My sisters. Oh, how I love you.

What a glorious opportunity it is to be assembled worldwide on this historic occasion, the 182nd anniversary of the organization of the Relief Society.

Wherever you live, whatever language you speak, wherever you have been called to serve, you belong to a society of women divinely instituted to bring the love and relief of Jesus Christ to others.

And to all of you in your 18th year who will soon join us in the Relief Society, welcome! We need you. We love you.

I am with my counselors, Sister Dennis and Sister Yi, and the General Primary and General Young Women Presidencies. We are here in the Relief Society building where we work together, pray together, and counsel together.

We share a common purpose to help build lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ who keep their covenants and desire and qualify for the greatest of all blessings: eternal life with God and the people they love.

Some of you have been called for a season to serve the children in Primary, or to serve our young women. Wherever you serve, you still belong to the Relief Society.

Being a member of the Relief Society has allowed me to learn from consecrated women all over the world what it means to love and serve as the Savior. For this season, I am called to help the children of the Church come unto Christ.

I am grateful I will always be a member of the Relief Society.

Years ago, a ministering sister said to me, “I love the Relief Society. I built my home around it. I built my life around it.” She instilled in me a belief in the relief that comes from a society that follows Jesus Christ. She taught me that no matter where I serve in the Church, the Relief Society will be my home.

What beautiful expressions of the work of the Relief Society to bring His relief to the rising generation by helping to establish and strengthen a personal connection and commitment to Jesus Christ in our children and youth.

As His covenant daughters,

we are a conduit through which Jesus Christ provides His relief.

Sisters, you are fulfilling your divine mandate as a member of the Relief Society whenever you do anything to bring relief to others, temporal or spiritual, because you are bringing them the love of Jesus Christ.

I testify that as you do, you will be blessed to find your own relief in Him.

Jesus Christ is relief, and you belong to the Relief Society.

From that small group of 20 women assembled in Nauvoo in 1842, a global organization of nearly 8 million women has blossomed.

The Relief Society is leading out in the Church’s Global Humanitarian Initiative to address the needs of women and children. As covenant daughters of God, we strive to care for those in need by engaging in humanitarian efforts which have the greatest possible impact.

Global progress starts with women and children, and so we have prioritized their needs through maternal and newborn care, child nutrition efforts, immunizations, and education worldwide.

My dear sisters, you are a part of this global effort when you tenderly care for your own child, teach a friend to read, patiently address the needs of an elderly neighbor,

cry with a sister who is grieving,

prepare food for the sick and minister as the Savior would.

Often the best humanitarian outreach is to those closest to us in everyday acts of kindness. When you serve your families and your neighbors, you are part of our global cause.

Thank you for expressing your testimony of Jesus Christ by being His gentle hands, His nimble feet, His listening ears, His kind speaking lips.

We evaluate needs globally, and then we seek to satisfy those needs one by one, just as the Savior did.

The Savior ministered to the one woman at the well. He healed the one daughter of Jarius. He blessed the Nephite children one by one. He loves us one by one.

He will bring His relief to others one by one.

The Relief Society was organized during the construction of the Nauvoo Temple, and in anticipation of the ordinances and covenants to be offered there.

The sisters were engaged in physical preparations for the temple, and were prepared spiritually to receive the blessings of the temple by the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Now, in this season of unprecedented temple building, the objective of the Relief Society remains the same: to prepare a people temporally and spiritually for the blessings of the house of the Lord. We want our Relief Society sisters to have access to all the blessings of a covenant relationship with God, including His priesthood power available to those who make covenants in the house of the Lord.

No worldly organization can articulate a comparable, divinely appointed platform to that of the Relief Society.

Dear sisters, each of us has the opportunity to partner with the Lord in a powerful way through our covenants.

As President Russell M. Nelson has taught, the covenant path is all about our relationship with God—

a relationship with everlasting ties and essential blessings.

One of those blessings is the comforting and abiding partnership of our Savior, Jesus Christ, in all our doings.

We are never alone. You do not need to navigate the challenges, the uncertainties and the weaknesses of life alone. He will be beside us.

This is our covenant promise and blessing.

