Dear brothers and sisters, friends, welcome to general conference.

After general conference last October, Sister Gong and I walked through the Conference Center to say hello and to hear your gospel experiences.

Our members from Mexico said, “Hoy es el tiempo de México.”

We learned Gilly and Mary are friends from England.

When Mary joined the Church, she lost her place to live.

Gilly generously invited Mary to come live with her. Full of faith, Gilly says, “I’ve never doubted the Lord is with me.” At conference,

Gilly also had a joyful reunion with the sister missionary who baptized her 47 years ago.

Jeff and his wife, Melissa, were attending general conference for his first time. Jeff played professional baseball. He was a catcher and is now a physician anesthesiologist.

He told me, “Much to my surprise, I’m moving toward baptism because it feels like the most authentic and honest way to live.” Earlier, Melissa had apologized to Jeff’s assigned ministering brother,

“Jeff does not want ‘white shirts’ in our house.”

The ministering brother said, “I’ll find a way.”

Now, he and Jeff are good friends.

At Jeff’s baptism, I met a congregation of Latter-day Saints whom Jeff, Melissa, and their daughter, Charlotte, love.

As followers of Jesus Christ,

we seek to minister to others as He would

because lives are waiting to change.

When Peggy told me her husband, John, after 31 years of marriage, was going to be baptized, I asked what had changed.

Peggy said, “John and I were studying the New Testament Come, Follow Me and John asked about Church doctrine.”

Peggy said, “Let’s invite the missionaries.”

John said, “No missionaries ... unless my friend can come.”

Over ten years, John's ministering brother had become his trusted friend.

I thought, “What if John’s ministering brother had stopped coming after one, two, or nine years?” John listened. He read the Book of Mormon with real

intent. When the missionaries invited John to be baptized, he said yes.

Peggy said, “I fell off my chair and started to cry.”

John said, “I changed as I drew closer to the Lord.”

Later, John and Peggy were sealed in the holy temple.

Last December, John passed away at age 92.

Peggy says, “John was always a good person, but he became different in a beautiful way after he was baptized.”

Sister Gong and I met Meb and Jenny by video during the COVID pandemic.

We met many wonderful couples and individuals by video during COVID, each prayerfully introduced by their stake president.

Meb and Jenny humbly said concerns in their lives made them wonder if their temple marriage could be saved and, if so, how.

They believed Jesus Christ’s Atonement and their covenant commitments could help them.

Imagine my joy when Meb and Jenny received new temple recommends and returned together to the house of the Lord. Later, Meb almost died.

What a blessing Meb and Jenny had restored covenant relationships with the Lord and each other and feel the ministering love of many around them.

Everywhere I go, I gratefully learn from those who minister and care

as our Savior would. In Peru,

Sister Gong and I met Salvador and his siblings.

Salvador and his siblings are orphans. It was Salvador's birthday.

The Church leaders and members who faithfully ministered to this family inspire me. “Pure religion and undefiled” is this—“to visit the fatherless and widows,” “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, ... strengthen the feeble knees.”

In Hong Kong, an elders quorum president modestly shares how their quorum consistently conducts 100% ministering interviews. Quote: “We prayerfully organize companionships so everyone can care for someone and be cared for,” he says.

“We regularly ask each companionship about those for whom they minister.

We do not check boxes. We minister to the ministers who care for our people,” end quote. In Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, President Bokolo shares how he and his family joined the Church in France.

One day, as he was reading his patriarchal blessing, the Spirit inspired Brother Bokolo to return with his family to the DR Congo. Brother Bokolo knew they would face many challenges if they returned, and their Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was not yet established in Kinshasa.

Yet in faith, as have many others, the Bokolos followed the Lord’s Spirit.

In Kinshasa, they ministered to and blessed those around them, overcame challenges, received spiritual and temporal blessings. Today, they rejoice in having a house of the Lord in their country.

A convert was ministered to by personal example. A as a young man,

he said he spent his days lounging at the beach.

One day he said, “I saw an attractive girl in a modest swimsuit.”

Amazed, he went to ask why such an attractive girl would wear such

a modest swimsuit. She was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and asked with a smile,

“Would you like to come to church Sunday?” He said yes.

