Conference was Generally awesome!

General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was last weekend. It was a resplendent experience. If you want to watch it, read it or listen to it, the link is here:

http://lds.org/general-conference/sessions?lang=eng

I can't go into great detail yet because I need more time for that, but I wanted to give what I viewed as highlights of each talk. I hope you will take this next 6 months to ponder each talk individually and ask yourself a few questions:

1. What was the main message of the talk

2. What were the impressions I received about my life while reading/listening to/watching this talk?

3. What actions/committments do I need to take/make to answer the call of this message from my Father in Heaven.

I am by no means perfect at this yet, but as I stated in my last entry, I attempted to really change how I dealt with October's conference. Embarrassingly enough, I would often get to the next conference and barely remember anything from the previous one. That is certainly not the case this time. My life has been richly blessed by my study of these talks and I know yours can be, too.

Disclaimer: I'm taking these bits of each talk from my notes, so they may not be perfect quotes. In future entries, I intend to write in more detail about individual talks using the source material as my guide!

Saturday Morning Session

President Thomas S. Monson:

He spoke about the re-dedication of the Laie, HI temple. He said "extensive renovations" had taken place. I felt strongly that I had been going through extensive renovations recently and that I was approaching the time when I felt I could be "rededicated" to the work of the Lord.

He also said that "Missionary work is the lifeblood of the kingdom". I can testify of that. When you're at church, look around you. How many were born in the church? I would wager less than half. And many that were, have parents who were converted through missionary efforts (and the Spirit, of course!). I will be forever grateful to my Father in Heaven for the family that introduced me to the gospel and taught me (by example) how a faithful Latter-day Saint conducts their life. Thank You to the Cox's (who are on a full-time mission) and to their daughter, Laurianne who invited me to church and was shocked when I said, "yes"! They're my eternal friends. I hope that I can become a better member missionary. I'd be selfish not to share what I have been given!

Elder L. Tom Perry:

He said to "Be thou an example of the believers...in the observance of the Sabbath Day" and said that it "must include worship" I looked up the word worship. Wikipedia and Princeton web say:

Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed to one or more deities. The word is derived from the Old English worthscipe, meaning worthiness or worth-ship -- to give, at its simplest, worth to something. Show devotion to a deity or have a feeling of profound love and admiration for.

Though we do not bestow worth on our Savior or Father in Heaven, we can give them worth in our lives. We can show how our love and admiration for them demands our devotion.

He said that we should do three things on the sabbath:

1. Keep yourself unspotted from the world
2. Go to the house of the Lord and offer up your sacraments
3. Rest from your labors

The sacrament, he said, give us the opportunity of self investigation or self-inspection. It helps us "rectify our course" on a weekly basis.

One of the last things he said that really packed a punch for me:

The adversary succeeds when we relax our commitment to the Savior. Observing the Sabbath is part of that commitment.

Jean A Stevens

She spoke about a ward that was having trouble getting their members to pay tithing. They went to the Primary and asked them to pay it. After a few months they went to the adults and told them that the Primary children had been paying their tithing and would they follow that example?

Except ye be converted and become as a little child:

Full of faith
Receptive to the Spirit
First to love, first to forgive
humble
reverent

BEHOLD YOUR LITTLE ONES. Follow the example of children - this is a key to spiritual growth.


Walter F Gonzales

One line in his talk that really grabbed me -

Lovest thou me? Come, follow me.....Making covenants is an expression of love.

Kent F. Richards

He spoke about his work as a surgeon. In order to heal people, he had to surgically inflict pain on them. He made a paralell to this and our lives when Heavenly Father allows trials to come into our lives. We must "allow suffering to bring [us] closer to God....it ministers to our education"

He testified then, that the Savior knows how to succor our pains. He descended below them all. His "ongoing labor" is with each of us, "His greatest work".

I add my testimony to his. I know that the Savior experienced all of our pains, trials, sins. He knows how to make us whole again. He is the "great physician". We must go to him always, but especially when we are in need of healing. There IS a balm in Gilead.

Quentin L. Cook

"Our LDS women are incredible".

[AMEN, BROTHER! :)]

One thing he said that I had never thought of: the Savior is

Husband to the widow and father to the fatherless.

This is a beautiful statement. The errand of angels is given to women. We better take that errand and complete it with everything that we are!

Speaking of the errand of angels. I saw a movie with that title. It is about sister missionaries in Austria. It was a beautiful movie. A character in the movie said something wonderful: Remember, you have more than one name on your name tag. Though we don't usually get a name tag, everything we do in the church we do in the name of our Savior. Not only does that make us highly aware of our responsibility, but it makes us aware of the HELP we have in doing this work. He will not leave us comfortless! From Doctrine & Covenants 84:

83 For your ^aFather, who is in heaven, ^bknoweth that you have need of all these things.

84Therefore, let the morrow take ^athought for the things of itself.

85Neither take ye thought beforehand ^awhat ye shall say; but ^btreasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be ^cgiven you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man.

88And whoso ^areceiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go ^bbefore your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my ^cSpirit shall be in your hearts, and mine ^dangels round about you, to bear you up.

