Sorta-liveblogging general conference: Sunday afternoon session

So we come to the end of general conference weekend—and this time, there’s breaking news: between Robert D. Hales (of the quorum of apostles) died between this session and the preceding one. I’m going to have to look up if there’s ever been a general authority death during general conference.

Anyway, by the time i’ll have posted this, this general conference will be over, and since this is likely to be the first in the sequence you see, i’ll start out with my usual quick explanation of the way they’re structured:

Blogs have the utterly bizarre feature of reversing chronological order: They prioritize recency, requiring a reader to move from the bottom upward from to get a chronological picture. This means that the post below this one is the previous session (i.e., Sunday morning), and below that one is the one before that, and so on. To better match this, in each session’s post, i have arranged things so that the first speaker in each session is at the bottom of that session’s post, the second speaker in each session is above that first one, and so on. This means that if you read top-down you’ll get everything backward, but if you scroll down to the bottom of the Saturday morning session post and read bottom-up from there through the entire conference, you’ll get the entire weekend in chronological order.

However, under each speaker my comments are ordered top-down. This adds a potential bit of confusion, but trying to make everything perfectly backward just gets too messy, and the couple times i’ve tried it i’ve gotten too confused myself, and so i can only imagine what it would be like for the reader.

Anyway, with that as intro, now is the time to scroll down to the bottom of this post (or to the bottom of four posts prior, if you want to start at the beginning of the entire conference weekend!) and start at the bottom with the beginning…

Closing thoughts:

• Remember back when they let people deliver conference addresses in their own native languages? Yeah, it feels so long ago. I miss it—and for some speakers at this conference, i feel like it would have been helpful.
• Relatedly, i do wish they would bring back showing the words on screen for the congregational songs. I’m old enough and have been in the church long enough that i know most of the songs they sing during those breaks, anyway, but not everybody is as old as me.
• Neil L. Andersen gave shout-outs to lots of different conference addresses in his address—one used to hear that done more frequently than one does now.
• The last session went to precisely two hours, but i feel like more sessions ended earlier this weekend than they usually do.
• And now, my favorite address of this conference: This conference didn’t have any addresses that left me utterly gobsmacked, but in terms of quiet power, Jeffrey R. Holland’s Saturday morning address was most excellent.

Neil L. Andersen, of the quorum of apostles

• [Concluding slot traditionally given to the president of the church being filled by a junior member of the quorum of apostles—no pressure, dude!]
• General conferences are appointed as a necessary means for us to learn what God wants us to know.
• General conference address topics are not assigned, except as they are given by personal divine inspiration.
• Similarly, personal divine inspiration will come to each individual who hears and studies the sermons delivered in general conference.
• [Way to read from handwritten notes!]
• An excerpt from the address Robert D. Hales had prepared for this conference, but was unable to deliver: “Our faith prepares us to be in the presence of God.”
• Hearing the words of the prophets, we should now follow their admonition.

José L. Alonso, of the quorums of seventy

• “Love is a combination of actions as well as deep feelings.”
• Story about the death of his son in a car-pedestrian accident, and the bond he and his wife formed with the young man who was driving the car—and that the forgiveness they were able to feel was a gift of God.
• By serving and forgiving others with real love, we will be strengthened.

Ian S. Ardern, of the quorums of seventy

• We must be spiritually vigilant against those who would gnaw away at our beliefs and draw us away from the gospel.
• When we are faced with attacks on the church, we must be careful where we look for the answers—and the best advice was given by James: If you lack wisdom, ask God.
• There are many useful sources for our study penned by prophets and other faithful purveyors of the truth—but even with their value, all of them pale in power against the scriptures.

Adilson de Paula Parrella, of the quorums of seventy

• God has called prophets to receive revelation so that we can learn divine truth.
• When the prophet speaks, we should act.
• Prophets in our time have given us knowledge of the reality of God and Jesus Christ, and we need to live accordingly.

Stanley G. Ellis, recently released as a member of the quorums of seventy

• The Lord trusts us in many, many ways.
• The question for us is: Do we trust the Lord?
• There are hard things in our lives, which should come as no surprise—one of the first covenants we make is to live the law of sacrifice.
• Even the Godhead are no strangers to hard things.
• “’Hard’ is part of the gospel plan.”
• Consider that the struggle of a baby chick to escape its eggshell, and the struggle of a butterfly to escape from its cocoon, will strengthen them in ways they need for their lives.
• Discouragement and fear are tools of Satan, but the right way is to go forward with faith.

Joni L. Koch, of the quorums of seventy

• [Way to rep the Seleção Brasileira de Futebol!]
• We must have unity in the church.
• “We have no right to portray anyone, especially within our church circle, as a badly finished product.”
• As we decide to be one with the members and leaders of the church, both when we meet together but especially when we are apart from each other, we become one with Jesus Christ.

Tad R. Callister, general president of the Sunday School organization

• Starting off with a rundown of some challenges to the Book of Mormon’s authenticity, and problems with those challenges.
• In support of the Book of Mormon, we have doctrinal insights and explications that are unique, and show the inspiration of God.
• The Book of Mormon contains a number of historical and linguistic and social features, but the central and most important part of it by far is the way it teaches and testifies of Jesus Christ.
• As members of the church, we have the privilege of testifying of the Book of Mormon.

M. Russell Ballard

• We need to remember our pioneer heritage—if we lose that collective memory, we will have lost something important
• We will need the same faith that the early Latter-day Saints had if we are to keep faithful in the future.
• As we remember the nineteenth-century pioneer trek across the Great Plains, we should remember that our own trek continues, and our choices will lead us to a positive or negative end.
• [Interesting: A straight-up, direct statement that members of the church should avoid get-rich-quick schemes. I know that such fraud is widespread, but i don’t know that i’ve heard it called out so directly in general conference, ever—and he then followed it with a direct warning against schemes where people sell miraculous healings for money.]
• We should welcome and embrace anyone who is making their own trek forward, no matter where they are in it.
• We should avoid and work against such philosophies as racism, sexism, and nationalism—the gospel of Jesus Christ is for all people.

Opening remarks: Henry B. Eyring, of the first presidency

• Russell M. Nelson was present at the hospital when Robert D. Hales died. Fitting, i would say, given the degree to which, by all reports, the members of the quorum of apostles are not just coworkers, but also friends.