Women's Conference - April, 2011

The Marriott Center was full!

My sisters!

Comparing notes!

I've gotten behind again! But I now have a list of entries so I will start! On April 28-29th of this year, I had the opportunity to attend Women's Conference down in Provo, UT on the BYU campus! So amazing! I've never been before, though I lived down there for 4 years - looking back I think we were too poor and too busy for such fun things! It always amazes me when we try to put a bigger trip like this together to see it all work out! There were seven of us all together and we were all able to pull it off! Not a small feat when we have 29 kids between all of us! We set out early on Wednesday and drove all day, picking up Tracie in Boise and dropping off Ellie Greenwood in Twin Falls along the way. We reached Heber, Utah late that night to our beautiful accommodations! Thank you Sister Perkins for the use of your home! We spent the next few days at the conference during the day and then shopping and eating out in the evening. On Saturday we headed out early to shop at the LDS distribution center, a huge Tai Pan, and a few Down East Outfitters - not to mention more eating! We then dropped Bianca off with her mom and headed back to Twin Falls to pick up Ellie and then stay the night at Tracie's in Boise - we then headed home on Sunday - it was a whirlwind of a trip but we were so spiritually fed!

Here are some of the speakers I heard and some notes: 1. Virginia H. Pearce - introduced the theme "By Small and Simple Things are Great Things Brought to Pass" Alma 37:6-7 - 'keep it small, keep it simple, give it time - prayer = first religious practice - rests on principle of faith - our goal is to become like Him - allows God to unlock heaven in our behalf - grows our humility - we can't do it alone - get to the temple - softens heart, more compassion, more patience, new sensitivity to the spirit - you will be "more present" in life - consecrate your trials to the welfare of your soul - agency must be exercised - my will & the Lord's will will become the same - we are not informing God, we are informing ourselves - if you don't receive an answer then proceed with faith - when adversity happens, slow down, simplify, pray - the Lord knows what is to come

2. "Eternal Marriage: If you want something to last forever, you treat it differently" by Sharon and Ralph Larsen - we learned 3 principles - how you love and nurture an eternal marriage, how you handle disagreements, and how to stay emotionally faithful - remember you can't retrain others, you can only retrain yourself - marriage is designed to prepare us for celestial kingdom - helps us overcome selfishness and self-centeredness - we are accountable to God in our marriages - working through the hard times can work towards the best times - children help us develop Christlike qualities

3. "We don't Need more Women of the world, we need more women of God" by Ann M. Dibb & Mary N. Cook - we need women who are tender, kind, refined, with faith, goodness, virtue, and purity - important for mothers to model the right behavior - what will your legacy be? - true test comes when we make mistakes - how we handle them - strive to be remembered for a righteous life - strive daily to be prepared for death - we never know when our lives will end - most confusion comes from not knowing who we are, why we are here, and where we are going - are your desires consistent with a daughter of God? - beware of becoming past feeling because of the noise of the world - be still and listen - every sister who stands for right weakens the adversary - we do not know our full potential - do not deny any help from the Savior

4. Julie Beck - we all need opportunities in life to stretch and grow - history helps us learn who we are - identity of a daughter of God is rich and full - nurturing, teaching, influencing = these are responsibilities that are non-negotiable! am I aligned with the Lord's vision of me or am I trying to escape my duties? - we don't get a pass from our responsibilities - relief society is a restoration of a pattern that existed anciently - discipleship - we are not just a footnote in history - be official participants in the discipleship of Christ - stand with the Savior and better the cause - if we really understood, there would be no more issues, shrugging, or eye rolling - we are connected to the priesthood - we receive all the gifts and blessings - we need to qualify for those blessings - men and women cannot ascend w/o the other - our responsibility is to bring the priesthood power every hour to our home - we are not at liberty to choose contrary to the Lord' plan (love that!) - hard to contemplate all of our possibilities

These are just a few notes - I went to many others and have recorded my thoughts in a journal - sorry if it's so long! SO much to take in! I'm so grateful for my sisters in the gospel - you all mean so much to me! Thank you for taking this trip! It has built me up more than you'll ever know! Love you all!