Week 3: Preserving the Heart's Mighty Change

Thanks for coming back, dear sisters! I've already gained so much from you, and I hope you are feeling the Spirit as much as I am!

This weeks talk comes from Elder Dale G. Renlund Of the Seventy. It is entitled, "Preserving the Heart's Might Change." I thought, in addition to some background on Elder Renlund, I would add a few scripture references. I plan to use these in a FHE soon, and thought you may be able to use them too.
So, Elder Dale Gunnar Renlund learned early that nothing is more important than following the Lord. His parents, Mats and Mariana Renlund, taught him this principle by example. They met in Stockholm, Sweden, shortly after the end of World War II, and they wanted to marry, but only in the temple. They left their homes in Finland and Sweden, immigrated to Utah, and were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple.
Born on November 13, 1952, in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, Elder Renlund was raised in a home where the blessings received from following the Lord’s counsel were cherished. He was also blessed to live in his parents’ homeland twice: once as a teenager when his carpenter father was called to Sweden on a Church-construction mission and several years later as a full-time missionary for the Church in Sweden.
Elder Renlund met his wife, Ruth Lybbert, in their home ward. In June 1977 they were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. Together with their daughter they have built a tightly knit family that works, plays, and serves together.
“We love doing things as a family,” Elder Renlund explains. “Everything we do is geared that way. If we play golf, we play as a threesome and share the same score.”
Elder Renlund earned a bachelor’s degree and doctor of medicine from the University of Utah and completed his training in internal medicine and cardiology at Johns Hopkins University. He dedicated his medical career to the subspecialty of heart failure and transplantation medicine as a teacher, researcher, and clinician.
Before his call to serve in the First Quorum of the Seventy, Elder Renlund served as a bishop, stake president, high councilor, and for nine years as an Area Seventy in the Fifth Quorum of the Seventy. He and his family currently reside in Salt Lake City, Utah.

I suggest looking at Alma 5, which deals with this subject as well. An Institute instructor of mine once referred to this chapter as "An Interview With a Prophet."

Happy reading!

Week Two: I Love Loud Boys

I really look forward to reading the talks from the priesthood session. Joe is not the same kind of listener as I am, nor does he have my obnoxiously accurate memory, so his second-hand report is often wanting. I suspect its also because he's a man, and men aren't talkers. Something like that.

Anyway, I've committed to trying to follow the Spirit when I chose the talk for the week, and I felt very drawn to this talk. It's by Elder Yoon Hwan Choi (I totally copied and pasted that name) and titled, "I Love Loud Boys." Here's a little background on Elder Choi:



Elder Yoon Hwan Choi of the Seventy says two 14-year-old boys brought his family into the restored Church.
Elder Choi was born on May 18, 1957, to Dong Hun Choi and Jeung Soon Lee. His father allowed Elder Choi and his siblings to choose any Christian religion, but they often argued over their different beliefs during dinner. His father wanted to change this. Impressed by the Mormon religion of Elder Choi’s 14-year-old brother, the family listened to the missionaries. After learning about another 14-year-old, Joseph Smith, they were all baptized.
Growing up, Elder Choi dreamed of becoming a general in the Korean army. So when his bishop asked him to speak about preparing for a mission, Elder Choi said no. Another young man spoke instead, which made Elder Choi feel guilty.
“The Holy Ghost told me I needed to serve a mission,” he says. He prepared for and served two years as a missionary, interrupted halfway through by three years of mandatory military service. To this day, Elder Choi says he and his wife, Koo Bon Kyung, “never deny anything that comes from the Lord.”
Elder Choi completed a bachelor’s degree in business information management from BYU–Hawaii in 1988 and a master’s degree in business information systems and education from Utah State University in 1989. He was an instructor at both universities, a sales manager, and an investment director for a venture capital company. He was a regional manager for temporal affairs for the Church in Korea.
Elder Choi and his wife were both born and raised in Seoul, Korea. They were married on September 25, 1982, and sealed one year later in the Laie Hawaii Temple. They have three sons. Before Elder Choi’s call to the First Quorum of the Seventy, he served as bishop’s counselor, bishop, high councilor, stake mission president, stake president’s counselor, stake president, and Area Seventy.

Elder Choi was called to the Seventy in April of this year. I believe this is his first General Conference talk.



I hope you enjoy it!

And so it begins....

I had been following a blog called the General Conference Book Club over at Diapers and Divinity, but I wanted to try to start my own for a few reasons.

1--While I enjoy the comments on the blog, I don't know those women. I want to hear the thoughts and testimony of sisters I know and love.

2--Mormon teaches us in Alma 31:5 that, "The preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them..." I wanted to share with women I love and young women I hope for the word, that we can all be edified together.

3--Pondering the word together and sharing our testimonies will help us build bonds of sisterhood. I need a LOT of sisters. :) I suspect you do too.

So let's get started!

Our first talk will be from Elder Neil L. Andersen, "Repent...That I May Heal You." Here's how it will work. Follow the link to the talk. Read it, study it, pray about it. Then, come back and share your thoughts or questions in the comments feed of this post.

I can't wait to hear what you sisters think. I'm so excited to share this with you!