President Henry B. Eyring - First Presidency Elder Boyd K. Packer - President, Quorum of the Twelve ( Those who are lost) Sister Linda K. Burton - Relief Society General President (First observe, then serve) Elder Walter F. Gonzalez - Presidency of the Seventy Elder Jeffrey R. Holland - Quorum of the Twelve (Do you love me?) President Thomas S. Monson - President (Service)
Talk that you MUST watch
Elder Holland's talk was fantastic, as his always are. The visual of Father in Heaven asking us at the end of our lives what He asked Peter, is motivating. "Do you love me?" Elder Holland's recounting of this conversation between the Savior and Peter is a great one. I highly recommend it.
Favorite Quote
"Your Father in Heaven expects your loyalty and your love at every stage in your life." Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
General Thoughts About the Session
Another fantastic session. Service seems to be a continual theme, and one that bears repeating. It is so important for us as members to follow the example of our Savior, Jesus Christ and serve our neighbors, families, etc. As we do so, we will be able to answer to the Father at the end of our lives that we truly kept the two great commandments, To love God, and to love our fellow man.
Follow me on twitter @Skropp2 for real time impressions from the final session of conference at 2pm MST today.
Click here to watch video of individual conference talks or entire sessions.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson - Quorum of the Twelve (Be men/quorums) Bishop Gary E. Stevenson - Presiding Bishop (Young Men) Elder Anthony D. Perkins - Quorum of the Seventy (Spiritual Guideposts) President Dieter F. Uchtdorf - First Presidency (Priesthood Service) President Henry B. Eyring - First Presidency (Leading the Youth) President Thomas S. Monson - President (Testimony)
Talk that you MUST watch
Elder Christofferson's talk was awesome. He spoke heavily on being men. He discussed how society and culture today has emasculated and humiliated men. Men are portrayed as selfish, good for nothing, rude and many other undesirable qualities. He talks about how imperitive it is for us to rise up and be the type of men that our spouses, children, and God need us to be!
Favorite Quote
"We cannot save a man on Sunday if during the week we're complacent witnesses to the crucifixion of his soul" - Elder D. Todd Christofferson
General Thoughts About the Session
This was a great session. As it often is, it seemed that the over-arching message was that we as men, and especially as priesthood holders, need and can do better. We need to be more spiritual. We need to be more caring and considerate. We need to be more engaged in our families. We need to serve more faithfully.
It isn't that we are doing bad, we're not. But there is much work to be done, and there are countless lives that are in need of our service. We've gotta step it up. We've gotta bring our A game. We can't be passive and expect that our children will grow up with solid testimonies. We can't be complacent and expect that our wives will take sole responsibility for family prayers, scripture study and family home evening. We can't be laxed in priesthood duty and expect that home teaching families will return to activity or feel the love of the quorum. We must be anxiously engaged!
Click here to watch these talks individually or the session in its entirety.
As always, follow me on twitter @Skropp2 for my real time thoughts on conference. Also follow the hash tag #ldsconf to see what others are thinking!
Elder L. Tom Perry - Quorum of the Twelve (Being "goodly parents") Elder M. Russell Ballard - Quorum of the Twelve (The parable of the honey bee/Service) Elder Larry Echo Hawk - Quorum of the Seventy (Book of Mormon) Elder Robert C. Gay - Quorum of the Seventy (Anxiously Engaged) Elder Scott D. Whiting - Quorum of the Seventy (Temples/Ye are the temples of God) Elder Neil L. Andersen - Quorum of the Twelve (Faith) Elder Dallin H. Oaks - Quorum of the Twelve (Protecting children)
Talk that you MUST watch
Elder Dallin H. Oaks' talk about protecting children is very timely in our country at this time. He called for an end to abortion, straight up calling it evil. He called for parents to think of children before divorcing. He called for all those of religious faith and with similar value systems to unite together to do better for the children of our world. Powerful.
Favorite Quote
"May our lives of service always affirm that God forsakes no one." Elder Robert C. Gay
General Thoughts About the Session
It seems that a reoccuring theme of the Conference thus far has been to stand up, declare what you believe and be proud and unapologetic in doing so. What a great call for all people of faith. If we can all do this, what a great place this world can be. We cannot be silent and keep to ourselves any longer, we must stand for what is right. There is no neutral ground.
Click here to view these talks individually or to watch the session in its entirety.
