Monday, September 15, 2014

April 2001 General Conference Sunday Afternoon

David B. Haight -Gratitude and Service
  • "This amazing Church has woven a pattern of miracles in our lives."
Joseph B. Wirthlin -The Law of the Fast
  • Without prayer, fasting is not complete fasting; it's simply going hungry. If we want our fasting to be more than just going without eating, we must lift our hearts, our minds, and our voices in communion with our Heavenly Father. Fasting, coupled with mighty prayer, is powerful. It can fill our minds with the revelations of the Spirit. It can strengthen us against times of temptations.
  • When we give to the bishop an offering to relieve the suffering of others, we not only do something sublime for others, but we do something wonderful for ourselves as well.
  • Another Book of Mormon prophet, Amulek, explained that often our prayers have no power because we have turned our backs on the needy. If you feel that Heavenly Father is not listening to your petitions, ask yourself if you are listening to the cries of the poor, the sick, the hungry, and the afflicted all around you.
  • Fast offerings are used for one purpose only; to bless the lives of those in need. Every dollar given to the bishop as a fast offering goes to assist the poor. When donations exceed local needs, they are passed along to fulfill the needs elsewhere.
  • "Be liberal in your giving, that you yourselves may grow. Don't give just for the benefit of the poor, but give for your own welfare.
John K. Carmack -United in Love and Testimony
  • The Church is quietly moving forward in crescendo, as a great symphony orchestra moving toward a climax, strengthening communities as it grows.
  • I also wonder if we fully appreciate the value and strength of the witnesses' testimonies published in each copy of the Book of Mormon
  • These witnesses did not recant their testimonies, nor have their published testimonies ever been otherwise impeached.
  • Grandparents should not underestimate their influence in the lives of their grandchildren.
L. Lionel Kendrick -Enhancing Our Temple Experience
  • We should always remember that it is by His invitation that we come to His holy house, the temple of the Lord.
  • While in the temple we should act as if we are in His holy presence.
  • To be reverent is not just to be quiet. It involves an awareness of what is taking place. It involves a divine desire to learn and to be receptive to the promptings of the Spirit. It involves a striving to seek added light and knowledge. Irreverence is not only an act of disrespect for Deity, but it makes it impossible for the Spirit to teach us the things that we need to know.
  • When we are reverent in the temple, we help to keep it pure and holy, free from distractions and offenses to the Spirit. We must remember to say or do nothing that would be offensive to the Lord.
  • "When you enter a Church building, you are coming into the presence of our Father in heaven; and that thought should be sufficient incentive for you to prepare your hearts, your minds, and even your attire, that you might appropriately and properly sit in his presence.
  • Reverence involves thinking, speaking, feeling, and acting as we would in the presence of the Lord.
  • First, we must leave the world behind as we enter the temple.
  • Second, we must seek to gain added light and knowledge.
Bruce D. Porter -Building the Kingdom
  • Sometimes, perhaps, we may be inclined to see the building of the kingdom as something that takes place beyond the horizon, far away from our own branch or ward. In truth, the Church advances both by outwards expansion and by inward refinement.
  • "Be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great."
  • "Great causes are not won in a single generation."
Dallin H. Oaks -Focus and Priorities
  • Our biggest need is a clearer focus on how we should value and use what we already have.
  • Available information wisely used is far more valuable than multiplied information allowed to lie fallow.
  • Faced with an excess of information in the marvelous resources we have been given, we must begin with focus or we are likely to become like those in the well-known prophecy about people in the last days--" ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
  • We also need focus to avoid what is harmful.
  • Each of us should be careful that the current flood of information does not occupy our time so completely that we cannot focus on and hear and heed the still, small voice that is available to guide each of us with our own challenges today.
  • "Every discovery in science and art, that is really true and useful to mankind, has been given by direct revelation from God. ... We should take advantage of all these great discoveries ... and give to our children the benefit of every branch of useful knowledge, to prepare them to step forward and efficiently do their part in the great work."
  • If we do not choose the kingdom of God first, it will make little difference in the long run what we have chosen instead of it.
  • We cannot recycle or save the time allotted to us each day. With time, we have only one opportunity for choice, and then it is gone forever.
  • I believe many of us are overnourished on the entertainment junk food and undernourished on the bread of life.
Gordon B. Hinckley -Good-bye for Another Season
  • We have heard 26 speakers during these two days. That's a very large number. Each is told how much time he or she will have. But none is told what to speak about. And yet all of the talks seem to harmonize, one with another, each a thread in the tapestry of a grand and beautiful pattern.
General YW Meeting

