You have never seen so many people EARLY for church in your life. Today we had Stake Conference and Elder Richard G. Scott was here, presiding. It was held at the Stake Center in Nerang (just about 20 min away from us). We arrived just after 9 am and we had to park in the hills behind the chapel. There was not a single parking space left. The lady in the front row said she got there at 6 am! She had a small cooler with her for food. WOW. Anyway, we headed to the back of the gym to sit in uncomfortable plastic seats. We'd barely settled in when Jared's Aunt Monica, the Stake President's wife, came to tell us they had room in the second row! Since I was without husband or kids due to illness, I headed up with Jared's mom (Monica's sister) to the second row. I felt almost guilty walking past all those people who had come hours beforehand to claim their seats... but I got over it quickly. Jared's uncle was being released as Stake President so it was a big day. They spent the weekend with Elder Scott basically, which I can't even imagine. They started the conference 10 minutes early.
It's amazing isn't it? How powerful the hymns sound when you're in attendance at something like this. I thought it was just General Conference, but no. For the opening song we sang "Come, Oh Thou King of Kings", which I am not sure I have even sang before... but you would have thought it was the Tabernacle choir singing by the way it sounded. Everyone in the place was belting it out. After the general announcements, the choir sang "The Lord is My Light". Again, you would have thought angels were there singing, the spirit was so strong.
Elder Scott got up after all of the testimonies of the outgoing and incoming presidencies, with about an hour left in the conference. It was amazing to me how personable and funny he was. I guess I am used to the morality talks he always seems to give in Gen. Conference. So grim and serious. First, he had all of the Primary kids stand up. He told them to look around and smile. Then he said he had a secret for them. They all got quiet and attentive. He said "Do you want to know how to always wake up with a smile on your face?" I thought it was something about prayer the night before or something, but then he said, "Go to bed with a coat hanger in your mouth." The kids laughed hysterically. Then, he told them a story about a 7 yr old boy in Brazil (who he quoted in Portuguese) whose father was the Mission President. He took him to a conference across the Amazon River. He told him how dangerous it was and promised that they would be home before dark so they wouldn't have to be out in the jungle at night. Well things went late and they broke down right in the middle of the jungle on the way home. The boy, Moroni, told his dad, "Don't worry, I prayed that Heavenly Father would send a mechanic to help us." The skeptical father then thought about how he could teach his son a lesson about prayer... Just then, a pick-up truck pulls up behind them. Some repairman with a truck full of tools was able to help them get started again. The dad asked the son, "What did you learn tonight about prayer?" The son said, "That I don't have to rely on your faith for my prayers to be answered."
He then invited 2 YSA girls up to the podium. He hadn't told them ahead of time. I can't imagine how nervous I would be. He said he was going to ask them questions and don't worry about the answers. He then interviewed them about family prayer, scripture study, FHE, etc. I thought to myself, if I were their parents I would be really sweating it about now. Can you imagine if an apostle was drilling your kids to find out how often you had FHE and family scripture study? Then, I had this realization that this is what it's going to be like at the Judgment bar, right? The eyes of the Savior looking down at us asking, Did you follow me? Did you do what the prophet told you to do? Did you teach your children to follow me? This is as close as you get on this Earth to the judgment (Am I taking this too far?) It was a poignant moment. They answered honestly and sometimes got some laughs from the audience.
He spoke about men being nicer and more appreciative to their wives. One night, he told his wife to stay in bed when their little son, Richard, woke up in the middle of the night. Instead, he got up to soothe him and clean up the bed (since his son had a heart condition and would be sick when he cried). Soon after that, his son died and he was always thankful that he got to spend that time with him. He also said that his wife helped him to be a better dad. Once, when he'd been away for a while, he returned home to find the washer broken. He only had a few hours before he had to be somewhere and started to fix it when she said, "Go play with the kids." He resisted, but then finally gave in upon her insisting. The next morning at 4 am, his little son came in and kissed him on the cheek and said, "Dad, I love you, you're my best friend."
At this point, Elder Scott stopped his talk and said he was going to pray with us. He explained to those who might not be members that this was not typical, but he felt that we should pray together. He prayed for rain since Australia is in a drought. He even said that it may go against what is forecast, but we know that Heavenly Father can do this if it is His will. Very powerful. I found myself thinking, "Oh no, now it's going to be pouring rain all the time!" I guess that means I had faith, right? When an apostle of the Lord prays for rain, I will carry an umbrella!
These are the Keys to Happiness that he concluded with:
1. Keep your priorities straight- if it gets in the way of Heavenly Father, Jesus, or your church membership...it should be set aside.
