I love General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  During conference, the leaders of the church address us, giving us messages we need to hear.  The topics usually include gospel basics, such as prayer, faith, and repentance.  This conference, though, I took away two big things: have more charity by doing more service for others; and nobody is immune to struggles in life.

One talk in particular really touched me and dealt more with being a better spouse.  Elder Richard G. Scott, one of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, delivered the talk.  I had tears in my eyes for most of it.  He spoke about his wife (who passed away awhile ago) and his children, and the moments of joy he had from his marriage and from being a parent.  He said his wife had always been so kind and thoughtful, and left notes for him in his scriptures and other places she knew he’d find them.  He said she always put others first, and always prayed for opportunities to serve someone every day – a prayer he said was always answered.  That talk really inspired me.  I really felt a desire to be a kinder and more caring wife.  What was funny to me was hearing my husband refer to the talk as the “how to be a better husband” talk; I felt like it was a “how to be a better wife” talk!  I guess Elder Scott managed to reach both husbands and wives with his talk!

The other thing I found interesting from this conference was the fact that two speakers spoke on trials in life, and both quoted a previous church leader who basically said nobody is immune to struggling in life, but the joy after the trial outweighs the difficulty from the trial.  I really appreciated that, in part, because I’d just been reading talks from the October 2008 General Conference where speakers said the same thing!  Trials come, and trials go, but we always learn more, and we find greater joy afterwards, though it’s tough to remember that or feel that way in the middle of the trial.

My goals after conference: be kinder; be gentler; reach out in service to others more; and remember when there seems no end in sight for some difficulty, God is watching and helping, and, in the grand scheme of things, the present is pretty fleeting!