This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Priesthood session of the October 2005 conference.
Elder Paul V. Johnson learned to love General Conference in about the same way as I did, by maturing on a mission, listening to and studying the talks. His mother sent him tapes of the talks.
". . . I listened to them over and over again. I grew to love the voices and the words of the prophets and apostles."
Do you recognize voices? President Kimball's distinct gravely voice, the result of losing some of his vocal chords. Elder McConkie's rich, sonorous voice. President Faust's habit of speaking to the end of his breath. I love hearing them! And not just their voices, but their choice of words, their stories, their testimonies, instructions and invitations.
"There is so much guidance and direction available that you won't make major mistakes in your life unless you consciously ignore the guidance you receive."
A friend and I were talking about things and the subject of temple attendance came up. Our closest temple (2.5 hours away) is closed for six months and members of our family have talked about making arrangements to go to other temples, the closest one being about 5 hours away. She said before accepting any job offer they looked at the distance to church and temple. They've generally lived quite close to those. For the past fourteen years we've lived fairly far away from them. (35-45 minutes from church, 1.5-2 hours from the stake center, and 1.5-2.5 hours from the temple) Anyway, I mentioned that she and her husband had made much better life choices than I and my husband, and that the Lord has greatly blessed them for the obedience and faithfulness. She denied a bit, saying maybe they weren't dedicated enough to drive 5-6 hours to attend the temple. I replied, No, you've stayed out of debt, magnified callings, served faithfully, and been obedient to just about everything the prophet asks. Nobody is perfect, no one is free from trials. But the consequences of our choices is so evident in our lives.
"In order for the messages of general conference to change our lives, we need to be willing to follow the counsel we hear. . . . This willingness to take action on what we have learned opens the doors for marvelous blessings."
"Every time we are obedient to the words of the prophets and apostles we reap great blessings. We receive more blessings than we can understand at the time, and we continue to receive blessings long after our initial decision to be obedient."
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