The following talk by Stephanie Snuffer was delivered at the “Let Us Rejoice” General Conference, held in the Jewett Auditorium at the College of Idaho, Caldwell, Idaho, on Sunday, August 31, 2025.

Good morning. I have a daughter who says the way you do one thing is the way you do everything. So, I’d like you all to check out where you’re sitting in the auditorium. Are you front row, back row? Because I’m a back row kind of gal, which must mean that’s how I do everything. So…just something I noticed as I look at the consistent seating arrangements of people who come into these places. 

Okay. Thank you, conference organizers: Lori, Reed. This really has been wonderful. And it’s funny that you commented on the socialization, because without realizing consciously this morning that that was the whole point of the conference, I’m like, “Wow, there’s been so much to do,” like running from one thing to the next. It’s been really lovely. So, all you who participated, contributed, helped out: Thank you very much. It really has been wonderful.

Alright. A (I don’t know…) a few weeks ago, I had a friend in our neighborhood text me, and she says, “Hey, I have to give this lesson in Relief Society, and I want to run some ideas by you.” And I said, “Okay,” so we made arrangements, and she came over. She sent me the talk, and I read it, and she came over, and we had a nice little chat, and it was a talk by Elder Uchtdorf—and I don’t remember the name of it, but it perfectly aligned with the topic that I had already chosen to speak about today. And I thought, “Huh, that’s interesting.” And then I have a book club that I’m part of, and the book that we read perfectly aligned with the topic I had chosen to speak on at this conference. And I thought, “Huh, that’s interesting.” And it’s really not interesting. It really is just God saying, “Hey, Steph, go ahead with your topic. It sounds like a good one.” 

So, the talk that Elder Uchtdorf gave was him taking a non-member to church on Easter Sunday in Germany, and he really wanted this meeting to be great. And it was in the upstairs storeroom of a grocery store, and it was noisy, and the kids were misbehaved. And he talked about just how horrible he felt about this experience and how embarrassed he was. And he’s just getting ready to explain to this woman (when the meeting is over) that “It’s not always like that,” and “We’re better behaved,” and make all the excuses in the world that he could for this imperfect meeting. And she says, “That was wonderful!” And he stopped, checked himself, and she continued, and she said, “It was the people. It was how they loved each other, how they treated each other.”

Very often, what people are likely to notice above all else is how they feel when they’re with us and how we treat each other. And John 9:5 says, A new commandment I give unto you: that you love one another — as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall…men know that [ye] are my disciples — if ye have one love one to another. 

This is key. This is a person’s first impression of a disciple of Jesus Christ is how they treat the people around them.

Here on Earth, we look at each other through the lens of physical appearance, nationality, language, clothing, customs, so on. But God does not look on the outward appearance of people. He looks on the heart.

Naturally, we want to be around people who are like us. We want to be around people who look like us, talk like us, think like us, act like us. It’s a natural way to feel. And there IS a place for that. But in Christ’s church, He gathers ALL who are willing to be gathered. It is not our physical appearance. It’s not our political views. It’s not our culture, our ethnicity, or any of those external things that bring us together. It is common background that unites us. It is NOT common background that unites us. It is a common objective. And that common objective needs to be our love of the Savior, love for our neighborhood, and our commitment to Jesus Christ and what He is doing on the Earth today. 

We are only “one” when we are one in Christ. The Lord invites us not just to join this work but to be anxiously engaged in this work. He envisions a people who are of one heart and one mind. And to be of one heart and one mind, we must seek pure hearts. And that requires a mighty change of OUR heart. That does not mean me changing my heart to align with yours. That doesn’t mean you changing your heart to align with mine. It means that we all change our hearts to align with the Savior.

God only sees one category/one label, and we all fit perfectly into this one category and this one label, and that is “a child of God.” So, when you’re in a group of people and you look different and you act different and you think different and you feel kind of silly or kind of embarrassed or kind of put off, that’s not God. That’s man. Because God wants us all to be part of the body of Christ. 

The ears perceive things that the eyes never could. The feet do things that the hands would be completely ineffective at. 

1 Corinthians 1:49  

For as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we are Jews or Gentiles, whether we are bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body — is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body — [it is] therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now [God has] set the members, every one of them, in the body as it has pleased him. And if they were all one member, where would be the body? But now [they are] many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of you. Nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary, and those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor. And our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness, for our comely parts have no need. But God has tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have…[some] care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

The unity we seek is not to have everyone stand in the same place. It is to have everyone face the same direction, toward Christ. We are not one because of where we have been but where we are striving to go, not because of who we are but because of who we seek to become. That is what Christ’s true church is all about. We are not going to get closer to God by getting closer to each other. But we will get closer to each other by getting closer to God. Each one of us must have a personal relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ, and our Heavenly Parents. And that’s what God is seeking for us. He wants to be an integral part of our lives, not just some distant deity but a loving presence who desires a personal relationship with each one of us. And there are plenty of scriptures that show us that. 

Psalm 34:4, in part, reads, 

The righteous cry and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all [of] their troubles. The Lord is near unto them that are of a broken heart and saves such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. The Lord redeems the soul of his servants and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate. 

This verse reflects God’s immediate response to our struggles and His closeness in our times of pain and distress and unhappiness. He desires to be present during all of our challenges.

Testimony of St. John 10:19 says, 

This is my commandment: That you love one another as I have loved you. No man loves more than when he is willing to sacrifice his life to save his friends. You are my friends if you do whatever I communicate to you. Beginning now, I will no longer call you my servants because a servant does not share his Lord’s life. But I make you my friends because everything I received from my Father I have shared and will yet share with you. You did not choose me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should progress and become fruitful, that your fruit will testify on your behalf forever, that whatever I direct you to seek from my Father you will be able to obtain. I have taught these things to you to enable you to share my love among one another. 

This is an expression of Christ’s desire for a more profound and meaningful relationship than mere servitude. This highlights the friendship aspect of our connection with him. 

Psalm 139:1 

O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thought [from] afar off. You encompass my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You have beset me behind and before, and laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain unto it. Where shall I