To and Fro

This past weekend we enjoyed another Church General Conference. General Conference happens twice a year, the first weekend in April and the first weekend in October, and consists of the leaders of the church, the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and other church leaders, speak to the church worldwide. The conference takes place in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City and is broadcast over television, radio, and other communication methods. This year, I watched most of it in my room over the internet. The conference is translated into about ninety languages.

To give you an idea of what General Conference means to me, let me tell you a story. I was a Spanish speaking missionary in the New Jersey Cherry Hill Mission. During one Conference weekend, I was serving in Long Branch. On Saturday morning (conference consists of five two-hour sessions, three on Saturday and two on Sunday) my companion and I arrived at the church to make sure that everything was set up properly for the Spanish speaking members in the area. Everything was working properly. The video was being projected onto a large screen and the audio was hooked up perfectly. All we had to do was wait. So we waited. And waited. And waited. As the hour for conference to begin neared, we started to realize that no one else was coming. We would be watching General Conference alone in a room that could fit over one hundred people.

I don’t want you to get the impression that the Spanish members in the area were neglecting their duty. Many of them were able to watch the session in their homes and almost all of them came to at least one session. The Sunday sessions were especially crowded in that room.

But sitting there, with just my companion in a sea of seats, while the prophets of God were addressing the entire world, I couldn’t help but think about the throngs of people outside. I saw them in my mind’s eye milling about, going about their normal Saturday business--getting the car fixed, going to the mall, having lunch with friends. At that point, I thought of the explanation that Paul gave to the Ephesians as to why Christ called Apostles and Prophets. “That we henceforth be no more children,” he wrote, “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (Eph. 4:14).

With so many voices screaming for our attention, it’s hard to know who to trust. Who is right and who is wrong? Should I do this or should I do that? We can feel like ships tossed to a fro on a stormy sea. The guidance of God’s called Prophets and Apostles is like an anchor for me. It gives me stability in a volatile world. I have faith, tempered by study, prayer and many experiences, that these men are God’s mouthpieces on the Earth. That they are sources of truth in our day, just as Moses, Isaiah, Peter and Paul were in theirs. After I listen to the ten hours of conference, and yes, it does sometimes take some effort to stay attentive the whole time, I have a better sense of what course my life should take, of how I can do what God would have me do and become what He would have me become. It’s a feeling of stability. Of not being tossed to and fro.