Introduction

President Oaks centers us on the core doctrine of our day: the family—created, refined, and exalted through temple covenants. He speaks both tenderly and plainly about the realities of modern life (non-traditional families, tech overwhelm, declining marriage and birth rates) and the very real power of temple ordinances, family teaching, and the Savior’s atonement to bind us forever.
This lesson help invites your sisters to feel hope, make intentional family choices, and take the next covenant-anchored step—whatever their family looks like right now.

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Section 1: The Doctrine Centers on the Family & the Temple

“The doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints centers on the family. Essential to our doctrine on the family is the temple. The ordinances received there enable us to return as eternal families to the presence of our Heavenly Father.”

Discussion Questions

1. How does centering on the family change the way we live day to day?
2. In your own words, why are temple ordinances essential to the doctrine of the family?
3. What feelings arise when you picture “returning as eternal families”?
4. How does this doctrine shape our priorities when life is busy?
5. What does “family-centered discipleship” look like in your home or season?
6. How can Relief Society help each other keep temples at the center?
7. What small choices put “eternal family” above “urgent now”?
8. When has a temple covenant carried you through a hard week?
9. How do you gently explain this doctrine to friends or family?
10. Where do you feel invited to act because of this doctrine?

Object Lesson Ideas (simple, in-class)

1. Circle of paper links labeled with family roles → add “Temple Covenants” as the clasp.
2. Door + Key (paper props): “Temple ordinances are the key to return as families.”
3. Family photo frame with the word “Eternal” taped across the glass.
4. Two candles (home + temple) lit together → “home light brightens in temple light.”
5. Blueprint page: “God’s family plan” → temples = structural beams.

Personal Sharing Prompts

1. Share a time temple covenants reframed your parenting or ministering.
2. How did you first feel the doctrine of eternal families sink deep?
3. A moment you knew the temple mattered for your family story.
4. What temple habit blesses your week right now?
5. How has this doctrine comforted you during loss or distance?
6. A small family practice that points your home toward the temple.
7. A way Relief Society sisters helped you act on a temple goal.
8. What “eternal family” means in your current circumstance.
9. One sentence you’d share with a friend about the temple and families.
10. Your next step—tiny but real—toward the temple.

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Section 2: Stewardship Moment—Fewer Announcements, More Ordinances

“With the approval of the Quorum of the Twelve… we will not announce any new temples at this conference… We will now move forward in providing the ordinances of the temple to members of the Church throughout the world.”

Discussion Questions

1. How does this decision emphasize people over press releases?
2. What does “move forward in providing ordinances” look like at the local level?
3. How can we personally help “move temple work forward” now?
4. What feelings arise when progress looks like steady building vs. big news?
5. How do we keep our excitement centered on covenants, not counts?
6. What barriers to temple access can our ward help solve?
7. How might this help us focus on name by name work for the living and the dead?
8. Where have you seen quiet, real progress matter more than announcements?
9. What can ministering look like around temple preparation?
10. How do we teach youth the joy of ordinances, not just the idea of temples?

Object Lesson Ideas

1. Brick or block tower: steady, careful building > flashy height.
2. Checklist → “Ordinances Completed” instead of “Announcements Made.”
3. Seedling in a cup: growth is real even when it’s small and quiet.
4. Map pin on your nearest temple + a sticky note “Ordinance Goal This Month.”
5. Name card bowl: each slip = a person, not a statistic.

Personal Sharing Prompts

1. A “quiet” temple milestone that meant everything.
2. How you felt helping someone receive an ordinance.
3. A time you chose substance over spectacle in discipleship.
4. Where you’ve seen God value the one.
5. Your experience scheduling vs. making a temple trip happen.
6. Someone who mentored you in temple preparation.
7. A family name miracle.
8. What you’ll do this month to “move ordinances forward.”
9. How you teach your kids to love ordinances.
10. A small sacrifice that opened the way to the temple.

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Section 3: Family Proclamation—Powers of Procreation & Marriage

“God’s commandment to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force… the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman lawfully wedded as husband and wife.”

Discussion Questions

1. What feelings or questions arise as you read this doctrinal standard?
2. How do we hold doctrine and compassion together in real life?
3. How can we teach this to youth with clarity and kindness?
4. What helps you discuss sensitive topics without contention?
5. How do temple covenants illuminate the sacredness of marriage?
6. Where does the Lord invite patience and personal revelation in family decisions?
7. How has this doctrine protected or blessed your home?
8. How do we honor agency while upholding standards?
9. What does supporting marriage look like in a ward family?
10. How do we minister well when loved ones differ from Church teachings?

