Conference in a nutshell – version 5

Once again, here are my notes and impressions of the LDS General Conference, this time from Apr. 2009:

• New apostle — Neil Lyndon Andersen
• The prophet may sing “El Rancho Grande” if you put him in a sombrero and sarape.
• The four most caring words: “We can’t afford it.”
• Be reverent!
• Virtue is not just for young women, but men too.
• Be acquainted with the voice of the Spirit, so you can recognize and understand it in the heat of the moment.
• Trials are invitations to grow, and those who accept trials as such can find peace in the turmoil.
• Learn from others, smart guy! Prophets and apostles are in touch, despite being old.
• Learn from the past too, lest you be doomed to repeat it.
• A loving God only makes sense if there is continuing revelation, and hell is not endless.
• Faith is like spiritual photosynthesis.
• Go to the temple and participate in all ordinances!
• Forgive to be forgiven.
• Add audible “amen” as a listener to a prayer.
• Learn how to pray from Christ’s prayers.
• Prayer doesn’t need to be long-winded. Six words can be as effective, or more so, than one thousand.
• Young people speak of the future because they have no past. Old people speak of the past because they have no future.
• Take care of your body.
• Do not immerse yourself so much in the technical that you fail to learn the practical.
• Help others through this time of economic hardship, especially with unemployment issues.
• Involve the whole family in home evening. The four-year-old can still share a Primary lesson.
• Don’t do Church work on your employer’s time.
• Elder Uchtdorf pokes fun at his own propensity to tell aviation stories.
• A malfunctioning light bulb led to the crash of a plane.
• The tendency to focus on the insignificant instead of the profound ends in tragedy.
• Don’t text while driving!
• Our weakness is failing to align our actions with our conscience.
• We’re at spiritual war! Let us be not just spiritual soldiers, but spiritual medics as well.
• Prophetic counsel: take notes!
• Be always ready to give a reason for the hope within you.
• Three not-new suggestions for safety:

1. Study diligently
2. Pray fervently
3. Live righteously

• Prayer is the passport to peace.
• Don’t eat egg salad sandwiches after leaving them out in the sun.
• Answer the call to serve, even if it’s just giving a blessing to a drummer with food poisoning.
• Live worthy every minute.
• Get on with life! Adapt to change!
• Next time you want to groan, laugh instead! Ha ha ha!
• The Spirit had to withdraw from Christ on the cross so He could understand the hopeless despair of those who have committed grievous sins.
• Don’t be an unresponsive onlooker on the road to Golgotha.
• Perseverance with faith in hard times will lead to peace.
• If you ever find a mother with four children journeying in bare feet and tattered clothes across a war-torn country, for pete’s sake help her out, lest she be forced to bury all four of her children with a spoon, and later her bare hands in the snow!
• The future is as bright as your faith.
• Church members’ willingness to sacrifice comes from faith, church leader instruction, and commitment to covenants.
• Selfishness and entitlement (the feeling of getting something for nothing because one “deserves” it) are behind the global economic meltdown.
• Going to church is better if you’re active, not passive, while there.
• Regular temple-going is the way to truly take Christ’s name upon us.
• You’re never lost when you can see the temple.
• Make your home as holy as the temple.
• Our Father will respect our freedom to shoes, er, choose.
• GPS systems are awesome, except when they lose the satellite signal in underground parking garages.
• Our personal GPS (conscience) will lose its connection with the divine if buried under the concrete parking garage of sin.
• When you lose sight of the camp, let the old experienced horse lead the way.
• Analogy: full-time missionaries = search and rescue team. Members = shepherds. Who has a better chance of bringing in the sheep?
• Share your musical talents with others! That means go to choir, kid!
• Word of caution: careful on the Internet! There’s a whole lotta crap on there! Avoid it at all costs, especially the porn!
• Remember President Monson and all general authorities in your prayers!

And perhaps most importantly:

• If you’re staying at your parents’ house from Saturday night to Sunday morning, make sure you’ve set your clock for Daylight Savings Time back in your childhood bedroom, lest you believe it’s 9:30 when you go upstairs, only to find out that conference has been going for a full half hour. I heard Pres. Uchtdorf’s talk had to do with Palm Sunday, but that’s about all I got.

This was the first April conference since I moved down to Provo where I haven’t been in the choir at one session. While that means I got to hear the whole thing instead of being stuck on a bus for most of a session, it was still kind of sad. I guess I can’t be there all the time, though, not unless I join the Tab choir. Maybe I’ll do that someday. I’ll be right up there with Mark Pearce and Brad Omer! On a related choir note, the Saturday Afternoon choir was a combined Institute choir from Salt Lake County, and it was conducted by a guy in my home stake, who was in charge of the tenors when we put on From Cumorah’s Hill when I was in seventh grade (and was a tenor). Kind of random.

