I didn’t always like General Conference. Oh, when I was a teenager, it was a great adventure when my folks would let me with my cousin Lynn Butterfield use Conference as an excuse to go alone to Salt Lake City. Our dads both worked for Union Pacific Railroad, and we could ride the train for free. We would board the train at midnight from Rawlins, Wyoming, where we lived and travel all night for a 9 am arrival in SLC. (This was the 60’s. No one was worried about our safety like you would be now!) Lynn’s married brother Roger lived there, as did five of my sisters. We usually crashed at my sister Marcie’s apartment since she was a student in SLC and had no entanglements with husband and family.
Ostentatiously,
we were there for Conference. In those
days Conference lasted three days and included the Sunday closest to the 6th
of either April or October. Maybe Sunday
was the first day or the last day of the proceedings. But we crammed in shopping trips—Z.C.M.I. (Utah’s
department store) and all the other stores were up and down Main Street, not
clustered in Malls as they are now—and always a visit to Keeley’s, a popular
little hole in the wall that served delicious sandwiches and delectable ice
cream sundaes. We could only afford one
treat there each time. But Conference
time was sale time for the merchants, and I always went back to Rawlins with at
least one pair of shoes from Baker’s or one of the other now long-gone shoe
stores.
Once
in a while, we would stand in line and jostle for seats in the Tabernacle. Most of the time if the weather was nice, we
would sit on the lawn and “listen” to the talks, then try to get a glimpse of
President McKay as he left the Tabernacle.
David O. McKay was the Prophet for a long time when I was growing
up. Got a lot out of that. RIGHT!
Years
later as a BYU student, groups of us would go to Temple Square for Conference
(by then it was only a two-day affair) and sit on the lawn visiting with each
other. Got a lot out of THAT, too. Oh, I
had my favorite speakers. But still no
impact on me. Even when Conference began
to be broadcast over cable television in my Wyoming hometown and our Sunday meetings
were cancelled so we could stay home and watch, I wasn’t really
interested. In fact, I used to dread
those long hours in front of the TV. My
dad would insist I come out from my room to the front room and watch with the
family—he who didn’t even go to Church!
Did I get anything out of it? I
doubt it. I always used to watch in my
pajamas, and doze off or daydream, waiting until I could be “released”.
I am
not sure when Conference began to take on a new dimension in my life. I suppose it was when I had sufficiently
matured to understand the scriptures better
and know that the General Authorities were the “prophets” spoken of in those
books. Maybe it was when I started
putting something into Conference—not as George Washington put it,
“going like an empty bucket to be filled.”
Like actually being present while I was listening! That was when I noticed some of those talks
had something for me to learn from and apply in my own life.
Marvin
J. Ashton’s talks were always about the temporal side of life—personal finances
and relationships. I could relate to
those things. One April I remember
watching Conference from my hospital bed the morning after my 4th
baby Jeremy was born and being so grateful when President Kimball spoke of food
storage that I could hold my head up because we had a good amount in
place. I remember Elder Packer’s talk
about spiritual crocodiles, President Benson’s landmark address about pride,
Elder McConkie’s testimony of Christ (and I just felt he was going to be dead
soon—and he did die just days later) and others on and on through the years. I
remember the eloquence with which Elder Maxwell spoke about being disciples of
Christ and feeling that maybe, just maybe, I might be on the road to being
one. Too many General Conference
memories to list. But now I look forward
to Conference. I want to hear the broadcast, I feel uplifted when I read the talks during
the following months. And since I spend a lot of time in my car, I listen to
the CDs of past Conferences featuring both the spoken word and music from the Tabernacle
Choir at Temple Square. I appreciate these spiritual influences.
I have
changed. And these days I am grateful
for the Lord’s direction to us in this way.
We can’t go wrong in listening to and implementing into our lives the
principles which the Prophets present. That
I am a better person for making Conference an important part of my life is
readily apparent to me. Of this I testify and encourage you to make Conference
meaningful this October 1st and 2nd. Session times are Saturday 10am, 2pm and 6pm Sunday 10am and 2 pm. Streamed live on ChurchofJesusChrist.org
and the church’s General Conference YouTube channel, though there are
many other platforms that will be streaming the broadcast.
Russell
M. Nelson, Prophet and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
will preside at the two-day conference this weekend.