He loves you and desires to be a part of your life and your concerns, your happiness, your decisions. Jesus Christ desires to give you His relief.

As a sister who has not yet married, this covenant relationship with God has a profound place in my life and is the source of my peace, security, joy, and direction.

Our Father in Heaven and Savior desire these blessings for each of us, no matter our circumstance. They see you, and your path is known to them.

Sometimes, at the end of the day, I want to talk to someone about a tender mercy from the Lord that I've witnessed or a difficult situation I'm struggling with.

Sometimes the Lord mercifully sends friends, family, and others my way,

and sometimes He impresses me to reach out to them.

But many times I've had the privilege and blessing of speaking to my Father in Heaven about my day and the feelings of my heart.

Because of this, I become better acquainted with God and better at counseling with Him.

I feel a closeness and a constant love from Him.

And in this relationship, I feel secure in His love and wisdom and in His perfect understanding of me and my needs. I have developed a deep love and gratitude for Him and His divine presence in my life.

This partnership through our covenants is real.

Jesus Christ lives, and He desires to succor you and to offer His healing love and relief. We are never alone. In 3 Nephi, the Savior prayed to the Father on behalf of the faithful, including you and me: “Father, I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me out of the world,

because of their faith, that they may be purified in me, that I may be in them as thou, Father, art in me, that we may be one.”

We are meant to become one with God through our covenants.

When we choose to enter a covenant relationship with Him, we choose to change, to repent and try again, to become pure even as He is pure.

This change is made possible through Jesus Christ and His Atonement.

Living our covenants changes our natures to become as He is, bringing us closer and closer to becoming one through His Spirit.

What a comfort and a gift this is.

As we develop our covenant relationship with God, all our other relationships in our lives will be elevated.

We invite you to invest in this loving relationship by living your covenants; embracing time with our Savior, Jesus Christ, in His holy house; in prayer and study; and in ministering as He would. And we invite you to learn all you can about accessing His covenant blessing of priesthood power.

While on an assignment, a dear single sister asked a beautiful question about how to make a home a sacred place when you are single.

We often talk about creating a home, but what does that look like?

I would like to share some of the truths that came to mind that apply to all of us, no matter our circumstance. As daughters of God, we each belong to His loving, eternal family.

Though I'm not currently married,

I don’t necessarily see myself as single. As daughters of God, there’s much more to you and me than a marital status or a demographic label. We have all come from an earthly home as well, and hence have a work to do to support and help our family, both immediate and extended, and those beyond the veil.

We each have an essential, nourishing role to play in an eternal chain of family ties.

As covenant women of the Relief Society, we have the role of bringing the Savior's relief to our families and to all of God's children. We help them bring them to Jesus Christ.

We can create a home where the Spirit dwells and bring others into that sacred place to be loved and nourished.

Your home, your apartment, your room carries the spirit you bring into your life.

We can create places of security and safety from the world, where the things of eternity prevail and where rest is possible.

Each of us has the blessing and privilege of this stewardship—

the stewardship of creating a home where Jesus Christ’s love and relief reside. We are always progressing.

There is no waiting queue in this regard.

No matter our marital status or background, if we are willing to follow the Savior, He will provide ample opportunities for us to learn and grow, to communicate and build relationships, to repent and forgive,

to love and nurture, and to come into Christ and be changed.

Dear sisters, your influence is great and your gifts are needed.

Look at the lives of those around you and those whom the Lord is placed within your influence.

For me, I feel to be a part of my nieces and nephews lives and to love them and help them to know who they really are

as children of God. I also feel to encourage and love the youth and the families in my neighborhood, and I feel drawn to help and heal my family, past and present, through family history and temple work.

We are nurturers to all within our sphere.

What does your stewardship influence look like?

Who has Jesus Christ placed in your life that you can love and lift, and to whom you can bring His relief?

I know that Jesus Christ lives and that He loves you.

He will come again. He is the long- awaited bridegroom, and we are the 10 virgins, the covenant women of His Church.

We have the blessing of filling our lamps with the beautiful oil of a covenant relationship with Christ.

We don’t need to wait till He comes again to know Him.

We can choose to know Him today and receive His healing, love, power, and relief into our lives now through our covenants.

