
“His death was shocking and heartbreaking for my family and me,” she said. “It has taken me years to work through my grief, and it was only recently that I learned talking about suicide in appropriate ways actually helps to prevent it rather than encourage it. I have now openly discussed my father’s death with my children and witnessed the healing that the Savior can give on both sides of the veil.”
She counseled women to be believing and understanding when other women describe the black clouds of depression, anxiety, and other forms of mental and emotional affliction. She also asked them to learn how to see the signs of those illnesses and how to talk about them in families, congregations and communities.
“Even if we do not know how to relate to what others are going through,” she said, “validating that their pain is real can be an important first step in finding understanding and healing.”
She said mental illness can be caused by stress or fatigue, not weakness or sin, and sometimes can be improved by adjusting diet, sleep and exercise, but therapy or medication prescribed by professionals may be needed. In her footnotes to her talk, she said she has sought help from therapists multiple times.
She asked women surrounded by darkness to turn to God, who loves them.
“Remember that Christ is your Savior and Redeemer, and God is your Father,” she said. “They understand. Picture them close by you, listening and offering support.”
She counseled them to do all they can and trust in atoning grace.
“Your struggles do not define you, but they can refine you,” she said, asking them, as guided by the Holy Spirit, to “share your story in order to ‘succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down and strengthen the feeble knees.’”
Sister Lisa L. Harkness, first counselor Primary General Presidency, said baptized women bear the name of Jesus Christ and must act accordingly.
“We have no place for self-degrading comparisons or overbearing judgments,” she said. “With our eyes on the Savior, we see ourselves for who we really are — a cherished child of God. Our covenant remembering quiets worldly worries, turns self-doubt into courage and gives hope in times of trial.”
President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, greeted the girls and women “as divinely assigned guardians of the eternal family.” Then he returned to the theme of the love and laws of God, the topic of President Nelson’s young adult devotional at Brigham Young University last month.
He spoke of the two great commandments, loving God and loving neighbors and said the church’s doctrine on eternal marriage requires walking a fine line between love and law.
He quoted President Nelson’s teaching that the church was restored so families could form, be sealed and become eternally exalted.
“That teaching has important implications for persons who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, commonly referred to as LGBT,” he said, adding, “The law that applies most significantly to the issues relating to those identifying as LGBT is God’s law of marriage and its companion law of chastity.”
His talk is the first time a church leader has used those sexual identity terms or the acronym they form in the church’s general conference.
Apostles must teach nothing but truth, he said, and they cannot modify divine law.
“Thus, the leaders of the church must always teach the unique importance of marriage between a man and a woman and the related law of chastity,” he said, adding that “The work of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is ultimately concerned with preparing the children of God for the celestial kingdom, and most particularly for its highest glory, exaltation or eternal life. That highest destiny is only possible through marriage for eternity.”
He said church leaders seek to persuade all members to treat those who follow LGBT teachings with the love of the second great commandment.
“Meanwhile, we must try to keep both of the great commandments,” he said. “To do so we walk a fine line between law and love — keeping the commandments and walking the covenant path, while loving our neighbors along the way. This walk requires us to seek divine inspiration on what to support and what to oppose and how to love and listen respectfully and teach in the process.
“Our walk demands that we not compromise on commandments but show forth a full measure of understanding and love. Our walk must be considerate of children who are uncertain about their sexual orientation, but it discourages premature labeling because in most children such uncertainty decreases significantly over time. Our walk opposes recruitment away from the covenant path and it denies support to any who lead people away from the Lord. In all of this we remember that God promises hope and ultimate joy and blessings for all who keep his commandments.”
He asked women to fulfill prophecy that they will work to save others.
“Among those the women of this church may save will be their own dear friends and family who are currently influenced by worldly priorities and devilish distortions,” he said.
President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency, said girls and women in the church are covenant daughters of God and each should prepare to be a ministering sister, leader and mother.
“The Lord, out of love, does not leave us the choice of the timing, duration or sequence of our assignments,” he said. “Yet you know from scripture and living prophets that all of these assignments will come, either in this life or in the next, to every daughter of God. And all of them are preparation for eternal life in loving families — the greatest of all the gifts of God.”
President Eyring also spoke about his 57-year marriage to his wife, Kathleen.
“Becoming a covenant woman in partnership with God is how great and good daughters of God have always mothered, led and ministered, serving in whatever way and place he has prepared for them,” he said. “I promise that you will find joy in your journey to your heavenly home as you return to him as a covenant-keeping daughter of God.”
Sister Joy D. Jones, the church’s Primary general president, conducted the meeting.
The choir was made up of Primary girls and Young Women from West Jordan, Utah. They sang “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,” “We Thank Thee, O God, For a Prophet,” “I Love to See the Temple” and “He Sent His Son.”
Sister Salote Tukuafu of the Primary general board and Sister Carol Costley of the Young Women general board provided the prayers.