For those of you who are not members of our church, we have the same order and church today which existed when Christ was on this earth. This means that we have a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson, who leads and directs us under the direction of Jesus Christ. As in times of old, we also have twelve apostles who bear a special testimony of the Savior. One of those apostles, Elder David Bednar, came to Knoxville to visit us. This was a very special occasion considering the fact that due to the volume of our church and the hectic schedules of the Prophet and apostles, these visits seldom happen. For those of you who might be interested, I thought that I would include a few notes which I found enlightening. First, though, I had to post a picture of the girls when I came home from listening to Elder Bednar Saturday night. Clark and Heather watched them for us while John and I were at church. How cute. Also, I took a picture of the girls Sunday morning outside the church building. I wanted Ally and Emma to remember the day that they heard an apostle speak to them. You should have seen me. I tried to draw pictures illustrating who Elder Bednar was and why it was so special that he was here. Ally and Emma were only interested in eating the sweet potato puffs that I brought them to snack on and in playing with Brielle! At least they will remember how adorable they looked when Elder Bednar came for a visit! hahaha! The theme of our conference was "Faith unto Repentance". Elder Bednar first expressed his love for the south and told us to appreciate living where we do. We are not here by coincidence. We have a work to do. He first spoke about the pre-existence. He said that we often teach that two plans were presented in the council in heaven, one by our Savior, and one by Lucifer. This is false doctrine. Heavenly Father presented one plan to which Christ responded, "Send me". Lucifer proposed a different plan, with an ulterior motive. He wanted to have us return to our Heavenly Father, without an atonement being made. Heavenly Father knew that we would need an atonement to satisfy the demands of justice because being "natural men" we would all make mistakes and sin. Through an atonement, we could have mercy and receive repentance. Elder Bednar also stated that we use the term "free agency" incorrectly. He said that agency does not mean that we have the power to make our own choices, although we do have this ability, agency means that we have the right to act independently. This right is to be executed in the making of correct choices, not just any choice. There is freedom and liberation in choosing the right. He taught that we covenanted before we ever came here to this earth to follow Heavenly Father's teachings. We should not be afraid to bear testimony to our children of what they pledged to do in the pre-existence. He said that Lucifer will do anything and work very hard to lead our children astray. We need to meet his force with equal to or greater force. Each time we covenant, we promise to do that which Heavenly Father would never take from us, the capacity for independent action, (agency). In so doing, we enlarge our agency. Without faith, we have to answer to the demands of justice without mercy. Faith in Christ is acting in accordance to His teachings. Little by little, we come to think as Christ would. Repentance is not a scary or bad thing. It simply means turning away from sin, and back toward our Heavenly Father. He blessed us with a special blessing and reinforced the teachings of our Stake President after he spoke to us. He said that often, people will comment on how wonderful it would have been to have been taught by Alma in the Book of Mormon. In referring to President Cruze he said, "He is your Alma." Over all, I learned from this stake conference that when I pray, I shouldn't ask for my trials to go away. One speaker taught that it is our trials which make us better and stronger. We should be grateful for this and should pray instead for strength in dealing with them. On Saturday evening, John and I were able to sit in the very first row of pews. This was amazing! The place was packed! Elder Bednar made eye contact with me several times. Afterwards, I was able to shake his hand. This might sound a bit silly, however, it was such a remarkable experience. We don't think of our church leaders as celebrities, but we also respect their office greatly. They are special men of God who work so closely with our Prophet who in turn, has such a special relationship with the Savior. My own testimony was strengthened as I listened to the talks which were presented this weekend. I walked away with a greater desire to do better, to be more forgiving, more humble, more loving, and more patient. I hope that these notes are not too confusing. There was so much more that was taught, however, it is hard to recall it all at once. The important thing is that we were able to feel the Holy Ghost. We learned that when we feel the Holy Spirit, there comes with that an obligation to act. I better stop typing because I've got to get to work! haha!
