April General Conference

I was so excited for General Conference this weekend. I mean, I have always liked conference and enjoy it... but I don't think I have ever looked forward to it and prepared for it as much as I did this conference. I have always tried to be a good person. After the new year, I was making more of an effort to try and be a better person. I felt like I have done things to improve. I have really tried to magnify my calling, I started serving (tutoring) once and week and I started attending Institute again. Although I have made a lot of progress, I have been feeling recently that I need to do more. There is still so much I need to improve on and Conference was going to be the perfect solution to lead me in the right direction. I was craving the spirit and direction from the prophet and apostles.

So a couple of weeks before Conference I started praying for questions I wanted answered and to be given faith and hope in my future and to heal from everything that I went through in these past 6 months. Usually I have a hard time getting out of bed to start watching conference but this time I was up and ready. I also tried something new this time around. Instead of taking notes by writing them down on a notepad, I had my laptop and was typing out my notes instead. SO much better for me. I can type faster than I write and it fixes my spelling as I go along so when I go back and read my notes, I can actually understand what it all says. Don't have to deal with fast/bad handwriting either. This is the way to go for me from now on.

Each session was so great. I was touched by every single talk. These really are inspired men that prepare EXACTLY what we all need to hear. I also love the humor they bring into it. (Example- Elder Holland "You shouldn't been serving tea in the first place" & Elder Nelson giving a big wink after saying he wasn't going to show us a picture of him as a little child). You come to love these men that you will most likely never meet.

A lot of the talks were about family and guiding the children and youth of our church, but some of the talks that were answers to my prayers were #1- Sister Beck's talk about Personal Revelation #2- Brother Anderson's talk about Hope and Faith #3- Elder Christofferson's talk about the Importance of the Scriptures (I forget how lucky we are to have such easy access to them as compared to olden times) #4- President Uchtdorf's talk on Christlike Love (LOVED this talk, I really am trying to work on this) #5- Brother Martino's talk about trials (I really need to hear this one) how EVERYONE faces trials but it all about how we react to them. We CAN still have joy even through our trials. And #6- Brother Schwitzer's talk about Judging. How we should not judge others, but we should still use good judgement.

There is so much I loved about this conference. I am just so thankful that we have them every six months. I am so thankful that we have a living prophet that leads and guides us in these latter days. I am thankful that I finish conference wanting to be a better person, striving to do good in the world and help others. I am so thankful that my prayers were answered and that I now have more faith and hope than I did before Conference started. I now have a long list of things that I need to work on. I need to be a little kinder, I need to reach out more to those in need of help and comfort, I need to be less selfish, I need to be a friend to all and I need to be more joyful. I need to strive to have Christlike love.

I love my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am thankful that he forgives me of my sins and weaknesses. I am so thankful that he never gives up on me. I am so thankful that this gospel gives me the strength and comfort to carry on in this life.

May we all strive to be a little bit better. :o)