Conference Weekend

Wasn't that a great conference weekend?! We sustained our new prophet and first presidency and heard lots of wonderful talks. I kind of zoned out a bit in the afternoon session yesterday (I'll have to be sure to read those talks, especially Elder William Walker's talk), but I was more alert today. I enjoyed all the talks, especially Elder Uchtdorf's talk about "Faith of Our Fathers." "True religion should not originate from what pleases man or even what pleases our ancestors...the 'faith of our Father' is on the earth today." Elder Uchtdorf has such a commanding presence, and he did such a wonderful job in conducting the sessions and, especially, the solemn assembly. Pres. Monson gave a great talk. I liked how he said that each one of us can feel the Lord's inspiration if we live worthily. He gave us good counsel saying, "We need to show kindness and respect for all people everywhere, especially within our own families." Our homes should be places of peace and love, "where the storm stops at the door." He reminded us that "in order to be tested, we must sometimes face challenges and difficulties, but together we shall move forward, doing His work." In the afternoon session I especially liked Elder Neuenschwander's talk about the crowds of the world and how we can have the Savior's blessings in our lives, even as we are part of the crowd, if we seek Him out as the woman did who desired to be healed of her affliction. Elder Ballard's talk about "Mothers" was a different kind of talk for him and I thought it was especially good. He gave great counsel to mothers: (1) The joy of motherhood comes in moments. Don't rush past fleeting moments. (2) Don't overschedule yourselves of your children. Take time to listen, play together, laugh. (3) Find some time for yourself to cultivate interests. (4) Pray, study, and teach the gospel. To husbands he said: (1) Show more appreciation. (2) Have regular time together to talk about each child's needs. (3) Give your wife a day away. (4) Come home from work and take an active role with the family. And to children, he said: (1) Help your mother by picking up your toys, making the bed, doing the dishes, etc. (2) Say 'thank you' more often. (3) Put your arms around your mother and let her know you love her. To Church leaders, he said: Be watchful of the demands on mothers. I liked all the talks and look forward to reading them when they come out in the Ensign.

After the last session, the Barretts came over for Sunday dinner. We had bean soup and some wheat bread that I made with the breadmaker. It turned out kind of funny looking but actually tasted pretty good. We had fun afterward playing hide 'n' seek, etc. It's so funny to see Sidney when we play hide 'n' seek. She wants to be in on it, but it's kind of scary for her because she doesn't know what to expect. When she and Grampa found me in the closet she had just the most worried/scared look on her face as if she didn't know what they were going to find. But then she was happy when she saw that it was just Gramma in there.

Girls Night Out

Today in general conference we got to sustain Pres. Monson, his counselors, and other general authorities in a solemn assembly. That was one of those experiences you don't get to have too often. This evening, when I went over to have "Girls Night Out" with Lindy and the girls, I asked them what their favorite part of conference was. Riley said, "The standing up and raising hands part." I think they thought that was the best because they were actually participating in the conference. I asked them if they heard about the new apostle (Elder Christofferson). They said they had. Then Camden asked, "Is he an old man?" My first response was "no, he's not an old man" (because he is near my age). But then remembering that I'm pretty old, I said, "Well, he's about the same as as Grampa and I are." Then Camden asked, "Is he 59?" She's quick. I even have to stop and try to remember my current age. I told her that actually, he's a few years older, 62 or 63 (he was a senior and a studentbody officer at BYU when I was a freshman). Another new general authority is Larry (Lawrence) Corbridge, who is my same age and grew up in the Oak Hills First Ward with me. He was called to the first quorum of the seventy.

While "The Boys" all went to general priesthood meeting, I went over to Lindy's for "Girls Night Out." We decided not to go out some place to eat since it's pretty wild out there on the Saturday night of priesthood session--lots of women and girls having their own Girls Night Out. I remember back in the day when Lindy, Sarah and Tiff were young we always had a Girls Night Out before that became the popular thing to do. There weren't so many people out having fun as there are now. (When Lindy and Sarah got to be teenagers and stopped wanting to go out for our Girls Night with Tiff and me, I felt bad. But that only lasted for a few years. As they got older, they started liking Girls Night Out again. It's a fun time to be together. We miss having Sarah and Eliza and Tiff with us, but we know they're thinking about us and we're thinking about them.) So for tonight, Lindy ordered a marguarita pizza from Pizza Factory, and I picked it up on my way over to their house. Pizza Factory was crazy when I went in there--tons of people waiting to be seated. I heard someone ask how long of a wait and they were told 35-40 minutes. I was glad that I had a pick-up order, which I was able to get quickly, and that we had decided to eat "in" at the Barretts. We had a lot of fun. The girls didn't know quite what to think about that pizza loaded with so many veggies. (I think they're getting veggied out.) They were kind of like, "Even our pizza is loaded with veggies." So they each took their un-favorite veggies off their piece of pizza and ate it. After pizza we had orange floats and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that Lindy had made. YUM! Then we had some fun before I went home to fix orange floats for Grampa and Richard.