Also follow me on Twitter @Skropp2 to get my conference thoughts real time! As well as the hash tag #ldsconf
President Thomas S. Monson - Prophet (New Temples and missionary ages) Elder Quentin L. Cook - Quorum of the Twelve (Pornography/sexual misconduct) Sister Ann M. Dibb - Young Womens General Presidency (Im a Mormon. I know it. I live it. I love it.) Elder Craig C. Christensen - Quorum of the Seventy (Holy Ghost) Elder Shayne M. Bowen - Quorum of the Seventy (To those who have lost a child) Elder Russell M. Nelson - Quorum of the Twelve (Ask the Missionaries!) President Dieter F. Uchtdorf - First Presidency (busyness/regrets/happiness)
Talk that you MUST watch
Elder Russell M. Nelson and Elder Shayne M. Bowen's talks tie for my talks that you must watch! Elder Bowen spoke to those who had lost a child. It was a very touching talk and not something that is addressed very often in a place like conference.
Elder Nelson spoke about missionaries and missionary work. I loved his point that you can ask the missionaries for whatever you need (within reason, of course)
Favorite Quote
"Declaring our testimony of the Gospel is good. But being a living example of the Restored Gospel is better." ~President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Notes
New Temples Announced - Tuscon, AZ and Peru
Young Men may now begin missionary service at 18.
Young Women may begin missionary service at age 19.
General Thoughts About the Session
What a great session of conference (is there any other kind??)! The HUGE news was that the ages for missionary service were changed, from 19 to 18 for Elders and from 21 to 19 for Sisters. Twitter was exploding with young people excited about being able to serve earlier! I even saw one bishop tweet that he just got his first text from a young man asking to start his mission papers! That is awesome.
Sister Ann Dibb's talk was fantastic. I love the question of "What would you write on your tshirt to describe your values?" Isnt that essentially what we do through our actions?
Twitter also was having a great time with Elder Nelson's talk about missionaries. People began joking, one person tweeted, "Want some bacon? Ask the missionaries!" But the sentiment is true, the Elders and Sisters are sooo willing to help with whatever, be it, answering a question or performing service.
I was also impacted by Pres. Uchtdorf's comment about busy-ness. It's so easy to get caught up in al that we have to do, so that we forget to do the really important things!
I highly recommend watching this session. It will be up on www.lds.org to view probably within a day, and transcripts are usually up within a week.
The next session of Conference begins at 2pm MST today. Check it out! www.byutv.org, www.lds.org, or BYUTV on satellite.
Click here to view these talks individually or the entire session.
Follow me on twitter @Skropp2 and the hash tag #ldsconf as well.
I will have another summary of the afternoon session posted later today!
These leaders will speak Saturday and Sunday in five separate 2 hour sessions.
General Sessions are 10 am and 2 pm both Saturday and Sunday MST and are broadcast on BYU TV, www.byutv.org, www.lds.org, as well as at any LDS Chapel.
There is also a General Priesthood Meeting Saturday night at 6pm MST. This session is open to men and boys age 12 and up and is only broadcast to LDS chapels.
General Conference occurs twice a year, the first weekends of April and October.
Those who speak will counsel, teach, testify and encourage the members of the worldwide church. Their intent will be to bear testimony of the divinity of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of the fullness of the Gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith.
They will also provide answers and solutions to the most pressing questions and challenges facing the world today.
If you want to know what Mormons believe, flip on the TV, go to www.byutv.org, www.lds.org, come on into one of our chapels or ask an LDS friend if you can watch it with them.
Follow Me
Throughout the conference I will be tweeting my thoughts, favorite quotes, and impressions on twitter using the hash tag #ldsconf. Follow me @Skropp2 to see what I am learning!
I am also going to try to post a summary of each session on this blog through the weekend. Please feel free to read these summaries and comment on what was said in each session!
Please share this post with all those who you think may be interested! Thanks for reading!
As always, please visit the Ask a Mormon page of this blog to submit questions about Mormons and I will do my best to answer them in an upcoming post!
Hello friends, thanks so much for visiting my blog. Today I have the great honor to be guest posting on Chris LoCurto's blog . Chris is a VP in Dave Ramsey's organization, as well as the host of the chart-topping Entreleadership Podcast! He speaks and counsels business owners nationwide and I am proud and honored to consider him a friend.
Sadly, I wish the circumstances were different. Chris' step-daughter Chelsea had a brain aneurysm last week and has been in the hospital since. So our thoughts and prayers are definitely with Chris and his family at this time.
I am grateful for this opportunity to serve Chris during this trying time by guest posting on his blog so he can focus on taking care of his family!
So please head on over to www.ChrisLoCurto.com and check out my guest post: "A Four Year Old Could Do It."
