First, I shared 3 stories of how conference has blessed me:
Sister Oscarson's .Young Women in the Work has shaped how I try to lead the YW. It has been a talk that I have read and reread. Last Friday (the day before conference) I went to the Salt Lake Temple. Sister Oscarson was one of the temple workers and I got to meet her and briefly tell her that her talk has made such a difference for me.
6 months ago, President Nelson challenged us to spend more time in the temple, to make an appointment with the Lord and keep it. I explained that I wanted to follow this counsel but wasn't sure how to make it work in my schedule. But I determined I would try...and I found that if I go to the Salt Lake Temple right after work, I can fit it into my schedule nearly every week. The Lord blessed me to be able to figure out a way to follow this counsel...and by following the counsel, I have had so much more peace and joy and direction in my life.
Elder Holland: There is a bit more to this story but there was a point when it was really hard to go to church. Alfredo wasn't very active and it was hard to go by myself with 3 kids. And I was tired and overwhelmed with working and having a family and I began to wonder if maybe things would be easier if I stopped going. One day Bishop Delamare shared a video of Elder Holland given at some kind of meeting...not conference... and it changed me. Then a few months later, Elder Holland gave almost that same talk in conference and it is my most favorite conference talk ever. It helped me know that I definitely needed to keep going to church...helped me to determine that I wanted to be a disciple forever and has guided how I've tried to live my life since then. I don't know what would have happened if I'd stopped going...hopefully someone would have reached out to rescue me...but maybe not. What would my life be like and my children's lives be like if it weren't for that talk? I shudder to think.The First Great Commandment I actually shared from 10:50-15:45 of his talk with the young women.
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There is almost no group in history for whom I have more sympathy than I have for the eleven remaining Apostles immediately following the death of the Savior of the world. I think we sometimes forget just how inexperienced they still were and how totally dependent upon Jesus they had of necessity been. To them He had said,“Have I been so long ...
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We read two verses of scripture about why General Conference is so great/that the speakers are speaking what the Savior would say to us if He were here:
D&C 68:3=4
D&C 1:37-38
I let them share some of their favorite parts of conference.
We talked about the importance of rewatching and studying the words of general conference over the next 6 months. I shared a few ideas and let them share ideas of how to learn from gen conference:
*write notes in a journal and reread them regularly
*look for repeated words/phrases
*explanation of scriptures...Notice when they explain what passages of scripture mean.
*read and reread...try to read or listen to a talk daily or at least weekly
*study multiple talks on same topic
*godhead: One thing I have done for 3 or 4 years now is after each conference I take notes on EVERY thing they said about each member of the Godhead. It's blessed my life immensely. My testimony has grown, my knowledge and understanding of their character, and my relationship with them has grown.
*look for warnings, commandments, counsel. Pres Nelson often says " I plead with you" In April conference he said, "Now, as President of His Church, I plead with you who have distanced yourselves from the Church and with you who have not yet really sought to know that the Savior’s Church has been restored. Do the spiritual work to find out for yourselves, and please do it now. Time is running out."
*look for promised blessings/apostolic blessings:
For example, Elder Cook gave this blessing in April Conference: "I promise that as we focus on our love for the Savior and His Atonement, make Him the centerpiece of our efforts to gather Israel on both sides of the veil, minister to others, and individually prepare to meet God, the influence of the adversary will be diminished and the joy, delight, and peace of the gospel will magnify our homes with Christlike love.32 I testify of these doctrinal promises and bear a sure witness of Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice in our behalf, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."
I noticed several themes in conference...making our homes a sanctuary, sharing the gospel and gathering Israel on both sides of the veil, repentance...
As a teenager, I saw repentance as a bad thing...it made me feel guilty and ashamed. Now I realize repentance isn't something created in case we mess up but an essential part of the plan because WE WILL. I'm so grateful for it. It's a blessing to be cleansed from sin!! Now it's a doctrine and principle that I deeply LOVE.
I've noticed in the scriptures as I've been studying lately how often it says his "His hand is stretched out still"...that it will talk about the wickedness and sins and errors of people but over and over it assures us that His hand is stretched out still. Our Savior and Redeemer is so merciful and will cleanse and heal us.
I brought excerpts from 3 talks that speak about repentance and broke the girls into 3 groups. They read the talks and then created posters about what they learned to share with the other groups:
The talks we used were
President Nelson's talk: We Can Do Better and Be Better
Sharon Eubank: Christ: The Light that Shines in Darkness
Tad R. Callister: The Atonement of Jesus Christ
I picked these because I thought they could relate to the images of the temple being unlit, the wool dyed red becoming white, and the parachute...and to the phrase "we can do better and be better." They did such a great job of creating posters and then sharing with each other what they learned.
We didn't use Elder Oaks' talk Cleansed by Repentance but we could have. It's another great talk on repentance.
Oh how I love conference!!!
