2026 Ward Conference

“Brothers and sisters, a testimony is not given for temporary use. This gift from our loving Heavenly Father is meant to be eternal because the giver is eternal. A testimony should not have an expiration date. It should not weaken or diminish because something in my life has changed or something in the world has changed. It should get stronger because, like the servant’s talents in the parable of the talents, my personal testimony is a gift to be multiplied—not buried.
Looking back on those difficult days of testing and persecution that I went through as a child has helped me get to the place where  I now know for myself. I not only believe, hope, or trust, even though these are significant particles of faith on the pathway to a sure witness. I commend you for making your own way by asking questions, studying, praying, fasting, and pondering. Please don’t stop. It is worth every effort to pursue this path to testimony. Who or what will you allow to take that away? “What greater witness can you have than from God?”

General Conference October 2025, “Eternal Gift of Testimony”

“The oil in the parable represents our faith and testimony, our purity and dedication, our good works, and our keeping of covenants—all of the ways in which we have “taken the Holy Spirit for [our] guide” (D&C 45:57).
The wise virgins could not share their oil with the foolish virgins because “the oil of spiritual preparedness cannot be shared”.

“A Time of Urgency,” Ensign, May 1974, 36

“Attendance at sacrament meetings adds oil to our lamps, drop by drop over the years. Fasting, family prayer, home teaching [ministering], control of bodily appetites, preaching the gospel, studying the scriptures—each act of dedication and obedience is a drop added to our store. Deeds of kindness, payment of offerings and tithes, chaste thoughts and actions, marriage in the covenant for eternity—these, too, contribute importantly to the oil with which we can at midnight refuel our exhausted lamps.”

Faith Precedes the Miracle (1972), 256. Quoted Here.

“Because when we make and keep covenants, particularly those available in the house of the Lord, we fill our lamps with the oil of conversion.”

General Conference, April 2025

“[Worshipping regularly in the temple] helps us maintain an eternal perspective and protects us from influences that might distract or divert us from the covenant path.”

General Conference, April 2025

“…the safest place to be spiritually is living inside your temple covenants! Please believe me when I say that when your spiritual foundation is built solidly upon Jesus Christ, you have no need to fear. As you are true to your covenants made in the temple, you will be strengthened by His power. Then, when spiritual earthquakes occur, you will be able to stand strong because your spiritual foundation is solid and immovable.”

General Conference, October 2021