Conference Weekend

I love fall! I know this is mainly due to the fact that my Mother loved this season as well. I love the beginning of October as I watch with excitement as the leaves begin to turn and as our pumpkins and winter squash mature. And it also means that we get to watch General Conference. This is something that our family has enjoyed doing together over the years, sometimes living in areas where we could only hear it on the radio or watch limited sessions on a local TV channel. When Dale was Stake Media Chairman, we would go faithfully to the stake center with him and watched the sessions as he recorded them for stake and ward libraries. This continued even after he was released until we got dish network.
Our young single adult branch were given some conference tickets this rotation and it didn’t take us long to work out schedules and arrangements so we could make the trip down to Salt Lake and watch two sessions in the Conference Center. We had only been to conference there in the center one other time some years ago when Collette was away at school, so we were glad that she had that Saturday off from work so she could go with us. Pouring rain didn’t damper our spirits as we made our way to the Conference Center Saturday morning. We arrived early so that we didn’t have to be too far up in the balcony section. For those of you that have had the privilege of attending conference live, you know how great it is to watch down front as General Authorities and church leaders come in and take their seats while the MoTab quietly rehearses. There aren’t words to describe the feelings that come over you when the choir stands as signal for all to stand and the entire place simultaneously becomes silent as the prophet and his counselors walk in. Tears came to my eyes and the Spirit bore witness to me that President Monson indeed is a prophet of God. We so enjoyed listening to all the inspired speakers and music and there is just something about being there in person that makes it extra special…(and the fact that I stayed awake through it all!). We were able to watch the afternoon session with my sister Polly and her family in Sandy and then eat and visit. This was a treat for me, as I don’t get to Utah as often as I would like and see my family.

(l to r - Will, Paul, Joel, David, and Dale)

Dale went to the priesthood session with David and his three sons as we girls had a wonderful visit. Polly had just been to her high school reunion, so we laughed and reminisced over the class photo she had and memories of those younger years. It is always such an emotional and spiritual rejuvenation for me to share experiences and common convictions with my strong, special sister. Sunday morning, we had to be in our seats before Music and the Spoken Word began its broadcast.

We were pretty excited to hear this program live and it was touching to hear the commentator talk about a story of service to orphans that paralleled a similar experience Collette had on her trip to China with the BYU-H choir. It was just as powerful the second time we stood and reverenced President Monson and others as they entered the center and my heart and spirit was full again as we witnessed first hand the Lord’s counsel through His servants. Walking through Temple Square after the session, we stopped and listened to the sister missionaries sing hymns and we were so thrilled to see and talk to the sister missionary from Denmark (back row first one on the left in blue) that came and helped out with the Twin Falls Temple Open House. She was the missionary who welcomed, explained procedures, and showed the video in many of the tour sessions that Dale and I led. Small world!

We were "true tourists" and had someone snap our picture. We listened to the afternoon session on the car radio as we drove home and feeling ever so blessed for our opportunity to attend and listen to conference and to be with family.