General Conference April 2017

Saturday and Sunday were General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I had a really good time. Saturday, we got up and listened to the first session. Kevin painted and drew during most of that session. When it finished, we packed up a lunch and drove out to the canyon for a picnic. We had a lot of fun, and it was really pleasant. Grig always feels a lot better when we are able to make it out to the woods. Kevin really enjoyed climbing a small tree that we found.

We got back in the car just in time for the next session to start. After we got home, we made graham cracker houses with frosting while we listened to the 2nd session. Kevin had a really good time doing that, and his house turned out really nice. The frosting was yummy too.

This was the house I made.

This was Kevin's house.

Grig's house had a few technical difficulties, but it tasted good, so that was okay.

After the session ended, I fell asleep, and then, while Grig took a nap, I made onion blossoms and heated up some left overs for dinner. I think they turned out really good. After dinner, Grig listened to Priesthood session on his computer while Kevin and I hung out. Afterward, Kevin went to bed.

Today, we got up, watched the first session of conference, and then we headed over to my grandma and grandpa’s home. They fed us a delicious lunch of fried chicken and potatoes, and then we watched the final session together. Kevin did really well at being reverent during the last session. He was drawing pictures of ties with the other kids, but at one point, I looked over and he was really focusing on the television. He seemed to be listening intently to the talk. I was really proud of him.

Some of the things I learned from conference was that I need to study the life of the Savior more. That was brought up a lot, by a lot of people. I also felt like I needed to make sure my priorities were in order. The other thing that really stuck out was a talk about immediately following promptings when I receive them. The speaker told us that when we question or ignore promptings, we lose the ability to hear the Spirit. I don’t want to do that.

It was an excellent set of meetings, and I’m always pretty sad when they end.

MM: What My Toddler Learned from Conference

Kevin is only two years old.

He'll turn three in a few months, but it isn't very realistic to expect him to sit through eight (non-consecutive) hours  of general conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and understand much of it.

However, I was touched when during one of the sessions, Kevin turned to me and said, "Heavenly Father?" He had heard one of the speakers mention him. When I confirmed what he had heard, he then said, "Heavenly Father loves me?"

I told him that yes, Heavenly Father loved him very much. He nodded, as though verifying what I had said, and then repeated, "Heavenly Father loves me!"

He said this several times during the several sessions. When he would hear the names of Heavenly Father or Jesus, he would perk up and repeat, "Jesus loves me!"

I loved it. He even made up a song about it and sang it several times. I was pretty proud of his understanding. He is a great kid, and I am so grateful for him.

I loved conference as well. There were so many talks that seemed to just be targeted at me.

As some of you know, it's been a rough week for our family. Grig's sister who has been living with us, suddenly ended up in the hospital during the beginning of last week. I don't want to include much, because that's really her story, but I will give you a cliff-notes version. She essentially has a tumor in her brain that has been blocking spinal fluid from leaving her head. The pressure built up to a point where she wasn't able to remember the names of normal things, and every thing that she said came out in gibberish. She also lost the ability to walk. We rushed her to the hospital, and they were able to release the excess fluid.

Thank you for all of your prayers and kind words.

She actually is back at our home now (she returned today) and out of immediate danger. This tumor has been growing for years, and she still needs to have it removed, but once she's recovered enough from her first surgery, they are going to fly her back to Virginia and treat her there.

It has been a pretty crazy and stressful week, and I have found great comfort in the words of living prophets and apostles.

I am also pleased that, even though Kevin didn't understand much, he was taught the most important principle of the gospel. It made me feel like maybe we're doing something right.

I am so grateful for my family. Both my own family, and my in-laws. It's been wonderful to get to know Grig's family better and to watch them pull together during this difficult time. I am so grateful that they have welcomed me with open arms, and that they have been so kind to me. I couldn't ask for a better family to marry into.

In my side of the family, it's been a pretty momentous couple of weeks as well. Both of my married brothers' wives gave birth. I now have one new niece and one new nephew. That has been a wonderful blessing this week, though I have yet to meet the two newest members of my family.

