Sunday, May 5, 2013 - Sunday at Holts home ward stake conference Kwamashu Ward

Today was Stake conference. The stake center that we went to last night was too small for all the wards to attend, so today we went to the Kwamashu ward and watched the stake center through an internet hookup. The ward was very nice and we heard that their building was more in the center of their township at one time, but every Sunday someone would come in and rob them, so the church gave the building to the community and built their chapel in a safer area. Elder Kyle said that probably didn't do much for sacrament attendance...Ha. There were several young men standing at the entrance to the chapel and they acted like a welcoming committee and shook all of our hands. Another Elder from America (the only white elder) also came up and shook our hands. He was from Gilbert, AZ most recently, but actually from Houston, TX (a double whammy..Ha). The people of the ward were very friendly and the Holt's, who we went with knew them all, because it was their home ward. It made us want to find a ward to call our own, but next weekend we are traveling again, so we'll hopefully find a ward after our return that we can go to more than once.

There were no pews in this church, just rows of chairs, but they were padded, so it was comfortable. There was a 3-year-old little girl in front of us that kept looking at me, so I started making faces and she was so cute, as the tried to make the faces and not laugh.

The service itself was really good and we had a good feed from the stake center. There was a very powerful talk from an articulate young woman about agency and how much she gains from being a member in the church. She talked about how a friend of hers wrote her an email telling her she was brainwashed and she wrote her friend back and told her friend that she was offended that she would think that she did not exercise free agency. Another friend that she had lunch with asked her how she was so sure of herself and had so much self esteem at such a young age. She bore her testimony and told her friend the church was the reason she is who she is. It was an amazing talk.

The stake president talked about having hope in the face of trials. He used the analogy of a true story about a group of friends that were on a boat going to an island when the weather got really bad and tossed the boat about. One of the men fell overboard, but they didn't discover him missing until 24 hours later (because everyone was hanging on for dear life). They figured he could not have survived the storm in the ocean that whole time, so he must have perished, but he tread water for 28 hours and was bitten by small fish and surrounded by sharks before he was rescued by a boat passing by. He talked about how the man must have thought it would be easier to just sink and drown during the ordeal, so what kept him going?  And, what keeps us going when we have trials and things get really difficult...the promise that if we endure to the end, we will have blessings in Heaven. That the Atonement meant that Christ suffered in advance for all of our trials and how important it is that we don't give up, just as he did not give up, because his atonement and his promise of blessings is the hope we need to keep going. It was a really great talk.

The Mission President talked about how he likened himself to Parley P Pratt, because when someone gave him the Book of Mormon in college, like Pratt he started reading and couldn't stop. He skipped classes all week and stayed home and read. At night the Stake Missionaries would come over and he would keep them up until midnight asking questions and they had to go to work the next day. He expressed his love for the Book of Mormon and gave examples of how the Book of Mormon can help with any problem you may be having. He named several problems we might have and then quoted the scripture in the Book of Mormon that addressed it. It also was a great talk.

Sister Von Stetten talked about how impressed she is with the young elders and told of an experience where the new missionaries were staying at the mission house until their apartments were ready the next day, but there was a delay and so she took them with her to the large mall to buy sheets for their beds. She told us that the elders knew they were not allowed to go to the 'big and spacious' building, which was actually the Pavillion Mall and when they got there, the missionaries said, "This doesn't look like the big and spacious building. It just looks like a mall." Ha. They went to the linen store where she has purchased many sheets for the missionaries and knew the sales lady very well. She said that often the sales lady would tell her that she had lots of problems. When she saw the young elders, she said, "Oh, I see you've brought your young and handsome soldiers with you." She then asked a few questions about why she kept buying sheets and eventually one of the elders stepped forward and asked her if she wanted to know how she could be happy. He then proceeded to tell her about the Gospel. Sister Von Stetten said that she learned a valuable lesson that day and she felt pretty bad that she never tried to tell this woman about the Gospel herself and how it could help her feel the peace she was seeking. She also learned how amazing these young Elders are and how the Spirit guides them in what they do. She urged us all to be like that and not be afraid to offer such a wonderful gift to those we come in contact with that are willing to listen. All in all a great Stake Conference.

We filed out, shook a lot more hands

We came home and watched another session of General Conference (Priesthood session). It was a very good day.