but really. general conference is my favorite. and not just because i love to be in pajamas all day, but because i learn so much every time and feel so inspired and prepared to better myself and work on my weaknesses. i have had to opportunity to go to at least one session of conference every year for the past two years, and went again this year to the saturday morning session, which was absolutely incredible. i am so blessed to be able to have such a rare and amazing opportunity, to be in the presence of so many men and women called of God. i think i take it for granted and don't realize how remarkable being at conference is until i return each year. but how can one forget such a powerful experience; to be in the presence of our prophet and apostles and feel of the incredible spirit that resides throughout the entirety of the meeting. and the mormon tabernacle choir...... SO AMAZING. ohh don't get me started. i decided that i will be a member of that choir before i die. but really. their sound, pitch, quality, pronunciation, dynamics, emotion, control, and ability to be so perfectly in unison is unbelievable. it is truly an amazing thing to hear live and i recommend if you haven't heard them before, take the next opportunity you can because you will not regret it. their rendition of "Come Thou Fount" that they sang to end the Sunday morning session brought me to tears. they are truly incredible and i could go on for days and days.
so what were your favorite parts of conference? favorite talks, favorite songs, favorite one-liners? everything! well, i'll tell you mine :]
i honestly could write every single word, whether spoken or sang, throughout each session of conference and say it was my favorite because each message was so inspired and powerful that it's hard to pick only a few from the many amazing messages. so i'll try and narrow it down to five (in no particular order because i can't rank one higher than the other, i love them all).
1. Donald L. Hallstrom: The Gospel and the Church.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YReZdNbLBlw
i loved this talk. he talked about the differences in being active in the church and being active in the gospel and how those who fall away may be active in the church, but not in the gospel itself. he gave three ways to help us be active in the gospel: one: deepen understanding of diety, two: focus on ordinances and covenants, and three: unite the gospel with the church. "The Lord wants the members of HIS church to be fully converted to HIS gospel."
2. Jeffrey R. Holland: The Labourers in the Vineyard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYogSVAZZVU&feature=relmfu
Elder Holland is one of my favorite apostles. are you allowed to have favorite apostles? well, if you are, he's mine. he is such and eloquent speaker, always speaking with such power and knowledge and i have never listened to him speak without being overcomeby the spirit. He always has great one-liners that stick with you, and this talk was no different. some of my favorite quotes from this talk were, "why should you be jealous because i chose to be kind," "the formula to faith is to HOLD ON," "surely the thing God enjoys most about being God, is the thrill of being merciful," and my personal favorite "it is not possible for you to sink lower then the infinite light of Christ's atonement shines." what a powerful message with a powerful spirit from a powerful witness of Christ.
3. When President Thomas S. Monson walked in saturday morning for the first session of conference and patted his sweet wife on the head as he passed her. i don't know why, but it made me laugh and just smile. I love that man so much!!!!
"the prize belongs to him, the endures to the end" - Thomas S. Monson.
4. When the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang "Come Thou Fount." that songs has a special place in my heart for multiple reasons. their rendition added to my list of reasons. it was so powerful and moving and words, especially mine, could not do it justice to describe how incredible it was. so listen to it.... :] (this was the recording from 2007, but it's the same version and amazing just the same)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uslytyVrWFw
5. Dieter F. Uchtdorf quoting a bumper sticker. haha that was so awesome and hilarious, but it was perfect. "don't judge me because i sin differently than you." i love that!!! we all sin so who are we to judge? his talk was also one of my favorites. i need to remember to be quicker to forgive rather than hold grudges and remain angry and upset over petty disagreements. also that i need to forgive myself before i forgive others, which is the hardest part for me.
