Thoughts on 181st Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

I was asked to give a talk on conference. Here are my notes of the talk given in the Millville 2nd Ward on April 17th, 2011:

Brothers and sisters I am humbled to stand before you today and pray that the Lord will bless me with the ability to speak by the spirit and that he will bless you to hear by the spirit that we may all be edified. I hope that you will each have a prayer in your heart that some portion of what I say will be meaningful and strengthen your testimony of the Savior.

I begin by asking you all to think back a few weeks and recall the events that took place in your life on the weekend of April 2nd and 3rd.

Where were you? Were you able to listen to General Conference? How did you do so?

I assume many of you basked in the joy and traditions that come every six months when the leaders of the Lord's kingdom on earth share with us what Elder Holland referred to as their “testimonies of love and warning.” Some of you may have spent the days in your pajamas in the living room watching the broadcast on television surrounded by loved ones. Some may have had the opportunity to travel to Salt Lake City and witness from the chairs of the Conference Center. Many others watched on laptops, listened from radios, or even viewed the prophets, Apostles, and General Authorities on a hand held device. Personally I had a mixture of the above methods as I spent most of that Saturday in waiting in or sprinting through airports as my flights were off schedule due to fatigue crack inspections.

I, like Elder Holland, ask you to reflect “not only on the messages you heard but also on the unique phenomenon that general conference itself is—what we as Latter-day Saints believe such conferences to be and what we invite the world to hear and observe about them. We testify to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people that God not only lives but also that He speaks, that for our time and in our day the counsel you have heard is, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, “the will of the Lord, … the word of the Lord, … the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation.”

How blessed we are to have a Father in Heaven who loves us enough to provide us with Prophets and Apostles who speak to us on his behalf in our day. How blessed we are to KNOW he provides such direction. Perhaps more wonderful and awe inspiring however, is the blessing of how easy it is to access His words and share them with others.

HOLD UP PHONE
I hold here in my hand a device that has an endless supply to the Lord's words. Prophets testimonies from the beginning of time written in scripture, the glorious revelations of the Restoration, and the Hymns, testimonies, and teachings of the prophets of the latter-days all in the palm of my hand and at the touch of my fingertips.

But the good does not come without opposition.

In the Sunday Morning Session Elder Holland recounted to us the story of Brigham Young and the dream he had just prior to the pioneer saints' exodus from Navuoo of an angel atop a hill, now known as Ensign Peak where after the trying journey west Brother Brigham led the Brethren of the church and they unfurled a makeshift banner made from a bandanna and walking stick to symbolize the partial fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy that the Lord would “setup an Ensign to the Nations.”

Elder Holland then went on to testify that the annual and semiannual conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are a continuation of that declaration and prophecy. He spoke emotionally of the preparation process that each speaker goes through. The fasting, the prayer, the starting, stopping and starting again, and the tears and sleeplessness they likely wrestled with to be true to the individual prompting each of them had received from the Lord.

How easily it is for us sometimes as teachers, mothers, fathers, friends, co-workers and priesthood and auxiliary leaders to relate.

These “marvelous new methods of communication” (phones, internet facebook etc) as Elder Holland mentioned allow the Lord's voice to go out around the world to not only the members of the church but an ever growing proportion of non-members.

It was only a few hours before in the early sunday session tha Elder Uchtdorf said,

“With so many social media resources and a multitude of more or less useful gadgets at our disposal, sharing the good news of the gospel is easier and the effects more far-reaching than ever before. In fact, I am almost afraid that some listening have already sent text messages like “He’s been speaking for 10 minutes and still no aviation analogy!”

Elder Uchtdorf was right. More than 52,000 tweets were posted with the hashtag reference LDSConf, (if you don't know what a hashtag or trend is ask the youth in the ward) which is double what was shared only 6 months before during October's conference. It was the first time the church streamed conference live on Facebook and even allowed people to use the embeded code to stream conference on their own websites or blogs. The LDSConf hashtag conversation ranked as high as #2 on Twitter in the US involving more than 2,000 different Twitter users. Reaching to a network of more than 1 million followers. Tweeps if you will... Many of which who were unaware of the Restoration of the Gospel or what the trend was referencing.

