October Conference Notebook

General Conference Ideas

By Tina Spencer

The author lives in Washington, USA.

“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?”

Fifteen days before the start of each general conference, our family hangs up our sign announcing the beginning of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” Then we add the latest pictures of our prophets, seers, and revelators from the previous conference edition of the Church magazines.

I prepare by researching the prophet we will welcome that night. Sometimes I find objects around the house to represent a few things I found out, and I put them on a plate. During dinner, as I tell stories about each item, everyone tries to guess who it is. Other times, I tell a story or two that the prophet shared during the previous general conference.

I am amazed at the things my children remember about our beloved prophets and apostles, and I know this simple game has increased my love and knowledge of these great men also.

My Own Copy of Conference

When Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Kathy, visited during our stake conference, Sister Andersen shared a story with us. She said that when they were living in France, she made photocopies of the conference talks for each of their children—even the very young ones. She was shocked when she found out the price of the photocopies, which was very high. Then the thought came into her mind: “What is it worth to you for your family to have the words of the prophets?”

This story really touched me, and I made sure everyone in our family had his or her own copy of the conference talks. Our daughters were very excited. We used them for family home evening and during scripture study. I loved seeing one daughter reading talks on her own and marking them with her highlighter. Another daughter, recently baptized, begged me to read talks with her one-on-one.

Conference Challenge

As part of my lesson in Relief Society, I challenged each sister to review the talks from the previous conference; some sisters reread the talks, and others watched them online. Several sisters expressed how they felt much more prepared for the upcoming conference.

Photo illustration by Carlos Israel Gutiérrez Robles