General Conference
Mar 30th, 2007 by Bethany
The 177th Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints starts tomorrow! See how to watch it here.
General Conference happens twice a year, usually the annual on the weekend of the first Sunday in April and the semi-annual on the weekend of the first Sunday in October. During General Conference, the First Presidency (the prophet and his two counselors) and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, along with any other General Authorities or auxiliary leaders they assign, give speeches on any topic they feel inspired to discuss with the entire church and the world. We also sustain the leaders of the church, release people who are finished with their callings, and sustain new leaders. Once a year they have an auditor report to the members of the church on the use of their tithing and offerings. We sing hymns and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir always sings at a couple of the sessions. Pretty much everyone in the church (and a lot of people who aren't members of the church) listens to, watches, or reads the General Conference talks–they are translated into many languages, some live and some later. They don't hold regular church meetings on General Conference weekends.
There are five sessions of each General Conference, two general sessions on Saturday, one session Saturday evening for people who hold the priesthood, then two more general sessions on Sunday. General Conference is broadcast to Stake Centers and church buildings around the world, and on the internet. The Conference used to be held in the Tabernacle (hence, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir)) on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, but now it's held in the Conference Center across the street from the Tabernacle. A few years ago President Hinkle was inspired to have the Conference Center built to hold more people (21,000) than the Tabernacle could accommodate. It is beautiful inside and when it's not busy hosting meetings, you can even take tours of it. If you want to go to Conference at the Conference Center, you usually need tickets in advance, which you can get through your local priesthood leader.
Every General Conference but one since Fall of 1998 (almost 10 years!) I've spent with my Aunt Naomi's family in Salt Lake. When I was in school, my aunt would drive down to Provo to pick me up and I'd spend the weekend with her family. Now Colin and the kids and I drive ourselves up to their house and watch it with them on their TV. Conference is a bigger deal than Christmas for Naomi, and she always prepares great food for all of us and makes it special. We gather in the family room around the TV with our journals, notebooks, laptops, pens, coloring books, crayons, scriptures, and toys and snuggle in on the couch or the floor with blankets and pillows to listen to the prophet. Some of us take notes and some of us work on sewing or cooking projects and sometimes someone falls asleep in the background, but everyone comes with the plan to pay attention and learn and feel the Spirit. Once my grandparents were mentioned in one of the talks as examples of great missionaries, and we all cheered and got excited.
During the Priesthood session on Saturday night, the girls and kids always do something fun together. Sometimes we go to a movie or go shopping, and sometimes we just work on making dessert for when the men come home while we talk over what we learned and what our families are up to. Whatever we do, it's always fun. When the men come back we eat and they tell us about what they learned and heard.
Sunday we listen to the last two sessions, with meals on each side of each session. I just love General Conference with my family. It's a huge nourishment of my spirit and my body, with good food and inspiration combined.