Sharon G. Larsen -Your Celestial Guide
  • The Lord has not asked you to build a ship, but to build your life. You don't yet know what your completed mortal life looks like. But your Father in Heaven knows and can guide you one step at a time.
  • It can be dangerous trying to please ourselves.
  • I had chosen to be popular with my friends instead of pleasing my parents and the Lord. But even when I deliberately chose not to obey, the Spirit was still there prompting me. You can't do wrong and feel right. Pretending the Spirit isn't prompting you when it is, is like putting the wrong answer down on a test when you know the right answer.
  • Remember, remember how the Spirit feels. Use that experience to help you identify the Spirit again and again.
  • Heavenly Father's top priority is His children. If it's important to you, it's important to Him. Whatever concern you have is His concern. Whatever you have a question about, the Lord knows the answer. Whatever sadness you are feeling, He knows how you feel and will ease the pain. He knows what it's like to feel all alone. He will comfort you.
Carol B. Thomas -Developing Our Talent for Spirituality
  • The Spirit doesn't always give us warm, fuzzy feelings. Most of the time, the voice of inspiration is a quiet voice, a still, small voice.
  • It's OK if we're weak, as long as we don't stay weak, as long as we do something about it.
  • "Your daily conversations with [H]im will bring peace into your hearts and a joy into your lives that can come from no other source."
  • Prayer is like an umbrella in the storms of life.
Margaret D. Nadauld -A Comforter, a Guide, a Testifier
  • A holy gift was given to you at the time of your baptism and confirmation, when hands were placed on your head and you were told, "receive the Holy Ghost." It is almost as if your Father in Heaven gave you a gift to celebrate your official entrance into His kingdom on earth. The Holy Spirit can be with you always and guide you back to Him, but in order to enjoy the benefits of this holy gift, you must truly receive it, and then you must use it in your life.
  • Your Heavenly Father will help you find the right path as you seek His guidance. Remember though, after you pray you must get off your knees and start doing something positive; head in the right direction! He will send people along the way who will assist you, but you must be doing your part as well. By the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, you can be guided in your trip through life.
  • When we bear our testimony to others, they "are not only hearing our testimony of Christ, but they are hearing echoes of other, earlier testimonies, including their own testimony of Him," for they were among the valiant who chose Christ and chose to follow Him over Satan in the premortal life.
Gordon B. Hinckley -How Can I become the Woman of Whom I Dream?
  • You are creatures of divinity; you are daughters of the Almighty. Limitless is your potential. Magnificent is your future, if you will take control of it. Do not let your lives drift in a fruitless and worthless manner.
  • Be Grateful. Be Smart. Be Clean. Be True. Be Humble. Be Prayerful.
  • There can be fun, yes. But there must be recognition of the fact that life is serious, that the risks are great, but that you can overcome them if you will discipline yourselves and seek the unfailing strength of the Lord.
  • Pay no attention to what some boy might say to demean you. he is no better than you. In fact, he has already belittled himself by his actions. Polish and refine whatever talents the Lord has given you. Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, but with great and strong purpose in your heart. Love life and look for its opportunities, and forever and always be loyal to the Church.
  • Never forget that you came to earth as a child of the divine Father, with something of divinity in your very makeup. The Lord did not send you here to fail. he did not give you life to waste it. He bestowed upon you the gift of mortality that you might gain experience--positive, wonderful, purposeful experience--that will lead to life eternal.
Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Dream

I was venturing with some others into a cave, a cave that was considered to be dangerous, but people would venture into it anyway to find their fortune, as within the rocks and sand you could find gold, crystals, other shiny objects of value. But you had to be careful the monsters in the cave did not find you, and you also had to be aware of other diggers, to not dig where they had already claimed a spot. It was difficult, dangerous, but I managed to navigate the cave system going through/under/above rocks that could collapse the tunnel at any moment trapping us, and I found a section that as of yet had not been claimed by anyone and began to dig. I found a couple of crystals that I could pull out, and a ton of other crystals that looked solid, but were actually a bunch of little ones together, that if you touched them or tried to move them would tumble apart making it useless. My friend Jess was also there, working on digging, but wasn't keen on helping me or on me helping her....

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

-S.N.D

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