Conference April 2011

This last conference was really interesting. Mostly because I was not sitting in the ward building listening via Satalitte and I wasn't at home listening on the internet. We were there in person. I thought it was interesting how everything came together to help us get to where we needed to be. Another thing that made it interesting was that Phil was there too. But, yea, everything seemed to work together to cause us to have the money we needed for the trip and on top of it, Victoria had her Patriarchal Blessing not long prior to us going also. It is possible that the spiritual preparation put in prior to the blessing was also preparation for conference. That is my hope anyway. On the way down to the conference we did have a concern about our transmission. It would have cost us 170 dollars or so to fix it, but the mechanics we went to said they didn't want to do it because of liability issues should the transmission freeze because of the change in fluid. We carried on and the funny thing is that from that point on we saw no more evidence of the trouble...huh...strange, but I sure was glad because although we were ok on money, it certainly would have set us back to have that done. Our daughter, Kira, had this great idea to try to get her Dad and Thomas to the Priesthood Session, but she wasn't sure about the possibilities. They do have standby spots should some not show up so that may have been a possibility, but then she ran into President Adams at the conference center. In talking to him, he just happened to have a couple of extra tickets to the Priesthood Session. President Adams was our former Stake President. The change in our Presidency was made only about a month ago. Anyway, so she stopped by our Hotel to give us the tickets. I got to see Stephanie Maughan too since they were together. Steph was in our ward for a while. Wonderful girl. Anyway, so Phil and Thomas made it to the Session. They joked about President Monson's comment about concern for empty seats, but said that they had a full house. Phil said that President Uchtdorf gave a powerful talk during this session and after listening to it myself later, I see why. It truly was amazing. Unfortunately, I got us lost on the way to the car and we walked about as far as Phil could walk when we stopped at a gas station to ask for help. I even had called the police. It was dark out and I did not know Salt Lake City very well and Phil, because of his diatetes, could not walk any further. Anyway, there were some Priesthood brethren there who I had asked concerning where we were and directions and they were willing to help. The one had an injury and had lost his arm in a mining accident. They were the nicest people and agreed to help us. Although they were from Puerto Rico, they had lived in SLC for a while now, so they did know the area. They drove us right to where our car was as if they knew where to go from the start or had been directed there by some unseen power (the Holy Ghost of course). I was so greatful. Phil was not too happy with me for getting us lost. Also this saturday and prior to this session I got to see my niece who lives in Bountiful. I love GPS!!!! It's almost as good as the Holy Ghost! Notice I said almost! We had a great visit with her and her family. The next day was our conference session that we got tickets for. We had a relaxing morning, had breakfast at the Hotel and got dressed for the afternoon session. The session we attended was amazing. We didn't stand in line for a long period of time at all and were quickly able to find seats in our section. Lots was said that I really needed to hear and heed. The story of the current bush was retold and that made me think, the story of the atonement was told, relationships between husband and wife, so many good things were said. One thing that caught my attention though was the music. As I listened to the beautiful choir sing I noticed how unified they were in every degree. No one stood out. All the women were wearing blue dresses and the men were all in black suits with white shirts. It reminded me of the temple where the differance between men and woman are plain, but there is no differance beyond that. All are equal in God's eye's. In the temple all are dressed in white. No rich, no poor...all are the same and on equal ground in the eyes of God. This experience taught me how very important it is to be unified in the Lord. All voices were a beautiful blend of voices. Sometimes our insecurities cause us to want to stand out as someone special, but this is what we need to discover is that we were special from the start. Sometimes we may be afraid that others will stand out and our voice will not be heard as if we are not important...thus the message to know who you are and to also see others the way that God sees them. After conference we went to see Zach and his family for a while. This is our nephew and his family. We had a nice visit. The following day we were on our way back home after making a pit stop at Grandpa Carrs and at a local eatery. It was a good trip and all had a good time. We got home and we even had a little money to spare so I paid the tithing I should have paid before I left and the following day was payday. Whew, we made it. Thanks to He who watches over us all and loves to bless those who are striving.

Reason #37 - Patriotism

Patriotism is actually a pretty individual thing. People of every religion have varying degree's of patriotizm, however, I have found the LDS Church over all is very concerned about being dedicated citizens of whatever country they are from. I find it interesting during the years of persecution and when even the President of the United States would do nothing to help stop the violence against the Saints, that we would volunteer to serve our country and fight in the Mexican war and I find it amazing after all of this that they would hold so dear, the constitution of the United States. Even today there are many Latter Day Saints who serve in thier countries Armed Forces. We always sing our National Anthem on the 4th of July and we have special activities in the church to celebrate our independence as a nation. In addition we can often be found supporting other veteran programs and organizations.

Reason #36 - Pagaents

Latter Day Saints love the theatre, music, singing, and acting and so it seems only fitting that we would have pagaents to explain or portray our history. When I went to the Hill Cummorah Pagaent near Palmyra, New York there must have been 10,000 or more people there. All I remember is seeing a seemingly sea of people. It was incredible. What was more incredible were such large crowds of protestors as well who shouted against our pagaent and held signs denouncing our faith and hope in Christ. What was also amazing is that the Saints will go to these pagaents in whatever weather occurs. We were drenched during pouring down rain for the 2 and a half hour pagaent, but we were warm inside from the message given.

Reason 35 - Authority

I wouldn't want a policeman to perform surgery on me. He hasn't been trained and does not have the proper authority to do so. It is the same way in the LDS church. Because the Prophet was visited by men who held this authority anciently and bestowed this authority upon him, we have the authority in this church to perform certain ordinances and blessings. It is a powerful thing.

Reason #34 - Families

The LDS Church places a very strong emphasis on the Family as being eternal. We have the Family Home Evening Program, which is a program designed to strengthen the family by spending quality time together. In the Temple we can be sealed as families to parents, children, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc by doing vicarious work for our ancestors or by working with our family units here and now. Since we believe that our families can be eternal, it is important to us to learn how to be unified in the gospel and within our families so we can all sit down in Heaven together. Many of us have people in our lives that we cherish and it's hard to think that those relationships would end. They don't have to with the restored gospel and the power to seal with proper authority a family together for all time and eternity.

Reason #33 - Revelation

Prior to joining the LDS Church I was told that there can be no more scripture and basically no more communication from Heaven. After being a member of the LDS church for a while, however, I've discovered the importance of Revelation and continued communication from above through the Holy Ghost. It is by revelation that so many inspired programs have begun, it is by revelation that our Prophet, his counselors, the twelve, and the seventy build their talks to us, God's children, and it is by revelation (Holy Ghost) that we may know the truth of all things. Revelations can be instructive or Prophetic and it is all about guiding the individual (if an individual recieves revelation for self or for family) or the Church (if given to a Prophet) in the ways of truth. Revelation is also one of the things that sets us apart from the many other churches as being unique.

Reason #32 - Patriarchal Blessings

A patriarch is a priesthood member given authority from his stake president to give special blessings to members of the church, much like Isaac did long ago (Genesis 27:30). These blessings are meant to be a guide or compass for the one recieving it, of help and is to be referred to often as a help in making decisions, knowing of personal weaknesses or things that an individual may do in their life time. It also will give our linage, meaning it will give us knowledge of which tribe, of the twelve, we are descended from.