General ConferenceGeneral Conference. Ok, let's just say WHOA!!! This weekend was the one of the most amazing weekends that I have ever had. It was so incredible. I love this church. I love this gospel. I am so unbelievably happy that Orion gave me that triple. It's amazing the priesthood power that is on the earth today, the marvelousness of the work, and the amazing destiny. The Savior is coming back. I know He is. And it will be soon, too, which is just mind boggling, but it's true. Wowowowowow…
We kept waiting, and Kevin got into the getting warm act, putting
his arms around both Kelly and me, which was kind of weird, but it
really did help to keep us warm. We watched the massive standby line
file across the street into the Conference Center, and I nervously
watched the time as the minutes ticked down to the start of the first
session. I got there in the middle of President
Hinckley's introduction, so I didn't miss much, but I was sad
that I missed the opening prayer. Elder
Scott started talking next - he's so cool! He started off by talking
about how excited we were in the preexistence to come into mortality
and continued by outlining the plan of happiness. Next was Elder Jensen of the 70, and he spoke on humility, which was cool. I don't think that there was any one part that really impressed me, but I still liked it a bunch. We all stood up to sing "Come, Come Ye Saints" after that, which was cool. Someday I'll get the verses straight, but I still had to use my hymnal. It was good to stretch out too. Sister Reynolds from the Primary Presidency talked next on miracles. It was an all right talk - the story about her daughter's twins was touching - but it wasn't particularly compelling. After her, though, was Elder Holland. He is amazing! He's definitely one of my favorite 15. He talked about how members need to get into the missionary business too, and he emphasized that no missionaries can succeed without members. Yeah! Despiértate, America, the Lord needs your help! That's the reason the missionaries got yanked from our ward. He then talked about ways we could help, and the first of course was to live the gospel. That's really important, because the way that most people will get interested is because so-and-so is a Mormon and left such a good impression on them. The people don't join because of what they know, it's what they feel - that's another thing he said. The next was familiar too - to pray for the missionaries. The third point he made was interesting too, because Kevin is always going off on it because most people never think of it. Elder Holland said that we should pray for the people who need the missionaries. It's so true. In one of his recent letters Orion was bemoaning the fact that none of his investigators wanted to go to church let alone get baptized, and he thought that he was being a bad missionary and all. See, it's not really his fault at all, because even if he was the most amazing missionary in the whole world, it doesn't mean squat if the people aren't prepared to feel the Spirit. He also mentioned senior missionaries, which was the second time that had been mentioned (Elder Scott said it too). It's really interesting - I read just a couple days ago about how they were consolidating missions in the far east because the number of young men ages 15-19 dropped from 200-something thousand to 75000 in four years. President
Monson finished up the session by talking about service, compassion,
and being a good Samaritan. It was an all right talk, and he used
the example of the Oklahoma City bombing. The Motab finished up with
"I Know That
My Redeemer Lives." I was just sitting there on the blanket in
the sun, listening to the music, gazing at the Tabernacle and taking
in all the sights and sounds of Temple Square, and I thought back
to how it was last year - having to sneak around my parents, forbidden
from doing anything related to the Church, begging Heavenly Father
to please open some way for me to be able to see Conference. We stayed there for a while until I quit weeping (okay, it was a long time, but hey - I was happy!), and then Kevin gave me some Kleenex to wipe off my mascara because it was smeared everywhere. (Hey - it was supposed to be waterproof - I want a refund!) Kelly went to meet her dad, and then the rest of us all picked up and walked across the street to try to find food. Well, that was a bad idea, because all forty thousand people who were at Temple Square for Conference also went there because it was the closest place to find food! The only place that didn't have hundreds of people crowding around it was the coffee bar. We left quickly and walked on down the street. We went to Subway, where there were surprisingly few people for its proximity to the mall. I started to feel a little lonely then, because Monica and Robby were getting along pretty nicely and Kevin wasn't really paying me any mind. I felt a little left out, but I tried not to pay it any mind just then. We started walking back, and as we were going we ran into a friend
