Snacks, Trumps, and a pair of Scissors

A very pleasant conference weekend is coming to a close.  While at times, all of our "keyword" snacks CAN be a bit of a distraction, I feel it does help my twins stay motivated to pay attention.  They are only 7.  They stayed in the living room for 90% of the 8 broadcasted hours, and were sitting quietly for at least 75% of that.  At times, they were telling me a word they heard that I had missed.  And proof that they were hearing more than just individual words, was a comment from E. Mae.  A member of the Primary General Presidency told a story of a little boy who was lost in a fabric store.  They were finally able to find the  boy when they called his name quietly instead of loudly and franticly.  E. Mae said, "That was a good story." If that's not paying attention to conference I don't know what is. 
And if nothing else, I find myself not nodding off and not watching the clock wondering when it will be over. 

There were several talks that I really enjoyed, but I think my favorite quote this time around was from Jeffrey R. Holland when he said,

"What we know will always trump what we do not know."

I like that a lot.  It reminded me of a conversation I had with a dear dear friend who no longer believes as I do.  We were out for an evening walk, talking about her concerns and unanswered questions.  As we talked I listened to everything she said and genuinely considered each issue.  I tried to decide how I truly felt about each of her points and concerns.  While there were things I felt I had an answer for, there were also things for which I had no answer.  No explanation.  No logical reasoning for my belief.  But that night I realized the difference between the two of us.  (I told her this that night too.)  Neither of us had all the answers, but the difference between the two of us, was that I was peacefully content in not understanding everything now and trusting God in the mean time.  She wanted explanations and answers now.  Elder Holland's talk was far more eloquent than any words I gave my friend that night. 

In that same talk Elder Holland also said this:

 

Makes me smile.  He deals with imperfections and so too should we.  :)

As the Sunday morning session came to a close, beautiful images of Temple Square were shown.  These images triggered memories from 20 years ago!  (Geepers!  20 years is a LONG time.  If I didn't know better I'd feel "old" or something.)  I decided I wanted to "blog" these memories and thoughts while I still remember them.

The images of the Salt Lake temple brought back memories from when I first gained a testimony of the temple. 

I remember a sleepover at a friends house.  We were were talking about our hopes and dreams and plans for our future.  Traits we wanted our future prince charmings to have, that sort of thing.  "Where" we wanted to get married came up.  My friend had a particular temple picked out.  I did not.  I told her getting married in the temple would be nice and all, but if it didn't work out, that was okay too.  I was very young and I had not yet gained a testimony of the importance of setting that foundation for a marriage. 

Some time later, (days, weeks, months, years, I really have no idea how much later it was), I was reading a New Era  magazine.  I came across this mormonad:

As I looked at that picture, I felt something.  Something I did not yet have a whole lot of personal experience with.  I felt good.  I felt a strong good feeling. 
I continued to read the magazine and came to another picture.  Try as I might I could not find the exact picture, but it looked very similar to this:

As I looked at that picture I felt it again.  No mistaking this time.  It wasn't just a coincidence.  It was one of my first recognizable whisperings from the Holy Ghost.  Telling me that this place was important and that it was a place I wanted to be.

I never wanted to forget what the spirit had whispered to me.  So I grabbed a pair of scissors and quite possibly went a little overboard.  Not only did I cut out those 2 pictures and hang them on my wall, but I went through every church magazine my family had accumulated over the years and page by page by page, searched for pictures of the temple.  Cut each one out and hung them on my bedroom wall. 

Looking back on it now, I will admit that my finished product looked a little funny.  This is a picture of my room as a teenager:

What came to affectionately be known as my "temple wall" is the wall on the right.  If you look very closely you can see that original mormonad in the upper right hand corner.  I look at this picture now, sigh, smile, and shake my head.  My "temple wall" would have looked 100% more beautiful without my black and yellow paint splatter as a background.  But what can I say.  I was a teenager.   

I have a spot for a new "temple wall" picked out in our home, but I have not yet finished  printing and framing and hanging this project.  I hope that some day soon I will be blogging a picture of my new "temple wall."  Minus the black and yellow paint.