In any case, enjoy the conference proceedings, and remember to consider the lilies in the field. How they grow? How they grow.

April 6, 2009 | Categories: Church/Spiritual, Conference in a Nutshell | Leave A Comment »

Conference in a nutshell – version 4

Note: I spent most of this conference being sick, and as such only took notes during the first Saturday Morning Session. When the Ensign comes out I will read through the talks and make some more notes, probably posting them here too, but for now, enjoy the few notes I did take!

• My old mission president gave the opening prayer!
• New temples: Calgary, Alberta; Cordoba, Argentina; Kansas City. MO; Philadelphia, PA; Rome, Italy
• Simplify your life!
• Casual dress invites casual attitudes. Fashion-conscious mockers are at least partly responsible for driving people away from the Tree of Life.
• Do missionary work! It’s the way to bring people to Christ, which means blessings for all!
• Fear and faith cannot coexist. The gospel gives us no reason to be afraid, but to believe.
• We repeat the same spiritual steps over and over again to receive more light and quell our doubts. In this way our faith becomes simple, and pure.
• Jesus makes everything right again. That may sound naive, but it’s still true.
• The Book of Mormon is a spiritual banquet. To ignore it would be like receiving a letter from a far-away parent, but not opening the envelope.
• Sacrament meeting a time for worship, and to focus on the Savior. Not texting!
• Hope sustains us during trials. Don’t lose it, lest you be lost!
• If you ever head for Cedar City and end up in Nevada, laugh! Bwah ha ha!
• Even when life is hard, it’s still funny! Look for the hilarity!
• Come what may, and love it!
• Angels will be sent forth to warn and comfort, as long as men have faith.
• The gospel is simple and easy to understand. Look not beyond the mark.
• Zion = pure in heart, united together

And the mantra I will most remember:

• Find joy in the journey.

See y’all soon, and hopefully I will have some thoughts on the rest of conference!

October 14, 2008 | Categories: Church/Spiritual, Conference in a Nutshell | 1 Comment »

Conference in a nutshell – version 3

(Note: this doesn’t include notes from most of the Saturday Morning Session, since at the time I was in a bus with a radio that didn’t work.)

Yet again, lessons from the LDS General Conference, this one from Apr. 2008, which was the first conference presided over by President Thomas S. Monson:

• New first presidency: Thomas S. Monson, Henry B. Eyring, and Dieter F. Uchtdorf
• New apostle: D. Todd Christofferson
• Be grateful for being a member
• Keep the commandments. . .better!
• Sustain leaders and Church through service
• Retention, retention, retention!
• Every member a missionary! Still applies!
• Don’t give up on wayward children. God doesn’t.
• Testimony not a sermon, travelogue, or “thankamony,” but expression of gospel truths personally known
• Three different kinds of knowledge: scientific (It’s cold outside), personal & subjective (I love my wife), and spiritual (God is my Father)
• Natural man can’t know anything obtained by method three above
• Testimony not scientific, but can be as sure as any scientific fact
• Get a testimony by:

1. Wanting to know
2. Earnest prayer (and possibly fasting)
3. Bearing the testimony you have
4. Taking the sacrament

• Clarify the restored gospel and Mormonism wherever it is misrepresented, but in mildness and meekness
• Sustaining is not a vote, but a personal commitment
• God the Father commands us to hear His Beloved Son
• Open your hearts to the Holy Spirit
• Christ can’t help us if we don’t trust and serve Him.
• The First Presidency is a quorum of three presidents, not a president and two vice-presidents
• Seek help, both from temporal and divine sources, in abuse cases (on both sides, abuser and abused)
• Eternal life is like a nice cake. To make a great cake, you’ve got to get all the right ingredients and mix ‘em just right.
• You can’t embrace the gospel or the Church without embracing Christ
• Follow the prophet, especially in small things.
• Love all the prophets equally
• President Monson was prepared to be the prophet
• There was a lot of Church response to natural disasters in 2007
• Also a lot of humanitarian aid. . .and donuts!
• Do you know who you are?