Object Lesson Ideas

1. Ring + Temple picture: covenant context gives meaning to marriage.
2. Garden seed packet: multiplying life is sacred, stewarded, and seasonal.
3. Porcelain dish: label “sacred” → handle with care (powers of procreation).
4. Wedding invitation (blank prop): covenant commitment signals sacred trust.
5. Two intertwined ribbons labeled “love” and “law.”

Personal Sharing Prompts

1. A time temple marriage principles blessed you.
2. How you teach sacredness with gentleness at home.
3. A mentor couple who modeled covenant love.
4. How you navigate questions with compassion.
5. Where you rely on the Lord in timing and family size.
6. What you tell your children about why marriage matters.
7. A Relief Society sister who stood with you in family choices.
8. A way you support marriages around you.
9. How temple covenants frame intimacy as holy.
10. What you’ll pray about after this discussion.

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Section 4: “Exaltation Is a Family Affair” (Amid Cultural Headwinds)

“The national declines in marriage and childbearing are understandable… but Latter-day Saint values and practices should improve, not follow those trends… ‘Only through the saving ordinances… can families be exalted.’”

Discussion Questions

1. How do we avoid simply drifting with cultural trends?
2. What intentional choices support marriage and children in your reality?
3. How can wards tangibly support young marriages and parents?
4. What helps you keep hope if your family path looks different than expected?
5. How do ordinances give us courage to build families anyway?
6. Where might fear be driving choices, and how can faith reframe that?
7. What messages do we want our youth to hear from us about families?
8. How can financial or educational goals complement—not replace—family aims?
9. What is one “counter-trend” act of faith you feel invited to take?
10. How can Relief Society reduce isolation for mothers and single sisters?

Object Lesson Ideas

1. Compass: true north = covenants, not culture.
2. Small plant shielded by a hand: nurturing families despite rough weather.
3. Two jars (fear/faith): choose which one you’ll pour into your “family cup.”
4. Calendar square: “Make covenant choices first; schedule the rest around them.”
5. Bridge photo: ordinances are how we cross to exaltation—together.

Personal Sharing Prompts

1. A counter-cultural choice you made for family.
2. Someone who supported you when it was hard.
3. How covenants helped you choose marriage/children (or support others who did).
4. A fear you placed on the altar.
5. A time your ward family lightened the load.
6. What you teach youth about God’s hopes for families.
7. A “small and simple” family tradition that anchors you.
8. How you honor sisters whose path is different.
9. One step you feel prompted to take.
10. A promise from the Lord you’re holding.

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Section 5: Hope for Every Home—Widowed Mother, Grandfather’s Promise

“My father died when I was seven… we would always be a family because of their temple marriage… Grandpa knelt and said, ‘I will be your father.’”

Discussion Questions

1. How do temple covenants bless non-traditional families right now?
2. What did you feel reading “I will be your father”?
3. Where have grandparents or extended family filled sacred gaps?
4. How does the Lord consecrate afflictions for gain in family life?
5. How can we speak hope to single parents, widows, and blended families?
6. What does it look like to “remember the deceased as a reality” in daily life?
7. How can Relief Society step in like President Oaks’s grandfather?
8. What language in our ward can be more inclusive and covenant-anchored?
9. Which promises from your patriarchal or temple blessings sustain your family story?
10. How do we help children feel sealed, seen, and safe?

Object Lesson Ideas

1. Empty chair with a name card: remembering those “just away temporarily.”
2. Bridge of popsicle sticks: many hands make family strong (grandparents, aunts, etc.).
3. Knot in a rope: temple sealing holds under strain.
4. Two hearts linked (paper): covenant love through loss.
5. Small blanket: cover a small doll/chair—symbol of being “kept” by a village.

Personal Sharing Prompts

1. A time extended family became covenant support.
2. How you include a deceased loved one in family life.
3. A promise that carried your single-parent or step-family season.
4. Someone who said, “I will be your ___,” and meant it.
5. A way you plan to “stand in the gap” for a child.
6. Your memory of the Lord’s nearness in family loss.
7. A story you tell your children to keep bonds alive.
8. How temple hope reframed grief.
9. A blessing that consecrated your affliction.
10. What you’ll do this month to support a non-traditional family.

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Section 6: Parents & Grandparents—Master Teachers by Example

“Parents… and grandparents … are the master teachers. Their most effective teaching is by example. The family circle is the ideal place to learn eternal values.”

