Hello, Doer of the word!
*We are looking for one Administrative Manager who is willing to volunteer five hours per week for General Conference Applied. If you or someone you know is willing to join us in a big way, please reply to this email and let us know.*
Do you or someone you know have a story related to a conference talk or connection to the speaker? Reply and let's talk! We need all the help we can get to find podcast guests. We all have stories. Even if you don't think you're anyone special, your story may be exactly what another listener needs to hear!
REFERRAL PROGRAM. Three weeks from today is Christmas. Between now and then, for anyone who refers five people to the General Conference Applied Newsletter, we will send you (by the end of 2025) the following two general conference invitations files: 1) A Google Spreadsheet with a tab for every October 2025 General Conference address; 2) A PDF with a page for every October 2025 General Conference address. You receive these files one page at a time in each of our Invitations newsletters, but this will package the invitations into one file, and you won’t have to wait an extra five weeks to receive the invitations for all the addresses. To receive this gift, here are the steps:
Reply to any Newsletter email (or email us directly) and provide the email addresses for the five people who signed up for the General Conference Applied Newsletter because of your referral (i.e., this only applies to those who subscribed to the Newsletter after 9:00 p.m. MST on Thursday, December 4, 2025).
As long as those five people are still active subscribers as of Christmas Day 2025, we will email your gift to you.
Let's dive into the invitations from Elder Gerrit W. Gong's October 2025 General Conference address, "No One Sits Alone."
Invitations
1 - "In the parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus invites us to come to each other and to Him in His inn—His Church. He invites us to be good neighbors. The good Samaritan promises to return and recompense the care of those in His inn. Living the gospel of Jesus Christ includes making room for all in His restored Church. ... May we find and make place for [the Lord] and each other at the supper of the Lamb."
Application Idea: Line Upon Line always does a great job at teaching doctrine with depth, respect, simplicity, and humor in a cartoon format accessible for all ages. Check out their video on the Good Samaritan.
2 - "The spirit of 'room in the inn' includes 'no one sits alone.' When you come to church, if you see someone alone, will you please say hello and sit with him or her? ... 'No one sits alone' also means no one sits alone emotionally or spiritually."
Application Idea: If you're in the habit of always sitting in the same spot at church, break up your routine. Sit somewhere else. Pray ahead of time to be guided to somebody to sit with. Take a moment to scan the room before taking the nearest open seat. If you've got a family with young kids, consider agreeing ahead of time with your spouse that it's okay to divide and minister if you see an opportunity to help someone (take a kid with you, both to not leave your spouse overburdened, but also as a teaching opportunity for your child, and because it might make the other person feel more comfortable). Alternatively, watch the doors for anyone who walks in looking uncertain where to go, and invite them to sit with you. Finally, ask a member of your bishopric whether they've noticed anybody who could use a friend. They see the whole congregation each week and can likely suggest someone.
3 - "In His Church and through His ordinances and covenants, we come to each other and to Jesus Christ. We love and are loved, serve and are served, forgive and are forgiven. Please remember, 'earth has no sorrow that heav’n cannot heal'; earth burdens lighten—our Savior’s joy is real."
Application Idea: Reflect whether you're experiencing the symmetry here. If you're loved, are you also expressing love? Are you both serving and receiving service? (Consider inviting your assigned ministering brothers or sisters to your home.). Honestly check whether you've both sought forgiveness and extended it to others?
4 - "In His restored Church, we are all better when no one sits alone. Let us not simply accommodate or tolerate. Let us genuinely welcome, acknowledge, minister to, love. May each friend, sister, brother not be a foreigner or stranger but a child at home."
Application Idea: Our podcast guest, Victor Rossi, suggested getting to know people from different places by learning to cook a favorite dish from their culture and sharing it with them.
5 - "Mosiah 18:21 invites us to knit our hearts together in love. I invite us to worry less, judge less, be less demanding of others—and, when needed, be less hard on ourselves. We do not create Zion in a day. But each 'hello,' each warm gesture, brings Zion closer. Let us trust the Lord more and choose joyfully to obey all His commandments."
Application Idea: Worry less & Trust the Lord More—Sister Tamara W. Runia, "Seeing God's Family through the Overview Lens"; Elder Uchtdorf, "The Infinite Power of Hope"
For more serious worry, reaching to clinical anxiety, see Elder Erich W. Kopischke, "Addressing Mental Health" and President Holland, "Like a Broken Vessel."
