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9.17.2013

5 Ways to Spiritually Enjoy General Conference -the funchum way!

I remember one instance in my mission na sinabihan kami ng isang investigator.. "You believe in a living prophet?? Sige nga, tanungin nyo nga yung prophet nyo kung ano ang lalabas na numero sa lotto??"  then my response was found in article of faith number 9. "We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God." then I gave emphasis on the words - 'pertaining to the kingdom of God' . Then I contemplated on that experience. What if we're asked: IF YOU SO BELIEVE IN A LIVING PROPHET, THEN WHAT IS HIS LATEST COUNSEL OR MESSAGE TO US? What would our response be? Hmmm... Kung ang response natin ay .. "uhm.. Ano nga ba?" then my next question would be 'San ba natin malalaman or marring ang latest counsel ng prophet?' And the obvious answer would be in the General Conference! 



Yes brothers and sisters, this coming October, we will be hearing again messages and counsels from the living prophet, apostles and general authorities. And the emphasis of my message is to help us make the most out of the upcoming conference. What I will be sharing is a message I named "5 ways to spiritually enjoy general conference - the funchum way"

This may be new to you so I encourage you to try or do this. I've learned this technique in one of our faculty meetings with president Mascardo. Before we begin the meeting, he asks us to write our 'questions in life'. Then after writing, he continue with the training but asks us to listen carefully and see if the message have an answer to our questions. I thought, hmm pwede ko rin gawin to sa General Conference. So the technique was to prepare beforehand your questions in life before attending the conference and you will see na mas magiging meaningful sayo ang conference. Why? You will listen more attentively. Why? Eh questions mu yun eh, at importante yun sayo. And if you listen more attentively you will feel the spirit more at isa pa prophet or general authority ang sasagot sa tanong mo. Question: Bro. Nath, what if hindi nasagot yung tanong ko. Answer: reserve it. Lemme share to you an email sent to me by sister Welyn Manabat etong September 10 lang.
"Dati kasi question ko na bakit hindi na lang binigay ng Diyos ang commandment na kumain sila Adam and Eve para maging mortal? Why did He gave them 2 contradicting commandments? The answer I got was from the Liahona special issue: the Lord Jesus Christ. Yong thought is it's not the Lord's will to introduce human to mortality by FORCE.. It would contravene the law that He established, that man can choose. Question ko yan noon, noon pa.. Even before pa ako umalis. Ngayon lang may sagot. So keep reading! And more importantly, keep asking questions. Sabi ni elder Nielson during our mission tour. 'if there are no questions, the heavens are closed' kaya may first vision si prophet Joseph smith is because may question siya".




This may be an old technique pero bihira ang gumagawa nito. And for me, it still works.
Sa item one, you want your questions to be answered right? So Kung masagot, you better write down the answer! February 18,2007 elder Richard G Scott visited the Philippines and one principle na sinabi Nya during an S.A. Conference is to 'respond immediately to the impressions that come to you' and we can do it sa conference by writing it.


Lately, I've been attending seminars to enhance my skill as an online person and there is one particular seminar na gusto ko sana attendan called the VA (virtual assistant) seminar but I can't kasi nagkataon na meron kaming activity sa RS which is the filmfest last March so I decided to buy the downloadable version of it. I've learned a lot with that webinar, I started to do the trainings and the assignments. But this August lang, another live VA seminar was to be held again. The same seminar! At first, okei Lang sa akin na Hindi na maka-attend dun kasi whatever topic na idi-discuss dun 
was the same with that of the downloadable version.  Siguro a little variation lang. Pero Hindi ko alam bakit napa-attend pa rin ako dun and I was thankful because I did. There's a big difference pala. (1) nakita ko in person yung mentor ko. (2) I've met new friends especially yung Mga ka-chat ko Lang sa Facebook. It was fantastic kasi some of them kilala ako. (3) iba ang experience kapag nasa group ka of people with common interest and goals. (4)marami pa.
Now, why did I share this? Item three is to be there at the conference! True. We have the advantage of technology, that we can enjoy the conference at the comfort of our own homes pero iba pa rin if you were on a conference with people of the same interest, goals and spirituality as you have. For me.. What I do, I attend the conference sa stake center then watch the Internet version of the conference sa aking scripture study every Sunday. One talk every Sunday. Then review my notes. I also remember the message of elder Misalucha when he was still a member of the seventy, he once shared sa Paranaque stake that even though napanuod na nya live sa Utah he still attend the broadcast version. What a good example of being there!


4. SHARE IT!
We can do this in 2 ways, one is to share your testimony to others.. Mas madali yan Kung you will share your insights to your family or loved ones. Nung nandito pa si sister welyn Manabat, after the conference we usually ask each other, what is the highlight of the conference for you? Then we share insights. And the second way to share is to apply what you've learned. Diba may saying na Action speaks louder than words. When we apply what weve learned, others actually see it. They see it in you and you'll be a good example.


5. BE CLEAN. 
Brothers and sisters, the stake center is not a movie house, na we can bring our popcorn there and leave na as if meron magpupulot ng mga kalat after the show. We must treat the stake center as if it is our own chapel,  As if it is our own home. Remember, cleanliness is next to Godliness and this is true. Why? The spirit of the Lord will not dwell in unholy places and if the spirit is not there, how can we receive inspiration para masagot yung Mga questions natin in life. So I would like to extend the message of the stake presidency to take care of our stake center.

Brothers and sisters, the way to enjoy the General Conference is not limited to 5 ways only. We can discover more ways if we could commit ourselves to constantly benefit from the General Conference. So if we're about to be asked na what is the latest counsel or message of our living prophet, we know what to say because we've heard it, we've felt it during the event. I'm grateful to have a living prophet, president Thomas S Monson who loves us and presides over us. I've learned a lot from the conferences and I know you too will do so. 

Spiritually Enjoy the next Conference .. check it at http://lds.org/conference
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