As Sisters in Zion

For the past 11 years my mom has joined a "herd" of women down at the BYU Women's Conference. I've always wanted to go, since she seemed to come back pretty uplifted and edified. I was grateful for the opportunity I got to have this year of coming up to Women's Conference for the first time. Not only did I get to spend time with my wonderful Mom, but also both my Grandmothers and my aunts Suzie, Karen, and Lesley. Not only did I recieve great information and spiritual insight, I also got to spend time with these wonderful women who have influanced me through my life. I was in awe as I listened to their stories and insights and council and experience. I truly felt that I was among very elite women. I have truly been born of Goodly Parents, Grandparents, and Aunts (and Uncles but they weren't there;).

I wanted to jot down some of my notes from the conference that really stood out to me and perhaps something I write will be an inspiration for a blog reader. It's going to be a little vauge so if something stands out, I would encourage you to study on.

The first talk by Sandra Rodgers was about Following Christ. She said people who follow Christ understand five things:

1) They understand the purpous of this life
2) They know the charactor of God
3) They trust the Lord, his messangers and FOLLOW his example and council
4) They understand the Plan
5) They understand that drawing near to the Lord will require sacrifice

Another talk on Temples and Temple Attendence spoke about being "drenched in joy." The speaker said "In this day in age how huge is status, how thin is character."

It was mentioned that if we truly understood the ordinances of the Lord, you would crawn on hands and knees in order to recieve them. As we return to the temple, and are ready, the Lord will teach us. We can regularly recieve revelation.

We then went to a great talk on Letting Go of the World called :Its time to Sell your Summer Home in Babylon.

Sister Zeyger said: "We live in a world of spiritual tsunamies that come in the form of temptation and trial. We must get to higher ground." Her three key points were that we must FORTIFY ourselves and our families by prayer, scripture study, temple attendance, and communication; FILTER: our own personal filter is the best defense, teach your children to develop filters which will make them stronger; and FOCUS keep our minds clear and concise. Satan wants us to feel busy, distracte, and inadequate. Don't let him do it!

Sister Edmonds said" "If we are not building Zion, we are supporting Babylon, the distance is not measured in miles but in seperation of hearts from Jesus Christ." Membership in the church is more about who has your heart than who has your record. If we don't lear to deny ourselves of something we want, how are we going to deny ourselves of all ungodliness? Live a simple life. God's Plan is the plan of happiness, not the plan of pleasure. Keep the Sabbath Holy/Wholly

I'm going to save the next one for a seperate blog...It was my favorite.

Council was given on spiritual strength in challenging times: Nothing is impossible, no trial or loss cannot be overcome by the Savior.

Julie B. Beck said: You can't force your family to heaven, you can only encourage and correct. She also talked about the book of Alma and how we learn of Nehor and Korihor who preached the doctrine of "ME." Anti Christ = Anti Family; Anti Family= Anti Christ.

Sister Gill talked about communication 1) be interested and involved, do your homework 2) Don't pass judgment or people will withold information, 3) Deomonsrate compassion and respect.

John Bytheway gave great perspective on a scripture (Moses 1:39) That it is the LORDS work and the LORDS glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man; and we should not take it upon ourselves. We may be willing to do something but unable and that is where Christ comes in. Some learn by instruction (1Nephi 2 16-17; D&C 46:14) Some learn by observation (Mosiah 19:17; Mormon 1:2) and some learn by the things which they suffer (D&C 105:6) "Experience is a school and fools will live by no other." Men talk for information, women for interaction :) Ask yourself "What is it like to be married to me?" (I liked that a lot) Praise for who people are more than what they do.

The last talk I will talk about is: I will make Weak Things become Strong where we learned you don't have to be perfect, just worthy.

Brad Wilcox took the scripture 2 Nephi 21:23 (It is by grace we are saved after all we can do) and then broke it down into several bits: we are refined throughout our lives (not just AFTER) by grace and it is a constant progress in our lives; We can't do ALL we can do ALL the time. Any offering/effort is accepted and God is more concerned with the offerer than the offering; what CAN we do without God? We are required to do things because it will make us better. The WE means Jesus and Me. (D&C 123:17) Jesus doesn't make up the difference, he makes ALL the difference.

Those were just a few of my notes, I really enjoyed the whole thing, escpecially being there with my mom! It was awesome!