General Conference

Well, it's been another wonderful conference! This time I tried something a little different from what I've done in the past. Before conference, I wrote down some questions and inspiration I wanted answered to see which would be answered by the talks, and to focus my listening. Well, every thing I wrote down was answered in some way during conference, some directly and some by spiritual impressions that weren't necessarily related to the topic. Even though I was expecting it, I was really amazed.

There are two talks that really stand out in my mind, both from the Sunday afternoon session. The first one is Elder M. Russell Ballard's talk to young mothers. I felt like it was addressed directly to me. The best piece of advice for young mothers that I got from it was to realize that joy comes in moments. This short time raising children is too soon gone, so live in the moment!! I am too concerned with finishing whatever it is I'm doing, especially with the kids, that I don't take the time to enjoy it and them. So this week I am going to do my best to enjoy, really savor, some moments with my boys.

The second talk didn't really address anything I wrote down to listen for, but I was very inspired by the talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. It was so direct and powerful!

I loved every talk and I can't wait for the May Ensign so I can read them all! Luckily, I don't have to! They are all available online here, to read, listen to, or watch in English or ASL.

This year we ventured to take the boys to conference at the church. Usually we just watch it on the Internet, but the bishop challenged us to attend at least one session at the church. So we went to the Sunday morning session (at noon here!) and it was a good experience. The boys behaved really well, and I really enjoyed it. I don't know that the experience was any better than watching it at home, but I'm glad we followed the bishops counsel. We'll definitely make it a tradition.

Just as an aside, I was so excited to see the improved video feeds on the church website. There were virtually no problems with stalling that we have experienced in the past. We alternated between watching the English feed and watching the ASL feed. If you've never watched the ASL video feed, you should. ASL is a very expressive language and can really add depth to a talk, even if you don't understand it.