And when He comes again, we shall be like Him,

for we shall see him as He is, for we will be one with Him.

Dear sisters, our prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, has spoken repeatedly concerning the priesthood power available to men and women through a covenant relationship with God.

He said, “Every man and every woman who participates in priesthood ordinances and makes and keeps covenants with God has direct access to the power of God.”

“Those who are endowed in the house of the Lord receive a gift of God's priesthood power by virtue of their covenants, along with a gift of knowledge to know how to draw upon that power. ...

The heavens are just as open to women who are endowed with God’s power flowing from their priesthood covenants as they are to men who bear the priesthood.” As daughters of God, we can be endowed with priesthood power, the power of God that comes to us as we make and keep priesthood covenants.

This has such important implications. As endowed women, we have the right to draw liberally on the Savior's power to help ourselves, our families, and others.

I received my own endowment when I was 20 years old, but for decades I did not understand the heavenly power I had access to through the covenants I had made with my Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ. However, now as I look back, I recognize the added strength and capacity I was given to weather the many different challenges and the varied circumstances of my life. What a blessing that we live in a time when there is more understanding of the increased power, peace, and strength that can be ours through a covenant relationship with God.

Our Father in Heaven loves all His children, and He wants to be involved in our lives, but He will not violate our agency. He will not force Himself into our lives. When we use our agency to choose to enter a covenant relationship with Him,

we are witnessing to Him that we want Him to be more deeply involved in our lives, and that we are willing to pay the price to receive the increased power and privileges that come with that covenant relationship. As our prophet is taught,

“When we enter a covenant relationship with God, our relationship with Him becomes much closer than before our covenant, and he will never abandon that relationship. He will never tire in His efforts to help us, and we will never exhaust His patience with us.”

We are joyfully bound together through an everlasting covenant that we have chosen to enter into with Him.

This knowledge should give us great peace and assurance as we go through the difficulties and heartaches of this life.

God's priesthood power will amplify our spiritual gifts and talents.

It will give us strength beyond our own to carry the heavy burdens of mortality,

and it will give us the peace and power we need as we face the physical, emotional, and spiritual earthquakes of our lives.

This power that flows from our covenants can bless our lives in so many different ways because it is God's power.

Mothers can draw on His power for added capacity and energy to meet their daily challenges and more clearly hear the Lord's direction to help and guide their children. Those who have lost a loved one through death or divorce can call on His power to feel comforted and carried.

God's power can also give hope to those who have trouble seeing any light in their lives because of the very difficult life circumstances they face.

In addition to the power we can be blessed with through keeping our priesthood covenants, when we are called and set apart or assigned to help with God's work, we are also given priesthood authority, God’s authority to represent Him as we fulfill our callings and assignments.

In 2014, when my husband and I were serving as mission leaders in Ecuador,

President Dallin H. Oak said this in general conference”

“We are not accustomed to speaking of women having the authority of the priesthood and their Church callings, but what other authority can it be?”

I was so grateful to have this added understanding, and I've tried to teach this truth ever since to the women in my circles of influence, President Nelson said,

“As a righteous, endowed Latter- day Saint woman, you speak and teach with power and authority from God.”

There is no other religious organization in the world that I know of that has so broadly given power and authority to women.

There are religions that ordain some women to positions such as priests and pastors, but very few relative to the number of women in their congregations received that authority that their church gives them. By contrast, all women 18 years and older in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who choose a covenant relationship with God in the house of the Lord, are endowed with priesthood power directly from God. And as we serve in whatever calling or assignment, including ministering assignments, we are given priesthood authority to carry out those responsibilities.

My dear sisters, you belong to a church which offers all its women priesthood power and authority from God. Nevertheless, just as he tried to do with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden with the Tree of Life, the adversary wants to focus our attention on what we haven't been given and blind us to all that we have been given.

Generations coming after us will be influenced by the choices we are making now.

Let us choose a deeply connected, covenant relationship with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ so that we can invite Their power, Their strength, and Their relief more fully into our lives.

I know that the divine privileges and blessings that can be ours as we choose that covenant relationship will bless our children and grandchildren for generations to come.

