Path to Progression Is Difficult, But a ‘Joyful Challenge,’ Says Seventy

Elder Aaron T. Hall, sustained as a General Authority Seventy in April 2025, spoke at a BYU–Idaho devotional on Tuesday, March 3, on the struggle and joy of becoming a child of God.

“As fallen mortal men and women, we often feel the gap between who we know we are supposed to be and who we are today,” he said.

The path to progression is difficult, but a “joyful challenge.”

“Think of it — at the heart of God’s fabulous plan of happiness is our eternal progression and the opportunity to become like Him. He sees infinitely more in us than we can possibly comprehend, and He yearns for us to trust His plan.”

With years of experience as an endurance athlete, Elder Hall compared what it means to “become” with the elements of the ultimate triathlon, the Ironman — a grueling race with a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a full 26.2-mile marathon, all within a 17-hour time limit.

Participating in an Ironman was not an overnight decision, said Elder Hall. Years of participating in smaller triathlons helped him prepare for the race.

Of the three sports required to do a triathlon — running, biking and swimming — swimming was the most difficult for Elder Hall to master. To him, it felt impossible.

“I felt like I was swimming uphill.”

But with consistent effort, his technique and fitness began to improve. On race day, Elder Hall defined his success not as winning but as finishing, learning and enjoying the process.

These efforts helped him to work up to a dreamed-of challenge: the Ironman race. Elder Hall then described unexpected challenges that arose.

The open-water swimming portion was “chaos,” with thousands of athletes swimming over each other and 2-foot wave swells. Despite these challenges, Elder Hall completed the 2-mile swim.

He invited students to think of the “deep water” that can be the “joyful challenge to become.”

“How has the Savior helped you to ‘just keep swimming’?”

Spiritual Aid Stations

Up next was the 112-mile bike ride under the Florida sun. On this ride, he encountered two “joyful challenges.”

First, one of his bike tires, engineered for special inflation, collapsed, and a device he brought to inflate it broke. Elder Hall had no way to fix the tire.

“Athletes speeding by offered sympathy but couldn’t share their supplies any more than the wise virgins could share the oil in their lamps.”

He decided to run with the bike to the next aid station.

Then, at mile 96, his bike seat broke. Again, Elder Hall had no choice but to ride uncomfortably if he was going to finish. He kept pedaling.

“In your joyful challenge to become, are you experiencing moments that feel like flat tires, broken seats or relentless headwinds?

“In those times, how has the Savior helped you to keep pedaling on?”

Enduring to the End

In the final portion of the race, Elder Hall ran a full 26.2-mile marathon. He was overwhelmed with “cramping, exhaustion and heat.”

Support from his wife, aid stations and other athletes kept him going.

“In your joyful challenge to become, how has the Savior, and others, cheered you on, lifted you, comforted you and helped you keep running?”

The challenges that occur during the process of becoming are “shaping you into who the Lord knows you can become,” said Elder Hall.

“The finish line brings joy, but the process of transformation is where the real joy is found.”

In taking on the challenge to become, he referenced 2 Nephi 28:30, where the prophet Nephi says the Lord counsels “line upon line, precept upon precept.”

Likewise, all learning happens one step at a time, and “the Lord is waiting to catch you when you fall.”

“Let us be patient, as President [Dallin H.] Oaks recently taught,” said Elder Hall, emphasizing President Oaks’ call at a February 10 BYU devotional to have patience and remember “we are all a work in progress.”

Elder Hall continued and extended the invitation to “remember that the enabling and cleansing power of the Savior and His Atonement will help you do what is seemingly impossible.”

He closed with the hope that after finishing the challenge of becoming, “we will hear the crowds cheering, feel life’s challenges and pains swallowed up in the joy of Christ, and — most importantly — find that through His grace, we have become who He wants us to become.”