The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holds "General Conference" twice a year, the first weekend of April and the first weekend of October. Actually, General Conference officially begins the last Saturday of March and September, with the General Women's Session. Then, the first Saturday of April and October, there are three sessions of conference, and two sessions on the first Sunday of each month. Each session is two hours. Aside from about 15 minutes spent on auditing and statistical reports, and about 5 minutes spent sustaining Church officers, done during the second Saturday session, each session is filled with words and music to help those watching and listening grow in faith and knowledge of the Gospel, while learning how to cope in the growing chaos prevalent in the world today.
When I joined the Church in 2002, I had DISH Network and watched conference on BYU-TV. Those who didn't have access to BYU-TV had to go to a meetinghouse to watch the satellite broadcast. (Many meetinghouses have a satellite dish specifically for the purpose of receiving the general conference broadcast.) Today, it's streaming online, at lds.org, you can still watch it on BYU-TV, which is also available as a streaming app on Roku, and you can always go to a meetinghouse to watch. I usually watch it at home. I get comfortable in my big recliner, with my General Conference journal in hand, and absorb all the wonderful talks. I have the capability of pausing and rewinding, to make sure I write down exactly what is said, so that I can go back and review later, make notes, and bask in the truthfulness of the spirit-filled talks that pour from my TV.
Like most Church members, I have my favorite conference speakers. My first favorite was Elder Dallin H. Oaks. Over the years, there were other speakers I began to look forward to hearing: President Gordon B. Hinckley; President Thomas S. Monson; Elder Richard G. Scott; President Dieter F. Uchtdorf; and Sister Barbara Thompson.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland is an Apostle for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He became my favorite speaker, in April 2009, when he gave this talk on the Atonement. In 2009, the first Sunday of April was Palm Sunday.
If you don't want to listen to the entire talk, I've pasted here the three paragraphs that touched me to the core:
"Now I speak very carefully, even reverently, of what may have been the most difficult moment in all of this solitary journey to Atonement. I speak of those final moments for which Jesus must have been prepared intellectually and physically but which He may not have fully anticipated emotionally and spiritually—that concluding descent into the paralyzing despair of divine withdrawal when He cries in ultimate loneliness, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46; emphasis added.)
"The loss of mortal support He had anticipated, but apparently He had not comprehended this. Had He not said to His disciples, 'Behold, the hour … is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me' and 'The Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him'? (John 16:32; 8:29.)
"With all the conviction of my soul I testify that He did please His Father perfectly and that a perfect Father did not forsake His Son in that hour. Indeed, it is my personal belief that in all of Christ’s mortal ministry the Father may never have been closer to His Son than in these agonizing final moments of suffering. Nevertheless, that the supreme sacrifice of His Son might be as complete as it was voluntary and solitary, the Father briefly withdrew from Jesus the comfort of His Spirit, the support of His personal presence. It was required, indeed it was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind—us, all of us—would feel when we did commit such sins. For His Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone."
Then, in October 2009, Elder Holland's talk consisted nearly exclusively of his testimony of the truth of the Book of Mormon, expressing why I believe, better than I have been able to.
Again, if you don't want to listen to the talk, read the paragraphs that touched my spirit so deeply that it took my breath away:
"May I refer to a modern “last days” testimony? When Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum started for Carthage to face what they knew would be an imminent martyrdom, Hyrum read these words to comfort the heart of his brother:
'Thou hast been faithful; wherefore … thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father.
“'And now I, Moroni, bid farewell … until we shall meet before the judgment-seat of Christ.' (Ether 12:37–38; see also D&C 135:5.)
"A few short verses from the 12th chapter of Ether in the Book of Mormon. Before closing the book, Hyrum turned down the corner of the page from which he had read, marking it as part of the everlasting testimony for which these two brothers were about to die. I hold in my hand that book, the very copy from which Hyrum read, the same corner of the page turned down, still visible. Later, when actually incarcerated in the jail, Joseph the Prophet turned to the guards who held him captive and bore a powerful testimony of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon. (See History of the Church, 6:600.) Shortly thereafter pistol and ball would take the lives of these two testators.
"As one of a thousand elements of my own testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon, I submit this as yet one more evidence of its truthfulness. In this their greatest—and last—hour of need, I ask you: would these men blaspheme before God by continuing to fix their lives, their honor, and their own search for eternal salvation on a book (and by implication a church and a ministry) they had fictitiously created out of whole cloth?
"Never mind that their wives are about to be widows and their children fatherless. Never mind that their little band of followers will yet be 'houseless, friendless and homeless' and that their children will leave footprints of blood across frozen rivers and an untamed prairie floor. (Joseph Smith, in History of the Church, 4:539.) Never mind that legions will die and other legions live declaring in the four quarters of this earth that they know the Book of Mormon and the Church which espouses it to be true. Disregard all of that, and tell me whether in this hour of death these two men would enter the presence of their Eternal Judge quoting from and finding solace in a book which, if not the very word of God, would brand them as impostors and charlatans until the end of time? They would not do that! They were willing to die rather than deny the divine origin and the eternal truthfulness of the Book of Mormon."
I highly recommend that you listen to these talks, so that you can clearly hear in his voice and see in his expression the intensity of his testimony, to the point that I believe it is difficult to deny that he is speaking truthfully and with conviction. Many years ago, my mother and my husband were arguing about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I got between them and told my husband that he had no idea about how my mother came to believe what she believes and, thus, was not in a position to tell her that her beliefs were wrong or inadequate. I then told my mother that I would not listen to her opinions and beliefs about the Book of Mormon, until she had read it through, prayerfully and with the intent of discovering whether or not it is true.
I first read the Book of Mormon, the summer after my father passed away, and I believed every word without any doubt. I was quite grounded in my beliefs and read it to see if I could find holes in it to disprove it. I could not. In fact, it boosted my faith and belief in Jesus Christ and his purpose. It also answered questions that I had, growing up in the Southern Baptist Church.
I have a strong testimony that the Book of Mormon is, indeed, true, and it is, as it claims to be, "another testament of Jesus Christ." I testify that, should you decide to read it for yourself, you will be greatly blessed, and the Spirit of God will fill your heart and soul with great joy. If you don't like to read from beginning to end, start with the book of Ether, or 3rd Nephi. Those were my favorite books, the first time I read it through.
Wishing you all a glorious Easter celebration!
Teah
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