October 6, 2007 Shabbat

Gregory Marsh—Journal Entry—October 6, 2007
GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!
It has been a beautiful Sabbath! We had our Fast and Testimony meeting this morning. We should have had Fast Sabbath last week, but we were in Egypt, so we had it today (just the students—the other members of our Branch had it last Saturday). We had only fast and testimony meeting—no classes followed, as General Conference was scheduled to begin in the evening.
After Church, I asked Brother Ludlow about Joseph Smith’s reference to Mt. Carmel in Doctrine and Covenants 128. “Is there a special reason that he would choose that particular mountain to talk about?” His reply reminded me—beautifully—of how amazing this semester really is. “Ask me about it on Monday, when we’re there!”
In the evening, we got to watch the Saturday Morning session of the 177th semi-annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As we are 8 hours ahead of Salt Lake, we watched the 10:00 AM session live at 6:00 PM local time. The question that has been on everybody’s minds for weeks was answered: who will be the new member of the First Presidency, and who will be the new member of the Quorum of the Twelve? President Hinckley made that the first item of business in the conference. We sustained Elder (now President) Henry B. Eyring as the Second Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church, and sustained Elder Quentin L. Cook as the newest member of the Quorum of the Twelve. Both of them spoke later in the Conference, although we did not get to hear them in Saturday morning’s session. It’s beautiful to see the way succession works in the Church. No politicking, no bitterness, no fighting, simply the calling by revelation of servants of God, and the quiet, peaceful witness of the Holy Spirit, testifying that whom God calls, He makes equal to the calling.
Some few stayed up late to see the Saturday afternoon session of Conference, but most, wishing to be well-rested for tomorrow’s trip to Galilee, went to bed, leaving the remaining sessions of General Conference for next week.