180th General Conference Part III

I watched Sunday's conference sessions with some friends from my first ward - and had my first Easter egg hunt between sessions.  It's tough when you're competing with seasoned professionals aged 7 - 15!!  Not to mention their parents...

Some thoughts from the Sunday morning session:

• We are all walking our own personal difficult path through life and we need each other to succeed.
• The teachings of the Saviour Jesus Christ must be more than just principles you memorise.
• Don't allow a perceived wrong to distance you from the Lord.
• Never let an earthly sacrifice disable you spiritually.
• The Saviour taught us to love even our enemies.
• We live in a noisy, contentious world.  We must find time to slow down, pray and ponder.
• No-one is exempt from the storms of life.

That's it for tonight - I'll finish up with the Sunday afternoon session tomorrow, 'cause I'm tired *yawn*.  Yay for the hot Southern summer which finally made its grand entrance this past weekend.

An Apostle's Easter Thoughts on Christ

On Easter morning we turn our thoughts to the miracle that is the resurrection of Jesus the Christ.  His perfect life, His ultimate sacrifice, His eternal love - this is why we celebrate Easter.

Jeffrey R Holland, Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, speaks of the path that Jesus took.



"One of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so."

The full text of Elder Holland's talk can be found here: None Were With Him

180th General Conference Part II

That's likely the shortest two hours I've ever experienced!  It's amazing how quickly time flies when you're learning good things.  Here are more thoughts from conference, this time during the Saturday afternoon session:

• Throughout history, many have given their lives so that we can have the Word of God through scripture.
• Those who don't regularly read the scriptures are doomed to a) dwindle in unbelief and b) repeat the errors of generations gone by.
• Today the scriptures are easily available in many languages - but there is a great scriptural illiteracy because people don't read them.  We have forgotten what our grandparents knew.
• Where scriptural truths are ignored, the moral structure of society crumbles.
• Faith comes by the witness of the Holy Spirit, who will testify of the truth of what we read in the scriptures.
• We are surrounded by those in need of help and comfort, be they family, friends or strangers.
• Our partial or selective obedience to the Lord's commandments will cause us to fail.
• The Book of Mormon speaks to the spirit and the heart of the reader like no other book.
• We are experiencing a great moral decay and families are falling victim to it.
• True love is shouted from the rooftops - lust is clandestine and shame-filled.
• If a TV programme is vulgar - turn it off!
• If a movie is crude - walk out!
• If a relationship is developing in an inappropriate way - sever it!
• Follow Nephi's resolve to "... give place no more for the enemy of my soul." (see 2 Nephi 4:28)

Click HERE for a link to the 180th General Conference broadcast.  Right now you can select from talks given in both sessions today.  Tomorrow (Easter Sunday) it will show the live broadcast of both Sunday sessions, at 10am (Mountain Daylight Time) and 2pm (MDT).

180th General Conference Part I

I was baptised into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seven years ago and apart from Christian celebrations of Christmas and Easter (because we all know how the world has managed to commercialise these sacred festivals beyond recognition), General Conference is my favourite Church event.  Broadcast live worldwide, we receive spiritual and temporal teachings from Church leaders including the prophet and First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and other Church leaders.

In the fortnight leading up to conference, I like to pray about one or a few things where I'd like guidance.  I've only done this in the past couple of years, but it's uncanny the personal manner in which my questions are always answered - during a conference that is broadcast to millions.

Here are some thoughts from talks given during the Saturday morning session:

• Satan is persistent in attacking the home and the family - these being the basic foundation of society.
• You can trust that the Lord will guide you.
• Doing one's duty (to God, to our Saviour Jesus Christ and to our families) is a manifestation of one's faith.
• Through prayer we can know our personal path of duty even in the midst of crisis.
• Hope, peace and joy do not depend upon circumstance - rather they are products of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
• Through keeping the commandments of God, we gain confidence to go forward in faith
• Build your life on the sure foundation of Jesus Christ.
• Children and youth are learning from you and watching your example even when you think they aren't.

Happiness Is...

... your cat upchucking

on the floor

beside the bed.

Or not.

Salt in the Wound

Seems like my PC and I have something in common this winter.  We're both prime targets for viruses.  At least I'm at the light end of the scale this year - all I have now is a low grade cold that'll stick with me through the end of spring.

My PC, on the other hand, has been hit in a major way twice in the past few months.  I'm just happy that the latest bug didn't start popping up nasty sites like the first one did.  But even so, it's not much fun having your PC shut down randomly and there's nothing you can do to stop it.  You have 60 seconds to exit from whatever you're working on or you say bye-bye to it forever.

But that's not the most annoying part.  Yesterday I couldn't even get on the internet, so this morning I called my service provider for help.  As you can imagine I was overwhelmingly surprised to hear a sickly-sweet recorded voice telling me that they were currently experiencing high call volumes and the wait time was through the roof.

But even that I could deal with.  Speaker phones are great.  What raised my eyebrows was the enthusiastically helpful recording that announced I could get faster service by visiting their FAQ section online at www.blahblahblah...  It was my privilege to hear that eight times while the recording cycled.

Sets you up perfectly to react in a pleasant manner to the actual live voice when you do finally make it to the top of the wait list.

Infinite Power of Hope

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a series of videos on YouTube called 'Mormon Messages,' some of which are taken from talks given at General Conference.  I'm posting a link to the latest one as it expands beautifully on my last post on hope.

The blurb on YouTube:

"Dieter F. Uchtdorf, an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, shares how hope encourages and inspires us to place our trust in the loving care of our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ."

 (Okay, so I worked out how to embed a video, but now... I've looked but can't find how to change the template so the video doesn't overlap the side bar widgets.  This is the smallest size video link I could get on YouTube.  Any ideas?)