Single Adult Conference

I know this picture is blurry, but this is what my 4:30 am looked like.  I woke up to being all wet on my right side.  I realized Autumn had somehow peed all over me, the sheets, the comforter and the mattress pad.  So, I had to get up and start a load of laundry and I told Autumn to lay down on the floor while I found some sheets to put on the bed.  I didn’t think she would, but she did.  I guess it’s payback for all the times I peed the bed.

We were able to go back to sleep, but I woke up at 6:30 to get ready for the day.  I went and picked up Mary An at 7:30 and we headed out to the Single Adult Conference.  We got there at 8:30 and they had a huge breakfast spread of pastries, muffins, and an oatmeal bar w/ berries and other fun toppings.  It was really nice.

The opening session was by Bro. Tony Brigman, who is the 1st Counselor in the Dallas Mission Presidency, and he used to be the official FUN ambassador for Southwest Airlines.  He was really entertaining and had a lot of good things to say about faith, hope & charity.  One thing I really liked is that he opened up the Preach My Gospel book to page 126 and had random people in the audience call out a # between 1-57.  He would read the attributes of living a Christ-like life and would add the words “I Would…”  in front of each attribute.  For example, I would have called out #24 if he called on me which reads:  “I would…be clean and pure in heart.”  My favorite one he read is #48 which reads: “I would focus my efforts on the most important things.”

Anyways, after he spoke, we all slip up and went to our choice of 4 different workshops.  The first one Mary An & I went to was called “Happiness Is A Choice” by Trudy Johnson.  I liked what she had to say b/c she has been divorced, was a single Mom for a while, but was able to find joy & happiness amidst her trials.  She gave us a double sided 2 page handout and it was all really good stuff.

After that, we went to a class called “Earning What You’re Worth” by Julie Poole.  She had an interesting point when she said that work is always going to be a part of our lives.  She said that Adam & Eve were given a job by the Lord (to take care of the garden which is in Genesis 2:15) and were taught the work of the world before they were sent out into the world.  They got “fired” from their first job and had to find another one.  So when we feel picked on when we lose our job, just remember Adam & Eve had the same thing happen to them.

At 12:00, we took a break and had Subway sandwiches and chips and cookies and drinks for lunch.  We met this really fun girl named Heidi at breakfast and paled around w/ her during the morning and lunch.

After lunch, there were 2 more classes.  We went to one about Interpersonal Communications by John Donner which was really good.  He said to say the second thing that comes to your mind, not the first b/c the first is usually something you’ll regret b/c it’s an emotional reaction.

The final workshop was on Personal Revelation and was taught by Gordon Healey.  He had some people in the audience give examples of when they felt the Holy Ghost and wrote words on the board like, “feeling, just knew, burning, whisper, peace” etc as ways that people felt the Holy Ghost.

After the final workshop, they had a 1.5 hour break and people could either go do a service project at a local elementary school by painting parking lines in the parking lot or they could practice w/ the choir that was going to sing at the fireside tomorrow night.  Since I didn’t have a change of clothes and wasn’t going to go to the fireside tomorrow, I didn’t do either.  Pete & I went to WalMart so I could get some Kleenex w/ lotion.  We went back to the church and just and listened to the choir practice until 4:30 when they had the keynote speaker.

It was Kieth Merrill, who was the director of Legacy & The Testaments that are shown at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City.  He spoke for about an hour and a half and it was EXCELLENT.  He had us laughing a lot, but also had some really great spiritual insights.  He told us lots of cool things about working w/ Pres. Hinckley and the First Presidency.  He wrote the story in 18 days and they did 65 screen tests.  The First Presidency did not like any of those actors and so Br. Merrill started a search to find the right actor to play the part.  Lo and behold, the actor is from Denmark, where Bro. Merrill went on his mission.  There are way too many things to write about what he said, but it was very spiritual and touching.

For dinner we had Pei Wei and egg rolls with cheesecake for dessert.  After that, I went and changed into jeans and a nice shirt, b/c I was not about to try and dance in a dress.  They had a little mixer type activity, which was lame so I just went and sat down and watched.  They finally started the dance and I had a great time dancing w/ a group of people.  They played a few slow songs, but there were NO MEN there that I wanted to dance with.  They were mostly in their 60’s.

One of the best parts of the night was right before I left at 10:15.  I sat down at our table to rest for a little bit and there was a lady sitting there.  She started talking to me and I knew right away that she was a kindred spirit and someone I would just connect to.  She was telling me this was her first SA activity b/c her husband of 32 years had died not too long ago.  She said she wasn’t going to come, but a lady moved into her ward just 3 weeks ago that had her husband of 21 years come home one day and say he didn’t love her anymore.  That lady needed a ride to the SA conference, so the lady I was talking to decided to give her a ride.  It just touched my heart so much that when she got up to go dance I wrote her a quick note about how she is an angel in disguise and stuck it under her purse.  It was a perfect way to end the night.

One of the girls made a bunch of these ADORABLE pipe cleaner flower rings and let all the ladies take one home.  I love mine and think it’s such a cute idea.  I got to Mom & Dad’s house at 11:30 and Autumn had gone to sleep just an hour before, so I just stayed there so she could sleep.  Mom said she spent a majority of the day out in the garden helping Dad plant vegetables.  Then, she went over to Curt & Mary’s for about 4 hours and had the time of her life.  She got to feed Baby Avery a bottle, get her fingernails and toenails painted, etc.  I am so glad Autumn had a good day even though I missed her terribly.  It was so nice and refreshing to spend most of the day having my spiritual battery recharged.