General Conference - Live!
The first weekends in April and October are always times that I look forward to. They are the times when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holds world-wide conferences, and we get to hear the words of living prophets and apostles. I always come away from these conferences feeling inspired to be a better person.
This year, our local bishop wanted Hannah to experience conference in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah before she leaves on her mission, and so our family was provided with tickets to both the Saturday evening General Women's session (the first time it was ever held conference weekend! Before it was always held the preceding Saturday.) for Hannah and me, as well as tickets to the Sunday morning session for the entire family.
Friday, October 5th was our stake temple day, so Hannah and I decided that while Steven was at work and the boys were at school, we would go up to the Fort Collins temple for a session that morning. The temple was busy, and we saw many familiar faces from our stake, which was a joy. It was nice to experience the peace of the temple before what would be a very hectic weekend.
We returned home from the temple to finish packing and loading the car and getting everything ready for our trip. Steven took the afternoon off work and arrived home shortly after we did to help in the preparations. John and Josh didn't have play rehearsal that day, so were able to come home immediately after school, and Peter was the last to get out of school - at 3:25, and we picked him up from school and kept on driving on our way to Utah. We arrived at my parent's home in Orem about 11:00 that night.
We watched the Saturday morning session of conference there at my parents' home with my sister Amber and her kids. We were a bit stunned by the announcement that starting next year, church will be for only two hours rather than the three we currently meet, allowing more time for gospel learning in the home. At the same time, I could see many benefits, and thought how exciting this change will be.
Following the session, we reloaded the car with all our stuff and headed to South Jordan, to the home of my sister Lindy. Hannah took the car to visit with a friend nearby, while the rest of us watched the afternoon session with Lindy and her family, as well as my sisters Kristy and Heather who had come from Missouri with their daughters (Katie and Natalie) to attend conference as well. Once again we were spiritually fed and uplifted.
Very shortly after the afternoon session ended, Hannah had returned, the car had been unloaded, and Hannah and I were on our way to Salt Lake to watch the General Women's session of conference. We managed to arrive safely without getting lost, we found parking, and found our way to the conference center to join the throngs of other women there in that magnificent building. It was amazing to be in the same room (albeit a large one) with a living prophet! I came away from that session resolved to accept President Nelson's challenge to hold a fast from social media for a time, to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year, to continue to attend the temple regularly, and to study the Relief Society purpose and declaration.
After Hannah and I made our way out of the Conference Center, we made our way to the visitor's center across the street where we met Heather, Kristy and my other sister Lia, who had also come with their daughters to watch this session of conference, but had been sitting in a different location in the Conference Center. Lia and her two daughters (McKenna and Kylie) had taken the train to Salt Lake from Provo, so they came with us to our car, and we drove them back to South Jordan where we went out to dinner with everyone who had been at Conference, as well as Lindy and Jessica who also met us at the restaurant. After dinner, we took Lia and her daughters to the train station in South Jordan so they could return home, and then we returned to Lindy's where the boys had spent the evening, and where we stayed the night.
The next morning we got up bright and early, loaded the car, and headed back to Salt Lake for the Sunday morning session of conference as a family. To be honest, I was feeling a bit worn thin by then, but it was wonderful to be on temple square with the family. We got there early enough that we could take a few family pictures on temple square before Steven hurried to return the camera to the car and we made our way to the Conference Center. The Sunday morning session is always preceded by the Tabernacle Choir presentation, "Music and the Spoken Word", and that was enjoyable to watch, and then the actual conference began. Once again we were enlightened and uplifted.
When the session was over, we made our way back to the parking lot, passing the protesters - the man in the devil costume, and the one who insisted that we believe in a different Jesus, one who was born in Jerusalem (because that's what it says in Alma 7:10, isn't it? I wonder if he ever asked a member of the church where we believe Christ was born... We could have told him we know he was born in Bethlehem, and that in the Book of Mormon it only says Jerusalem because that is how they referred to the land from which they came - kind of like saying I'm from Denver rather than specifying that I actually live in Thornton which is a suburb 10 miles from Denver, which is actually farther than Bethlehem is from Jerusalem...). Eventually we made it back to the car and then back to the open road, where we headed east towards home.
We listened to the Sunday afternoon session of conference on my phone via the car speakers as well as we could. Unfortunately the reception through the Wyoming foothills was a bit spotty for the first half, but after that it did better. There were more good talks, more things to think about and ponder, and more things that I wanted to review and listen to later.
Also we stopped at my other sister April's home in Cheyenne briefly for a rest stop before continuing on our way home. It was about hat point that I realized that I had seen almost all my sisters on this trip - all except for Heidi, the youngest. She was going to join the rest of the family for lunch in Orem on Sunday, but since we had decided to head home after the morning session, we missed her. :(
We finally arrived home around 9pm Sunday night absolutely exhausted, but feeling spiritually uplifted. We unloaded the car and then went to bed. Seminary came early Monday morning.
