One more Post in which I make you hear and see about Women's Conference

I am going to try and finally get my notes from Women's Conference on here. It has only taken a few weeks, so I must doing well.

The theme this year was "The Strength of the Lord". Sis Rogers gave a wonderful talk about how the purpose of life is to become like God and so we must have agency and there must be opposition. Satan's goal is to make us miserable, thwart God's plan, and get us to give up our agency.

To survive these challenges we need more than our own strength, we need the Strength of the Lord.

She quotes Dallin H. Oaks when she said, "Adversity can be the means of obtaining blessings otherwise unattainable."

She shared with us that the hymn "Now Let Us Rejoice" was written right after all the persecution the saints went through in Missouri. It was written by W.W. Phelps in the cold winter while the Saints were struggling to survive in make shift tents. When put in that perspective, I am very impressed with his ability to look on the bright side. Surely it was a time when it seemed there was little to rejoice about. So she told us that in the strength of the Lord all things can be faced with joy.

Next I went to a class about finances called "Do we put our wages in a bag of holes?" Maybe that explains my financial difficulties, why didn't someone tell me sooner about not using a bag with holes? This was a good class and reminded us of all the things we know we should be doing. If you want to look at a good website to help you with finances, the BYU Finance department has developed a site at www.personalfinance.byu.edu. It has some really great resources and lessons you can do to improve your knowledge. Another website they mentioned is www.helpwithmycredit.org. One thing the teacher said was "You can pay now, or pay later, but you can't get around the law of the harvest."

Here's a shot of my sisters with their matching tote bags.

Next I went to a class titled "The Infinite Power of Hope." This was taught by Sis Tanner's husband and daughter. It was so fun to get a picture with her, but the class was really good, and we all know how much I could use a good dose of hope.

Her daughter started by showing us a picture of her hope chest. Then she shared what her mother always told her daughters which is "Every girl needs a chest, because without a chest you have no hope!" Pretty funny, huh.

Also she quoted Anne of Green Gables when she would say "My life is a perfect graveyard of buried hopes." And then Marilla would respond "To despair is to turn your back on God."

She said that we learn to hope, the way we learn to walk, one step at a time. And we need to cultivate companion virtues of hope: charity, gratitude, eternal perspective, and testimony.

Brother Tanner then spoke of how we have to hang on to the hope of Promises Afar Off. He quoted Hebrews 11:13

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."

I know there are times when we can not face today and so we must live for tomorrow.

He pointed out that we can "have clear faith in the ultimate outcomes." There is no way out but through.

He said Faith and Hope are twins but not identical. I thought that was very profound. The opposite of Faith is Doubt, and the opposite of Hope is Despair.

Also he said "You can live without love, but not without hope." He urged us to look for heroes of hope and embrace promises far off by expanding the horizon of hope.

He compared us to kids on a car trip when we go through trials, always asking how long will this take? That analogy made me smile.

We must embrace hope in Christ by clinging to our covenants.

We know we can trust and have faith because it has been written in blood.

Overall, we must hold fast to our promises how ever far off they may seem.

Next I went to a marriage class. The speaker there said that the Lord does not require hard and difficult things of us, just diligence in simple things.

By day two, my brain and body were starting to shut down. During one of the breaks my sister and I just hung out at the Marriot Center because we were to tired to walk anywhere else. I found a bench to lay out on for a minute of rest. This is my Ihavebeenstayinguptolateand sittinglisteningtolongandIneedanap face.

Then during the second half of the last class, I even managed to fall completely asleep. My sister snapped this shot of me. I do have skills when it comes to sleeping anywhere.

Before I fell asleep, I was listening to a great talk about seeking still waters and seeking living waters to help us face turbulent times.

She said that discouragement is a sign of spiritual dehydration. Also she told a story about one of her teenage sons. She said this particular son made her think that they should change their family motto from "Return with Honor" to "Don't be Stupid." So true.

Finally, L Tom Perry spoke to us about our responsibility to step up and help the image of the church. He quoted Will Rogers by saying "It's not what he doesn't know that bothers me, it is what he is sure about that just ain't so."

That is the problem for the church, so many people are sure of things about us that are not true. It was a very interesting talk and very different from any I have heard from General Authorities at Women's Conference. He did encourage us to use technology such as our blogs to help in this endeavor.

So as usual, it was simply wonderful and uplifting and practically perfect in every way. Any of you on the fence about going, should take the plunge next year.

I had to snap a shot of this display cabinet at Brick Oven. So wonderfully BYUish. I don't know why I don't have this BYU Barbie in my collection. Something to dream about, I suppose.

And last but certainly not least, I had to pose with my guys. I know it will be difficult to pick me out among the other players, but just try, K.

And so this brings our delightful documentation of Women's Conference to a close. Good news, peeps, next year is just 350 days away.