After Ben's rugby game we hurried back home so that he could listen to the Priesthood session of conference. Now that they televise it, we all listened. It was great! President Nelson announced that they were going to do away with the High Priest quorum and just have one big Elder's quorum. Which meant that Joel would have to release all of the Elder's quorum and High Priest presidencies and then call a new Elder's quorum presidency. Seven wards and one branch. And it starts on Tuesday. He was a little nervous about what he needed to do. But they will be fine. Kyle, Grandpa, George and Evan went up to the Conference Center to watch the priesthood session live. It was really neat. After it was over he had everyone so outside and play while we hid their Easter baskets. Now that they are all older it's actually funner to hid them. It took a good 20 minutes for them to find them.
At the end of President Nelson's talk he asked the Deacons to stand, then the Teachers, and then the Priests and so forth until all the men were standing and then had them all sing the closing hymn. Then a General Authority came up and prayed. All of the men in the living room were still standing so they just folded their arms and bowed there heads. It was neat. I wish the picture had turned out clearer.
Some great quotes Emily wrote down.
Playing some ball while they wait to find their baskets.
Finding the baskets.
Ben was less than thrilled until he saw what was in his basket. His coach and I snuck him a Snow Canyon Rugby ball before the game. He brought it all the way up from St. George just for Ben and I hid it and Joel took it back to Grandma's and hid it for me to put in his basket.
Emily and Joel found theirs first.
I had to tell Josh and David that theirs was upstairs and Ben that his was downstairs and what rooms they were in at this point because it was getting pretty ridiculous.
My three sons.
Josh's basket was full of missionary things like his flag, a passport holder, a oil vial, Jesus the Christ Book and 3 other books he needed a couple other things and a yo-yo was the only non-mission thing in his basket.
Ben's new rugby ball. It's pretty sweet. It's navy and green.
Shayne and Konnor did baskets too. Shayne got a new Easter dress and movie and Konnor got a new white shirt and nintendo game.
The next morning we were lucky enough that Joel was put into the Stake Presidency so that we could get tickets to conference! I think I asked every single time, for the entire 5 years that he was bishop, if we could get tickets and we never could. So, this was a first for us. We were even able to get Sunday morning tickets so that meant that we would be able to see Music and the Spoken Word as well. It was beautiful. It was incredibly timed.
And of course, after the opening hymn of conference, this happened. Sound asleep. He slept for an hour and a half.
It was an incredible service. We were able to hear from the entire first presidency. I don't think that has ever happened.
As we were sitting in the parking lot trying to be patient and wait our turn to get out, Joel got a text from Brother Jackson saying that a member of the 4th ward was in the hospital in Murray and he wondered if we had left yet. Nope, the Lord made sure that we were stuck in the parking lot. So, we made a brief stop at the Murray hospital to meet a new friend and see how he was doing. He was baptized a couple years ago and was having some health issues that they couldn't deal with down South. We went in thinking we would have to cheer him up and found a very cheerful man who loved to tell his story. It was a pleasure to listen to him for the 15 minutes that we were there. I'm sure we will see him again soon. I'm so glad that the Lord let us do that on that day. It was nice to be able to serve even when we were away from home.
Then we went back to parents to eat and listen to the last session of conference where President Nelson announce even more glorious changes to the church. He did away with Home teaching and visiting teaching. You should have heard me and my mom cheer! We had just talked about that the day before when he announced the priesthood thing. We were so happy. My mom and I both dislike visiting teaching. ALWAYS have. They are changing the way they will do it and just call it ministering. It will no longer be going into home and making appointments and taking a lesson. You can just be their friend and text them or go over and say hi without being churchy and fake. I think that the Lord would much rather us be genuine and caring instead made to care whether we want to or not. I personally am so happy for this change. I think it will make a world of difference. He also announced 7 new temples to be built. The seven sites — spanning the four continents of Asia, Europe and North and South America — include Salta, Argentina; Bengaluru, India; Managua, Nicaragua; Cagayan de Oro, Philippines; Layton, Utah; Richmond, Virginia; and “a major city yet to be determined” in Russia. The crowd was delighted to hear Layton Utah and Russia. These will be the first-ever in the countries of India, Russia and Nicaragua. Very exciting news. This was a conference to end all conferences. The only things that could have made it better were if they prolonged the sister missions to two years and did away with all scouting. Then it would have been prefect. I love this gospel and have a testimony of our beloved Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who died for me, and you. And we celebrate his wonderful resurrection on this marvelous day so that we may all live with him again one day.
At the end of President Nelson's talk he asked the Deacons to stand, then the Teachers, and then the Priests and so forth until all the men were standing and then had them all sing the closing hymn. Then a General Authority came up and prayed. All of the men in the living room were still standing so they just folded their arms and bowed there heads. It was neat. I wish the picture had turned out clearer.
And of course, after the opening hymn of conference, this happened. Sound asleep. He slept for an hour and a half.
Then we went back to parents to eat and listen to the last session of conference where President Nelson announce even more glorious changes to the church. He did away with Home teaching and visiting teaching. You should have heard me and my mom cheer! We had just talked about that the day before when he announced the priesthood thing. We were so happy. My mom and I both dislike visiting teaching. ALWAYS have. They are changing the way they will do it and just call it ministering. It will no longer be going into home and making appointments and taking a lesson. You can just be their friend and text them or go over and say hi without being churchy and fake. I think that the Lord would much rather us be genuine and caring instead made to care whether we want to or not. I personally am so happy for this change. I think it will make a world of difference. He also announced 7 new temples to be built. The seven sites — spanning the four continents of Asia, Europe and North and South America — include Salta, Argentina; Bengaluru, India; Managua, Nicaragua; Cagayan de Oro, Philippines; Layton, Utah; Richmond, Virginia; and “a major city yet to be determined” in Russia. The crowd was delighted to hear Layton Utah and Russia. These will be the first-ever in the countries of India, Russia and Nicaragua. Very exciting news. This was a conference to end all conferences. The only things that could have made it better were if they prolonged the sister missions to two years and did away with all scouting. Then it would have been prefect. I love this gospel and have a testimony of our beloved Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who died for me, and you. And we celebrate his wonderful resurrection on this marvelous day so that we may all live with him again one day.
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