My April Conference "Review"

 

My remarks at April Mission-wide Zone Leaders Meeting on April 7-

"Last Saturday evening, I put the following on my Facebook page:

“My summary of the first day of General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

"And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."

Although that scripture was not quoted today, that is what was done....the thread through the talks in all three sessions.

Can't wait for tomorrow...Easter Sunday and Conference...a perfect combination.”

Then Sunday afternoon I added:

And day two...ditto and amen!

I think that sums up our feelings about General Conference—"We talk of Christ, we preach of Christ….”

To be totally truthful—when I was younger, I really didn’t like it when Easter fell on Conference weekend----I felt it focused the talks too much on the events of Easter and there wasn’t the same “variety of talks” what ever that means.  The same when Conference landed on April 6 and it felt like that was a leaning toward the Restoration of the Church.  Fortunately, in the intervening years, I have matured at least a little—and I loved an Easter-Conference weekend like the one we just had.  And while it did not have some of the “surprise” factors other than the list of 20 new temples—this was the best conference ever!

Let me share some of the powerful “one-liners”—Some of these are taken from news releases and some are from my notes which might not be exactly what was said—just the gist—

President Nelson: “He is risen to lead His Church.  He is risen to bless the lives of all of God’s children, wherever they live.  With faith in Him, we can move the mountains in our lives.”

Elder Uchtdorf: “no matter your circumstances, trials, sufferings, or mistakes; you can know that He lives, that He loves you, and because of Him, you will never be alone.  God is among us.”

Elder Neil Anderson: “While we weep, we also rejoice in the glorious resurrection of our Savior.  Because of Him, our loved one and friends continue their eternal journey.”

Elder Soares:  Savior is our ultimate caregiver.

Elder Gary Stevenson: “When we confront life’s wind and rainstorms, sickness and injuries, the Lord—our Shepherd, our caregiver—will nourish us with love and kindness.  He will heal our hearts and restore our souls.”

Elder Mutombo:  Jesus Christ is the light of the world so we do not need to walk in darkness.

Elder Gerrit Gong:  He shared about becoming like Christ—the Good Samaritan and then stated “We prepare for His promised Second Coming as each day we do unto the “least of these” as we would unto Him.  “The least of these’ is each of us.”

It is not enough to feel the power of the talks and of the Spirit during Conference.  The goal is to take their messages and allow the Spirit to direct us in our own growth of the next six months.  Many of the talks referred to “excavating our faults and weakness” to become better followers of Christ.  Others admonished us to reach out to others in better ways and make all feel a part of our wards and branches and our lives.

How powerful was the analogy Elder Dale Renlund used; We should not only avoid “throwing stones” we should be “stone catchers.”  We need a lot of stone catchers in the world—both outside and inside the Church.

We were reminded of the two great commandments: To love God with all of our heart, mind, and spirit and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Now I have two endings for my remarks—when I discussed that with Elder Hall, he suggested that I pray about that to know how to end.  I replied, that I did and that is why I was asking him.  As we discussed the two endings, Elder Hall ended by saying—Choose the way that is needed by those in attendance….

One ending shares the personal direction I feel to love even more like the Savior than before.

The second is related to my answers to my personal question I posed before Conference weekend started.

Here is my first ending:

I love people.  For as long as I remember, that has been the case.  My parents were great examples and I learned from them.  I also feel it is one of the gifts of the Spirit that I was blessed with---I can’t sing or draw, so I had to have something.  Although not a new thought, I was struck by the need to do better to become even more like Christ in the way I interact with people.  I am a good neighbor and friend.  I highly value helping people feel a part of the group.  I have served in the community.  But one of the overriding feelings I had was that I need to do better—that through the ways that I interact with others, I wanted them to feel the love of the Savior and their Heavenly Father for them.  I have some ideas on where to improve and I trust my Heavenly Father does too.  I want to be a discipline of Christ who serves the least of these—which is all of us and is a stone catcher for those who need protection.

One of the privileges we have in our assignment at the Church History Library is interviewing mission presidents and their companions.  One very common thread that almost everyone says in one way or another is how kind and attentive the Apostles and other members of the Seventies are during interviews with them and other interactions.  They are role models as you are to me—to do a little better, be a little more responsive to the spirit, and be more proactive rather than reactive to those around me.  To serve and interact with each other more like Christ would."

And I ended with my testimony, but I can’t remember exactly what I said.  So this is my summation of General Conference.  What was yours?