My Goal: To read a talk a day from the General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and blog about it.

I know this will help me but I also hope you will join me in my journey. The principles taught at Conference are true principle of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and will bring you everlasting happiness.



Click on the Title to View Entire Talk
Read it and then feel free to share your favorite quote and why.
Let's learn together!

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Our Duty to God: The Mission of Parents and Leaders to the Rising Generation

by Elder Robert D. Hales
Sunday Afternoon April 2010

On Sunday we had a combined Sunday School with the YM and their parents to go over the new Duty to God program so I thought it appropriate that I read this talk. It doesn't talk about the YM program but our duty to the youth. How can we help them along their path.

First, we need to lead them by example.
"For youth, there is no substitute for seeing the gospel lived in our daily lives. The stripling warriors did not have to wonder what their parents believed. They said, “We do not doubt our mothers knew it” (see Alma 56:47–48). Do our children know what we know?"

Second, he says we need to walk along side (not in front or behind) them along their path with understanding hearts. "To truly understand their hearts, we must do more than just be in the same room or attend the same family and Church activities. We must plan and take advantage of teaching moments that make a deep and lasting impression upon their minds and hearts." .... "It is impossible to overestimate the influence of parents who understand the hearts of their children."

He then goes into the YM & YW programs. He says to do the programs along side them and not to just give them the list of requirements. I know that I need to be better at this. I typically ask them to pull their books out and I sit with them while they choose what they are gonna work on and then I go lay down for a Sunday nap while they fulfill their duty. I guess I better fix that :) He says, "But let it be understood: for young men and young women to try to accomplish these goals alone would be a great loss and tragedy!"

Lastly, he says, "It is our imperative duty to help youth understand and believe the gospel in a deeply personal way. We can teach them to walk in the light, but that light cannot be borrowed. They must earn it for themselves. They must obtain their own light of testimony directly from the source of spiritual light—God Himself—through prayer and study and pondering. They must understand who they are and who Heavenly Father wants them to become. How do we help them?"

He says during FHE and other activities to let our children know that Heavenly Father knows who they are and ... alright he says it better

" When we have a family home evening, a family council, or a meaningful gospel conversation with our children, we have the opportunity to look into their eyes and tell them that we love them and that Heavenly Father loves them. In these sacred settings, we can also help them understand, deep in their hearts, who they are and how fortunate they are to have come to this earth and to our home and to participate in the covenants we have taken in the temple to be a family forever. In every interaction we share, we demonstrate the principles and blessings of the gospel.

In these perilous times it is not enough for our youth to merely know. They must do."

We have tried our best to implement this with our kids. I know we could use improvement so we will keep working toward the goal.

** I will hopefully be able to post the talks soon that I read over the weekend **

Friday, August 27, 2010

Help Them on Their Way Home

by President Henry B. Eyring
Saturday Morning April 2010
(click on the title to read entire talk)

Pres. Eyring's talk is a similar theme to the one I read yesterday. He goes over the atonement and that we need to help the youth before they veer far off the path. It is much easier to make little corrections than major road changes.

It is really late and my brain isn't working so I have just included a few quotes that stood out to me.

"Brothers and sisters, our Heavenly Father wants and needs our help to bring His spirit children home to Him again. I speak today of young people already within His true Church and so are started on the strait and narrow way to return to their heavenly home. He wants them to gain early the spiritual strength to stay on the path. And He needs our help to get them back to the path quickly should they begin to wander."



"The Lord has placed a pattern of rescue and rescuers in His kingdom. In His wisdom the Lord has inspired His servants to place some of the most powerful ways to strengthen us and to put in place the best rescuers as we pass through the teenage years."



"Of all the help we can give these young people, the greatest will be to let them feel our confidence that they are on the path home to God and that they can make it. And we do that best by going with them. Because the path is steep and sometimes rocky, they will at times feel discouraged and even stumble. They may at times become confused about their destination and wander after less eternally important goals. These inspired programs make that less likely because they will lead the young person to invite and receive the companionship of the Holy Ghost.

The best counsel for us to give young people is that they can arrive back to Heavenly Father only as they are guided and corrected by the Spirit of God. So if we are wise, we will encourage, praise, and exemplify everything which invites the companionship of the Holy Ghost. When they share with us what they are doing and feeling, we must ourselves have qualified for the Spirit. Then they will feel in our praise and our smiles the approval of God. And should we feel the need to give corrective counsel, they will feel our love and the love of God in it, not rebuke and rejection, which can permit Satan to lead them further away."

