General Conference was amazing once again. I got a lot out of it and already am following through with invitations and promptings. President Nelson spoke to the women of the church during the Women's Session. His talk is titled Sisters' Participation in the Gathering of Israel. During his talk, he invited the women of the church to do four things to assist us with assisting in gathering scattered Israel.
It is similar to the invitations that he gave to the youth back in June. What's really interesting with this list however is that I was already thinking about each one of these things.
1. I noticed during the past few weeks I'd gone back to my usual ways of using social media even though I committed to be more intentional.
2. I've been studying Jesus the Christ for my personal scripture study and Jonathan and I have been reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish for family scripture study. I've been wanting to really study Spanish and it's a practical way of learning, but I haven't been getting much out of reading the scriptures. (My vocabulary is very limited, but it is growing.)
3. Since moving to Texas, we've never really gotten into a good schedule for attending the temple. Once a month seems too little, but twice a month seems like too much when you add in the traveling we need to do. Though I still miss going to the temple once a week like we did in California and Utah.
4. I haven't been able to attend Relief Society for the past year because I am a Primary teacher. I don't tend to go to the activities even when I know about them ahead of time. Before I started studying from Jesus the Christ, I finally read all of Daughters in My Kingdom. It's a manual about the history of the Relief Society (that's the organization for all the women of the church ages 18 and older.) It helped open my understanding of the importance of the Relief Society and that it is a key to Christ's church.
I started my fast from social media as well as reading the Book of Mormon the same evening that President Nelson offered these simple invitations. The next day I pulled out my trusty bullet journal and wrote down the specifics of each invitation as well as a tracker of reading the Book of Mormon. As I was rewatching President Nelson's talk, I heard two quotes that struck a deep cord with me so I wrote them on little post-it notes. As he finished his talk, he blessed all of the women of the church.
"I love you and thank you and now bless you with the ability to leave the world behind as you assist in this crucial and urgent work. Together we can do all that our Heavenly Father needs us to do to prepare the world for the Second Coming of His Beloved Son."
I am grateful to have a prophet once more on the earth that I can turn to and receive direction on how I should live my life in this fast paced, modern world. I know that following the prophet brings deep happiness that can't be replicated elsewhere. It doesn't take away the challenges of life, but it gives direction to make it through those challenges without becoming bitter or cynical.
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