Weekend

This weekend has been one amazingly spiritual weekend. Two days in a row I was privileged to hear from Elder David A. Bednar, Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And he said not to blog about what he says, so instead, I'm going to blog a bit about what I learned. (It's not the same thing, right? Because we hear what we want to hear, or need to hear.)

Anyways....

There were some things that really struck me. First off, Elder Bednar has a great sense of humour! He's hilarious!

He encouraged us to not take notes, because we miss teaching moments. I took notes anyways, because other wise I would be missing out on really paying attention. There's just something about having a pen in my hand that really makes me want to listen and learn. So, from my notes, I'm pulling out the things that struck me most.

Sis. Bednar answered the question of what quality we (girls) should look for in a partner. The quality she gave was that he honored his priesthood. And I would agree with that. When young men (or men in general) honour their priesthood, everything else they need to do happens, and they have a myriad of other qualities that are important.

I also learned that yes, these are hard times. And yes, we've got lessons to learn from this, but as we put our trust in the Lord, everything will work out okay. Sometimes we have to step out into the dark before the Lord's light will show us a little bit more. So while planning for the future may seem pointless, it's not. There's a reason for everything.

At the end of his question and answer session with the Young Single Adults from the Valley, he asked us what we have observed from the process that he used. There were many great responses, and if I had been in the same room, I would have offered my perspective. My perspective is this: The process we used is the same as the pattern of receiving revelation, and how Joseph Smith got most of his revelations, as found in the Doctrine and Covenants. First, we were to ask a question, and there were some questions that were better than others. Secondly, we waited for an answer, and when we got that answer, it wasn't necessarily just a yes or no answer. It was a principle given to us to help us better ourselves, and then we have a chance to act upon the principles given.


Today, Elder Bednar spoke at a stake conference for us. He said that the last time a general authority from the Quorum of the 12 had been in 1979!!! That's 30 years ago! :O

So he talked to us and repeated a lot of the same information from the YSA meeting, but he went more in-depth about how testimony and conversion have a relationship. From what I learned, Testimony is the beginning of conversion, and it's to have a knowledge. Conversion is when we are consistently true to what we know.

He also talked about the atonement. What really hit me is that although the atonement does provide cleansing from sin, I did not realize that it could also strengthen us once we are. Once we are clean, that doesn't mean we are alone on the straight and narrow path.

One final epiphany that I had was this: Through the son, we have the strength of the atonement to deal with things and trials we have, that teach us in a way that we would not have otherwise learned if it had been a different trial. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but basically, the trials that we have are teaching us in a way that no other situation could, and by applying the atonement, we can be strengthened so that we can do the Lord's will.



So those were just some of my feelings and thoughts about the time spent listening to Elder Bednar. He's an amazing man, and I'm glad he is an Apostle in this day and age.