General Conference

What a great opportunity to listen to the General Authorities this weekend!  Wasn't Conference awesome??

Hooray for 5 new temples announced!
-Ft. Lauderdale, FL!!! (2nd in Florida)
-Brigham City, UT (14th in Utah)
-Conception, Chile (2nd in the Chile)
-Fortaleza, Brazil (7th in Brazil)
-Sapporo, Japan (3rd in Japan)

My Favorites

Talks

Saturday morning
President Uchtdorf's talk about love, the great commandment.

Saturday afternoon
Tad R. Callister's talk about not letting the few things we don't know get in the way of the things we do know.

Sunday morning
President Monson's talk about service. (warm fuzzies!)

Sunday afternoon
Jeffrey R. Holland's emphatic testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.

Quotes

"Though we are incomplete, he loves us completely.  Though we are imperfect, he loves us perfectly." -President Uchtdorf

"God will not intervene to stop our use of agency." -Dallin H. Oaks

"Don't let a few things we don't know get in the way of everything we do know." -Tad R. Callister

"We need to put a delete key in our mind." -Boyd K. Packer

"The lock is on our side of the veil." -Boyd K. Packer

"Young people cannot understand the loneliness that comes when your life changes from one of preparation and performance to one of putting things away." -President Monson

"[insert entire talk]" -Jeffry R. Holland  :)

"The pure spring becomes polluted when not protected." -Quentin L. Cook

"The ultimate operation is a spiritual change of heart." -Dale G. Renlund

"Put temptations out of reach-- way out of reach!" -Dale G. Renlund

"Societies will struggle until sin is denounced as sin." -D. Todd Christofferson

"Mere wanting is a bad excuse for poor conduct." -D. Todd Christofferson

People

(who are just plain awesome)

Joseph W. Sitati (from Africa)

Jeffrey R. Holland

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Dieter F. Uchtdorf-- I think he's my favorite apostle, if we're allowed to have a favorite :)

and of course President Monson!

General Conference

Alright... I never really got around to writing about this.. but I've been kicked out of my apartment so I figured I might as well :)

We left Provo at about 7:15 on Sunday morning and had to squeeze all 6 of us (me, DaNae, DaNae's older brother, Scott, and his wife, Becky, Andy, and Neil) into Scott's 5 seater car. It was quite the adventure. It pretty much consisted of the four of us singles squished into the backseat in awkward positions. A nice pre- and post-lude to General Conference lol.

We got to Salt Lake and parked a couple blocks away from the Conference Center and walked up. We passed a couple of protestors shouting at us telling us we're "stupid" for not comparing what we're being taught to whats in the scriptures. It made me laugh when I heard it. Some people... do they have nothing better to do?

We went in and got our seats, which were pretty nice. We got to wander the Conference Center for almost and hour before Music and the Spoken Word started. There was an art gallery upstairs that we wandered through the whole time. There was this awesome painting of Eve that I absolutely love. When Neil saw it, he told us about this article he'd read in his English class about how Eve is understood a lot, even in the LDS Church. It sounded really interesting, so I told him I wanted to read it. I read it a couple weeks later, and it was really good. There are also some pictures in the HFAC (Harris Fine Arts Center) at BYU that chronicle the live of Eve. I only got to see two of them (because the rest were taken down before I knew about it) but I loved them. Anyway, there we lots of great paintings in the Conference Center.

Also unrelated to Conference, but it seems to fit here, is the fact that I declared a major finally. I was inspired by the humanities class I took this last semester. I am offically and "Art History and Curatorial Studies" major! lol Random, I know. But I'm really excited about it. I think I will do an internship at the MOA (Museum of Art) at BYU, maybe starting in Winter. I love this major because it's a humanities one that actually leads to a job.

Ok... so back to Conference... We went in for Music and the Spoken Word, and it was great! I love MoTab, and especially seeing them live. My humanties teacher from this last semester (the class that inspired me to pick my major) is in the Choir. Neil and I both had the class, so we picked him out in the Choir. He has this really white hair, but he's pretty young. Funniest guy ever. So cool that he's in the Choir!

I seriously think we got tickets ot the best session of Conference, because all the talks were amazing! I don't have my notes in front of me, but I just remember that everyone was amazing. And what added to the awesomeness was the fact that the Choir sang "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet" and they did that montage of pictures of President Monson. I was in tears- it was beautiful!

We got out of Salt Lake faster than I expected. Like, so fast that I was back in my apartment before 1pm (Conference got out at noon). Crazy!

Well, I think that's about it... I thought Conference was great, and I was really hit by the emphasis on temples and being worthy to attend the temple. Seeing my close friends who are going on missions getting their endowments really makes me excited for the opportunity I will have some day to take out my own. :) I'm really glad for the chance I had to live 5 minutes from the Provo temple so that I could go each week, and also for friends with cars who wanted to go with me at 6 in the morning.