What We Learned

Just finished up with an awesome General Conference weekend, listening to the leaders of our church speak on a variety of topics.  I had a new requirement for the kids this time - they would actually have to write down a few things that they learned from each speaker.  Not too hard, right?

And to show just how easy it is, I included the requirement for myself too. 

This was my particular view.  :)

Maybe he just listens better that way.

Here are a few things that Aubrey learned (granted, she had 8 pages of notes by the time Conference was done, so she really had a tough time narrowing it down to just a few.)

1. Truly loving Jesus Christ requires the strength to follow Him, which we can do by overcoming trials and trusting in Him.
2. Trials and affliction are a part of life.  They are vitally important in the process of life and help shape our character.  The darkest trials bring some of the greatest blessings.
3. Satan will always be constant.  He never gives up and is always going to try to stop us from following God.
4. How well we deal with trials in our life determines our spiritual strength.  When we complete a trial, we have grown stronger in our faith and are more ready to serve Him than we were before the trial.
5. Keeping God's commandments strengthens our faith.

What Connor learned:
1. We are all God's children and He loves us.
2. Jesus Christ is God's only begotten son.
3. God wants us to have joy.
 As for Rigdon, he did a good job testing everyone to see how well they could stay focused on the speakers and not on him.  Among all of Rigdons' wiggles and talent for stiring up the other boys, he somehow managed to stick his finger up Connor's nose too hard, causing it to bleed.  (Don't ask, it's just one of those things.)

And he does a pretty good job mimicking me too...he's taking pictures with his "own" camera.

What a about Ronin?  Well, he found this note-taking challenge to be, well....challenging.  Since he was having such a hard time just sitting and listening, I told him to pull out a jigsaw puzzle and go for it (most excellent suggestion, honey, it totally kept him quiet and busy.)

What Ronin learned:
1. We need to seek the Lord.
2. Be kind to people.
3. We need to pray to Heavenly Father.

As for me, here's a few things I got out of conference:
1. The Holy Spirit speaks in ways that we can only hear with our heart.  We must turn down the volume of the world in order to listen. 
2.  Affliction is part of our mortal experience.  It is an important process for developing our own divine nature.  All that we suffer and endure, especially when done with patience, will develop our character, purify our hearts, and expand our soul.  Personal growth comes from challenges, not by taking the easy way.
3. Judgement day isn't just about the good and evil choices we make in this life, it is the culmination of what and who we have become in the end.
4. Paul said of divine correction or chastening, ‘For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.’ Though it is often difficult to endure, truly, we ought to rejoice that God considers us worth the time and trouble to correct.”
5.  Marriage is wonderful. You will have times when you are extremely happy, times of testing, and times of trial, but the Lord guides you through all of those experiences together. . . . marriage provides an ideal setting for overcoming any tendency to be selfish or self-centered.”
6. Avoid debt and apply the principles of thrift.  Develop the discipline to distinguish between needs vs. wants and live accordingly.
7.  There were some great comments on rearing kids too, but I didn't get those written down.  I'll have to share those another time once the talks are published.

I also learned how much more I actually get out of Conference by taking notes.  It gives me a whole new focus on what is really being said instead of just hearing the words.