Sabbath Renewal
Every once in a while (approximately half of the time, actually) I go to Sunday church meetings, but it has been a long time (several years, I think) since I have been able to go to area-specific church conferences that are held a couple times a year. It seems like every time they roll around, I am scheduled to work.
So it was a lovely surprise for me to realize that today was the Day I Am Going To Stake Conference, made even better because I Am Going With My Husband.
We took our seats quickly, because we arrived right before it began. I noted with interest that the handout with the hymn lyrics was in both English and Spanish (our area covers a Spanish congregation), and had fun singing the Spanish version of "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" while Mark sang the English version.
I had supposed that we wouldn't see anybody we know, since the conference had over 450 attendees, and both Mark and I are bad at name-and-or-face recognition. But as I looked around, I saw the young couple who worked with the younger Cub Scouts as our fellow Den Leaders; I saw a lady that I am assigned to visit with every month; I saw another young couple that Mark and I had invited over for our First Hosted Dinner; I saw the man who is assigned to visit with us every month; I saw the couple-with-the-really-cute-baby-with-wild-hair; and I saw the friend that I had worked with in Relief Society once upon a time.
Best of all, I could see that this group of people lived their faith.
A youth spoke about how his parents helped their 7 or so kids be open to the Holy Spirit's influence by asking them to look for a particular gospel-related word every week at church, and then share their experiences at dinner that night. They were being taught to listen to The Word.
Another teenager spoke of the past 6 months of her life, made different by her recent baptism into the church. As she admitted that she is not always the best example of 'Mormonism' to her family, she gave her testimony that God mercifully accepts our efforts. Mark and I both looked at each other, in awe at her maturity and conviction. If we actually canonized people, she would be on the fast track to Sainthood.
I watched a young family off to our left interact with their adorably cute young daughters. The mother handed the infant girl to the father so that she (mom) could work with her toddler. The young girl had a mess of curls on her head, and very seriously would draw pictures [from my point of view, they looked like multi-colored scribbles. It is entirely possible that they looked like that from every angle] and then give them to people. As she drew another color-doodle, her mother would point out someone else to give the drawing, and the toddler would climb out into the aisle and hand them to the designated persons. Once, she dropped the picture while climbing around her dad, and tried unsuccessfully to pick it up, because at this point she was also standing on it. Oh, she was precious.
Thank God that I have such examples of Faith in Action around me.
So it was a lovely surprise for me to realize that today was the Day I Am Going To Stake Conference, made even better because I Am Going With My Husband.
We took our seats quickly, because we arrived right before it began. I noted with interest that the handout with the hymn lyrics was in both English and Spanish (our area covers a Spanish congregation), and had fun singing the Spanish version of "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" while Mark sang the English version.
I had supposed that we wouldn't see anybody we know, since the conference had over 450 attendees, and both Mark and I are bad at name-and-or-face recognition. But as I looked around, I saw the young couple who worked with the younger Cub Scouts as our fellow Den Leaders; I saw a lady that I am assigned to visit with every month; I saw another young couple that Mark and I had invited over for our First Hosted Dinner; I saw the man who is assigned to visit with us every month; I saw the couple-with-the-really-cute-baby-with-wild-hair; and I saw the friend that I had worked with in Relief Society once upon a time.
Best of all, I could see that this group of people lived their faith.
A youth spoke about how his parents helped their 7 or so kids be open to the Holy Spirit's influence by asking them to look for a particular gospel-related word every week at church, and then share their experiences at dinner that night. They were being taught to listen to The Word.
Another teenager spoke of the past 6 months of her life, made different by her recent baptism into the church. As she admitted that she is not always the best example of 'Mormonism' to her family, she gave her testimony that God mercifully accepts our efforts. Mark and I both looked at each other, in awe at her maturity and conviction. If we actually canonized people, she would be on the fast track to Sainthood.
I watched a young family off to our left interact with their adorably cute young daughters. The mother handed the infant girl to the father so that she (mom) could work with her toddler. The young girl had a mess of curls on her head, and very seriously would draw pictures [from my point of view, they looked like multi-colored scribbles. It is entirely possible that they looked like that from every angle] and then give them to people. As she drew another color-doodle, her mother would point out someone else to give the drawing, and the toddler would climb out into the aisle and hand them to the designated persons. Once, she dropped the picture while climbing around her dad, and tried unsuccessfully to pick it up, because at this point she was also standing on it. Oh, she was precious.
Thank God that I have such examples of Faith in Action around me.
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