{"id":41018,"date":"2017-04-02T15:59:00","date_gmt":"2017-04-02T21:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=41018"},"modified":"2017-04-02T15:59:00","modified_gmt":"2017-04-02T21:59:00","slug":"notes-last-session-general-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/04\/notes-last-session-general-conference.html","title":{"rendered":"Notes on the last session of General Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Salt<\/a>
A view of some of the buildings at Church headquarters from the Conference Center to their north.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I loved the talks in the final session of General Conference.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

*<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I loved Elder Gary Stevenson\u2019s remarks. \u00a0I was somewhat acquainted with\u00a0Elder Stevenson prior to his call as a General Authority and even before his call to serve as president of the Japan Nagoya Mission. \u00a0(He once gave a tour of the\u00a0ICON Health & Fitness manufacturing facility \u2014 he was the company\u2019s chief operating officer \u2014 to me and a colleague.) \u00a0When one of my sons was called to serve in the Japan Nagoya Mission, I cautioned him, half humorously, \u201cPlease don\u2019t let your mission president down. \u00a0I know<\/em> him!\u201d \u00a0In fact, I spent a few minutes\u00a0with Elder and Sister Stevenson in the Church Administration Building on the day that Elder Stevenson was called as a General Authority. \u00a0I was there for a committee meeting. \u00a0It was just prior to April 2008 General Conference. \u00a0He had already<\/em> served as a mission president, and the timing was, umm, suspicious. \u00a0Ominous, maybe. \u00a0We chatted until Elder M. Russell Ballard came out and invited the Stevensons to join him in his office. \u00a0I called my son that evening, telling him to be sure to watch Conference. \u00a0\u201cYour mission president is toast<\/em>,\u201d I said. \u00a0Then, in October 2015, when Elder Stevenson was announced as a new member of the Twelve, I again called my son, who had been predicting for years \u2014 even in letters from Japan \u2014 that his mission president would someday become an apostle. \u00a0\u201cI told you so,\u201d he said, simply.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I was touched by Elder Stevenson\u2019s accounts of guidance and comfort from the Holy Spirit. \u00a0I have, myself, had to rely more times than I would have liked, in times of deep personal loss over the past decade and a half, on that comfort.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

*<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I got a real kick out of Elder Joaquin Costa\u2019s candid account of his own conversion. \u00a0I hope that many investigators will profit from his story.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

*<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I very much liked Elder D. Todd Christofferson\u2019s talk, and I liked his citation of this excellent article: \u00a0\u201cHey progressive elites! \u00a0It\u2019s time to preach what you practice.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 I strongly recommend a reading of the article.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

*<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I also very much appreciated Elder Quentin L. Cook\u2019s closing remarks.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

*<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Okay. \u00a0So I liked all<\/em> of the speeches. \u00a0There weren\u2019t any that I didn\u2019t like.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

*<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Are you aware that there are places online where embittered critics of the Church obsessively comment on General Conference, mocking the speeches and the speakers, and looking for evidence of the general stupidity and the defective personalities of faithful members? \u00a0(Lucky you, if you\u2019re not.) \u00a0The cynicism is, sometimes, utterly breathtaking. \u00a0It\u2019s a very weird phenomenon, and, from my perspective, it\u2019s not only remarkably ugly but deeply sad. \u00a0It is, moreover, a striking illustration of 1 Nephi 8:26-28<\/a>\u00a0and an answer to the question posed in Alma 14:21<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 I loved the talks in the final session of General Conference. \u00a0 * \u00a0 I loved Elder Gary Stevenson\u2019s remarks. \u00a0I was somewhat acquainted with\u00a0Elder Stevenson prior to his call as a General Authority and even before his call to serve as president of the Japan Nagoya Mission. \u00a0(He once gave a tour […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nNotes on the last session of General Conference<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    I loved the talks in the final session of General Conference.   *   I loved Elder Gary Stevenson's remarks. \u00a0I was somewhat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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