Women encouraged to stand for right
There are no comments for this page [ Add Comment ]Saturday, May 10, 2008
By RACHEL J. TROTTER
Standard-Examiner correspondent
Conference ends with visit, speech by LDS leader Monson
PROVO -- Thousands of women were urged to awake and arise to the challenges of life with faith and hope at the annual Brigham Young University Women's Conference on May 1 and 2. The conference is co-sponsored by BYU and the LDS Relief Society.
Women from all over the world visit the BYU campus for two days of classes and instruction on topics ranging from strengthening faith to motherhood to aging. The two-day conference culminated with a visit and message from LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson.
"You will spend the next two days preparing to be in a place to hearken to hear the prophet of God," said Julie Beck, Relief Society general president. She addressed the conference-goers in the Marriott Center at the beginning of the conference and again Friday morning.
This year's conference also marked 10 years of a huge service undertaking in which the women spend Thursday evening doing service for humanitarian aid across the globe.
Sandra Rogers, a vice president at BYU and conference organizer, spoke of the service that had been done over the last 10 years. More than 390,000 hygiene kits, 113,000 school kits, 47,300 newborn kits, countless blankets cut, sewn and stitched and many other projects have been completed over the years -- and this year was no exception.
"No detail escaped their attention," Rogers said of the organizers of the massive service events on campus Thursday evening.
The theme for the conference was found in the Book of Mormon in Moroni 10:30-32 -- "Awake, Arise and Come Unto Him." Sheri Dew spoke to that theme in her address.
"We need to rally to a most inspiring cause -- Jesus Christ," she said. She urged women to walk away from worldly things.
"We are here to influence the world, not be influenced by the world," she said.
She encouraged women to think of serving Jesus Christ. "Those that think of their life as a ministry (to Christ) are less likely to think things are out of control," Dew said.
Beck also encouraged women to make their homes places of refuge for their families, where they can draw their families close. She compared a home to a moat with a drawbridge, and encouraged women to bring in the drawbridge from the temptations of the world.
Excitement filled the Marriott Center on Friday afternoon as the women waited to hear from Monson and all started singing "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet" as he walked in with his wife.
Monson joked with the women about how many peanut butter sandwiches had been made in their absence, but then he got serious as he told the women that they are more alike than they know. He talked of the "common threads" of sisterhood.
"Don't let important things pass you by... enjoy the journey now," he said. He encouraged the ladies as well, saying, "What a tremendous force for good you've been."
The annual conference will be held next year on April 30 and May 1.
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