About 10 days before conference Matthew and I got a call from a couple of Matthew's mission buddies inquiring about a reunion. There was not one planned, but a few were itching to have one. I thought it would be best to wait until the spring so that more time could be committed to making it nice, but others insisted on having one and so it was thrown together in a hurry.
On Friday night the plan was to go to Justin Jay Kofford's parents' home for the get together and have some Danish desserts. At about 3 that afternoon I received a text message from Matthew stating that he was asked if we could possibly bring some finger food and that we were expecting 15-30 people. My heart began to race. What was I going to do for that many people, at this short of notice, on a limited budget? After counseling with a few participants we decided it would be funny to bring a bunch of chicken nuggets from McDonalds. Now I am not a fan of this dining facility in the least bit, but it was close, they had a rockin' deal and again, it was last minute.
When we arrived at the house, there were only 12 people there and we realized that we got way too many chicken nuggets, but we laughed about it and enjoyed talking and catching up with everyone. I have met a handful of Matthew's old companions and have become good friends with a few, so it was nice to chat for awhile. I was even able to meet a few new faces and it was cool when we made some connections. Elder Whipple lived with Matthew while in Denmark and he has a brother that is a physical therapist at the VA hospital near my school. I asked him his brother's first name and realized that he is the same PT that taught a couple of the labs for my therapeutic exercise class. It was fun to be able to talk with him, and Matthew and I are hoping to go on a double date with him soon.
On Saturday Matthew and I watched the first two sessions of conference at home, both were great and of course one of the most memorable talks was by Elder Holland. For much of his address he expressed gratitude for all the work each of the members does to live and spread the gospel. There was a particularly touching moment when he thanked his mother for all the things that she had done for him; it brought tears to our eyes. After the second session Matthew's dad picked him up and they went up to Ogden to watch the Priesthood session with Pete. Alex was going to join them, but in a last minute mix up with his family ended up watching it at a church closer to his house. I also went up to Ogden and spent some time with Elisa while the men were in the session. Elisa and I walked to the Wendy's right next door to her apartment and enjoyed chicken sandwiches, some fries and a frosty together.
When the men returned, Matthew and I headed towards the Mountain Green area for my friend, Rosie's, After Wedding Party. Rosie looked even more gorgeous than normal and although I didn't get to see her in her wedding dress, she was wearing a cute white cocktail dress. Matthew and I spent time mingling with some of my grad school friends and eating the yummy finger foods provided; the food had a Mexican theme which included chips and salsa, taquitos and quesadillas. At the end of the night we dropped a couple of our friends off at the hotel they were staying at and then headed back to Elisa and Alex's place for the night.
Sunday morning we had waffles and watched the morning session of conference with Alex, Elisa and their friends, Sam and Colette, on our laptops. Elder Packer's talk struck each of us and has since gained a lot of attention. What we heard Elder Packer say was that some individuals feel that they are preset (in terms of sexual inclination) and unable to overcome those inclinations. He continued by saying that this is not the case, the Lord would not allow us to be unable to overcome any of our temptations whether or not they are inborn or not, to say otherwise is saying that the Lord is limited. He then quoted the scripture from 1 Corinthians 10:13 which states, "God..will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." Matthew and I have re-listened and reread the talk and understand how some could have confused his words. Many have become upset because they feel that Elder Packer was saying that they Lord would not allow individuals to have an inborn feeling of "unnatural inclinations," and although he may have that opinion (I do not know) I do not believe this is what he was insinuating, but rather he was stating that the Lord has the power and will help us to overcome any and all of our temptations if we will turn to him. In my mind it does not matter whether those feelings are inborn or not, the same could be said of many other temptations, but it does not change the fact that the Lord says that acting on those feelings is wrong and that he can help us to overcome them through him.
After the first session, Matthew and I headed down to his parent's home for the last session of conference. The last session also had many great talks including that of Elder Bednar where he reiterated the idea that in order to have to Holy Ghost working in our lives we must act and not merely wait to be acted upon. After the session, some of the rest of Matthew's family came over for waffles...yes we had waffles for breakfast and dinner...and we played a few games. It was a great weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment