Once again I loved listening to Conference. And I thought about how I have been listening to Conference for many years - under many different circumstances.
As a child, I remember that Conference was something that sounded very adult and boring. We would sit on dining room chairs in front of the radio in the living room and listen to the Sunday morning session - which was the only one you could get here in So Cal. And then after, we would go to Sunday School at the ward! That went on for a lot of years.
The next Sunday, at Sacrament meeting, (which was in the late afternoon or evening - before the "block!") those members of the ward who had attended conference in SLC would get up and "report" on the talks they had heard. One man in our ward, Brother Petty, went each year and worked as an usher at the Tabernacle. He always had a lot to report.
When I went off to BYU, I discovered that Conference was available all around me - on T.V. sets in the Y Center or my dorm (not many of us had T.V.'s in our rooms.) In April of 1964, we actually went up to Salt Lake and attended a session in the Tabernacle. I'd like to report that I was overwhelmed spiritually or something, but if I didn't have a picture of the day, I would not remember that I had gone!! I don't even know who we went with - probably Joy and Krenzer - he had a car.
During the years we lived in Salt Lake, I came to enjoy and appreciate the blessing of having conference available in the comfort of my own home. And I would use the time to catch up on my ironing as I watched it on T.V. KBYU rebroadcast it at night, so Harry and I would watch it then if we'd missed something during the day. I did a lot of crocheting then too!
On beautiful fall days during October conference, we often took drives to see the leaves and then listened to Conference as we drove along.
The first year we were back in California, I think we got one or two sessions on the T.V. - and I don't remember when the broadcasts started being available by satellite. But I enjoyed going to the stake center and watching it on the big screen rather than staying home to watch it. However, it really worked better to watch it at home with little kids - especially when you could co-ordinate naps with sessions! So sometimes we took turns going to the stake center and staying at home.
I remember the last year Bruce R. McConkie spoke - I was in the Stake Center - whenever anyone quotes that great talk, I am transported to the chapel there and I can see it in my mind's eye. Whenever we sing "I Believe in Christ" I think of that conference talk too.
When Harry was the Bishop and I was the YW President, we took the Priests and Laurels to Salt Lake for Conference twice - and those were fun, great experiences. One year we went up to Wrightwood with the youth and had activities centered around conference. We stayed in cabins and it snowed and everything. It was lots of fun - and I think many of the youth came to see how relevant conference could be. We had a testimony meeting after the last session, and it was very moving.
About 2 years ago we finally managed to go to the Conference Center - at least Harry,Matt, Eliza, Hannah, Noah and I did! It was a great experience too - I had thought that the largeness of the building would somehow detract, but it did not.
For the last 2 years, Harry and I have been gone over Conference weekend - twice for the St. George Marathon, once for Nebeker's wedding and then I was gone up to Phoebe's one April. It was nice to be back home and attending every session in the Stake Center once again.
Every session is wonderful - and these last sessions were no exception. I truly felt that the speakers were speaking to me personally - right from the first talk. And as I listened, I was thinking how the words I was hearing were words I needed to hear.
The Lord does indeed speak to us in the latter days - and knows what we need to hear.
2 comments:
Great post. Not to pat you on the back too much ;) but the year we went to Wrightwood for general conference was the first year I ever willingly watched all 4 general sessions (I think I was 16), and the first year I remember really paying attention to the talks (taking notes/playing Jeopardy helped) and I haven't stopped watching since then. I'm pretty sure that was the catalyst for me--although I also remember you promising to take me prom dress shopping in between Saturday sessions if Hannah and I went to Saturday's the spring of my senior year. That was fun.
Another conference-related turning point for me was going to the Saturday afternoon session (after accidentally sleeping through the morning...oops) at the Arcadia stake center in October 2000. I was home for the weekend after barely a month in college, and Elder Maxwell's talk, "The Tugs and Pulls of the World," literally changed my entire attitude about everything in my life at that point. That was when he became my favorite (not that we're supposed to have favorites, but I do). I can remember that moment as clearly as I think you remember Bruce R. McConkie's last talk. Working at the COB I learned how much Elder Maxwell agonized over his conference talks, sometimes calling editors with changes for closed captions up until minutes before conference started.
Conference is fabulous. Sometimes I have a hard time concentrating or even staying awake, and it's easy to get distracted especially if you're watching at home, but I think that's normal--8 hours of church is a lot for 2 days.
I love that we can get the talks on MP3 almost immediately after they're delivered, and the text is available just a few days later. I love that we can refer to them again and again, and that without fail, at least one person "speaks" directly to me. Same with the RS broadcast (which I always have some reason or excuse to skip, but every time I make myself go and then I'm glad!).
I thought of you and Dad during many of the talks, especially Saturday morning.
This has turned into a VERY long comment...but what I mean to say is that conference is a blessing to all of us all over the world, and I hope I can pass that on to my kids!
I love general conference. I attended one General RS meeting in the Tabernacle (I don't remember anything about what was said).
Jeff and I were able to take the older kids to the conference center for the first meeting there. I was wonderful. I even remember some of the talks (Pres Hinckley talked about the pulpit and his walnut tree!) I loved seeing the Prophet stop to give his arm to Sister Hinckley on his way out. It makes me sad to see him leave and not have her with him!
I got to watch most of this Octobers conference. I am looking forward to reading them also, to get what I missed and review what I got!
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