To Prepare

6 months ago as I watched general conference I heard the Prophet ask us to prepare for our next general conference.  He asked us to specifically study the restoration.  The night before his closing address he had also asked the women to study sections 25, 84, and 107 of the Doctrine and Covenants and work hard to have the Holy Ghost teach you about how to use the Priesthood power we were endowed with in the temple.  These words of preparation sank deep into my heart.... "sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you."  I felt as though the "wonders" we received would be proportional to our preparation.

Tomorrow is conference, and while there will always be a voice in your head that says, "you could have done more" in my morning prayer today I asked the Lord to accept my offering.  My offering was intentional and with my whole heart and full of faith and hope.  I prayed and prayed that me and my family would receive the blessings the Lord has in store for us.  That my children would have a spiritual experience at conference and that peace would be spoken to their hearts.  I prayed their testimony of the restoration would start to grow in their hearts and that they could look back on this conference and preparation for it as one of those "building blocks" in their lives.

Sometimes challenges like this are hard for me.  "Prepare for conference" he says.  Well.... we already do that.  We spend the 15 days before conference reading the last conference talks by the general authorities, learning about their lives, and watching their "special witness" videos.  We hang their pictures in our home.  I have listened to and read and wrote about every conference talk form last conference at least 20 times each.  So when challenges like this are given I wonder, "what more can I do?"  or "am I already doing enough".  So what I chose to do was: We listened to "Saints", we memorized the first vision scriptures, we spent 2 months with FHE lessons on the Restoration, and as a family read Joseph Smith History.  For myself I spent a month doing an intense study of sections 25, 84, and 107, and spent several hours in the temple and doing family history.

When President Nelson said, "General conference next April will be different from any previous conference...it will be not only memorable, it will be unforgettable" I don't know if he had THIS in mind, either way the Lord knew and put those words into his mind and heart.  President Nelson may have been thinking of wonderful talks, videos, and musical numbers - but the Lord knew that our hearts and homes would need this general conference like a thirsty traveler in the desert.  This weekend will be unforgettable.  I can't wait.