My Stake Conference Weekend

Guest Post by Michael G.

I wish you all could have been in my stake this weekend. It was our stake
conference, and I just love the direction that the stake presidency seems to
be trying to go since they were called a little over a year ago.

I first have to say that my world got sort of rocked over the weekend, and I
am trying to come to grips with it. I got called in to the stake president’s
office and was told they wanted to ordain me to high priest. Technically, I
can’t say exactly why at this point, but let’s just say I’m getting a new
calling. It was a very enlightening meeting with my leaders (stake
presidency member and later my bishop). I was honest about my sustaining of
leaders (I don’t think sustaining means I have to agree with everything they
say or do). I was honest that I am not sure I have a 100% knowledge of all
of my testimony, but I am a believer, and I want to help people follow
Christ. They (the leaders) were perfectly fine with my feelings. So that
felt pretty good.  Just to give a little more background, I am generally a
liberal thinker politically, and I have openly questioned the church’s
stance on homosexuality, and women’s roles in the church.

Anyway, for stake conference my wife and I attended the adult session on
Saturday night, and the general session of conference on Sunday. It was a
beautiful thing. In the Saturday night session, a sister from our ward spoke
about how she got her children to go to the temple. She has 11 children (7
born to her, and 4 adopted). Of the 11, 6 are of temple-attending age, and 5
of the 6 have been to the temple, while one is completely out of the church.
I loved her talk. She openly admitted that she didn’t really do anything,
rather, she allowed her children to make sometimes wrong choices, but the
five of them eventually were married in the temple.  She even admitted not
holding a temple recommend when her first daughter was married in the
temple, and that she then resolved to not miss out on any other of her
children’s marriages.  I just loved the honesty.  In no way did she try to
imply or show that she “fit the mold.” And I think that was by design. Her
life has been a struggle, but she still has faith in God and in the church.

In the general session two more sisters from our ward spoke. One sister has
been through the death of her first husband, a divorce from her second
husband (that was handled by the Nashville based divorce lawyers ), and she is now on a third marriage. She gave an excellent talk.
She is a counselor in the primary presidency in our ward, and she is a
wonderful lady.  The second sister who spoke is married to a man who is not
a member of the church, so she takes her children to church alone. She
teaches the 12-13 year-old Sunday School class.  She did a wonderful job, as
well.  Both of them were honest about their struggles, and the less than
ideal challenges that they have faced over the course of their lives.

It just struck me that apart from talks given by ecclesiastical leaders, the
other talks were filled by women. This is the same stake that has recently
had a sister come to stake general priesthood meeting to address the
brothers on the importance of home teaching. It is exciting to me that I
feel like the stake is acknowledging openly that nobody – no individual, no
family – is perfect, and that we have amazing sisters in the church. I wish
we could carry this attitude over into the general church body. I know we
still have a long way to go, but it makes me optimistic about the future. I
at least feel like our stake is in the hands of excellent leaders who “get
it,” or at least are trying to think outside the box in some ways.

Thanks for letting me share. Not all Sundays are like this for me, so I am
happy when I am excited about Sunday once in awhile.