It was a wonderful weekend for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We enjoyed two days of instruction and counsel and testimony from prophets and apostles and other general leaders of the Church. These conference sessions included powerful testimonies of the Savior, Jesus Christ, as well as inspiring music that added to the spirit and blessing of Easter weekend.
We invite those of you who listened to share what messages were most meaningful to you.
You can also share your thoughts on our new Facebook page.
If you have not had a chance to listen to the messages, or are curious to know what an LDS General Conference is like, video and audio archives of the proceedings can be found here or here (new beta site). Transcripts will be available this coming Thursday.
Elder Ballard’s comment that daughters do as their mothers do really made me stop and think. I often look to my mother for inspiration and know that without her example of hard work, service and charity, I would be far less able to cope with my challenges in life. However, I had not given as much thought to how much I might be influencing my own daughter. I was able to feel good about a lot of my choices in that regard but also made me feel determined to do better in other areas.
There was so much! There were powerful talks given on the Savior — some with so much power and emotion that really moved me.
I am also thinking much about the power of womanhood and the importance of nurturing that came through so clearly to me. I want to be a better mom after listening to conference, but also want to be a better nurturer in general. I felt that invitation to reach out more to God’s children in whatever capacity I may have.
One other theme that I appreciated was patience and faith in trials.
As I listened to Elder Ballard’s talk I thought back a couple of years when my daughter was in high school and thinking back then she likes me… but will never want to be like me. Now that she’s in her first year of college I hear and watch her. She’s ALOT like me. It warms my heart to see her transformation taking place. I’m not perfect but always was conscience about trying to parent the best I could. She speaks her mind and is finding her own identity. I’m so thankful for the positive reassurance that being a mother is really the best influence a child can have. I rely on my own mother a great deal for inspiration and follow her of what she taught me. I love conference and how it helps me stay on track.
There was so much good information there. I noticed that there was a lot of talks aimed at parents – how to be better parents, things that we should watch for and make sure to do. That always helps me a lot, because I feel that motherhood is a bit of a struggle for me-meaning that I feel like I don’t do as well as I could. I can’t wait for the May Ensign so I can read the talks again and take notes this time around.
I loved the two talks about adversity and was also very taken by the one about not judging others because we can’t possibly know their whole story. The Mary and Martha example given was particularly apt.
=)
What touched me?
I guess the topic that stood out most to me was the importance of teaching our children the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Maybe that was just because I was praying about how to help my family, but it definitely seemed like a running theme!
The talk that made the strongest impression on me, though, was Elder Holland’s talk on the dangers of pornography. I can only imagine the hours of prayerful and careful preparation that went into giving a talk on such a sensitive subject (see Jacob 2:2-11 and Elder Anderson’s comments on Conference talks in the beginning of his Sunday afternoon talk)!
As I listened to this talk again yesterday I realized that it was given because God loves every one of His children. He loves us, and wants us to be able to return home, so He teaches us the way as often as we need it.
Because Elder Holland gave this talk, we can know better 1) how to recognize and avoid the temptation, 2) the consequences of getting involved with pornography, and 3) that, if we make a bad choice, it is possible to repent — God’s arms are outstretched still!
That’s what I felt most from this talk — God’s love, the prophet’s love, our leaders’ love for every one of His children on earth! Wow!
I agree with all of you however the one that made me wiggle in my seat a bit was Sister Becks talk about women in the church. I LOVED all that she said about personal revelation and the necessity of that as women and mothers in the church.
She said (dictated) “There has never been a greater need for increased faith and personal righteousness, there has never been a greater need for strong families and homes….A good woman knows that she does not have enough time. energy or opportunity to do take care of all the the people or do all of the worthy things her hearts yearns to do. Life is not calm for most women…The ability to quality for, receive and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life….Because personal revelation is a constantly renewable source of strength it is possible to feeling bathed in help.”
I feel like that is exact what I needed to hear. I have been feeling overwhelmed lately. Juggling 5 kids, and tons of tons of things I need to do and many things I want to do… even just clean my bathroom or sort papers, there just is not enough time.
I love what Eliza R. Snow said too.
I loved all that she said. I realized that I need to turn to the Lord more in my prayers and seek more earnestly personal revelation so that I will be guided in ALL that I HAVE to do and all that I want to do and can as sister Beck said “Peace joy and hope are available to those who measure success properly”.
She quotes Kimball saying ” Much of the major growth that is coming to the Church in the last days will come because many of the good women of the world (in whom there is often such an inner sense of spirituality) will be drawn to the Church in large numbers. This will happen to the degree that the women of the Church reflect righteousness and articulateness in their lives and to the degree that the women of the Church are seen as distinct and different—in happy ways—from the women of the world…Thus it will be that female exemplars of the Church will be a significant force in both the numerical and the spiritual growth of the Church in the last days. ” Spencer W. Kimball, “The Role of Righteous Women,” Ensign, Nov 1979,
You are those women. “female exemplars”
I love this gospel!
I felt much like Jen did – that the power of womanhood is great!
I take such joy in knowing how well God knows women, his daughters. And after listening to the Priesthood session how well he knows men, his sons. Our differing genders are a blessing, not a curse. Because of what was taught in Conference I understand a little better what it means to be a daughter of God, and the glorious thing it is to be a woman!