Sisters, we enter the covenant path at baptism. We enter it more completely in the house of the Lord.

We invite each of you to prepare for and receive the blessings of endowment in the house of the Lord.

Worthy sisters who desire to receive their own endowment may do so if they are at least 18 years old; have completed or are no longer attending high school, secondary school, or the equivalent’ one full year has passed since their confirmation; and they feel a desire to receive and honor temple covenants throughout their lives.

President Nelson has said,

“If I could speak to each man or woman who longs for marriage but has not yet found his or her eternal companion,

I would urge you not to wait until marriage to be endowed in the house of the Lord. Begin now to learn and experience what it means to be armed with priesthood power.”

I offer my testimony that President Russell M. Nelson is the Lord's mouthpiece on the earth today.

He has articulated repeatedly and clearly that when we bind ourselves to Jesus Christ through sacred priesthood covenants in the house of the Lord, we may draw upon God's power, and we need never feel alone. Sisters, if you are endowed, stay recommended to the Lord by keeping your recommend current and by attending the house of the Lord regularly. The Lord is making His temples more accessible to His covenant children. Our beloved prophet has invited us to do the spiritually invigorating work of laboring with the Spirit to understand how we may draw upon God’s power, priesthood power, to help our families and those we love.

I humbly reiterate that invitation and add my testimony to President Nelson's, that your power will increase as you serve others. Your prayers, fasting, time in the scriptures, service in the temple, and family history work will open the heavens to you.

Several months ago, I had the sweet opportunity to address a women's conference in South Korea.

Nearly 1400 Relief Society sisters gathered for the event, which culminated in a devotional in which I shared a message from President Nelson that you, dear sisters, are loved by Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the prophet; that you are necessary to preparing the world for the Second Coming of the Savior; and that you are precious daughters of God.

At the conclusion of my remarks, I left the speaking platform to sit with the sisters while we enjoyed a closing video rendition of “I Am a Child of God.”

As soon as the meeting ended, the sister sitting directly behind me asked if we could take a picture,

and then she whispered to me, “He loves you.”

It was a tender moment where I was reminded of that vital truth.

And then I had to depart quickly to catch a flight.

About a week later, I received a message from my new friend who explained that she had come to the women's conference struggling with some negative thoughts and memories.

When I was speaking, she had a thought come to her that I needed to feel God’s love for me. She explained, “I kept thinking that the Lord wanted you to hear that He loves you.”

She wrote, “For me, it’s often much easier to feel the Lord’s love for someone else than it is for myself.

Maybe that is why this whole thing happened, because He knew it’s how I could feel His love.

Maybe I needed it more than you. But regardless, I felt a strong desire, like the Lord wanted me to tell you He loves you.

While I don't shy from promptings, it seemed like a silly daydream to tell you. I was one woman in a large crowd. But then I suddenly found you sitting right in front of me.

So I asked for a picture when the meeting was over, and though you had to run to the airport, you were so gracious and let me take a photo of us and I got a moment to give you a hug and whisper some version of hoping that you can feel the Lord's love for you as strongly as you help all of us to feel His love.

And then I felt his awareness and love for me despite my struggling with negativity. He knows me so well. He was willing to let me serve you in order to feel His love so clearly again.

I pray the tender mercy was twofold,

and you felt His love as strongly as I did.”

My new friend, my Relief Society sister living in South Korea, delivered spiritual relief to me by communicating the love of Jesus Christ and was blessed to find her own relief in Him,

a confirmation of the Savior's enduring love for her.

You see, when we bring the Savior's relief to others, we find it for ourselves.

And as we act as His eyes and ears, as His lips and hands, when we seek to emulate Him, our desire for a covenant relationship with Him will increase. Our understanding of how to draw upon His priesthood power will be enlarged as we bring His relief to others.

President Nelson has taught, “Entering into a covenant relationship with God binds us to Him in a way that makes everything about life easier.”

He did not say that making covenants makes life easy,

but yoking yourself with the Savior means you have access to His strength and redeeming power. Sisters, I offer testimony, my complete conviction that President Russell M. Nelson is a prophet of God and speaks for the Savior whose Church he leads.

