SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continued its use of modern technology to reach around the world; this time using a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Elder David A. Bednar and his wife Susan were invited to take part in a “Face to Face” with the youth of the church around the world. On May 12 the two sat down and answered questions while interacting with the youth in person.

This wasn’t the first of the “Face to Face” series. Popular performers Lindsey Stirling and David Archuleta did some earlier. This is the first for a general authority of the church.

Questions came in from all around the world and on different platforms. There were two questions asked in Spanish with the help of a translator, one from the Philippines, one from a Hindu transfer student from India and about 10 other questions sent in online. There were more questions sent in, but they couldn’t answer them all in the 80-minute event.

The Bednars answered questions the best they could — they even asked at one point if they were just old people who don’t understand life. Oftentimes they wanted to answer questions both specifically and generally.

Here are five themes that were brought up throughout the event.

Find your solutions in the scriptures and in yourself

The first question asked was about staying strong in a world that questions everything they believe in. It came from an eighth-grade student who was a minority by being part of the church.

“If I just sit here and say you should do these four things that won’t help the David that asked the question,” Elder Bednar said.

He referenced Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from the Old Testament and then told him to look for other times in the scriptures where people felt alone.

In a question about pride the Bednar’s referenced two different scriptures, Moses 1:10 and 2 Nephi 4:17. They then told the people wondering about pride to look at the circumstances around these passages to see about their pride.

In a question about what is right to do morally Elder Bednar said, “Elevate your question, then figure that out for yourself.”

He was saying that generally the youth already know the answer and if they would look at the overarching principle instead of the smaller question they could find the answer.

Love follows love

This idea came from Sister Bednar talking about how the two of them met and fell in love. They were discussing the usage of love as a noun and a verb. While they said that a lot of people believe the noun, or feeling of love, it’s actually the verb of love that often comes first.

The loving acts will promote the feeling of love and you can fall in love, not just suddenly be in love. People can create the love that they want.

This followed into a question about missionary work. In Spanish a question came in live from Guatemala. The answer for this was to “be strange, be peculiar” or just live the way you are supposed to live.

You don’t have to push the gospel, you just live it and be prepared to answer when others call you strange. The ability to share the gospel doesn’t happen out of the blue most often. First you have to love others and live the way that makes them feel love. Once you’ve done that they can feel the love of the gospel.

Prepare and build

There were three questions that tie into this: How to overcome doubts, control thoughts and following promptings? Since this meeting was directed at youth who have a testimony, Elder Bednar invited them to build on what they already knew.

Reading and praying was the basis of these different thoughts. These would be the starting point to build on and prepare for the future. During the question about promptings, Elder Bednar said to build on small answers. This applies for the different categories.

They referenced that the Holy Ghost will lead in all the situations, but they might not be huge answers. Doubts might not be overcome by huge revelations, but by constant reaffirming. An answer to a prayer may be that you know that’s it’s good. Controling your thoughts might just be following your thoughts to something better.

If you prepare by doing as much work as you can beforehand, these issues can be taken care of. Prepare for what you don’t know by building on what you do, he advised.

Discernment

This could be the central point of what the Bednar’s were trying to convey: discernment. This question came from a boy who wanted to talk to his parents, but but wasn’t sure how or when.

Elder Bednar didn’t have an exact answer, because everyone’s situation is different. He said the boy asking the question will need to find out the answer using the spirit of discernment.

Discernment can tell between good and bad and allow individuals to feel good in others and help develop it. Elder Bednar told the boy that if he prayed for the spirit, he would know when and how to talk to his parents about whatever issues he had.

This is along the lines of the first theme, but this has to do with allowing the spirit to guide. The youth need discernment to figure out what is good, better and best.

Your choice

The last theme was that a lot of these issues allow you to choose. This came from the question about following promptings.

“Sometimes you have two good options and you never feel really strong about one or the other,” Elder Bednar said. ”There are even some times when Heavenly Father will say, ’You make a judgement here.’ If it’s wrong you will be warned.”

The idea that Heavenly Father will lead you down every path and say yes or no to all the decisions you make isn’t accurate. Everyone has their choice and they need to make it after they study and pray. Once that happens you will get an answer, but you need to make a choice.