General Conference: Sunday morning

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf conducting

Choir: Lead Us Into Life Eternal

Choir: Guide Us O Thou Great Jehovah

[ prayer ]

Choir: Consider the Lilies

President Henry B. Eyring
baptismal covenants Mosiah 18:9
1. become charitable (mourn with those that mourn)
recent Day of Service throughout Church
Mosiah 2:18 service of fellow beings
Moroni 7:47 charity is the pure love of Christ
as you serve others for God, He lets you feel His love
feelings of charity become part of your very nature
2. be witnesses of God
Book of Mormon will lift, guide, embolden you
parents bring spirit of Book of Mormon into home
teach with increased conviction, bear witness with power
3. endure to keep the commandments
be fully converted
press on after a life of dedicated service
“fixed and controlling determination to keep His commandments”
Moroni 10:32
first step to full conversion is faith
prophets ancient and modern will draw you closer to God
drink deeply and often from pages of Book of Mormon
contains fullness of gospel of Jesus Christ; true and sure witness of Him

Elder Robert D. Hales
why do we have trials even when we try to do God’s will?
examples: Christ, Joseph Smith, pioneers
purpose of life on earth is to grow, develop, and be strengthened through experience
Isaiah 40:31 wait upon the Lord
mortal challenges allow us to see whether we’ll exercise agency to follow Christ
we may not understand why a trial comes
Psalms 30:5 joy cometh in the morning
[ June freaking out about not getting fresh peaches MORE MORE NOW ]
ponder and receive the Holy Ghost to know what we should do
tribulation worketh patience; continue in patience until we are perfected
stand fast, trust the Lord in faith – perfect brightness of hope
understanding is given line upon line
too often we pray for patience but want it right now
“sincere prayer is answered – some time somehow”
[ Evan freaking out about not getting fresh peaches MORE MORE NOW ]
we are more beloved to the Lord than we can possibly imagine
be kind to others, and even kinder to ourselves

Elder Tad R. Collister
Book of Mormon is either of God or the devil (claims to be word of God)
[ June playing peekaboo with a clear yellow Ikea plate ]
either Christ was son of God or not; can’t be just “good moral teacher”
2 Nephi 32:3, Helaman 5:12 – could these come from the devil?
why have Book of Mormon if we already have Bible?
many interpretations lead to many Christian churches
Ephesians 4:5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism
divine law of witnesses – why is second witness needed?
Book of Mormon is confirming, clarifying witness of Bible truths
[ diaper change ]

Choir & congregation: We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet

Sister Elaine S. Dalton
how do fathers raise daughters in today’s world?
most important thing: love her mother
will learn from you what to expect from young men
teach her to never settle for less
make a celestial marriage; worthy of greatest efforts and highest priority
manner of happiness = covenant keeping
YW helps understand identity as daughter of God
commit now to live worthy of temple blessings
father’s example is louder than YW teaching
help daughter prepare for and remain worthy for temple
take with you to do baptisms at 12
popular culture tries to demean role as patriarch, father
roles given by divine design
preside over families in love and righteousness
be guardians of virtue – pure thoughts, clean actions, holiness
personal virtue will model moral courage, strength for children
personal purity will give you power
be present in daughter’s life
help her understand value of education
if she is late for a date, go get her
you are not ordinary men – priesthood sets you apart
you are your daughter’s hero
testimony is powerful influence on daughters

M. Russell Ballard
weekly renew baptismal covenant to take Christ’s name upon us
Savior’s name is only name by which we can be saved
full name of Church is important; uphold and teach full name
how can any description be more clear than name of Church?
same church that Jesus established during His mortal ministry
restoration of true and complete church in modern times
Saints are those who seek to make their lives holy by following Christ
name tells us exactly who we are and what we believe
Mosiah 5:12 retain His name written always in your heart
follow Christ by being latter-day disciples
impact of using Church’s full name
only one church in all the world that bears Christ’s name by divine command

Choir: I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go

President Thomas S. Monson
changing world in past 84 years
abandonment of traditional ethics in 1960s
world says morality is passe, conscience is for wimps
overriding commandment seems to be “Thou shalt not be found out”
we are responsible for our actions
laws of God remain constant, have not changed, will not change
our code of conduct is definitive – not negotiable
constancy of God is something on which we can rely
joy to lives, peace to souls from following Savior and keeping commandments
[ sibling trouble ]

Choir: I Believe in Christ

[ prayer ]

Choir:

[ prayer ]

Meaningful

This post is brought to you by my typical late night insomnia-driven breakdown.

What’s meaningful in your life? What makes you feel something? Do you talk about it? Do you let people know when they’re meaningful to you?

