Talk Summaries from the October 2024 Saturday Afternoon Session

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Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles opened the Saturday afternoon session of general conference on October 5, 2024, by sharing the Book of Mormon account of the Lamanite converts of the sons of Mosiah burying their weapons of rebellion.

“We might ask ourselves what we could do to follow this pattern, to ‘lay down the weapons of [our] rebellion’ whatever they may be,“ he said, “and become so ‘converted to the Lord’ that the stain of sin and the desire for sin are taken from our hearts and we never will fall away.”

Thousands of Latter-day Saints flocked in and around Temple Square and Church headquarters on a sunny autumn afternoon for the second of five sessions of the 194th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Conference Center was at near capacity with no seating restrictions enforced, the first time since the digital-only April 2020 conference was broadcast from a small auditorium on Temple Square due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Conference goers listen to the Saturday afternoon session of general conference in the Conference Center on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 5, 2024. This is the first time since October of 2019 that the conference center has been filled to near capacity due to covid restrictions and the Salt Lake Temple renovation project. 2024 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.

Church President Russell M. Nelson, who celebrated his 100th birthday on September 9, attended the session at the near-capacity Conference Center. Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles conducted the session.

Apostles Elder Ulisses Soares and Elder Patrick Kearon also offered remarks.

“To irrevocably and unquestioningly make the Lord’s will our own requires majestic and heroic discipleship,” said Elder Soares.

Elder Kearon taught that because of the Savior’s gift of peace and light that may be experienced each Sabbath day, Latter-day Saints belong to the “church of joy.”

Elder Jose A. Teixeira of the Presidency of the Seventy also spoke as well as General Authority Seventies sustained during the April 2024 general conference: Elder Juan Pablo Villar, Elder David L. Buckner, Elder D. Martin Goury and Elder Aroldo B. Cavalcante.

Music for the session was provided by a children’s choir composed of children ages 8 to 12 from stakes in Northern Utah and directed by Leslie Walker, with Joseph Peeples and Linda Margetts at the organ. The choir, dressed in white, sang several selections from the new global hymnbook, including “Gethsemane” (no. 1009) and “When the Savior Comes Again” (no. 1002).