After the fiasco last afternoon and evening, I am attempting things again. A brief nap of fifteen minutes turned into hours yesterday, so I missed all but the last talk of the afternoon session. A birthday party for the daughters of a friend meant I could not make it to the priesthood session too. Maybe I should have chosen next April’s general conference for this experiment.
So here goes again on a chilly, but sunny Sabbath morning.
Sunday Morning Session
President Henry B. Eyring opened with a quote from Joseph Smith wondering where God was while he was suffering in jail. Our feelings of separation from God will fade if we are more obedient and childlike. He explained that Jesus Christ always watches over us, even if we do not see Him or open ourselves to Him. There is a need to listen for direction from the Holy Ghost and try not to let our personal desires cloud our judgment. “The Lord’s delays often seem long…” A challenge was made to go to someone you have wronged and apologize, or did I mishear that?
Trying to type and listen does not work too well, I am finding.
Boyd K. Packer addressed those who are suffering and in despair. When he was organizing a stake years ago, he was on a boat that ended up in a storm and a light from the harbor saved them from getting lost. He referred to the hymn, Brightly Beams Our Father’s Mercy and quoted from it, before moving on to the atonement. The Savior knew suffering; we can be forgiven if we repent our sins and through Christ.
Linda K. Burton, General Relief Society President, led with a four word phrase: “First observe, then serve.” I think I know what the theme of her talk will be. Service is one of my favorite subjects, btw. Lots of short accounts of people giving service were recounted.
Walter F. Gonzalez from the Presidency of the Seventy spoke of coming unto Christ. He relayed the experience of a man in Uruguay who fell in a motorcycle accident and was helped by missionaries. He ended up becoming a faithful member running members to church on the same motorcycle even during winter.
A good summary of developing faith and doing the basics followed along with a nice call to repentance and baptism. The blessings that come from this were gone into, especially healing.
Jeffrey R. Holland provided an interesting perspective on what it was like for the remaining eleven apostles when Christ died on the Cross and were without His guidance. People don’t realize that they had only been followers for three years when this happened.
I’m loving this talk so far.
Elder Holland asked for permission to give an interpretation of what it was like for them just after the resurrection and went fishing. Peter’s exchange with the Savior was gone into detail with an emphasis on Jesus’ question, “Do you love me more than all this?”
It is all about the first and most important commandment. Very powerful talk.
President Thomas S. Monson reflected that it was 49 years since he was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Step back from dwelling on the negatives in society, but look at the blessing in your life was advised. Take an inventory of your life and look at the blessings big and small.
The importance of listening to the guidance of the Spirit and to immediately act on it. An example was given of how he had followed a prompting and ended up talking to a friend who had been planning to commit suicide. President Monson’s listening and acting on the prompting saved that man’s life and he lived for many more years.
His gentle sense of humor was on full display talking about technical problems that happened with a Jumbotron during a youth performance. It is an endearing quality the Prophet of the Church that is unique to him. You can’t help loving him.
And so ends my second feeble attempt at live blogging. I do not think I will be making a habit of this for future general conferences. Part of the problem is that I am terrible at writing sound bite or Twitter style sentences. Brevity may be the soul of wit, but it is the enemy of the spiritual in my opinion.
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