We were told that one of the twelve apostles, Elder Bednar, would be there speaking. The apostles do not come to stake conferences very often. Besides seeing them speak via the Internet or TV, for General Conference, this was a first. We knew it would be packed so we got the kids up at 5:40am to be there three hours early. It was so worth it! We were some of the first people there and got seats on the nice comfy benches in the second row. There was such a sweet spirit as we sat there conversing quietly, reading our scriptures or talking about the messages we heard the night before. I would like to be at all of my church meetings early enough to partake of that same spirit. I felt much more prepared to hear the things my Heavenly Father would have me hear.
As the time
neared for the session to start we all took turns going to the bathroom. When I was in the bathroom I said a little
prayer in my heart that it would be nice to meet Elder Bednar in person (he had other meetings to get to right after our meeting, so meeting him in person was highly unlikely!), then I thought for a minute and asked that if He could make that happen, rather than me, I would want my girls to have that opportunity. I went to the bathroom and then returned to
my seat. The girls were just getting back
(they had gone to a different bathroom) and were so excited. They had met Elder Bednar in the hall. He shook each of their hands and asked their
names and ages. He asked Faith which
princess she liked the best. He told
them he had 9 granddaughters and they were teaching him all about
princesses. The girls were just
glowing. They had the opportunity to
shake hands and spend a couple of minutes with one of the twelve apostles who represents our Savior Jesus Christ, and I got an answer to my prayers!
We got together with Bryan's family and swapped notes on what we all learned this weekend. It was unlike any experience I have ever had. If the Savior himself were there teaching us, I don't imagine it would have been much different. As a representative of the Savior, Elder Bednar testified of Him, of His mission and how we can be more like Him. I came away with a huge desire to really study my scriptures. He spent the majority of the time teaching us from them.
Elder Bednar said that with the growth of the church, this experience will probably not happen again in my lifetime. I'm so grateful we were there!
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