What Shall We Do? by Neill F. Marriott

<Quotes>

Nurturing Ourselves: the first child of God we must build up in the restored gospel is ourselves. Emma Smith said, “I desire the Spirit of God to know and understand myself, that I might be able to overcome whatever of tradition or nature that would not tend to my exaltation.”3 We must develop bedrock faith in the Savior’s gospel and move forward, empowered by temple covenants, toward exaltation.

Love and Effects: Love is making space in your life for someone else

Mother (as verb), Love: I believe that “to mother” means “to give life.” Think of the many ways you give life. It could mean giving emotional life to the hopeless or spiritual life to the doubter. With the help of the Holy Ghost, we can create an emotionally healing place for the discriminated against, the rejected, and the stranger.

Testifying of Truth: We also build the kingdom when we speak up and testify of truth. We follow the Lord’s pattern. He speaks and teaches with power and authority of God. 

Revelation and Holy Ghost: Personal revelation from the Holy Ghost will prompt us to learn, speak, and act on eternal truth—the Savior’s truth. The more we follow Christ, the more we will feel His love and direction; the more we feel His love and direction, the more we will want to speak and teach truth as He did, even when we face opposition.

Living Higher Standard: Being distinct and different from the world will draw some criticism, but we must anchor ourselves to eternal principles and testify of them, no matter the world’s response.

Become Christlike: When we ask ourselves, “What shall we do?” let’s ponder this question: “What does the Savior do continually?” He nurtures. He creates. He encourages growth and goodness. 


<Scriptures>

• L. Tom Perry, "United in Building the Kingdom of God"
• Matthew 6:38
• D&C 88:12-13
• Moroni 7:16-18

<Thoughts>

Her talk is to me a full of miracles that mothers bring to our lives. It is just amazing to think about how great our mothers are. We build the kingdom of God but naturing, loving and sharing the truth with our own testimonies.

He Asks Us to Be His Hand by Sister Cheryl Esplin

<Quotes>

Jesus and His Example: Jesus not only taught us to love, but He also lived what He taught. Throughout His ministry, Jesus “went about doing good” and “entreated all to follow His example.” He taught, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.”

Christlike Attribute: True Christlike service is selfless and focuses on others. 

True Service: All of us can incorporate some service into our daily living. We live in a contentious world. We give service when we don’t criticize, when we refuse to gossip, when we don’t judge, when we smile, when we say thank you, and when we are patient and kind.

<Scriptures>

• Jeffrey R. Holland, "Where Justice, Love, and Mercy Meet"
• Acts 10:38
• Thomas S. Monson, "What Have I Done for Someone Today?"
• Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Providing in the Lord's Way"
• Matthew 22:37-40
• 1 John 4:8
• 3 Nephi 14:9-12

<Thoughts>

Even though her talk was full or quoting other people's talk, it was inspiring. While I was reading, it reminded me of a few things:

1. Christlike person looks outwards, a natural man looks inward
2. Service brings humility in our hearts
3. Service reminds us of Christ who serves everyone
4. When we have some evil thoughts, we should serve others

I Am a Child of God by Elder Donald L. Hallstrom

<Quotes>

Earthly Identity: "Here on earth, we identify ourselves in many different ways, including our place of birth, our nationality, and our language. Some even identify themselves by their occupation or their hobby. These earthly identities are not wrong unless they supersede or interface with our eternal identity - that of being a son or a daughter of God."

Trials in Lives: "In real life, we face actual, not imagined, hardships. There is pain - physical, emotional, and spiritual. There are heartbreaks when circumstances are very different from what we had anticipated. There is injustice when we do not seem to deserve our situation. There are disappointments when someone we trusted failed us. There are health and financial setbacks that can be disorienting. There may be times of question when a matter of doctrine or history is beyond our current understanding."

Our True Identity: (Elder Hallstrom sharing story about the conference in Liberia - after referring "How Firm the Foundation"...) We live in a world that can cause us to forget who we really are. The more distractions that surround us, the easier it is to treat casually, then ignore, and then forget our connection with God. The Saints in Liberia have little materially, and yet they seem to have everything spiritually. What we witnessed that day in Monrovia was a group of sones and daughters of God who knew it!"

