Traveling by car from San Francisco, Calif., to Utah in June many years ago, Elder Quentin L. Cook and his two young sons got caught in an unexpected snow storm on the Donner Pass summit in the Sierra Mountains. For many hours he and his children tried to keep warm as they waited in a massive logjam of vehicles.

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The Conference Center again played host to a general conference featuring counsel from General Authorities and general auxiliary leaders and performances from several choirs. Thirty-two talks were delivered during the two-day conference.

Elder Quentin L. Cook

Eventually, a tow truck hauled their car to safety. Elder Cook called his wife and put their 3-year-old son on the telephone. "Hope ya know, we had a hard time!" the boy told his mother.

That incident, while a difficult travel situation, was brief and there were no lasting consequences, said Elder Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve. "However, many of the trials and hardships we encounter in life are severe and appear to have lasting consequences. Each of us will experience some of these during the vicissitudes of life. Many listening to this conference are experiencing situations of a most serious nature at this very moment."

Speaking Sunday afternoon, Elder Cook said one of the essential doctrines illuminated by the Restoration is that there must be opposition in all things for righteousness to be brought to pass.

"This life is not always easy, nor was it meant to be; it is a time of testing and proving," he said.

The novel, A Tale of Two Cities, opens with the often-quoted line: "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times," he added.

"The scriptures make it clear that each generation has its own version of best and worst of times. We are all subject to the conflict between good and evil, and the contrast between light and dark, hope and despair."

Elder Cook said the scriptures teach that some trials are for a person's good and even suited for his or her own personal development.

"We also know that the rain falls on the just and the unjust. It is also true that every cloud we see doesn't result in rain. Regardless of the challenges, trials and hardships we endure, the reassuring doctrine of the Atonement wrought by Jesus Christ includes Alma's teaching that the Savior would take upon Him our infirmities and 'succor his people according to their infirmities."'

The scriptures and modern prophets have made it clear that there will be lean years and plentiful years, he said.

"The Lord expects us to be prepared for many of the challenges that come.... Our form of preparation is to keep the commandments."

Regardless of our trials, he continued, Church members would be ungrateful if they did not appreciate their blessings. "Our foremost gratitude should be for the Savior and His Atonement."

Think of the Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane during the Atonement process, "suffering agony so great that he bled from every pore," he said. "His cry to His Father included the word Abba. This might be interpreted as the cry of a son who is in distress to his father, 'Oh my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt' (Matthew 26:39). I testify that the Atonement of Jesus Christ covers all of the trials and hardships that any of us will encounter in this life."

During hard times, Elder Cook said, "we can be assured that He is there, and we are safe in His loving arms."