Throughout all of these trials and blessings, I do know that Heavenly Father loves me and my family. That theme has seemed to permeate our home this week, and I am so grateful for His love. We saw many miracles as we tried to help Grig's sister and when we took her to the hospital. One thing that happened was the night before when I went and took Kevin's car seat out of the car because I had been going to make salsa with my grandma. Having the car seat ended up being a huge blessing.

I have seen many tender mercies, and I am very grateful for the love we have seen and felt. I am grateful that my son learned something from conference, even at his tender age. I was really surprised to find out how well he was actually listening, and very proud of him and the connections that he made.

I don't think there is a more important lesson that he could learn.

MM: Trial of Faith

I had a hard weekend this last week. After another unsuccessful attempt to get pregnant, I was feeling pretty discouraged. My faith in my own ability to hear and understand the word of the Lord was wavering, and my soul was in pain.

After reading a few scriptures, I decided I needed to fast and pray to find some comfort and answers.

So, I began fasting Saturday night through Sunday afternoon. It was just what I needed.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had its general women's meeting Saturday night and many of the talks seemed to be directed at me. One in particular that I enjoyed was President Uchtdorf's talk called where he told a story about a women who managed to be happy even when life didn't turn out the way she expected.

However, it was during Sacrament Meeting the next day that I really felt the love of the Lord. Our bishopric spoke in church on Sunday, and everything that they said pretty much made me tear-up. Everything seemed to speak to my heart and answer some of the questions that I had been having.

During primary, the primary president shared an experience that also really touched my heart and brought me comfort.

One of the main lessons that I learned was about faith. Without faith, we can't have hope. I felt that I really needed to work on building up my faith. I was reading in the Bible Dictionary just now, and I read:

Faith

Faith is to hope for things which are not seen, but which are true (Heb. 11:1; Alma 32:21), and must be centered in Jesus Christ in order to produce salvation. To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone....Miracles do not produce faith, but strong faith is developed by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ; in other words, faith comes by righteousness, although miracles often confirm one’s faith...

...All true faith must be based upon correct knowledge or it cannot produce the desired results. Faith in Jesus Christ is the first principle of the gospel and is more than belief, since true faith always moves its possessor to some kind of physical and mental action; it carries an assurance of the fulfillment of the things hoped for. A lack of faith leads one to despair, which comes because of iniquity.

I did learn some things that I needed to work on in my own life, that might have been contributing to that despair. I had lost my confidence in myself, and thus my faith was lacking. It wasn't that I didn't believe in my Savior or my Heavenly Father, I just was doubting previous revelation that I thought that I had received.

However, after a wonderful weekend of talks and spiritual upliftment, I have felt a rekindling of my faith and confidence in myself. Faith is difficult to have sometimes, especially if you're not sure that the thing you're praying for is God's will. However, I have been reminded that in order to know if it's God's will or not, we have to experiment upon His word. As we do so, he will let us know if we are on the right path.

Link to picture source

We just have to plant the seed to know if it will grow. 

I am so grateful to the faithful men and women who prepared their talks over this last weekend. I feel that they were inspired to answer my prayers, and I'm sure they answered many others' prayers as well.

Mormon Monday: General Conference April 2015

Well, another spring has passed, and with it, another General Conference. In previous posts (Click here or here) I've explained what General Conference is if you're not familiar with it, but with this post, and wanted to talk about my favorite talk.

I always love to hear Elder Jeffery R. Holland speak. I think it is the passion with which he gives his talks that really helps me to feel the spirit. Here's the talk if you want to hear the whole of it:

He begins by talking about two brothers who are climbing a cliff without safety gear and encounter an obstacle that they can't get past, and a point where they can't return.

The older brother hoists the younger brother to safety, but then he faces his own death as he sees no way out for himself. He sends his younger brother off while he gives one last desperate attempt to save himself.

As he jumps, he lands and feels nothing under his clenching fingers but "loose sand on flat stone." He feels himself slipping to his death. Then, his younger brother who never left, grips his arms and pulls him to safety.

