Stake Conference

I had a great time scrapping with my sister and my friends over the weekend.  I got a lot accomplished and had so much fun!

Today was Stake Conference.  It was a broadcast from the Marriott Center to Utah and Wasatch Counties.  I remembered to bring paper and a pen so I could take notes again.  This is what I got out of it.  It is not word for word because my speedwriting skills are sorely lacking after so many years of not using them, but I think I got the main gist of it all.

President Snow
Remember the spiritual experiences you have had.  As it says in the sacrament prayers, remember the Savior so that we will have his spirit with us.  Write in your journal!  We must have continual renewing experiences to strengthen our testimonies.  We must always be progressing.  Remember the spiritual experiences of the past that have solidified your testimony.

Julie Beck
Counseled us that we are doing better than we think we are.  Reminded us that Heavenly Father loves us.  But also cautioned us that we could be doing better if we would call upon the faith we should have in our Savior Jesus Christ.  We shoul plan for success and then work toward it.  If we weren't struggling, we would not be growing closer to our Heavenly Father and struggles also help us to appreciate the Atonement.

Jeffrey R Holland
In all times, past present and future, we will be faced with difficulties but we can succeed.  He told the story of Joseph Stanford Smith and his experience as a pioneer going through the Hole In The Rock.

With blasting powder and tools, working most of December and January of 1879-1880, they [pioneers] cut a precipitous, primitive road into the face of the canyon precipice. With this roadbed...some of it literally hung on pegs drilled into the canyon wall—the task was now to get the first forty wagons down the “Hole.”

Twenty men and boys would hold long ropes at the back of each wagon. The wheels were then brake-locked with chains, allowing them to slide [while] avoiding the catastrophe of the wheels actually rolling.

In one of the great moments of pioneer history, one by one the company took the wagons down the treacherous precipice. When, miracle of miracles, they reached the canyon floor, they eagerly started to ferry across the river with a flatbed boat they had fashioned for that purpose.

As it turned out, the Joseph Stanford Smith family were the last wagon to descend that day. Stanford Smith had systematically helped the preceding wagons down, but somehow in their one-by-one success and consequent disappearance, the others apparently forgot that Brother Smith's family would still need help as the tail-enders. Deeply disturbed that he and his family seemed abandoned, Stanford moved his team, wagon and family to the edge of the precipice. The team was placed in front and a third horse was hitched behind the wagon to the rear axle. The Smiths stood for a moment and looked down the treacherous “Hole.” Stanford turned to his wife and said, “Belle, I am afraid we can’t make it.”

She replied, “We must make it.”

He said, “If we only had a few men to hold the wagon back we might make it.”

Replied his wife, “I’ll do the holding back. We will make it.”

A quilt was laid on the ground. There she placed her infant baby in the care of her three-year-old Roy and five-year-old Ada. “Hold little brother til papa comes for the three of you,” she said. Then positioning herself behind the wagon, Belle Smith grasped the reins of the horse hitched to the back of the rig. (Now, remember, she and that one horse are going to try to hold back what 20 men and boys had done for the other wagons.)

Stanford started the team down the “Hole.” The wagon lurched downward. With the first jolt the rear horse and Sister Smith were literally catapulted into the air. Recovering, she hung back, pulling on the lines with all her strength and courage. A jagged rock cut a cruel gash in her leg from heel to hip. The horse behind the wagon fell to his haunches. The half dead animal was literally dragged most of the way down the incline. That gallant woman, clothes torn, with a grievous wound, hung on to those lines with all her might and faith, and with her husband muscled that wagon the full length of the incline all the way to the river’s edge.

On reaching the bottom, and almost in disbelief at their accomplishment, Stanford immediately raced the two thousand feet back up to the top of the cliff fearful for the welfare of the children. When he climbed over the rim, there he saw his three children literally unmoved from the position their mother had placed them in. Carrying the baby, with the other two children clinging to him and to each other, he led them down the rocky crack to their anxious mother below.

At that point, in the distance they saw five men moving toward them carrying chains and ropes. The Smiths had been missed from the larger party. Realizing the plight they were in, these men were coming to help. Stanford called out, “Forget it, fellows.... [Belle] here is
all the help a [man] needs [to make this journey].”

He then said that we need to have faith and to go when you are called.  Nurture our own spiritual faith so that you have a deep reservoir to draw upon when times are hard.  Dig a little deeper and farther.  Have faith in our Father in Heaven and make him the rock we lean on and build on.

Then we sang How Firm a Foundation and I felt the love of my Heavenly Father so strongly while we sang the third verse that I was in tears.  Sometimes I'm such a bawl baby, but for some reason, after the testimonies we had heard, it just struck me.

"Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand."

The last speaker was Boyd K Packer
He talked about how he had asked a man what he should do with a difficult boy that was in his class, to which the reply came "What if he was your boy?" 
He also said the Lord is voting for you and Satan is voting against you, so the vote that counts is your own.  We need to choose who we will follow.  We have power over the adversary if we chose to.  We are in charge.  We need to realize that we are the sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father and make the right decisions.

Anyway, I loved Stake Conference.  I get so much more out of it when I listen with my pen in hand and take notes.  I need to always remember to do that.