Sorta-liveblogging general conference: Sunday afternoon session

And now for Saturday afternoon, when everybody seems to relax just a bit.

So, if you’ve missed the preceding explanations, these posts are each made in reverse chronological order by speaker, so that you can scroll down on the page and cover the entire conference from the bottom up; however, the bullet points for each speaker are top down (i.e., from the speaker’s name, working downward). It’s moderately confusing, but i’ve been doing it that way for some years now and people seem to be able to figure it out well enough. And so, with that as background, here’s where you scroll down to the bottom, unless you wish to relive this session backwards.

Closing thoughts

• On the whole, i liked the Saturday sessions (even the priesthood session, which usually leaves me a bit flat) better than the Sunday sessions.
• I usually have a favorite address from the conference. It’s a hard call this time. I think my favorite was Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s Saturday morning address, but Jeffrey R. Holland’s Saturday afternoon address was the most important. In addition, Edward Dube’s address (Saturday morning) was incredibly meaningful and stirring, and i hope we hear a lot more of him in the future.
• Multiple sessions ended a few minutes early. If this is a subtle message to the rest of us (if you’re done, then you’re done), i have to say that i heartily approve.
• The members of the first presidency and quorum of apostles mostly seem to have left the stand with their wives. (Some, of course, couldn’t; Thomas S. Monson left with his daughter, and not all of them did all of the time.) How did their wives get there? Were they sitting on the stand the whole time? Now i’m curious.

Thomas S. Monson (president of the high priesthood)

• As is usual for him, his closing remarks are mostly a mild pep talk.

Russell M. Nelson (of the quorum of apostles)

• Each day brings decisions that have eternal ramifications.
• There are sicknesses and deformities, as well as things like aging and death. Even with all these, the body is an amazing gift.
• We were chosen to come to earth at this time not so much for our physical attributes as for our spiritual attributes.
• God’s doctrines do not change, even when civil laws do.

Terence M. Vinson (of the quorums of seventy)

• Rather than solve problems for us, we are to develop the faith in the Lord that will allow us to gain the inspiration about how we should gain the help of the Lord to solve those problems.
• If we align our will with that of the Lord, then the Lord will bless us.

Adrián Ochoa (of the quorums of seventy)

• We need to pay attention to the signs of the times
• Both the viewing of pornography and of anti-Mormon resources have the same effect on our spirits.
• [I’m not sure i’m following this address. It’s not his accent or such—his fluency in English is pretty high—but i wonder if he’s basing the structure of his address in a rhetorical tradition i’m unfamiliar with.]

Kevin S. Hamilton (of the quorums of seventy)

• [I’ll be totally honest: The sort of story he opened with—the family left the church because one day they decided to take a ride in the country instead of going to sacrament meeting, and then they didn’t come to church again—bothers me. I mean, there’s something else going on in there, there has to be.]
• We have three Sunday meetings, with separate purposes: Sacrament meeting lets us participate in worship and be edified, Sunday school lets us teach each other, and priesthood and relief society meetings let us learn our duties.
• [This is sounding basically like a plea to not skip the non-sacrament Sunday meetings. Do that many people really skip out on them?]

Henry B. Eyring (of the first presidency), announcements

• [He announced "Called to Serve" as the choir+congregation song, and there was quite a bit of susurussing from the crowd. I'm thinking people liked that choice.]

David M. McConkie (of the general presidency of the Sunday school)

• Church teachers need to teach as the Savior would teach.
• Church teachers do not have the right to mingle their own philosophies with the truths they are to teach.. [Does this mean that i get to stop hearing little code-worded asides criticizing the policies of the current president of the United States in church classes? No? Oh well, a boy can hope, you know?]
• When teaching, you have to have the courage to follow the Spirit’s promptings, even if that takes you away from your prepared content.
• If you pay attention, when you teach by the Spirit you will learn something from what you teach. [I like the conditional clause at the beginning of that.]

Neil L. Andersen (of the quorum of apostles)

• All of us can have a home blessed by priesthood power even if, on the surface, it seems that we can’t (e.g., single mothers).
• Raising the issue of why only men are ordained to the priesthood. [He didn’t really answer why, though he did, it seems to me, do a bit of rhetorical dissociation of priesthood—or at least priesthood power—with ordination.]
• Both requesting and performing priesthood ordinances requires humility.
• The decision on the age change for full-time missionaries included many discussions with relief society, young women, and primary leadership; local leaders should follow that example.

Quentin L. Cook (of the quorum of apostles)

• A comparison of the messages (similar) and missions (different) of Jeremiah and Lehi.
• A description of the falls of Israel and Judah, with some relatively indirect connections made to the present day.
• Righteousness is a prerequisite for assisting in the gathering of the elect, as well as the literal restoration of the people of Israel.
• [Did he just say that businesses need to make it possible for all parents (both female and male) to appropriately balance their family and work responsibilities, with a lean toward family? ’Cause that's what it sounded like.]