Beautiful Day for Conference. 1 October 2016

The rain that was in the forecast for today did not appear.  In fact, the weather was actually quite warm.  My Sweetheart told me of an April conference when it snowed, so I guess good weather does not always occur, but this was rather dramatic.

I listened to the morning session while working on my Family Tree, and I will do the same for the Priesthood session which starts in a minute, but I did get to attend the afternoon session in person. Thanks to a suggestion from one of the other missionaries, and getting a ticket from my zone leaders for Plaza 1, I was just 4 rows back and a mere 15-20 feet from where President Monson and the other General Authorities entered the Conference Center.

I thought the Conference Center would not fill up all the way, because during the opening part of the session, there were still many empty seats, but people were still entering, and later I saw that every seat seemed to be taken.

I was seated right in front of a small monitor, which was good, since I find I must do some lip-reading in order to get the most from talks.  This was very evident when Elder Yamashita spoke.  I really enjoyed his talk, but would have gotten little from it had I not had the monitor to rely on.  The acoustics, at least on the far South side of the center, did not seem quite as good as in the Tabernacle. Despite that, I felt very blessed to be in attendance.

There were several talks of note:  My possible cousin, [12th, 2 times removed:)], Quentin L. Cook, talked about impediments, a great sifting, and repentance; Dallin  H. Oaks' talk included a reference to this being the last days; and Jeffrey R. Holland's talk on home teachers who care brought me to tears, and prompted me to remember my previous home teacher who gave me the blessing that set me on the road to this mission, and promised me the gift who is my Sweetheart.

I really enjoyed a conversation today with my middle daughter.  It has been a while since we had talked so we had a lot to catch up on!  I also enjoyed seeing and talking briefly with my two youngest granddaughters.  It is always good to see them even on Skype.

I decided to check my possible relationship to Elder Cook--and found a set of many generations back great grandparents who were undoubtedly Ashkenazi Jews!  This goes back into the early 1500s: Rechel Batmaharal Ashkenazi Spira, born 1532, died 1603, and Moshe halevi Heller Wallerstein, born 1520 in Germany.  Of course, the lines have no sources, so this is more mythology than genealogy, but maybe the sources will eventually be found.  I am delighted to have this confirmation that I am part of the House of Israel!