This year, our local bishop wanted Hannah to experience conference in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah before she leaves on her mission, and so our family was provided with tickets to both the Saturday evening General Women's session (the first time it was ever held conference weekend! Before it was always held the preceding Saturday.) for Hannah and me, as well as tickets to the Sunday morning session for the entire family.
Friday, October 5th was our stake temple day, so Hannah and I decided that while Steven was at work and the boys were at school, we would go up to the Fort Collins temple for a session that morning. The temple was busy, and we saw many familiar faces from our stake, which was a joy. It was nice to experience the peace of the temple before what would be a very hectic weekend.
We returned home from the temple to finish packing and loading the car and getting everything ready for our trip. Steven took the afternoon off work and arrived home shortly after we did to help in the preparations. John and Josh didn't have play rehearsal that day, so were able to come home immediately after school, and Peter was the last to get out of school - at 3:25, and we picked him up from school and kept on driving on our way to Utah. We arrived at my parent's home in Orem about 11:00 that night.
We watched the Saturday morning session of conference there at my parents' home with my sister Amber and her kids. We were a bit stunned by the announcement that starting next year, church will be for only two hours rather than the three we currently meet, allowing more time for gospel learning in the home. At the same time, I could see many benefits, and thought how exciting this change will be.
Following the session, we reloaded the car with all our stuff and headed to South Jordan, to the home of my sister Lindy. Hannah took the car to visit with a friend nearby, while the rest of us watched the afternoon session with Lindy and her family, as well as my sisters Kristy and Heather who had come from Missouri with their daughters (Katie and Natalie) to attend conference as well. Once again we were spiritually fed and uplifted.
Very shortly after the afternoon session ended, Hannah had returned, the car had been unloaded, and Hannah and I were on our way to Salt Lake to watch the General Women's session of conference. We managed to arrive safely without getting lost, we found parking, and found our way to the conference center to join the throngs of other women there in that magnificent building. It was amazing to be in the same room (albeit a large one) with a living prophet! I came away from that session resolved to accept President Nelson's challenge to hold a fast from social media for a time, to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year, to continue to attend the temple regularly, and to study the Relief Society purpose and declaration.After Hannah and I made our way out of the Conference Center, we made our way to the visitor's center across the street where we met Heather, Kristy and my other sister Lia, who had also come with their daughters to watch this session of conference, but had been sitting in a different location in the Conference Center. Lia and her two daughters (McKenna and Kylie) had taken the train to Salt Lake from Provo, so they came with us to our car, and we drove them back to South Jordan where we went out to dinner with everyone who had been at Conference, as well as Lindy and Jessica who also met us at the restaurant. After dinner, we took Lia and her daughters to the train station in South Jordan so they could return home, and then we returned to Lindy's where the boys had spent the evening, and where we stayed the night.
The next morning we got up bright and early, loaded the car, and headed back to Salt Lake for the Sunday morning session of conference as a family. To be honest, I was feeling a bit worn thin by then, but it was wonderful to be on temple square with the family. We got there early enough that we could take a few family pictures on temple square before Steven hurried to return the camera to the car and we made our way to the Conference Center. The Sunday morning session is always preceded by the Tabernacle Choir presentation, "Music and the Spoken Word", and that was enjoyable to watch, and then the actual conference began. Once again we were enlightened and uplifted.
When the session was over, we made our way back to the parking lot, passing the protesters - the man in the devil costume, and the one who insisted that we believe in a different Jesus, one who was born in Jerusalem (because that's what it says in Alma 7:10, isn't it? I wonder if he ever asked a member of the church where we believe Christ was born... We could have told him we know he was born in Bethlehem, and that in the Book of Mormon it only says Jerusalem because that is how they referred to the land from which they came - kind of like saying I'm from Denver rather than specifying that I actually live in Thornton which is a suburb 10 miles from Denver, which is actually farther than Bethlehem is from Jerusalem...). Eventually we made it back to the car and then back to the open road, where we headed east towards home.
We listened to the Sunday afternoon session of conference on my phone via the car speakers as well as we could. Unfortunately the reception through the Wyoming foothills was a bit spotty for the first half, but after that it did better. There were more good talks, more things to think about and ponder, and more things that I wanted to review and listen to later.Also we stopped at my other sister April's home in Cheyenne briefly for a rest stop before continuing on our way home. It was about hat point that I realized that I had seen almost all my sisters on this trip - all except for Heidi, the youngest. She was going to join the rest of the family for lunch in Orem on Sunday, but since we had decided to head home after the morning session, we missed her. :(
We finally arrived home around 9pm Sunday night absolutely exhausted, but feeling spiritually uplifted. We unloaded the car and then went to bed. Seminary came early Monday morning.
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