He Simply Sends Us a Ted: My Favorite Moments from October 2026 General Conference

I took notes all through General Conference this October. Over and over, the same quiet message kept rising to the surface: the Lord carries us, He very often sends that help through other people, and we are slowly learning to say yes to Him.

To get the exact words, I pulled each talk up in the Church’s Gospel Library. Here are the moments that stayed with me.

Sister Tamara W. Runia: “The Sculpting of Our Souls”

My favorite talk of the whole conference came near the beginning, from Sister Tamara W. Runia. It stirred up a lot of emotions for me.

I lost my brother to suicide. It was such a shock to our whole family. I wrote about him in Honoring My Brother Louie: A Reflection on Suicide Prevention Month. It was a hard time, and we didn’t know what would happen to his soul given how he died. But we trust that the Lord knows people’s hearts. Over time, we started to have answers and feelings of peace about him.

Sister Runia quoted the Prophet Joseph Smith in jail, facing trauma and adversity, and it resonated with me in our own struggles of life:

“The setting is a jail cell, where Joseph Smith is pleading with God for a reprieve—for a break from his circumstance. Instead, he was told, ‘All these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.'”

Then, speaking of the sudden loss of her own son, she said:

“I don’t understand why this happened. I don’t. But let me be clear: Not understanding is not the same as not believing.”

It touched my heart and gave me peace. I’m learning to trust our Savior more. As she put it:

“God is saying, ‘Trust me,’ and we are learning how to say yes.”

How He can take a poor, broken-down soul like mine, use it for good, and recycle it for better purposes is amazing to me. It’s a miracle.

If you’re struggling, you’re not alone. In the U.S. you can call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Elder Michael A. Dunn: “The Ninety and Ten”

My second favorite talk was Elder Michael A. Dunn’s. He told of running a 100-mile race and wanting to quit at mile 90. His friend Ted got him to the finish. A week later, a photograph arrived in the mail, and he saw what had really happened:

“Much to my astonishment, I saw that he wasn’t only carrying his water; he was carrying two of my water bottles and my pack—which he dutifully toted every step of those last 10 grueling miles.”

How many times has the Savior done that for me? How many times have family and friends done that for me? I’m grateful for those moments when I can help another on their journey of life.

As a hiker, I loved this line most of all: “the Redeemer rescues not by shortening our course but by helping us lengthen our stride.” And then:

“sometimes the God who makes the impossible possible can part seas and move mountains. Other times He simply sends us a Ted.”

Elder Dale G. Renlund: “How Long Will It Be Ere They Believe Me?”

Elder Renlund spoke to anyone who has ever felt left out of God’s promises:

“there is no asterisk excluding you from God’s richest blessings. If you think there is, take out a big eraser and obliterate that asterisk.”

That asterisk spoke to me. With all of the mistakes in my past, I have definitely wondered how Jesus, or anyone, could ever love or forgive me. How could the Atonement of Jesus Christ ever work to save a soul like mine? It didn’t seem possible. I doubted the power of God in my life. I felt my life was ruined, not one that could ever benefit anyone.

But I’ve seen what the Savior has been able to do with it, helping me to help others and to lift where I stand. All the good in this life has come from Him. He can take any life, heal it, and make it better, a life that can bless others.

President Timothy L. Farnes: “Divine Appointments”

I’m a North Carolina boy, raised on rain and hurricanes. When I left home for the first time as a missionary, I went to the other side of the world, across the equator where the seasons were opposite, to the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, the driest desert in the world. Almost no rain for two years.

Someone who lifted me on my mission was a young ward missionary assigned to help a North Carolina kid fresh out in the mission field. About three weeks in, my trainer had to leave for Santiago for an operation, and he was gone a long time. For about a month, I was on my own except for this young ward missionary. I don’t remember his name, but I can still see his face, and I’m eternally grateful for him.

I didn’t have the language yet, but I had a desire to serve. By the time Elder Andersen came to be my next companion, there was already a teaching pool ready and someone with a date to be baptized! And my Spanish had grown by leaps and bounds. I could not have done that alone, without help.

So President Farnes touched me deeply. He told of Elder Dallin H. Oaks ministering to him in the temple when he felt like giving up. Five years later, Elder Oaks didn’t remember it, and he simply said, “But it’s what we do. Isn’t it?” Then President Farnes told of sitting by a frightened young missionary on his first flight alone.

“Brothers and sisters, let us pray every day for eyes to see the divine appointments God places before us! Let us put compassion into action and minister to the person in front of us. It’s what Jesus did. And it’s what we do.”

I want to serve and help others!

Elder Jeremiah J. Morgan: “The Infinite Power of God in Our Covenants”

Elder Morgan taught, “there is no limit to the power of God in our covenants.” Then he said this, for anyone who feels too far gone:

“If you are wondering whether you or a loved one has wandered so far away that the love of God and His covenantal power cannot reach you—I say to you, you have not. As President Jeffrey R. Holland so beautifully said: ‘You have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines.'”

I have sometimes wondered if I’d gone too far from God and His love to ever make it back. I have felt the pain of the prodigal. And in coming back, I have felt the pain of the older brother in the parable, his anger, disappointment and shame turned toward me. And yet I trust God. I know He lives. And if He loves me, well, there’s not a soul alive He can’t heal, bless, lift and bring home.

