I listened to every word of General Conference. I loved every song the Choir sang. You just come away replenished and ready-set-go to live the gospel with more commitment and help others! Here's a recap:
President Monson: Reach out to new converts and inactives. Help them feel at home in the gospel.
Sister Julie B. Beck: Women - increase faith, strengthen families, provide relief. Prioritize using
personal revelation, the single most important skill a woman can acquire. Personal revelation gives us what to do (and how to do it) every single day.
President Keith B. McMullin: Disasters don't need to shatter our lives! Duty requires diligence, is virtuous, rests on a foundation of integrity and courage, and is a manifestation of one's faith.
Elder Wilford W. Andersen: Hope does not depend on circumstances but on faith in Jesus Christ. If we would build our hope, we MUST build our faith. And faith grows by keeping the commandments.
Elder M. Russell Ballard: Look to our mothers! Youth - love, respect, listen to her; be kind to her, patient with her. Mothers - show children how to make good choices; help them know how to make and keep covenants.
President Henry B. Eyring: We help God's children best when we provide ways for them to develop faith when they are young and rekindle that early when they fall away or are tempted. Directions and rescuers have been provided by the Father. The most important "station for rescue" is the family.
Elder L. Tom Perry: Parents instruct and train children
one prayer, scripture study, Family Home Evening, book read, song sung, and family meal
at a time! Learn things together along with the scriptures like the Articles of Faith, Testimony of the 12 Apostles, The Family: A Proclamation to the World, the Preach My Gospel and YW and R.S. themes.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson: The history of William Tindale who translated the Bible to English for the common people and was martyred. Scripture enlarges our memory (helping us not to forget and teaching us what we don't know), sheds light on error (dispelling false traditions), and brings us to Christ.
Elder Koichyi Aoyagi: The Holy Ghost testifies of all truth. We are the Lord's hands here on earth.
Elder Bruce A. Carlson: Obedience to Christ - things we may say to ourselves about it: 1. That doesn't apply to me. 2. It's unimportant or trivial. 3. It is much too difficult. We need not assume we have "special circumstances" that exempt us from being strictly obedient.
Elder David A. Bednar: Spiritual early warning system (signals): Reading and talking about the Book of Mormon with our children; bearing testimony to the family spontaneously; inviting children as gospel learners to act, not merely be acted upon.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland: Lust. 1. Separate yourself from people, material and circumstances that harm. 2. Cultivate and be where the spirit is - remember Christ always! 3. "I will give place no more for the enemy of my soul."
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf: Extend to others what we so earnestly desire for ourselves. Every person we meet is a VIP to Heavenly Father. We are called to heal and help rather than condemn. Love is action.
Elder Richard G. Scott: Atonement: Jesus Christ bore the 1. Responsibility for actuating the Plan of Salvation, perfectly. 2. Feelings of the depravity of sin as he atoned; 3. Experiences of the atoning sacrifice and crucifixion at certain points on his own (yet the Father did not forsake him).
Elder Donald L. Hallstrom: "Hold on thy way!" Don't let adversity derail you. Turn to the Lord without delay, let HIM share your burden. Never let an earthly circumstance disable you spiritually.
Sister Cheryl Lant: Seek the face of the Savior: Teach our children the gospel and how to live it. We are the ones appointed to encircle the children with love and the fire of faith.
Elder Quentin L. Cook: The Last Supper. Christ gave the ordinance of the sacrament to his disciples (rather than defending himself against events advancing in that night and the next day). Christ taught doctrines showing LOVE as the preeminent principle. ("By this shall men know you are my disciples if you have love one to another."). He promised the Holy Ghost to come to the apostles, recognizing the role of the Holy Ghost as the Comforter.
President Thomas S. Monson: Death comes to all. Through Christ all will be resurrected! No mere mortal can conceive what Christ did for mankind. "If a man die, shall he live again? (Job) The empty tomb that first Easter morning is the answer.
Elder Russell M. Nelson: Family History work. New Family Search information.
Elder Robert D. Hales: It is impossible to overestimate the influence of parents who know the hearts of their children. "Being there" means know the hearts of our youth. Tell our children we love them.
Elder Bradley D. Foster: Mothers, lead the way! Children, follow; they know where they're going.A distraction doesn't have to be evil to be effective.
Elder James B. Martino: Things I can learn from the last hours of Christ's life: 1. Seek the will of the Father. 2. Learn to not complain or murmur during trials. 3. Seek greater help from God. 4. Learn to serve and think of others even during my trials. 5. Forgive others and do not seek to pass the blame for our situation to them.
Elder Gregory Schwitzer: Worldly judgment can be erroneously applied (and often is) to spiritual matters. 1. Put my standards in alignment with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 2. Listen to the prophet. 3. Cultivate with the Holy Ghost the art of listening. It is shutting off the noise of sin, not only external noises. 4. Keep the commandments.
Elder Francisco Vinas: Teach the "things pertaining to righteousness." Alma taught his sons individually according to their needs.
Elder Neil L. Andersen: "Tell me the stories of Jesus." The stories of Jesus bring faith in him. Fan the flame of the youth's spiritual core that has come with them from the premortal world. Christ must be our foundation - without that we flounder.
President Thomas S. Monson: We are here because we love the Lord. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart . . ." (Prov. 3:5-6) Look to the lighthouse of the Lord.
There were 13 Scripture Mastery verses quoted - I'll be seeing tomorrow morning if many of my Seminary students caught them. :) Yup, real life starts tomorrow after a week of Spring Break, Seminary - bastante temprano en la manana. I don't expect more than two or three kids to show up. But maybe, who knows, they'll be all afire after these sessions of Conference, like I feel!
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Kent and I (and Flat Abbie) went to Macon this morning and wandered some of our favorite places, walking and holding hands and taking pictures. The Cherry Blossom Festival ended exactly a week ago downtown; we couldn't get to the city before now and hoped to be exploring under clouds of blossoms on tree-lined streets. Sadly, the blossoms are going. Green leaves crowding them off the branches. We walked under blossom
showers, not clouds, and while it's enchanting, it's sad they're falling.
There was no one about as we walked in a neighborhood we love except a few cats - we had the sidewalks to ourselves. There was bird song and squirrel chatter. Sun. Blossoms. Things to see. Our own happiness.
This Easter morning has been memorable.






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Brady June 2009