of Monika's. She stopped to chat, and we waited around a bit, but
we got bored. I offered to go save us seats in the Tabernacle (I really
did not want to be late for this session like we were this morning),
and Kevin asked "¿Dónde es el tiempo?" which is really funny because
that means "Where is the time?" I was confused a sec, but then Robby
and I burst out laughing. He did a Homer Simpson "doh!" thing and
corrected himself - it was pretty funny. I found a nice pew with lots
of open room, and I scattered books and papers and stuff to save the
seats. At any rate, as usual they kicked it off with sustaining the General Authorities. There was something rather thrilling about raising my right hand to sustain the prophet in the Tabernacle. Brother Jones read the audit report, and then was the statistical report, which always brings me a nerdy kind of joy. (Math majors - I tell ya…) I was really disturbed, though, when they read the convert baptisms. (OK, I cheered at first, because one was me!) Last year we had a good 330,000, and in 2000 we only had 273,973! That's a HUGE drop, especially given the increase in missionaries. Why did that happen, I wonder? Is the world simply becoming more wicked and not listening to the message? Have we already come into contact with everyone and they are sick of hearing it? Are our missionaries being ineffective? I mulled that over a bit as he went on to announce the number of members (more than 11 million now! Yeah!) the number of missionaries, and the number of temples dedicated this year (Thirty four - can you believe it?). The first speaker of this session was Elder Packer. I don't know why, but he makes me a little uneasy. I mean, I've read his books and they are very good, and I sustain him as an apostle of the Lord. I know part of it is from talking to some of the people on the About.com boards - they weren't fans of him, but I know I shouldn't listen to them. It might be also the way he talks - he has a very direct manner of speaking, and he usually selects hard topics to speak on (as in "the wicked taketh the truth to be hard"). He spoke on guilt this time. A large part of the torment we receive from our sins is our own personal guilt, but through Christ's Atonement we can be cleansed. We need to do our part, of course - repent and obey His laws and ordinances. Next was Elder Hales. I really like him! I am so glad that he has recovered! His talk was entirely a plug for senior missionaries - the need for them and how they bless families. It was great, and I was all excited until I realized that I didn't really know anyone I could go bug to go on a mission. That's okay. Someday I will be a senior missionary, and that will be exciting. Elder Christensen of the 70 followed and talked about the family, and then Elder L. Aldin Porter spoke. (I really like him too - he was great to hear at the fireside a couple months ago.) He talked about testimony. Next was Elder Nelson of the 12, and he talked about preparing for the temple. Well, after kind of dozing through the last couple talks (that's why I don't remember much - sorry! Hey, I got 4 hours of sleep the night before!!) all of us sitting there were scrambling for our notebooks and writing frantically. It was such a good talk, and I got super excited again. He told about the temple's significance and specific things to read before going. Ooh, I can't wait til I can go to the temple! I wish I could go right now, but I know that even if I didn't have that baptism rule it'd be seriously doubtful - not many girls get endowed at 18. I don't think it's going to happen at 19 either - maybe 20 if I am lucky. Darn it, I wish I didn't have to wait!!! (Haha, story of my life.) Next was Elder Perry, and he gave a talk that got me excited too. He was talking about how missionary work is great, but we need to strengthen members too. People are watching us, and it doesn't do very good to point at things they should do better if we can't do them either. It was great! There are so many people who are just kind of riding along with their Church membership, not knowing what a precious jewel they hold. Before I was baptized I wanted to strangle them because they had what I desired so badly and they didn't even care! I've of course mellowed a bit (otherwise some people here would be in some serious trouble), but it still really bugs me. The session ended with a rousing rendition (okay, it was calm and peaceful as fits the Spirit) of "Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee." After the session ended, we managed to push our way down to shake hands with Elder Ballard. Wowie zowie - now I have shaken hands with him twice!