Application Idea: Judge less and be less hard on yourself—Sister J. Anette Dennis, "His Yoke Is Easy and His Burden Is Light" and "Cheering Each Other On"; President Holland, "Be Ye Therefore Perfect—Eventually"; See also the many talks under the topic Judging.
6 - "Conversion in Jesus Christ requires us to put off the natural man and worldly culture. As President Dallin H. Oaks teaches, we are to give up any tradition and cultural practice that is contrary to the commandments of God and to become Latter-day Saints. He explains, 'There is a unique gospel culture, a set of values and expectations and practices common to all [the] members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.' Gospel culture includes chastity, weekly attendance at church, abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, tea, and coffee. It includes honesty and integrity, understanding we move forward, not upward or downward, in Church positions."
Application Idea: If we're honest with ourselves, there's surely at least one thing in this list we need to work on.
7 - "Comparing practices in different cultural settings can help us distinguish gospel culture. ... I learn from faithful members and friends in every land and culture. Scriptures studied in multiple languages and cultural perspectives deepen gospel understanding. Different expressions of Christlike attributes deepen my love and understanding of my Savior. All are blessed when we define our cultural identity, as President Russell M. Nelson taught, as a child of God, a child of the covenant, a disciple of Jesus Christ."
Application Idea: Always go to church while traveling, if at all possible. Take time to meet and learn from local members.
8 - "All are blessed when we define our cultural identity, as President Russell M. Nelson taught, as a child of God, a child of the covenant, a disciple of Jesus Christ."
Application Idea: If you tend to put any other identity first, seek to shift your mindset to primarily consider yourself a child of God, a child of the covenant, and a disciple of Jesus Christ and every other part of your cultural identity as appendages to that core.
Additional Resources
Download a copy of these invitations: Google Sheets | PDF. If you use these resources as a handout in Church, use the PDF (it prints prettier) and please invite the members of your ward to subscribe to the General Conference Applied newsletter and podcast!
General Conference Applied S6 E30. Making Room in the Inn—8 Steps Toward Global Church Culture—Elder Gong, "No One Sits Alone" - Amazon Music | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube. This short podcast episode is an audio / video version of this newsletter.
General Conference Applied S6 E31. NO ONE SITS ALONE in the LORD'S CHURCH - Amazon Music | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube. Clay and Mitch were joined by Victor Rossi, a trilingual native of Ecuador who grew up in Utah and had an incredible melting pot mission experience in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. We talk about welcoming people of all backgrounds into Christ's "Inn"—the global church, the value of language learning/maintenance, and more!
External Resources Shared In This Episode:
President Dallin H. Oaks, "The Family-Centered Gospel of Jesus Christ," October 2025 General Conference: GCA S6 E3 and S6 E4.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson, "The Testimony of Jesus," April 2024 General Conference: Elder Christofferson shared the moving story, first shared by Elder John H. Groberg, of a young family living in a small branch in Hawaii in the early 1900s.
President Russell M. Nelson, "Let God Prevail," October 2020 General Conference
President Russell M. Nelson, "The Everlasting Covenant," October 2022 Liahona: "All those who have made a covenant with God have access to a special kind of love and mercy." In Hebrew, this is hesed.
President Russell M. Nelson and Sister Wendy W. Nelson, "Hope of Israel," Worldwide Youth Devotional, June 3, 2018: President Nelson shares his experience of following then Church President Spencer W. Kimball's counsel to learn Chinese.
Take Action
Clay's Applications: 1) The church magazines often feature other cultures and even recipes. This month's Friend has a "Hello from South Africa" section. This is a good place to learn a bit about global church culture. I'll go read those pages for each of the 2025 magazines. 2) I also want to try making fortune cookies, just for fun. 3) Finally, I will also mix in some Icelandic scripture study.
Mitch's Application: In 2026, I will read the entire Book of Mormon in English, and I will listen to the entire Book of Mormon in French, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Reply to this email and tell us how you'll take action on one of these invitations and whether we can share your response in our newsletter, podcast, and/or on social media.
Thanks for joining us in becoming a "Doer of the word!" Please help others do the same by sharing this newsletter with them.
Pictures from Victor Rossi's Mission in Montreal
Victor purchased this map on his mission. If a country is marked in red, it means that he met a person from that country on his mission. Montreal was super diverse!
Victor got really good at identifying flags. If he was passing a home that had a flag flying that he hadn’t seen before, he would stop and ask the people where they were from! He thinks he met people from about 127 countries during his time as a missionary!
Good luck getting out of the church building on this snow day!
Well, looks like we’re working from home today!
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!