Preparing for General Conference

I love General Conference.  I look forward to it every six months and I'm always sad when it's over.  I love seeing the Prophet and hearing his words.  And I especially love listening to the collective body of speakers who have prepared talks for all of us.  

I have noticed in the last two weeks as Conference draws closer that there has been a lot more talk from our local leaders about PREPARING for it.  I don't know if that has always been the case and I've just heard it more clearly this time, or if there is a currently greater push for us to not just have it on in the background but to actually prepare and hear what is being said to us.  Either way, I've heard it and it's sticking.   I plan to be fully engaged in the upcoming Conference.

My efforts to prepare this morning included a visit to lds.org.  My plan was to start with a few chapters in the Book of Mormon and then listen to one talk from last April's Conference.  I decided last week that I would re-listen to all the talks from the previous Conference.  Sometimes I get stuck on one, though, and don't progress very far.  :)  

This is as far as I've gotten today...

"If we teach by the Spirit and you listen by the Spirit, some one of us will touch on your circumstance, sending a personal prophetic epistle just to you."  Elder Holland

I have a testimony of that little quote.  It's just like that thing Kevin Hinckley always says in his Institute classes.  When we bring our stuff to a place where the Spirit will be, we will have direct, relevant, and helpful guidance for our specific and individual trials, questions or challenges.  That has happened to me so many times that I have lost count.  I have come to expect it and I crave opportunities to be where the Spirit is so that I can hear direct answers to my specific questions.  It happens every time.  

I am so happy to prepare for Conference this week and to curl up in my favorite spot on the couch this weekend and listen to every word that has been prepared by those who have been asked to speak.  I hope that they can feel the love and support of all the members of the Church as we anxiously await what they will say.