<Scriptures>

Hymn 85: How Firm a Foundation
Hymn 301: I Am a Child of God
The Family: A Proclamation to the World

<Thoughts>

Here are a few thoughts I had as I was reading this talk:

1. I am a son of God
2. Understanding eternal identity of ourselves help us overcome obstacles in our lives
3. Knowing who we are help us serve others
4. Learning our true identity that we are children of God helps us gain our faith and testimony that we say "I'll never, no never, no never forsake!" 

A Child’s Guiding Gift by Sister Mary R. Durham

<Quotes>

The roll of the Holy Ghost: "How do we follow the example of this father and kick off some of the weight of the world we carry, so we can keep our children's hands and our own worried minds above the water? How can we, as Paul counseled, "lay aside every weight"? How can we prepare our children for the day when they can no longer cling to us and our testimonies - when they are the ones swimming?

An answer comes when we recognize this divine source of strength. it is a source often underestimated, yet it can be used daily to lighten our load and guide our precious children. That source is the guiding gift of the Holy Ghost.

Help Children's Spiritual Capacity to Increase: "First, we can bring to our children's attention when they are hearing and feeling the Spirit... Second, w can prepare our homes and our children to feel the still, small voice...Third, we can help our children understand how the Spirit speaks to them." (read the actual talk with scriptural references.)

Recognize the Spirit by Experience/Reputation: Feeling and recognizing the Spirit will bring spiritual capacity into our children's lives, and the voice they come to know will become clearer and clearer to them. It will be as Elder Richard G. Scott said: " As you gain experience and success in being guided by the Spirit, your confidence in the impressions you feel can become more certain than your dependence on what you see or hear."

<Scriptures>

Preach My Gospel Chapter 4

1 Samuel 3:4 - 10

<Thoughts>

While the speaker was aiming her talk towards current or future parents to raise small children, this talk is very much applicable to adults at any stage in their lives. The things I learned or reminded are the following:

1. The Holy Ghost is our primary source of guidances in our lives
2. In order to recognize the spirit, we have to try and experience the feelings of him
3. The Holy Ghost visit secret places - we should keep our home tidy and clean, so that we can create home to have the Spirit
4. We need to consistently study to understand how the Spirit speaks to us

Where Two or Three Are Gathered By President Henry B. Eyring

<Quotes>
Daily fear that we all have: "Yet both lamented that feelings of love for the Lord and His love for them were lessening. They both wanted, with full heart, for me to help them regain the joy and the feeling of being loved that was theirs as they came into the kingdom of God. Both expressed a fear that if they could not regain in full those feelings of love for the Savior and His Church, the trials and tests they faced would finally overcome their faith."

Test of our faith: "All of us have had our faith tested by precious blessings delayed, vicious attacks of those who wanted to destroy our faith, temptations to sin, and selfish interests that reduced our efforts to cultivate and soften the spiritual depths of our hearts... Satan is clever. He tells those he wishes to be miserable that the joy they once felt was childish self-delusion."

General Conference, words of our prophets: "Today my message to us all is that there will be a precious opportunity in the next few days to choose to have our hearts softened and to receive and nourish the seed. The seed is the word of God, and it will be poured out on all of us who listen, watch, and read the proceedings of this conference. The music, the talks, and the testimonies have been prepared by servants of God who have sought diligently for the Holy Ghost to guide them in their preparation. They have prayed longer and more humbly as the days of the conference have approached.

"They have prayed to have the power to encourage you to make the choices that will create in your heart a more fertile ground for the good word of God to grow and be fruitful. If you listen with the Spirit, you will find your heart softened, your faith strengthened, and your capacity to love the Lord increased."

Testimony: "The testimony will not be a recital of the message. It will be an affirmation of some truth that the Spirit can carry into the hearts of those who will be praying for help, for divine direction, and to receive the pure love of Christ."

<Scriptures>
Matthew 13:4-9
Alma 32
D&C 68:4-6
D&50:17-21
D&C 24:6

<Thoughts>
This talk was given at the beginning of the conference to welcome people. A few things I learned or reminded are the following:

1. The talks are revolutions and councils that we must study - prepared and given prayerfully
2. Fears are real; however, I feel like it is because we are "natural men", look inwards. It happens when we are not searching from our hearts mights, minds and strength.
3. In order to confirm that what is taught is true, we need to open our hearts.
4. Others' testimonies are not just theirs, but help each other strengthen our testimonies.