General Conference: Faith, Hope, Peace, and Happiness



 The Conference Center


 


  
The 181st Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will take place on April 2 and 3, 2011, at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
For two days, Church members around the globe will gather in various locations to hear counsel from Church leaders, including President Thomas S. Monson and each member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, as well as other General Authorities and auxiliary leaders of the Church.

                                                          How Do I Watch?



IS There A Mormon Church Near Me?

The Conference Center seats twenty-one thousand in the main assembly hall and one thousand more in a separate theater. A Boeing 747 airplane could fit inside the auditorium with plenty of room to spare! The Conference Center has been designed and built acoustically so that those in attendance can hear the speakers and music clearly.

What Will I See And Hear?

General conference—whether experienced from the Conference Center, at meetinghouse, or through the printed Church magazines—is an opportunity for members and others around the world to witness modern prophets and apostles speaking. It is a chance to feel the spirit of faith and testimony that this moment of instruction, this time of strengthening, provides.

President Uchtdorf tells the importance of staying on the narrow gospel path. He uses the story of the 1979 Flight 901 Mount Erebus airline tragedy to illustrate his point.
From April 2008 General Conference.

The Conference Center’s roof is landscaped with a waterway, trees, shrubs, and grasses to blend into the surroundings and complement the majestic Salt Lake Temple. The Conference Center covers ten acres and the interior is 1.5 million square feet. It is constructed of stone from the same quarry that provided granite for the Salt Lake Temple.




        Growing up General Conference wasn't always my favorite thing to watch. For me it was a good time to take a nap. However, when I became a teenager I began to realize the importance of having a Prophet of God on the earth. I began to think it was cool to be able to listen to a prophet speak. Some of my greatest memories as a teenager was going to the Conference Center in Salt Lake City and watching General Conference live. Just being in a building with thousands of other people who believed the same way as I did was great, and then to hear prophets and apostles speak made it awesome! Today myself along with millions of others listen to the voices of prophets and apostles to seek greater faith, hope, peace, and happiness in our lives. I know that God loves each of his children and he speaks to us through His prophets and apostles today.

  Today millions of people can watch, read, and listen to General Conference all over the world.

                           Session schedule                             

 (Mountain Daylight Time):

 Saturday, 10 a.m.;

 Saturday, 2 p.m.;

Saturday, 6 p.m. (priesthood only);

 Sunday, 10 a.m.;

 Sunday, 2 p.m.

Glenn Beck

As Mormons we are not perfect nor will we ever be in this life. We all come from different backgrounds and lifestyles, but the gospel of Jesus Christ is what changes us. It is what makes us who we are and what sets us apart from the rest of the world. Watch this clip of a well known man named Glenn Beck and how the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ changed his life.

We Truly Can Find Happiness

 Harry Emerson Fosdick said: “Until willingness overflows obligation, men fight as conscripts rather than following the flag as patriots. Duty is never worthily performed until it is performed by one who would gladly do more if only he could.” 

     At the beginning of my mission, my older brother was finishing up his mission in Spain. I always looked up to my brother and sought for advice from him, especially as a missionary. Shortly before my brother came home from his mission he wrote me a letter and shared something with me that he learned on his mission. He said "Faith is the power, Obedience is the price, Love is the motive, The Spirit is the key, Christ is the reason." As I have pondered these five things I have been able to realize why I am here and what it takes to be a great missionary. It has also helped me to find a lot of happiness in the gospel.

     Faith is the Power: Faith in Jesus Christ is the first principle of the gospel. With faith in Jesus Christ we can do all things. The Bible Dictionary states; "To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone. The Lord has revealed himself and his perfect character, possessing in their fulness all the attributes of love, knowledge, justice, mercy, unchangeableness, power, and every other needful thing, so as to enable the mind of man to place confidence in him without reservation. Faith is a principle of action and of power, and by it one can command the elements and/or heal the sick, or influence any number of circumstances when occasion warrants (Jacob 4:4–7). Even more important, by faith one obtains a remission of sins and eventually can stand in the presence of God." It is sometimes hard for me to fully put all my Faith in God. However, the times in my mission when I have I have seen miracles. Faith is something I feel I can always improve on and as I do I can have power in doing missionary work and in all things I do in life.



"My people must be tried in all things" (D&C 136:31).



   Obedience is the Price: Being raised in the gospel I learned the importance of obedience. Throughout my life I always strive to be obedient, but I am still human and have a hard time sometimes being 100% obedient. The Book of Mormon teaches us that the natural man is an enemy to God and will be until we learn to submit to all things that Heavenly Father feels is important to inflict upon us (Mosiah 3:19). As part of our lives here on earth we must learn to take things out of our lives that draw us away from God and replace them with things that bring us nearer to God. Doing this is a sacrifice. It requires us to give up something that we have for something greater. It is the Price we pay to become more like Christ. As we do this, Heavenly father has promised us great blessings. However, we don't receive any blessings from God until we are first obedient to his commandments (Doctrine and Coventants 130: 20-21).

     Love is the Motive:  As a missionary I have began to learn what it means to truly have love. Love is something that doesn't always come natural, but sometimes has to be developed. Love is developed by acting not by saying.  Harry Emerson Fosdick said: “Until willingness overflows obligation, men fight as conscripts rather than following the flag as patriots. Duty is never worthily performed until it is performed by one who would gladly do more if only he could.”

