"personal little prophetic epistles".

We had a wonderful General Conference weekend.
We spent time with friends.
We ate cake.
We conducted the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
We heard the words of the Lord.

A few favorite thoughts:

(Obviously, the talks aren't out yet, so none of these quotes are word-for-word. All from memory.)

One of my favorite quotes was from Elder Holland that said something very close to: "the purpose of General Conference is to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable." Ha! How right is that? You always come away from Conference spiritually on fire, but you also have a list of things you want to do better. He also said that during Conference, the Lord will send you "personal little prophetic epistles" pertaining to what you need to hear the most. Without fail, it happens every time, as long as you're listening.

One member of the 70 (oh, dear, I don't know. You try taking notes while corralling Carly and trying to listen) talked about how doing is being. He said something like "so many people make to-do lists, but hardly anyone makes a to-be list." I am going to make a to-be list.

I also enjoyed the talk yesterday about the Sabbath. It made me want to improve my Sabbath days. I don't have Chris Sunday mornings, and I'm not a morning person, so our pre-church routine is hectic and unorganized. We often go running out the door with Carly's breakfast packed in my purse (for reals). I want to do better. I have memories of church songs playing in my home growing up. My mom up with curlers in her hair and eating breakfast. The spirit was always strong before we even left the door. It was Sunday. I want to work on after church too. Making one game or another less of a priority, and doing things that will draw us as a family closer to God. I want Carly to know that the Sabbath is different. It is special.

Oh, and don't get me started on the Temple! Ha! The story President Monson told about the father of the family of 10 who left for 4 years to work and save up to take his family to the temple? Oh, he must have heard me comment that its "hard to make it an hour to Detroit, especially with Carly". Ha! Put that on my "to-be" list: a Temple goer.

But my "personal little prophetic epistle" this time around was Elder Oaks. His talk on desire was truly incredible. What are my greatest desires? Do I match my priorities to my desires? Before anything in this world, I want Carly and her siblings to be good. To make right choices, marry in the temple, live long faithful lives. I want to live with my family forever. Do I make my priorities match that? At night when I read the Pens website for 20 minutes, then later think its too late to read scriptures, where are my priorities? Or when I forget to pray before lunch with Carly? Or when we skip Family Home Evening? These are little things, but it is the little things that make all the difference in the choices we make. And I want nothing more than to teach Carly exactly what she needs to know to make it. Because its only going to get harder.

Isn't Conference wonderfully exhausting?
What an incredible thing it is.
I am really amazed by it. Chris was telling a friend at school about it and his reaction was "10 hours?!". Oh, doesn't it sound insane like that? But it goes by so fast. We're sad when its over. And then we go back and read it all again!

I love this Church.
I can't tell you how much.

xoxo.