We just had the 183rd Semi-annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I've been working lately on coming much closer to my Savior. I've been praying to know how I can do this. I've been studying His word daily. Not just a chapter here and there, but I've been REALLY digging deep into the scriptures and trying to understand more about the history surrounding a doctrine or event. It's been awesome. Then came Conference! (For those who've seen "The Singles Ward," say it with the same awe and excitement as they had over the new big screen TV.) Our family makes a big deal about it. It's like the Mormon Superbowl. I'm serious. We have a blast. The adults filled out our "Fantasy General Conference" brackets. We guessed which apostles would speak during the Priesthood Session. We selected 10 of the members of the quorums of the Seventy who would speak throughout conference. We guessed which hymns we would sing as a congregation, and we guessed which of the various auxiliary presidency members would speak. It was really fun to see a speaker come up and say, "Hey, I picked him/her! That was MY general authority." We spent the previous week or so preparing the kids for this awesome time. They were SO excited! When the apostles would come up (we were watching on a Roku at my in-law's house), they would excitedly shouted, "That's President Uchtdorf!" Or "That's Elder Packer." It was sweet! We had food and games and different hands on activities to keep the kids focused on the point. We have a tradition of taking a walk around the neighborhood between sessions and I got to lead the walk this time. The kids enjoy naming the kinds of walks they go on. When they go to this one particular park, it's a "honey walk." When they're grandpa takes them for a walk, they call it a "Shupaw walk" complete with Shupaw treats. But with me, we took a "Crystal walk" and I will cherish that for years to come. What sweet children!
OK, back to the actual conference. Holy Cow! I felt like almost every single talk was pointed at me and my questions lately. I've had concerns in various areas of my life. Some are too personal to share here, but I think one common concern is how to help my family come closer to Christ, how to bring more peace into my home, and how to deal with the growing evil in this world. Every single one of those concerns, and many more, were covered in conference, in multiple talks. There were a few talks that I wouldn't have been surprised if the speaker had looked directly into the camera and said, "Crystal, we know you've been praying about this and Heavenly Father wants you to hear this." It was THAT great! I encourage you to listen to any and all talks that you can. In a couple days, they'll be available to read as well. The talks are translated into several languages, so if English isn't your first language, I'm sure you'll find your home language there.
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2013/04?lang=eng
Oh, yeah, I guess you'd like to know the winners of our little games. My sister-in-law Amber (who couldn't even make it that day!) won the fantasy brackets with 9 correct guesses, I think. I was 2nd place. We also had a game to guess the number of members, new baptisms, and operating temples. My brother-in-law Sam won that one. Then there was a group of pictures from when the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve were children and you had to guess which was which. That was pretty cute. My father-in-law Wes won that one. He got close to double the correct answers of anyone else!
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