Another great conference! We were away from home for the previous two General Conferences (in Quebec in October, and in Texas in April!) which is unusual for us, so it felt good to be back doing the old familiar things. And I loved hearing the Tabernacle Choir singing so many of the new hymns so I could hear how pretty they are!
Here are some of my quick impressions, with apologies for my bastardization (you don't mind me using that word about conference, do you? haha) of the quotations—the official transcripts aren't out yet!
• Sister Amy Wright saying that we need to "infuse the light of Christ into every corner of our lives." And that while parental love can help and comfort our children, only Jesus and Heavenly Father's love can save them!
• Sister Runia's talk was really good. I loved her last talk (Oct 2023 Conference) too. I loved the idea that God cares more about what happens after our mistakes than the mistakes themselves. And I like her insistence that God isn't sad or disappointed in us for needing to repent, but instead "excited" and "delighted" and "joyful" when we do! I am sometimes hesitant to use those kind of words about Jesus and Heavenly Father, feeling that surely they sometimes must be disappointed and exasperated and displeased with me. But my patriarchal blessing refers to "the enthusiasm" with which Jesus anticipates some of the contributions I will make, so I've thought a lot about that. Does He really feel "enthusiastic" about my work and progress? I have to believe He does. It's interesting to think of Him like that. And I love the idea of pondering, "What would the Savior say if He were praying for me?"
• Elder Patrick Kearon spoke on much the same theme (and with similar words about the way God feels about us). I liked his emphasis on the fact that if we want to truly receive the full effect of this knowledge, we have to actively draw close to it, cling to it, and rejoice in it. "Don't complicate it." As we see life through the lens of God's personal love for us, "life takes on new brilliance and beauty." I love that.
• Sister Camille N. Johnson. Another great talk from her. I have never considered in the slightest that there might be a difference between being "healed" and being "made whole," but I'm intrigued by that new thought. Malachi really liked this talk too (he loves it when someone surprises him with a new insight). I liked her phrase "the blessing of becoming acquainted with God."
• I don't have any specific quotes from Elder Steven Lund's talk but I liked it for its vision of what the Priesthood can be for our boys and men. He either said, or I just had the thought, that the priesthood gives men and boys everything they need to become who they need to become. I had a very similar thought come to me through inspiration years ago, when Sebastian was 11 or so, and I have become more convinced of it over the years.
• I liked S. Mark Palmer's talk (and accent). He talked about the fallen willow tree that was, in fact, able to be saved. I loved the person he quoted in his talk: "My parents decided to love me. They stuck to that one big decision" even as their child wandered from the gospel, and because of that, "the one thing that was not hard about returning was the feeling of being back home where I belong."
Another thought I had during his talk was that although I always notice the scriptures about how in the Last Days "even the very elect shall fall away"—it doesn't say anywhere that those very elect will not also come back! I've been listening to a few episodes from that "Come Back Podcast" and it has so many beautiful stories of that very thing happening. It's good to remember that when I'm feeling discouraged with how many people seem to be turning away from their former faith.
• Elder James Rasband's insight from Doctrine and Covenants 109 about how going to the temple will allow the "hearts of all people to be softened"—not merely our own hearts, but even the hearts of those we love and care about who are not going to the temple!
• Elder Steven D. Shumway's talk was one of my favorites. He was the one who started with the story about how overwhelmed he felt with his general authority calling, and then asked "why does God give us callings and ask things of us that overwhelm us? I loved "God delights to honor us [there's that word again] when we say yes to serving. Saying yes to Christ is saying yes to the most abundant life possible." And I love that he connected our service with being prepared for the Second Coming of Jesus—saying that our willing work to serve and build God's kingdom is the best possible way to be prepared for that day!
• So many people talked about service as the way to happiness, which isn't a new concept or anything, but I noticed a specific aspect to those promises that I've also heard the guy from The Other Side Academy
talk about before; i.e. that our service
anywhere in God's vineyard will (somewhat mysteriously) help those closest to us as well, and bring inexplicable happiness even though we sorrow over those we cannot yet reach.
Bishop Gerald Caussé mentioned this idea, that even when we've done all we can in one situation and can't do any more for now, we can keep serving elsewhere and trust the "compensating blessings" that will come, even to the point that angels will assist us from the beyond the veil.
