“Be a light and an example in your community.”

Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles delivered this message to young adults around the world on Sunday, November 1, 2026.

Speaking in a global broadcast from the campus of Brigham Young University-Hawaii in Laie, Elder Cook shared three experiences as a foundation for his doctrinal message. First, he recalled visiting Hawaii with other student leaders in 1959, the year it became a state. President David O. McKay, then the Church’s prophet, invited the student leaders to meet with him and share a message with those at the newly created Church college.

Second, Elder Cook recalled a sister missionary’s demonstration that left a lasting impression on him as a young missionary. The sister missionary illustrated how a loving Father in Heaven and our Savior, Jesus Christ are prepared to bestow blessings upon us, but sometimes we are not open and prepared to receive the light, guidance, and blessings they offer.

Third, he shared a key lesson he learned from an Apostle while living in San Francisco during the destabilizing events of the 1960s. Noting drug culture of the Haight-Ashbury District, along with political assassinations and anti-war riots, Elder Cook said it was a time arguably “even more toxic” than today.

One of Elder Cook’s local leaders asked the office of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles whether Latter-day Saints would be wise to stay in the Bay Area.

Elder Harold B. Lee responded to this question with counsel that Elder Cook continues to carry with him: Follow the prophet, build Zion in your hearts and in your homes, be a light and example in your community, and focus on the temple.

In Sunday’s devotional, Elder Cook emphasized the importance of being a light for others.

“It is important to be a light on the hill and an example of a committed disciple of Jesus Christ,” Elder Cook said. “When you do this, you will help others to see their potential in a world where they might feel alone, unseen or spiritually disoriented. Light is most powerful when it is consistent and reliable, such as a lighthouse or a candle in a dark room.”

The Apostle encouraged young adults to act with character and integrity and avoid online and in-person anonymity — behavior that “has had terrible consequences” in history.

“If we are to be a light, we should never seek to diminish the light of another,” he said. “Hiding in the darkness of anonymity to say unkind or cruel things about another individual is incompatible with being a light. It is the opposite of letting your light shine. It is in a sense hiding your light.”

Elder Cook said he once asked a prominent Jewish friend, whose parent experienced the Holocaust when he was a baby, how to avoid repeating the terrible acts some have committed. This friend explained the importance of not hiding one’s identity, describing the masked evil committed by the Ku Klux Klan in the earlier 1900s against Jews, Blacks, Catholics and immigrants. In his talk, Elder Cook also used the example of the mob that painted their faces to hide their true identities on the night they tarred and feathered the Prophet Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon — an act that resulted in the death of one of the Prophet’s children.

Applying that lesson to today, Elder Cook encouraged young adults to never put on a false face.

“One of your greatest protections against making bad choices is to not put on any mask of anonymity,” he said. “If you ever find yourself wanting to do so, please know it is a serious sign of danger and one of the adversary’s tools to get you to do something you should not do.”

Elder Cook also encouraged young adults to be “beacon lights” that offer hope, guidance, service, and inspiration in their communities.

“Many people are experiencing all kinds of storms in their lives,” he said. “You young people can be a beacon light to them through your example. It is important that you are not in camouflage.”

A central way to be a beacon light is to be a peacemaker. Elder Cook pointed to recent teachings on peacemaking from the late Church President Russell M. Nelson and current President Dallin H. Oaks. He also quoted from the dedicatory prayer President McKay gave in 1958 for BYU-Hawaii. The prayer emphasized the responsibility to share the gospel of Jesus Christ “in an intelligent manner.”

“We cannot carry the message of the Restoration to all the world — we cannot be the light the Lord wants us to be — if we are not peacemakers,” Elder Cook said. “Part of being a light is being a peacemaker and seeking unity. We live in a moment of particularly strong divisions. However, the millions who have accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ have committed themselves to achieving both righteousness and unity.”

A sure path to successfully be a light, Elder Cook stressed, is becoming like Jesus Christ.

“He is the Light of the World, the true source of light and peace,” Elder Cook said. “In a time when contention and controversy are so dominate, we should follow the Savior’s admonition to be a light.”

The Apostle concluded with a promise from the Book of Mormon for those who live as lights for others.

“And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God,” King Benjamin says in Mosiah 2:41. “For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.”