Saturday Evening Session of Stake Conference

This is my report of the Adult Session of Stake Conference, held Saturday, March 15, 2008 from 7 to 9 p.m. I wrote a lot of notes, and it is late so this will not be perfect, but I hope it will strengthen you in some way to have this to read.

First Speaker: Cynthia Christensen, Stake RS President
Assigned Topic: Family Home Storage

Food storage has been important to Cynthia because it was one of the first things she heard the prophet counsel the church to day after she was baptized almost 30 years ago. She watched her sister-in-law carefully add to the family's food storage each week, and then she saw how it sustained her family for several months when her husband lost his job.

Look at the new pamphlet the church has put out: "All is Safely Gathered In: Family Home Storage." The first presidency message in the front of the pamphlet says, in part: "

The greatest resource the pamphlet identifies is the website for provident living, which is full of important information.

There is a new Family Home Starter kit that you can order from the distribution center.

The church is trying to make food storage simpler now than it was 30 years ago.

This stake has its own "Home Storage Center" (formerly known as "the Cannery") in Farmington Hills. Its website is www.homestoragecenter.net

30 years ago people living in the United States didn't have to worry too much about disaster striking us, but times have changed. In a geography class Cynthia took at Eastern last semester, the teacher gave a lecture on sustainability. She told the members of the class that the safest thing for them to do would be to grow a garden and store their own food. Cynthia was touched because that was a message she's heard from the prophet for many years, but to the members of her class it was new and strange counsel. It is wonderful to have a living prophet. Let's listen to and act on his words.

Second Speaker: President Mallory
Assigned Topic: Family Finances

Look at the new church pamphlet "All is Safely Gathered In: Family Finances". It covers five key principles of financial management. The Mallorys have a number of grown, married children who have added to their understanding of financial principles. President Mallory read us letters written by several of the children and their spouses about finances in their new families.

His daughter-in-law Emily wrote that she was raised to believe that you should always spend less than you save (not less than you make), and that you don't buy what you don't need. She admits that as an adult it is not always practical to spend less than you save, but you can come close. Her father would give the children a list of work that needed to be done each morning at breakfast. For some tasks they could earn "a return on their investment of time." Their dad kept all of their money recorded on a spreadsheet in three categories. 10% of their earnings went to tithing, 10% to spending, and the other 80% to savings. The only cash they saw was the money he gave them to pay tithing, which was turned over directly to the bishop. If they wanted money from spending, he would ask them if they were sure they wanted to spend their money on that, and they usually wouldn't. He helped them open savings accounts, and then money market accounts at a brokerage house. By the time of her marriage at age 24, she had a significant portfolio built up, as well as a powerful sense of thrift.

President Mallory's son-in-law, Adrian, wrote about how he and his wife have had to establish a budget, and that it has been a great blessing to them. They married in their late 20s/ early 30s, and were accustomed to having a lot of disposable income. Now they feel that they are protecting themselves from the financial difficulties and fighting that hurts so many couples in and out of the church. They discuss their finances daily. They allocate all of their money at the beginning of each month. They give themselves a small allowance for personal spending each month. They have decided to avoid debt. The temptation to go into debt is always present. It has helped them to cut up their credit cards and know they must save cash before they can buy anything. The Lord has blessed them greatly for putting their financial house in order. President Mallory shared several specific financial blessings they've received, such as a much smaller tax bill than they had expected, a tuition reimbursement they had not expected, a much lower student loan interest payment than they had expected. They see each of these instances as small miracles from God. His daughter said that working with a small allowance each month has been liberating compared to the unlimited spending she was used to before marriage. Now she is more careful in her choices and appreciates the things she does buy much more. A financial planner said that when people set their minds to becoming debt-free, amazing things happen to them. It is like building a testimony...faith precedes the miracle.

