General Conference

my dear darling Hans, first let me say how much we all love your letters. And we especially loved the story of the croc farm last week. I also love the way that you take time to respond to everybody. Even if it’s just a line or two it really helps everyone feel connected and loved.

Well, we just finished up another conference weekend and I’m sure everyone will be talking to you about conference. Zoey has been staying with us since the wedding and Lizzy also came up from BYU for conference– she’s pretty much the most fun ever. Stefan drove up of course, and so did Ben and Sammie as well as Mone´and Holly. Every bed was filled as well as the floors.

As you know, conference rivals Christmas for family traditions. First thing Saturday morning we dumped out the Lego bins and let them litter the family room floor the entire weekend. For Xander and Gabe, Lego building constitutes serious business. Xander spent hours searching for the perfect blocks and parts and small people and didn’t take kindly to anyone touching his creations. A more creative sort, Gabe builds several vehicles and buildings and good naturedly crashes them into oblivion. But they do listen and comment on the talks, and this conference offered much to discuss.

I know you won’t watch all of conference until next week, but I’m sure you’ve already heard the news about the new apostles. Elder Renlund was just in Madagascar, wasn’t he?

Everyone thought they would call an apostle from Africa and asked the new apostles what they thought about that. They answered saying that they didn’t know who the other apostles were until they heard at conference with everyone else. And they said that we really can’t understand why the Lord calls the people he does and his timing. They also asked the apostles how they would deal with the adulation that members tend to pour upon them. I thought that was a really interesting question, because it’s true. We do tend to idolize our apostles and that kind of fame usually isn’t good for anyone. They responded that they weren’t called to be above the members but to be the greatest servants of all.

After the eventful Saturday session, I took all the girls on a walk and out to dinner and the boys all went to Priesthood Session– even Ben. This was our first experience with combining family traditions. As you know, the boys go together and then out to dinner (turkey sandwich and pie), but the Drysdales gather the whole family meeting after priesthood to discuss the talks. After some discussion, Ben and Sammie decided he would go with his brothers and Sammie with her family. It worked out beautifully and they survived the three hours apart.

We thought Zoey’s SUSTAIN shirt was perfect for the session where we sustained three new apostles.

Sunday morning, we all watched conference at home while I made crepes. A few days earlier, Stefan made crepes for his friends so he had a newfound compassion for my role stuck at the stove. Since I had more help than ever before, I snapped a few photos.Once conference started, it was pretty crowded. Ben and Sammie on their favorite couch, Gabe and Xander on the floor playing Legos, Stefan, Dad, Mary, Moné, Lizzy, Zoey and me. It’s a lot of people.

How much adorableness can you stand?

Last week, I wrote down all my gospel questions that I’d like to see answered at conference. Although, I’ve done this before, I didn’t really expect to receive more than one or two answers, but one by one, every single one of my most obscure questions were answered. My favorite talk from the Sunday morning session came from Elder Nelson, A Plea to My Sisters.

Jam session between conference sessions– Ben’s own unique rendition of ‘Stay, Stay, Stay’

 

Thanks to your lovely cousins, we had a handful of tickets for the Sunday afternoon session. I especially loved hearing Elder Bednar’s talk; you’ll love Devin Durrant’s enthusiasm. He talked about a challenge he gave when he was a mission president– it was to take one scripture a week and ponderize it. My spellcheck is going crazy because ponderize isn’t really a word. It means to take one scripture a week, post it up somewhere you can see it a lot and think about it all week long. Let it fill your thoughts, let it become part of you, study all of the cross references. He’s been doing it for three years and he said he challenged his family and his missionaries to do it with him for the next 20 years. It’s such a beautiful and simple challenge.  Just one scripture a week adds up so much over the years. So here’s our first scripture:

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

I’ll send you the scripture that I’m working on each week. You can choose a different one or the same one. But I’m going to print this up and put it on the refrigerator for the whole family to read. I just love the simplicity of this challenge.

What else? It’s been a good week. Kind of a recovery week. But I think this week will be even more so. I haven’t had enough sleep for several months. So I’m looking forward to feeling better.

I love you and I miss you every day.

Hugs and kisses, mom