The Stake Conference that Wasn't A Stake Conference

So I received an invitiation a few weeks ago to attend a Field Training Meeting last Saturday morning from 8-noon - a training meeting for all Stake Presidencies and Bishops in our mission (9 stakes all together). Training us were Elder David A Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Elders Jay Jensen, Bruce Hafen, and Tad Callister of the Seventy, and our local Area Authority Seventy. While they were in the neighborhood, there were also special meetings called for the missionaries, young single adults, and one for everyone in our Stake.

Everyone in the Stake knows that we have one of the largest two Stakes in a multi-state Area and that our Stake Presidency has been serving a long time - - and that we have a regulary scheduled Stake Conference in November, so RUMORS WERE FLYING! The Stake's going to be divided (the Stake next to us has 6 units, we have 12); attendance was at an all time high. People went home because there was NO PLACE TO SIT and HEAR. (Chairs were set up in the hall!). And as to the changes: ABSOLUTELY NONE! They really came, as they said, to visit with the members while they were "in the neighborhood".

A couple of highlights from the Saturday Training: 1)don't take copious notes - they distract from what is being taught and what you need to learn. What you learn may be totally unrelated to what the teacher is talking about; listen for those promptings that are unrelated (Yes, it's okay to zone out a bit and follow a train of thought). 2)when teaching, don't put people on the spot playing that "guess what's in my head" game: "Brother Jones, would you name the parts of the [fill in blank]?" As soon as a question like that is asked (especially by an Apostle), Brother Jones can't even remember his own name, let alone guess the three or six parts that the teacher is thinking about. That was from the first 15 minutes; and then it got better. I didn't take copious notes.

The Special-Stake-Meeting-that-Wasn't-a-Stake-Conference, was (except for not conducting Stake business - sustainings & releasings), suspiciously like a Stake Conference. We arrived at 9:20 for a 10:00 meeting - cars were already lining the neighborhood streets, the lot was fairly packed, and there was one spot on the street outside my office that we could parallel park in (I drive a small car and I CAN parallel park with relative ease). We walked in, I walked up to one of the ushers and asked for "a table for two", saw that the chapel was already full and went out to the opposite foyer to visit before heading back to the stage for a long distance view of the proceedings. The usher, I'd talked to then snagged me and said that there was room for two on the second row! C&MJ arrived at 10:30 (Jack-Jack was not awake in time) and got the no-room-in-the-inn, chairs in the hallway, and related issues that made it impossible to stay.

A couple of highlights from Elder Hafen's talk: he noted how we have moved over time from a culture of thrift to a culture of debt, reiterating the counsel to get out of debt. He also, referring to the difference between the hireling and the good shepherd (the hireling saves his own skin; the good shepherd saves the flock), said that too many marriages today are between partners that are hirelings - they cut and run at the first sign of trouble; and that we need to be good shepherds to one another.

Other cool stuff, but this post is a day late and too long already.

Mileage: 8.5 Conf; 6.5 EPrep