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Mothers Teaching Children in the Home

by Elder L. Tom Perry
Saturday Morning Session April 2010
(click on title to read entire talk)

We have such a great responsibility to teach our children. Elder Perry says,

"....ultimately, parents must ensure that their children are being taught what their Heavenly Father would have them learn."

Too often in society people expect the teachers both in school and church to raise their kids. While they do have a great responsibility. Ultimately, the parents are in charge. When I was a young Young Women's President, I had a mother chew me out about not doing enough for her daughter. She told me when she was young she was always at her leader's house. I tried to tell her that we were doing the best we knew how to but we can only do so much. I found out later that the parents were going through a divorce so the daughter was having a lot of issues. We can only do so much out of the home.

I don't know if you have ever noticed but Nick and Disney shows really bug me because more and more they are demeaning authority figures and parental figures. Satan is using these tools to teach children that they are better than their parents and that what they say is basically stupid. Are we teaching our children to combat this? He goes on to say ....

"Times are very different today, but while times may change, a parent’s teaching must never be devalued. Many activities link the values of one generation to the next, but perhaps the most central of these activities is parents teaching children in the home. This is especially true when we consider the teaching of values, moral and ethical standards, and faith."


and this goes along with that also ...

"Teaching in the home is becoming increasingly important in today’s world, where the influence of the adversary is so widespread and he is attacking, attempting to erode and destroy the very foundation of our society, even the family. Parents must resolve that teaching in the home is a most sacred and important responsibility. While other institutions, such as church and school, can assist parents to “train up a child in the way he [or she] should go” (Proverbs 22:6), ultimately this responsibility rests with parents."


As my kids are getting closer and closer to the teenage years, I have been feeling this pressure more and more. Have I prepared them enough? We have been trying to instill in them a love of learning the gospel. We load their ipods and mp3 players with John Bytheway talks so that they will love them while they are young. My goal is to create positive spiritual experiences for them to lean on when times are hard.

"Parents must bring light and truth into their homes by one family prayer, one scripture study session, one family home evening, one book read aloud, one song, and one family meal at a time. They know that the influence of righteous, conscientious, persistent, daily parenting is among the most powerful and sustaining forces for good in the world. The health of any society, the happiness of its people, their prosperity, and their peace all find common roots in the teaching of children in the home."

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

He Lives! All Glory to His Name!

by Elder Richard G. Scott
Sunday Morning April 2010
(click on title to read entire talk)


I know that I have a lot to still learn about the Atonement. I know that I am not fully using this gift in my life. Elder Scott gave us council below to study the Atonement.

"This Easter, as you remember the Resurrection and the price paid and the gift given through the Atonement, ponder what the scriptures teach of those sacred events. Your personal witness of their reality will be strengthened. They must be more than principles you memorize. They must be woven into the very fiber of your being as a powerful bulwark against the rising tide of abomination that infects our world."


What a powerful testimony:
"Jesus Christ lives. He is our Savior, our Redeemer. He is a glorious, resurrected being. He has the capacity to communicate love that is so powerful, so overwhelming as to surpass the capacity of the human tongue to express adequately. He gave His life to break the bonds of death. His Atonement made fully active the plan of happiness of His Father in Heaven."

"The Atonement gives all the opportunity to overcome the consequences of mistakes made in life." - Do we remember to always apologize and ask forgiveness? Sometimes things seem too big, too wrong and we hide away wallowing in guilt, self-pity ... but that isn't true! We are loved and we can be forgiven ... but it is up to each one of us.


I want to study these three points Elder Scott made further. I hadn't thought of breaking down the Atonement before.
"I believe that it is instructive to try to imagine what the Atonement required of both the Father and His willing Son. Three of the challenges the Savior faced were:

First, an enormous sense of responsibility, for He realized that except it be done perfectly, not one of His Father’s children could return to Him. They would be forever banished from His presence since there would be no way to repent for broken laws and no unclean thing can exist in the presence of God. His Father’s plan would have failed, and each spirit child would have been under the eternal control and torment of Satan.

Second, in His absolutely pure mind and heart, He had to personally feel the consequences of all that mankind would ever encounter, even the most depraved, despicable sins.

Third, He had to endure the vicious attack of Satan’s hordes while physically and emotionally pressed to the limit. Then, for reasons we do not fully know, while at the extremity of His capacity, at the time the Savior most needed succor, His Father allowed Him to shoulder the onerous responsibility with only His own strength and capacity.

