2009 Women's Conference

Wow! I had the opportunity to serve as a hostess at Women's Conference at BYU last Friday, and that provided me with a free ticket to the whole two-day event. I decided to take a day off work and go to the whole thing. I can't imagine now that I could have missed that! It was the biggest spiritual feast I've had in a very long time, jam-packed with witness after witness that I am a valuable daughter of God, and He desires to help me succeed in the challenges of life. Some of the classes I took:

"A Righteous Army of Women"

"She Looketh Well to the Ways of her Household"

"'More Fit for the Kingdom': Approaching the Lord in Humility"

and the general sessions:

"Conference theme: 'In the Strength of the Lord'"

"Spiritual Strenght in Challenging Times"

"Nourishing & Protecting the Family" (by Julie B. Beck - INCREDIBLE)

and a closing address by Apostle L. Tom Perry.

(I got to sit with the hearing impaired group for a couple of those sessions.)

as well as the sessions I got to hostess:

"A College Degree? Is it Too Late for Me?"

"Let All These Things Be Done in Order": Creating a Climate of Joy and Order"

"Meaningful Prayer: Holy Communication + Consecrated Work" (The section we were hostessing wasn't very full, so they let me go off to one of the service rooms and edge a blanket while watching this closed circuited.)

I'm sure many of these will be re-broadcast, or soon available at BYU Broadcasting. (Editor's note - they're there now, click on the link.) Feel free to call me or ask for more details on any of the classes I went to that sound interesting to you. I need to type all that up for myself so that I can review it anyway.

A concert Thursday night with performers: Hillary Weeks (inspirational singer-songwriter - I especially liked her tribute to the never ending laundry pile: "Climb Every Mountain!") Eclipse (6-male acapella group), Jenny Oaks Baker (violinist - WOW), music from the beautiful Refletions of Christ, and an appearance from Coach Larry Gelwix, the inspiration for the awesome movie Forever Strong. A very interesting combination of a variety of music types, but all spiritually uplifting.

Lots of service opportunities - in fact, you can pick one of the "service learning rooms" in various rooms around campus and listen/view popular live conference sessions while you work on provided service projects. Then Thursday night was an "Evening of Service" from 5-8:30 with lots of bigger service projects set up to work on, (where I learned the coolest never-fail trick for threading quilting needles with yarn.)

During that same time were "Sharing Stations," an awesome "trade-show of service ideas," ideas on a variety of things that we women need ideas on. You can check out their handouts, as well as pictures of of the booths online when they get it posted, (I'm still waiting). One that fascinated me was the display by "moregoodfoundation.org." This is an organization that has been developing dozens of websites in quite a few languages in an attempt to provide internet users with more accurate information on Mormonism. Please check it out! We can find effective tools for sharing our faith with others wherever we are. I picture blogs like Becky's "Whisperings of the Secret" being available on their Mormon Bloggers for others to read and benefit from her scripture study messages. I love their list of ways to share the gospel on the internet. Other booths (there were around 70 booths) that I'm looking forward to getting at their handouts include: "How do You Refill Your Bucket?" "Life Balance--Sink, Swim or Soar," "Primary After Hours" - FHE's for a Year, "Your Presence is Your Best Present." I'll put the links in when they become available.

Being at BYU was a huge plus - I LOVE that campus. It's a BEAUTIFUL place. Sigh. I also got to visit a few friends that work there, including a couple of folks still at BYU Mail Service where I worked for four years when I was a student there. Fun, huh!

If you ever have the opportunity to go to Women's Conference, GO! In fact, I'm taking offers of ladies who want to go with me next year!