One thing that has helped me to recognize the Spirit is keeping a spiritual/scripture journal. Recording and pondering the spiritual things in my life helps me to better recognize and remember them.

Thanks for the post. It’s a good reminder – to have the spirit, and to teach our little ones to have it, too.

I think that when it comes to being civil (or not!), we forget Christ’s message to the pharisees: “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye.” (Luke 6:41). We’re so obsessed with correcting other people, we tend to overlook our own …

However, the fact that a person disagrees with the legal outcome of a vote does not give them a right to retaliate against those that voted for that outcome. To justify a personal attack against a person for their vote is to destroy democracy, for you cannot have a democracy where people cannot vote according to their beliefs. If a group disagrees with a vote there are plenty of legal and respectful ways to react without resorting to violence or personal attacks, which only result in a breakdown of the founding principles of our country.

After the election when Prop. 8 won, it became clear the gay community could no longer get married, and those who were legally married had to wait and see what would be decided by the Supreme Court.

Elder Oaks was out of line for making it look like the No on 8 were uncivil. They had every right to raise hell since there now is legal discrimination written in the State Constitution against gay marriage. AFTER IT WAS LEGAL!

Before I start sounding like some spam commenter, I’ll answer your question.

My favorite moments of conference: obviously, Jeffrey R. Holland’s talk on the Book of Mormon. He just always says the most powerful things. I love his talks.

I also loved Elder Bednar’s talk – about family. I thought that he gave such wise advice. Of course, I also loved Elder Uchtdorf’s talk. Anyways.

I still need to re-read the talks. It is amazing what is learned when reading them.
Thanks again for this post!

I am a Las Vegas-area native and moved to Utah just after my 18th birthday, and have been in Salt Lake for 4 years this week. While I do not represent all single women, I hope what I have to say can help you in some way connect with those sisters in your ward who don’t yet have the joys of motherhood of marriage to attend to at this time in their lives.

So, based on this background, a few thoughts:
- No labeling: As women in the gospel we should not label each other as “married” or “single”, regardless of the side of the fence we’re sitting on. It does a complete disservice for women everywhere. We’re all women, created in God’s eyes and the beauty of Eve and our Heavenly Mother. End of Story.

- Equality: As US citizens we profess to uphold the “guilty until proven innocent” law and other civic and civil equality rights. We should do the same for the women of the church. Treat each how we would want to be treated: no labels, no casting each other out of our midst, no beguiling, no backbiting, etc.

- Girl Time: I used to be the world’s biggest tomb boy. Give me a bat and a ball or something to swing a hammer to and I was happy. Then 17 came and the girly girl came out, and I learned to appreciate the explicit need for women to spend quality time to together. Just because a women is unmarried does not mean she doesn’t want to be around other women. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t know how to be around children or married couples. We work every day with men and women; we are aunts, sisters, daughters… We know what it means to be a woman and we have strong testimonies of the gospel and Jesus Christ. We have many things to talk about, we each have things to learn from each other. So, teach each other; learn from each other. Just be there. Be a true friend.

That’s all I have for now… I hope this helps you and those sisters in your ward who need it as well.

Ciao,
- Ash

It is also true that many bishops go on to have a stake calling, but the simple fact that there are fewer stake callings than there are ward callings means that most bishops will not end up going to a higher and higher level. Stake callings are usually most often filled by former bishops, but the fact that you are a former bishop does not mean that you will receive a stake calling. Even if they do, they will never make any money doing so. Only a very very few are ever called to a full time general authority position. What I was trying to say is that no one would look down on a bishop if he were “demoted” to what is basically the most undesirable calling the whole church (depending on who you talk to) – it is even a common occurrence.

I also do not mean to suggest that no church leaders have a background of wealth or education. I am just saying that the hiearchy of the church is set up in such a way that you will not gain much wealth or power simply by preaching the gospel. Even with the structure, though, there are still people who abuse their positions for material gain or other forms of power. although I feel safe saying that this isn’t very common. What I hope is that we can learn to be more like Ammon, and serve God with no thought for ourselves. Ammon did not have a hiearchal structure that mandated that he not benefit financially from his mission – yet he chose to forsake his right to the throne, and to have the Lamanites he taught always look to God when he could have easily set himself up as their king. Ammon is a great example of what makes a great leader, and I’m sure many of our church leaders would make the same choices as Ammon given the chance.