So how did you all like General Conference? I liked it a lot! Being on a mission helps you appreciate General Conference so much more because you're more in tune with the Spirit and you're definitely going to be thinking about the things of the Spirit on a far more frequent basis.
Right now I think my favorite talk was from Elder Christopher Waddell during the Priesthood session of Conference. I liked how he talked about how the one missionary only baptized one person during his mission in Spain and how even though he felt like he was a failure the son of his only convert reactivated him. I can relate to that missionary since times are going slow but I think it's another indication that I need to quit the pity party and go back to work. I also felt the Elder Cook's talk in the Sunday morning session was inspirational.
Chris Brown, my last investigator who got baptized, watched at least the Sunday afternoon session of Conference and the priesthood session because I could see him since I was at the stake center for every session of conference. When Elder Yamashita spoke about his conversion experience and how investigators never forget missionaries Chris turned around and looked at us. Oh man that was such an awesome moment! It's moments like that that make everything I go through on my mission worth it! He later said that he felt the same way as Elder Yamashita in that he'd never forget us. When he asked for the phone numbers of the YSA elders and for me and Elder Ware's number he said that he refers to us as his missionaries. That was also another heaven-sent moment that I'll never forget. It made me feel really good inside about why I'm out here and what kind of difference I'm making.
So I noticed that there were several themes in Conference. I noticed that a lot of talks were generated toward the youth. Elder Bednar threw a curveball at me when he spoke about getting children involved in family history work. As a youth I wasn't (and still am not) interested in family history all that much so for him to say that threw me for a surprise. Elder Holland definitely got in the faces of the youth when he spoke about serving a mission. I also noticed that either repentance or the Atonement was being brought up on a frequent basis by many of the General Authorities. Usually after they call people out on something they generally bring up forgiveness and repentance. Elder Christofferson and Elder Cook come to mind as the heavy hitters when talking about the Atonement during this Conference.
I can see Elder Richardson's talk being frequently brought up by either President Taylor or by other missionaries because everything he spoke about is what every missionary talks about during any of our meetings be they district meetings, zone conferences or interviews. He also literally said "teach people not lessons" which is probably the most repeated phrase in all missionary work. Seriously I've gotten annoyed at times by how frequently it gets brought up because that concept gets drilled and drilled into you but now I'm grateful that they did because it's helped my teaching A LOT!
I also noticed that Elder Ballard and Elder Perry spoke about mormon.org. I knew that the General Authorities would bring it up but I thought it was going to receive more attention and that it would probably be more announced than it was. It was cool though that Elder Ballard repeated President Packer's statement for us to not refer to the church as "the Mormon church" although he did say that it would be appropriate at times for us to refer to ourselves as "Mormons" since the mormon.org campaign's happening. Speaking of mormon.org today's the first day of the campaign! I'm excited to see what kind of results it will bring. I saw Ryan's profile and I'm impressed! He did a great job on it. Another thing I noticed is that Elder Escobar's mission president has a video profile on mormon.org! I got so excited when I figured it out. http://mormon.org/me/2F8J/ Here's the link. I wonder how Elder Escobar feels about his mission president being on mormon.org. Here's my profile: http://mormon.org/me/3PCN/ Ryan's already read it. I'll probably re-edit it since I learned afterwards that I'm not supposed to say that I'm serving in Phoenix, Arizona.
Well those are my thoughts about conference. I look forward to seeing what Garit and Dad's thoughts are about Conference since Ryan's already told me his.
Love,
Elder Boothe
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