1. A son of God
2. A subject of the plan of happiness
3. A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

• Act like it!
• Deacons have divine potential, even if it’s not readily apparent
• President Dieter F. Uchtdorf was almost as surprised as his wife when he was called to be the Second Counselor in the First Presidency
• The difference between happiness and misery is often an error of only a few degrees
• Don’t fly into mountains!
• Do not delay a course correction. The longer you wait, the more you have to correct.
• Be anxiously engaged! Be proactive!
• Your best friend is the Creator of the universe!
• Get confident!
• Rise to acquire the blessings of the Oath & Covenant of the priesthood
• This brings eternal life! To not claim it would be tragic!
• The fact that God has offered the Oath & Covenant to you shows that He has some trust in you
• Faith in the Oath & Covenant gave the impetus for priesthood holders to serve in humanitarian efforts after a certain recent hurricane
• Study the word of God for yourself, but also to be an emissary
• Priesthood holders can Make a Difference, if their hands are clean and hearts are pure
• We are surrounded by diversions and temptations. Always be qualified to exercise your priesthood.
• The face of sin today often wears a Halloween mask of tolerance. Behind that mask is sorrow.
• Make a stand for right, even if you stand alone.
• Be kind and loving to your family.
• Always be honest!!
• Be an example and influence for good, whate’er your calling or lot in life
• Wiggle your ears to the kid on the front row!
• Never do anything you don’t want your children to emulate.
• Cast off your old life! Begin a life of faith, joy, and hope!
• President Monson climbs stairs even after foot surgery to visit a sick member of the Church.
• He knows how to focus on the one.
• What is the faith of our fathers? Is it simply the religious beliefs of our parents? Or could it be the faith of the Fathers (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob)?
• Or is it the plan and faith of our Heavenly Father?
• True religion shouldn’t come from what pleases men or ancestors, but what pleases God.
• The Seventy are integral in the establishment of the Kingdom of God
• Hearts are changed through faith on Christ’s name
• Man must be born again, and endure to the end
• Being born again is usually a process. But that doesn’t mean you should be casual about it.
• Obedience brings happiness.
• Paying tithing brings happiness.
• Paying tithing makes prayer easier
• Delight in the things of the Lord! Yay!
• Delight in the Savior! The Restored Gospel! The strength of youth (not just the pamphlet)! The fact that you are a child of God! Families!
• Women’s desire to nurture is their nature! A divine responsibility!
• Men need to nurture too.
• Apostles essential to church. Pres. Packer outlines their purpose, influence, and responsibility.
• Apostles are ordinary people with priesthood keys
• Most important criterion for apostleship is a witness of the truth.
• The canon of scripture is not closed!
• Effective prayer requires action!
• Don’t lower your standards to fit in. It’s not worth it!
• You will die. Don’t procrastinate the day of your repentance!
• Mother do way more than you could ever imagine!
• Don’t let Daddy touch the microwave!

As you can see by the picture, I had the opportunity to sing at the Saturday Afternoon Session in the BYU Combined Choirs choir. I don’t have much else to say now, except that dating bites. Au revoir!

—————-
Now playing: No One is Alone – Stephen Sondheim
via FoxyTunes

April 11, 2008 | Categories: Church/Spiritual, Conference in a Nutshell | Leave A Comment »

Conference in a nutshell – version 2

Here are some things learned from the Oct. 2007 LDS general conference:

• New 2nd counselor in the 1st Presidency – Henry B. Eyring
• New apostle – Quentin L. Cook
• Church has a lay clergy to confound the learned and manifest the power of God.
• A strong, simple testimony and a willingness to serve is all that’s needed in any calling, whether it be a Sunday School instructor or a member of the First Presidency.
• General authorities not “holier than thou” either in their own eyes or especially in the eyes of the Lord.
• Ward members have the responsibility and the privilege to serve those in the ward in need, especially in emergencies. What happens to one happens to all.
• Young men and women also have a responsibility and privilege to increase the spiritual strength of their families, whether they be an ideal family or the most troubled one.
• If our parents were not good examples of spirituality, it is up to us to break the cycle. Our family, both present and future, depends on it!
• This is the only church with the power of the priesthood to bless families.
• The Lord fulfills his promises only according to the faith of the recipients. Have patience, too!
• The gospel will lift you up in the direst of circumstances, even in a war-torn WWII Germany.
• Enduring to the End is an active principle! It brings joy, in fact!
• Death is not a tragedy, but simply a “see you later,” thanks to Christ.
• Talk to those interested in the Church about facts, faith, families, and fruits of the restored gospel.
• Without charity, the gospel, the priesthood, and faith availeth us nothing.
• A broken heart and a contrite spirit allow the Lord to shape us
• Preach My Gospel ain’t just for missionaries!
• Serve everyone, even the scruffiest of them all. (Matt. 25:40)
• The Nicene Creed is not what we believe, but that doesn’t make us not Christians.
• The Bible and Book of Mormon are witnesses of each other, establishing the gospel.
• Raising the bar involves a degree of risk, but it’s the only way to improve
• On your mission, as in the high-jump, there is a minimum bar height to qualify. But don’t just qualify, but do well!
• Learn social skills for a mission. The worlds’s so filled with electronic communication, but that won’t help a missionary.
• Premies, get a job that involves contact with other people.
• Don’t procrastinate, especially in spiritual matters!
• You’re either growing or shrinking spiritually. If you’re not growing, you’re shrinking.
• Being compelled = receiving no reward
• Procrastination leads to loss of exaltation
• Easy Street is a dead end. (At least in Hawaii!)
• Pornography is like a fish-trap: easy to enter, tough to get out of. Don’t take the bait!
• Pornography ebbs away self-respect.
• If something in a movie isn’t “too bad,” it probably isn’t “too good” either.
• The Church and priesthood organizations were swift to respond to an earthquake in Peru.
• Priesthood leaders = leaders in service
• We must be prepared for life’s earthquakes before they shake us up
• Depart from all bad influences, even if the influence is your brother.
  • Note: My brother is not a bad influence! It was an example used in the talk!
• Others may seem more able or prepared to serve the Lord. But remember these things:

