The first session of the 196th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ran from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, October 3, 2026, at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. Eight leaders spoke. The talk most likely to come up at Sunday dinner in Utah Valley came last: President D. Todd Christofferson of the First Presidency gave his whole address to gambling, with particular attention to sports betting on phones.
The other seven talks covered temples, testimony, the purpose of suffering, living prophets, deliverance through Jesus Christ, fasting and full-time missions. This recap is drawn from the Church News summaries of each talk and Deseret News coverage of the session, plus the places where the morning crossed paths with Provo and Utah Valley. The Church posts the full text and video of every talk on its general conference pages, and those are the words to rely on once they're up.
The Session at a Glance
President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency, conducted, and President Dallin H. Oaks attended. President Christofferson presented the Church's general authorities and general officers for the sustaining vote, and Elder Steven D. Shumway and Elder Sergio R. Vargas, both General Authority Seventies, offered the opening and closing prayers. The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square provided the music.
The eight speakers, in the order they spoke:
- Elder Gerrit W. Gong, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: "Come to the Lord in His Holy House" (temples)
- Sister Tamara W. Runia, first counselor in the Young Women general presidency: "The Sculpting of Our Souls" (suffering)
- Elder Gérald Caussé, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: "The Gift of Testimony"
- Elder Vaiangina Sikahema, General Authority Seventy: "Prophets, Seers and Revelators"
- Elder Kevin J. Hathaway, General Authority Seventy: "Jesus Christ Is the Great Deliverer"
- Elder Ulisses Soares, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: "A Higher and Holier Fast"
- Bishop Sean Douglas, second counselor in the Presiding Bishopric: "The Hour of Your Mission Is Come"
- President D. Todd Christofferson, second counselor in the First Presidency: "O Be Wise" (gambling)
The Headline: President Christofferson on Gambling
President Christofferson closed the session with a talk built around one point: Latter-day Saints should not gamble. He called gambling morally wrong because it rests on getting something for nothing, with any winnings coming at someone else's expense, and he set that against the commandment to love your neighbor. Deseret News reported that he named online sports betting, online casino games and prediction markets specifically, and that he described an industry whose business model depends on its customers losing.
His larger worry, as Church News summarized it, was the phone. Gambling used to take a trip to a casino, a racetrack or a lottery counter. A smartphone makes it available all the time, in private and almost anywhere. He cited worldwide surveys putting the share of adults who gamble at 46%, about 2.3 billion people, and said sports betting is especially widespread among teenagers and young adults. Church News and Deseret News give different time frames for that survey figure (twelve months in one, six in the other), so check the official text for the exact wording. He also put the global industry's 2025 revenue at an estimated $758 billion and noted that the number is, in practice, what gamblers lost.
The concern he spent the most time on was what steady mobile access does to a household: occasional entertainment turning into a habit that crowds out saving, adds debt and spreads costs to families. He drew on President Oaks's teaching that every choice carries an opportunity cost, since time and money spent one way cannot be spent another, and he asked anyone confident that an occasional bet can't hurt them to think about how it might affect the people around them. He closed by asking members to stay away from gambling and to put the time and money it would have taken toward doing good, ending with the Book of Mormon line that gave the talk its title: "O be wise; what can I say more?" (Jacob 6:12).
The talk lands differently in Utah than in most places. Article VI, Section 27 of the Utah Constitution bars the Legislature from authorizing any game of chance, lottery or gift enterprise, which is why Utah has no state lottery and no legal casino or sportsbook. Gambling has no storefront here. The talk was about the device in everyone's pocket, and in a valley with two large universities, his point about young adults hits close to home.
Elder Gong Opened With the Temple
Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke first. He described the temple as a place of spiritual safety and holiness in a world full of commotion and contention, and he called a dedication the beginning of a temple's work rather than the end of a project. Members are right to admire how beautiful temples are, he said, but the spiritual blessings deserve even more of that gratitude. He also asked members to stop describing temples as big or small, elaborate or plain, because covenants come in no sizes and everything in every temple points to Jesus Christ. He finished by inviting members to watch for the miracles the temple brings.
The pace of temple building is the backdrop. Deseret News reported that 21 temples are being dedicated this year, the second-highest total for a single year in the Church's history, and that Elder Gong is scheduled to dedicate one in Guatemala later this month. Utah Valley has watched that growth up close: the Lindon Utah Temple, Utah County's seventh, held its public open house from March 12 to April 11, 2026. Our guide to temple open houses and dedications in Utah Valley explains how each stage works, and the temple visitor guide covers what anyone can visit.
The Rest of the Morning, Talk by Talk
Sister Tamara W. Runia: Suffering That Shapes a Soul
Sister Runia, first counselor in the Young Women general presidency, spoke about the purpose of suffering. She started with Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail, who asked for relief and was told instead that "all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good" (Doctrine and Covenants 122:7). Everyone gets rained on, she said. The gospel works less like an umbrella that keeps the rain off and more like the solid rock a person stands on while the storm passes.
She spoke about the sudden death of her son, a young father, and how her questions slowly changed: from asking why, to asking what is supposed to be happening, given that God loves her. She described God as a sculptor who waits to be invited before the real carving begins, whose work can feel abrupt while it is happening, and whose finished shape only becomes visible with time. Sister Runia has also said she has been to Young Women camp more than 20 times; parents getting a daughter ready for camp can start with our Girls Camp and Young Men camp guide.
