This weekend was just great. It was our stake conference (a couple of church meetings on Saturday and Sunday for all of the wards that make up our stake.) Elder Richard Hinckley, the son of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints who recently passed away, spoke at both the Saturday and Sunday meetings. He spoke a lot about his father, and it was so neat to hear him recount those stories. It was so spiritually uplifting.
Traveling with him was Elder Gay, who also shared stories from his life. He struggled with all of his children while they were growing up. At one point, his 14 year old daughter ran away to go to a rave! She was missing for 3 or 4 days and they couldn't find her anywhere. At the time, Elder Gay was working for Mitt Romney, and Romney closed the offices and took all 300 employees to search New York City for his daughter. They finally found her after a tip they received when they plead for any information about her whereabouts. She was drugged up and given only 24 hours to live. But she survived. He said that in the many conversations with his daughter afterward, she finally told him that she didn't feel like she could talk about her problems with her parents. He told us he had never repented so hard in his life, and has always tried to be more sensitive to his children's needs. It was such a touching account. We were also impressed that he felt he could share these things. We don't hear the negative aspects of the lives of our leaders very often. It's nice to know they aren't perfect. It makes them real and more human. I mean...Elder Hinckley is in his 70s and he has an i-pod for goodness sake!
All in all, the weekend bouyed our spirits and gave us much to think about. A lot of the talks emphasized family and how that is our first priority. Time and again we were encouraged to spend more time with our families and make sure we are doing all we can to foster love and create a home where the Spirit can reside. It was a fantastic stake conference.
2 comments:
I thought it was a great conference too, although I didn't get to go Saturday. I loved the talks on Sunday. I liked what Elder Gay said about how nothing is worth putting your family second, and how he can say that from personal experience. I guess I can see more about where that came from after hearing about his kids. I've also thought a lot about Elder Hinckley's talk. I liked the story about his dad and the car that he bought. I've actually thought about that a lot.
Ohhhhh....this is me coveting your conference....*me turning green*.....sounds wonderful!!!!!
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