As I mentioned before in my blog post, Tilling the Earth, our stakes were reorganized this past Sunday. Being very pregnant, I was planning on letting my husband attend the conference while I stayed home and kept my very swollen feet up, but I decided at the last minute to go. After all, it was going to be downtown at the tabernacle and Elder Ballard, one of the apostles was speaking. I never like to pass up an opportunity to hear, in person, an apostle of the Lord speak! So, I decided to go.
I learned two things. First, that I understand now why they built the conference center. I can’t imagine all the thousands of saints that spent two hours sitting on those hard, uncomfortable benches for so many general conference addresses. Plus, it was hot in there! Having two kids crawl all over me, while 9 months pregnant was quite the challenge. I did love being in the tabernacle though. It is such a historic building, and to think of all the prophets that have spoken within those walls is truly humbling. But, why did they make the benches so hard?
Second, I learned something a little more serious. I learned that if we have faith, that there is not much to worry about. I mentioned before how everyone in my ward was engulfed in speculation over this change. And, in reality, they just added two wards to our stake, and nothing happened to our ward at all. This is not to say that it won’t down the road, but in reality, there is not much of a point in worrying, when it is all in the hand of the Lord anyway. I’m glad this change took place, but we were counseled to stay strong, lift others up, be full of the spirit, and try our best to make the church a strong presence in the heart of the church headquarters. It seems that was the biggest concern of the church leadership. That is, that right here in the middle of Salt Lake City, the headquarters of the church, there seems to be a dwindling of church population. Their hope is that in reorganizing these stakes, the stakes will become stronger, and in turn, we will be able to build up the church in this area again. And, I have faith that they know what they’re doing.
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