Discussion Questions

1. What gospel truths are best taught at home by example?
2. How do you make room for modeling and not just messaging?
3. What daily rituals quietly teach eternal values?
4. How can grandparents teach without overstepping?
5. What does forgiveness-by-example look like in your family?
6. How can we turn mistakes into modeling repentance?
7. Which value do you feel prompted to model more intentionally?
8. How do family councils help example-based teaching stick?
9. What examples from your childhood still guide you?
10. How can RS pair up “teaching buddies” across generations?

Object Lesson Ideas

1. Mirror: children reflect what they see.
2. Footprints (paper): they step where we step.
3. Two clocks: talk vs. time—time spent = teaching power.
4. Recipe card: consistent ingredients create a reliable outcome.
5. Small toolbox: parents/grandparents = builders of hearts.

Personal Sharing Prompts

1. A value you learned by watching, not hearing.
2. A grandparent’s quiet habit that lives in you.
3. A time your example spoke louder than words.
4. What you’re modeling this month on purpose.
5. A family council that helped your child thrive.
6. A bedtime or mealtime pattern that teaches truth.
7. How you modeled repentance at home.
8. A small consistency that changed your family’s culture.
9. A way you invite grandparents’ voices in.
10. Your one “example goal” for the week.

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Section 7: Turn Tech Off, Turn Family On—Pray, Worship, Tell Stories

“To find time… parents will find they can turn their family on if they all turn their technologies off… Pray together, kneeling night and morning… worship together… family stories and traditions are powerful teaching tools.”

Discussion Questions

1. What specific tech boundaries bless family connection?
2. What helps family prayer feel real (not rote)?
3. What worship moments outside Sunday lift your home?
4. How do stories from your life teach your children?
5. Which tradition would you like to (re)start?
6. What keeps you from tech-free time—and how can you adjust?
7. How do you include teens in setting family rhythms?
8. What “boarders at home” trends do you see—and how can you heal them?
9. What’s one tiny change that would multiply connection?
10. Where have you seen “less screen, more spirit” bear fruit?

Object Lesson Ideas

1. Basket labeled “Phones sleep here.”
2. Family story jar: prompts on slips—pull one and share.
3. Kneeling pads (paper): everyone kneels together for a 30-second prayer.
4. Blank weekly grid: block tech-free family time in ink.
5. Photo album: “This is how we worship/remember together.”

Personal Sharing Prompts

1. A tech boundary that actually worked.
2. A family prayer that changed a day.
3. A story your kids ask you to retell.
4. A tradition that makes your home feel like “us.”
5. A worship habit outside Sunday that you love.
6. A tender mercy from turning something off.
7. Your teen’s idea that helped your family.
8. A mealtime win (simple counts!).
9. One practice you’ll try for 7 days.
10. A story from an ancestor that inspires you now.

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Section 8: Follow Jesus—Covenant Path to a Heavenly Family Reunion

“He invites us to follow the covenant path that leads to a heavenly family reunion… This is real. Let us be part of it.”

Discussion Questions

1. What does “covenant path” look like this week for you?
2. How does focusing on a “heavenly family reunion” change choices now?
3. Where do you feel the Savior inviting you to step forward?
4. How does His atonement heal “inevitable shortcomings” in family life?
5. What does service in the home do to self-centeredness?
6. How do we keep going when family life is messy?
7. What “keys restored” (temple) mean to you personally?
8. How can we help each other stay on the path with joy?
9. What is one covenant you want to live more fully?
10. What will “be part of it” look like for our Relief Society?

Object Lesson Ideas

1. Path of paper footprints leading to a temple picture.
2. Key ring labeled “Priesthood Keys” (paper) → unlocks reunion.
3. Lantern: light for the next step, not the whole road.
4. Invitation card: “You are invited: Heavenly Family Reunion.”
5. Water + stone ripple: one covenant choice blesses generations.

Personal Sharing Prompts

1. A time you felt the covenant path clearly under your feet.
2. A “next step” nudge you feel from the Spirit.
3. How the Savior’s mercy repaired something at home.
4. A service that softened selfishness in your family.
5. A covenant that feels alive in you lately.
6. When you felt “this is real” in the temple.
7. A family goal tied to covenants.
8. A companion in the gospel who keeps you going.
9. Your sentence-long testimony of the covenant path.
10. What you’ll choose to “be part of it” this month.

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Conclusion

President Oaks bears clear, compassionate witness: families are central, temples are essential, and the covenant path is real. Whatever our circumstances—traditional or not, tidy or messy—the Savior’s Atonement and temple ordinances make an eternal family not just possible but promised as we walk with Him.
Invite your sisters to pick one practice (temple step, prayer rhythm, story night, tech boundary, service act) and one person to support this week. Then close with his invitation ringing in our hearts: “This is real. Let us be part of it.”

Posted By: Lia · In: Relief Society