2. Handbook for Life is the scriptures and the teachings of the Lord
3. Ordinances of Salvation- temple attendance, baptism, redeeming the dead, sharing the gospel with others
4. Know how to pray
5. Express gratitude
6. Know who Jesus Christ is- not just read it, but have a burning testimony in your heart that he is your Savior
It was such an amazing experience. I was SO glad not to have my kids with me. Sorry kids. I just know that I would not have been able to concentrate on what was being said (to say the least) and I certainly would not have wanted to be in the second row with three small children. I ended up being in the very center of the second row, looking straight at the podium- it's really close and the podium is lower than our American chapels. I felt like Elder Scott was talking to me. More than a few times our eyes met and I felt like the Savior himself was looking at me. I have only had that feeling before with my mission president and another apostle, when at the MTC. It's a bit disturbing. I feel like they can see through me. I guess that is what it means in Moroni when it says that "we shall be like him". No doubt that Elder Scott is an apostle of the Lord.
8 comments:
Wow, what an amazing experience. I'm so glad you wrote all of this and shared it on your blog. I felt flushed with panic when you said he called those two young single adults up there to answer questions. How awful that I would be nervous if my kids got called up to answer for our family. I think you just scared me straight.
I love stories about little kids' prayers and their strong faith, and I'm always a little sad that it's the adults that waiver.
I'm so glad you got to go to this and that you were so close to the front. What a cool experience. I can't wait to hear about the freaky rain in Australia.
I am SO glad you wrote of this down, I think I got more from it than I did from attending my own meetings today. Thanks! I have also heard stories of apostles asking very pointed questions when people "run into them." It scares me...so far I wouldn't have any of the right answers to the stories I have heard. I may be scared straight as well!
Hey Robon, I just have to write and tell you that I'm so glad you posted this and that I read it this morning before church. Our sharing time in primary was about the apostles and what they do. One of the things mentioned was that they are to testify of Christ. The sister said, how many people are there in the world today? There are over 6.6 billion people. Then she said, how many apostles are there? It was kind of cool because when you look at it that way, it's overwhelming what how much area they have to cover.
So I raised my hand and told them about my sister that lives in Australia and how she just went to her stake conference with Richard G. Scott, and how people were at the stake center by 6am, and how he called a couple YSA from the congregation and asked them questions. Anyway, it totally applied to our sharing time today and the leaders made reference to my comments a couple times because they applied so well. So thanks for sharing the info.
I think I got more out of your post than out of church too. Thanks. I am going to go read my scriptures and say my prayers. (Seriously). I'm impressed your husband stayed home with all the kids!
What an awesome experience. I just love it when a talks speaks to you so much. Its amazing what you learn when you are touched by the spirit. I think it is an interesting analogy you had about judgement. I totally agree with you on that. I have thought for a long time how judgement won't be about your sins, but about your sins of omission. I think about this often and know I could be doing so much better. Thanks for the reminder.
I am really glad you wrote all this down and shared it. I am interested to see when it rains.
Robyn, thank you so much for sharing your experience at your Stake Conference. The list was a great help right now, especially #1 about keeping your priorities straight. It is so easy for me to get out-of-focus and stressed out by trivial things. I just have to remember to put things into an eternal perspective and work at keeping the spirit in my daily life.
I'm glad that you were able to go w/o kids. (What a nice hubby!) Was he able to get more out of the meeting, through you, because neither of you had to wrestle kids during a 2 hour meeting?
BTW, I always felt the same way during interviews with president, too. I always felt like he could see right inside of me--like he already knew what kind of missionary I was. It was almost like he was judging to see how much light was inside of me. Does that make sense? He is an amazing man. I still kind of feel that way when I have seen him after the mission, just because I know he is so close to the spirit. The last time I saw him was last Thanksgiving. Andy and the boys and I stopped in to say, "Hi." We chit-chatted, etc. Then he asked Andy, "So, how's life? Work? Your salvation?" It was kind of funny because, afterwards, Andy said that Pres. Goodman's questions were worse than when he was asking my dad if he could marry me!
Anyway, thank you so much for sharing.
What an awesome post! I love to hear stories like this. Particularly Pres. Scott--I've known him since I was little...when we lived in Washington DC we would go to his farm and ride tractors, my dad is good friends with him. I know what you mean about how serious he is...and wondered why he would talk about serious topics all the time at conference...but I just think he has that calm demeanor of letting you know how serious sin is but then how wonderful it is to be brought back to the light. He married a couple of my brothers and is a very kind person--it is amazing about the population of the earth and only 12 apostles to cover it! wow. Glad you had that experience and yeah with little kids sometimes you worry more that they don't make a sound and then your attention is diverted and miss out! So hopefully it will rain soon! (at least it is fall almost winter no? crazy
Thanks for taking the time to share all of this, Robyn. What a great experience for you. I'm glad you got to go without your kids too! Did you take notes, or do you just have a really good memory?
We've had apostled visit our ward and it is so powerful. How cool that you were in the second row! I liked your analogy of the final judgment as well -- a scary thought, I'd better get a move on.
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