My Thoughts on Stake Conference

Stake conference resulted in the reorganization of our stake presidency.  I attended the temple session, which was very well attended. President Crockett spoke of his observations of the temple, and it reminding of our role as children of our Heavenly Father.  He compared our relationship of parents to our children to that of Heavenly Father and mother to us, and how there are many similarities, and the temple teaches us of these. 
Saturday was the adult session.  It started with President Crockett giving a farewell address.
This was followed by the wives of all the members of the stake presidency also giving testimonies.  During this, a brother in the audience had a grand mal seizure.  Several members of the stake with medical experience intervened.  We waited for a time while music played. and the ambulance came. 
After this brother Nathan McGuire spoke.  He is a member of our ward.  I thought he was a member, but I thought wrong.  He was baptized a couple months ago.  His testimony and story were very moving.  Many people had the sniffles, including Sheri and myself.
We also had two Seventies talk.  Elder Sabin who is an area seventy and and Elder Haleck who is in the Second Quorum of Seventy.
Elder Sabin shared stories from his life, addressing four life questions, statements, "What if it is true?" "She said yes?"  "I'm a father." and "No one really dies."  From this he talked of seeking your own personal testimony, that marriage is more than just going to the alter, but takes work, parenting also takes positive effort.  It is not all being liked by our children, but being able to guide and counsel.  It does not end when they leave the home, and finally, facing life after the death of a loved one.  A couple of his children had lung disease, and he shared going through the process of death, knowing that death is not death, but moving onto a different realm.  He shared and experience his grandfather related of when he came home from his mission.  Grandfather said, "This is like when my mother died."  He explained that he had seen people from beyond the veil waiting for his mother's passing, and greeting her, just as they were greeting the returned missionary.
Interestingly Elder Haleck shared a similar experience.  He was apprehensive of his son serving a mission in an inner city environment (Cleveland).  When he was set apart the Stake President said, "You will have a special guardian from beyond the veil."  When he returned home, his son related how they often went through very bad neighborhoods, but it seemed no one even saw them.  He explained he felt the influence of his grandmother protecting him.  "You know grandmother would never let anything bad happen to me."
Sunday we were presented with a new Stake Presidency.  President Crockett again bore his testimony, as did President Smith.  Also President Norman and President Brown and finally President Maxfield.
The rest of the meeting was presented again by Elder Sabin who talked about fathers.  His own father, after being a missionary in Washington, served in the Navy during WWII.  He was promised if he remained true he would be uninjured.  One time he had a sense to get out of his bunk.  He jumped up, and got behind a smoke stack when a bomb struck where he had been, sending shrapnel all over.  Through his example, he influenced a couple ship mates to be baptized. 
Elder Haleck invited those who had been to the temple, but were not currently holding recommends, to correct this situation, and take advantage of the keys restored by Elijah.  He also talked about missionary work, and helping the missionaries with inviting.  He said missionaries do not go out alone.  They go out with the influence of their parents and their home wards.  He suggested that as we would like people to help our missionaries, we should be helping those who are serving in our wards.
I pray for our missionaries, and I am now seeing the great promises of working in the kingdom for the last time.  The Lord has blessed our efforts, but as the Bishop pointed out this is the result of a long season of working hard and preparing for the harvest, which we are now seeing.
Choir sang for the session Sunday, "The Lord is my Shepherd" and "Come Let us Anew."  For the Saturday adult session a soloist sang