In preparing to speak to young adults throughout the Church, Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles gathered input.

Starting with the campuses of the Church Educational System — Brigham Young University, BYU–Idaho, BYU–Hawaii and Ensign College — and then expanding to BYU–Pathway Worldwide and institutes of religion around the world, leaders of these institutions helped glean questions that were of highest concern to Latter-day Saint young adults today.

“It was a wonderful process, and in the end the questions were amazing,” Elder Cook reported during the Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults broadcast on Sunday, Nov. 19.

Whether it was an institute student in Peru, an engineering student at BYU–Idaho, a BYU–Pathway student in Africa or a working professional attending institute in Europe, “young adults all across the Church are unified in their faith in Jesus Christ and share similar longings, aspirations and concerns. You are amazing and are such an important part of the future of this Church,” Elder Cook declared.

Elder Cook was joined at the devotional by his wife, Sister Mary Cook, as well as Elder Clark G. Gilbert, a General Authority Seventy and commissioner of the Church Educational System, and his wife, Sister Christine Gilbert. The devotional was recorded in the Marriott Center on BYU’s campus in Provo, Utah. 

Grouping the questions into categories, Elder and Sister Cook and Elder and Sister Gilbert addressed five topics:

1. Facing life and faith challenges.

2. Love and belonging.

3. Life planning and life balance.

4. Standing for truth.

5. Receiving personal revelation and prophetic guidance.

From left, Elder Quentin L. Cook, Sister Mary Cook, Sister Christine Gilbert and Elder Clark G. Gilbert participate in a Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults broadcast on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023.

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Facing life and faith challenges

Because there is an opposition in all things and an adversary who desires to thwart faith in God, “each generation needs to discover and obtain their own knowledge and testimony of God” and of their eternal identity, Elder Cook said.

Questions about faith and one’s true identity as a child of God have existed and been challenged throughout recorded history, Elder Cook said. “But the answer has always been the same. We are all spirit children of the same loving Heavenly Father.”

President Russell M. Nelson has emphasized three enduring designations: child of God, child of the covenant and disciple of Jesus Christ.

“He has also encouraged us to not label ourselves or label others,” Elder Cook said. “Many of the problems we face would be resolved if we recognized ourselves as children of a loving Heavenly Father.”

Those who desire to destroy faith often assume or assert that large numbers of people have the same social preferences and are no longer faithful members.

In reality, “youth and young adults are not less active or leaving the Church in higher numbers than in the past as has been widely circulated,” Elder Cook said. “The number of missionaries called to serve has significantly increased. The percentage of Church participation for the rising generation shows a continuous upward trend. Moreover, the number of young adults attending institute has also been increasing.”

The answer to every doubt or faith challenge is the gospel of Jesus Christ, Elder Cook said. “I promise you: If you faithfully read the scriptures, pray and have religious observance in your lives, you will over time find answers to your questions and resolve doubts that may arise from time to time.”

Young adults gather in the Marriott Center on BYU’s campus for a worldwide devotional with Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, broadcast on Nov. 19, 2023.

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Love and belonging

Sister Cook testified to young adults that they are all children of God and belong to the Lord’s restored Church of Jesus Christ. “No matter our different situations, we all belong.”

The scriptures teach clearly that God loves all His spirit children, she said, and shared 2 Nephi 26:33. “He inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; … and all are alike unto God.”

Last month, Elder and Sister Cook were with mission leaders in Ephesus, Turkey, where the apostle Paul had lived and taught, Elder Cook related. One of Paul’s epistles to the Ephesians contains the declaration: “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19).

“We all belong,” Elder Cook reiterated. 

The greatest example of God’s love is found in the Atonement of Jesus Christ, Sister Cook explained. 

She then invited listeners to ask themselves: “Do my actions show my love for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ? Am I helping others around me to believe? If I were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict me?” 

Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles listens as his wife, Sister Mary Cook, speaks during a Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults broadcast on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023.

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Life planning and life balance

When Elder Gilbert was working as the CEO of the Deseret News, he was also serving as bishop. He and his wife had seven children. “It was an incredibly demanding season,” he recalled.

One day, the late President Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, called and inquired about Elder Gilbert’s family and then gave him an assignment to have a weekly date night. President Packer then asked what time Elder Gilbert was going to bed each night. When Elder Gilbert responded, “1 or 2 a.m.,” President Packer gave him “an apostolic curfew, which I have strived to keep ever since,” Elder Gilbert reported.

So how do they manage all their significant responsibilities? Sister Gilbert asked. It begins with planning and shared goals. 

“Even when we have to be apart, we still feel united when we have a shared purpose,” she said. “So, when my husband was traveling with work, or I was up teaching an early morning seminary class, or he was out on a ward assignment, if we had calendared those responsibilities and were aligned in our purpose, we were together even when we had to be apart.” 

Elder Gilbert encouraged listeners to put clear boundaries around certain choices. “For our family, this has included Sunday Church attendance, weekly family home evening, morning and evening family devotionals, and time together as a couple each week.”

Elder Clark G. Gilbert and Sister Christine Gilbert offer remarks during the Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults broadcast on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023.

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Standing for truth

When Elder Gilbert joined Elder and Sister Cook at the open house for the Washington D.C. Temple, he said he marveled as they met with a group of national prominent journalists and academic leaders. “The Cooks articulately shared the truths of the gospel, including the importance of temple marriage, moral cleanliness and covenants, all while building bridges of understanding with other people,” Elder Gilbert said.

Elder Gilbert was also in attendance last year at an Ensign College devotional where President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, outlined five ways to stand for truth with love. 

1. Avoid overly contentious settings.

2. Love others, find common ground, even when disagreeing.

3. Hold to truth.

4. Be a light to others.

5. Stay anchored in Jesus Christ.

In October 2023 general conference, Elder Cook taught that peaceable followers of Christ do not retreat from truth nor fail to love others. “We are warm, engaged members of the communities where we live. We [also] love, share and invite all of God’s children to follow Christ’s teachings.”

Sister Gilbert said:, “I think this is what President Nelson has been teaching us in his call for us to be peacemakers. He doesn’t want us to walk away from truth, but he does want us to do it with the love of the Savior.”

Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaks during a Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults broadcast on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023.

Brigham Young University

Personal revelation and prophetic counsel

The message, ministry and Atonement of Jesus Christ are essential curriculum for receiving personal revelation, Elder Cook said. “No scripture characterizes a proper quest for faith more than 2 Nephi 25:26. ‘And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.’”

The Book of Mormon has a significant role to play in receiving personal revelation, Elder Cook taught. While some might disparage or underestimate this sacred book, “a testimony of the restored gospel must be based on faith rather than external or scientific proof.”

Ultimately, Moroni’s counsel to read and ponder and then ask God to confirm scriptural truths is the answer, he continued. “Clearly, a dividing line, between those who hear the music of faith and those who are tone deaf or off-key, is the active study of the scriptures and following the counsel of the Lord’s prophet.”

Elder Cook shared a quote by President Spencer W. Kimball: “Of all things that … we should be grateful [for] … is that the heavens are indeed open and that the restored Church of Jesus Christ is founded upon the rock of revelation. Continuous revelation is indeed the very lifeblood of the gospel of the living Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

Having served under three prophets as an Apostle, Elder Cook testified that “continuous revelation has been received and is being received through channels the Lord has established.”

What Wilford Woodruff said about Joseph Smith is equally true of President Nelson, Elder Cook said. “I have seen ‘the workings of the Spirit of God with him, and the revelation of Jesus Christ unto him and the fulfillment of those revelations.’ He is the Lord’s Prophet.”