I had the honor to give a devotional for 250 young adults from about 30 countries at the YSA Conference 2025 in Várgesztes, Hungary this week.

I’m grateful that my health improved quickly enough after my surgery and I thank my dear friend Henry who drove the car to make this trip possible.

I’m also very grateful for the wonderful people who organized this event, and I had the honor to work with.

I decided to speak about navigating through all the ups and downs, joys and challenges, successes and failures in our life. It is crystal clear that we indeed live in the latter days before the second coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. We are witnesses that the prophecies we find in the Scriptures and in the words of living prophets are being fulfilled and will keep doing so.

That’s why it is so crucial that we use a suitable and reliable navigation system and decide wisely to whom we listen and follow.

This conference was a unique opportunity to –  together with many others – review the direction we’re heading to, the priorities we have defined and whether or not we desire working with Jesus Christ on the challenges we face.

All these key outcomes address critical areas and, if applied well, help us and others on our journey back to our Heavenly Father.

Obstacles, opposition and problems are a normal part of our journey. Sometimes they cross our path unexpectedly with significant  force. They can stop us or drive us back. But they can also make us stronger if we fight.

In these situations, it is good to hold on for a moment, look into the mirror and be honest to ourselves when answering the questions below.

It’s a lot about perspectives. Nothing in this world can provide greater perspectives than God’s Plan of Salvation or Plan of Happiness. Nothing. Thus, it is so important to consistently study, pray and learn about it.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Plan of Salvation in its center are the ultimate evaluation criteria. They expose the flaws of the „philosophies of men“.

We need to ask critical questions if ideas offered to us are good for eternity or do they have earthly expiration dates and will disappear in the great emptiness of unbelief and irrelevance. Do answers help us understanding our eternal identity, our relationship with God? Do they invite us to come unto Christ and keep God’s commandments? Do they provide valid and sustainable solutions to the pressing problems in the world? What is the motivation of the people offering those ideas? Do they offer the instant satisfaction of ego-related needs or are they concerned about our eternal progress and happiness?

A great example for eternal sustainability is the Family Proclamation which becomes more and more relevant. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/the-family-a-proclamation-to-the-world/the-family-a-proclamation-to-the-world?lang=eng

A better understanding of the Plan as revealed in the Scriptures opens our eyes and our mind to comprehend what the Lord showed to Lehi and Nephi (1 Nephi 8 and 11) and why the great and spacious building, which symbolizes the pride of the world, will collapse despite its alluring facade. This will happen because in the end its residents won’t be able to control or mitigate the consequences of their actions. We can see this already clearly in society, politics,  economy etc.

Almost every day we’re confronted with influences, ideas or trends that might be popular but are not true or, even worse, have destructive effects. It has become more challenging to develop a solid moral and spiritual compass to distinguish right from wrong, good from evil.

Daring to be different from a majority needs courage and determination. However, it is worth it. It is worth it to trust in the Lord and recognize His hands in our life.

In 1996, I participated in the art competition of the Church and created this artwork. I gave the painting, that summarizes 50 years of East German Church history, the name „The Reward of Faith“. It was exhibited in the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City in 1997.

As someone who grew up as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ in East Germany,  behind the iron curtain, I’m a living witness of many events and miracles despite all the  persecution by regimes that were clearly incompatible with Jesus Christ. Their downfalls were significant events in world history.

In the foreground of the painting are two buildings were Church members gathered during the communist era. Left in Chemnitz and on the right in Dresden. Conferences, seminary, institute, activities and many other events I experienced there as a child, youth and young adult, sometimes under difficult circumstances, have shaped me and helped me developing a strong testimony of Jesus Christ.

On the left side in the background you see a burning city symbolizing the horrors of World War II and the Nazi regime. Both of our mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers were and remained faithful members of the Church during this terrible time. My wifes grandfather was killed by the Nazis and the women of the family had to endure the fortress of Breslau during the exceedingly cold winter of 1944/45 and then became refugees after the war. The Lord blessed them in powerful ways during these indescribable hardships.

In the center is the so-called iron curtain, often reduced to the Berlin wall, where my oldest brother had to serve his mandatory army time. This wall is a symbol of tyranny, and captivity, and a warning not to fall prey again to the philosophies that made it possible.

The right side shows the fall of the Berlin wall on 9 November 1989 and the end communism. For me, this was a great manifestation of God’s power.

However, the greatest miracle was the construction and dedication of the Freiberg Temple in 1985, four years before the wall fell. 90.000 visitors toured the Temple during the two-week open house – observed by the Stasi, the vicious East German secret service. They stood in lines for 6-7 hours to see the Temple. My wife and I were among the first couples who got married there in August 1985, a few weeks after the dedication.

I could mention countless other miracles we have experienced. The lesson learned is: Nothing is impossible for God. This was so in the past and it will be true in the future.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve underlined in the quotes above how serious and important it is to live in a way that we can have the influence of the Holy Ghost with us at all times. President Russell M. Nelson emphasized this when he said: „In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.“ (General Conference, April 2018, Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lifes)

It makes me sad when I see that someone who’s facing serious problems excludes Jesus Christ from efforts to solve them.

I would like to encourage us to increase our faith in Him no matter what happens in our life or around us. It is the better and safer way to navigate through these latter days.

So, when we evaluate everything against the Plan of Salvation and receive more light – what are we going to do with this light – not only for us but also for serving others and supporting a great cause?

Do we believe that we can make a difference? Unfortunately, many people don’t believe it and remain passive.

But the next slide shows that relatively few people can make a huge difference in the world.

We already have a great cause we can engage with. It is the gathering of Israel on both sides of the veil with its many exciting opportunities to serve God. One of the key points is that Jesus Christ invites us to change the paradigm. We live in a time of excessive individualism. The word of God is often inconvenient if it contradicts self-centered individualism. However: „But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God.“ (2 Nephi 9:29)

Hearken is hearing plus action, ideally prompted by the Holy Ghost.

I recently found some great statements regarding the impact the righteous who follow Christ can have in this world. I have modified and summarized them a little bit.

God has promised us great blessings if we decide to give him control over our navigation system.

Former President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve described his decision to yield his will to God and the freedom that decision gave him: “Perhaps the greatest discovery of my life, without question the greatest commitment, came when finally I had the confidence in God that I would loan or yield my agency to him—without compulsion or pressure, without any duress, as a single individual alone, by myself, no counterfeiting, nothing expected other than the privilege. In a sense, speaking figuratively, to take one’s agency, that precious gift which the scriptures make plain is essential to life itself, and say, ‘I will do as you direct,’ is afterward to learn that in so doing you possess it all the more” (Obedience, Brigham Young University Speeches of the Year [Dec. 7, 1971], 4).

Do you see the difference? It might be hard to understand because the world thinks completely different – without realizing that many yield their agency to addictions, influencers with very little knowledge or ideas with very short expiration dates and no eternal perspectives at all.

The account of the resurrected Christ joining two disciples on their walk to Emmaus and subsequently meeting with His apostles, we read in Luke chapter 24 is a powerful testimony that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. Nothing in the world comes even close to this.

I would like to add my testimony as an ordained Seventy that Jesus is the Christ. He said this (see Luke 24:44-48):

44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, 46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 And ye are witnesses of these things.

For this and many other reasons I invite all of us to come unto Christ and walk with him on our journey back to our Heavenly Father. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.