General Conference, October 2017

My General Conference experience was quite lovely this year. I watched the Saturday sessions at home with Leah and her mom, Debbie (and her younger sister Megan for a couple of talks during the first session). After our 5K (which, again, we did not train for), Leah and I were hungry, so I made waffles and bacon for us and our guests. In between sessions, Leah and I took a much-needed nap while Debbie clean the recently vacated upstairs apartment. For the Priesthood session, I listened from the kitchen while I baked pumpkin cookies and Leah balanced her checkbook. On Sunday, we watched with the Larsens, which was nice. The kids were very excited to see us and even the dog Sauerkraut clearly missed us because he sat at our feet during the entirety of the first session. After the final session, we stayed for dinner -- which was a very tasty white chili that Sherlin made -- and shared the pumpkin cookies I made the night before.

As for the Conference itself, I liked how much the message of "life is full of trials, but we can still be happy" was repeated. Also frequently repeated was President Monson's challenge to study the Book of Mormon from April's Conference: Leah and I had been slacking on our companion studies, but we've been reading every day since Sunday.

Another topic that kept popping up was the importance of families. I particularly enjoyed Elder Oak's talk about the creation of The Family: A Proclamation to the World (and felt more than a little old when he mentioned that the document is more than twenty-two-years-old). I often enjoy hearing stories about the creative process of other writers and this time was no different.

I also really appreciated the final talk by Elder Anderson: the way he quoted from several other talks throughout the Conference was a really nice way to tie everything together. But more than that, I liked his mini tribute to President Nelson. With President Monson's health failing, is this a glimpse of things to come? Perhaps, but even if it isn't, it was wonderful to learn more about President Nelson's life and apostolic ministry.

General Conference is a time of year that I look forward to. I admit to falling asleep for part of the final session, but every talk that I heard offered insight and inspiration that I needed. And now we get to look forward to reviewing this Conference's talks for the next six months!