- The 2026 Utah Area YSA Conference concluded Sunday with a devotional featuring Elder David A. Bednar and his wife, Sister Susan Bednar.
- Through a panel discussion, Elder Bednar explored patterns for finding personal direction in a fallen world.
- He promised God is with the faithful always and provided counsel for adapting to the faith’s new Sunday meeting schedule.
Rather than give a talk or sermon to an auditorium of more than 18,000 young single adults, Elder David A. Bednar sought to transform the BYU Marriott Center in Provo into the “largest classroom in the history of the world” on Sunday.
The lesson — or rather, discussion — between him and his wife, other leaders, and a panel of young single adults in the Utah Area of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints centered on searching the scriptures for patterns and personal direction.
“The scriptures contain numerous, endless patterns that we can use as we become devoted lifelong disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ,” said Elder Bednar, a member of the church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
“Powerful patterns for our lives” can be derived from “seemingly ordinary” or “unusual events” in the scriptures, he said. His invitation for each listener was to hear and discern the individual messages the Spirit was communicating to them through the scriptures.
“The scriptures are the prerecorded voice of the Lord,” he said. “As we look at, relish (and) feast upon the words of Christ in the scriptures, then by the power of the Holy Ghost, we receive messages that we need individually and personally.”
Elder Bednar guided listeners and those with him on the stage through a discussion of the following scriptures:
Below are highlights of the patterns and principles panelists gleaned from their discussion. The full devotional, which officially concluded the church’s 2026 Utah Area YSA Conference, is available here.
‘Ye cannot go amiss’
Elder Bednar prefaced the group’s study of Doctrine and Covenants 80 by reading the section’s introduction. He confessed that his younger self found the section irrelevant, as he didn’t know and had never heard of whom the section was about.
Elder Bednar admitted he used to think, “Who cares about Stephen Burnett? … Why is this (section) in here?”
The apostle said he has since learned the revelation was included because it features a pattern of instruction that “applies to every single one of us individually.” He invited listeners to replace Burnett’s name with their own and consider the instruction.
“Go ye, go ye into the world and preach the gospel to every creature that cometh under the sound of your voice,” the section reads.
“Go ye and preach my gospel, whether to the north or to the south, to the east or to the west, it mattereth not, for ye cannot go amiss.”
Elder Bednar and the panel of four young single adults with him discussed how the 1832 revelation applied to them, teaching them they “cannot go amiss” whenever they preach the gospel and keep God’s commandments.
“What I understand this (section) to suggest is that faith is a principle of action and of trust and of power,” Elder Bednar said. The Lord said “go” because he’s “gonna get you where you need to be to do what you’re supposed to do.”
‘I am with the faithful always’
The group turned to Doctrine and Covenants 62 and again gleaned lessons from a seemingly ordinary and unusual revelation. These lessons included:
- God works miracles when his followers are unified.
- God trusts in his children to act in faith and exercise their own agency.
- The Lord is faithful to those who strive to follow him. He has said, “I am with the faithful always.”
“I believe ‘always’ means ‘always,’” Elder Bednar said. “We don’t have to be perfect, but if we’re striving to honor our covenants and keep the commandments, then we have the power of godliness flowing into our lives. … That power of godliness enables us to do things that, in our own limited strength, we could never do.”
Elder Bednar asked Elder Brian K. Taylor of the Utah Area Presidency to answer whether the Lord’s instruction applies to young adults living in a “messed up” world that is “getting worse all the time.”
A fallen world is exactly why the Lord’s instruction applies today, Elder Taylor said. “The Savior is saying to us, ‘If you’ll just be good, and you’ll give it your best … I will always be with you. I will get you to the promised land.’”
God will ease the burdens
The group also studied two scriptural instances where the Lord succored his followers in their trials.
Through their discussion, the group learned:
- The Lord strengthens his covenant children in their trials so their burdens feel lighter.
- The Holy Ghost can help one recognize their own strength through seasons of trial.
- Finding relief will oftentimes require acting in faith.
Alma and his people in Mosiah 24 were made stronger because of the covenants they’d made with God, Elder Bednar taught. “This is the grace and enabling power of the Savior’s atonement that is available to any and every covenant-keeping member of the Lord’s restored church.”
Sister Susan Bednar added her testimony of prayer. “I’ve spent a lot of times on my knees praying,” she said. “You can pray for things to go away, but when they don’t, then you just have to pray for the strength to keep going.”
A pattern for Sabbath day learning
Elder Bednar also offered some advice to Latter-day Saint learners and teachers adapting to the new Sunday meeting schedule, which began Sunday, Sept. 6.
He counseled teachers to not grow anxious about silence during lessons and instead “Be still, and know that I am God” (see Psalms 46:10).
“If you’re wanting people to make really spiritually significant observations about the scriptures, don’t rush in and fill the silence all the time,” he said. “Let them have a little bit of time to let the Holy Ghost work in them till they get to the point where they can express that.”
Further coverage of the 2026 Utah Area YSA Conference is available here. Latter-day Saint young single adult reflections on their greatest challenges and their greatest hope are available here.