Stake Conference

This weekend was stake conference and what a wonderful weekend! Saturday night was the adult session and the very first talk was a condemnation of pornography, extremely direct and very powerful. The speaker, a member of the stake presidency, said that he felt like Jacob and apologized for having to talk about so unpleasant a subject, but gave the talk because he knew that what he had written needed to be said. The final talk in both the adult and general sessions was given by a visiting general authority. He spoke also very directly, first about enduring to the end, and then about strengthening families. He cited many scriptures and encouraged us to not be passive in our scripture reading or in our prayers. His final words before sharing testimony were, "If you do just a little bit better in the small things, Heavenly Father will bless you." That's paraphrased. From his testimony, I could see that he knows the Gospel is true, and he would sacrifice anything for it. He told us about his call to be a mission president or maybe it was his call to the 70. Anyway, he had to give up a prominent place in his company in order to serve the Lord. Just a week or so ago, my institute teacher has asked us to find him one example, just one, of a prophet or leader of the church whose life had gotten easier by accepting a call from God. We couldn't find a single one. Yet these leaders are the ones who find true happiness and lasting joy. It makes me want to reevaluate my priorities—what is worthwhile in this life and what is not. I think that from now on, I will always accept that call but in the same thought, I'll acknowledge that my life is going to be less comfortable than it was. Each time you accept the call anyway, I think comfort becomes less and less important.