Like hundreds of thousands of other families around the world tonight we just finished out Semi-Annual General Conference Prep Family Night. (The Annual occurs in April). General Conference is one of my favorite times of the year. There is the family togetherness as we gather at my parents house with the siblings and grandkids, Donuts on Saturday, Cinnamon Rolls on Sunday, getting dress up to go to priesthood with my Dad, and getting dressed up in our Pajamas for other sessions at home.
My sister, Munchie’s Mama, posted my wife’s General Conference Cinnamon Roll recipe as well as some other fun packets to keep the kids busy/engaged in conference. I wanted to post about I am doing, and you can do, as an adult to get ready for conference. We live in amazing times! the church has a web page dedicated to conference resources. I grew up watching conference on TV, some older than me grew up having it beamed to a local building via satellite, and some older still had to make the trek to Utah or wait until it was printed in the Ensign. There are so many ways to watch conference now. It is a great thing for those who maybe have to work Saturday or have other conflicts. But I must go on record that my love conference most gathered with my family around the TV and sharing thoughts and impressions between sessions.
There are some specific things I look forward to this conference. I am really curious how Priesthood session will shake down. Will they let those ladies in? The conference center is huge, but people get turned away every session. I waited in line for hours to attend priesthood session a few years back. I just missed the cut and had to watch in an overflow room. It was still a great meeting and Elder Ballard spoke about raising the bar for missionaries. But if I had found out the reason I got displaced so some women could grandstand and make a political statement I would have been so upset! I wonder if President Monson will address their request. Even though the Priesthood Session is going to be broadcast online this year, I intent to attend at my Stake Center. There is something empowering about joining my fraternity and gathering as a body of men to receive instruction of the Lord.
This year I want to do more to prepare myself for this weekend. The first thing I plan on doing is helping to spread the word. I have changed my Facebook cover photo to the image at the top of the post. I am planning on sharing other images throughout the week leading up to conference. I am also writing this blog post! You can also count on us to Live Blog our thoughts and inspirational quotes via our Facebook and Twitter Feeds. (#ldsconf)I have started to ponder not only “what do I want to know” this conference, but more importantly, “what does The Lord want me to know?”
Last Conference Elder Holland spoke about a man who brought his afflicted child to Jesus and said “but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” When I heard this talk I was watching it streaming on my iPhone sitting next to my wife sleeping in an emergency labor & delivery room bed, 5 months pregnant with our daughter. The Doctors weren’t sure what was wrong, but her liver was having serious issues. As I heard his words I thought; I am this man. I had faith that my wife would be fine. I had given her a priesthood blessing and felt inspired to promise her health for her and our baby. Now here she is with IV’s hooked up and Doctors coming in every few minutes to check vitals and take test samples. I was scared and began to doubt; why was this happening? does the Lord know my fear? is my Priesthood even real? I prayed and asked the words similar words as this father. “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”Within seconds of my prayer closing, my wife awoke looking much better than she was when she had fallen asleep. The Doctors came in a short time after that and discharged us saying she was stable. We went to her Doctor the next day and he gave her a clean bill of health. I have looked back on this experience often in the past months. I was able to draw on it 4 months later when Ginger was born and admitted to the NICU. The full story is was posted to our Facebook Page last month.
Now we are approaching another conference and I look forward to what the Lord has in store for me.
What are you looking to get out of Conference this year? Do you have any predictions? Last April I posted that I would love to hear a talk by someone in a language other than English.
