Elder Ballard shares what he has learned about the atonement through a tragic lose of his grandson in a place crash earlier in the year.  He shares the love that God has for each of us and how that love is expressed in our knowledge and understanding of the atonement of Jesus Christ.

• The Savior’s Resurrection assures all of us that someday we, too, will follow Him and experience our own resurrection. What peace, what comfort this great gift is which comes through the loving grace of Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind.

He shares that the ultimate expression of love is what the Savior did for each one of us individually.

• There is no greater expression of love than the heroic Atonement performed by the Son of God. Were it not for the plan of our Heavenly Father, established before the world began, in a very real sense, all mankind—past, present, and future—would have been left without the hope of eternal progression. As a result of Adam’s transgression, mortals were separated from God and would be forever unless a way was found to break the bands of death. This would not be easy, for it required the vicarious sacrifice of one who was sinless and who could therefore take upon Himself the sins of all mankind.
  
• The Atonement of Jesus Christ was an indispensable part of our Heavenly Father’s plan for His Son’s earthly mission and for our salvation. How grateful we should be that our Heavenly Father did not intercede but rather withheld His fatherly instinct to rescue His Beloved Son. Because of His eternal love for you and for me, He allowed Jesus to complete His foreordained mission to become our Redeemer. The gift of resurrection and immortality is given freely through the loving grace of Jesus Christ to all people of all ages, regardless of their good or evil acts. And to those who choose to love the Lord and who show their love and faith in Him by keeping His commandments and qualifying for the full blessings of the Atonement, He offers the additional promise of exaltation and eternal life, which is the blessing of living in the presence of God and His Beloved Son forever.

Elder Ballard expresses his testimony that the Savior lives today and that he guides the church.

• Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind, is not dead. He lives—the resurrected Son of God lives—that is my testimony, and He guides the affairs of His Church today.

Elder Ballard speaks about the Prophet Joseph Smith and the things that he learned in the grove of trees.  We are each children of God and our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us.

• In the spring of 1820, a pillar of light illuminated a grove of trees in upstate New York. Our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith. This experience began the restoration of powerful doctrinal truths that had been lost for centuries. Among those truths that had been dimmed by the darkness of apostasy was the stirring reality that we are all the spirit sons and daughters of a loving God who is our Father. We are part of His family. He is not a father in some allegorical or poetic sense. He is literally the Father of our spirits. He cares for each one of us. Though this world has a way of diminishing and demeaning men and women, the reality is we are all of royal, divine lineage. In that unprecedented appearance of the Father and the Son in the Sacred Grove, the very first word spoken by the Father of us all was the personal name of Joseph. Such is our Father’s personal relationship with each of us. He knows our names and yearns for us to become worthy to return to live with Him.
  

He concludes with sharing with us a promise that if we will accept the atonement, we will find peace, joy, and happiness.

• As we accept the Atonement in our lives and strive to live the gospel can we meet the challenges of life and find peace, joy, and happiness. Coming to understand this great gift is an individual pursuit for each child of God.

I have learned some things about the atonement in the past year.  I have learned that the atonement is not only about our sins, it is about our relationship with the Savior.  The Savior is about making things whole.  He is about making things in our lives right and healing the hurts and pains of mortality.  He is about helping us to find peace in spite of bad things happening to us.  The atonement assures that He will understand our trials and troubles perfectly.  It assures us that we will have an honest judgement where all understanding of our circumstances in life will be known and understood.  It assures us that He will understand the differences between our weaknesses and our rebellion to His teachings.  The atonement assures pure love will be expressed to us by the Savior and that He will do all within His power to assure us eternal life.  We have to do our part but He will do all He can to make to possible for us to return to God.

Elder Hales gives advice to parents about their families.  He speaks about the world we live in being difficult and evil but we can find peace and happiness through the principles of the gospel.

• No matter how evil the world becomes, our families can be at peace. If we do what’s right, we will be guided and protected. The hymn often sung by our pioneer ancestors tells us what to do: “Gird up your loins; fresh courage take. / Our God will never us forsake.” That courage and faith is what we need as parents and families in these latter days.

Children have their agency and can take courses in their life that cause us to worry and wonder what we could have done differently to help them make better choices.  When these times happen, we need to make sure our faith is not weakened and that we are strong in our faith.  Our children need to see us as a steady example of how happiness comes to our lives.

