#ldsconf

It's General Conference Weekend! Conference weekend only happens twice a year, the first weekends of April and October. It is a time when members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gather in homes and church buildings throughout the world. We gather to listen to guidance, revelation and the inspiring words of those we sustain as leaders of the church. There are three 2-hour sessions held on Saturday and two 2-hour sessions on Sunday. The third session on Saturday is the Priesthood Session which men and boys older than 12 attend. The Young Women Conference session is held the weekend before the April conference and the Relief Society Conference session is held the weekend before the October conference.

We have gone through many traditions as we have tried to best meet the needs of our family in regards to General Conference. We acknowledge that it is difficult to listen to talking heads for eight to ten hours over the course of two days. Nothing ever endured until we decided on what our kids call Listen Up!, the conference keyword game. For each session of conference the kids choose several keywords. Those keywords are assigned a food. Each time we hear a speaker say one of the keywords for that session, we get the assigned snack. Yes, this is a variation of a common drinking game. And yes, we think it is very fun. Especially when the kids have assigned chocolate to the word revelation and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland says revelation or a variation of it more than 20 times, like he did in an April 2008 talk. Cause variations count.

We learned early on however to temper the sugar with substance. It's hard to keep the spirit of conference when one is screaming at the kids to stop jumping on the furniture. Now, instead of an array of M&M's and Skittles, the menu is more likely to include fruit and popcorn alongside the Twizzlers.

Saturday Morning keywords and snacks

Excited (not even kidding) for conference to start

Saturday Afternoon

Sunday Morning

Sunday Afternoon

For five years I taught a religion class for high school age students called early morning seminary. Best. five. years. I was always a little sad when incoming freshman couldn't tell the difference between Elders Packer or Perry or Ballard and Scott, who as members of The Church of Jesus Christ we sustain as prophets, seers and revelators. If Latter-day Saints want our youth to do the same, than we need to introduce them early and often. Conference is an excellent place to start. I find great peace and joy in hearing the leaders of the church bear testimony of the Savior and His plan for us, from both the Quorum of the Twelve and First Presidency, as well as the Auxiliary leaders, i.e. Primary, Young Women, Sunday School and Relief Society. I want my children to feel that same peace, not because I tell them so, but because they have gained their own desire to know.

Some of my takeaways from this weekend:

- Our trials and tribulations are not beyond our capacity to bear. We can do all things through Christ which strengthens us.

- Be kind to the poor.

- I'd rather hear Well done thou good and faithful servant instead of Well you're done.

- I am quite normal.

- Make to be lists instead of to do lists

- Growth doesn't come by taking the easy way.

- A loving Heavenly Father is mindful of me.

Our semi-annual tradition of playing Listen Up! and watching conference, hopefully transitions into a lifetime desire to listen to a prophet's voice and being stalwart and true. Amen = You choose