General Conference Weekend Wrap-up

Monday, October 3, 2011 7:55 PM

Hello!

Wow.. so much to write; so little time. Don’t quite know how to organize my thoughts properly.

My last general conference in the mission.. not quite sure how I feel like that. It is always such a rush in the field. We sit down, and then next thing you know, it’s over. I hope that rush never ends though. I just love the concept that every 6 months we get guidance for the next 6 months, and by the time we get the hang of what we learned, it’s time to start something new. But that is life. It’s one big stretching process; one leap after another.

First off, I’m glad I’m already serving a mission cuz I’m pretty sure about 12 addresses had to do with it. Luckily, I’m already completing with that on my part so I just have to magnify the time that I am here even more. I say there were about 12 addresses because… fun fact- we also were present for the priesthood session which was kind of weird. There we were with the elders, learning more about the priesthood. I found that I could apply everything pretty well to myself though, despite the fact that it was the conference for men. As always, I loved the addresses from Elders Uchtdorf, Christofferson and Monson - although we did not get the opportunity to watch all of Pres Monson´s address on Sunday due to an incident that required our immediate attention. But I will get it later, no problem.

I´d have to say that my favorite address of all of them was Elder Callister´s on the Book of Mormon. I like that he was just direct and in your face. The Book of Mormon is either true or false, and it makes all the difference. There is no middle ground, so stop trying to make it up. I also enjoyed Sister Dalton´s address, like I’m sure most other women of the audience did. My husband had better have been paying attention! I like that she talked about not minimizing our most important responsibilities and taking an active role in the lives of loved ones. It’s very sad to see here that not many take an active role in the lives of their family members. It’s like a bunch of strangers that live in a house. But when a distant family relation dies, everyone has to go. Latin culture is interesting sometimes. I also enjoyed the random talks that they threw in there dedicated to subjects not usually touched. I liked when they spoke about the wise use of time and of teaching methods, and received a lot of personal guidance from a great deal of the messages shared this weekend.

I like that God speaks us directly through the conference, when we are looking. I got exactly what I needed. Recently I feel I had been going a little faster than was possible and fair to myself and that my expectations were too great and, consequently, overwhelming. Back to the basics – I’ve got to do what I can from where I am. Be the best you can be doesn’t mean be the imaginary vision of a perfect person that you form in your mind from observing the best traits of others. Perhaps that person does exist, but the seed doesn’t become a tree before becoming a sapling first. We need to learn to pace ourselves and do exactly what the phrase says - be the best that you truly can be where you are right now. I also realized that I need to consider things before I add them to my to-do list. I find that all too often I, like my mother, sign up for too many things without considering what it will do to myself and my spirit and so that’s something I’ve got to begin fixing-starting now.

These past few weeks primarily we have been working on getting recent converts, less actives, inactives and investigators to the conference with the idea of receiving personal revelation about the church, their current problems, and other assorted answers. We spent a lot of money, indeed, all the money we had aside from what we´d need for the cyber today to get people to and from it and the key people that REALLY needed it did not make it because, of course, the adversary loves to work last minute. It kills me that people cannot recognize how he is getting his way. Sometimes I feel like the missionaries and prophets of old that wondered when a call to return to what truly matters would be heeded. But all that we can do is continue, press on, and remember that the Lord consecrates our works to His purposes and for the well being of our own souls as well.

And so, after all that work, all that money, all that preparation, and most of it falling apart, we then got to sit through conference and listen to the talks play out that would have answered the questions, doubts, and confirmed needed truths to each and every person we´d worked for who didn’t come. One talk would go by - `Well, there goes one for Pedro´, another `Ahhhh, WHY couldn’t Yasser be here right now, this was just for HIM!!´ and another `Yup, Mauricio & Lourdes, there it is right there´ and so on and so forth. It was so bad that I couldn’t really enjoy the conference until now that I’ve been able to review my notes a little bit and find what I got out of it. I was just in so much pain because I saw the promises we had made to people for weeks through the spirit being realized without them being there to participate in it. It’s just such a shame sometimes. But, at the beginning of the conference a prayer was given that anyone who saw, read, or heard the conference now or later would be able to feel His power and guidance through it so we are going to trust in that. After this weekend I’m not exactly sure how to start this next week in the aftermath of such craziness, but, I’m sure we will be fine as we remember that it’s us together with the Lord that are in this objective together. `Sign on and speak up. We are at war!´

So, my general review of conference says - love one another, read the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, overcome the adversary (remember the Atonement), return to God´s standards of morality, actively seek receive personal revelation, honor covenants, follow the Lord´s will and not your own, and to all you young people (and older couples), SERVE MISSIONS NOW.