• We too must have the faith to teach our children and bid them to keep the commandments. We should not let their choices weaken our faith. Our worthiness will not be measured according to their righteousness.
  
• Sometimes as parents we feel we have failed when our children make mistakes or stray. Parents are never failures when they do their best to love, teach, pray, and care for their children. Their faith, prayers, and efforts will be consecrated to the good of their children.
  

He shares that no family is perfect.  We all have issues that are part of mortality.  The gospel of Jesus Christ has the greatest hope for those challenges and if we live the gospel, we have the greatest chance at happiness in this life and the next.

• I want to remind all of us today that no family has reached perfection. All families are subject to the conditions of mortality. All of us are given the gift of agency—to choose for ourselves and to learn from the consequences of our choices.
• Any of us may experience a spouse, a child, a parent, or a member of our extended family suffering in one way or another—mentally, physically, emotionally, or spiritually—and we may experience these tribulations ourselves at times. In short, mortality is not easy.
• Each family has its own special circumstances. But the gospel of Jesus Christ addresses every challenge—which is why we must teach it to our children.
  

Elder Hales shares with us 5 things we can do as parents to strengthen our families.

HOLD FAMILY COUNCILS

• Hold family councils. Sometimes we are afraid of our children—afraid to counsel with them for fear of offending them. There are priceless blessings to be obtained from counseling together with our families, showing a genuine interest in the lives of our family members. Occasionally, family councils may involve all family members as part of a family home evening or other special gatherings. But we should regularly counsel with each of our children individually.
  
• Without this one-on-one counseling together with our children, they are prone to believe that Dad and Mom, or Grandpa and Grandma, don’t understand or care about the challenges they are facing.
  
• As we listen with love and refrain from interrupting, the Spirit will help us learn how we can be of help to our children and teach them.
  

LEAVE THE DOOR TO OUR HEARTS OPEN

• Sometimes when our teachings aren’t heeded and when our expectations are not met, we need to remind ourselves to leave the door to our hearts open.
  
• In the parable of the prodigal son, we find a powerful lesson for families and especially parents. After the younger son “came to himself,” he decided to go home.
  
• How did he know his father wouldn’t reject him? Because he knew his father. Through the inevitable misunderstandings, conflicts, and follies of the son’s youth, I can visualize his father being there with an understanding and compassionate heart, a soft answer, a listening ear, and a forgiving embrace. I can also imagine his son knowing he could come home because he knew the kind of home that was awaiting him. For the scriptures say, “When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”
  
• I testify that our Heavenly Father leaves the door open. I also testify that it is never too late to open the door between us and our children with simple words such as “I love you,” “I am sorry,” and “Please forgive me.” We can begin now to create a home they will want to return to—not only now but in the eternities.

LIKEN THE SCRIPTURES TO OUR LIVES

• With the door to our hearts open, we should learn how to liken the scriptures to our lives. As parents, we have the responsibility to help our children to “liken all scriptures [indeed, every part of the gospel of Jesus Christ] unto us [and unto our children], … for [the] profit and learning [of our families].”
  

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF EVERYDAY TEACHING MOMENTS

• Are we likening all of our children’s gospel experiences to the real needs in their lives? Are we teaching them about the gift of the Holy Ghost, repentance, the Atonement, the sacrament, and the blessing of sacrament meeting as they meet the challenges in their lives? There is not enough time in formal meetings to teach our children everything they need to know. Therefore, we must take advantage of everyday teaching moments.
  
• These moments are priceless. They come when we are working, playing, and struggling together. When they come, the Spirit of the Lord can help us know what to say and help our children accept our teaching.

TRUST THE GOOD SHEPHERD

• What a joy and blessing to have the Spirit in our homes! And what a blessing it is to invite it through prayer, studying the scriptures, speaking kindly, and showing appreciation to one another! Let us prepare our teaching moments by praying as Alma prayed for his son, “with much faith” and all the energy of our souls; by fasting, searching the scriptures, repenting of our sins, and allowing the Holy Ghost to fill our hearts with love, forgiveness, and compassion. And then it will fill our homes. Then, let us trust the Good Shepherd.

When our children make unwise decisions, remember the Savior does not turn away from them and that these experiences can be a strength to them in the future.

• Through it all, we will sorrow to see our family members suffer the slings and arrows of mortality. But we will stand all amazed at the love our Savior offers them. Because of Him, the buffetings need not defeat and destroy them but can soften, strengthen, and sanctify them.