Henry B Eyring

His talk was about the Church Welfare Program, which is celebrating it's 75th anniversary. I am really excited about the day of service he mentioned. I think it will be a great opportunity to give "kindly service for the Lord". He encouraged us to include children in participating in giving...to "spread joy over generations"

A great quote:

Everyone is happier when they can take care of themselves, then helping others in need.

He said we could do this through living and teaching others provident living. "You cannot give yourself poor - If you give a crust, you will get a loaf"



As this has been a long entry, I will post one session at a time. I am grateful for the opportunity to put these thoughts down (even if no one else reads them).

Thanks! I hope you will enjoy conference again and again!

Start at the very beginning - a very good place to start

Have you ever thought of that scripture...really thought about it?

2 Timothy 4:7

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

Most of my time in the church, I have responded to this scripture with my feelings about how ready I am to face the Lord and account for my life...in other words, dread.

As I have begun on a journey in the past few months to really develop my faith and become more like what my Father in Heaven knows I can be, this scripture has taken on new meaning for me.

Generally, what I have put my mind to has happened on the instant side. Doors have flown open before I had to knock on them. Now, there has been some calculation in which doors I would attempt to knock at...but generally I haven't had to wait for much in my life.

"Go out and make it happen." That's my motto.

Now that I am the ripe old age of 36, I have started running into doors....with my face. (this door analogy I give credit to my friend Melissa for introducing me to) They are not flying open as I supposed they would always do. No amount of my style of knocking has opened them fully to my view.

What doors are these?

• Professional success
• Marriage
• Parenting success
• Faith
• Becoming naturally Obedient
• Personal Development

These are things I want bad enough to look stupid trying to get them done.

I look really stupid pretty much all the time now.

Now, of course I would be remiss if I did not count my blessings, which are many. I have been truly blessed in many ways (maybe I'll have a blessings counting post soon). I think that my experience of always being successful at things I try has really spoiled me.

"I want the world. I want the whole world. I want to lock it all up in my pocket. It's my bar of chocolate. Give it me now. I want today, I want tomorrow. I don't want to share it!

And if I don't get the things I'm after, I am going to screeeeeeaaaaaaam!!!!!

Don't care how, I want it NOW. Don't care how, I want it NOOOOOOOOOW! (She was a bad egg.)" (Veruca Salt, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)

Now I am learning that this mortal experience really is a fight. I am trying to fight it. I want to finish my course. I want to keep the faith.

I believe that someone who has been blessed with the tenacity, intelligence and knowledge that I have, must be on a higher plane than I am on. So, it is my goal to get to that higher plane. It will be a fight, but it is a "good" fight. A fight worth fighting.

2 Timothy 4:6-9 (emphasis added)

6 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. 9 Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me:

Tomorrow and Sunday are wonderful opportunities to see the path to that higher plane (and to check out life up there!). General Conference is one of my favorite times of year. I have never paid enough attention to it, though I have improved of late.

For the October 2010 conference, I have:

• studied the talks
  
• listened to them repeatedly at work (a great way of getting through the day, IMHO)
• discussed them with friends
• tried to implement their teaching

This regimen has been a great blessing in my life. One particular way I have implemented it is from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk, "Of Things That Matter Most"

"The wise understand and apply the lessons of tree rings and air turbulence. They resist the temptation to get caught up in the frantic rush of everyday life. They follow the advice “There is more to life than increasing its speed.” In short, they focus on the things that matter most.

Elder Dallin H.Oaks, in a recent general conference, taught, “We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families.”

The search for the best things inevitably leads to the foundational principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ—the simple and beautiful truths revealed to us by a caring, eternal, and all-knowing Father in Heaven. These core doctrines and principles, though simple enough for a child to understand, provide the answers to the most complex questions of life.

There is a beauty and clarity that comes from simplicity that we sometimes do not appreciate in our thirst for intricate solutions."

http://lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/of-things-that-matter-most?lang=eng

I decided that my family was heading through some major turbulence, and I needed to "reduce my speed and focus on the essentials" as he said. So, I eliminated everything except: church, work, family. It, period, the end. It was hard - achingly so in some instances, but it has been absolutely wonderful to reap the rewards. I testify of the power that is inherent in obeying the words of living prophets.

I intend to gather more gems in the coming conference. One strategy my friend and I have developed is to go into conference with 3 questions.

My questions are:

1. "Behold, the Lord ^arequireth the ^bheart and a ^cwilling mind; and the willing and ^dobedient shall ^eeat the good of the land of Zion in these last days." (D&C 64:34)

So, I have a willing mind, how do I give Him (more fully) my heart. In other words, how do I engage my heart in the process?

2. "...the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty ^achange in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do ^bevil, but to do good continually." (Mosiah 5:2)

I want the disposition to do good continually. How do I focus my efforts on attaining that mighty change?

3. What is His plan for me (in the short term), is there work that needs to be done that isn't, what is my next step?

I pray that the Spirit will allow me to discern the answers to these questions and any other counsel that the Lord has for me.

I testify that Jesus Christ lives, that He is my Savior, that He loves me. I testify that He has mercy on us, that He allows us to develop and grow. I testify that He makes up where we lack.
I love being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. I know that President Thomas S. Monson is a prophet, that he is the Lord's mouthpiece. I know that I will succeed if I listen to, understand and implement his teachings. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.