The 196th Semiannual General Conference closed with its fourth session from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, October 4, 2026, at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. Ten leaders spoke, four of them apostles, and the session ended with the news that matters most to anyone within driving distance of Temple Square: President Dallin H. Oaks invited the world to the Salt Lake Temple, which opens to the public on April 5, 2027.
Before that came a session about how disciples treat one another. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf spoke on unity, Elder Clark G. Gilbert on teaching truth with love, and Elder Paul H. Sinclair on being quick to help and slow to judge. Elder Gary E. Stevenson spoke directly to children, and Brother Gabriel W. Reid, a former BYU tight end, told every nervous Sunday School teacher that they are good enough.
This recap draws on KSL's time-stamped live coverage of each talk, along with Church News, the Church's newsroom summary, LDS Daily and the Salt Lake Tribune. The Church posts the full text and video of every talk on its Sunday afternoon session page, and those are the words to rely on once they are up.
The Session at a Glance
Elder Gérald Caussé of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles conducted at President Oaks's request. Elder Amos, a General Authority Seventy, offered the opening prayer, and Brother Chad H. Webb, first counselor in the Sunday School general presidency, offered the closing prayer. The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square sang under the direction of Mack Wilberg and Ryan Murphy, with Richard Elliott and Joseph Peeples at the organ.
The ten speakers, in the order they spoke:
- President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: "Christ-centered Unity"
- Sister Andrea Muñoz Spannaus, second counselor in the Young Women general presidency: "God Is at Your Side"
- Elder Moises Villanueva, General Authority Seventy: "Prove Me Now Herewith"
- Elder David A. Bednar, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: "Sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise"
- Elder Thabo Lebethoa, General Authority Seventy: "Jesus Christ Is the Light and Life of the World"
- Elder Paul H. Sinclair, General Authority Seventy: "The Parable of the Baffling Buttons"
- Elder Gary E. Stevenson, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: "Fruit to Make One Happy"
- Brother Gabriel W. Reid, second counselor in the Sunday School general presidency: "You Are Good Enough to Teach"
- Elder Clark G. Gilbert, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: "Teach Truth With Love"
- President Dallin H. Oaks, President of the Church: concluding remarks
President Oaks Closes With the Salt Lake Temple
President Oaks's concluding remarks were brief and practical. The weekend's messages, he said, had moved members to center their worship, their learning and their testimonies on the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Father's plan, and he asked everyone to study and ponder the talks as they are published and then act in faith on what they teach.
Then came the announcement. The Church will welcome the world to the Salt Lake Temple Celebration in six months, he said, both in person and virtually, and the temple's doors will open to the public on April 5, 2027, which he described as the first such opening in 134 years. He pointed people to TempleSquare.org and the Temple Square app for details, and he announced Dedicate, a new video series premiering in multiple languages after conference that the Church's newsroom describes as a six-part look at the role of temples, made for young adults. He closed by invoking the Lord's blessings of peace on members and their families and testifying that truth about the Savior's teachings and the covenant path is found in His Church.
No new temples were announced in the remarks as the published summaries describe them. That fits the pattern ABC4 noted before the weekend: after President Oaks said in 2025 that announcements would slow, none came at the April 2026 conference either.
For Utah Valley, the open house is the headline. The Salt Lake Temple sits an hour north, and an event of this size will draw families from every ward in the county. Our guide to temple open houses and dedications explains how open houses usually work, and FrontRunner from Provo is the stress-free way to downtown Salt Lake City. Free tickets for the temple tour have been available on TempleSquare.org and the Temple Square app since September 1, 2026, and our Salt Lake Temple open house guide covers the dates, tour hours and how the ticket releases work.
The Talks, in Order
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf: Christ-centered Unity
President Uchtdorf, who is serving as acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, urged members to build bridges and unite in the Savior's name. Much of Jesus's earthly ministry, he observed, was bringing people together across cultural, political and religious lines, and that work of gathering is accelerating even as the adversary tries to weaken, divide and isolate. Coming closer to Christ brings people closer to one another, he said, and every step toward unity matters, however small.
He found particular power in the sacrament, the one ordinance received as a group rather than individually, which makes it a weekly reminder that no one is alone and a fresh starting point for unity. He ended with an open invitation to join the Christ-centered unity the Church is trying to build: come and see, come and help, and come and belong.
Sister Andrea Muñoz Spannaus: God Is at Your Side
Sister Muñoz Spannaus spoke to the Church's young women, telling them they are crucial in these days. As a teenager studying the thirteenth article of faith, she made a list of her aspirations, and she invited young women to make their own and pursue it confident that Heavenly Father will guide them. God knows everything about each of them, weaknesses included, she said, and knowing it all does not make Him love them less.
She offered seven helps and asked listeners to pick one: take the sacrament with a humble heart, repent daily and ask forgiveness each night, study the scriptures to know God's character, learn about the ministering of angels, protect sleep by going to bed early, limit phone use, which can erode peace and self-esteem, and follow President Oaks's counsel to choose friends who strive to follow the Lord.
Elder Moises Villanueva: Prove Me Now Herewith
Elder Villanueva began with his mother, who separated from her husband while raising eight children and, despite real financial strain, chose to pay a full tithe. Tithing opens the windows of heaven, he taught, borrowing the Lord's challenge in Malachi to "prove me now herewith," but the blessings do not always come in the form people expect. When a discouraged member told him tithing had not brought the raise she hoped for, he encouraged her to look for the other ways God was blessing her. He invited listeners to write their own list of blessings, told of a woman whose propane lasted far longer than it should have after she paid tithing, and compared her to the widow who gave her two mites.
