As I sit here chewing my chocolate bubble gum (that really does taste like tootsie rolls - thanks Jen) I wanted to record some things I heard at Stake Conference this weekend. Stake Conference was AMAZING!!! I learned so much. Elder Henry B. Eyring, visited and spoke along with the Area Seventy, Brother Oskathorpe.
They had a Saturday evening session for the adults, then 2 Sunday sessions, since the stake is so large. I was able to attend all the sessions, as I volunteered to assist in ushering for the 2nd Sunday session. This was great as both Sunday sessions were completely different. Only a couple of talks were the same. In addition, I was at the right place, at the right time, and was able to shake Elder Eyring's hand after.
Elder Eyring on Saturday spoke on "feasting upon the word of God." He said if you want to review his talk later just read 2 Nephi 31:19-21, 32:1-9. I love how they just read and use the scriptures like that. But he talked about how to pray and provided steps for it:
1. Decide before you pray. He talked how Joseph Smith already had made a decision before he prayed what he was going to do. He was going to join a church. We need to committed to act on our decision. He talked about how we need to be prepared to be asked to do some difficult things from Heavenly Father when we do this. He will have us go beyond the limits we were originally contemplating.
2. Pray like a child. Be willing to submit as a child submits. We need to always have a sense of who Heavenly Father is and who we are when we pray.
3. Have a repentant heart. He talked about how whatever we've done, we could always do more. We need to remember also that "whomever the Lord loveth, he chastenth." He shared a story of how another apostle complimented Pres. Hinckley on the BYU devotional he gave last week. Pres. Hinckley stated that the he didn't do that great of a job. "I know a good talk, and that wasn't one of them. I could've done better."
4. Be optimistic. You NEED hope. He quoted Pres Hinckley "Well it's all going to work out. We know we are going to win." He also talked about how Pres. Hinckley is one of the most optimistic people he knows, yet he is the one that truly knows all the troubles that are occurring in the world.
5. We need the gift of charity in our life. Heavenly Father NEEDS to know that you love him. You cannot serve those whom you do not love. He also talked about how the Lord does EVERYTHING out of love for us. All our problems and trials are and were for our good. We need to obtain a feeling of appreciation. Also don't be a Jonah, we need to do what the Lord tells us to immediately, and not wait for a whale to come and really help us to do his work.
On Sunday, Elder Eyring first rebuked everyone (in his good humored way), during the first session, for not paying as much attention to their spiritual memories. We need to always remember them, and pray for even sweeter memories for the future. We need to remember our baptism day and the feelings we felt there. We need to work towards have a better Sacrament experience. He went through the Sacrament prayer and compared it with our baptism.
In the 2nd session, Elder Eyring piggy backed his talked with the Area Seventy's talk. He talked about the formula for success. He just returned from serving as mission president in South Dakota and talked about the struggle he had with ways to counsel missionaries when they lost their desire for the work. He found the answer in Alma 26:27. The formula was:
1. Desire - what we think are our desires.
2. Decision - need to decide to do something.
3. Determination - we need to stay with our plan, and NEVER give up!
He talked about the success his mission experienced after they applied this principle more in their work.
Elder Eyring talked about how their needs to be another "D" in there, but he doesn't know what word it would be. He talked about the background on the scripture used and how we need to make the choice that we will "pay any price for this desire." We need to put our heart, might, mind and strength into this.
Ok, so now I've shared just a brief part of what I was privileged to hear today. I was so excited I wanted to share it with someone. Some statistics I heard today regarding my stake was that we have 4 couples serving as Mission Presidents right now and about 80 missionaries. That seems like quite a lot to me. I guess that's typical for Utah though.
On a side note: the chocolate bubble gum's flavor does not last that long.
