Random Thoughts after Stake Conference

We attended stake conference this last weekend. Elder Spencer J. Condie was our visiting General Authority. He's a great speaker and has some extremely funny stories. I really enjoyed his talks.

I always enjoy the evening session for the adults because I don't have to wrangle kids and can actually listen to the messages.

Our stake president is a very inspired man. He shared a story about when Elder Condie arrived for the conference and they had some time before the meetings began. Elder Condie wanted to make a visit to someone in the stake and our stake president thought for a moment. He felt like it was important to visit a previous stake president who'd been ill. While they were there visiting, he quietly passed away. That's inspiration.

We are also preparing for a new temple presidency so members of the current temple presidency spoke at our conference. One of the sisters, who I just love, shared some stories about how serving in the temple presidency has blessed their lives, including seeing their non-member son-in-law finally embrace the gospel and join the Church. She then shared a story about her daughter whose unborn child was diagnosed as having either Turner's syndrome or Down syndrome. She said they all prayed that the baby wouldn't be born with either one of these syndromes and when the baby was born she did not have either one. She related what a blessing that was for their family. Of course, I had a different reaction to that story.

I realize that no one wants to have a child with a genetic abnormality. We all want healthy babies and there's nothing wrong with that. But, wonderfully amazing blessings also await families of children who are born with Turner's syndrome or Down syndrome. I cannot begin to explain how my son has blessed my life in ways he could never have blessed it otherwise. I cannot begin to explain the closeness that our family feels to each other and to my youngest son. I cannot begin to explain how his birth was a testament to me of Heavenly Father's plan for each one of us.

Yes, the world will look at my son differently and, most likely, treat him differently. But, for all of his challenges in mortality none of them will keep him out of the celestial kingdom. Mine will. In the eternal scheme of things, he is not the one that has a disability, it is me.

This sister's comments reinforced my extreme gratitude for my son. I am in awe that Heavenly Father would entrust such a child as this to me. I am thankful every day that He sent my son to me and only hope I can be the mother He wants me to be.

Sharing the Gospel

This last weekend we had our stake conference. It was broadcast on Sunday to stakes in Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. Saturday night we met with the adults in our own stake.

I was impressed with the woman who spoke first in our Saturday evening session. She said she’d lived in California many years when she and her mother felt prompted to move to a small town, away from the hustle and bustle of a big city. They traveled through Colorado before deciding to settle in a small town in southwestern Colorado.
She and her mother began working for the school district serving lunches. Missionaries happened to stop by and dropped off a Book of Mormon, but neither she nor her mother read it. Through the job with the school district, she met members of the Church. Children invited her to their baptisms and other special events. When she started working for the court system, she worked with members who changed her view of others. She said that those she worked with didn’t see criminals, but rather children of God who made mistakes and needed help.

Her neighbors invited her, and her mother, to church events and befriended them.
Through all of these efforts, she decided to be baptized. The more she studied about her new religion the more she desired to go to the temple. As the year progressed, she started to fear going to the temple because she didn’t know what to expect. She shared how the Relief Society president was persistent, but never pushed her to go to the temple.

After some time passed, she decided to attend the temple. Twenty-two people attended with her. Her neighbors, those she’d worked with, the Relief Society president, and parents of the children who first invited her to go to church. She shared how she felt when she joined these people in the celestial room and the bond that tied them all together.

As I listened to her speak, I couldn’t help but feel the Spirit witness to me the truth of what she was sharing. What a blessing it is to attend the temple. I’ve been privileged to attend with my nephews when they first took out their endowments and when they married in the temple. But, the opportunity I had to attend with my own son before he left for his mission was an experience I won’t soon forget. To stand in the celestial room with him was such an incredibly peaceful and joyous occasion. I was filled with such gratitude for that experience.

Another thing I picked up from this sister’s talk was the involvement of so many people in bringing the gospel to her. Children and adults, not afraid to share the good message of the gospel, opened their mouths and their hearts to serve one of Heavenly Father’s children. Her gratitude to these people for loving her and helping her to find her way back to Heavenly Father was palpable in that room.

We never know what opportunities we may have to share the gospel with our co-workers, neighbors, or even through our internet associations. I’m going to try to be more diligent in sharing the gospel with people in my life in hopes of allowing them to find the same peace and joy I have found through the gospel.

Return to the neighborhood.

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