Things really got shook up this conference.
On a more Home front way, Presley is now formal invited to join me at the General Women's Session. We made it an extra special night with dinner at her favorite spot and coordinating colors. Green. Her pick.
Before the big changes there came a series of challenges to the women of the church. I have heard men have even chosen to take the challenges too and I think that is just so neat. We were asked to finish The Book of Mormon before the end of the year. We were also asked to take a 10 day social media fast. This one really was eye opening. I can honestly say that I didn't see huge changes as I am not on it all the time anyhow. But the change I did see from not scrolling through all the little boxes was a decrease in negative self talk. I am guilty of comparing myself to others. And of course we are all most commonly our harshest critics. I found myself caring less about smile lines and new clothes from Anthropologie. it was good for me for sure. We were also challenged to do temple work in what ever capacity we best can. set a date & stick to it. I feel very blessed to have temple I can see from our windows. We had one less than a mile away in Texas too. But I do remember having to book hotel rooms so that we could attend the temple because it was so far away. I certainly do not take the temple for granted. Its actually a big consideration as we are figuring out what happens next for our family.
The weeks leading up to conference rumors were flying! They were pretty funny and exciting actually. Rumors of shorter Sundays at church, rumors of tithing changes, changes to missionary work, changes to temple sessions, changes to garments. You name it...& it was probably a topic of rumor. in the end a big change in Sunday worship came. We will, as of the new year, have 2 hours of church rather than 3. A lot of people were thrilled right out of the gate at this news. I saw all the things we would loose. I like things to stay steady and constant. Change is not a friend of mine. If I am being honest, which I want to be so that my sweet children can someday see how my testimony moved with me through this life. There are questions and that's okay. When we have those questions we pray, study and practice what has been asked of us. Once we sincerely act on what is asked of us it allows our testimony of the action to take root. This change in block schedule will be no different. We will do it, and see all the benefits to be reaped. The thing I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE about the change is the "Come follow Me" for home study. that hour we will not be in church is to be used in a sabbath appropriate way and at sometime in the week we are to study, as if in Sunday school,, but at home as families and individuals. Sure we do Family home evening, we pray without fail as a family, we sing hymns and we read scriptures, but this change requires us to dig deeper and rely on our own search for knowledge. I LOVE that Rod and I have been required to teach more. Who else would I rather help my children understand the gospel more thoroughly than US?! We have a plan already. I get excited just thinking about it. We are making our formal sitting our "Sunday school room" that way it will feel different and special. We will have our outlined lesson on Sundays right after the 2 hours. We will stay in our church clothes as to help the children realize it is still a time of learning as they had at church before. I love that our Heavenly Father is requiring more of His children. So, changes are hard, but with the hard can come good too.
We didn't do our annual fall conference with our sweet friends the keys and Crosbys this year as the keys had a wedding to attend. We stayed home and it even sprinkled and we had cloud cover on Sunday (so rare here!) so it felt fall-is and we all enjoyed the cozy feel inner home. Even if it was still 90 degrees outside. we just pretended.
It was a wonderful conference weekend.
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