October 5, 14-Conference!!

Hello Everyone!!!

Conference was amazing wasn't it?!?! I loved it!!!

I thought it was interesting how the talks seemed to have more of a focus on our personal spirituality. We were taught well about revelation and order in the Church. The ordinance of the Sacrament. The crucial need of the Atonement. And also not to be ashamed of what we believe.

So I planned on sharing all the things I liked but that would take me forever. So I think I will just skip to some thoughts I had:

• At the beginning of Conference President Monson prayed that as we listened and paid attention to the messages that "hearts will be touched and faith will increase" 

At some of our training President Weidman has talked about increasing faith. He asked "How do we measure or gauge if faith has increased?" He answered "Increase of faith is measured by changes in our behavior. Faith leads us to act. If nothing changes as a result of a training, that training has failed no matter how strongly the Spirit was felt."

• At the end of Conference President Monson again stated "Hearts have been touched and faith has increased".

As we have been reading in the Book of Mormon. I came across something that had never noticed. It is talking about Alma and how because of his calling as High Priest the Spirit was able to testify to him the understanding of the people. That way,as he taught he would be able to know if they were understanding what was being taught. I think that President Monson has that same ability. The fact that he stated that "Hearts were touched and faith was increased" suggests that he felt that the church members had accepted the messages and had made plans to change. It is through our changes that we show Heavenly Father that we have accepted the invitation to change and become better. I encourage all of you to think about conference and choose how you are going to change. Don't make all those hours a waste. Do something about it! The scriptures talk a alot about hearing and hearkening. As I have come to understand the difference between these words I realize the importance of acting. Lots of people hear the word but only those who truly believe and desire to follow hearken. Hearkening requires action. It  requires changing our actions to be better. Last night we met with some ward members and he said something really cool. He said "After doing those changes for a while, they become our behaviors, and after they are our behaviors for long enough, they become our character". I thought that was pretty wise.

As I thought about this this morning I found some quotes:

•  "To repent is to turn, to change, to re-evaluate, and to recommit. Each time the Lord or his prophets command repentance , they are saying 'You have now been given another chance-another opportunity to change.' " --John Bytheway

• "Repentance is a divine gift, and there should be a smile on our faces when we speak of it. It points us to freedom, confidence, and peace....the gift of repentance is the cause of true celebration." --Elder D. Todd Christofferson

• "There is danger in the word someday when what it means is 'not this day.''Some day I will repent.' 'Someday I will forgive him' 'Someday I will speak to my friend about the church' 'Someday I will start to pay tithing' 'Someday I will return to  the temple' We will weep, and God will weep, if we have intended to repent and serve Him on tomorrows which never came or have dreamt of yesterdays where the opportunity to act was past. This day is a precious gift to God." --President Henry B. Eyring 

• "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve" --Joshua

Anyways just some food for thought there :)

These are some boys from our area and their bearded dragons!! One of them jumped on my shirt and I freaked out! It was so funny! haha

The sunsets here are so pretty! I love it!

I love you all so much!! Thank you for everything. Your love, support, and prayers.

Love,
Hermana Montgomery