It’s starting! We’ll use this space to make observations and accept comments! The short notes below are to help you remember which addresses you might have particularly loved, with links taking you to the Church website content. Or click here to go to the Church website General Conference page..
Note that if clicking links on a device with the Gospel Liibrary app, it will try to open the app. Press and hold the link to ensure it brings up the proper webpage (I usually select “open in new tab”).
Saturday AM Session
Elder Jeffrey Holland: Voting with our feet – leading others to our Lord, Jesus.
Elder Terence M. Vinson: Fair Dinkum – giving our all to God.
Elder Stephen W. Owen: Starving with bellies full – learning to receive our own revelation.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson: Joy through overcoming with the Savior’s help
Sister Michelle Craig: Increasing our spiritual capacity to receive revelation.
Elder Dale G. Renlund: Throwing our idols into the falls – acting to embrace God’s ways.
President Dallin H. Oaks: Questions of eternity – trusting the Lord.
Saturday PM Session
Elder David A. Bednar: Hunting cheetahs – beware Satan’s predators.
Elder Ruben V. Alliaud: Being found: How I had been lost and was found.
President Russell M. Nelson: Witnessing: a privilege of all members.
Elder Quentin L. Cook: Realigning duties in ward leadership structures and strengthens responsibilities of bishoprics for youth (details relative to young women to be discussed later by President Bonnie Cordon).
Brother Mark L. Pace: Come Follow Me – a foundation for God’s people.
Elder L. Todd Budge: Sorrow and hard times – consistent and resilient joy in trusting God.
Elder Jorge M. Alvarado: Blessings sure as we endure the trial of our faith on the covenant path.
Elder Ronald A. Rasband: Promises – keeping our commitments to the Lord and others.
General Women’s Session
Sister Reyna I. Aburto: Mental illness – openness healing those on both sides of the veil
Sister Lisa Harkness: Honoring the name by which we are called.
President Bonnie H. Cordon: Embraced in the love of God – new Young Woman theme and flexibility in arranging young women classes (retirement of terms Beehive, MIA Maid, and Laurel).
President Henry B. Eyring: Christ’s call to women.
President Dallin H. Oaks: Keeping both great commandments in the face of sexual attraction.
President Russell M. Nelson: The priesthood with which women are endowed in the temple, announcement of 8 new temples.
Sunday AM Session
[The choir is glorious. They always are, but that rendition of “High on the Mountain Top” was thrilling.]
Elder Gerrit W. Gong: Answers that matter – the power of covenant belonging.
Sister Cristina B. Franco: Knowing God’s plan – the joy of sharing the gospel (Suzanne Maria’s story).
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf: Hobbits – choosing grand adventure over simple comfort.
Elder Walter F. Gonzalez: Lord, make me clean – finding strength and comfort in this life.
Elder Gary E. Stevenson: Skunks and paint – teaching the rising generation, the hope of Israel.
President Russell M. Nelson: Strengthened by the Saints – meeting with Muslim leaders in New Zealand, Argentina individuals benefitting from wheelchairs, Mary’s letter. Saints living the two great commandments, lifting and blessing.
Sunday PM Session
President Henry B. Eyring: The Plan of Happiness Alma taught his wayward son.
Elder Hans T. Boom: Creating an environment of love rather than criticism.
President M. Russell Ballard: Embracing your family with love.
Elder Peter M. Johnson: Children of God – overcoming deception, distraction, and discouragement.
Elder Ulisses Soares: Taking up our cross in the service of God.
Elder Neil L. Anderson: Ye shall know them by their fruits.
President Russell M. Nelson: Concluding remarks. Let us become more holy and worthy to enter the temple. Certain questions for temple recommends have been edited for clarity. We encourage youth to obtain limited use recommends and participate in temple work.
General Conference in spring 2020 will be designated a bicentennial year, in honor of the 1820 vision of the 14-year-old Joseph Smith in Palmyra.
Shout-out to the tax accountants listening to conference while preparing returns for the 10/15 deadline. Conference Saturday is always the best Saturday of the busy season.
No ambiguity there: we don’t know much, and we are careful and one statement does not become doctrine. The doctrine is only what has been taught by all 15, like the Proclamation on the Family. Driving home that the Proclamation is doctrine, not policy, and won’t be going anywhere.
I am glad that ward Young Men presidencies are going to be discontinued. By scripture, the bishopric is the presidency of the young men of the Aaronic Priesthood. I hope bishops and their counselors will start magnifying their responsibilities in this area — eliminating another body with the title of presidency will help the bishopric see that there is no other presidency but themselves.