President Thomas S. Monson taught us how to learn to love through the Savior. "By learning of Him, by believing in Him, by following Him, there is the capacity to become like Him. The countenance can change; the heart can be softened; the step can be quickened; the outlook enhanced. Life becomes what it should become. Change is at times imperceptible, but it does take place" (Thomas S. Monson, "The Way of the Master", Liahona, Jan. 2003, 3).

     The Spirit is the key: I have learned that the Holy Ghost is the best guide through life. Learning to recognize the promptings of the Holy Ghost can sometimes be difficult, but when we learn to rely on the Holy Ghost we begin to let God direct our lives instead of trying to do it ourselves. In the scriptures we learn that God speaks to us through our feelings and that is why it is sometimes hard to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost. However, the more we study and seek answers to our questions in life the more the spirit will work in us. The more the spirit works in us the easier it will be to understand its promptings (Doctrine and Covenants 9: 8-9). I know that as we strive to seek guidance from God he will help us in all aspects of our lives, but it is up to us to seek his help.

     Christ is the reason: I can't think of any better reason than to have Jesus Christ as a motivating factor. God is our Heavenly Father, and like any parent He wants us, His children, to be happy. In the scriptures, He teaches “my work and my glory [is] to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). Eternal life means to live in heaven, in His presence, with our families, forever. God has given us commandments, which teach us what is right and wrong and chart a way through life that will offer the greatest happiness. Jesus Christ taught, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). But the scriptures also teach that “no unclean thing can dwell with God” (1 Nephi 10:21). As hard as we try to live good lives, we all sin, so how can we live in God’s perfect kingdom if we are imperfect?

God sent Jesus Christ to earth to give us a way to overcome our sins and imperfections. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) (What Jesus Christ Means to Us).

    This truly is his work and it is an honor for me to be a part of it. I know that a loving Heavenly Father has restored his church to the earth today and in it we can find true happiness.

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The Attribute to Perfect

Each week my mom sends me a spiritual thought in her emails and I really like this weeks thought. It comes from President Uchtdorf, who is in the first presidency of the chruch, he said, "Because love is the great commandment, it ought to be at the center of all and everything we do in our own family, in our Church callings, and in our livelihood. Love is the healing balm that repairs rifts in personal and family relationships. It is the bond that unites families, communities, and nations. Love is the power that initiates friendship, tolerance, civility, and respect. It is the source that overcomes divisiveness and hate. Love is the fire that warms our lives with unparalleled joy and divine hope. Love should be our walk and our talk." http://www.mormon.org/humanitarian-aid/

The Eternal Sport of Wrestling

    As a missionary I have had a lot of trials. Like most people,  I never thought that a mission would be this hard. There are so many things to learn and the only way to learn them is through trials.

     
 Growing up I lived in a home where we liked to wrestle. My Father was a wrestler and he taught us a lot about the sport. When I was in the fouth grade, my Dad became my wrestling coach. As a fourth grader I thought that wrestling practices were the worst thing in the world, but my parents made me stick with it. From then until the eighth grade I didn't do too well in wrestling. I was always getting beat up on the mat by people that were older than me. In the eighth grade I tried out for the basketball team. Well I got cut and from that point on I decided that I was supposed to be a wrestler. Wrestling wasn't easy for me. For my first year of high school, I didn't wrestle much on the varsity team. My second year of high school I wrestled about half the year on the varsity team. Then my Junior year I decided to pick things up and really work hard. Just as the season started I had an accident in my agriculture class that tore up one of my fingers and I couldn't wrestle most of the season. My senior year I worked really hard and put a lot of effort into wrestling. My favorite quote about wrestling comes from a great wrestler, Dan Gable "Once you have wrestled everything else in life is easy."That is something that really motivated me to work hard. I knew that if I became a good wrestler it would take a lot of work and would help me the rest of my life. I ended up placing sixth at state my senior year which was a great accomplishment for me. I truly believe that wrestling is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. It is a sport that made me look deep inside me to see how much drive and self-motivtion I had. It is a sport that at times can be exhausting both physically and mentally. It taught me about myself and really what I can achieve.

    

    Now I am a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. As a missionary I have learned of a different style of wrestling. A style that takes just as much effort as when I wrestled in high school. A man named Alma in The Book of Mormon begins to tell us of this style of wrestling. "Nevertheless Alma labored much in the spirit, wrestling with God in mighty Prayer, that he would pour out his Spirit upon the people that who were in that city; that he would also grant that he might baptize them unto repentance."(Alma 8:10) We learn from this experience that Alma had and many other prophets have taught that communication with God is not an easy thing to do. Prayer is something that I have learned on my mission is one of the hardest things to do. It is something that takes a ton of effort. Another prophet named Enos in the Book of Mormon tells us of his wrestle which he had before God. "And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens. And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed." (Enos 1:4-5)     
Enos teaches us that answers to prayers do not always come at once, but if we are persistant and put a lot of effort into our prayers then Heavenly Father will answer them. I know that God loves all of us and he hears our prayers. I know that if we are going through trials or have questions that have not been answered, we can turn to our Heavenly Father for help. He is waiting to help all of us and all we have to do is tap into his line of communication through prayer. For me, when I go through a trial, the only way for me to overcome it is through prayer. I am so greatful for a loving Heavenly Father who loves me and that I can turn to when I have no where else to turn.