195th YEAR OF LOVE, INSTRUCTION, AND WITNESSES OF JESUS CHRIST!

 

195TH ANNUAL GENERAL CONFERENCE

of 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

April 5-6, 2025

When I was reading in the Book of Mormon the other morning, I came to the part of the Nephite history where King Benjamin addresses the people and gives his famous sermon which includes the well-known quote …”when you are in the service of your fellow beings, you are only in the service of your God.” 

King Benjamin had previously sent a proclamation throughout all of the land that the people gather themselves together and go up to the temple to hear the words which he was going to speak to them.  The record says that there were so many people by that time that they couldn’t even be counted.  But go to the temple they did—"all the sons and daughters, and their sons, and their daughters, from the eldest down to the youngest, every family being separate one from another.”

“And they pitched their tents round about the temple, every man having his tent with the door thereof towards the temple, that thereby they might remain in their tents and hear the words which King Benjamin should speak unto them….”  Mosiah 2:1-6

Every time I read that passage, it reminds me of General Conference where Church members gather to hear the words of the prophets and their testimonies of Jesus Christ. 

I have shared with you in previous years that when I was younger, I would often go to Salt Lake City on the train with my cousin Lynn to attend Conference.  Then Conference became available on television in my home town, then on satellite broadcasts at the chapel, and now in a variety of platforms that can be received at home on the big screen or on the little six-inch screen of our smart phones!  Wow! Technology has come a long way for the April 2025 General Conference global broadcast which will be next weekend, April 5-6.

But, no matter how most people access General Conference now, it still reminds me of King Bejamin calling the people to gather together to hear his words as they sat in their tents with their families having the doors facing King Benjamin at the temple.

So, we have that same kind of opportunity, as the Book of Mormon Nephites, to listen to Conference in our own homes with our families as we look at our Prophet Russell M. Nelson and the Apostles while they give us instruction from the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. 

 

Here is some info I took from the Church’s website:

“General conference provides an opportunity to receive personal revelation as general Church leaders give counsel and direction from the Lord.  We encourage all to listen to, study, ponder and apply the counsel given,” wrote the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Following the broadcast, the messages will be available in text, audio and video formats on multiple on-demand formats for viewing and studying. The messages will be published in the Gospel Library app, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org and in Church magazines.

Saturday, April 5   

Morning session: 10 a.m. to noon*

Afternoon session: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Evening session: 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, April 6

Morning session: 10 a.m. to noon

Afternoon session: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

All conference sessions will be streamed live on the broadcasts page of ChurchofJesusChrist.org. You can also watch and listen on the General Conference YouTube channel, the Gospel Stream app, Gospel Library and other radio, television, satellite and digital channels.

 

I’m personally looking forward to this opportunity to find respite from the world for a few hours.  And, I invite you to also find that respite as you tune in however it is most convenient and easiest for you—one talk, one session, or one quote that will touch your heart and lift your life to give you peace.

LET'S DO THIS!

 

Let's Talk About the Weather!

 

I live in Colorado.  A transplant of nearly 60 years from the high windy plateaus of south-central Wyoming where I was born and raised.  

Wyoming was a great place to grow up.  I didn't know any different, except for the places we went on vacation which sometimes seemed nicer than where we lived, but there was always blue sky and sunshine for most of the year in my neck of the woods.  BLUE SKY AND SUNSHINE!  My biggest faves.  However, there was also a constant wind blowing, little semblance of four seasons (we always said there were really only two seasons), and not a lot of trees.  That isn't what a lot of what other people in the world think of as "inviting".

When I moved to Colorado after I graduated from Brigham Young University, I thought I had come to live in Paradise.  Sure, there is sometimes a freak snowstorm in the early fall or late spring, but for the most part the weather is pretty acceptable.  The snow doesn't last forever.  It usually melts within a day or so.  Plus, there are always plenty of days that reach into the 60's even during the winter months.  And yes, sometimes the wind blows.  But not usually so fierce or chilling as our neighboring state to the north.  No humidity.  No unbearable heat.  No extreme phenomena like earthquakes or tornados.  (Okay, that freakish kind of event has happened now and then, but those are the exceptions, not the rule for regular, every-day life in Colorado.)

April showers bring May flowers is what the familiar verse says.    Not always in Colorado though.  Some years the showers turn out to be a snowstorm that either freezes the buds that managed to pop up their heads or delays them for a few more weeks. Just wait--that riot of blossoms will come....

Luckily, there is a common phrase to cover any disappointment about an unexpected rainstorm or cloudy sky that pops up on the horizon:  "If you don't like the weather, wait a while.  It will change."  And it usually does.

However, after some warm days recently that turned unexpectedly windy and bone-chilling, my daughter sent this little reminder to me about the "seasons" we experience in this beautiful area of the Rocky Mountain West.  I laughed out loud!  Just about sums up the whole topic of this discussion.  

I think it is a pretty fair commentary about the subject of weather as we experience it in Colorado.  Yet after calling Colorado home for nearly six decades--including four temporary short-term residences in Europe and on the East Coast--I'm STILL satisfied with my choice!