WHAT I'M DOING THIS WEEKEND

It's one of my favorite weekends of the year.  We call it General Conference.

In biblical times, God spoke to His children through prophets. Prophets are inspired teachers and are special witnesses of Jesus Christ.  Today is no different from past ages. The Lord loves His children living now as much as the ones who lived in the past. So, in our day, He has also called prophets that testify of His divinity and teach His gospel.

Because the teachings from these inspired teachers are so important, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gather twice yearly for a special meeting called “general conference” to listen to these living prophets.

So what's it all about?   I'll let Jeffery R. Holland explain.  He's one of the people I'm most looking forward to hearing from. 

In my own expression of testimony and gratitude for the messages and meaning of general conference, may I suggest three things these twice-yearly gatherings declare to all the world.

First, they declare eagerly and unequivocally that there is again a living prophet on the earth speaking in the name of the Lord. Our times are turbulent and difficult. We see wars internationally and distress domestically. Neighbors all around us face personal heartaches and family sorrows. Legions know fear and troubles of a hundred kinds.  How we need such guidance!

Secondly, each of these conferences marks a call to action not only in our own lives but also on behalf of others around us, those who are of our own family and faith and those who are not. As general conference was convening in October of 1856 in the Salt Lake Valley, pioneers were staggering through the last freezing miles of Nebraska and were soon to be stranded in the impassable snows of the high country of Wyoming.

Brigham Young’s inspiring general conference message to the Saints was simply “go and bring in those people now on the plains.”

As surely as the rescue of those in need was the general conference theme of October 1856, so too is it the theme of this conference and last conference and the one to come next spring. It may not be blizzards and frozen-earth burials that we face this conference, but the needy are still out there.  They are all out there with feeble knees, hands that hang down, and bad weather setting in. They can be rescued only by those who have more and know more and can help more.

And don’t worry about asking, “Where are they?” They are everywhere, on our right hand and on our left, in our neighborhoods and in the workplace, in every community and county and nation of this world. Take your team and wagon; load it with your love, your testimony, and a spiritual sack of flour; then drive in any direction. The Lord will lead you to those in need if you will but embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ that has been taught in this conference.

Lastly, a general conference of the Church is a declaration to all the world that Jesus is the Christ, that He and His Father, the God and Father of us all.

I can't wait to hear the inspiring messages!