Well, here we go…

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir opened the conference by singing High on the Mountain Top

President Dieter F Uchtdorf conducted

The choir sang Praise the Lord with Heart and Voice

Elder John B Dickson offered the invocation

President Thomas S Monson opened the conference (Note: there were no announcements of anything)

• We meet to build faith
• We are here to learn
• We come together as one
• Quoted the “Standard of Truth” from Joseph Smith:
  No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.
  History of the Church, 4:540.
• Quoted 13th article of faith:
  We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.
• He thanked the members for faith, devotion, love, service

The choir sang You Can Make the Pathway Bright

President Boyd K Packer (Note: President Packer spoke from his chair. His glasses still have the fancy oxygen tubes)

• Shared a couple of examples of helping poor children
• Little children are alive in Christ
• No pain will last forever
• Life wasn’t meant to be easy or fair
• The ultimate end of everything in the Church is to see a family happy at home, sealed by the Priesthood
• Family time is sacred time

Sister Cheryl A Esplin

• God knows what our children need to know
• The best way to teach children is in the moment

Elder Donald L Hallstrom

• Sometimes we use the words gospel and church interchangeably
• The gospel is the glorious plan of God
• It is possible in the Church, and less active in the gospel
• Activity in the church is highly desirable, however it is insufficient
• Activity is an outward indication. It is visible.
• The things of the gospel are less visible, but are of greater spiritual importance
• We need the gospel and the church
• 3 ways to have the gospel be more meaningful
1. deepen our understanding of diety
2. focus on the ordinances and covenants
3. unite the gospel with the Church

The choir and congregation sang How Firm a Foundation

Elder Paul E Koelliker

• He loves the missionaries, both young and senior
• They are a powerful persevering force for good
• Missionary work is a template for nourishing people throughout life
• We have a duty to help others to learn
• We need to love
• The family helps us understand that God loves us all equally and fully

Elder Dallin H Oaks

• The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is the central message of all the prophets
• The Savior asks us to make mortal sacrifices
• There are wonderful examples of people who have given their full time lives fully to serve the Lord, but most of us can’t give all of our time
• President Hinckley said that the symbols of our faith are the lives of our people
• Converts to the Church also sacrifice much
• Families sacrifice much as well
• Mother bear and raise children. Father’s support the family
• As you sacrifice for your children, the Lord will bless you
• Latter-day saints look at their sacrifices as schooling for the eternities

The choir sang Love Is Spoken Here

President Henry B Eyring

• President Kimball spoke of asking for the mountains of life to come
• The Lord suffered more than all of us
• The way to overcome trials is to believe their is balm in Gilead
• We need an unshakeable foundation
• The ground must be carefully prepared for our foundation of faith to withstand the storms that will come into each of our lives.
• We need to have integrity, but choosing the right consistently
• Trouble itself can be your way to strengthen and gain unshakeable faith
• Adversity seems to make clocks slow down

The choir sang Redeemer of Israel

Elder Wilford W Andersen offered the benediction

Read the recaps and other notes from the 182nd Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

• 182nd Annual General Conference – Pre-conference notes
• 182nd Annual General Conference – Saturday Morning General Session
• 182nd Annual General Conference – Saturday Afternoon General Session
• 182nd Annual General Conference – Priesthood Session
• 182nd Annual General Conference – Sunday Morning General Session
• 182nd Annual General Conference – Sunday Afternoon General Session
• 182nd Annual General Conference – Post-conference notes

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Another  General Conference is here. Time sure does fly by. Somehow or other it has worked out that I’m working again today, so I watched this session at work. I will be able to get home before the afternoon session starts.

I have no idea what the messages will be. The economy is slowly improving, but I’m sure there will still be some messages about being wise with our finances. I’m sure there will be messages about reaching out to less-actives. Of course, since it’s Easter weekend, I’m sure we’ll hear some good messages about Christ. A missionary from my ward is serving at Temple Square and helped at a General Authority luncheon. She got to meet President Monson, and he told them what he would be speaking on Sunday morning. This missionary wouldn’t tell us what it was, but said it starts with the letter “R”. We’ll see tomorrow if she’s right

As it has before, the Move Networks plug-in is amazing. It couldn’t get it to work with IE8 or Firefox 3.6.x, but I downloaded a portable version of 3.5.x and it worked fine.

President Dieter F Uchtdorf conducted the session

The choir sang Come, ye children of the Lord

The invocation was offered by Elder Yoshihiko Kikuchi

President Thomas S Monson

• 180 years since Church was organized
• Grateful for Prophet Joseph Smith
• Reach out to the new convert or those making their way back
• Surround them with love
• Church humanitarian efforts are going around the world. It’s been around for 25 years.
• Those who suffer are in our prayers
• We will continue to build temples as our membership grows
• His wife is recovering well

The choir sang There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today

President Boyd K Packer (sat in his chair)

• Speaking to the fathers
• Correlation and restructuring started under President Lee
• Priesthood was the key
• Gideon’s army was successful because every man stood in his place
• It’s not easy to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. It wasn’t easy in His time. It wasn’t easy when the Church was first organized
• The priesthood will lose great power when the sisters are neglected
• The priesthood will not be successful until the power of the priesthood is secure in the homes
• We need to activate the power
• Power comes from faithful living

