On Sunday we drove to the Big City of
Roseburg to attend a special conference for several regions in the
northwest. Most of the meeting was
televised, but we did manage to get a seat in the chapel rather than what
Roland calls the “nose bleed seats”. I also
saw at least six other people from our ward seated in the chapel.
Our stake president started off the
meeting before the broadcast was aired. I
enjoy listening to our stake president.
He gave a comparison of feeding a campfire to fueling our own testimonies. The choir sang a number and then the
broadcast was shown after a long five-minute countdown.
It was announced that the broadcast
was coming from the Conference Center – though I
don’t know which part of the Conference Center – not what one normally thinks
of when hearing “Conference Center” – a room off to the side used only for the
purpose of televising meetings. I doubt
there was room for the camera crew and a live audience.
I had seen the room before during
another televised meeting, but I have never seen it in person. I have been to the Conference Center before, but
had never explored beyond the main meeting area.
The conference theme overall was on
service. The first speaker was Elder K. Brett
Nattress from the quorum of the 70.
He started off his talk relating a situation about two brothers working
together to try their hand at an athletic sport involving jumping. The seven-year old’s plan was to jump off the
balcony while his four-year-old brother stood waiting with a pillow to cushion
his graceful land – which, as you can imagine, was not graceful. It is a miracle that there were no broken
bones. The seven-year-old said he wouldn’t
have done it if he had known it was going to hurt so much.
Elder Natress
than gave three steps to finding happiness.
They are
1)
To Pray every day
2)
Read the Scriptures, especially familiarize self with the Book
of Mormon
3)
Serve each day.
He gave an example of
administering the sacrament and I thought of my three boys really enjoying
having the opportunity of taking the sacrament to those who had health problems
that prevented them from attending weekly church meetings.
The second speaker was Christina
Franco who serves in the general primary.
She also counseled to “be of good cheer” and gave us four guidelines to
apply to our understanding:
1)
Understand that we have a Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus
Christ who love us
2)
Understand that the commandments are there to protect us
3)
Understand gratitude
4)
Understand that service brings joy
She read some verses from
Mosiah.
When her talk was finished, the congregation was invited to stand and sing "Go Forth in Faith" (version of hymn found here). I wasn't familiar with the hymn.
The next speaker was Patrick Kearon. Love the accent. He talked about being strengthened through
the atonement and gave us the acronym FEMA (find every Mormon available). He then shared some examples of service and
how both the recipient and server are blessed.
My mind wandered back to a time when a former bishop (the one who had
married Roland and me) was also giving a lesson on service and how sometimes
the recipient may present other obstacles that may be difficult to
conquer.
His example was in doing a
service project with the youth who had gone to spruce up a yard for a rather
demanding “do it my way or else” old prune (he did not call her an old prune;
that was my own interpretation) and how though our recipient might not have the
best attitude, it is still important for us to do our best. How do you teach the youth to love service if
so many hurdles are thrown at them before they even start? We need not let pride stand in our way of
doing the right thing.
The concluding speaker was Elder Todd
Christopherson who talked about a quorum of thirteen praying for inspiration
and direction on New Leadership between Pres. Monson’s death and Pres. Nelson’s
sustainment. He talked about his
personal experience as he had never had that opportunity between prophets. He also talked about J. Rueben Clark and
played a clip of an address that Elder Clark gave about “not where you serve
but how you serve”. Service is an
offering we place upon the alter.
Overall it was a really good meeting. Worth the drive. Worth the front row seats.