1. Remember that the Lord has previously helped you through tough times
2. Forget yourself and your inadequacies. Pray about those whom you serve.
3. Go to work! You have the powere to bless others, so go out and use it, galdernit!

• Your calling is not easy! It sure wasn’t for the Savior, and it’s not for his disciples either.
• Always seek the Spirit.
• Watch your eyes! No lingering!
• Watch what you say! Vulgarity is just as offensive to the Spirit as immodesty, and just as common too, if not more.
• If you can’t control other people’s bad influence in your life, pray about what to do. If He doesn’t take care of it, He will at least make it bearable.
• The marks of a true priesthood holder are:

1. The Mark of Vision
   • We are the product of our choices. Pay heed to past, present, and future.
2. The Mark of Effort
   • Don’t say you’ll make the effort, just make the effort.
   • Work! Work! It’s the way to do it!
3. The Mark of Faith and Virtue
   • Have faith in the Lord, and have faith in His faith in you. Or, in other words, have faith in the Lord’s faith in your faith in Him.
   • Sin is preceded by thought.
4. The Mark of Prayer
   • Pray always!

• Redheads are awesome!
• DON’T BE ANGRY! YEARRGH!
• School your feelings. Don’t act on instinct.
• Laughter can defuse anger
• Divorce almost always has roots in anger. Pres. & Sis. Hinckley never had a quarrel.
• Don’t sweat the small stuff. No grudges! They suck!
• If you have a fight in your marriage, take a walk. (Tell your wife this’ll be your policy before you’re in the heat of the moment.)
• If you control yourself, wonderful peace is the result.
• Keep a journal and record the works of the Lord in your own life.
• Don’t forget God!
• Tell your family you love them.
• Mother are pretty cool.
• The goal of the gospel is not just redemption from sin, but to effect a change of heart to not desire to sin.
• The restoration happened! It’s real!
• Revelation is essential for the gospel to work
• Testimony is gained through personal revelation, which comes through prayer and study
• Revelation comes on the Lord’s timetable
• Don’t seek signs, but do seek the best gifts.
• How can truth be found in today’s media barrage?

1. Scientific method
   • Very valuable, but can’t be absolute. Also, not infallible.
2. Ask the source of all truth
   • Have faith, and keep the commandments to get an answer.

• Remember the properties of ten video
• Don’t give in to donuts!
• Exercise of faith builds character, which increases your capacity for greater faith
• Horses don’t like eating dirt!
• Elders don’t like hearing crap lessons!
• It is possible to feed without nourishing. Teach essential doctrines! Don’t teach about the physical whereabouts of Zarahemla!
• Preach by the Spirit.
• Use cute kids to get less-actives to church
• Remember Felipe & Isabel. The Plan of Salvation brings peace to those who’ve lost loved ones.
• Put off the natural man!
• Keep on keepin’ on. Pres. Hinckley’s still going strong at 96 or so; certainly you, as a twentysomething, can do pretty well.
• The only important witness in the gospel. . .is you.
• Truth is not dependent on the number of people who believe it.
• Know it’s true! Know you know it’s true!
  • This comes through prayer and fasting, and study.
  • Also comes through testimony building, especially to your kids.
  • Pray to not lose your faith and/or witness!
• Moms ‘r still cool.
• SERRRVE! When needed, not convenient!
• Don’t say, “Call me if you need anything,” but do things! Take out the trash, make gazpacho, whatever!
• Service is the rent we pay for mortality.
• Prioritize your good acts (Mary & Martha)
• Don’t choose good if you can choose better or best.
• Good books, entertainment, recreation, occupations, etc. can still take up too much time.
• Spend one-on-one time with your kids! Teach values in these times.
• Don’t over-schedule yourself or your kids. Eat dinner together.
• Simplify! KISS!
• Magnify your calling != complicate it
• Measure of success = individuals improving under your leadership. Not # of meetings or activities.
• Some young people are amusing themselves to (spiritual) death.
• Always aim to improve lives.
• Drive safely, everyone!
• When you have a family, help them take notes during Conference so they actually get something out of it.

