general conference weekend.

Did you watch General Conference this weekend? It was absolutely wonderful. Talks were given just for me. I always think it’s so amazing how Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need to hear, even if we don’t know it at the time. And! The MTC choir even sang “Lead, Kindly Light.” There may or may not have been a few tears on my end. Saturday was absolutely beautiful, and a nice little summer-esque BBQ topped it off.

I wasn’t planning on going to any of the sessions of Conference since I didn’t have any tickets, but my brother Tyler asked if I’d like to go with him to one of the Sunday sessions and try the stand-by line. We both felt like it would be good for us to go, so we did. What we didn’t realize is that Salt Lake decided to be rainy, windy, and cold just for us. And naturally, we weren’t prepared for it. My umbrella broke, my artfully coiffed ‘do deflated, and poor Tyler was soaking wet. We got in the stand-by line, and thankfully they directed us into the warm, dry Tabernacle. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it into the Conference Center for the morning session because it was full.

Tyler was a bit bummed because he really wanted to go to a session. He wanted to hear Neil L. Andersen speak, because that’s “his” apostle (you know how everyone kind of has that apostle they love the most and whose words mean the most to them? Elder Andersen is Tyler’s) and I felt bad. But sit in the Tabernacle and watch the morning session we did. AND THEN. About halfway through the session, the little boy sitting on my other side handed me a note. I looked at him and his dad, nodded and smiled, and these were placed in my hands:

I have a strong testimony of tender mercies. Even though we might have been in less-than-great moods because we were wet, cold, and defeated, Heavenly Father remembered us. I didn’t have a chance to thank this boy and his father for the tickets because they left right after they handed them over, and they’ll never know how much those tickets meant to us. And Elder Andersen spoke at the afternoon session, so Tyler got to hear him.

 

Sometimes life is hard, and it takes us in directions that we might not want to go in, but we can’t ever forget that we’re loved. We’re loved SO much. I forget that a lot, but General Conference is a great reminder.

 

Happy General Conference Weekend! I hope you all came away as spiritually uplifted as I did.

By the way, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang the most beautiful arrangement of “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” that I’ve ever heard. I got goosebumps. Listen to it here by clicking on the song title.