Today’s stake conference went better for me than Stake meetings in the recent past. I prayed prior to the meeting that I wouldn’t be overwhelmed by feelings of bitterness and that I could get something out of the talks. I think that helped although I don’t want to write everything I felt. I was able to stay more detached and ‘enjoy’ it more. In the past I have had intense emotions from despair to anger during conferences. Thoughts to shoot myself in front of the congregation out of spite were not as intense as in the past and only happened a couple times which is an improvement.
My favorite talk was by a convert of one year. She spoke of principles that she said have helped her make progress in her relationship with the savior. She cited three ways of obtaining peace in Christ that are listed in Doc. & Cov. 19:23:
1. Learn of me
2. Listen to my words
3. Walk in the meekness of my Spirit
Parapharasing, she said the sincere acts of kindness and radiant smiles of members reflects peace in the lives of members in the church. In regards to point #1 above she mentioned that the Book of Mormon and Bible have numerous ways to learn of the Savior. The church provides a place to learn in addition to a customized Gospel study program that is being studied simultaneously by members all over the world.
In regards to point #2 above the speaker mentioned that we can allow the mysteries of God to be unfolded by the Holy Ghost. And for point #3 she cited Ether 12:27 which encourages us to humble ourselves and have faith in him.
The stake presidents talk: He reviewed the requests made of us by the stake presidency in the last couple conferences and added to the list. Here is what they continue to want our stake’s members to do (numbers 3 & 4 are the newest editions):
1. Read the Book of Mormon daily as a family.
2. The 20/20 program – read the scriptures 20 minutes a day and exercise 20 minutes a day. I think he said doing this was a simple and practical way to be at peace with ourselves.
3. Read the recent General conference addresses. He encouraged us to talk about the addresses in our families and use them in our family home evenings.
4. Use our computers. He mentioned two URLs. First he encouraged us to set as our homepage lds.org that has been enhanced for our benefit(especially the home and family sections). Next he mentioned providentliving.org which has eight areas of emphasis. He mentioned that in the future we would be able to link directly to a website for our stake from this site.
The stake president talked some about peace in our lives. To gain peace he mentioned the following
1. Repentance
2. remembering that we will live again can help
3. He quoted Pres. Hinckley as follows: “There is no peace in nursing a grudge”. [I guess I’m doomed.]
4. He quoted the scripture “if ye are prepared ye shall not fear”
5. He mentioned that improving our talents can bring peace
6. He told us to recall the woman who having an issue of Blood touched Christ’s hem and was made whole. The president then encouraged us to figuratively touch Christ’s hem.
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