Another one of President Mallory's daughters-in-law wrote of following the counsel of two different bishops. The first was the bishop of her ward where a lot of members, including her husband, worked for the auto industry. He told his ward several years ago that they would have much less to fear from the job cuts at Ford, etc., if they would listen to and follow President Hinckley's counsel about saving money and storing food. She did this, and when her husband lost his job, they were greatly comforted by the preparations they had made. Her current bishop has counseled the ward that too many people assume that the Lord will provide for them in their time of need when they don't take the steps to prepare themselves for that time. One way the Lord provides for us is by giving us commandments to follow. Often he strengthens us instead of delivering us from our trials.

Many of us can find ways to bring ourselves into greater alignment with the counsel of our leaders in this area.

Third Speaker: Elder Temple

If we wish to truly follow the Savior, we should be loving other people and developing charity. When we get our finances in order, not only can we take care of ourselves, we can take care of others. Alma 34: 27-28. We need to do our best to be able to help others. Elder Temple's great grandfather, Arthur Winter, was able to join the saints in Utah with the help of the perpetual emigration fund. He paid it back when he could. Brother Temple went from modest circumstances as a child to comfortable ones as an adult. Now he must ask himself what more he can do with the blessings he has received. He feels compelled to be more generous in his fast offerings, and in other donations to the church, such as the perpetual education fund, the humanitarian aid fund, the missionary fund, etc. Galatians 6:10 God asks us to help each other. In his later years, after Beethoven lost his hearing, he wrote his 9th symphony. He was afraid to perform it because he could not hear it, but friends convinced him to do so. After the symphony the audience rose to their feet applauding him, but he could not hear them, and could not see them because he was facing the orchestra. One of the soloists noticed this, came to Beethoven, and turned him around to face the audience and see their approval. Each of us sometimes needs someone to turn us in the right direction. And we can be the person that can notice and turn another.

Fourth Speaker: Elder Costa
One of the hardest things for me to do is to speak English. I am from Brazil, and grew up speaking Portuguese. When I was a mission president in Brazil, I received a new batch of missionaries straight from the Provo MTC. I realized that I would never be able to have intimate conversations with them in Portuguese because their command of the language was so limited. So I decided to study English to better serve my missionaries. I started the next morning at 4:30 a.m., reading the Book of Mormon in English and memorizing 5 new words a day. I did this for three years. Later I learned Spanish in the same way when I was asked to serve as a general authority over the South America South area, which was all Spanish-speaking. I wanted to serve the people there better, and realized I needed to learn Spanish to do so.

I would like to talk about the process of replacing a prophet. I have seen this happen three times since I became a general authority. president Hinckley was buried on a Saturday and the next morning President Monson was ordained and set apart as the president of the church. Replacing a prophet is not like getting a new president or leader of a country. It is not like getting a new CEO for a corporation. It is a very tender process. It shows us that the Lord is a god of peace, of unity, not division. President Monson, like President Hinckley, looks ten years younger now that he is the prophet than he did before. The Lord gives strength to his prophets. I don't know who will become the next Apostle, but I can sustain him already because I know he is the man the lord has prepared to be an apostle. I will raise my hand and sustain him with all my heart.

A member of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles will never retire. His work will continue on the other side of the veil...have you ever heard us release with a vote of thanks an apostle who has passed away? You would see, if you could observe the parking lot where the general authorities park, that they arrive a bit before 7 a.m. and put in a 10 hour day, even the ones in their 90s. In the future it will become rare to have a general authority attend your stake conference. The church is getting so big, and more and more technology will be used in order to give you contact with the brethren. The quorum of the first presidency and the quorum of the 12 apostles have no room for expansion. The expansion in leadership for the church as it continues to grow takes place in the quorums of the 70s. The first quorum of 70 is called for life. The second quorum usually serves for aobut 5 years. The area seventies keep their regular jobs and also do a great work for the church. A seventy is set apart to first testify of the Savior, to study and try to know him. Second a 70 is given apostolic authority, the right to officiate in any assignment they receive from the 12 apostles. Read D&C 107 to find our more about the 70s. The 8 quorums of the 70 are led by the 7 presidents of the 70, of which Elder Costa is a member. He was called at the age of 45 to be a general authority. He needed to learn fast how to do that, but the Lord can teach us and help us learn fast. The Brethren love you and you are in their conversations every day. They are always asking what can we do to bless the lives of our brothers and sisters? We pray in the temple for the members of the church. The Lord is ready to bless each of you. I had a talk prepared, but when I heard the musical number, "O Divine Redeemer" I changed that topic. I want to talk to you about our divine redeemer.

