Latter-day Saints from around the world will participate in the 187th Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints beginning this weekend, according to the church’s website mormonnewsroom.org.
The general women’s conference, the first of six sessions, was held last Saturday. There are three sessions scheduled for this Saturday with a 10 a.m. session, a 2 p.m. session and a General Priesthood session at 6 p.m. Times are at mountain daylight times. The final two sessions will be on Sunday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Mormons gather twice a year to hear general authorities and other church leaders share messages of spiritual guidance and inspiration on topics related to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Spring meetings are called annual conferences, and those in fall are referred to as semiannual. Those of other faiths are also invited to participate, according to the church’s website.
Some church members will be able to hear the conference in person, at the 21,000-seat Conference Center or nearby buildings at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Others will watch via a live satellite broadcast online or on the KSL or BYUtv channels, according to the website.
Talks will be broadcast in as many as 80 languages to more than 7,400 church buildings in more than 100 countries. After the conference, each talk will be translated into a total 94 languages and published on www.lds.org and in the Ensign and Liahona magazines.
The First Presidency of the church promoted the conference with a brief online video highlighting their words from a previous conference. Church President Thomas S. Monsen offered his testimony.
“From the depths of my soul I testify of the great gift which is our Father’s plan for us; it is the one perfect plan to peace and happiness both here and in the world to come,” Monsen said.
Other members of the First Presidency are Henry B. Eyring and Dieter F. Uchtdorf.
The first general conference was held in 1830, the year the church was organized. As of Dec. 31, 2016 church membership is 15.6 million, according to the website.