Two Wonderful Days

Last Wednesday evening I left for Janet's house in Provo. She and Maggie had returned from their road trip on Tuesday and we were going to spend the next few days together going to BYU Women's Conference. Elder Holland was president of BYU when I was a student there after my mission, and he's the one who started the annual women's conference. I have memories of trying to get across campus that first year and wondering what all these middle-aged women were doing all over the place. They were kind of getting in the way! Well, now I make the annual trek so that I can be one of those middle-aged women getting in the way. (And you can still see that same frustration on some of the student's faces!)

Sheri Dew was the keynote speaker on Thursday morning and spoke in her no-nonsense-I'm-not-going-to dumb-this-down-for-you way that we all love. And Julie Beck was the keynote speaker on Friday morning and she, also, didn't water things down or speak in a sticky-sweet Relief Society voice(!!). They both gave wonderful talks and I felt empowered and determined to do better and to be better.

The classes I went to throughout the two days were great. Talks about qualifying for the influence of the Holy Ghost; understanding the doctrine of grace (just a word here: I usually don't go to talks given by men at women's conference. I want to hear what women have to say. I want to have the example before me of a woman living in the trenches of life as a wife/mother/grandmother who is able to do and become all that is necessary WHILE she is tending to babies and paying the bills and cleaning the toilets. It is easy to be a holy man on a mountain. Talk to me when you're juggling all the things that women do. Randy Bott was one of the speakers on the doctrine of grace. I'd never heard him before and I REALLY appreciated what he had to say. There were quite a few "this is how it is so buck up and deal with it" phrases, which I like.), having a merry heart, and good-better-best. Really wonderful talks. It is quite something that so many "regular" women are asked to teach the doctrines of the gospel. This is such a brilliant conference, on so many levels.

On Thursday night Kathy, my sis-in-law from Ogden (I might add here that she is the one who set me up with Doug. That could be another story!) came down and added to the fun.

Janet, Kathy, Maggie, Shauna in the Marriot Center Friday morning

Friday culminated in our new prophet coming and speaking to us. This was a very exciting thing. I admit that I was a little nervous about Pres. Monson becoming the prophet after Pres. Hinckley. I didn't really care for all the stories he'd tell during conference talks or the sing-songy way he spoke (I know, very shallow of me). When he spoke to us for the first time last April at General Conference I felt a physical thing in me. I've tried to analyze what it was I felt and that was the best I could come up with. While he spoke I knew he was the prophet and I knew that I could love and sustain him. I've heard this now from many people. So many have said that they saw the mantle of the prophet fall upon his shoulders during that first talk he gave. It reminds me of the event that happened in our pioneer days when Brigham Young stood up to speak after Joseph Smith had died, and so many people saw and heard Joseph Smith speaking.

Well, the closing session at Women's Conference is always wonderful. Thousands of women all gather to the Marriot Center and we're all chatting and visiting. At a certain point the words to hymns are displayed on the big screen and most will start singing, and that is always touching. On Friday the last hymn had been sung and there was no music and you could hear the buzz of quiet conversation going on, and then as President Monson and the others walked out there was such a sudden and complete silence as we all stood up. I was amazed at the absolute silence in that huge cave of a building with THOUSANDS of women. And then a few voices somewhere started singing "We Thank Thee, O God, For a Prophet" and everyone else immediately joined in. It was so amazing and beautiful.

We sat in the bleachers behind the podium. The Marriot Center fills up fast! I took a few quick photos before things really got going.

Here we're singing an opening song. Pres. Monson is sitting on the front row on the right side of the podium, next to Pres. Samuelson (BYU pres.)

This is still the opening song. I want to always remember this huge gathering of wonderful LDS women. The place was packed.

This is when Pres. Monson first stood up to talk, so I wasn't being too rude...

Pres. Monson's main message to us was to find joy in the journey. He talked about the different threads of our lives and wants us to acknowledge the many good things we do.

As Pres. Monson left, when the conference was over, he paused and turned to wave to a section of women who waved back. Then he stood there and turned in a slow circle and waved to all of us. I think that was the first time he had looked up and seen just how many of us there were! At the risk of sounding corny, I could feel his love for all of us there. His final gesture to us was a big "thumbs-up-way-to-go" and a big smile and we all laughed.

It was a wonderful two days. I'm thankful I'm able to go to this conference pretty much every year. I'm glad I make it a priority and I'm glad that Doug and the kids are good about keeping up with life while I'm gone.

The cherry on the top was that I went to my mom's house Friday night and spent the night with her. We stayed up talking, like we always do, until I was seeing double-I was so tired! It was a great weekend. I am very blessed.