did i seriously already say five things a loved about conference? i haven't even scratched the surface of all i wanted to share!!! Elder Eyring's talk about trials and faith, "trials aren't always for punishment, but for polishing," MoTab's rendition of "Love At Home," Sister Julie B. Beck's talk- "rags to robes," seeing Elder David Archuleta in the MTC choir, and the example he is setting of the importance to serve a mission, for young men especially, Russell M. Nelson's analogy of the big bang theory to a printing store blowing up and producing a dictionary (haha! i'm totally using that), Sister Esplin's talk about teaching kids at a young age the doctrine of Christ, M. Russell Ballard proving me theory and basically saying that young women are more often willing to start eternal families and seek after marriage while men are not putting in sufficient effort (i'm totally going to get crap for that... if anyone even reads this lol) Elder Uchtdorf's two words: STOP IT. i could honestly go on for hours, and i apologize to those of you who are probably annoyed or bored because i basically just restated the entire weekends worth of conference, but i just love it so much.... as you have probably come to understand by now, but i really can't say it enough. I LOVE CONFERENCE.
well i could go on and on about conference and go into detail about what i loved about each talk but i'll spare you. haha. thank goodness for journals, right? ;] i also could talk about all the crazy things running through this brain of mine but, once again, i'll spare you. not because i don't want to bore you, but i have class in about six hours and so i should probably try and battle my insomnia to get at least five hours of sleep so i can function.
okay so i don't actually have insomnia, i just diagnosed myself with it since i never sleep. i actually diagnose myself with a lot of things. i get random headaches and, as of late, migraines, so i diagnosed myself with a brain tumor. i obviously don't have the equipment to take an MRI of my brain, and i probably just get headaches because i never sleep, hence my diagnosis of insomnia, but i am thoroughly convinced i have a brain tumor. a couple of weeks ago i got pretty sick and i still have a cough from it, so naturally i diagnosed myself with swine flu. i don't think that a symptom of swine flu is a lasting cough, or any cough for that matter, but it was kind of a big deal a while ago so i thought that might be a fun thing to tell people. last year i noticed a little bump on my back that was pretty close to my spine and i thought it was the source of my back pain so i went into the doctor to get an ACTUAL diagnosis. you should all be proud i put this one in the hands of a professional. well, turns out it was a lipoma, but i heard lymphoma... so i thought i had cancer. that was a scary ten seconds of my life. but the doctor reassured me that it was just a group of fat cells clumped together, chillin by my spine. (he didn't use those exact words, obviously. if he did, i would be a little concerned... which goes to show why i am not a doctor and why my self diagnosis's are most likely 100% FALSE. insomnia being an exception). is that a fat joke?? whatever. so i then proceeded with my usual self diagnosis and diagnosed myself with an allergy to food. whenever i eat it i break out into fat. awesome. so now i'm an insomniac with a brain tumor, swine flu, almost cancer patient but instead fat girl. and now you probably all just diagnosed me with depression and low self-esteem for calling myself fat. don't worry. i don't actually think i'm fat, i just say it because i'm a girl, and it's what we do. we say we're fat and complain about being fat when most of us aren't even fat. we just say we are anyways because we can. which leads me to my last diagnosis: girls are crazy. argue it all you want but it's a fact of life. girls are legitimately crazy. and i'm not saying that guys aren't crazy, or have the right to call us crazy, because they most definitely do NOT. why? because that would make us more crazy. well maybe it's just me that's crazy... i guess i can't diagnose all girls as crazy when it could be just me... but then again i'm right. girls are crazy. but you learn to love us..... or at least tolerate us :] but this video CRACKS ME UP! these guys depicting girls.... nailed it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gspaoaecNAg&feature=relmfu
"i shared half my bagel with the garbage." "i inhaled a gust of wind on my way to work." haha props to these dudes. wow... so much for not rambling. okay, i'm done.
i would end this quite lengthy post with peace, love, self-diagnosis, general conference, and temple marriage, but thats too long. and i'm not quite sure how sarah would feel about that.
peace, love, and temple marriage.
bffs for LIFE. g3t 0n 0ur l3v3l. <<----- our bestfriend motto. haha but on a more serious note.. 
