Sunday, September 26, 2010

Relief Society Conference

HERE IS THE LINK TO ACTUAL TEXT AND VIDEO


I realize posting so much churchy stuff might turn my blog into very uncool, but fortunately I embrace the uncool. Because I think its really cool.

Saturday nite was the annual Relief Society Broadcast and I got to attend with my sister. Very cool. (Relief Society is the women's organization of our church)

All the speakers were great, but President Monson was amazing. He is the prophet. What the Lord wants us to know right now. One of the best talks I have heard in a while and great setup to General Conference next weekend (when I will be in ALABAMA!). So here are my notes, as accurate as I can get them until the written versions are released.

My notes were messy and unorganized. My sisters notes were perfectly written, numbered and legible. Oh the differences between us. Plus she had a way cuter outfit on. Or maybe just is way cuter. Luckily I'm related to her so that counts for something right?

Sister Julie Beck said that the conference was a gift to all those who wanted to know the will of the Savior in their lives. She is right. Here are some of the messages I heard.

The Relief Society has a rich history of strong, faithful, purposeful women.

What helps you be stedfast and immovable in Christ?

The goal isn't to have 100 percent on our visiting teaching reports, but to change lives.

There were tons of amazing stories. That was the best part. Some were very sad. Like when Sister Allred recounted hearing the story of a branch president in Paraguay's experience of going to the temple. They had sacrificed to take their family to be sealed in the temple in Argentina. It took them 27 hours to get there in a very cold winter. On the way home, both of the two young children died and were buried along the way. So the parents returned home sad and lonely without their children, but grateful that they were just sealed as a family for eternity. Talk about a heartbreaker.

President Monson told this awesome story about a general conference many years ago where he was going to be called as an apostle. Well he was sitting up in the front and his wife was looking for somewhere to sit and couldn't find a seat. As she was looking a friend noticed her and waved her over and had Sister Monson sit with her. I guess it was a certain section and a woman behind her remarked at the audacity of her to let someone out of their group sit with them. President Monson chuckled at her finding out it was the wife of the newly called apostle.

President Monson spoke of charity, compassion and
refraining from criticism
.

He told of a story who looked out her window one morning to see her neighbor's laundry being hung on the line. "My neighbor doesn't know how to clean her clothes, Look at that!" and she said the same thing day after day as she saw the dirty laundry hanging on the line of her neighbor. Until one day she looked through her window and her neighbor's laundry was finally clean. She pointed excitedly to her husband who responded by saying to his wife that this morning he had just washed their windows. President Monson then asked, "Are we looking through a window that needs cleaning?" How do we view each other? Are we making judgements before we have the facts? Appearances can be deceiving.

He told of another story of a woman who was called to lead an organization and when someone saw the new president's picture was critical of her appearance and if this was the best person chosen to represent them. But the photograph didn't reflect who she really was. (At which point I recalled my mint green pants and thought how no photograph reflects who we really are, even a very flattering one).

President Monson then questioned what the countenance of the woman who complained compare to the the woman who was criticized? He said, "If you judge them, you have no time to love them." Love one another. He then spoke of the Relief Society's theme: Charity never faileth. Charity is the pure love of Christ. The opposite of criticism.

Here is what President said. I loved every bit of it and can do much more to improve.

Be tolerant of others,
lenient of their actions, patient, sympathetic, merciful,
forgive and ignore their imperfections.


Charity is love in action.

Charity is having the patience with someone who has let us down,
accepting someone as they truly are.
Resisting the impulse to categorize each other.


Life is perfect for none of us.
But we can have the pure love of Christ for our fellow travelers.
Each is doing their best to find their way.


President Monson's words really impacted me. Normally I'm pretty good about letting things roll off me. Its one of my talents (although my family might disagree) But lately I've felt justified in holding on to my feelings when someone was very rude, or really flaked, or or stuff like that, but this week I had decided to let it go. To forgive even if no one was sorry. I am much happier and can feel the difference. So that doesn't mean I have to put myself in the same situation to happen again (like the cannery , wink wink), but I don't have to angry about it. I'm glad I was able to hear him speak with all that behind me. I felt lucky to have been there. I sure hope I portrayed it correctly :)

7 comments:

Nancy Jo said...

Thanks for posting all the talk tidbits. I REALLY enjoyed them. I wished I could go but was needed elsewhere. Can't wait for you to come to Bama!

Nash said...

i missed it, so thank you for the recap.

gina said...

Thanks for the recap I was there but my noisy baby kept me from hearing most of the talks. I finally got the punch line from the dirty laundry story.

Laurie Nguyen said...

It was a great conference. :) Thanks for giving me your take on it.

Lindsey said...

Great notes!! I loved it! So glad that you get to be in Bama for General Conference!! Those were some great quotes and stories! I loved how the conference was directed for every woman all over the world--173 different nations in 82 languages! Amazing! You are a great sis!

Sarah Heder said...

I thought Monson's talk was AWESOME! It was the best one I've heard in a long time. You did a great job recapping it. So good! I need to print it out and tape it on my wall and read it everyday.

tphillips said...

The second President Monson stood up and opened his mouth my eyes filled with tears and I had goosebumps everywhere. Seriously the spirit was SO strong. I loved his talk and I love him.