A friend at work asked me what this conference is that takes over Salt Lake City twice a year. She was surprised that people come to town from out of state and even more amazed that people would come from other countries. She inquired after the reason for such a gathering. Knowing that she is a practicing Catholic I made a loose analogy between the Pope coming to town and listening to the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Would she travel to the next state to go listen to the Pope? This made a little more sense to my friend and she walked away to attend to work matters.
A few minutes later, she came back and asked me what we talk about during the conference. A simple answer came to mind: We talk about ways in which we can be better people. The messages are useful to all with a few talks directed toward LDS listeners, specifically.
I then invited her to listen, telling her the times of the meetings.
Perhaps she did, but probably not. The exchange helped me to focus better on this conference, though. What messages were there that specifically spoke to LDS listeners and what messages catered to a more broad audience?
I found that the majority of the speakers addressed the world, not just the LDS population of the world. They spoke on faith, charity, loving others, and facing adversity with courage. Many other themes were addressed over the two-day conference, of course, but those were the themes that stood out to me. They are the things with the Lord whispered to me as I quietly made time to hear Him.
Over the next few months, I intend to listen and read these talks over again; to comb them for wisdom and bite-sized nuggets of peace. The turmoil in my heart is calmed by the words of real life prophets.
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