A Landmark Address at Conference

This was certainly another historic general conference this weekend for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the prophet announced changes to young men and young women’s organizations, the young women’s theme, temple recommend interview questions, and even the use of the words “mutual” and “auxiliary”.  In addition to that the prophet announced eight new temples and a general conference in 2020 that will be “different from any previous conference” because of the bicentennial year.  In addition to working to now adopt these new changes, we are all left to wonder what next year will bring and seek to prepare spiritually as President Nelson invited us to do over the next six months.  As one commenter summarized, “The prophet in a few words can create as much hype in Latter-Day Saints for the next #GeneralConference as a Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker trailer....”   

Amidst all that excitement, though, to me one of the most important messages given was by Sister Reyna Aburto who, as the Deseret News put it, “gave a landmark talk on toxic perfectionism, mental illness, suicide and ministering.”  In my mind this was the much needed follow up to Elder Holland’s powerful address on mental illness and depression when he spoke about “an affliction so severe that it significantly restricts a person’s ability to function fully, a crater in the mind so deep that no one can responsibly suggest it would surely go away if those victims would just square their shoulders and think more positively.”  Her message was an admonition to take others’ pain seriously and that “even if we do not know how to relate to what others are going through, validating that their pain is real can be an important first step in finding understanding and healing.”  This was a “landmark” address because we are so often hesitant to talk about mental illness, to treat it like the disease that it is.  Her talk was an attempt to help us take away the stigma so we can instead provide real support and help.  Her talk was all the more powerful because of the personal story she told of her own father committing suicide and her struggle to deal with that terrible loss.  The overall message of Sister Aburto was similar to the themes of the recent book for Latter-day Saints, Silent Souls Weeping, by Jane Johnson.  In the book she told story after story about real people who faced terrible struggles with mental illness and encouraged us to more fully open the conversation about these kinds of challenges that so many face so we can overcome them together as a body of Saints.  That was the invitation of Sister Aburto: “Your struggles do not define you, but they can refine you…. Share your story in order to ‘succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down and strengthen the feeble knees.’”

               The only way we can overcome the challenges associated with mental illness and depression is together with our trust in the Lord.  Mormon recorded this about members of the church in the days of Alma: “Nevertheless the children of God were commanded that they should gather themselves together oft, and join in fasting and mighty prayer in behalf of the welfare of the souls of those who knew not God” (Alma 6:6).  In Moroni’s summary of the later Nephite church he wrote, “And the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls” (Moroni 6:5). This is certainly one way how we should approach trying to help those who struggle with this kind of pain: gathering together, speaking to each other concerning the welfare of our souls, joining in mighty prayer and fasting in behalf of those who know not God or who now can no longer see His light.  I hope that Sister Aburto’s talk continues to push us to erase the stigma and help us to join together to seek the Savior’s healing for all