General Conference

Every 6 months, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints get to hear to the current apostles and prophets speak. Each speaker has given significant time and energy to ponder and pray on what they should speak about.

Ever since I was in Junior High, my dad and I have had competition to see who can guess the titles to each General Conference talk. When I first started, I would get so distracted by the first story, that I would rarely get the topic of the talk right. Over the years, I've learned the art of listening to the various stories and scriptures and boiling them all down into a two to five word title that sums up the speaker's intent. Taking a few public speaking classes also helped me to identify how a talk is organized and presented.

The "talk title" competition aside, I always look forward to General Conference. It's almost like a "self help" weekend, where you learn how to cope with and overcome your trials, strengthen your relationships with your family members, and share the gospel.

While I have something good to say about every talk, I especially liked the opening talk by Elder Hales. What better way to start conference than by explaining how conference works?

If you missed conference, or want to know more, visit this site for video, audio, and written recordings: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2013/10?cid=HPFR100413105&lang=eng