General Conference: London Style

      What a joy General Conference is! I've been looking forward to it for weeks. Time to recharge my spiritual batteries. Time for the healing words of modern-day prophets on pertinent issues - in real time.  And no matter where in the world we are, if we have Internet access, we have General Conference. I'm not taking that for granted.

Our experience the last two days has really made me appreciate how easy we have it in Utah, though. Pajamas, a bowl of trail mix (or Skittles), and a TV. That's all we need in Utah. Washington, D.C. proved a little more difficult, but we just hooked up the computer to an LCD projector and watched it on the "big screen" (wall) of our townhouse two hours later than usual. Not too hard. Not so in Europe.

Because of the seven hour time difference, the first session of General Conference is broadcast here from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m Saturday evening. The second session is from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.  Priesthood is from 1 a.m. - 3 a.m. Sunday morning, but is shown Sunday morning at 10 a.m. at local stake centers. A little more challenging.

Thanks to our laptop, Don and I could watch Conference in our "flat," but our sister missionaries don't have access to computers except for brief email privileges on P-Day (Preparation Day), which is Monday. In addition, the stake centre is quite a trek, so we decided to show Conference in the Visitors' Centre theatre. It turned out to be a great idea, albeit challenging.

London Temple Visitors' Centre
The flowers are sure beautiful right now!

We broadcast the morning sessions of General Conference at 5 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. Without any publicity, we had about 25 people show up to watch Conference with us, including several who are investigating the church. I found it impressive that all of them came, both Saturday and Sunday, dressed in suits and ties (for the men) and dresses and skirts (women). Nothing sloppy about that. Everyone showed great respect and reverence. It was a wonderful experience, though our Internet access was a little temperamental. We never lost the sound, but the picture faded in and out every twenty minutes or so. Just enough to annoy us :)

Joining with the Conference Center to sing a hymn
halfway through the Saturday morning session

 The Visitors' Centre closes at 9 p.m., so Don and I went home and watched the afternoon sessions between 9 and 11 p.m. on a laptop in our own flat.

Watching Conference in the living room of our flat in "The Lodge"

After looking forward to the coming of Conference for several weeks, it's always sad when it's finally over. So much to contemplate and put to use in my life. Isn't it great that it's already available on the Internet???       http://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2012/04?lang=eng    It is a privilege and a blessing to be taught by prophets and apostles who hold all the keys of the Priesthood and who are special witnesses of Jesus Christ in our day.   I have plans to reread several talks that I felt had messages just for me. Only a few years ago I would have had to wait at least a month for the printed copies to come out in The Ensign. What a joy it is that General Conference is now available no matter where we are - any time, day or night!                                             ~Pat~