Sorta-liveblogging general conference: Sunday afternoon session

Sunday afternoon: The big finale, or a coast to the close?

If you’re coming to this after the conference has ended, this may be the first of these entries you see, so here’s how to read them: Blogs run—going against millennia of best practice—in reverse chronological order, so this one’s at the top of the page, followed by the entry for the previous session, followed by the previous one, and so on. Therefore, to make it easier to follow this whole thing chronologically, speakers are arranged within each session’s entry in reverse chronological order, as well—so the opening speaker for this session is at the bottom of this post, preceded by the next speaker, preceded by the next one, and so on. (My notes for each speaker, though, are in regular top-down chronological order—trying to do otherwise was painful the one time i tried it.)

And with that, let’s finish this thing off…

Final thoughts

• Lots of stuff on the need to focus on Jesus Christ. Okay, so that’s not all that unusual, but the phrasings used seemed to be quite similar to each other.
• I’m honestly curious what’s going to happen to the URLs lds.org and mormon.org.
• All but no direct mentions of sexual abuse and other forms of assault, which mildly surprises me, given how much it’s been in the public conversation lately.
• And my favorite address of the weekend: As cliché as it might be, the nod goes to Jeffrey R. Holland. (Neal L. Anderson comes in a pretty close second, though.) Unlike many recent conferences, i feel like even though there were a lot of good speeches by non-apostles, but none of them really stood out in an incredible way.
• And there we are. See y’all back in this space in six months!

Russell M. Nelson

• This conference has been useful for reminding us to center our lives on Jesus Christ.
• There’s a need for more people to attend the temple to do proxy work there.
• There will be upcoming renovations of Salt Lake and other pioneer-era temples.
• 12 new temples: Mendoza Argentina; Salvador, Brazil; Yuba City, California; Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Praia, Cape Verde; Yigo, Guam; Puebla, Mexico; Auckland, New Zealand; Lagos, Nigeria; Davao, Philippines; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Washington County, Utah.
• And that’s it, the end.

Gary E. Stevenson, of the quorum of apostles

• A fact at the heart of ministering: Heavenly Father can take our simple daily efforts and turn them into something impressive.
• What we learn in ministering will help us use the extra time we’ll have after the turn of the year to positive effect.
• When we face difficulties, the Lord, our shepherd, will minister to us.
• We have the opportunity to assist in this ministering effort.
• Ministering to others to identify, find, and bring home the lost sheep will bring us joy.
• We aren’t asked to redeem souls—that is what Jesus does. All we’re asked to do is to bring souls to him, so that he can redeem them.

Jack N. Gerard, of the quorums of seventy

• [Dang, this is the health scare/tragedy general conference, innit?]
• An invitation: Step back from the world and assess our lives.
• Assessing our lives allows us to see what needs to change, and learn what we can do to choose the best path.
• Understanding our divine origins is essential to our progress, and helps us avoid becoming distracted by unimportant worldly concerns.

Dale G. Renlund, of the quorum of apostles

• God’s goal isn’t to have us do what’s right, it’s to have us choose to do what’s right.
• Jesus Christ has paid for our sins, and no one is beyond the reach of God’s mercy.
• Lucifer is the accuser who tells us we’re not good enough and there’s no recovery from our mistakes.
• God wants us to be on the covenant path, but permits us the dignity of choosing.
• Those who are forced from the path due to the misexercise of agency by others aren’t off the path.
• We need to choose faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, partaking of the sacrament, making temple covenants, and serve the rest of God’s children.

Matthew L. Carpenter, of the quorums of seventy

• Consider that many of the people who Jesus healed had been suffering for a long time—decades!—but were healed immediately.
• We can’t control when we will be healed, if it will even happen in this life—but when we allow Jesus to be involved, we will always be strengthened spiritually.
• Repentance isn’t the backup plan in case we fail, it’s the plan knowing that we will fail, and will need healing.
• Just as receiving medical help quickly (as in the case of his son having a stroke!) can help recovery go more easily, it is never a good idea to procrastinate repentance.

Robert C. Gay, of the presidency of the seventy

• Quoting his sister: “Can’t you see that everyone around you is a sacred being?”
• Referencing Brigham Young: Don’t judge someone because they’re a sabbath breaker, or because they swear, or whatever, because you don’t really know them as God does.
• He related a story of James E. Talmage that was pretty hardcore—basically, he voluntarily exposed himself to diphtheria so that he could help a family suffering from the disease, even though he ended up catching it himself as a result!
• Jesus spoke to those considered the least of the least in part to remind us that there is no one he is unable to heal and bring to joy.

Brian K. Ashton, of the general presidency of the Sunday school

• During mortality, we are provided with the means we need to progress within God’s plan.
• If we remain in light and truth, we will see the face of God, in this life or the next.
• Heavenly Father has an eternal perspective, which merits our trust.
• Striving to become like Heavenly Father is worth every sacrifice.

Henry B. Eyring, of the quorum of the first presidency

• Wisdom from someone else: When you meet someone, assume they’re in serious trouble, and you’ll likely be right.
• We are in this world to be tested and proved, but we have also been given a way through those difficulties. (Spoiler: It’s Jesus Christ.)
• The ordinance of the sacrament includes a promise to always have the Spirit with us.
• In the sacramental prayers, we express willingness to take the name of Christ on us. So, this leads us to important questions: “What must i be doing to take his name upon me? How will i know when i am making progress?”
• As Moroni says, we have to be meek and lowly of heart, and confess Jesus Christ—and that leads us to charity.
• For some of us, our troubles start to overcome our faith. If you’re in that situation, you can pray with confidence to lead you to those who need your help, and following through on that will lead you to feel God’s love.