YSA Conference-Part III

Alright, here it is! The caboose of my weekend! I should mention that when church started they said that they had about 950 people in attendance. WOW!!!

Sunday came and I was sad because 1. I knew we had to head home at the end of it 2. We had like 6 hours of church left before we had to drive 4 hours to get home 3. We had a 4 hour drive ahead of us! Haha! 

So we got to church and found a seat, unfortunately it was a hard seat, for the Sacrament portion of church but it helps you stay away right!? There was a choir that they pulled together the day before that was awesome! There were 2 speakers who were on the host committee and then Elder Munns of the Seventy spoke to us for a few minutes. My favorite quote from what he said was "Jesus Christ knows who you are, the more you come to know him, the more you will trust him" and "Christ is our advocate with the Father, it is he who convinces Him that we are good enough." I love it when people remind me how much the Lord and the Savior really do know who I am, they know that I am Alyse Ladle and that I'm important. 

We then broke into Relief Society/Priesthood. To give you a ratio of guys to girls, the girls FILLED the chapel, the first AND second overflows...while the guys took just the gym and the stage! HA! Good times. Anyways Sister Munns talked to us ladies. Her talk was awesome. She started out with someone holding a glass and asked her a few minutes into it if her arm hurt and then she likened that to us holding onto things that we don't need to and asked us how we can "put the glass down". 1. Start the day with prayer, and not just prayer but meaningful prayer. To have a real conversation with Heavenly Father, to have constant gratitude and to slow down and "be still and know that He is God". To read our scriptures daily to be able to know who God is. They truly want what is best for us and would never want us to forget who they are and who we are, literal daughters of God. It's important to always remember that "women are the Lord's secret weapon in the gospel". 

Then we had an hourish for lunch...well the line by the time I got in it went from the pavilion across the parking lot and wrapped in the hallway of the church building. I was about half way through the line when my friends walked past with their food and I said "bump this, I'm tired of waiting" haha! Plus it was hot as all get out.  

Then it was time for the final portion of the conference with Elder Bednar, Brother Wilcox and Sister Dew. When I took notes during this I didn't put who said what so I can't tell you who said what...but still they're all great anyways! I do remember Elder Bednar saying "This is the greatest season in the Lord's church" meaning like Sister Dew that He put us here because He knew He could trust us. He also talked about President Hinckley and how he would always say that he was sad that he would miss everything as it was happening. He also talked about how we need to be more like the Savior and turn out to help others and to know how to do this to read the Gospels in the New Testament and 3rd Nephi. Then if you feel like you're having trouble with things he said "Plead for help on your knees, get up and go to work"  as President Hinckley used to say. As a person who the regrets and what-if's are basically engrained in my brain I think it was Brad Wilcox who said "Don't be held captive by the "if only's" from the past and from regrets". "Don't deny who you are (A child of God), once you do that you open the door for temptations to grab ahold of you." When the world points a mocking finger at us, we have to be able to look past them and know that we know what is really important and that's the Lord. There were some other things that they talked about but this is already too long (aren't you glad I broke this into 3 parts?!) But the thing that caused tears to be brought to my eyes was when at the end Elder Bednar evoked an Apostolic blessing on each of us. It was so cool to know that unlike Conference he was just talking to us, the YSA in the south east. I personally could feel that blessing that he gave, and even as I type this it brings tears to my eyes. It was so amazing to be part of this thing and who knows if they'll do it again next year or if I'll be able to go, but I hope they do and I hope I get to, unless I'm married (not going to hold my breath but you never know) then I'll be happy to skip it!!!

I'll sum up my weekend with my testimony (kind of weird to do on a blog, but hey you never know who will read this!). I know even more now than I ever did that God lives, He loves me. I know He does and that He answers prayers, if He didn't then I wouldn't have gotten a single thing out of this weekend. My Savior loves me as well. His ultimate sacrifice is proof of his love for me and the rest of the world. I'm grateful for wonderful parents who love me enough to raise me in the true church...and who let me borrow their car so I could make to down there and back safe! I walked away from this weekend with a renewed faith and sense of worth and that means more to me than any missed slow songs that were played at the dances. I can "do hard things" again. 

Sorry this has been such a long post!!!