So today and yesterday has been the General Conference for the Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which, if you didn't know, am a member of. On this blog I usually don't do a lot of posts regarding politics or religion, because this blog was meant for fun and those two topics are ones that stir a lot of emotion either for the good or the bad. But I wanted to take a moment and let you all know that I am so grateful for my membership in this church.
For those of you who don't know, conference is a total of 5 sessions, 4 general and 1 priesthood session. The priesthood session is Saturday night and is for the members of the church that are male and hold the priesthood. This meeting isn't much different than the normal sessions, they just talk more to the priesthood holders.
I went down to Rose Park to attend this special meeting with my grandfather. What a great experience. One of the talks that was given was by a member of the Young Men General Presidency, Brother Burgess, I can't remember his first name. Brother Burgess told a story of when he was a deacon, his Bishop asked him if he knew who he was. As he thought about this question, this Bishop answered it form him. He told him that he was his father's son. As I sat there in that meeting next to my grandfather, I thought about the fatherly figures in my life. There have been good times with those figures as well as bad. I've learned a great deal.
During this moment of pondering, I thought about my dad. For those of you who don't know him, he is a great man. He passed away a few years ago and when he passed away we were asked to write down our feelings and thoughts about my dad. I couldn't write this because of the pain I was feeling. Pain of loosing my dad. The other night I was at my sisters and she had the book of these things that were written for my dad. I would read some and have to put it down because I would start crying.
So I want to write a couple of things here now. I can put this on a separate piece of paper for the book, but I wanted to share it with the world.
When I was preparing for my mission, I was trying to figure out how I was going to pay for the month to month things and decided to ask my dad. The conversation went something like this...and I'm paraphrasing "Hi dad. I'm getting ready to go on my mission. It is a big expense and I was wondering if you would be willing to help me out?" This is what his reply was, "You don't agree with what I do and I don't agree with what you do." This hurt me and I have always remembered that. As I got out on my mission, I wrote a couple letters back to him and he was having a hard time with life here at home. In a letter he wrote something that I will always remember. He told me he was proud of me, for having the ability to go and do what I was doing. He didn't agree, but he knew that I was sure I wanted to do it and he was proud of me that I went and did it. That was one of the best moments of my life. There are many already there, but that is one that will always stick with me.
One of the greatest things I love about my knowledge in the church is that I will get to see him again. I will get to talk to him again. I will get to hug him. I don't think that I go through one day in this life not thinking about him. I'm glad that I still have my mom, my brother, my sister, and my wife and kids. Family is so important to me and though we may not all agree on everything, we still love one another and we can still be proud of each other. Thanks for letting me get that out. I'm also grateful for the testimony that I have and knowledge that I will once again get to see him.
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