That was a great conference session today. I especially liked Elder Rasband's talk about how our life experiences are building blocks for our testimonies. "They shall learn in their own experience who He is." And Elder Wirthlin's talk about how we should keep going even if we're tired. "The Lord giveth power to the faint." I also really liked Elder Carlos H. Amado's talk about Service. "Through serving our fellowmen we come to know the Lord."

A New First Presidency

Today came the announcement of the new First Presidency of the Church. Right before the news conference was to start, Carol Mikita on Channel 5, said she had seen Sis. Monson, Sis. Eyring, and Sis. Uchtdorf in the room; so there went the suspense of wondering who the new counselors would be. We kind of suspected one would be Elder Eyring, but we didn't know who the other counselor would be until Carol Mikita spilled the beans. After mentioning the wives, she said, "I don't know if that means anything." Right.

Anyway, it was wonderful to see them walk in and to know that a new First Presidency is now in place. I liked what Pres. Uchtdorf said about Pres. Monson in that he is one who "focuses on the individual but is also able to bridge continents." When asked by a reporter if it would be hard to follow Pres. Hinckley, Pres. Monson answered, "Actually, it won't be hard to follow Pres. Hinckley because he blazed the way." I'm grateful for the new First Presidency and for Pres. Monson. He has been prepared by the Lord and will be a wonderful prophet. We, of course, love Pres. Eyring and Pres. Uchtdorf. Steven and I have had several opportunities to hear Elder Uchtdorf at the MTC. We saw him and Sis. Uchtdorf one evening when we were taking a stroll around the MTC before the devotional. They were out strolling, as well. I used a quote about "remembering" from Pres. Eyring's talk last conference here on my blog.

For FHE tonight we didn't have a lesson (Richard will give it next week), but we did our planning and reading. We also talked about the happenings of the day and the new First Presidency. Also, we're hoping for a "Miracle for Mitt" tomorrow on Super Tuesday. Here's hoping that enough right-thinking people will vote for him and put him out in front of McCain. When I talked to Tiff tonight, she said they were having some wild weather in Charleston, with heavy storms expected tonight and tomorrow. We're hoping that things won't be too bad and will settle down soon.

Goodbye, Pres. Hinckley

Tonight we got the news that Pres. Hinckley passed away earlier this evening. It was kind of a shock and surprise (even though he's 97 years old) because I think we all just assumed that he would go on forever being the prophet and president of the Church. Many of his talks in the not-so-recent past kind of referred to the fact that thought he might be going soon, because he felt like he was ready and had accomplished what he needed to; but then recently, when he's spoken, it hasn't been so much like he's telling everyone goodbye but more like how he's planning to be around for however long the Lord wants him to be. At his last birthday celebration he even talked about maybe being around for a 100th birthday party. Steven and I are glad we were able to hear his son, Elder Richard G. Hinckley, speak last Tuesday night and the reference he made to Pres. Hinckley's recent remarks when he sealed his last grandchild in the temple and said of sealing all of his children and grandchildren in the temple: "I consider this to be the finest thing I've ever done." In talking to Tiff tonight, we decided that that must have been the last thing he needed to accomplish before he died--to have sealed all of his children and grandchildren in the temple. When he dedicated the Nauvoo temple, he thought, perhaps, that that was the last thing he was to accomplish. But he went on to give several more years of dedicated service and then to seal the last of his grandchildren in the temple before finally being able to join Sis. Hinckley on the other side of the veil. Tiffany and I thought that would surely have been a great reunion, plus being able to meet and greet Joseph Smith (and Brigham Young and all the other prophets). The next few days will be a nice time for reflection as we think about Pres. Hinckley's love and service and how he has blessed not only millions of people worldwide, but each of us individually. And we can look forward to Pres. Monson becoming the next president of the Church. Tiffany and I thought he must spend all of his time going to visit and bless people who are sick or discouraged because we hear so many stories of when he has done that. Just last Tuesday, Elder Hinckley told how Pres. Monson had gone to visit Elder Hinckley's father-in-law and had been there with him when he died. It was Pres. Monson who called the Hinckleys to tell them that Sis. Hinckley's father had passed away.

Tonight for Sunday dinner we had hamburger and rice casserole, corn and rolls. It was quite a hit with the girls. Sidney liked eating the corn off her mom's plate as opposed to eating the corn right in front of her. For a treat we had valentine sugar cookies from Allen's and peppermint ice cream. Camden and Riley were glad it wasn't cherry ice cream.