He moves from this story to talking about how yesterday was Easter Sunday, and it was the most sacred day of the year because it is where brotherly hands (Christ's) reached to save us all.

Elder Holland then proclaims that we can't fully comprehend Christ's sacrifice for us, unless we understand that there was a need for His sacrifice because Adam and Eve lived and fell. If there was no fall of mankind, we wouldn't need a Savior to lift us back up from the brink.

However, because Adam and Eve did live, we do need a Savior, and he CAN save us.

At one point, he talks about the purpose of life. He asks, "Are we all just hanging in a cold canyon somewhere, in an indifferent universe?...Each of us seeking for something to help, something to grip? With nothing, but the feeling of sand sliding under our fingers...with nothing to hold on to, and much less anything to hold onto us? Is our only purpose in life an empty existential exercise simply to leap as high as we can, hang on for our prescribed three score years and ten, and then fail and fall, and keep falling forever?"

"The answer to those questions is an unequivocal and eternal NO."

Elder Holland speaks with such passion that regardless of whether or not you believe what he's saying, you can tell that HE believes what he is saying. I really appreciate that about him. There is no pretense, he is simply saying what he believes with all of his heart. Elder Holland knows that Christ is our Savior and he isn't afraid to share it.

I also know that Adam and Eve lived. As much as it contradicts common scientific evidence, it doesn't matter to me because I have felt the truth of it from the source of all truth. "The resurrection must come by reason of the fall." As I know that Adam and Eve lived and their is a need for salvation, I also know that Christ lived and he was resurrected! Christ lives now.

He is a huge part of my life, and daily I strive to know Him more and more. I have a lot of work to do (as conference reminds me), and I know that Christ wants me to improve.

I know that wherever we are in life, whatever we've done, Christ is standing with open arms to receive us. He loves us more than we can comprehend. I have felt a tiny bit of the love that He feels for us, and it was almost more than my mortal frame could bear. If you've ever felt so full of love that you nearly felt as though you were going to burst, I think you have some small inkling of the love that our Savior and Heavenly Father feel for us. I have felt that way, and often toward people that I barely knew.

I often felt that way on my mission, and I knew it was the a gift from the Lord to me. He let me have a glimpse of how he feels for His children, and I am so grateful for that.

I know Christ lives. He loves me and He loves each one of you.

I'd like to extend the invitation to listen to the rest of general conference. It's all available on youtube, and on the church website lds.org. I know that as you listen with real intent and with prayer to find answers, they will be given to you.

They were given to me.

Mormon Monday: What is General Conference?

This last weekend was General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

When I was a kid, I loved conference weekend, perhaps not for the right reasons. During conference weekend, we would sculpt clay, draw, and paint while we listened to the prophet. Even if my listening wasn't the best sometimes, it still set a precedent of sitting still and listening to the prophet and the twelve apostles.

As I got older, I grew to really love conference. It was a time of spiritual illumination and peace. Now it seems far to short, and I wish it could go on all week.

For those of you who might be wondering what General Conference is, it is basically a large meeting with our entire church across the world where we listen to our leaders tell us what the Lord would have us know.

One talk in particular I wanted to share. Elder Bednar addressed his talk to those who are not members of our church. I wanted to post that online for anyone who is interested. He answers a lot of great questions and explains why members of our church are always so eager (or at least try to be eager) to share what we believe with others.

Here is the talk:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2014/10?lang=eng&vid=3822608486001&cid=10


You'll have to follow it to the LDS site, or you can watch all of conference on youtube.



In the old days, after Christ was crucified, the apostles had to be constantly moving. When there wasn't an ordained leader of the church in an area, it seemed that often false doctrine would creep into the church. We often see Paul in his epistles trying to correct the misconceptions that Satan would orchestrate.

In our day and age, we are so blessed to have modern technology that makes it easy for us to hear the voices of the apostles and prophets. If the original Christian church had the same technology, it might not have become so corrupted. We believe that as the apostles were killed, many of Christ's teachings remained, but they became mixed with the philosophies of man.

