Conference reaches across the world
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathered in 68 countries of the world to hear the broadcast messages of their leaders during the 172nd Semiannual General Conference on Saturday and Sunday.
Gordon B. Hinckley, the church’s president, said the conference was not just for members.
“We invite all, the whole Earth, to listen to this account and take measure of its truth,” he said Sunday.
His counselors, Thomas S. Monson and James E. Faust, and members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who assist the president in furthering church work, were among those who spoke.
The conference was based in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, which seats about 21,000 people and was filled to capacity at each of the four general sessions. Those in attendance had the option of watching speakers spotlighted on the pulpit or from the jumbo screens on each side of it.
Members were asked to sustain changes in the presidencies for the Quorums of the Seventy, the Sunday School and the Young Women, which they supported unanimously, along with the callings of five new general authorities. Six general authorities and 21 area authorities were released.
Hinckley opened the conference Saturday morning. He spoke about the church’s 114 temples, where authorized members across the world can go to meditate and do church work.
“I urge you, my brethren and sisters, to utilize the temples of the church,” he said.
Temples are places where people are joined as eternal families, Hinckley said.
Families and homes were the focal points for many speakers.
L. Tom Perry, one of the Twelve Apostles, followed the president. He said homes should be anchors and safe havens for families.
“Home should be the center of one’s earthly experience, where love and mutual respect are appropriately blended,” he said.
Jeffrey R. Holland, also one of the Twelve Apostles, said familial ties should be preserved and protected.
“I testify of home and family and marriage – the most precious human possessions of our lives,” he said Saturday afternoon.
Periodically the speaking paused, allowing the congregation to hear from the 360-voice Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which sang renditions of the church’s hymns that echoed throughout the building.
Other speakers counseled members as to how they should act and treat other people.
Russell M. Nelson, member of the Twelve, referred to the Golden Rule on Saturday.
“With compassion and forbearance, it replaces the retaliatory reactions of an ‘eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,'” he said before joking. “If we were to stay on that old and unproductive path, we would be but blind and toothless.”
Nelson spoke of such actions in light of present political problems, as well as a “long history of hostility upon the Earth.”
“Peace is possible,” he said. “We can learn to love our fellow human beings throughout the world.”
Scripture condemns war, but sustains the obligation of people to defend their families and freedoms, so members should be loyal to their countries and pursue peace prayerfully, he said.
Margaret D. Nadauld was released Saturday from her service as president for the 520,000 young women in the church.
“Thank heaven for women of faith in our lives,” she said. “A woman of faith loves the Lord. She wants him to know it by the life she lives, by the words she speaks, by the service she renders to his children, by her every action.”
As audience members listened to the counsel of their leaders, translators, audiovisual specialists, security providers, ushers and others worked to ensure smoothly running sessions.
Michael Otterson, director of media relations for the church, said there is much behind-the-scenes work being done during conference.
Translators are constantly on hand to interpret the sessions in 58 languages, he said.
“This is the first year the translators have been in this building,” Otterson said, explaining how they used to be based in the nearby tabernacle.
Speakers are required to have their talks ready a couple of weeks before conference to make things easier on the translators, he said.
Such subtle details may go unnoticed by people like Katie Evans, a BYU student from Virginia who was just excited to be there.
“I watched [Conference] on TV for the last 18 years of my life,” she said. “Here, it’s real.”
Her favorite part of the Saturday afternoon session was when the entire congregation stood as their president entered the room, Evans said.
“We were all united,” she said.
Some think such unification for The Church of Jesus Christ shouldn’t take place.
Roughly a dozen men with signs sporting logos like “Warning: House of the Devil” or “Know Jesus” lined North Temple, the street in front of the Conference Center, and the entrance to Temple Square, which is the church’s gated community containing its temple, tabernacle and visitor’s center.
Members walking these paths between sessions mumbled comments or chuckled. A few stopped to listen to what the protestors had to say.
Bruce Perrault was one such protestor who attended every session of conference.
“I go to where there’s lost teachings,” he said. “I go to where there’s lost people.”
Perrault came to Salt Lake City from his home in New York to stand, sometimes up to 15 hours at a time, and call out his beliefs to passersby, he said Sunday with a cracking voice.
The members of The Church of Jesus Christ believe a false doctrine and need to be brought to believe solely in the Bible, so he leaves his wife and children to attend big events like Conference, Perrault said.
“I have to do what God tells me to do,” he said.
Despite the calls of Perrault and others, thousands of people streamed into the Conference Center to hear their prophet.
Hinckley closed the Sunday morning session with his beliefs about the church.
“This is the restored Church of Jesus Christ,” he said, gesturing deliberately with his hand. “We as a people are Latter-day Saints. We testify that the heavens have been opened, that the curtains have been parted, that God has spoken and that Jesus Christ has manifested Himself, followed by a bestowal of divine authority.”
-amarie@cc.usu.edu
A young man listens to conference Sunday morning using a translation unit. Some of the units run off an infrared box, requiring the user to sit in a certain location. Others can run from anywhere in the building. (Photo by Amy Fuller)
Between conference sessions, a protestor explains his version of a Bible passage to a passerby. (Photo by Amy Fuller)
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pile out of the Conference Center after the Sunday afternoon session. (Photo by Amy Fuller)