This Sunday, January 29, 2023, Elder Gerrit W. Gong, Young Women General President Bonnie Cordon, and Young Men General President Steven Lund will be speaking with youth around the world and discussing this year’s youth theme: “I can do all things through Christ.”
In advance of the worldwide devotional, Elder Gong shared a personal invitation for youth to join and watch.
“Do you ever feel it is hard to connect or belong?” he asked in a video posted on his Facebook page. “Perhaps life feels like climbing a mountain and you’re wondering how to get up it. Or maybe life is full of joy and you want to share and shout it from the mountaintop. … Let’s learn together how the Lord can help us summit any mountain and connect with heaven and each other in every joy.”
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Much of the event was prerecorded last weekend, and the youth hosts and audience members were moved and inspired by event.
Natali Gallardo, a 17-year-old from Venezuela who helped host the devotional, told Church News, “I personally think that this devotional will either give [youth] something that they need right now or something that they will need in the future. And it’s always something that they’re going to be able to fall back on.”
Bryson Ripley, another 17-year-old host from Woodland Hills, Utah, told Church News, “Before all this, I was worried I was the only person living my standards. It was so hard because I didn’t see a lot of my other friends living that same way. When I was put together with these incredible youth, it opened my eyes that there are people out there.”
14-year-old Abriana Betcher, who was in the audience during the recording, appreciated the music that tied into the 2023 youth theme.
“It helped us to know, like at least for me, that the Lord can help us through everything and that with Him, we can do everything. We don’t have to doubt our faith in the Lord because He will always be there.”
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You can watch the event live streamed this Sunday at 4 p.m. MST on:
The event will be available in Cantonese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.