This is why things like the Nicene Creed were created. Different leaders of different congregations no longer had a prophet on the earth, and so they began to argue and vote on which doctrine was God's doctrine. In our church, we believe that if it doesn't come directly by revelation from God, that it is man's doctrine.

We believe that during this time, after the apostles were killed, there was an apostasy, or a time where Christ's church was lost from the earth due to wickedness and corruption. This was followed by the dark ages.

When the dark ages concluded, the Lord opened the way for his church to be restored upon the earth again today.

We don't believe that our church is the only church with truth. Many truths survied and are perpetuated amongst the different religions. Buddhism, Islam, and other religions also have a lot of truth mixed into their teachings. There is good in all religions. However, we do believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only church with ALL the truth, because we believe, and I know, that it is Christ's church restored in its original form to the earth. Christ is the head of our church, and he communicates to us through his prophets and apostles and he did previously.

God never changes, so why would he cease to communicate using prophets and apostles? He wouldn't, and he hasn't. If you haven't listened to General Conference, here is an opportunity to listen to the servants of the Lord. If you don't believe, but want to know if what I'm saying is true: listen and pray.

I can promise that the Lord does communicate to us in this day and age. He will answer your prayer, especially if you are willing to do what He asks when He answers. God will not just give you the truth and allow you to go on with your life. If this is truly His church, He wants you to be a part of it, so you can be a tool in His hands to bless those around you.

I know that this church is God's church. I have received a confirmation from the Spirit that this is true, and I know you can receive that confirmation as well.

The Lord wants us to be happy and at peace. However, the only way to peace is to follow the path that the Lord sets for us.  Each day, I am trying to find out what that is for me, and when I'm in the right place, I feel whole.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Playing Catch-up

Wow, I've done really badly at blogging this last week. I've missed Friday, Monday, and Tuesday.

Really, I was just being selfish.

Grig was home for a three-day weekend, and I really wanted to spend time with him. That led to distractions and to me not remembering to blog until really late at night.

Ah well. We had a good time.
Friday we had Arkhon's first veterinary appointment. He did really well. I used to work for our vet, and she's an At Your Home veterinarian, so she came over to our apartment. He got a couple treats while she gave him shots, and he didn't even notice when we was poked. She said he looks great. She gave us some training tips (which we really appreciated) on how to help Arkhon and Kevin be kinder to each other.

They love each other a little too much.

The news on Dakota's end wasn't so good. We've suspected that she has had breast cancer for a little while. The vet confirmed it. Dakota's still happy and has a good appetite, so we'll keep her around for a while yet. I think she'll let us know when she's ready to go. She is fourteen, after all. That is partly why we got Arkhon though. We wanted her to help us train him while she is still around.

I'll have to talk about my feelings on this tomorrow maybe.

She got a shot too. They both did really well.

Saturday, was the General Women's Meeting for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was a really good meeting, and I especially enjoyed Elder Uchtdorf's talk. If you didn't get to watch it, there is a link here to the meeting. I recommend the entire thing. It was very uplifting. Grig ended up watching Kevin and my friend's kids so we could go. I think he got a little overwhelmed with three kids and a puppy. He was happy when we got back.

He did a great job. We were pretty grateful that we were able to attend.

Sunday we had church, and then ended up baby-sitting again for my friend. We had a good time.

Monday, we went fishing with my grandpa. We invited him to go with us, and we told him to pick the place.

He picked a great place! At first, we had a little trouble getting tangled up in a big wire that hung over the river, but the water was boiling with fish. My grandpa couldn't put his pole in without pulling one out. Grig was also pretty successful, with some pretty good sized fish on his line. I kept getting nibbles, but nothing would latch on. Finally, at the very end, I caught a fish too!

We ended up catching our limit! That hasn't happened to us in a long time. We caught some beautiful trout. I'm excited to eat them.

Kevin stayed with my grandma since it was a little wet and cold, but he was sure excited to see the fish when we got back. He loves fish.

Things have taken a turn for fall this week.

The last 3-4 weeks have been really warm. We took down our air-conditioning because it was getting cooler right after I came back from Idaho. Then, the days went back up to 80-90. We kind of regretted taking the air-conditioning down.

