Things I learned from General Conference

Every 6 months Mormons from all over the world gather together to meet for what we call General Conference. We believe that there are prophets and apostles on the earth today, just like in the Biblical times, and General Conference is a the time when we can get to hear from them. Its a meeting that is broadcast all over the world, and is available for anyone to watch, member or non member.

First Presidency of the church. 

Its always been a very motivating and uplifting time for me. There are always so many incredible messages of faith and hope. This post is about some of the things that I learned and took away from it. Now these are not direct quotes, just thoughts and messages that I learned. Its also important to note that I am far from perfect and I am still working on accomplishing most of these things. Posting them helps me to remember them better, and hopefully make me more accountable.

Quorum of Twelve Apostles 

Be confident in what you believe in. Don't ever be afraid to stand up for yourself and what you know is true and right.

Feelings of anger, self-pity, and frustration are destructive. We must not let them dictate our lives.

The teaching of Jesus Christ are designed to help us overcome the darkest times of our lives.

Mormon missionaries can help us. There purpose is to help all mankind.

Cherish the people around us. One of the only things we can take with us after this life are our relationships.

Take time to enjoy the small moments in life. There are things each day to enjoy and cherish.

Don't wait for happiness. Don't waste your life of thinking that once you reach a certain point in your life you will be happy, be happy now.

Find and look forward to the good things in life.

Parents teaching their children in their own homes is the greatest teaching that can take place.

The Book of Mormon is spiritual and physical protection from the darkness that is in the world.

Being a good disciple of Jesus Christ is more than just doing good things, but it is being anxiously engaged in helping other people.

Children are a sacred responsibility, and we must seek to protect them from all forms of danger.

What we chose to do and think about when no one is around is a good indication of our own personal virtue.

Consistent prayer and scripture study connect us with God, our Heavenly Father.

Serving others is one of the greatest joys we can experience in this life.

Always look for the good in others. Seek to find the talents and gifts in other people, and let them know their talents.

Let the people who are closest to us know that they are important.

Don't look at people as who they are now, or who they were, but as how they can become.

Take time often to remember the blessings I have in my life.

God uses us to bless the lives of other people. Never ignore a prompting to help someone.

Going to the temple is one of the best way to fight back against the temptations and frustrations in the world.

One of the best ways of learning is to act upon on you learned.

A faith in Jesus Christ is one the most important things we can gain in this life. Faith is what rescues and consoles during the dark times of our lives. It makes the bitter things turn sweet, and the good things in life even better!

My Thoughts on the 2012 Presidential Election

Anyone who knows me well knows that I do not talk about politics very often. It may because I don’t like hearing people bash on other people, or that I don’t know enough to make valid arguments, or that sometimes it just doesn’t interest me that much (I’d much rather discuss who is going to direct the next Star Wars movie). After this last election I thought that maybe it was time to share with everyone what I thought about this past election.

Last Tuesday, November 6, 2012, from the hours of 9pm to 1am my Facebook wall blew up like crazy! It seemed as though almost every one of my friends had something to say. Some were happy and excited about the election results, and some were furious and outraged. I’m sure that anyone who has Facebook experienced this overload of opinions. As I was reading everyone’s posts there were some that I really liked and agreed with, and some that I completely disagreed with.  There were others that were funny, some that were hateful.  Overall though there were many that I really connected with and even a few that expressed exactly how I was feeling. So I thought rather than trying to come up with my own words I would highlight my favorite quotes from some of my Facebook friends.

“In a whirlwind of negative forecasts of the future, I think it's good to remind myself that my future, my success, and my personal happiness do not depend on a politician nearly as much as they do on myself.”

Nate Noble

“All we can do is vote, now we can support. Let's show patriotism as hard as it may be. Some countries can't even choose their leaders.”

Jackson Halm

“Well, now that that's settled...there's some Hurricane Sandy victims who could all use our help in one form or another.”

Jonathan Decker

“What blows my mind the most is that as humans we are capable of such passionate polar opposite thoughts.”

Afton Willis Oliver

“Proud to be an American. Even if things didn't go the way I had hoped, I'm so happy I got to exercise my right to vote. And I will continue to support the leaders of our great nation and pray that they make some good decisions in the years to come. God Bless America.”

Allora McHardy

“At this point, no matter who you sided with, it's time to pray for our elected leader and that our country can find some middle ground, work together, and make things better. Congrats Obama. Good race Romney.”

Mormon Movie Guy

“Alright this is gonna be my last political post for a while. I hope we can learn after this election that neither side seems to have a strong foothold on what should be done to solve some big problems ahead of us. But they need to be solved. We need true compromise from both sides, and neither can have the attitude of "everyone get out of the way so we can progress here." This is America after all. It started by a great compromise and has continued to prosper. Once we lose our ability to have true compromise we will be a truly different nation.”

Jeff Cooper

“This country won't fail because Obama is the president. This country will fail because people are too prideful and thus divided when we need to back him up. I don't agree with many of his political views and I too wish Romney would have won but of course Obama will fail if he doesn't have the support of his own country.”

Tyler Pete Arnett

There you go….my thoughts on this year’s presidential election. Words of wisdom from some of my friends!