Please listen to his words, accept his invitations, and draw hope and strength from his promises.

We testify that we are beloved daughters of God, that as women and members of the Relief Society, we have a vital role to play in preparing the world for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

That we have access to God's power, priesthood power, in accomplishing that divinely appointed work.

That the work goes forward one by one, and that Jesus Christ is relief. In the sacred name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

My dear Sisters of Relief Society, I am grateful to speak with you today.

You're often on my mind. I am deeply grateful for you and feel indebted to you. So much of the good this Church accomplishes,

and so much of the good that happens in the world, take place because of you.

Thank you for your devotion to the Lord as well as your efforts

to ennoble others. I know how much the Lord loves you and depends upon you.

I marvel at your faith and sensitivity to things of the spirit.

I’m inspired by your diligence, dynamic leadership,

and your ability to see a need and meet it.

Whether it be illiteracy, malnutrition,

mental health concerns, or the day-to-day needs of others,

you tackle real life issues with a rare combination of skill, compassion,

insight, and love. The entire mission of the Lord's Church is strengthened by you.

Sisters, you have a divine endowment that allows you literally to change lives. This is particularly true as we are anxiously engaged in the divine mandate to gather Israel.

Any time we help anyone find the covenant path and stay on it,

we are helping to gather Israel. No one does this better than you.

As mothers, leaders, teachers, sisters, and friends,

you are preparing future generations of the Lord’s Church and the world.

Recently we learned of a little three-year-old girl

who awakened from her nap. To entertain her,

her brother brought her one stuffed animal after another.

But what finally brought her comfort and joy?

Her very own copy of the Book of Mormon.

This little girl watches her mother read from the Book of Mormon every day.

She wanted to be like her mother.

It is simply not possible to quantify

the life-refining influence of covenant women of God.

I love my brethren, and I cherish the privilege of working with them;

however, the two people on earth who have influenced me most

are my wife Dantzel, mother of our 10 children, who passed away suddenly at age 78,

and for the past 18 years, my wonderful wife, Wendy.

During my recent strenuous recovery from a fall,

Wendy has cared for me tirelessly, both physically and spiritually.

She's done it in ways no one else could.

The enormous influence that Dantzel and Wendy have had

on me cannot be overstated. They have changed my life.

They have made my life more complete.

Women have been at the center of our Heavenly Father's plan from the beginning. God's plan of salvation was dependent upon the heroic actions of two valiant women:

Eve, the mother of all living, and Mary,

the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sisters, please never underestimate the extraordinary power within you to influence others for good.

It's a gift with which our Heavenly Father has endowed every covenant woman.

As a covenant daughter of God, you have receptivity to the Spirit

and an enhanced moral compass.

that give you the capacity to receive personal revelation

and to discern truth from error.

In saying this, I do not absolve men from distinguishing right from wrong,

or from doing the spiritual work to receive revelation; however, if

the world should ever lose the moral rectitude of its women,

the world would never recover. Sisters, we need your voice

teaching the doctrine of Christ.

We need your ability as women to detect deception and to articulate truth.

We need your inspired wisdom. Your family, ward, and stake councils,

as well as in other places of influence throughout the world.

Your family, the Church, and the world need you. Sisters, no one can do everything. Nor should you try.

However, I know how crucial your part is in building up the kingdom of God.

So today I invite you to make the scriptures your personal liahona;

the temple, your place of refuge and recalibration;

and your personal prayers,

the way you learn where the Lord needs you to be that day.

Over time, you’ll be astonished by how He will guide you to be exactly where you can lead, guide, and walk beside someone who needs you.

To that end, I bless you with increased spiritual discernment

and the ability to find joy in offering relief to others.

I bless you with the wisdom to discern what is needful

and not to run faster than you were able.

I bless you with the courage to live up to your divine privileges as a covenant daughter of God.

I bless you to feel deeply that Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, know you and love you. They sent you to Earth now

because you are vital to the kingdom of God now.

I bless you to realize that your divine gifts as the daughter of God give you the power not only to change lives, but to change the world.

I love you, my dear sisters. These things are true.

We are all engaged in the work of the Lord.

I testify that Jesus Christ lives. He stands at the head of this Church.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.