Stake and General Conference

President Thomas S. Monson   Source

Yesterday was our Stake Conference, and it has been a wonderfully awesome weekend. I love pulling out a new yellow legal pad and taking notes during the meetings.  Every single speaker had uplifting thoughts and experiences to share and left me with much to think about.  I love our stake leaders and their devotion and concern for the members of our stake.  Almost always our Stake Conference is held just several weeks before LDS General Conference, and is like having a warm up for two days of listening to Prophets and Apostles of the Lord.  These two weekends are part of the reason that I love spring so much!

Members of our Stake Presidency shared scriptures and stories from The Book of Mormon that are among my favorites.  These verses from Alma 5 remind us that some day we will stand before the Lord to report on our works and deeds during this life.  Am I prepared for that day?

 14 And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye ^aspiritually been ^bborn of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty ^cchange in your hearts?

 15 Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who ^acreated you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption ^braised in incorruption, to stand before God to be ^cjudged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?

 16 I say unto you, can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye ^ablessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?

 17 Or do ye ^aimagine to yourselves that ye can lie unto the Lord in that day, and ^bsay—Lord, our works have been righteous works upon the face of the earth—and that he will save you?

 18 Or otherwise, can ye imagine yourselves brought before the tribunal of God with your souls filled with guilt and remorse, having a remembrance of all your guilt, yea, a perfect ^aremembrance of all your wickedness, yea, a remembrance that ye have set at defiance the commandments of God?

 19 I say unto you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the ^aimage of God engraven upon your countenances?

Our Stake President reminded us of the powerful story of the  missionary, Ammon, who dedicated years of his life to serving and teaching the gospel to his enemies, the Lamanites.  This inspiring story can be found in Alma chapters 17 to 27.  He promised us that if we too will be faithful in missionary work and temple work, that we will find solutions to the other challenges and problems that we face.

I also spent some time yesterday reviewing a few of my favorite conference talks from last October's General Conference Report.    I always love listening to the wise words of our Prophet, Thomas S. Monson.  During the Sunday morning session he reminded us to step back and recognize and consider  blessings in our lives, even though we can be discouraged when we see all of the problems and permissiveness that surrounds us in the world today.  He reminded us of the truth found in 2 Nephi 2:2 5 of The Book of Mormon:

Men are, that they might have joy.

I loved this reminder to take an inventory of our lives and look specifically for the blessings, both large and small that we have received.  I think it was this talk that prompted me to make gratitude my theme for the year and to do a better job of documenting my blessings on a daily basis here on my blog. I'm grateful for conferences and inspired counsel from Apostles and Prophets and other church leaders, and I'm looking forward to what our General Authorities have to say next month!