The Blessing I Found While Listening To LDS General Conference in Japan

LDS General Conference weekend, a meeting that takes place twice a year, every October and April, in which 100,000 attend in person, and millions watch all over the World, has now come and gone.  We Mormons always get so excited.  Two days, 5 sessions, each a couple hours, and if you watch on BYUtv or KSL there's inspirational programs to watch in between sessions.

It's strange to think that I was in Japan last October conference, my first time visiting this country.  I was so excited to be there, but leading up to the trip and actually arriving I found myself nervous and overwhelmed.  Scared even.  And it didn't help that I was literally sick right before leaving, fighting a fever and finding difficulty in eating.  Finally I was going to Japan!!  And I was sick.

At the airport I tried so desperately to eat food.  Salt Lake City airport has a Cafe Rio, and I got my favorite taco meal with yummy shredded beef.  What usually takes me 10-20 minutes to eat took longer.  It felt like I was eating in slow motion, and my blood sugars were going crazy.  After an overnight layover at LAX, staying at the Holiday Inn Express, the food on the airline didn't go down any easier.

Maybe I was still stressed.  Maybe it was nerves.  And suddenly when my brother, sister-in-law, and I made it to the apartment after spending hours on a bus and 30+ minutes thoroughly confused at a train station, we got situated for the night.

I got the living room/kitchen where the couch rolled out into a bed on the floor.  And suddenly I found myself hungry with no way to get food, my blood levels dropping so that I felt "sugar sick."  Suddenly I was homesick.  And I found myself unhappy in a place I dreamed of visiting for years.  And this all made me ashamed. 

At around 1:00 am in the morning I realized general conference was starting back home.  The apartment came with an internet wifi device, and I connected my phone, went to www.lds.org and streamed it live.  And somewhere in all that my sister-in-law Krista came into my room and joined me, probably before I started streaming.  We were both overwhelmed.  Me feeling shame.  She feeling homesick at being away from her kids for a week.  We both lay there and cried.

But when conference started the most wonderful feeling of peace came over me.  President Dieter F. Uchtdorf was speaking.  His words brought comfort, but it was really the spirit that helped me feel calm.  Krista and I listened as we shared the almonds I thankfully bought at LAX.

I'm so thankful for that experience.  So thankful for the gospel.  So thankful for technology that allowed me, on the other side of the World, to listen to our prophet and apostles live.  So thankful for the gift of the spirit.  Again, so thankful for the gospel.

And now, six months later, conference filled this last weekend, and my Facebook was filled with inspirational quotes quickly created after each talk, my friends sharing and discussing them.

Yesterday, as the Sunday afternoon conference came to the end, Jeffrey R. Holland gave this beautiful message:

"Tomorrow, you and I will return to our regular responsibilities, as I said in general conference. Nobody wants the fears and concerns of tomorrow to destroy the peace and joy we felt yesterday and today as we listened to the inspiring counsel of our leaders. As good as our intentions may be, we may slip into old habits. We will make mistakes.

"But don’t give up! The great thing about the gospel is we get credit for trying, even if we don’t always succeed. With the gift of the Atonement and the strength of heaven to help us, we can improve.

"So keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven will be cheering you on today, tomorrow, forever. I will be cheering for you too."

Already all the talks are available on www.lds.org, ready for a second helping of this spiritual feast.  And within a week these talks will be available on the gospel library app for download, ready for six months of review until we get to listen to more talks this coming of October. :0)