Elder Gérald Caussé: Share the Testimony You Have
Elder Caussé, who joined the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in November 2025 after a decade as presiding bishop, said his first act as a new apostle was to bear his testimony of Jesus Christ to the quorum and the First Presidency. Apostles are called to be special witnesses, he taught, but bearing witness belongs to every disciple and is one way members keep the covenant they made at baptism.
A testimony is personal, he said. It grows through faith, seeking, living the gospel and the influence of the Holy Ghost, so members should trust their own even when it doesn't sound like anyone else's. He encouraged short, everyday witness: at home, in testimony meeting, on ministering visits and in missionary lessons, on social media and in ordinary conversation. A testimony doesn't have to be long or polished to carry power. It has to be true.
Elder Vai Sikahema: Don't Take Living Prophets Lightly
Elder Sikahema, a Tongan-born General Authority Seventy who played in the NFL and later anchored sports and news for NBC10 Philadelphia, told the story of his maternal grandparents. In 1947 they sailed across the Tongan islands with their three children to hear a visiting apostle, and their infant son died on the journey. They buried him and kept going. He set that effort beside how easy it is to see and hear prophets today on a phone, something he suspects the Lord knew many people would still take for granted, and he asked members not to hold the oracles of God "as a light thing" (Doctrine and Covenants 90:5).
Elder Kevin J. Hathaway: Deliverance on the Lord's Timetable
Elder Hathaway was sustained as a General Authority Seventy in April 2026 while he and his wife were leading the Arkansas Bentonville Mission. He traced a pattern of deliverance through the scriptures. Opposition raises hard questions and feelings, and those moments become the place where people choose whether to turn toward Jesus Christ. Prayer, fasting and scripture study draw people closer. Keeping covenants brings the Savior's help, and His grace gives strength beyond a person's own, even when it doesn't take the pain away.
Rescue comes on the Savior's schedule, he said, because what people learn while they wait can produce growth an early rescue would not. He pointed to Jairus, who was told his daughter had died, and to the Savior's answer: "Be not afraid, only believe" (Mark 5:36). He was frank that not every deliverance comes in this life.
Elder Ulisses Soares: A Higher and Holier Fast
Elder Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve tied the law of the fast to the Lord's words through Isaiah, where the promised blessings include light after darkness and healing. A real fast is joined to earnest prayer, he said, and Jesus Christ gave the highest example of both. Fasting and prayer may not lift every burden, but they bring heaven closer and give the strength to overcome or endure. He connected Isaiah's call to "let the oppressed go free" and "break every yoke" (Isaiah 58:6) with generous fast offerings, and he invited members to reread Isaiah and treat the fast more deliberately as worship. Fast offerings are given through your local ward, and our guide to how LDS wards work explains how a ward is organized.
Bishop Sean Douglas: Put a Mission High on the List
Bishop Douglas, second counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, said more missionaries are serving in more missions, and more people are choosing baptism, than at any earlier point in this dispensation. He described missionaries as both messengers and examples who set aside school, dating, careers and family time to serve. He told the story of Elder Merlin Sanchez, who joined the Church as a young adult, stepped away for a time, came back with help from friends and leaders, and chose to serve despite the obstacles. He invited young people to put a full-time mission high on their list. For worthy, able young men it is a priesthood responsibility, and young women are invited to consider one prayerfully as an option.
This talk has an obvious Provo address. Bishop and Sister Douglas spoke at two devotionals at the Provo Missionary Training Center this year, in February and August, and mission farewells and homecomings are a regular part of ward life across the valley. Our guide to missionary farewells and homecomings covers how both work today, and our FSY in Provo guide covers the summer youth weeks on BYU's campus.
Where Utah Valley Shows Up in This Session
Several of the morning's speakers have roots in this valley, according to their Church News biographies:
- President D. Todd Christofferson was born in American Fork in 1945 and earned his bachelor's degree at BYU. He met his wife, Kathy, at a BYU football game, where she was a Cougarette and he was helping with crowd control.
- Sister Tamara W. Runia met her husband at BYU while he was playing on the basketball team.
- Elder Kevin J. Hathaway and his wife met in a BYU home evening group, and both are BYU graduates.
- Bishop Sean Douglas spoke at two Provo Missionary Training Center devotionals in 2026.
- Elder Gerrit W. Gong first met his wife at an evening devotional he volunteered to give at the Provo Missionary Training Center, helping missionaries learn about Taiwan.
Watching the Rest of the Weekend
Saturday morning was the first of four two-hour sessions. The others are scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday, Mountain Daylight Time. There is no Saturday evening session; the First Presidency discontinued it beginning with the April 2026 conference. Sessions stream on ChurchofJesusChrist.org, in the Gospel Library app and on the General Conference YouTube channel, and in Utah on KSL-TV, KSL NewsRadio, BYUtv and BYUradio. Every talk is available on demand afterward.
If you're heading out between sessions, noon to 2 p.m. is one of the busiest restaurant stretches of the year in the valley. Our General Conference weekend guide has the timing, the FrontRunner route north for anyone attending in person, and what stays open, and our list of restaurants open on Sunday covers tomorrow.
Where to Read the Full Talks
The Church publishes the text, audio and video of each talk on its Saturday morning session page as they are released. Until then, Church News has a summary of every talk and Deseret News has a full write-up of the session. Where those reports disagree on a detail, this recap either leaves it out or says so.
Related Guides
- General Conference Weekend in Utah Valley: A Local's Guide
- Utah Valley Temple Open Houses and Dedications: What's Coming
- Missionary Farewells and Homecomings in Provo: What the Signs at the Airport Mean, and Why the Farewell Officially Ended in 2002
- Visiting Utah Valley's Temples: A Guide for Everyone