However, it's been raining the last four days or so. Our bedroom was pretty cold last night, and we ended up enjoying cuddling under the covers.

Arkhon slept 7 hours last night without an accident in his kennel. He might have been able to go longer, but I was worried about pushing it to far, so Grig took him out when he woke up.

He's doing pretty well with the kennel. Occasionally he gets bored with it. I guess we need to get him a Kong or something.

He and Dakota like each other quite a bit, though if he gets too energetic, she'll tell him (rather forcefully) to calm down. His training is going well, and the accidents are getting fewer and further between. Which is great!

He's going to be a great dog for a great kid. We've talked about how this will be Kevin's dog. Hopefully he'll live until Kevin is 14 or 15. We're looking forward to the next few years, but we're also trying to appreciate the moments now.

The moments now are pretty great too.

Mormon Monday: What is General Conference?

This weekend, I was able to view the 184th semi-annual General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as Mormons). It was a spiritual feast. It is all available online, if you didn't have a chance to view it.

Here's a link:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2014/04?cid=HPSU040614654&lang=eng

However, as I was thinking about what I wanted to talk about this morning, I realized many people may not even know what General Conference is, and why we make such a big deal about it. Curious, I looked up the history of conference. Here's my source, if you want to read the original document.

On June 9, 1830, Joseph Smith called the original General Conference of the church to order. There were only 27 members present. These conferences were seen as essential, as it was an opportunity for the church to hear from God's holy prophet and to learn what the Lord had to say concerning the entire church.

As the early pioneers moved from state to state to escape persecution, they continued the tradition of having conference. However, it wasn't until 1840 that conference became a semi-annual event. There was even a conference held in Great Britian that year.

However, during the western exodus of the church, conference was temporarily paused. There were a few meetings held along the trail, but the official conference didn't begin again until 1848 in Salt Lake City. At first, the church members didn't have an official place for meeting. The first meeting in Salt Lake was actually held in a bowery! That didn't last long though. The saints quickly began work on the Tabernacle that still sits on temple square today. It 1867 it was completed and held its first General Conference meeting.

Meetings continued in other areas as well. There were times that General Conference wasn't help at all, as flu epidemics raged and world wars occurred. However, the tradition continued, despite opposition.

In the 1900's, technology began to make conference available to a wider and more distant audience. This was an incredible blessing. Today, members all over the world can hear the conference talks in their own language and in their own homes thanks to internet, television, and radio.

One of the greatest problems in Christ's time was the inability to regularly meet with the early Christian saints. The apostles spent most of their time traveling back and forth trying to get rid of false traditions and teachings. They were continually squashing wild-fires that the errors of men would create. This is originally what led to the removal of the true gospel on the Earth. Once the apostles had all been killed, men mingled Christ's teachings with their own opinions and ideas. This is why so many awful things were done by people professing to be followers of Christ in those days.

A restoration, not a revision, of the true gospel of Christ was necessary. We truly believe that God and His Son, Jesus Christ, visited Joseph Smith and ordained him to be a modern-day prophet. We believe that President Thomas S. Monson is God's prophet today.

If you knew that you could go and listen to Moses, Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob and hear what God wanted to tell you today, would anything stop you from going there?

I testify that President Monson holds the same authority that these ancient men did. We go to conference to hear a prophet of God tell us what God wants us to do and how we can retain peace and hope in these turbulent times. Technology has made it so easy to listen to the prophet of the Lord if we will just open our ears and hear.

If you don't know that he is a prophet, ask the only person who can tell you: God, himself. Pray with all your enery, and tell God that if this man is a prophet, that you will follow his counsel and be joined with God's church. I promise that if you pray with real intent, and listen as President Monson speaks, that you will receive and answer.

I did, and I know this to be true. No amount of evidence in opposition of it could ever convince me otherwise, because I have learned by the Spirit that President Monson is a prophet of God. It was impressed very clearly upon me when I prayed about it, and I know I received an answer.

Hear the words of the prophet and follow his counsel. You will never regret it.