Elder Hutch U. Fale: “I Am a Child of God”

Elder Fale named a lie I think many of us have believed:

“understanding our Father’s love protects us from the pernicious lie that it is too late for someone to change, too late for someone to turn to Christ, and too late to receive His redeeming grace.”

His answer: “there is still yet time if we turn to Christ today.” Elder Fale tells it true!

Elder Patrick Kearon: “Jesus Lives to Lift”

Elder Kearon said it in one breath:

“Our Saviour constantly sought out the most desperate souls sinking into darkness and dread and lifted them up. And He wants to lift you!”

I was one of those souls sinking into darkness, and the Savior came, even to me. Even to me! He lifted me up, and He did it Himself. I could tell you of miracles. They’re too sacred to share here, but if you know me, you’re welcome to ask me about them sometime.

President Henry B. Eyring: “Fear Not, I Am with Thee”

President Eyring said it plainly: “It is important to realize that the promise is not for the removal of challenges.” When he asked his mother as a little boy why life was so hard, she told him:

“Hal, of course it’s hard. It’s supposed to be. Life is a test.”

I love that story. It’s interesting how, once you recognize that life is hard, all of a sudden it gets just a little easier. I’m not sure why that is.

He went on: “the Lord sends faithful disciples to help Him keep His promise to succor others in their distress.” He quoted President Spencer W. Kimball: “God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs.”

That’s Ted again, isn’t it?

President Eyring said that when we feel prompted to reach out to someone, “That you felt prompted to reach out to them was evidence to them that the Lord knew and loved them.” It makes me want to remember those I ministered to, to pray for them, and to do all I can to help them.

I’m so grateful for my Savior, who lifts me. Who am I? Just a regular guy. But I think it’s not only that He puts people in our path to help us. Sometimes, when He asks us to lift someone else, we get to feel what it’s like to be a little more like Him. Isn’t that what we’re here to learn in this life?

President Rosemary K. Chibota: “A Child of God”

My third favorite talk was from President Chibota. She taught the southern African greeting sawubona, which means “I see you.” She said:

“I plead with you as disciples of Jesus Christ to pray to see others as He sees them and to treat them accordingly.”

To see another, to pray to see another, to know their name, to see how I can help and serve. She invited us to “Learn the name of someone who may feel unseen.” And she closed with a promise I want to hold on to:

“As we learn to see ourselves and one another as They do, our homes, wards, schools, and communities will become places of belonging, healing, and love.”

President Chibota reminds me of what the Savior taught in Matthew 25 about the sheep and the goats. Do we see people who need food, drink and clothing? Are we there for those who are in prison, or outcast, or canceled in a cancel culture, or belittled, or alone, sitting by themselves at church? Do we find reasons to exclude? Do our boundaries for keeping our families “safe” mean that we throw people away?

It’s interesting how the Savior went to the lowliest of people, in the hardest circumstances and the lowliest of places. He went to them. He didn’t exclude; He included. He didn’t turn a blind eye to sin. He asked people to repent and sin no more, but He loved them. He included everybody.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf: “Christ-Centered Unity”

President Uchtdorf bore a powerful witness of the Savior:

“Jesus Christ has the power to change us—you and me—purify us, and unite us. The closer we come to Him, the closer we will come to each other—and the closer we will come to the unity He wants for us.”

And then, simply: “If we are not one, we are not His.”

I loved the whole of President Uchtdorf’s message. It felt to me like an enormous testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and of how healing and love take place when we turn to Him.

Elder David A. Bednar: “Sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise”

Elder Bednar’s talk was incredible. This is the line I keep coming back to:

“The power of the Lord’s infinite and eternal Atonement can overcome all things, all the time, everywhere, for every person who holds fast to their covenants with Him.”

I loved how Elder Bednar tied our covenants together with faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ, and taught that His Atonement can overcome all things!

Elder Paul H. Sinclair: “Quick to Help, Slow to Judge”

Near the end of conference, Elder Sinclair told of the Samaritan woman at the well:

“He did not hold her hostage to her history. He trusted her with truth. Jesus Christ reminds us that to help people transform their lives, we must look not only to their past—we must look to their possible. She walked to the well that day as a pariah. She walked away from the well with a purpose.”

This was my fourth favorite talk, after Sister Runia, Elder Dunn and President Chibota. I loved how he wove in the Savior truly seeing the woman at the well, looking past her past as she came to the well that day.

President Dallin H. Oaks: “Closing Remarks”

To close the conference, President Oaks bore his testimony:

“This is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in His Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Truth is to be found here—truth about the teachings of the Lord and truth about the covenant path that will lead us to our destiny, the destiny desired by our Heavenly Father.”

President Oaks’s message was short but powerful! This is Jesus’ work. Beautiful.

Elder Gérald Caussé: “The Gift of Testimony”

Elder Caussé reminded us that a testimony “need not be long, eloquent, or dramatic—it only needs to be true.” So here is mine.

My Testimony

I know that Jesus Christ lives. He came to me when I was sinking into darkness and lifted me up. All the good in my life has come from Him. He can take any life, heal it, and make it a life that blesses others. I’m learning to trust Him more, and to say yes. This is His work.

If you missed any of it, you can watch or read every talk from General Conference on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

Your Turn

Who has been a “Ted” for you, carrying your load when you couldn’t see it? And who might you see this week who feels unseen?

I’d love to hear in the comments.