April 1997 General Conference Saturday Afternoon

Ted E. Davis -The Church Audit Committee Report

F. Michael Watson -Statistical Report 1996

• Total Membership: 9,694,549

Dallin H. Oaks -"Bishop, Help!"

• The purpose of our Sunday consolidated meeting schedule, which was not established to give time for more Sabbath meetings but to allow increased time for families to be together and for individual gospel study and service.
• A bishop needs to be a skillful delegator, or he will be crushed under the burden of his responsibilities or frustrated at seeing so many of them unfilled.
• There is something else we should mention about bishops. They are not specialists.
• Bishops re responsible to call; they should not be required to beg or push. All of us should accept the callings we are given and serve in all diligence.
• Another way to help our busy bishops and their counselors is to be careful not to occupy their time with matters that others can handle.
• When contacting our local leaders is necessary, we should remember that they have employment responsibilities too. Don't contact them at their place of work unless there is a true emergency. Let us be careful not to put our leaders' employment in jeopardy. Members should also be careful not to expect their local leaders to give them the products of those leaders' occupations. Our leaders are called to give us Church service, not professional services or merchandise inventories.
• We should remember that our leaders are also husbands and fathers. They are bishops or counselors for a season, but they will never be released from their family responsibilities, which are for eternity. Our leaders need time to perform their family responsibilities also, and our thoughtful consideration will help.

Henry B. Eyring -Finding Safety in Counsel

• The Savior has always been the protector of those who would accept His protection.
• In our own time, we have been warned with counsel of where to find safety from sin and from sorrow. One of the keys to recognizing those warnings is that they are repeated.
• "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established."
• When a prophet speaks, those with little faith may think that they hear only a wise man giving good advice. Then if his counsel seems comfortable and reasonable, squaring with what they want to do, they take it. If it does not, they consider it either faulty advice or they see their circumstances as justifying their being an exception to the counsel.
• Another fallacy is to believe that the choice to accept or not accept the counsel of prophets is no more than deciding whether to accept good advice and gain its benefits or to stay where we are.  
• The failure to take prophetic counsel lessens our power to take inspired counsel in the future.

Monte J. Brough -A Holy Calling

• "now you must gain a testimony as to the divine nature of your own calling.. You must come to know that you also have been called of God."

Sheldon F. Child -AS Good As Our Bond

• In today's world, there are some who think nothing of breaking their word, their promises, their covenants with man and with God. What a blessing it is to deal with those whom we can trust.
• Honesty and integrity are not old-fashioned principles. They are just as viable in today's world.
• When we say we will do something, we do it.
• When we make a commitment, we honor it.
• When we are given a calling, we fulfill it.
• When we borrow something, we return it.
• When we have a financial obligation, we pay it.
• When we enter into an agreement, we keep it.
• We are all familiar with the statement "Honesty is the best policy." for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, honesty is the only policy.
• Let us live true to the trust the Lord has placed in us.

Dennis E. Simmons -His Peace

• "I will not leave you comfortless: ... I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. ... He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
• "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
• His peace is that peace, that serenity, that comfort spoken to our hearts and minds by the Comforter, the holy Ghost, as we strive to follow Him and keep His commandments.
• The Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit who generally communicates not through physical senses but by touching the heart and mind--in other words, He speaks through thoughts, impressions, ad feelings and does so softly.
• "The Spirit does not get our attention by shouting or shaking us with a heavy hand. Rather it whispers. It caresses so gently that if we are preoccupied we may not feel it at all."

Jerald L. Taylor -Gratitude

• "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord. ... happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them."
• "In the universal battle for human souls, the adversary takes enormous numbers of prisoners. many, knowing of no way to escape, are pressed into his service. Every soul confined in a concentration camp of sin and guilt has a key to the gate. the key is labeled repentance. The adversary cannot hold them, if they know how to use it. The twin principles of repentance and forgiveness exceed in strength the awesome power of the tempter."

Jeffrey R. Holland -"Because She Is a Mother"

• We rejoice that the call to nurture is not limited to our own flesh and blood.
• Through these years, mothers go longer on less sleep and give more to others with less personal renewal for themselves than any other group I know at any other time in life.
• But whatever else you do, cherish that role that is so uniquely yours and for which heaven itself sends angels to watch over you and your little ones.
• In light of that kind of expression, it is clear that some of those Rhode Island-sized shadows come not just from diapers and carpooling but from at least a few sleepless nights spent searching the soul, seeking earnestly for the capacity to raise these children to be what God wants them to be. moved by that kind of devotion and determination, may I say to mothers collectively, in the name of the Lord,  you are magnificent. You are doing terrifically well. The very fact that you have been given such a responsibility is everlasting evidence of the trust your Father in Heaven has in you.
• You have every right to receive encouragement and to know in the end your children will call your name blessed, just like those generations of foremothers before you who hoped your same hopes and felt your same fears.
• You can't possibly do this alone, but you do have help. the Master of Heaven and Earth is there to bless you--He who resolutely goes after the lost sheep, sweeps thoroughly to find the lost coin, waits everlasting for the return of the prodigal son. Yours is the work of salvation, and therefore you will be magnified, compensated, made more than you are and better than you have ever been as you try to make honest effort, however feeble you may sometimes feel that to be.
• Rely on Him. Rely on Him heavily. Rely on Him forever. And "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope." You are doing God's work. you are doing it wonderfully well. He is blessing you and He will bless you, even--no, especially--when your days and your nights may be the most challenging.

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi 

The Dream

I was with a group in a car as we were house hunting for a new location to hold our Institute group meetings/live. And I remembered that Brother Rus was selling his house. It was a way out of the city but had a beautiful view of the mountains and a nearby park. We walked up to his huge mansion of a house -he'd built himself- and I knocked on the door. He and Bro Mon were...surprised to see the group of us there and I told him that we were here to check out the house to see if we wanted to buy it from him. It turns out his group of young adults were coming over soon so we could only stay for a bit -it ended up being rather awkward as I'm pretty sure they wanted to buy the house as well- and as we were finally leaving the home after eating a lot of the food that was set up, my sister called out that we'd pay them back, though the two Bro's seemed a bit disbelieving of that....

Then the unholy tones of daylight pulled me away....
and I became myself again. :)

-S.N.D