I try to imagine what an intensely poignant moment it must have been for our Father in Heaven when the Savior cried out from the cross, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34). I don’t believe Father in Heaven forsook His Son on the cross. I do believe the cry was motivated when that Son felt removed the sustaining support He had always enjoyed from His Father. His Father recognized that the Savior needed to accomplish the Atonement totally and completely on His own, without external support. The Father did not abandon His Son. He made it possible for His perfect Son to win the eternal fruits of the Atonement."

Elder Scott points out that our homes can be a refuge from the world. We need to make the Savior the center of our homes. I know a lot of us say that this is so but if we step back and examine our lives and homes ... could we improve? I know I could. What would our homes be like if we knew the Savior was coming over?

"When the Savior is the center of your home, it is filled with peace and serenity. There is a spirit of calm assurance that pervades the home that is felt by the children and adults alike."

I know my Savior lives!! I am so happy to have this knowledge. I am eternally indebted to Him for the price he paid for me and all of my imperfections.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Your Happily Ever After

by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
April 2010 Young Women's Meeting
(click on title to read entire talk)

" Isn’t that what we all desire: to be the heroes and heroines of our own stories; to triumph over adversity; to experience life in all its beauty; and, in the end, to live happily ever after?

Today I want to draw your attention to something very significant, very extraordinary. On the first page of your Young Women Personal Progress book, you will find these words: “You are a beloved daughter of Heavenly Father, prepared to come to the earth at this particular time for a sacred and glorious purpose.”1

Sisters, those words are true! They are not made up in a fairy tale! Isn’t it remarkable to know that our eternal Heavenly Father knows you, hears you, watches over you, and loves you with an infinite love? In fact, His love for you is so great that He has granted you this earthly life as a precious gift of “once upon a time,” complete with your own true story of adventure, trial, and opportunities for greatness, nobility, courage, and love. And, most glorious of all, He offers you a gift beyond price and comprehension. Heavenly Father offers to you the greatest gift of all—eternal life—and the opportunity and infinite blessing of your own “happily ever after.”

But such a blessing does not come without a price. It is not given simply because you desire it. It comes only through understanding who you are and what you must become in order to be worthy of such a gift."

I see so many girls and women who enter marriage and life as if it is a fairy tale. Only they aren't willing to put in the work to "make their dreams come true"

I love how he says that you can have your happily ever after but you have to do your part.

" The scriptures tell us there must be opposition in all things, for without it we could not discern the sweet from the bitter.2 Would the marathon runner feel the triumph of finishing the race had she not felt the pain of the hours of pushing against her limits? Would the pianist feel the joy of mastering an intricate sonata without the painstaking hours of practice?

In stories, as in life, adversity teaches us things we cannot learn otherwise. Adversity helps to develop a depth of character that comes in no other way. Our loving Heavenly Father has set us in a world filled with challenges and trials so that we, through opposition, can learn wisdom, become stronger, and experience joy. "

Then he tells his love story. It is so sweet.

" Let me share with you a personal experience I had as a teenager while our family was attending church in Frankfurt, Germany.

One Sunday the missionaries brought a new family to our meetings whom I hadn’t seen before. It was a mother with two beautiful daughters. I thought that these missionaries were doing a very, very good job.

I particularly took notice of the one daughter with gorgeous dark hair and large brown eyes. Her name was Harriet, and I think I fell in love with her from the first moment I saw her. Unfortunately, this beautiful young woman didn’t seem to feel the same about me. She had many young men who wanted to make her acquaintance, and I began to wonder if she would ever see me as anything but a friend. But I didn’t let that deter me. I figured out ways to be where she was. When I passed the sacrament, I made sure I was in the right position so that I would be the one to pass the sacrament to her.

When we had special activities at church, I rode my bike to Harriet’s house and rang the doorbell. Harriet’s mother usually answered. In fact, she opened the kitchen window of their apartment on the fourth floor and asked what I wanted. I would ask if Harriet would like a ride to church on my bicycle. Harriet’s mother would say, “No, she will be coming later, but I will be happy to ride with you to church.” This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but how could I decline?

And so we rode to church. I must admit I had a very impressive road bike. Harriet’s mother sat on the top tube bar just in front of me, and I tried to be the most elegant bicycle driver over roads of rough cobblestone.

Time passed. While beautiful Harriet was seeing many other young men, it seemed that I could not make any headway with her.

Was I disappointed? Yes.

Was I defeated? Absolutely not!

Actually, looking back I recognize that it doesn’t hurt at all to be on good terms with the mother of the girl of your dreams.

Years later, after I had finished my training as a fighter pilot in the air force, I experienced a modern miracle in Harriet’s response to my continued courting. One day she said, “Dieter, you have matured much over these past years.”

