Monday, January 28, 2008

Stake Conference and President Hinckley's Passing

Stake confernence was great. Items that impressed me in our conference:

1 - Brother Steve Smith quoted Elder Robert D. Hales, "The key to strengthening the family is to have the spirit of the Lord enter our homes". I know that I need to work at living my life in a way that will invite the spirit into our home.

2 - Brother Arrington talked about how Aaronic Priesthood members can play a role in bringing the spirit into our homes. He emphasized working on the the Duty to God with our young men with resulting in increased spirituality in the home.

As I was listening to one of the priesthood leadership talks, my mind was taken to the scripture in Moroni 10:3-5 and the meaning of "real intent". Then my mind wandered to Moroni Chapter 7, early in the chapter where Mormon talks about giving gifts with real intent vs. giving gifts grudgingly. I believe that the spirit caused me to think about the necessity of combining the spirit of love with the attitude of duty to create the "real intent" and resulting joy that only comes through sincere gospel living. When I go to church meetings, or provide service in any way with the attitude of "having to go" rather than the attitude of wanting to go (real intent) and preparing ahead to share something of value to others, then the spirit attends the meeting and the joy of the gospel touches our hearts and motivates us to do even better.

Enough about Stake Conference. After Stake Conference we hosted a party for Joseph Heywood who is going into the MTC on Wednesday on his way to New Zealand to serve his mission. There were about 35 people in attendance and we had a great time visiting. Joseph will be a great missionary. We are really happy that Monica and Roger came and stayed with us.

After attending a ward fireside on organization, we received news that President Hinckley passed away at about 7:00 p.m.. We spent that balance of the evening trying to listen to what the news had to say about his life and death.

Right now we're experiencing blizzard conditions with the wind gusting to up to 50 miles per hour. Fun Fun Fun!

1 comment:

Jamie said...

I really enjoyed stake conference, also. I loved sister . . . um. . . Dave's wife's talk. I loved the story about the marine and the first-class ticket. Too bad about President Hinckley. I feel like he was my prophet, but it's cool that the church will always function.