I love you all!

—————-
Now playing: Joy to the World – Kurt Bestor – An Airu Christmas II
via FoxyTunes

October 24, 2007 | Categories: Church/Spiritual, Conference in a Nutshell | Leave A Comment »

Conference in a nutshell

Here’s a quick rundown of things that I learned, old and new, during the LDS General Conference this past weekend:

1. Pray! Always!
2. Sing hymns, and listen to prelude music.
3. Make a commitment now not to sin later.
4. Speak kind words to each other (and to yourself). And don’t call kids fat, even jokingly.
5. Immerse yourself in the gospel to become born again, just like a cucumber turns into a pickle.
6. Christ is divine, and death merely a doorway.
7. The tabernacle is great!
8. Brigham Young and Gordon B.Hinckley are great!
9. Historic things happened at the tabernacle.
10. Have an attitude of gratitude.
11. Remembrance in the scriptures implies action.
12. Don’t drop footballs. Keep your eye on the goal!
13. Do what is right, no matter the consequences.
14. The wise man obeys God.
15. Twenties = decade of decision
16. Making no decision is as bad as making the wrong decision!
17. Selective obedience will crash you into the ocean.
18. Be there!!!
19. Get used to study! Prepare now, foo!
20. Unencumber your life, so you can put God first.
21. Store food, dude.
22. The devil can’t make you do jack.
23. Wife, family, and home are most important!
24. Get tech ed! Choose an honorable vocation!
25. Greatness is not only reserved for the old.
26. Priesthood: a responsibility, and a gateway to blessings.
27. President Monson goes off the prompter sometimes!
28. In the face of temptation, remember that you carry the priesthood everywhere you go.
29. Always be prepared to give a blessing!
30. Keep the well filled!
31. We are in the prologue to a great future, so let’s work!
32. Be clean! That’s how you be a man!
33. Be clean in language, though, body, dress, and even on the computer.
34. The Amish are a strong, God-fearing, forgiving people. Don’t hurt kids! Forgive!
35. Divorce aggravates conflicts, and is most often a sign of selfishness. Think of the children! Get counseling instead!
36. Divorce was only permissible under the higher law in cases of adultery.
37. To marry well, date well! Have a careful courtship!
38. Marry someone committed to strive for perfection, and be that person as well.
39. The gospel’s true, isn’t it? Then what else matters?
40. Excuses impede our progress.
41. The strength of the children begins with the parents.
42. Read the scriptures!
43. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.
44. You can never forget spiritual witnesses.
45. The Bible is awesome! It has inspired countless people over the centuries, and is the base of our scripture. Read it!
46. God is our Father. Christ lives. His atonement is the keystone of our existence. The priesthood has been restored.
47. Families are forever, thanks to the temple.
48. The fulness of the gospel has been restored!
49. Priesthood = service.
50. Don’t procrastinate. Someday almost always means never.
51. Mormon doctrine is a true understanding of Christianity.
52. Who’s on the Lord’s side, who? Should be you! Make it so!
53. When faced with temptation, hum a hymn!
54. Tithing provides solutions to temporal problems.
55. Fasting and prayer unleashes greater blessings.
56. Contrary to what Satan tries to make us believe, there is no point of no return when it comes to sin.
57. The noblest soul is the forgiving soul. That also includes forgiving yourself.
58. Become converted!
59. Let this conference inspire us all to be a little better.
60. Drive safely!

But perhaps the most important lesson I learned at conference:

61. Don’t wear a lighter-colored suit when you sing in the choir during priesthood session, because everybody you know will be able to pick you out.

It’s funny. During the last song of priesthood session, all I could think of was that this was the only contact I’ve had with those people from my mission that I hold most dear, and I said a silent prayer that they’d recognize and remember me. So, to the Sanchez and Nadal families, I still love you both. God bless you. Que Dios os bendiga.

Los Sanchez (& various missionaries)

Los Nadal

April 1, 2007 | Categories: Church/Spiritual, Conference in a Nutshell | 3 Comments »