Vicki and I both personally participated in the conversation during sunday morning and I referred over 24 people who asked what LDSconf meant to a link that led them to the live broadcast.

Uchtdorf went on...“perhaps the Lord’s encouragement to “open [your] mouths” might today include “use your hands” to blog and text message the gospel to all the world! But please remember, all at the right time and at the right place. Brothers and sisters, with the blessings of modern technology, we can express gratitude and joy about God’s great plan for His children in a way that can be heard not only around our workplace but around the world. Sometimes a single phrase of testimony can set events in motion that affect someone’s life for eternity.”

Many of us have access to an use things such as Twitter, Facebook, and blogging, but are we using it for the good that it can be?

Sure we have the Angry Birds app on our phone but do we also have the Mormon Channel app?
Many of us likely have setup our Facebook profiles but have we setup our own personal profile on Mormon.org yet?

The top three profiles on twitter by number of followers belongs to Lady Gaga, Justin Beiber, and Britney Spears, but are we following @LdsNewsroom, etc.

Our Facebook friends and Likes may include local celebrities like Tai Wesley or The Utah Jazz, but what about Mormon Messages, or Church other church pages.

I understand that there are those of you out there that are not part of twitterverse or the Social Network, some may fear for privacy or other reasons that are understandable, I only ask that if you are using the devices and technology that you use it the way to fulfill your call to Testify and warn the people.

In D&C 88:121 the Lord warns us cease from all our light speeches and light mindedness, which regrettably is what most of these personal publishing technologies are used for, but they can be used for so much more. We don't need to laden or burden cyberspace with lengthy and prideful statements of self-righteousness, a simple declaration of gratitude or joy as Elder Uchtdorf and the other leaders of the church suggest will suffice.

It is interesting and I think of no simple coincidence that in the revelation given to Thomas Marsh and other saints called to preach the gospel—that being us-- the lord used the word “send”. In D&C 112:1 he proclaims, “Verily thus saith the Lord unto you my servant Thomas: I have heard thy prayers; and thine alms have come up as a memorial before me, in behalf of those, thy brethren, who were chosen to bear testimony of my name and to send it abroad among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, and ordained through the instrumentality of my servants...Let thy heart be of good cheer before my face; and thou shalt bear record of my name, not only unto the Gentiles, but also unto the Jews; and thou shalt send forth my word unto the ends of the earth. Contend thou, therefore, morning by morning; and day after day let thy warning voice go forth; and when the night cometh let not the inhabitants of the earth slumber, because of thy speech. Let thy habitation be known in Zion, and remove not thy house; for I, the Lord, have a great work for thee to do, in publishing my name among the children of men.”

14 Now, I say unto you, and what I say unto you, I say unto all the Twelve: Arise and gird up your loins, take up your across, follow me, and bfeed my sheep. 19Wherefore, whithersoever they shall send you, go ye, and I will be with you; and in whatsoever place ye shall proclaim my name an aeffectual door shall be opened unto you, that they may receive my word.

22Inasmuch as they shall humble themselves before me, and abide in my word, and ahearken to the voice of my Spirit.

28But apurify your hearts before me; and then bgo ye into all the world, and preach my gospel unto every creature who has not received it;

33Verily I say unto you, behold how great is your calling.


Elder Uchtdorf talked about receiving the savior piece by piece like a puzzle.

The best way to share is by what we do and who we are.

Are to do lists should reflect what is on our to be lists.

Just do it. Just Be it.

I must admit that part of my standing at this pulpit today is out of selfishness as I am reminded of the promised blessings of strength, personal edification, and sanctification to those who share their testimonies. In D&C 62:3 the Lord gives the promise that our “testimonies are recorded in heaven for the angels to look upon,” and our sins can be forgiven by this simply yet sometimes terrifying act. Terrifying because unlike incorrect statements or misspellings posted on Facebook or Twitter I do not think heaven allows you to delete such recordings.

We have the opportunity and means to do much good. Let us not be distracted. Let us not be afraid and let us not wait for the Savior to be given to us. We are children of our heavenly father with divine potential. Other stand in need of your help in realizing that they too.

Let us wave the ensign to all the world with our fingers, our mouths, our cell phones our computers and our deeds.

Easter is coming up.

Testimony.