Wow. HP group leadership gone. Fewer teachers needed in SS, EQ and RS. Scouting extinct. YM Presidency gone. At what point will members realize that family history and ministering are the only games in town?
OM: One other game is still in town too. Don’t forget the work of salvation among living non-members, aka missionary work, or as Elder Andersen said in the April 2013 conference, “It’s not missionary work, it’s missionary fun.”
I enjoyed the Women’s session. My daughter called after the session and enthused. President Nelson clarifies priesthood (that endowed sisters have the power of the covenant, which is priesthood), then uses the Women’s session to announce the new temples?
Hee hee.
I also appreciated that President Nelson gave us lovely history of Harmony.
I enjoyed President Oaks’s talk about the two great commandments and openly addressing the concern sexual attraction might be for some listening to the Women’s meeting. Given that we’ve been encouraged to engage in social media fasts for a couple of times, I was interested to reflect how President Oaks’s comments might cause some to commence their own social media fast, even without being instructed to do so.
Alas, I missed much of the two general sessions on Saturday because I was volunteering at a local public access channel doing audio editing. Ironically, it turns out that channel broadcasts conference… So I had a chance to explain to the confused staff member why he was seeing the “same” show for so many hours.
Women’s Meeting, Young Women’s presidencies emphasized as leadership training. Young Women and Primary leader reports to Bishop. Flexibility in forming classes according to makeup of particular unit, so all young women might meet together for class where there are few and multiple classes be called for where there are many. Lots of call to use inspiration and initiative instead of running on ‘old tapes’.
Interesting, in our ward we’d had 2 YW classes, the Laurels & Mia Maid aged girls and Beehves. This year, we finally had enough to split into three. I think wards have been organizing classes according to their needs anyway, at least in our neck of the woods.
anyone who had read (and perhaps studied) Handbook 2, even back in the 90s, knew that the YM presidencies were YM advisors and the Bishopric were to presidency of the Aaronic Priesthood, and responsible that the YM and YW had appropriate activities, guided and approved by the Bishopric. I can only assume that even with frequent training, reading of handbooks 1 and 2, too many Bishops weren’t running things right, so what was already obvious had to be shouted from the rooftops. The YW and YM programs are still to be “run” by the youth. Bishoprics will still provide guidance, and advisors (including the YW presidency) will provide additional guidance and 1 on 1 individual love. I can only assume that the first presidency as presently constituted has tired of cajoling and encouraging, and is now eliminating the titles of roles that still need to be filled, but making those titles more clear and obvious so subject to less misunderstanding and misapplication.
having only served in adult callings outside the Mormon west, class sizes have been what was appropriate pretty much everywhere I have been. Sometimes 1 for AP and 1 for YW, sometimes 2 MIA Maid classes. It was really surprising to hear that this was new (I thought it old). But then, I lived where we had the “block schedule” several years before it was announced in back in, what, 1982? Utah has to come up to speed someday………..
Hi cheute79,
Sometimes people need to be kicked out of the nest to fly on wings of faith. Others may have been flying on wings of faith before, but they likely also felt their adaptations were “less than” what they imagined the proper complement of classes to be.
These adjustments merely make it so congregations are freed from old expectations.
I forget when, but at some point this weekend my autistic child came into the room and said, “what’s President Nelson changing now?”
All the talks were highly correlated within a framework of seeing life as a covenant path. That was cool.
Of the various stories, I particularly liked the story of the two trees, where one was in the light more than the other, suggesting that our outcomes are better in the light of the gospel, even when we don’t necessarily notice on a daily basis.
The skunks mistaken for kittens story was great too (with the companion story of the kid wanting to paint his Labrador into being a Dalmatian). While there is an element of “this wasn’t my choice” to some things, there are also elements of people being unaware of peril and people wanting to ape the cool new “thang.”
Great to hear from Sister Aburto and Sister Franco. I reflected on the experiment, a few years back, in having folks speak in their own language. I think that must have been a nightmare for the AV team to produce good translations, since many of the translators would have been using the English translation as a start. I like using English as the lingua franca of the gospel, even as we strive also to learn the languages to allow us to minister to the world. In the World Report footage, it was good to see President Nelson speaking in other languages. I couldn’t help but reflect on pioneer times when no one in the Church knew Spanish and the effort that went into that first Spanish translation of the Book of Mormon.
At any rate, great weekend all around.
I really liked Elder Bednar’s talk on the cheetas and temptation. Just a really good talk on that subject and an opportunity to invite inspiration in our lives.
I thought the whole Conference was good evidence that the leaders of the church are really inspired and are leading us in the right way.