If You're New
If you are visiting my blog today because you read my guest post, thanks for stopping by! You have great taste in blogs to follow (Chris' obviously!).
Feel free to check out my About page to learn a little more about me.
During the week I blog about leadership, business, etc. Here are some of my favorite posts:
On the weekends I've been doing a weekend blog series about another interest of mine, that is my personal faith. I am a Mormon. My weekend series is called "Ask a Mormon". Each week I take a question that a reader has submitted about Mormons and I answer it.
I give you straight answers about what we believe, why I believe it, and how we act because of it. I don't push my religion. I know by learning more about our respective faiths, you and I can become better friends, neighbors and/or twitter pals.
So here are a few of my favorite "Ask a Mormon" posts if you want to check them out. If you dont, no problem, please hang around for my weekday posts on leadership!
Thanks again for stopping by! I hope you'll find some information of value. If you do, please share my blog with your friends and followers as well!
I'd also bring your attention to some other fantastic bloggers I follow. The links are on the left hand side of my blog! They rock and you'll really enjoy what they have to say!
Well, its that time of the week again. Thanks for reading another Ask a Mormon weekend post! As always, I invite you to visit the Ask a Mormon page and submit a question you have about Mormon doctrine, practices, and/or culture in the comments section and I'll do my best to answer it in an upcoming post!
Chris submitted this question that we'll answer this week:
How do you feel about shows like "Big Love" and how they make Mormons look?
Also, what is your feelings about the recent I'm a Mormon commercials?
Great Question Chris. There are several shows that are less than flattering towards the LDS Church. How do I feel about them? Quite frankly, I don't think about them much. As a Mormon, it kind of comes with the territory that you will come across alot of misconceptions and that there are people who will look to capitalize on those misconceptions for financial gain and ratings. Shows like Big Love allow the misconception to be perpetuated that Mormons practice polygamy, which is not true. It was practiced in the early days of the Church, but has not been practiced since 1890 and since that time any person that practiced polygamy has not been associated with the Church.
What is sad to me is that shows like Big Love, Sister Wives, as well as movies, television reports, news stories etc often will not clarify that polygamy is against the teachings of the LDS Church and those individuals practicing polygamy (ie Warren Jeffs, etc) are NOT members of the Church but are offshoots of the Church and not associated in anyway.
The bottom line is that, you and I, as people of faith, will always come across those that paint us in a less that favorable light.
The question is, when we are faced with such attacks, lies, deceptions, etc, what will we do?
Will we do as the Savior would do, and turn the other cheek?
Remember, it was Christ that said,
"...Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven..." (Matt. 5:44-45)
I'm a Mormon
Now, how do I feel about the recent I'm a Mormon commercials?
Short answer: I love them.
The I'm a Mormon commercials are part of a marketing campaign by the Church. The idea was to cut through a lot of the misconceptions that people have about Mormons because of how we are portrayed on TV, movies, etc.
So as part of that, the Church has asked each member to visit the Church's site, www.mormon.org and create a profile. This profile gives some background of a member of the Church, their interests, hobbies, etc. It also gives you a list of frequently asked questions that they have answered. So when you click on a question, instead of just getting the Church's official response, you also get the real life answers of Mormons who are just like you. You can check out my mormon.org profile here.
In conjunction with these profiles, the Church did video profiles of hundreds of members. These videos make up the commercials that you see on television. You can watch several of these in the "Our People" Section of mormon.org. Some of these people are regular people, some are professional athletes, entertainers etc. Check out this video of Brandon Flowers, lead singer of the band The Killers.
I think its a totally innovative way to showcase what the Church and its beliefs mean to the members and how it affects their lives. There are some AMAZING stories of faith in these videos. I watch them just to strengthen my own faith! I'd recommend them to you as well.
Another great one is Stephanie Nielson's story. If this one doesn't tug at your heart, I dont know what will!
The Point
The point is, as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we may have some different beliefs than you do. We may seem kinda weird, or peculiar. But we are just like you.
We are parents, spouses, siblings, neighbors, Christians.
And we seek the same joys you seek and we experience the same struggles and challenges that you do.
We are all children of a Heavenly Father!
We all want to return and live with Him once more.
Question: How do you deal with misconceptions people have about YOUR beliefs?
I am grateful to you for reading this post. I hope you have found it beneficial. Please share it with those you know!
I'd love to hear what you think of these posts. Please comment below, get ahold of me on twitter, @Skropp2 and as always, please leave a question on the Ask a Mormon page of the blog for me to answer!
The material in this blog post are my own opinions and not the official stance of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