He talked to us about Christ's role in our pre-mortal life. He spoke of his birth and childhood. He told us that like the Savior as a 12 year old boy teaching in the temple, any good deacon in our ward, our own children, know more about the Savior than the ministers of other churches. Before Christ began his ministry he fasted and prayed for 40 days. He refused all the temptations. He won, he conquered. He was not weak and skinny as some artists portray him. He was strong, physically. He could attack his aggressors, he could defend himself, but he did not. Elder Costa read us many passages about the cruel things that were done to him before he was crucified. "In about the 9th hour Jesus cried..." Elder Costa told us to try to meditate upon this verse for an hour. You will have many thoughts. You will cry, too, and you will suffer as you think about the suffering he experienced for each of us. When Jesus asked that the cup could pass from him, one of the things he was most wishing to avoid was the necessary separation from his Father's presence that he would have to experience in order to suffer all things. He would have to experience spiritual death, the separation of our spirits from God's spirit because of sin. Although he did not sin, he still need to suffer and experience this kind of death. He did not want to be apart from his father, he wanted him to be with him, close by during his suffering. According to Elder costa, Christ suffered that separation in the Garden and again on the cross...two times, the worst kind of suffering for him. He gave all of the water and blood in his body, the essence of his life, for us. But nobody could take his spirit from him. He gave his spirit freely into the hands of his father when his work was done. Jesus defined eternal life for us in John 17:3 to know our Father and his son. 1 Nephi 3:7 tells us that god prepares a way for us to do all that is required of us. That way is the church. We need to come to church, be part of the church in order to return to his presence. We also need to have a family. If you will review Lesson 20 in the Spencer W. Kimball manual, you will see that faithful women who are not given the opportunity for marriage in this life will not be denied any blessings. President Kimball was not talking about men. Men need to get married.

Our homes need to have the same spirit as the temple. The temple is a model god has given us on earth for our homes. Think about the kind of voices we use in the temple. Think about the reading material in the temple. Think about the movies we watch in the temple. We need to have the same kind of pure, high quality things in our homes.

When the leaders of the church plan, they are often looking 100 years ahead of our time. Can you imagine what would happen in this city if trucks couldn't enter from one week? There would be no food left in the stores. Look at the price of grain now, and the price 10 years ago. It has gone up dramatically. We don't pay a lot of attention to these things. As the people of the world rise from poverty, they begin to eat different things. They eat more meat. That requires more grain to feed the animals. That leaves less grain for us to eat. Stable economies are going down. Great companies are broken. The world is changing. This is not to say that we need to fear. The future will be glorious for us, if we obey the Lord.

The prophets talk a lot about family. At the beginning of Elder Costa's marriage, he and his wife decided that they would eat together from 7 to 8:30. They would talk. They determined topics for their conversation. We need to learn to say no to our children to keep them from having too many activities. We need to protect sacred family time. Some fathers come home from work and say they are tired and need some time to themselves. When you are a father, there is no time for yourself. All of your time away from work is devoted to your wife and children. You can have time to yourself when you are sleeping. Fathers need to spend time at home with their families. They need to leave work at work and devote themselves fully to their families when they are at home. Home is not an extension of the office.

You are the people the Lord trusts and counts on. I invoke a blessing upon you, the blessing of memory and knowledge of his atonement.