I Remember

This post is part of the General Conference Odessey. This week covers the Sunday morning session of the October 1997 conference.

I remember this session of conference. Our oldest child had been baptized that summer, her brothers were 6 1/2, 4, and 1; another was in the making and would be born the next June. We watched conference at home via cable. I'd call the cable company a week before and have it set up for the conference weekend, then on Monday would call to have it cancelled. After a couple of times they got to know me and didn't bat an eye.

President Faust told the poignant story of him neglecting to help his grandmother fill the woodbox and how sorry he was for that sin of omission. Many of us wondered if we'd ever be that spiritually mature. He counseled us that:

Those who extend judgement, mercy, faith, and forgiveness exhibit a greatness of soul and mind consistent with the spirit of the Lord's teachings and example. This higher gospel requires that we look inward to our own souls, for we cannot deceive the Lord.

Elder Harold G. Hillam told of the opening of an 1899 time capsule in 1949. A letter in the capsule included this description:

The people were in a dry and barren land and were subjected to many privations. It required all their time and strength to secure the necessaries of life; yet in the midst of it all, with the limited facilities at hand, they began the education of their children.

I wonder if we understand what the settlers of the Salt Lake valley went through. It's hard to imagine life without groceries stores, hardware stores, restaurants, etc.  To take time to build churches and schools while attempting to grow enough food to last through the year until the next harvest is difficult to fathom. We can't conceive of the labor and toil it took. I for one am so grateful that they didn't give up! They didn't say "It's too hard!" And return to eastern cities where life could have been easier. The gospel is worth every sacrifice!

Elder Hillam went on to talk about teaching, knowledge, information, and media. 

Perhaps every person who is listening might also ask these question of himself or herself and expect an honest reply: "Is the information I am receiving from this tool of learning edifying, and adding truth into my life? Are the hours I am investing an effective use of my valuable time? Does this computer game assist me in fulfilling my responsibilities and goals?" If the answer is not a resounding yes, then we should have the courage and determination to click off the button and direct our lives to more important tasks.

Those are still important questions to ask.

Elder Holland said something that must have been where I got the idea for a new name for the church.

Now, if you feel too spiritually maimed to come to the feast, please realize that the Church is not a monastery for perfect people, though all of us ought to be striving on the road to godliness. No, at least one aspect of the Church is more like a hospital or an aid station, provided for those who are ill and want to get well, where one can get an infusion of spiritual nutrition and a supply of sustaining water in order to keep on climbing.

I've long felt that an alternative name of the church could be The Hospital of Jesus Christ for Latter-day Sinners. Perhaps then, more would feel "worthy" to attend and partake of the bread of life and the living water.

Elder Holland finished with his testimony:

I pray this morning that all who are hungering and thirsting, and sometimes wandering, will hear this invitation from Him who is the Bread of Life, the Fountain of Living Water, the Good Shepherd of us all, the Son of God: "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, . . . and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Truly He does fill "the hungry with good things," as His own mother Mary testified. Come and feast at the table of the Lord in what I testify to be His true and living Church, led by a true and living prophet, . . . 

President Gordon B. Hinckley was the concluding speaker, for 22 minutes! He talked of many subjects, but what I remember most was:

If we will go forward, never losing sight of our goal, speaking ill of no one, living the great principles we know to be true, this cause will roll on in majesty and power to fill the earth. Doors now closed to the preaching of the gospel will be opened. The Almighty, if necessary, may have to shake the nations to humble them and cause them to listen to the servants of the living God. Whatever is needed will come to pass.

Shake the nations! I got goosebumps hearing that and wondered what we would see in the future. We've seen plenty! Many nations have opened up to the preaching of the Gospel. More is to come, I'm sure.

We live in exciting times. Technology has come a long way, opening nations to the gospel, as well as drawing weak saints away. It is the opinion of many that the sifting of the wheat and tares has begun in earnest. Temples are proliferating in fulfillment of prophecy. Zion is being gathered. We will probably have to be as strong and resourceful as the early pioneers were in order to endure to the end.

President Hinckley said;

If we will cling to our values, if we will build on our inheritance, if we will walk in obedience before the Lord, if we will simply live the gospel we will be blessed in a magnificent and wonderful way. 

What more could we want!