Elder David A. Bednar: Sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise
Elder Bednar told of a man who neglected his passport and was turned away at the border on his way to visit family. Covenants and ordinances, he said, are spiritual credentials that open heaven's windows to divine purpose, direction and strength, but like a passport they stay valid only with ongoing faithfulness. Each ordinance must be sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise, a ratification that comes over time rather than in a single moment.
He spoke tenderly to members whose spouses have broken covenants. A temple sealing binds a couple to each other and to God's eternal family, he taught, and no faithful disciple will ultimately lose any eternal blessing God has promised because of another person's unrighteous choices. The Savior's Atonement can overcome all things, everywhere, for everyone who holds fast to their covenants.
Elder Thabo Lebethoa: The Light and Life of the World
Elder Lebethoa recalled his first serious argument with his wife, which slid into the silent treatment until he thought of the Savior's teaching in the Book of Mormon that contention should be done away. That light, he said, came from Christ, who is the answer to every concern because He knows where we have been, where we are and where we need to go; through Him, today can be a new day. He named three ways to keep that light: increase faith in Christ, study the scriptures with consistency and sincerity rather than any one right method, and repent daily, which he described as changing one's mind and turning one's heart toward God.
Elder Paul H. Sinclair: The Parable of the Baffling Buttons
Elder Sinclair, called as a General Authority Seventy in April, began with a Primary program in which a little boy buttoned his suit sleeve to his jacket lapel and got stuck, until a little girl beside him quietly undid the button. A true disciple, he said, is quick to help and slow to judge. He pointed to the Savior with the Samaritan woman at the well, whom Jesus taught with dignity instead of shame, seeing what she could become rather than only where she had been. Look at people's possibilities, not just their past, he urged; helping people one by one, in small and simple ways, prepares the world for the Second Coming.
Elder Gary E. Stevenson: Fruit to Make One Happy
Elder Stevenson addressed his talk to the Church's children, calling them some of its most valued and faithful members and an important part of the Lord's work. Using Lehi's vision of the tree of life and its fruit, which the Book of Mormon calls "desirable to make one happy" (1 Nephi 8:10), he taught three sweet truths: they are children of a Heavenly Father, the plan of happiness comes through Jesus Christ, and the gift of the Holy Ghost is the sweetest fruit of all. He recalled holding a little boy who ran onto the stand at church while the boy sang every word of "I Am a Child of God," and he invited children to share the gospel's fruit with the people they love.
Brother Gabriel W. Reid: You Are Good Enough to Teach
Brother Reid admitted he felt inadequate when called to the Sunday School general presidency, joking that a headline introduced him as the former NFL player next to two scholars. Many teachers feel the same, he said, but Jesus called fishermen and made them into what He needed. He remembered his first gospel teachers, his parents, who raised 13 children in a small village in American Samoa; they had little formal education, but their faith in Christ made their love unforgettable. The power of a gospel teacher lies in the love of the messenger, he said, and if class members leave feeling closer to the Savior, the lesson has done enough. To teach like the Savior, love like the Savior.
Elder Clark G. Gilbert: Teach Truth With Love
Elder Gilbert, in his second general conference address as an apostle, said Christ's disciples need both truth and love, and that it takes courage to stand for truth and more courage to do it with love. Taking a stand in a way that wounds or pushes people away damages the very relationships through which help comes. He offered five practices: avoid overly contentious settings and remember that anger can come from hidden pain; find common ground by listening; be a light, since keeping your own covenants is the best help you can give someone else in keeping theirs; hold to truth even while reaching out, as Jesus offered mercy while still inviting change; and stay anchored in Christ, patient and not easily provoked. Teaching truth with love, he concluded, will be a hallmark of the Savior's disciples in the last days.
Where Utah Valley Shows Up in This Session
- Brother Gabriel W. Reid played tight end for BYU from 1999 to 2002 and graduated from BYU in 2002, according to his official Church biography and the BYU football roster. He went on to four NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears, including Super Bowl XLI, and he spoke at a BYU devotional in the Marriott Center in March 2025.
- President Dallin H. Oaks, who closed the conference, was born in Provo and served as BYU's president from 1971 to 1980; our Sunday morning recap covers his main address.
- The Salt Lake Temple open house begins April 5, 2027, a day trip for families across the valley.
What Ran Through the Afternoon
The final session kept returning to how disciples treat each other. President Uchtdorf asked for unity, Elder Gilbert for truth taught with love, Elder Sinclair for help instead of judgment, and Elder Lebethoa for an end to contention, starting at home. A second thread ran toward the rising generation and the people who teach them: Elder Stevenson spoke to children, Sister Muñoz Spannaus to young women, and Brother Reid to every teacher who feels unqualified. Elder Bednar and Elder Villanueva grounded it in covenants and tithing, and President Oaks pointed everyone toward the temple. For the whole weekend in one place, read our October 2026 conference summary.
Where to Read the Full Talks
The Church publishes the text, audio and video of each talk on its Sunday afternoon session page as they are released. Until then, KSL, Church News, Deseret News and LDS Daily have summaries of each talk. Where those reports disagree on a detail, this recap either leaves it out or says so.
Related Guides
- October 2026 General Conference: The Whole Weekend in One Read
- October 2026 General Conference: The Sunday Morning Session, Talk by Talk
- Utah Valley Temple Open Houses and Dedications: What's Coming
- Visiting Utah Valley's Temples: A Guide for Everyone
