What a wonderful conference weekend we have just had. I'm so very grateful that we have the opportunity twice a year to hear from the leaders of the church and get that spiritual recharge that we all so desperately need. Growing up I didn't really appreciate general conference like I should have. But now I look forward to the next time I get to hear the prophet of the Lord and his apostles and receive the spiritual guidance they are prepared to share. This is such a blessing that I hope we all take advantage of. This time around, we had been going around asking everyone to come to conference with a question they wanted answered when I thought to myself that I had never put this to practice myself. I determined that this time at general conference, I would come with a question myself. Something really cool happened, I receive not only one but multiple answers to my specific question. I'm sure many of you have put this to practice yourselves and have had similar experiences but wow what a way to get something more out of General conference. It felt as if the apostles and leaders were speaking directly to me and they knew exactly what I needed to hear. These are really some inspired men and women. It was really cool to come to conference with a question this time around and I would recommend it for any of you who will be participating in conference this coming October. It's also been really cool to watch conference as a missionary. You are not only trying to find answers for yourself but for your investigators, less active, and members in your mission. That has been really cool to receive revelation for those people through listening to the general conference addresses. As a missionary you want everyone around you to receive that same spiritual recharge that you have received and so you focus on what is being said and how that can help other people's needs as well, which is way cool.
Sometimes you are even lucky enough to have the experience like I had yesterday with one of our investigators. We had an investigator show up to church last night to watch general conference. She can speak a little English but is more comfortable with Norwegian so we had set up the Norwegian translation in the library while the others watched in English in the chapel. It was just Søster Etchells myself and this investigator in the little library in our building. We all set and listened and participated in the general conference together. It was a really great session and it seemed as if our investigator was taking in every word. It was really cool to see. At the end of the session, our investigator turn to us and asked us if we could teach her more about Jesus Christ during our appointment on Friday. She said that something one of the speakers had said had made her think more about Jesus Christ and how she really would like to learn more about Him and focus more on Him in her life. She specifically asked us to focus on his early life as she had read much and heard a lot about his ministry and death but not much on his childhood and early years. How cool an investigator felt the spirit as she sat and watched that two hour session of General conference and truly had such a strong desire after the fact to learn more about her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His life here on earth that was such a cool experience for me to have after watching my last general conference as a missionary in Norway. I can't remember if we had challenged her to come to conference with the question but nonetheless I'm sure she was able to receive many answers and she was even prompted to ask a question to her Missionaries that would help her to receive even more answers after conference was over. I think that's something we can all learn from. This past weekend we have been blessed to receive revelation and answers to grow in our knowledge of the gospel. But I would ask much like Nephi, " if all is done?" Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save. Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life. (2 Nephi 31:19-20)
Basically what I'm trying to get at is that we are never done learning. There is no end to faith. We can always be growing and strengthening our testimonies. Whether we are investigating the church or have been members all of our life, we will all have questions. None of us fully understands every aspect of the gospel and if we think we do we have so much more to learn. I'm so grateful that we can continue to learn and grow and build and strengthen our testimonies. I'm so glad that our investigator taught me that wonderful lesson yesterday. After I had thought I had received all the answers and the knowledge that I needed, I was reminded that not all was done. That I could continue to think and ponder on the words that had been said and then find the questions or the focus that I needed to continue to grow, to expand even more.
I don't think there was one bad talk this general conference but before I go I would just like to share with you all a few of my favorites and invite you all to go and watch them if you missed them or to go and watch any of the sessions you may have missed. They all were really very good and very inspired and I know that if you take the time to watch them the Lord will bless you with the answers and or revelation that you are in need of. I'm on some of my favorites were Linda K. Burton talk on Certain Women in the general women's broadcast. Dale G Renlund gave an amazing talk in the Saturday morning session on Christ love and compassion and focused on the Saviors example which was perfect. Of course, Jeffrey R Holland gave another incredible talk during the Saturday afternoon session about the Songs we Cannot Sing. I also really enjoyed Gary B. Sabin talk about standing up inside and Follow The Creator Not The Crowd These are just a few that I really enjoyed but I hope that you all were able to have a great conference weekend and that there were some talks that spoke to you. I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Klem,
Søster Blankmeyer
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