General Conference Challenge

General Conference Challenge-HELPING YOU TO FIND THE WAY!


At the start of general conference a few years ago, President Gordon B. Hinckley promised several blessings to those who listen to conference:
“I invite you to listen, listen if you will by the power of the Spirit, to the speakers who will address you today and tomorrow as well as this evening. If you will do so, I do not hesitate to promise that you will be uplifted, your resolution to do what is right will be stronger, you will find solutions to your problems and your needs, and you will be led to thank the Lord for what you have heard”
(“Listen by the Power of the Spirit,” Ensign, Nov. 1996, 4).

Before General Conference starts, I challenge you to write down a problem that you are facing or a gospel question that you have: ________________
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Now I challenge you to make this a matter of prayer. Pray about the question or problem and pray for the prophets and other general authorities. Keep this in your mind as you watch or listen to conference, and really listen!! You can receive an answer either directly from one of the talks, or from inspiration you can receive while watching intently. I know this can make a difference in your life. I will be doing it, too.

Solving problems

In my scripture reading this morning (Mosiah 26), I have been reading about Alma and his work in setting up and maintaining branches of the church in Zarahemla. There were some things that stood out to me as I read. Now that the churches have been established, there are beginning to be some problems that are troubling to Alma. He is not sure what to do. This got my attention because I am in a new position at school and am starting to encounter some situations in which I am not sure what to do.

This is the process Alma uses to solve problems:
1. He delegates it to someone who he thinks might have a better idea what to do. He consults with others.
2. The problem is given back to him, so he prays.
3. He is given inspiration from God and writes it down so he won't forget it.
4. He moves forward with the information he is given.


The most interesting part of this to me was that it mentions a couple times that Alma was troubled. Life is not easy and we all come across problems that we don't know how to handle. Here is an example of what someone who is sincerely and diligently trying to be a disciple of Christ does.

Fruits of my Mission

Today in my Book of Mormon class, we were discussing what would be considered a successful missionary. Also, I was looking at a web site that someone put up on the church in Thailand and I was amazed at all the actual churches that have been built since I was there. When I was in Thailand in 1983, there was only 1 church and that was in Bangkok. The other branches met in buildings but they weren't specifically built as a church. It made me realize that though I wasn't one of the first missionaries in Thailand, I was still a pioneer, helping the church to gradually grow there.

Sometimes when I have reflected on my mission, it was a great experience for me, but I do sometimes wonder if I did any good. I only saw a few people come into the church as a result of my service there, and I don't know how strong they were and if they have stayed faithful.

But in the class today, we were reading a scripture in Alma:

Alma 26: 27
27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.

Sis. Wilson said we need to redefine what we consider "success". It is more than having actual converts. It is showing God our willingness to do what He tells us to do. So that made me decide to make a list of what I feel were the best experiences of my mission, the "fruits" of my mission, if you will.

1. The way I felt when I was trying to ignore the spiritual promptings that I should go on a mission. It was not comfortable and was very hard to do!

2. Even with these spiritual promptings, it was still very challenging to step into the dark and turn in my mission papers. It was very much a leap of faith for me. I was scared to death. I still remember the calm, reassuring, peaceful feeling I had as I walked home from church after handing my papers to the bishop. I knew at that point that I was doing something Heavenly Father wanted me to do. This strong feeling sustained me through many hard times on my mission when I wanted to give up. Even when I think of it today, I can still remember the force of that feeling. Therefore, when I think of that feeling I know was from God, then I guess I served the mission I was supposed to, even though I didn't seem to accomplish much.

3. The first day I was called to serve in the Phanat Nikhom Refugee Camp, I observed Pat Barica teaching a class of Hmong children. They were notorious for being dirty, rambunctious, wild children. Pat had combed and fixed their hair and washed their faces and played classical music. As I saw them there, in my mind's eye, I could see them all in white and I realized that God didn't see them as wild, dirty, and rambunctious. He saw them as His children with the divine nature inside each of them to become as He is. I saw them as God saw them. I felt His love for them. This is one of the most sacred experiences of my life.

4. I had only been in the country about a month, when my trainer, Sister Record, had to go out of the country for a few days to renew her visa. I was assigned a Thai companion while she was gone. We were supposed to go visit a member, Radsamii. I was the only one who knew where she lived. I felt pretty confident that I could find the right place to get off the bus. As we were going, the bus got quite crowded as they tend to do. I hadn't counted on that. I couldn't see out the bus. How could I see where to get off the bus when I couldn't even see out? I was panic-stricken. As a "green" missionary, you try so hard to actually be useful. Here was something I could actually do and people were counting on me. I couldn't see out. I didn't know what else to do but offer up a humble, silent prayer for help. Just as I finished my prayer, someone got up and I got their seat. I was able to look out just in time to see the landmarks that told me we needed to get off at the next stop. We were able to get off in the right place and get to Radsamii's house. Not being able to speak the language well, I wasn't much help when we got there, but my companion was able to speak and give comfort and help. Heavenly Father answered my humble prayer and get this new member the help she needed.

5. I left the country and, particularly, the refugee camp, with such a profound love for the people that it broke my heart to leave.

As I think of more experiences, I will post them here. But, really, these are the main strong memories I have of my mission. Though they are very meaningful to me, they don't seem like your typical mission stories that you hear others give. I don't know how much help I was to others, but I do know that I was supposed to be there.

Find a different fan!

So, my experience at the gym this morning gave me something to think about....

I have been going to a new gym for a few weeks and so I am still figuring out where everything is. I walk/run on the treadmill and sometimes I like to do it with a fan on. It makes it much more comfortable. This morning I looked around for the fan that I usually use and someone had moved it down by some other machines so I didn't want to go get it in case someone else had it over there and was going to use it. So on I walked, sweating, and finished. When I got off, I walked in front of the treadmill and there was a fan that I could have used.

Okay, here is the gospel application. Sometimes we are looking for an answer to a prayer or some direction from Heavenly Father and we don't think we are receiving anything. But sometimes the answer or direction we are looking for comes in a way we don't expect or aren't looking for, or it doesn't come in a way that it usually comes. That's when we need to look around and see if there is a different "fan" we can use.

There are many ways to receive direction from our Father in Heaven. Here are some of the ways: prayer, scriptures, words of the Prophets, talks at church, conversations with others, lessons at church, patriarchal blessings, other types of blessings, quiet contemplation time, attending the temple, counsel of parents, listening to hymns and other worthy music, etc. When we are looking for an answer, we need to make sure our hearts are open to any of the ways the Spirit will speak to us.