October 2020 General Conference

 This October, I went into General Conference with one major life problem, two questions, and the prayerful intention to notice themes. We often re-read General Conference talks after they’re given, but rarely do we experience the messages as a whole. So, during Conference weekend, my goal was to keep my eyes, ears, and spirit open to themes - What words or phrases did I notice repeatedly? What is the Lord trying to teach me with that? 

I also prayed to hear promptings and guidance - what do I need to study and do after Conference? 

I don’t have children yet, so my home is pretty chill. I took LOTS of notes during each session, writing down phrases or ideas that stood out to me - from the speaker’s mouth and from the Holy Ghost. 

At the end of each session, I went through my notes:

• I marked invitations to study certain topics or materials (like the promises to covenant Israel or manual on financial self-reliance)
• I marked promptings of things to DO (like get a temple recommend, do more family history, etc)
• I marked words of phrases that appeared in my notes multiple times, and made a list of that session’s themes. 

I did this after every session. So on Sunday afternoon, I had five lists of things to study and do, and themes. I combined all this into a big chart. This chart is my focus board for the next six months - what to study, how to learn, what to do. 

I felt, as I watched Conference, that it was just so rich. I felt like there was so much information and inspiration and guidance, and so much that I missed just listening to talks once! So my hope is to work through each of the themes I noticed, studying them in the General Conference talks and scriptures. 

Some of the themes I noticed were:

• Become like Christ, be transformed
• Press forward, be diligent, by small and simple means
• Unity (many references to Enoch and 4 Nephi)
• Christ as the source of peace, joy, and hope
• Benefit of afflictions and trials (blessings, increased faith, exaltation)

So over the next 6 months, I’ll be studying and compiling quotes and insights and (hopefully) sharing here!