We then walked on down to the Church History Museum. It was of course populated with nothing but women and children. We checked our bags and then we looked out the window, and it was really quite amazing to see the massive line of priesthood holders stretch around the walls of Temple Square. Think of all that priesthood power! It was very thrilling - I love this Church! I wish I had gotten a picture of it. We started to look around the museum, but we were all so terribly tired that it really didn't make too big of an impact. I made a special point to go look at the Living Christ exhibit so I could count it for a Great Works. Some of the pictures in there are really quite amazing - I love it. I wish I had been more awake. There's this one that showed a red cloth hanging over a chair that faded into a brilliant white one. It was so cool. All the pictures of the Savior - wow! I hope I can go back before the year is over. We then walked back across the street (it was only about 6:30 by this time) to the North Visitor's Center. It's totally under construction because they want it to be all spiffy for the Olympics next year. They had two things open - they were showing Legacy and they had the Christus room. We got there a little too late for Legacy, and there were way too many people waiting to go see the Christus, so we opted to slump in a couple chairs for the next hour and a half. We read, snoozed, and chatted with this girl who was majoring in electrical engineering up at the University of Idaho. It was fun - she's a cool gal. She's a tomboy like Monika, and they were getting into the complicated stuff. I kind of felt bad that I didn't really know the chemistry and physics stuff they were discussing, but I'm happy with my major. Finally, it was about that time. We walked out and saw Kevin hanging around the grate. We walked down with our roses and he asked about them. (Haha!) Then as we were walking back, he told Kelly something that made her shriek and attack him with hugs. Monika and I were somewhat bewildered. When we made it back into the (warm) Visitor's Center to where our electrical engineering friend was sitting, he told us the story. He had given Robby a ticket to get into the Conference Center, so Kevin was let to wander around and try to get in. He felt inspired to walk in a certain direction, and he saw this guy with tickets who wasn't going in. Just as he got up the gumption to ask the guy, the guy gave the tickets to the usher. Doh! The usher noticed Kevin's red, sunburnt face and gave him a ticket, because it was obvious that Kevin had been trying pretty hard. We went back outside, and we saw Robby walking around the grate (he moves kind of funny and he's really tall, so it is easy to spot him), so we went to meet him. As we walked through Temple Square, they told us about the session.
The first and most exciting part was the Perpetual
Education Fund. Wowsers! Remember how there used to be a Perpetual
Emigration Fund for the pioneers moving to Utah back in the 1850's?
They would take a loan, travel, and then repay the loan for someone
else to use. Well, there are a lot of missionaries from Third-World
countries who serve English-speaking missions, but still don't know
enough English to get a decent job so they just go back to being poor.
The Church is setting up a fund so these folks can go to the university
and get a better job and end the poverty cycle. How exciting! Wow!
My kids will study this in Seminary and they will look back to when
it was announced and I can say "I was in Temple Square for that!!!!"
Woo hoo! This is so great - this is going to help sooooooo many people!
I love this Church! And then Robby went on to describe just what it
was like to be in a room with 21000 priesthood holders singing "Praise
to the Man." That sent another thrill through me - wow! We stopped at the temple and walked around it. Robby and Monika told me a little bit more about the symbolism, like why there are 4 windows on one side and five on the other, and the stories of it being built, like how Brigham Young knew to put elevator shafts in before there were elevators. As I gazed at it and thought of all the symbolism and tried to wrap my mind around this great thing that is the Gospel, I just couldn't do it. There's too much - it's too big, too amazing - and I haven't even gotten my endowment yet. I was just in awe as I walked away. It was finally late enough that we could get on the Trax without cramming in body-to-body, so we hopped in. It ended up getting pretty crowded still though. Oh well. We rode home in Kevin's car singing to MoTab and joking around. It was great - I felt connected. We ordered a pizza from Tomassito's and sped home to get it. Kelly opted out, but the rest of us had 4-5 pieces of pepperoni and Hawaiian pizzas, along with several cinnamon breadsticks.. Mmmmm… It was so late by the time we parted though - it was about 11:30, and we were planning another early morning. Yikes…but it's worth it…
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I
met Kelly, Monika, Kevin, and Robby at the Cannon Center at 6AM Saturday,
and we all loaded up in Kevin's car, somewhat bleary-eyed. We rode
up to the Trax stop in Murray (with me giving helpful navigation information)
and caught the train. Now, since I had been having problems with Kevin
recently, I didn't really like Kelly, and I wasn't really friends
with Robby and Monica, it was kind of weird. That morning, though,
I prayed that Heavenly Father would give me charity and a clarity
of mind to be able to go with the day all right and put up with all
these people problems. Heavenly Father is amazing. I love Him sooooo
much. He helped me out incredibly today. There was nothing that I
took offense at, no sarcasm exiting my mouth, no unkind comment or
anything. It was amazing, especially after so little sleep. 
