Most of you know we are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In fact, most of you who consistently read my stories are members of the same church. But, for those of you who don't know a whole lot about our church, I'm going give you a little bit of background so the following story about Andrew will make a little more sense.
Members of our church live all around the world. There are about 14 million members worldwide. The church is organized in such a way that wherever you go, you can find a congregation to meet with where you will learn the same doctrines, and experience comradery with the members of that area. We are grouped into what are called wards. There are several wards (or branches for very small groups) in what is called a stake. The Iowa City area has 8 wards in one stake. It takes about 2 1/2 hours to drive from the northern boundary of the stake to the southern boundary. In places like Utah, where many members live, a stake may cover less than 10 square miles. As of last weekend, 2,896 stakes make up the general population of the church.
Most weeks, we meet on Sunday with our ward, but twice a year--the first weekend in April and the first weekend in October, our church has General Conference. All of the membership of the Church participates in this conference. The conference is broadcast from Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City and translated into several languages to be viewed in countries around the world. You may view General conference on the internet, TV (if you have the right channel), or radio (if you can get the right radio station). You may also go to any LDS meeting house to see the conference broadcast there.
At General Conference, the leaders of our church share messages on a wide variety of topics--all of which are intended to help us to become better people. We learn about service to the poor, loving our families, teaching our children, and making good decisions.
There are four general sessions of Conference--each 2 hours long. Two sessions are on Saturday, and two sessions are on Sunday. As a family, we listen to each one. We are fortunate to be able to get the broadcast through satellite to our TV. Even in the comfort of our own home, eight hours of "church" is a lot for anyone--especially children. To help them listen and participate in conference, I print off miniature coloring books for the younger kids. This year, Emily did not want a coloring book. She chose, instead, to take notes in a notebook. Andrew, Ricky, and Makayla loved their coloring books. They colored pictures of President Monson, the Conference Center, and other church-related things. They paid attention to the color of the speakers' ties (if they were men) and tried to be attentive to what they said.
It was a great weekend and we enjoyed the time we spent together as a family learning about how we can become better people, better members of the Church, and better citizens in our community.
I did not realize how much we all really enjoyed participating in General Conference until this morning. I got the older kids sent off to school, and headed home with Andrew and Sean. As I was cleaning up the breakfast dishes Andrew asked, "Can we watch General Conference again? I loved it!"
How could I refuse a request like that? What other almost 4-year old would actually want to spend more time listening to old men and women speak after spending 8 hours of the previous two days doing just that? Andrew is not an ordinary pre-schooler, but I soon learned the motivation behind his request. He asked, "If we can watch conference, can you make me another coloring book?"
So I did, and Andrew and I spent the next 2 hours re-watching the Saturday Morning Session of General Conference.
I especially enjoyed hearing Quentin L Cook's talk on the importance of the role of women in the church and in families, and Henry B. Eyring's talk on serving and helping others. You can find links to view their talks below. They are great.
http://lds.org/general-conference/watch/2011/04?lang=eng&vid=880291572001&cid=10
http://lds.org/general-conference/watch/2011/04?lang=eng&vid=880291596001&cid=12
Members of our church live all around the world. There are about 14 million members worldwide. The church is organized in such a way that wherever you go, you can find a congregation to meet with where you will learn the same doctrines, and experience comradery with the members of that area. We are grouped into what are called wards. There are several wards (or branches for very small groups) in what is called a stake. The Iowa City area has 8 wards in one stake. It takes about 2 1/2 hours to drive from the northern boundary of the stake to the southern boundary. In places like Utah, where many members live, a stake may cover less than 10 square miles. As of last weekend, 2,896 stakes make up the general population of the church.
Most weeks, we meet on Sunday with our ward, but twice a year--the first weekend in April and the first weekend in October, our church has General Conference. All of the membership of the Church participates in this conference. The conference is broadcast from Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City and translated into several languages to be viewed in countries around the world. You may view General conference on the internet, TV (if you have the right channel), or radio (if you can get the right radio station). You may also go to any LDS meeting house to see the conference broadcast there.
At General Conference, the leaders of our church share messages on a wide variety of topics--all of which are intended to help us to become better people. We learn about service to the poor, loving our families, teaching our children, and making good decisions.
There are four general sessions of Conference--each 2 hours long. Two sessions are on Saturday, and two sessions are on Sunday. As a family, we listen to each one. We are fortunate to be able to get the broadcast through satellite to our TV. Even in the comfort of our own home, eight hours of "church" is a lot for anyone--especially children. To help them listen and participate in conference, I print off miniature coloring books for the younger kids. This year, Emily did not want a coloring book. She chose, instead, to take notes in a notebook. Andrew, Ricky, and Makayla loved their coloring books. They colored pictures of President Monson, the Conference Center, and other church-related things. They paid attention to the color of the speakers' ties (if they were men) and tried to be attentive to what they said.
It was a great weekend and we enjoyed the time we spent together as a family learning about how we can become better people, better members of the Church, and better citizens in our community.
I did not realize how much we all really enjoyed participating in General Conference until this morning. I got the older kids sent off to school, and headed home with Andrew and Sean. As I was cleaning up the breakfast dishes Andrew asked, "Can we watch General Conference again? I loved it!"
How could I refuse a request like that? What other almost 4-year old would actually want to spend more time listening to old men and women speak after spending 8 hours of the previous two days doing just that? Andrew is not an ordinary pre-schooler, but I soon learned the motivation behind his request. He asked, "If we can watch conference, can you make me another coloring book?"
So I did, and Andrew and I spent the next 2 hours re-watching the Saturday Morning Session of General Conference.
http://lds.org/general-conference/watch/2011/04?lang=eng&vid=880291572001&cid=10
http://lds.org/general-conference/watch/2011/04?lang=eng&vid=880291596001&cid=12
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