I moved quickly after that, and within a few months I was married to the woman I had loved ever since I first saw her. The process hadn’t been easy—there were moments of suffering and despair—but finally my happiness was full, and it still is, even more so.

My dear young sisters, you need to know that you will experience your own adversity. None is exempt. You will suffer, be tempted, and make mistakes. You will learn for yourself what every heroine has learned: through overcoming challenges come growth and strength.

It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life’s story will develop.

There are those among you who, although young, have already suffered a full measure of grief and sorrow. My heart is filled with compassion and love for you. How dear you are to the Church. How beloved you are of your Heavenly Father. Though it may seem that you are alone, angels attend you. Though you may feel that no one can understand the depth of your despair, our Savior, Jesus Christ, understands. He suffered more than we can possibly imagine, and He did it for us; He did it for you. You are not alone.

If you ever feel your burden is too great to bear, lift your heart to your Heavenly Father, and He will uphold and bless you. He says to you, as He said to Joseph Smith, “[Your] adversity and [your] afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then, if [you] endure it well, God shall exalt [you] on high.”3

Enduring adversity is not the only thing you must do to experience a happy life. Let me repeat: how you react to adversity and temptation is a critical factor in whether or not you arrive at your own “happily ever after.”"

Mothers and Daughters

by Elder M. Russell Ballard
April 2010 Saturday Morning Session
(click on title to read entire talk)

I loved this talk. I love my mom! I love my daughters!
We have so many role models in our lives to learn from. My Grandma was the greatest example. She took every opportunity she could to teach us. What a blessing that was as a teenager.

"Young women, your mothers adore you. They see in you the promise of future generations. Everything you accomplish, every challenge you overcome brings them pure joy. And likewise your worries and heartaches are their worries and heartaches."

After talking to the daughters he turned to the mothers. Elder Ballard explained that girls are confused there are so many people trying to define womanhood and most of them are not in line with our values.

"Now, mothers, I understand that it sometimes appears that our children aren’t paying attention to the lessons we’re trying to teach them. Believe me—I’ve seen that glazed-over look that comes to the eyes of teenagers just when you’re coming to what you think is the best part of your instruction. Let me assure you that even when you think your daughter is not listening to a thing you say, she is still learning from you as she watches you to see if your actions match your words. As Ralph Waldo Emerson is believed to have said, “What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say” (see Ralph Keyes, The Quote Verifier [2006], 56)."

"Teach your daughters to find joy in nurturing children. This is where their love and talents can have the greatest eternal significance." - What does it teach them if they hear us complaining about our job as mother. We all have bad days but are we showing our joy.

He talks about teaching our daughters often about sexual matters and how they dress. If we don't dress modestly how can we expect our daughters to.

To the Boys and to the Men

by President Gordon B. Hinkley
Oct. 1998 Priesthood Session
(click on title to read entire talk)

We need to get our houses in order. I was at Education Week this past week at Brigham Young University and took a class by Sherry Dew. She mentioned this talk and how greatly it helped her in her life during the economic crash in the fall of 1998.

Are we listening to our Prophet's voice?

"Now, brethren, I want to make it very clear that I am not prophesying, that I am not predicting years of famine in the future. But I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order.

So many of our people are living on the very edge of their incomes. In fact, some are living on borrowings.

We have witnessed in recent weeks wide and fearsome swings in the markets of the world. The economy is a fragile thing. A stumble in the economy in Jakarta or Moscow can immediately affect the entire world. It can eventually reach down to each of us as individuals. There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed.

.....

I repeat, I hope we will never again see such a depression. But I am troubled by the huge consumer installment debt which hangs over the people of the nation, including our own people. In March 1997 that debt totaled $1.2 trillion, which represented a 7 percent increase over the previous year. "

I really need to get my house in order. We have been working on it for some time but then it seems like we always hit set-back after set-back. I remember this talk and wish I would have followed this advice more closely.

I loved this part :)
"President Faust would not tell you this himself. Perhaps I can tell it, and he can take it out on me afterward. He had a mortgage on his home drawing 4 percent interest. Many people would have told him he was foolish to pay off that mortgage when it carried so low a rate of interest. But the first opportunity he had to acquire some means, he and his wife determined they would pay off their mortgage. He has been free of debt since that day. That's why he wears a smile on his face, and that's why he whistles while he works. "

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Mormon.org

I love the new Mormon.org. What a great resource to help others learn who we really are.

I have spent the day filling out my profile. Hopefully, I can help others through this.