Sister Kristin M. Yee, second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, wants young single adults to know that their value is “infinite” and their potential is “glorious.”
“There are many of us, many of us children of God, and yet we are individually valuable,” she said. “It is a different accounting system in heaven. It is an eternal one, one that matters more.”
Sister Yee shared her thoughts on individual worth with more than 800 young single adults in Boise, Idaho, on May 31.
She was the keynote speaker at a four-day young single adult conference held May 29-June 1 that included recreation, a concert, a dance and workshops focused on building spiritual strength, ChurchofJesusChrist.org reported.
The Idaho conference was one of three happening simultaneously, all with the theme “Think Celestial.” The other conferences were held in Denver, Colorado, and Kansas City, Missouri.
The conferences were the result of a collaboration between the Especially for Youth program and the North America Central Area, Church News previously reported.
Skyler Wilcox, a senior administrator with Especially for Youth, clarified that these conferences are not official Especially for Young Single Adult conferences such as last summer’s gathering in Nauvoo, Illinois. Rather, the Especially for Youth program is providing planning support to the North America Central Area for these conferences.
Two additional conferences are scheduled for Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Nauvoo, Illinois, from Aug. 14-17. For more information, visit efysa.byu.edu.
3 conferences, one purpose
During the conference in Boise, Sister Yee’s remarks were broadcast to the Denver and Kansas City conferences, ChurchofJesusChrist.org reported.
She told young single adults that their worth isn’t found in their checklists, degrees, careers, friends or any other metric. Rather, their worth is set — “and it is great. He loves you.”
Sister Yee also encouraged young single adults to build “vertical” foundations for their lives based on covenant relationships with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
“If you have that kind of relationship with your Heavenly Father and your Savior, you will be less pulled and yanked to and fro by how other people think or how they judge you or how you compare against another person,” she said.
Ultimately, Sister Yee said, God’s ways are higher than man’s ways, and they require faith. Heavenly Father will ask individuals to “seek and become and do things on a spiritual level which will elevate all parts of our lives.”
For young single adults at the Idaho conference, some of that spiritual elevation came through service as they gathered at the Church’s orchard in Caldwell, Idaho, to thin peaches.
In Denver, they assembled hygiene kits with items such as diapers, deodorant and toothpaste. The Salvation Army is distributing the kits in four states to refugees and people experiencing homelessness.
And in Kansas City, young single adults planted trees and cleared trails at Heart Forest, the largest heart-shaped forest in the world.
Elder Jeremiah J. Morgan, Area Seventy for the Church’s North America Central Area, spoke to the young single adults gathered in Kansas City.
“Throughout the course of the weekend, you could see and hear spiritual memories being created with the young single adults,” he said. “The experiences they had together ... were defining moments.”
