Interesting how I wrote last General Conference and here I am again...exactly six months later. I guess I remember we have a blog about every six months...haha.
Just to catch up, we are now living in good ol' Memphis, Tennessee. Long explanation short, Memphis is a little bit different than Provo. Ya know, just guns, shootings, bad guys, and robbers...nothing more to worry about than what we already worried about in Utah. :) Jeff is busy with school doing 8 am - 5 pm. He then comes home and puts in a few more hours studying after dinner. It has been quite the adjustment for us, but four years will go quickly, I am sure. I am busy teaching third grade. I have been surprised that this year has been more time consuming and difficult than my first year. The interesting thing is that I have less students this year than last...and I still am putting in a great deal more of time. It might be due to the commuting. I commute 35-45 minutes there and back daily. The things we do to be in a safe part of town. School starts at 9 and doesn't end til 4. Boo! Yes, research says that is better hours for the young learners...tiring for the teachers though!
I work with the young women at church which I have really enjoyed. I teach three Sundays during the month and rotate around to all the different age groups. I have enjoyed that because I have gotten to know all the girls. I am so impressed with this upcoming generations. I look at them and wonder "Where are the crazy Jills, the crazy KaiLanis, the crazy Kammies?" The girls are SO well mannered and behaved! Way more mature than I was...then again, maybe my friends were just immature and I had no way to avoid it...ha!
We are doing well here. We miss our families...even living 5 hours from Knoxville, we rarely visit Jeff's family. I decided we have to live next to family for the rest of our lives. I want our children to know their grandparents, cousins, etc...and I want to be able to be close to fam too. This is just another page in our story. Maybe I'll write again in April. :)
Friday, October 7, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
General Conference Weekend
This weekend was General Conference. Jeff and I decided that since it was our last conference in Utah, we would go to conference at the Conference Center. We planned to attend the Saturday afternoon session by waiting in the standby line. Everyone that I have ever heard of who did standby got in...well, here is a story of some people who did not.
We woke up and watched half of the morning conference and then headed to Salt Lake with Jeff's brother, Chris. We had to park far away and walk quite a while with all the rush of the day. When we got to the line, we met up with my brother, his fiance, and friends who had already attended the morning session. We got our little number card-450 and 451. Then we waited, and waited, and waited.
Around 1:15 pm a nice gentleman walked up and asked us if we had tickets to conference. We told him we did not, and then he proceeded to give us four plaza seating tickets. Hmm...there were seven of us and only four tickets. We ended up giving the tickets to Brayden and Misty and their two friends. We stayed standby, only to get a text message moments later telling us that the seats were 18 rows away from the front!
And we waited. Yesterday, just seemed to be a lot of waiting. Finally, a man came and told us that there was no more room in the Conference Center. We quickly found our way to a small theater in the north visitor's center where we were 18 rows away from a projection of the Prophet.
As I sat there, I had the thought, "Man...our last time to go to Conference, and we didn't get in. We could have just stayed home and watched it on the couch." I was sulking in self-pity for a few moments when I realized what really mattered. We had spent time together as family and friends making memories of a time when there was "no room in the inn" for us. I thought of how Mary and Joseph must have felt when they needed a place to rest their heads. I then recalled a scripture in Matthew 8:20 of Christ talking to a scribe when he said, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."
I realized quickly why it is so important to make room for the Savior in my life daily. There was no more room for us to attend the session. However, we were able to listen to the same talks and feel of the same Spirit as those in the Conference Center. Yet, am I filling my busy life with meaningful tasks or are these daily tasks taking the room of the Savior in my life? How He must feel when He has suffered for our sins and afflictions and then must wait for us to "find time to fit" Him in our busy schedules...sometimes not being "fit in" at all.
Along with this realization I was reminded of the end of the Joseph Smith movie when the father says to his daughter, "We do not need to meet him (Joseph Smith) to know that he is a prophet." I did not need to sit at the feet of President Monson to know that his words were the words of God. Technology has brought these apostles and prophets into our homes so that all can experience conference. So to all who watched conference in the comforts of their homes, listened in their cars, or who attended the session in person- the words are true wherever you may be and it didn't taking going to Temple Square to realize that.
We woke up and watched half of the morning conference and then headed to Salt Lake with Jeff's brother, Chris. We had to park far away and walk quite a while with all the rush of the day. When we got to the line, we met up with my brother, his fiance, and friends who had already attended the morning session. We got our little number card-450 and 451. Then we waited, and waited, and waited.
Around 1:15 pm a nice gentleman walked up and asked us if we had tickets to conference. We told him we did not, and then he proceeded to give us four plaza seating tickets. Hmm...there were seven of us and only four tickets. We ended up giving the tickets to Brayden and Misty and their two friends. We stayed standby, only to get a text message moments later telling us that the seats were 18 rows away from the front!
And we waited. Yesterday, just seemed to be a lot of waiting. Finally, a man came and told us that there was no more room in the Conference Center. We quickly found our way to a small theater in the north visitor's center where we were 18 rows away from a projection of the Prophet.
As I sat there, I had the thought, "Man...our last time to go to Conference, and we didn't get in. We could have just stayed home and watched it on the couch." I was sulking in self-pity for a few moments when I realized what really mattered. We had spent time together as family and friends making memories of a time when there was "no room in the inn" for us. I thought of how Mary and Joseph must have felt when they needed a place to rest their heads. I then recalled a scripture in Matthew 8:20 of Christ talking to a scribe when he said, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."
I realized quickly why it is so important to make room for the Savior in my life daily. There was no more room for us to attend the session. However, we were able to listen to the same talks and feel of the same Spirit as those in the Conference Center. Yet, am I filling my busy life with meaningful tasks or are these daily tasks taking the room of the Savior in my life? How He must feel when He has suffered for our sins and afflictions and then must wait for us to "find time to fit" Him in our busy schedules...sometimes not being "fit in" at all.
Along with this realization I was reminded of the end of the Joseph Smith movie when the father says to his daughter, "We do not need to meet him (Joseph Smith) to know that he is a prophet." I did not need to sit at the feet of President Monson to know that his words were the words of God. Technology has brought these apostles and prophets into our homes so that all can experience conference. So to all who watched conference in the comforts of their homes, listened in their cars, or who attended the session in person- the words are true wherever you may be and it didn't taking going to Temple Square to realize that.
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