General Conference Highlights & Memories from Dad
Favorite Talk: President Harold B. Lee, October 1972 General Priesthood Meeting (January 1973 Ensign)
President Joseph Fielding Smith had died several months earlier and President Lee had been sustained as president of the Church just the day before (Friday). General Conference used to last 3 days. I was a relatively new missionary listening to the meeting in the Duluth MN branch chapel. This was well before satellite TV and we had driven from Rice Lake WI.
President Lee was in his early seventies at the time and it seemed likely that he would lead the Church for many years. He was also a very powerful speaker and he told great stories to teach key principles: 1) The role of revelation and the priesthood in creating the welfare program during the Great Depression prior to his call into the Twelve. "There is no new organization necessary to take care of the needs of this people. All that is necessary is to put the priesthood of God to work. There is nothing else you need as a substitute." 2) How to avoid spreading rumors and gossip. "It never ceases to amaze me how gullible some of our Church members are in broadcasting these sensational stories, or dreams, or visions." 3) The importance of learning from the scriptures. "Brethren, these (the scriptures) are some of the writings with which you should concern yourselves, rather than commentaries that may come from those whose information may not be the most reliable and whose motives may be subject to question." 4) The need to follow the living prophet and to avoid prophetic comparisons. "You cannot destroy the appointment of a prophet of God, but you can cut the thread that binds you to the prophet of God, and sink yourselves to hell." "We shouldn't try to compare one as being greater than the other, because each one is, in the eyes of the Lord, in his own time the one most needed for that particular time." 5) The need for us to develop greater faith. "If you would teach our people to put periods and not questions marks after what the Lord has declared, we would say, 'It is enough for me to know that is what the Lord said.'" 6) Revelation continues in our day. "You ask when the Lord gave the last revelation to the Church. The Lord is giving revelations day by day, and you will witness and look back on this period and see some of the might revelations the Lord has given in your day and time.
I learned many important priesthood leadership lessons from President Lee. I'd recommend that each of you read his timeless talk. But the most important thing that occurred that night in Duluth was the overwhelming witness I received that we were being led by a true and living prophet of God. It was truly like fire in my bones and that feeling has never left me.
Favorite Memory: Since the day Scotter was born I'd been planning our first General Priesthood Meeting together (like your mother has been planning her three daughters' weddings). It came on April 5, 1997. First, we went to Scotty's Steak House; which was his favorite restaurant at that time. After the meeting we went to Emack & Bolio's for ice cream. Along the way to E&B's I asked him how he liked the meeting. "Fine," he said, like a typically monosyllabic 12 year-old. Then I asked him which speaker he liked best and why. Scott answered: "Elder Haight, because he talked about playing football in Oakley ID." Finally, I asked him how he liked President Hinckley's talk (he had talked about converts and young men). This time his response was very simple and insightful. "I felt different when President Hinckley spoke." So for a few minutes before ice cream I explained that he had received a witness of the Spirit that President Hinckley was a true prophet. It reminded me of my missionary days; teaching investigators how to recognize the Spirit.
Other Highlights:
1. Watching Conference as a boy at home in Arizona on TV while wearing my wool suit.
2. Watching General Priesthood Meeting as a boy with my brothers -- Raymond and Fred -- but without Grandpa Ewart since he wasn't a member yet.
3. Taking your beautiful mother to a morning session of Conference in 1978 just before we were became engaged and having someone steal our lunch basket. Afterwards we drove up to Farmington UT and I introduced her to President & Sister Peel. Naturally, they thought she was great. Then as we drove home in the rain we got a flat tire.
4. Watching delayed videotaped sessions of Conference in our Tokyo ward, especially the time when both Elder Han and Elder Shimabukaro spoke in the session we were watching while they were sitting in our meeting. Jessica was very confused.
5. Being set apart by as a Seventy in April 2003 by Elder Maxwell, joined by Elder Tingey and Elder Condie. Afterwards, a weakened Elder Maxwell gave me a hug.
6. Waking up Scotter multiple times during a Conference session by calling him on his vibrating cell phone. I knew that he would later kick himself for falling asleep just a few feet from the prophet and apostles, but I remembered that I had been a boy once too.