We
got there and we staked out a spot in the standby-without-tickets
line. Since it was only 7 and the sun hadn't really come up yet, it
was cooooooold. Super cold! Kelly and I were huddling together for
warmth while the others trucked off to McDonald's for breakfast. We
bonded in the cold, which was kind of funny. We huddled together,
sat on each other's feet, and took turns running to the heater by
the Relief Society building. By the time the others got back, we were
both grinning and Kelly was calling me her "little Beth." It seemed
rather silly that I didn't like her before. 
As
my watch beeped 10AM, we went to talk to the usher guy at the front
of the line. He didn't give us a straight answer on whether we would
get in. I waited with Kevin and Kelly a while (Robby and Monica were
back in our line), and I finally decided to leave. It was my first
chance to see all of Conference, and I did not want to miss anything.
I marched off to the Tabernacle and found a nice spot. I was super
excited - I was in the Tabernacle watching Conference! So what if
it was really in the Conference Center now - Conference had been in
the Tabernacle for more than 100 years - what a tradition I was following!
It was really kind of awe-inspiring. 
Kelly
then came in and got me, saying they all were sitting out on the blanket
in front of the Tabernacle since they couldn't get in the Conference
Center. I sat down with them and it was kind of weird not being able
to see the speaker, but then it occurred to me that I'm usually so
busy taking notes that it doesn't matter. Anyway, Elder Scott went
on to talk about choices, and it kind of reminded me of the devotional
that he gave here at BYU, except where that just related to life in
general this talk was focusing on building a good family. 
To
contrast that bleak picture of how it was with the trees blooming,
the choir singing, and the temple shining - it was too much. I began
to weep for joy. I was so unbelievably incredibly happy. Kelly gave
me a hug and asked if I wanted to talk or anything, but I just cried.
It was like at my baptism, or the first sacrament meeting I attended
at BYU. I wish there were words to describe it, but there aren't.
It's like faith - as Major Kira says "That's the thing about faith.
If you don't have it you can't understand it. And if you do, no explanation
is necessary." 
They
sure took an awful long time in getting there. I was happy to be there
to catch the opening hymn ("
We
left the Tabernacle and agreed to meet at the grate (on the other
side of the Tabernacle - everyone meets at the flagpole, don't you
know?) after the priesthood session. Then it was just us girls as
Robby and Kevin headed off. We went to the ZCMI mall, and there were
a whole bunch of famous LDS people there! We saw Brother Bytheway,
and apparently, Kelly and Robby had him for class last semester, so
he recognized both of us. It was really cool! Gerald Lund, Douglas
Brinley, Dean Hughes, and Michael McLean were there, and then I saw
someone that filled my heart with joy - Hillary Weeks! Yeah! Orion
gave me her CD for my birthday. I told her how much I enjoyed it,
and she signed a CD and took a picture with me. It was great! Kelly
and I were so excited. Then we trucked into Deseret Book, and I was
bad. In addition to getting Hillary Weeks' CD, I got The Teachings
of Spencer Kimball and stuff for Orion. I spent forty-something
dollars - ouch! I really needed that book, though - I am always quoting
President Kimball. And the stuff for Orion will make him happy. It
was "ladies night" at the mall ('cause all the guys are going to Priesthood
session, get it?), and because I had spent so much, I was eligible
for a free rose! (Well, at least something good came from it.) I was
just going to pass it by, but then Monika suggested we get them so
we can make the guys jealous. Hehehe… We did. Not many people were
takers, apparently, so they let each of us get one. 
It's
amazing! The power in that room - I can barely grasp it.