General Conference April 2008

I had the opportunity of attending General Conference this morning and was so happy that I did. The spirit that is present there is truly something one can never forget. I was so used to seeing President Hinckley walk in waving his cane that it caught me off guard as I watched our beloved prophet President Thomas S. Monson walk in waving his hand. :) I have no doubt that this man was called of God, and that he is now our new prophet.

The session was amazing, and it got even better as Ann and I left the conference center. Outside of the conference center was a man holding a sign up that said, "FREE HUGS". He had a black suit on, a gray scarf, and a top hat- I thought he may have been Jewish at first, but regardless of his religion, I thought it was so neat to see someone outside of the conference center holding a sign up that stood for nothing short of love. I watched many random people run up and hug this man, laughing and smiling, only a few steps away from protestors on the corner. There are such wonderful people out there and this man was certainly one of them. Whoever you are, thank you for your example!!!! :)

Ann and I proceeded to walk towards our car where our Dad was waiting to pick us up, and a nice man had asked us for a ride to the airport. While driving him to the airport, my family was blessed in realizing the strong testimony that this man had. A black man from Nigeria, he traveled his way into Salt Lake City for the Sunday morning session of conference. "It is every Nigerian's dream to see the conference center and the Salt Lake Temple," he said. "I have a family of four boys and a wife, who unfortunately could not make it, but we are working as hard as we to get them here in October." In Africa, there are 38,000 members of the church, and in Nigeria where he lives, there is a newly built temple there. Listening to this man talk about his love for the church, and about his dreams of attending conference, made me realize how often I take Salt Lake City for granted. I think I pass by the conference center and temple at LEAST once or twice a week, and to think that people will fly millions of miles to even SEE the temple or conference center astounds me. Wow... it seems I lack that great of faith. May we all remain grateful to our Heavenly Father for the numerous blessings we possess.