I went to cousin Brianna's mission report this morning. She was feeling much better this week than she was last week. Her subject was "Reverence," and she did a good job of speaking on reverence and also telling about her mission. She talked about how much she loved the English people and how glad she was to have served the Lord in England. She told about cleaning the house of an inactive sister who was discouraged and sad. She said the house was pretty bad. The living room was bad enough, but then it just got worse through the rest of the house. As she was cleaning, Brianna said she thought to herself, "What am I doing here? Why am I doing this?" Then she thought, "Because I love the Lord and I love this woman. I want to help her have a better life." After the meeting we all went over to Clark and Barbara's for a tasty meal of Cafe Rio style food. I must find out from Barbara how to fix it like that. It was a nice gathering of family and friends there. Grandma Cathy was there to represent Grandpa T. who wasn't able to come.

After lunch at the Roberts, I went to the MTC for sacrament meeting. I got to meet the 12 new missionaries that came in last Wednesday--eight elders and four sisters. Bro. and Sis. Ahlander spoke about temples. Sis. Ahlander said that the temple is where heaven and earth intersect. Also, the Lord is able to bless His children through temple service. Bro. Ahlander said that as the gospel is inexhaustible, so is the temple endowment--we should learn something new each time we participate. The missionary speakers were Elder Thompson and Elder Darrington. Before the meeting, Elder Gooch asked me if I knew whether or not he was going to have to speak. I told him that when a missionary asks me that, then he or she usually ends up being called on to speak; so that worried him. But he wasn't called on, much to his relief.

Tiffany Travels to Pennsylvania

Today was Tiffany's trip to Pennsylvania to see Angie. She drove to the train station in Mattoon to catch the 9:30 train to Chicago. Only the train didn't come at 9:30--it was 40 minutes late! That caused her to have some crunch time on the Chicago end of her trip. Once she arrived in Chicago (probably about 1:45), she had to walk four blocks to the CTA station to catch another train to Midway airport. That train ride is about 45 minutes. Fortunately, she had printed off her boarding pass last night, and she didn't have to check a bag, so she made it to her gate on time to catch her 3:10 flight to Baltimore. Whew! That's cutting it close. Angie's dad met her in Baltimore, and drove her to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where Angie is living with her parents while she awaits the birth of her first baby. She left her job at Melrose in Natchez, Mississippi, for a better job in Pennsylvania; unfortunately, her husband, Matt, is still in Vicksburg, Mississippi, trying to sell their home and find a job for himself in Pennsylvania. In the meantime, Tiffany thought it would be fun to take a trip and spend a few days with Angie over the Marin Luther King holiday. So, hopefully, they'll have lots of fun and see lots of interesting things--if the weather isn't too bad. I was checking the weather yesterday on weather.com and the map on the home page (which usually shows where the nasty weather is taking place) showed the area right around Baltimore to Harrisburg. It was showing rain, icy rain, and snow from Baltimore to Harrisburg. The other day the map was showing the tornado areas in Missouri and Illlinois, right where Tiffany was. How come she ends up where the bad weather is? Anyway, she said the drive from Baltimore to Harrisburg was a little snowy but not too bad. We're glad she made it safely and hope she has a great time and a bit of a break from school.

Steven was home for dinner tonight, so that was nice. We had bean burritos. Then later, Bro. Sanders and Talmadge came home teaching. Bro. Sanders gave us a lesson on Pres. Monson's message in the Ensign this month: "The Master Bridge Builder." In this article, Pres. Monson says, "...we are all travelers--even explorers of mortality. We do not have the benefit of previous personal experience. We must pass over steep precipices and turbulent waters in our own journey here on earth." He goes on: "...our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was the supreme architect and builder of bridges for you, for me, for all humankind. He has built the bridges over which we must cross if we are to reach our heavenly home." Then he asks, "What personal bridges did He build and cross here in mortality, showing us the way to follow?...(He) provided the bridge of obedience. He was an unfailing example of perssonal obedience as He kept the commandments of His Father...The second bridge provided by the Master for us to cross is the bridge of service. We look to the Savior as our example of service. Although He came to earth as the Son of God, He humbly served those around Him." Pres. Monson quoted Elder Richard L. Evans, who said: "We can't do everything for everyone everywhere, but we can do something for someone somewhere." And finally, "The Lord provided us the bridge of prayer. He directed, 'Pray always, and I will pour out my Spirit upon you, and great shall be your blessing.'" I thought that was a good lesson and it motivated me to read the article. Sometimes I need to be reminded.