Wherever you live, in whatever circumstances, and whatever background or challenges you have, "the gospel light has the power and purpose to bring blessings into your life and into the lives of those placed in your path," Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve declared during the closing session of 2005 BYU Women's Conference.

"The gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to bring blessings to our Heavenly Father's children. You are planted in your country, your community, your family to facilitate these blessings. I urge you to bloom where you are planted!"

Elder Uchtdorf addressed a gathering of thousands in the Marriott Center April 29, along with his wife, Sister Harriet F. Uchtdorf. In his remarks, the apostle spoke of the "who's who" in his life. "I quickly realized that most of the defining moments in my personal development were positively shaped by faithful daughters of our Heavenly Father."

After speaking of his wife, daughter and daughter-in-law, he related the influence of his mother, his grandmother and his mother-in-law. He related how his mother, whose husband had been drafted into the army, bundled up her four children and fled Czechoslovakia during World War II. One night, while traveling by train, his mother went in search of food during a brief stop. When she returned the train was gone. Calling her a "good Lutheran," Elder Uchtdorf said his mother, in despair, prayed for help and found the train on a parallel track.

The family made it to Zwickau, Germany, to live with his grandparents. Soon an elderly single sister invited his grandmother to attend services for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "This act of kindness might appear small and not too hard to do, but it changed our lives forever." The entire family joined the Church.

He spoke also of his mother-in-law, a widow with two young girls who "liberated herself from grief and sorrow. . . . When the missionaries gave her the Book of Mormon and invited her to read the marked verses, she read the whole book within a few days. She knew things beyond the understanding of her peers because she knew them by the Spirit of God."

In her remarks, Sister Uchtdorf recalled the visits of American missionaries to her home in Germany when she was a young girl eight months after her father died. "When these two young men, serving the Lord far away from their own families, testified with power and conviction of this glorious truth, memories came back to me of the last weeks of my father's life and his suffering. I stood and prayed often at the window of our apartment, looking out to see when the doctor would come to bring relief for my father's pain.

"How I loved these two young missionaries, well prepared by the Lord and by their parents, teachers and friends, teaching us the principle of eternal families. On this day, there was no darkness in our home, because light and darkness cannot occupy the same space at the same time."

Speaking of the missionaries serving today, she said: "My dear sisters, you are the women who will prepare these young men and women to serve missions. You will help them to bring the gospel light to every land today."