BYU Women's Conference

I am pleased to present my first guest blogger, Lindsay Humble Moore. Lindsay is one of my oldest friends and the hostest with the mostest who took in my whole family for 6 nights this week! I wanted to write some of my own thoughts on the conference but was too lazy while I'm on vacation, so Lindsay did it for me. Yeah!

I’m honored to be writing Tara’s first guest blog! She asked me to write about our experience at Women’s Conference this year, and what an experience it was. It’s just amazing to be in the company of so many women, all united by their membership in the Church and their desire to learn more about the Gospel.

The theme of the conference came from Esther 4:14, “Thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this.” The focus was on each of us being the right person, in the right place at the right time. Here are some of the highlights:

The new Relief Society General Presidency introduced themselves and spoke on the topic, “The Errand of Angels is Given to Women.” You are going to love these ladies! They each have such unique backgrounds and talents, and such great personalities. Sister Thompson was particularly memorable. A fairly rotund woman, her first words to the world in her new calling were, “To those of you viewing me on the big screen, I’m the same size live and in person.” She kept us laughing . . . then crying, then laughing. In her own way, each of the women made clear why they’ve been called to serve in the Presidency. Prepare to be inspired by these wonderful women.

Another presentation was entitled, “Let Us Cheerfully Do All Things in Our Power,” taken from D&C 123:17. The fact that those words were written by Joseph Smith from Liberty Jail is inspiring enough, but the speakers gave a lot of practical advice to help individuals and families live more cheerfully – with gladness, joy, hope and love. It’s something I’ve been trying to work on lately, so it was good for me.

Finally, the conference closed with Elder and Sister Holland speaking together to the women of the Church, encouraging us to give ourselves credit for the good we do, recognize our potential, and follow the promptings of the Spirit so that we can do the work the Lord has for each of us “in such a time as this.” Their love for the women of the Church was so powerful, as was the apostolic blessing bestowed on all of us by Elder Holland.

I will admit, as inspiring as the conference was, what I really wanted to hear was an Oprah-style announcement that would solve all of my problems much more easily than applying Gospel principles. Something like, “And all of you will receive a maid! And an on-call babysitter! You will have an hour to yourself every day just to pray and read scriptures!” Even after the Hollands’ talk, I actually left the conference feeling a little overwhelmed -- so many things to work on, and such limited time and energy. Hopefully I’ll find time to do a little more study on the topics covered by the conference and gain more of the inspiration I need.

You can receive your own inspiration by watching selected sessions of this year’s Women’s Conference May 18 and 19 on the BYU Channel. Check your local listings!

p.s. Several service projects were ongoing throughout the conference and on the second morning the director reported the service that had been completed just in the first day. It was unbelievable. As the seemingly endless list of projects was announced, and the huge numbers reported -- 20,000 newborn kits and 25,000 hygiene kits, just for starters – the tears started. It was really touching to consider all the good these women had done in such a short time, and the service the women of the Church perform throughout the world. The committee that spent months preparing service project materials got a long, well-deserved standing ovation in a packed Marriot Center.