Preparing for General Conference

When I was in institute I learned a very powerful technique for learning from General Conference from one of my teachers. He taught us that a week prior to General Conference we should pray for the speakers but more so pray for the Lord to prepare our hearts for General Conference. He taught us that as we prayed we should ponder our life and write down something(s) that we are going through that we hope the messages in conference will help us with. Then to pray that we will hear through the Spirit during conference those things that will help us with the thing(s) we wrote down.

Then when we are listening to the talks, think about the questions in your heart. The Spirit will teach us either directly through words spoken by the speakers or indirectly in a way that the answers to our prayers will come by the Spirit in course of the conference. Along with taking notes if the things we learn and feel impressed to write down, take notes of the things that you hear and feel that are an answer to those questions.

I invite you to try this exercise this conference. If this is already something you do then I hope this will just serve as a reminder and a tool to do so again.

With that in mind the Church has also given us direction on how to prepare for General Conference.

Watch this video here:

And then go to the below page and read through the steps and suggestions given.

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/prepare-for?lang=eng

May God bless you with answers to your prayers.

What is it like in a Mormon church?

People often think that odd and strange things go on in our church meetings. I believe this adds confusion about what we believe.

To understand a book one needs to read it. A great way to start reading the Mormon church is to attend a meeting.

There are many churches all over the world. Some of them make people feel welcome and others don't. I often see in front of some churches signs inviting and welcoming people to come in. While there aren't such signs in front of Latter-Day Saint chapels, everyone is welcome to attend.

When I was serving as a missionary in Portugal I made it a point to visit the churches in the areas I served. I had many different experiences while visiting other churches. In some churches I was asked to leave and not return but in contrast a few times I was asked to give a sermon.

People sometimes mistakenly think that they cannot attend our meetings freely and openly. This may be because Temples are open only to members of the Church who are fully engaged in their faith. Chapels are not the same as Temples. Everyone can come in!

So I say, "Come on in, you are most welcome!"

With the Mormon church getting more attention lately, the LDS newsroom published the following article about our church meetings. Have a read:

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/what-to-expect-at-church-services