Sister Julie B Beck

• Has met with thousands of sisters
• There is much distraction, not enough peace and joy
• No one is rich enough, beautiful enough, or clever enough to avoid a mortal experience
• Relief Society teaches and inspires women to be strong
• If we don’t get all the appreciation we think is do, what does it matter?
• Refine and cultivate in ourselves in all that is good
• It is important to seek appreciation and affirmation from the proper sources

Bishop Keith B McMullan

• This is a troubled world
• God helps us to forgive
• Duty does not require perfection, but it does require diligent
• It isn’t just what is legal, but what is virtuous
• Rests on personal responsibility, integrity and courage
• Prayer gives us the guidance we need
• Our path of duty is clearly marked

The choir and congregation sang Guide us, O thou great Jehovah

Elder Wilford W Andersen

• Visited Nauvoo with his family
• The early Saints were filled with hope
• Hope does not depend on circumstance
• The Haitian Saints are filled with hope for the future
• Christ has overcome the world and will not forget or abandon us

Elder M Russell Ballard

• Mothers and daughters play a critical role, despite the undermining influence of the world
• Men cannot do what women can do in nurturing and influencing
• Don’t look to contemporary culture for your role models and mentors
• Do not model yourself after celebrities
• Trust your mother
• “Hold your tongues about the things of no moment”
• Teach your daughters the importance of keeping covenants and then show them how to keep them
• Teach them to repent and stay worthy
• Parents and children need to learn from one another

The choir sang He Sent His Son

President Henry B Eyring

• We help children most by helping them build faith
• The Lord has put rescuers in place
• Some of the best rescuers work with people in their teenage years
• Learn what you should learn, do what you should do, be what you should be
• We need to make plans that are not only wishes but covenants
• The YW Personal Progress program recently was revised. AP Duty to God is also revised and there will be one common book for all quorums/ages

The choir sang How Firm a Foundation

The benediction was offered by Elder Erich W Kopischke

Read the recaps and other notes from the 180th Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

• 180th Annual General Conference – Saturday Morning Session
• 180th Annual General Conference – Saturday Afternoon Session
• 180th Annual General Conference – Priesthood Session
• 180th Annual General Conference – Sunday Morning Session
• 180th Annual General Conference – Sunday Afternoon Session

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Come on people… don’t make me travel from site to site to get the news I want!

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I love to sing!

It doesn’t really matter what I’m singing, I just love singing. Since I’m at the front every Sunday, and generally close to the microphone at the pulpit, I’ve had numerous people tell me that when they are out in the hall, they distinctly hear my voice over the sound system.

I think the main reason that I love to sing, is that it gives me a great feeling. I almost always feel happy when I sing, and more often than not, I feel the Spirit when singing Church hymns. I thought the music from this past General Conference was tremendous. I downloaded Sweet Hour of Prayer, This Is My Beloved Son, and We Thank Thee , O God, for a Prophet from the Sunday Morning session and have listened to them several times.

The words of Doctrine and Covenants 25: 12 say it best:

For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.

My life has certainly been blessed because of the songs of the Church!

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I ended up going to the Church this morning sans family for the first session. Two of our three kids are sick, and so my wife stayed home with them. I left a little early as I had an interview before. I also had an interview afterward. It was nice being able to refer to the talks in providing some counsel. Overall, we had 100 people at Church for the broadcast.

President Thomas S. Monson conducted

The choir music was awesome!

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf ** might use this as a 4th Sunday lesson **

• today is Palm Sunday
• the flame of new theories fade
• the gospel is the ultimate formula for happiness and success
• stay with it
• we don’t go after eternal life in a sprint… we endure
• for some, spectator discipleship is preferred
• we need to get off the sidelines and practice what we preach
• gospel has the power to fill any emptiness

Elder Neil L. Andersen

• knows with perfect clarity that Jesus is the Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost
• note: he was very humble while speaking
• he knows he is not what he must become
• expressed gratitude and bore testimony

Elder Steven E. Snow

• get on with life
• change is an essential part of life
• follow the prophets
• have faith
• be of good cheer

Sister Barbara Thompson

• the time is far spent
• increase our faith
• no matter what our families look like, we can strengthen our own families, or help strengthen other families

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland ** might use this as a 4th Sunday lesson **

• spoke of those who are lonely
• recounted Christ’s last week
• Christ said “why has thou forsaken me”, but the Father was probably closer than at any other time

President Thomas S. Monson ** might use this as a 4th Sunday lesson **

• since last conference, the world has changed
• moral footing is slipping
• would be easy to become discourage
• blessings as members of the Church
• how do we have joy despite the challenges we face?
• though the storm clouds gather, our love of the gospel will sustain us
• fear not, be of good cheer, the future is as bright as your faith

Read the recaps from the other sessions of General Conference:

• 179th Annual General Conference – Saturday Morning Session
• 179th Annual General Conference – Saturday Afternoon Session
• 179th Annual General Conference – Priesthood Session
• 179th Annual General Conference – Sunday Morning Session
• 179th Annual General Conference – Sunday Afternoon Session

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