General Conference

So, this weekend, we had our church General Conference, and OMG I was so excited for it. For those of you reading this who don't know what General Conference is, let me take a few moments to explain. General Conference happens twice a year, the first weekend of October and April. It is an opportunity for the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to hear messages prepared for us by the Prophet and General Authorities. The General Conference is broadcasted from the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, UT. In the past year and three months that I have been a member of the church, I have never been able to go to Conference, but now that I am living out here, I was hoping that I would be able to go.

Last weekend, my roommate, Melissa, surprised me and told me that she got us both tickets to go to Sunday's afternoon session of Conference. I was ecstatic!

So, we got to go up to Salt Lake with Melissa's sister and sister's friends and we went to Conference. When we got there, we had to walk down the street past some protestors and it just made me laugh. And, I think I laughed because my roommate Melissa had told me how crazy they are, but the things that the protestors were saying, are things that I have had to deal with (from my mother) since I started "investigating" the church. So, it was just funny! Well, when we got into the Conference Center, I was totally awe struck, and so excited to be there. It was beautiful. We were there about an hour early, so we sat and talked and enjoyed the prelude music.

Conference was AMAZING! I loved being so close to the prophet and the apostles. Those men called by God, to lead us and guide us in these latter-days. Well, I am going to share some of my notes that I took about my 2 FAVORITE talks from the day.

Elder Russell M. Nelson:

• Do we want marriage of the highest quality, low quality, or do we want marriage shoplifters?
• Marriage is ONLY to be with a man AND a woman
• Temple marriage is the highest
• Celestial Marriage- keep sacred covenants
• Families can be together forever
• Man shall have one wife, be one flesh
• Marriage = commandment
• Temple marriage not only between husband and wife, but it is also a promise with God.
• No blessings will be with held from the faithful saints.
• Harmony in marriage- minimize personal demands and maximize acts of lovingness

My other favorite is by: Elder William D. Oswald:

• All of us have a life long challenge by the Lord to teach the gospel as it has been revealed to us
• Every member a teacher
• Jesus was and is the master teacher
• 3 principles of good teaching 1. call them by name 2. teach from the scriptures 3. encourage the pondering of gospel truths (pondering not only uses our heads, but also our hearts)

Well, that was my little input about Conference. I encourage everyone to read the talks, and seriously get as much as you can out of them!