It’s easy for me to be critical, cynical, or cross. It comes perhaps a little too naturally to deride others and to forget – or ignore – that they’re regular people, just like me. (Some are taller, and therefore intimidating, but let’s call them regular people anyway.) I find it much more challenging to admit that I have real emotions and that I find joy in my life. Expressing pleasure or displeasure is one thing; for me, at least, expressing true joy is another – it requires a degree of vulnerability.

I wanted to take up my Habermas battle cry again and say that we ought to be more forthcoming about what we think and feel; here I’d like to address how we infrequently let others know how meaningful they are, or their experiences are, to us. Of course, there are plenty of indirect ways to communicate this to others, but over the past few weeks I’ve had two instances where I felt a direct statement would be most effective.

First, my neighbor’s sister went into labor halfway into her pregnancy. Her tiny baby boy lived less than 3 hours. It was heartbreaking to hear about; I despaired, thinking that nothing I could do would comfort or help their family in any meaningful way. After making a donation to their medical fund, what possible aid could I give? And yet surely saying nothing was worse than just expressing sorrow and sympathy. Several days ago I was playing outside with the kids when my neighbor’s sister came by. I told her how sorry I was, how much I wanted to help, how deeply I felt for her. I suppose it was just words; I didn’t do anything. But the words seemed to be meaningful to her – and I think it was because they were meaningful to me. I tried to truly convey my feelings, without shielding them in any way. I think we often downplay our tender emotions; they make us vulnerable. In this instance I was fairly unconcerned about my own vulnerability. I just wanted to let her know that I was beginning to understand the admonition to mourn with those who mourn.

Second, one of my closest friends had her first baby and we went to the hospital to visit them. I’d been thinking a lot about what motherhood means to me. It really is incomprehensible. There’s simply no way I could have understood this depth of feeling before having kids. And I hoped I could tell me friend how happy I was for her – and her husband – that they were having this experience. It sounds silly, but words escaped me. I ended up babbling something about “We’re really, really happy for you; being parents is so wonderful,” and I’m fairly certain I sounded ridiculous. I was near tears. I wanted to hug everyone in the room. I doubt that my point got across at all, because I felt so awkward saying it. It was almost easier to communicate sorrow than overwhelming joy.

Last week the Romgi and I spent a night away (and we’re very, very grateful to the family members who watched our kids!). The Romgi fell asleep quickly, as anyone who gets up at 6am is likely to do. I commenced one of my typical late night insomnia-driven breakdowns – I can’t remember the exact reasoning anymore – after which I had a series of epiphanies and began mentally composing this blog post. One of my epiphanies was that we become knit together as people by sharing meaningful experiences with each other, and by letting others know that they are meaningful in our lives.

I suspect that the following is a statement every parent dreams of hearing for years, and it only comes long after the dream has been given up: Mom and Dad, thank you for all you’ve done for me. As a child I was completely ignorant of the countless sacrifices you made in my behalf – the plans you put on hold, extra hours you worked, the tantrum-filled toddler years and sulky teenage years you endured, for the simple reason that I’m your daughter and you love me. After becoming a parent, I look back on my (short) life and find it filled with meaning because I begin to understand the great effort you’ve put into raising me. I don’t feel particularly comfortable saying such…emotional things, but they are sincere.

The Romgi, you are absolutely my favorite person. (I hope no one is offended by the fact that the rest of you are not my favorite. I do like you all. A lot.) I love that together we’ve created a world full of meaning. In the words of a Korean drama, the best house is the one you build in the heart of the one you love. Sappy enough? It’s true. I’m happy knowing that whatever our experiences in life, we’ll share them with each other. I have many other things to say. I’ll write you a whole blog post.

Everyone else: you’re all meaningful to me in some way, and I’d like to tell you that. If you leave a comment – just a simple “I’m here” – I’ll email you something wonderful. (Of course, that means you need to enter your email address. It won’t be shared with other readers.)

My final thought is that I want to embrace the joy in my life more, whether it’s the mundane (a Dunford donut) or the profound (a box of Dunford donuts). (Sorry, I couldn’t resist. And once the Romgi went out at 11pm to get me a donut, and it was an unbelievably perfect donut, and the whole thing really was meaningful. Haven’t you tried Dunfords yet?) I don’t want to ignore or suppress the deep emotions that make life worthwhile.

tl;dr – share your positive emotions more often.

Flustered

On Saturday a friend asked me to substitute for her Sunday school class the following day. It was very last-minute, which was good because it minimized the time I had to stress about it.

See, the last time I taught a lesson in church was for the Sunbeam class (3-4 years old) about ten years ago.

I’m not a good teacher.

Despite preparation I was overwhelmingly nervous. And a little panicked. I apologized at the beginning of class, saying I’d never really taught before and didn’t know much about teaching. Without meaning to I rushed through the lesson. I was so afraid that the class members would think I was an idiot. Did I mention it was the 16-year-old girls? They were so sweet and kind.

I wasn’t sweet or kind. I was just flustered.