Stray Socks and General Conference

Over the years many families create or develop certain traditions for holidays and special occasions.  Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or Mormons, often develop special tradtions and activities surrounding the sessions of the semi annual General Conferences held every April and October where we hear the words of counsel from our prophet and other general authorities of the church.   In our house we have had varied traditions over the years, some including baking of treats such as cinnamon rolls, apple crisp, or brownies, playing General Conference Bingo, working on crafts of handiwork such as crocheting or embroidery, or joining with grandparents or other family members to listen to the sessions, visit, and of course eat. 

One of the more constant of my traditions has been taking some time during the Saturday sessions to sort through my basket of mismatched or stray socks.  For the past decade or so, I have taken to taking rather copious notes on yellow legal pads, rather than trying to do crafts or handiwork, so this fall's sock matching activity took place while listening to the news and programs that are broadcast on TV between the two Saturday sessions of conference.   With only two dear daughters of my six children currently living at home, this task went much quicker than usual this year.  I did throw out a half dozen or so socks that were worn or extremely old, and managed to match up quite a few socks that had just been sitting in the basket since being lost from their mates somewhere in the laundry process.  (there are still a few strays left under the matched pairs . . . hopefully their matches are still in a hamper or under a bed somewhere and have not been eaten by the washer or dryer.) 

Yesterday, as usual, I thoroughly enjoyed and was uplifted by news and announcements and wonderful messages that were given.  I was excited to hear the announcement of two new temples to be built in Tuscon, Arizona, and Arequipa, Peru, and the younger age requirement for missionary service. I loved listening to our local area youth sing in the afternoon session, and watching for their familiar faces to appear on the TV screen.   Every single talk resonated with counsel and advice that is pertinent to me and my life, but the one that resonated most with me was the final talk of the afternoon session where Elder Oaks Pleads for Increased Concern for the Rising Generation.  I don't think it a coincidence that much of what I have read lately has delt with many of the issues of suffering and neglect and abuse of so many of the innocent dear children in today's world. 
Well, today's morning session is about to begin, so I will publish this post and pull out my pad.  If you would like to join with me to view or listen to this weekend's sessions of General Conference, information on times and locations can be found here on the General Conferences website or here on facebook.  Currently summaries of the different sessions and talks can be found here at lds.org.  Welcome to General Conference!

Yellow Legal Pads



In one of my recent Eleven Random Questions Tag posts I shared how I don’t enjoy writing by hand. The typewriter, and then the computer have been and continue to be huge blessings in my life. Although I love receiving handwritten notes and letters, I rarely write them myself any more, something I’m sure that I should do more often. As for trying to write a manuscript by hand, I just would not even try. I’ll jot down a note or two if I’m not near my computer when the muse strikes, but then it goes to the computer the very first chance I get.

Yellow legal pads are somewhat of a Howes family tradition. My DH has a large supply that he uses for the family business, and my father-in-law always used them faithfully. There are several occasions each year when I now faithfully use and love my own yellow legal pads. One of these occasions is coming up this next weekend: The 182nd Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.


(click on this picture to learn more about Prophets and General Conference)

The traditional semi-annual conference of the church is a time when I can literally sit at the feet of prophets of God and take notes about what God wants me to be doing during the next six months. Who else in the history of the world has had this opportunity? Not many. We are so blessed in this day to have a living prophet, called of God. Thomas S. Monson, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has been called of God as a prophet, seer, and revelator. He has counselors and twelve apostles who have also been called to testify of God the Father and Jesus Christ. We are so blessed in this day to have the technology where we can literally sit at their feet wherever we are in the world, and listen to their counsel through the means of radio, television, and internet broadcasts. Within days, transcripts of their messages will be available to the entire world on the church’s website and lds.org, and within a month, these messages will be sent around the world in the church’s Ensign and Liahona magazines.

In the past I have been known to engage in various activities such as baking, cleaning, sorting laundry, embroidery etc. while listening to one or more of the four main general conference sessions. Several years ago I started using yellow legal pads to take notes for myself, and now I find it difficult to do anything else during general conference. If something mentioned particularly resonates with me, I can mark it so that I can go back and review that bit of information, and hopefully put it to use in my life. We are so blessed to have such close access to the word of God directed to us in our day. If you have never listened to a prophet of God speak, I challenge you to take the time to listen this weekend. And you may just want to have a fresh yellow legal pad handy . . .

(Check local program listings for availability in your area, or visit bonneville.info, byubroadcasting.org, ksl.com, mormonchannel.org, or mobile.lds.org for more information.)