Elder John McCune also reiterated that "you can't be happier than your most unhappy child" is false when we have a gospel perspective. He said that because we are bound to the Savior, we can find and grasp joy in keeping our covenants even when others don't, and when sorrowful things surround us—we are actually
endowed with the power to have this joy! And
President Eyring talked about it too, quoting in the Doctrine and Covenants when Joseph and Hyrum were told as they went off to serve God in other places, "your families are in mine hands."
• Elder Uchtdorf was great as always. "Most people experience church first as how they feel and how we treat each other." I think it's so true for young children in Primary too. Their first experience of the gospel is how they feel when they are taught about it. When I was a primary teacher I was so anxious to try and at least just make the children feel that I liked them, that I enjoyed being with them, whether or not they listened to me very well! I don't know if I succeeded at that but I did think about it a lot! And I want to make sure I'm making that effort to everyone I see at church, not just the children.
• Elder Christoffersen's talk on worship and Elder Soares' talk on reverence seemed like companion talks. Neither of those subjects are something I would have predicted would be that important to speak about, but as I think about what Elder Soares said, how casualness and irreverence is more and more the norm in our world, it makes sense. I thought it was very interesting to connect A.I. to this topic too!
• I thought it was so interesting when Elder Rasband said something like "More education means more access to good employment, which means more access to opportunities to serve." I like to think of education as being all directed toward that end goal! Not toward "a good job" (which is a good goal, and what I've always thought of before, but it's incomplete)—because why do we want a "good job"? The best reason is so that we can serve others. Starting with our own families, of course—Sam's education has been such a blessing to me and our children because of how it's allowed me to be home with our family. But others as well. I was talking to one of my sons after conference and trying to convey this same principle—that everything he can learn, every talent he can develop, will be so much more valuable and fulfilling to him when he is able to use it to serve others! We know people who have learned about topics as varied as cars, home repairs, family law, owning a business, beekeeping, music—and then used that knowledge to absolutely serve and bless us in ways they never would have been able to without that education. And that's not even taking into account people who make lots of extra money, or work up to lots of extra time away from their jobs, and then use that money and time to directly serve and bless others, which I know could also have been part of what Elder Rasband meant.
• Elder Stevenson (who likes bunnies, by the way—we know this because he told a bunny story once, and also because he calls them "bunnies," and also because he said his Easter decorations used to be mostly bunnies!) had one of the best stories of conference—the one about the mean customs officer being transformed and smiling when she saw the picture of Jesus. I love how Elder Stevenson said something like "Jesus can connect people and bring us out of our mundane, routine actions to something higher and holier."
•
Elder Gong's felt like a talk I'm going to like when I read it again. He was circling around the topic of weeping for sorrow and joy, and then he brought in how Jesus's presence was a blessing to Egypt even as Egypt sheltered Jesus, and I think it was an analogy of how we and those of other faiths can reinforce and bless each other, but it also felt like another call-out to that idea that when we serve
anyone,
anywhere, our own loved ones end up being blessed. Then he talked about how spiritual sequence and convergence are part of divine patterns. I'm not sure what he meant by that, but I thought about the liturgical year that those of the Catholic faith celebrate, and how those yearly rhythms undergird their understanding of the world, the gospel, and their faith itself. Seasons do the same thing for me, more so every year, as each season makes me think about gospel parallels. I also just
read something about how during each sacrament meeting, we live a microcosm of the Easter Story by singing a hymn and solemnly commemorating Christ's death and burial, then hearing His voice again through words and songs, and being grateful anew as our fellow saints bear testimony that He is risen! So maybe this is what Elder Gong was getting at too. All these cycles, along with our personal cycles of of sorrow and joy and faith and struggle, keep leading us closer to the fulness God has in store for us.
And then dear President Nelson. He still does not look old at all. I love his happy face and his enthusiastic voice. I will need to study his talk but I am so intrigued by the connection of virtue, charity and confidence. I love the reminder to take intentional steps to grow in confidence and get closer to God. I loved his earnest and heartfelt assurance that God is urging him and prompting him to tell us to prepare for the Second Coming of Christ!
Other posts in this series:
