YSA Conference

Do you ever find that when you want to go to meetings the least, but you end up going anyway, that those are often the times when you seem to benefit the most from whatever it is that's being shared? (Do I start every post with a question like that? I think the answer is yes...)

Last weekend we had a Young Single Adult conference for Orange County. I think they were hoping for a bigger turnout than what we actually got, even though it was still several hundred people. This probably won't be of much interest to most people reading this, but I'm mostly going to jot down some of the notes that I took from the conference to jog my memory a little bit about what transpired.

In the morning all of the people congregated to listen to Peter Vidmar speak. Following that, a couple of break-out sessions with some institute teachers teaching classes on various topics, lunch, then an address by President Rasmussen, some more break-out sessions, and then a final talk by Elder Reynolds, and Area authority for the church.

I think this will be easiest if I just bullet point some of the things that stuck out to me:

• President (Bishop?) Vidmar read the scripture from Luke 2:52 and asked us to consider the ways that we are growing, if it is also in wisdom, stature, and in favor with God as Christ grew. My favorite part about this point was when he started telling the story of an Olympic swimmer.
  
  Before reaching the Olympics, this swimmer had noticed that the world record times for his stroke increased a certain amount every year, and so he anticipated that by the time he would be able to qualify for the Olympics, in order to win the gold he was going to have to beat the his personal best by 4 seconds, which would also become the new world record. I think the time he was trying to reach was something like 55.50. He broke that down into years, months, weeks, and days, to the point where approximately every 10 days he was going to have to improve by .12 seconds, or something like that. Well he qualified for the Olympics, reached the final, and when he emerged from the water and looked up at his time, the clock flashed OR (Olympic Record), WR (World Record) and the time was 55.49, thus, securing him the gold medal.
  
  This is something that I've been noticing recently as I've gone about my marathon training. Before I even started doing all of the training and actually running the 26.2 miles seemed impossible. However, the further I get into the training the more confidence I start to feel about not only finishing the marathon, but performing well in it. I'm only four weeks into it, but breaking down the training into months, weeks, and days has helped me immensely in not feeling overwhelmed at how daunting the end goal seems to be. And I can't even tell you how discouraged I felt that first Saturday morning running just the six miles for my long run. It sounds so stupid to me now, but that's how I really felt.
  
  I know the same applies to eternal progression and repentance. Sometimes those addictions, negative attitudes, or just annoying habits might not ever feel like things that we can remove from ourselves, but days, weeks, months, and years of prayer, fasting, scripture study, and constant adjustment helps us to reach that end goal of perfection.
  
  The main point is goal setting and applying it to not only temporal areas, but spiritual ones as well.
  
• Brother Holbrook spoke about grace. I've heard him reference this scripture (Alma 33:16) a few times in institute:
  
  

  For behold, he said: Thou art angry, O Lord, with this people, because they will not understand thy mercies which thou hast bestowed upon them because of thy Son.

  Then he went on to speak about the miracles that the Lord performed during his ministry, noting specifically turning the water into wine and the feeding of the 5,000. Then he asked if it was within Christ's capacity to bless them with exactly the amount that they needed. And of course, He is fully capable of doing that, and after turning our attention to D&C 104:15-17, Brother Holbrook made the point that God will always bless us with enough, and to spare.
  
  The main thrust of his discussion was in applying the Atonement in our lives. If we are waiting to apply the Atonement only for those times when we explicitly commit sin, then we are not fully realizing the breadth of coverage that the Atonement provides. It is enough (for sin), and to spare (as noted in Alma 7:11-12). That would include the pains, afflictions, temptations, and infirmities that we have to suffer. He took those things upon Himself so that He would know how to succor us.
  
  He then asked us if Christ knows what it's like to give birth to a child? or to suffer with cancer, or have a loved one suffer through severe infirmities. And again, of course He does. And this is ultimately what pains our Heavenly Father the most - that we will not understand the mercies bestowed unto us through His Son.
  
• Brother Greiner spoke about Repentance. He started off mentioning 2 Corinthians 3:3:
  
  

  Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

  The idea is to get the gospel from our minds and into our hearts. I think this is a really great point that I think we all understand well, but don't appreciate often enough. There are so many things that we easily accept - it's smart to exercise and eat healthy, don't spend more than you earn, live the gospel, etc. - but in practice, there is so often a disconnect. We know the things that we should be doing, but it's always so hard for us to do it. This is not really a profound point, but one that deserves mentioning, I think.
  
  Brother Greiner is a convert to the church and one time while watching President Lee speak in the Tabernacle, he approached President Lee (the prophet at that time), and asked him to tell him specifically how he came to know the Savior, and he was able to rise to the calling of a prophet. President Lee then said:


1. Always attend your meetings
2. Magnify your calling
3. Tithe and make generous offerings
4. Search the scriptures-->become a gospel scholar
5. Pray mightily, like Enos
6. Read D&C 93:1, and live it


• Brother Rozelle (sp?) spoke about aligning our will with God's. I just have a couple of unconnected points that I thought were good from his talk, although I may have enjoyed the most on the day.
  
  He spoke about the experience of Peter and walking on the water when he saw Christ out walking during the storm. Making note of Peter's background and experience on the sea of Galilee, he noted that Peter's response wasn't to complain or question why the Lord would send them out in a storm, or to ask why He didn't arrive to help them sooner. His response, rather, was full of faith, even if he couldn't sustain walking on the water. My favorite part about Brother Rozelle recounting this story was when he said, "if we'll just get out of the boat, we'll be amazed at the kind of miracles that can happen."
  
  The important thing to remember when we're going through different kinds of trials is that it really doesn't do any good to question why me? or what did I do to cause this trial? The most important thing we can do is to direct our questions and actions toward those things that will help to reshape our future and help us to cope, and eventually thrive.
  
  I forget why he even mentioned this part, but he referred us to the scripture in John 10 where Christ talks about how He is the good shepherd and His sheep know his voice. He made a point to point out specifically that it's important that it says "voice" and not something like "word" because sometimes the words will change, but the voice is the same. Sometimes the word says to kill Laban and to follow your unique path, it is crucial to know that the voice you're listening to is the Lord's. I guess that's relevant to the topic because it helps you to interpret God's will as it relates specifically to your unique situation. For example, for some mom's it could be that it's important for you to work, and others not as much. Or maybe that you need to take a certain job, or go back to school at a later age. It can be any number of things. Or it could be even something as extreme as to go against what is normally your sound judgment (killing Laban), but the point is that you're seeking to align yourself to the Lord's will, and not waiting for Him to come around to you.

So that's about all that I got. At least those were the big things. I think there are a lot of interesting talking points in there, so maybe some of you would like to bring that up. Or maybe nobody bothered to read this far. In any case, hopefully there is something here that will be useful to someone. Night everyone.