Finally, Elder Hales shares with us the words of Orson F. Whitney telling us about some of the teachings of Joseph Smith.  These words bring hope, faith, and encouragement to us as we realize the promises of the temple are real and eternal families are a reality in this and the next life.

• Parents can take great comfort in the words of Elder Orson F. Whitney relating the teachings of Joseph Smith:
  
• “The Prophet Joseph Smith declared—and he never taught more comforting doctrine—that the eternal sealings of faithful parents and the divine promises made to them for valiant service in the Cause of Truth, would save not only themselves, but likewise their posterity. Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they will return. They will have to pay their debt to justice; they will suffer for their sins; and may tread a thorny path; but if it leads them at last, like the penitent Prodigal, to a loving and forgiving father’s heart and home, the painful experience will not have been in vain. Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the salvation of God.”

These words are so encouraging to me at this point in my life.  I have lots of struggles being a good parent.  I make big mistakes, I fail at being the ideal parent, my family is far from the perfect Mormon family that we all think everyone else is.  But I have hope that the challenges that are part of our lives will bring us to a better place.  My children know of my testimony of the gospel.  They know that true happiness only comes from living the principles that the gospel teaches.  They know that they have an anchor of the gospel in my life and that they can rely on that anchor in their storms of life.  We all have shortcomings, but it is my hope that where I fall short, the Savior and the Atonement will make up for my weaknesses.  I know this happens, I know the Atonement not only forgives sin but makes all things right.  I have seen it in my life, the life of my family, and the lives of those that follow the right path.

It was customary for returning missionaries to give a report in General Conference during the early days of the church.  Elder Holland was returning from his service in Chile and used his General Conference talk as a time to report about his service for the past three years.  He speaks of many missionaries he met and the immense sacrifice that they made to get into the mission field.  She speaks of the commitment needed to leave family and home to serve in the Lord's Vineyard.  He uses these examples of faithful members to talk about our personal commitment to the Lord and how we need to search within ourselves to determine our commitment and love for the Savior.

He talks about the word "abide" and what meaning this word can have in our spiritual lives.

• “Abide in me” is an understandable and beautiful enough concept in the elegant English of the King James Bible, but “abide” is not a word we use much anymore. So I gained even more appreciation for this admonition from the Lord when I was introduced to the translation of this passage in another language. In Spanish that familiar phrase is rendered “permaneced en mi.” Like the English verb “abide,” permanecer means “to remain, to stay,” but even gringos like me can hear the root cognate there of “permanence.” The sense of this then is “stay—but stay forever.” That is the call of the gospel message to Chileans and everyone else in the world. Come, but come to remain. Come with conviction and endurance. Come permanently, for your sake and the sake of all the generations who must follow you, and we will help each other be strong to the very end.
  

He speaks of what the church brings into our lives.  He also speaks of what we need to do to be faithful to God to the end of our lives.

• This Church is the Lord’s vehicle for crucial doctrines, ordinances, covenants, and keys that are essential to exaltation, and one cannot be fully faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ without striving to be faithful in the Church, which is its earthly institutional manifestation. To new convert and longtime member alike, we declare in the spirit of Nephi’s powerful valedictory exhortation: “Ye have entered in by the gate; … [but] now, … after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; … press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, … and endure to the end, behold, thus … ye shall have eternal life.”
  

He concludes with these inspiring worlds.

• Christ is everything to us and we are to “abide” in Him permanently, unyieldingly, steadfastly, forever. For the fruit of the gospel to blossom and bless our lives, we must be firmly attached to Him, the Savior of us all, and to this His Church, which bears His holy name. He is the vine that is our true source of strength and the only source of eternal life. In Him we not only will endure but also will prevail and triumph in this holy cause that will never fail us. May we never fail it nor fail Him.
  

My favorite hymn in the hymn book is Abide with me.  This simple hymn speaks of the companionship of God we all desire.  Elder Holland provides deeper meaning of what the word "abide" means.  I love how he says it means to "stay forever."  What a great view of the relationship we need to have with the Savior.  We all want the spirit in our lives.  The desire to have the spirit in our lives permanently, without any separation, gives deeper meaning to me of what we are all striving for.  My desire to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is strengthened by the knowledge that if I plead to heaven for His spirit to always be with me, He can and will allow that to happen.