Years ago, Elder L. Tom Perry shared how he and his companion regularly ministered to a sister who lived alone in a rough Boston neighborhood.

When Elder Perry and his companion arrived, the sister cautiously directed, “Put your temple recommends under the door.”

Only after seeing the temple recommends would she unbolt multiple locks and open the door. Of course, I am not saying ministering companionships need temple recommends,

but I love the thought that as those who honor covenants minister, hearts unlock and hearts open.

Elder Perry also offered practical advice: “Give companionships

a reasonable number of assignments prayerfully chosen, clustered geographically where appropriate, so travel time is used well,” he would counsel. “Start with those who need visits. Build from those most likely to welcome and respond well to visits.”

He concluded, “Faithful consistency brings miracles.” Higher and holier ministering comes when we pray for the “pure love of Christ” and follow the Spirit. It also comes as elders quorum and Relief Society presidencies, under the Bishop’s direction, oversee ministering efforts,

including assigning ministering companionships.

Please give our young men and young women needed opportunity to accompany and be mentored by experienced ministering brothers and sisters. And please let our young rising generation inspire ministering brother and sister companions. In some places in the Church,

we have a ministering gap.

More say they are ministering than say they are being ministered to.

We do not want checklist concern,

but more often we need more than a sincere hello in the hall or a casual “Can I help you?” in the parking lot.

In many places we can reach out,

understand others where they are, and build relationships when we regularly visit members in their homes.

Inspired invitations change lives. When invitations help us make and keep sacred covenants,

we draw closer to the Lord and each other.

It is said that those who understand the true spirit of ministering do more than before,

while those who do not understand do less. Let’s do more as our Savior would.

As our hymn says, “It is a blessing of duty and love.” Ward councils, elders quorum and Relief Societies, please hearken to the Good Shepherd and help Him “seek that which was lost, ...

bring again that which was driven away, ... bind up that which was broken, ... strengthen that which was sick.”

We may entertain “angels unawares” as we make room in His inn for all. Inspired ministering blesses families and individuals, it also strengthens wards and branches.

Think of your ward or branch as a spiritual ecosystem.

In the spirit of the Book of Mormon allegory of the olive trees,

the Lord of the vineyard and His servants bring forth precious fruit and strengthen each tree by binding together the strength and weaknesses of all the trees.

The Lord of the vineyard and His servants repeatedly ask,

“What more can I do?”

Together, they bless hearts and homes, wards and branches through inspired, consistent ministering.

Ministering—shepherding—makes our vineyard one body, a sacred grove.

Each tree in our grove is a living family tree. Roots and branches intertwine. Ministering blesses generations. When service is needed, wise bishops, elders quorum, Relief Society presidencies ask, “Who are the ministering companions?”

Ward councils and ministering interviews

ask not only about challenges or problems, but also look with eyes to see and rejoice in the Lord’s many tender mercies in our lives

as we minister as He would.Our Savior is our perfect example.

Because He is good, He can go about doing good.

He blesses the one and the 99. He is ministering personified.

We become more like Jesus Christ when we do unto the least of these

as we would unto Him, when we “love our neighbor as ourselves,” when we “love one another, as I have loved you,” and when “whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister.”

Jesus Christ ministers. Angels minister.

Followers of Jesus Christ “minister one to another,” rejoice

with them that rejoice, and “weep with them that weep,” “watch

over ... and nourish [the people] with things pertaining to righteousness,”

“remember ... the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.” Let His name be known through our ministry.

As we minister as He would, we witness His miracles, His blessings. We obtain “a more excellent ministry.”

We may tire physically. But in His service, we do “not weary in well doing.” We diligently do our best, do not run faster than we have strength, but trust, as the Apostle Paul teaches, that “God loveth a cheerful giver.” For God “ministereth seed to the sower

both minister bread for your food and multiply your seed sown.” In other words, God enriches “every thing to all bountifulness.” They which “soweth bountifully shall also reap bountifully.”

Wherever we are in this Easter season, let us reach out and care as our Savior would,

especially to those whom we are privileged by love and assignment to minister. In so doing, may we draw closer to Jesus Christ and each other, becoming more like Him and the followers of Jesus Christ

He would have us each be. In His sacred name, Jesus Christ, amen.