Conference (and weekend) Thoughts

I have to say I feel the speakers of this conference were somehow inspired to choose their topics for ME (as in, I feel they were speaking directly to me). Earlier in the week I prayed for some guidance for some things, and then I watched conference and I feel like my prayer was definitely answered.

Anyway.


Saturday Morning: 
*I love it when President Monson announces new temples! Definitely one of my favorite parts of conference.
*L. Tom Perry's talk was really good--be an example of the believers, which was the Youth theme a couple of years ago. "The greatest joy we receive in this life is the guidance of the savior." <-- so true.
*Walter F. Gonzalez talked about...a lot of things. Haha the thing that stuck out to me most was "In grief, we are not alone; Christ will assist us."
*Kent F. Richards told us, in a nutshell, that Christ knows form experience how to heal and help us, which I think is amazing, since a lot of people feel alone whenever they are going through something (I know I have felt that way in my life).
*Quentin L. Cook said that women in the church are awesome. :)
*President Henry B. Eyring's talk is one of the talks that I feel was designed specifically for me. I didn't write down exactly what he said, but I did write down that "he talked to me" about something to do with employment.

Saturday Afternoon:
*Our church now has over 14 million members and over 52 thousand full time missionaries. That. Is. Awesome!
*President Boyd K. Packer basically set it straight for non-members concerning what to call us. Our church is called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, not "the Mormon church." And the term preferred for our members is Latter-day Saints, although "Mormons" is just fine. "If you have been offended, forget it, forgive it, and leave it alone."
*Russell M. Nelson talked about faith and how we need to keep it strong. Our faith now will be the faith of our posterity later, which is so true. "God's angels are always on call to help us; God will heed our sincere and heartfelt prayers." "The future is as bright as your faith." --President Thomas S. Monson.
*Richard J. Maynes talked to us about the family and how it is being attacked, which is really cool because I gave a visiting teaching lesson last week on the exact same thing! Inspiration? Yes. :) "When we stray from the church, our children will stray as well." 
*Cecil O. Samuelson told of the general topic of testimonies. I think. He told us that anyone can have a testimony, as long as they are willing to pay the price (keep the commandments). "Gaining a testimony occurs gradually rather than instantaneously." <-- couldn't agree more.
*Dallin H. Oaks talked about desires of our hearts. He said that desires dictate our priorities, and priorities shape something (I didn't write it down fast enough--its basically the same thing as "our thoughts become our actions"). "What we desire will eventually be what we will become." And then he told the LDS singles to get married. I have to say, I didn't like that part. :\
*M. Russell Ballard talked about service, and said that we need to teach our family members to love one another, and that each of us can do something to help someone. "Kindness is the essence of greatness." --Joseph B. Wirthlin.

Ladies Night
My cousins Erin and Hailey joined my mom, sisters, aunt and I in some ladies night splendor. We went to Olive Garden, which was an adventure in and of itself, including waiting for almost an hour for a table, miscommunication between waiters and cooks, my mom's check getting screwed up, and delicious black tie cheesecake (it truly was delicious). After we dropped the little girls off at home and Erin and Hailey left (they had to go home), my mom, aunt and I went to see Source Code. I really liked it--it was intense, and there was something in the plot that I didn't see coming.

Here are some pics from the night :)

My sister Caitlyn and I whilst waiting for our table.

My mom (left) and aunt Tamara (right) eating appetizers (which were free due to our insanely long wait for a table).

Aunt Tamara and sister Megan.

My sister Laura :)

My sister Caitlyn being a dork. :P

Laura licking the whipped cream from her milkshake.

Laura was cold (it was slightly chilly in the restaurant) so she decided she would wrap her napkin around herself (like a blanket) to try to keep warm. She's so cute :)

Laura and I :)

Sunday Morning:

*President Dieter F. Uchtdorf spoke to me (I'm thinking it that way) when he said that God will carry us over our obstacles when necessary. He then told us how God may watch over us, but it is usually through other people that he meets our needs. In order for other people to help us, we need to serve others. By becoming the answer to someone's prayer, we often find the answer to our own. "There are probably thousands of people who are sending text messages saying 'He's been speaking for 10 minutes and has yet to give an aviation analogy.'" I thought he would have given one then, but he didn't. Sad times.

*Paul V. Johnson was also talking to me when he talked about the trials we go through. He said that after much tribulation comes the blessings (which means I should be receiving a blessing pretty soon ;) just kidding). "Not one of the trials and tribulations we go through is beyond our limits."

*David A. Bednar told us how to have the spirit of revelation in our lives. "Just because we don't receive miraculous experiences and revelations, doesn't mean our testimony is weak." So so so so so SO true!

*President Thomas S. Monson talked about the importance of temples. The duration of his talk was talking about temples he has recently dedicated and one that was announced. Then he said "and I would like to talk to you about a temple in a city, where 2500 years ago..." ...my mom and I thought he was going to announce the Jerusalem temple. But he talked about Rome (which is an awesome looking temple BTW).

Sunday Afternoon:

*Richard G. Scott told the LDS singles to get married. Not a fan. He said if a man wants to have a wonderful wife, he needs to let the girl seem him as a wonderful person. He also told a story of how he gave love notes to his wife. He told us singles to make dating a priority (sadly, it's not). And then he said all things are possible through the Lord. <-- love that.

*D. Todd Christofferson told us that we need to willingly accept and even seek direction. Then he quoted the Lord--"my people must be trialled in all things in order to be prepared." 

*Carl B. Pratt told of the importance of tithing. He told the parents to teach their children to pay tithing. I know I am grateful that my parents taught me the importance of tithing. "Money and bank accounts are not the Lord's greatest blessings." <-- Amen.

*Lynn G. Robbins said we need to be, not to do. "To do can be completed; to be cannot earn a checkmark." Or something along those lines.

*Jeffrey R. Holland's talk was amazing, as usual. He said that no one chosen to speak in General Conference is assigned a topic--they are instructed to fast and pray about what they should talk about. I love that. Even if they were assigned a topic, I believe it would have the same effect--people would still feel like the General Authorities wrote that talk specifically for them. "The church is not a fast food outlet--we can't always have it our way." He also said if the apostles teach by the spirit and we (watchers, listeners, etc of conference) listen by the spirit, some one of the apostles will touch on our circumstance. SO TRUE!! I was really paying attention to conference this time, and I found that a lot of the talks seemed to be written for me. 

All in all, it was a great conference. And I got to spend it with my family and friend, Ron (who got me a ticket to the Saturday afternoon session). 

Now I'm back in Rexburg, I'm gonna move my things to my new apartment sometime this week (yay!) and then I go back to Utah at the wee hours of the morn' on Thursday :) Tuesday is my last day of babysitting Benson :( definitely taking pics that day.

Ok I'll stop writing now before you all get bored to tears. Have a good day!