Conference weekend

What a glorious Easter morning! Watching Doug praise our Lord through song, walking through the yard and seeing spring awaken that which has been sleeping, pondering on the glorious gift of the resurrection. I'm indeed blessed. 

 What a wonderful and history making General Conference this weekend!  We were able to participate in a solemn assembly on Saturday morning and raise our hands to sustain our new beloved prophet, Russell M. Nelson, as the 17th president of the church. What a spine tingling, spirit filled moment that was. He's a gentle man and a true servant of Heavenly Father. Two new apostles were called to the Quorum of the Twelve to fill vacancies and history was made again by their nationalities, i.e., Gerrit W. Gong who is Chinese-American and Ulisses Soares who is Brazilian.  We truly belong to a world wide church and I was thrilled to see these men join the ranks of the twelve. 

In the Priesthood session changes were made to the Elders and High Priests quorums, and in the Sunday afternoon session changes were made to the Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching programs. I know I was amazed at all the changes taking place and then right at the end of the Sunday afternoon session President Nelson announced seven new temples to be built including in India and Russia! Wow! Is anything too difficult for the Lord as his church grows? I was reminded of the quote by Joseph Smith which says:

“The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”

I'm grateful to live in these days to see changes and growth even though I also see so much evil and sadness in the world. I'm grateful that the good eclipses the evil.  I'm anxious for the Ensign to come so I can reread the talks. There were several that touched my heart. I wrote down one thought from one of the brethren when he said "casualness causes casualties." Wow, so true. Have I been casual in my scripture study, temple attendance, faith, good works, etc? I watch others slip away from the gospel and the truth and wonder what happened but I can see that little things turn into big things. I'm vowing once again to do better.  I think the overall message that I received personally from this conference is that I need to pay more attention to family history, personal history, and temple attendance. That's my goal.