7. Looking forward to the October 2006 General Conference, because the current conference is always the most important.
Love, Dad
President Joseph Fielding Smith had died several months earlier and President Lee had been sustained as president of the Church just the day before (Friday). General Conference used to last 3 days. I was a relatively new missionary listening to the meeting in the Duluth MN branch chapel. This was well before satellite TV and we had driven from Rice Lake WI.
President Lee was in his early seventies at the time and it seemed likely that he would lead the Church for many years. He was also a very powerful speaker and he told great stories to teach key principles: 1) The role of revelation and the priesthood in creating the welfare program during the Great Depression prior to his call into the Twelve. "There is no new organization necessary to take care of the needs of this people. All that is necessary is to put the priesthood of God to work. There is nothing else you need as a substitute." 2) How to avoid spreading rumors and gossip. "It never ceases to amaze me how gullible some of our Church members are in broadcasting these sensational stories, or dreams, or visions." 3) The importance of learning from the scriptures. "Brethren, these (the scriptures) are some of the writings with which you should concern yourselves, rather than commentaries that may come from those whose information may not be the most reliable and whose motives may be subject to question." 4) The need to follow the living prophet and to avoid prophetic comparisons. "You cannot destroy the appointment of a prophet of God, but you can cut the thread that binds you to the prophet of God, and sink yourselves to hell." "We shouldn't try to compare one as being greater than the other, because each one is, in the eyes of the Lord, in his own time the one most needed for that particular time." 5) The need for us to develop greater faith. "If you would teach our people to put periods and not questions marks after what the Lord has declared, we would say, 'It is enough for me to know that is what the Lord said.'" 6) Revelation continues in our day. "You ask when the Lord gave the last revelation to the Church. The Lord is giving revelations day by day, and you will witness and look back on this period and see some of the might revelations the Lord has given in your day and time.
I learned many important priesthood leadership lessons from President Lee. I'd recommend that each of you read his timeless talk. But the most important thing that occurred that night in Duluth was the overwhelming witness I received that we were being led by a true and living prophet of God. It was truly like fire in my bones and that feeling has never left me.
Favorite Memory: Since the day Scotter was born I'd been planning our first General Priesthood Meeting together (like your mother has been planning her three daughters' weddings). It came on April 5, 1997. First, we went to Scotty's Steak House; which was his favorite restaurant at that time. After the meeting we went to Emack & Bolio's for ice cream. Along the way to E&B's I asked him how he liked the meeting. "Fine," he said, like a typically monosyllabic 12 year-old. Then I asked him which speaker he liked best and why. Scott answered: "Elder Haight, because he talked about playing football in Oakley ID." Finally, I asked him how he liked President Hinckley's talk (he had talked about converts and young men). This time his response was very simple and insightful. "I felt different when President Hinckley spoke." So for a few minutes before ice cream I explained that he had received a witness of the Spirit that President Hinckley was a true prophet. It reminded me of my missionary days; teaching investigators how to recognize the Spirit.
Other Highlights:
1. Watching Conference as a boy at home in Arizona on TV while wearing my wool suit.
2. Watching General Priesthood Meeting as a boy with my brothers -- Raymond and Fred -- but without Grandpa Ewart since he wasn't a member yet.
3. Taking your beautiful mother to a morning session of Conference in 1978 just before we were became engaged and having someone steal our lunch basket. Afterwards we drove up to Farmington UT and I introduced her to President & Sister Peel. Naturally, they thought she was great. Then as we drove home in the rain we got a flat tire.
4. Watching delayed videotaped sessions of Conference in our Tokyo ward, especially the time when both Elder Han and Elder Shimabukaro spoke in the session we were watching while they were sitting in our meeting. Jessica was very confused.
5. Being set apart by as a Seventy in April 2003 by Elder Maxwell, joined by Elder Tingey and Elder Condie. Afterwards, a weakened Elder Maxwell gave me a hug.
6. Waking up Scotter multiple times during a Conference session by calling him on his vibrating cell phone. I knew that he would later kick himself for falling asleep just a few feet from the prophet and apostles, but I remembered that I had been a boy once too.
7. Looking forward to the October 2006 General Conference, because the current conference is always the most important.
Love, Dad
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