The Next 6 Months: My Study of October General Conference 2012

It’s official: October 2012 General Conference is now available in all formats (video, audio and text)!

One of my goals is going to be to read something from it at least every week for the next 6 months.

Can I do it? I know I CAN. Will I do it? I want to.

So, here we go. Here’s my list of the talks which I’ll cross off as I read them for the first time.

Saturday Morning Session

• Welcome to Conference 10.10.12
• Can Ye Feel So Now? 10.11.12
• I Know It. I Live It. I Love It. 10.15.12
• An Unspeakable Gift from God 10.23.12
• “Because I Live, Ye Shall Live Also” 10.24.12
• Ask the Missionaries! They Can Help You!
• Of Regrets and Resolutions 11.7.12

Saturday Afternoon Session

• The Sustaining of Church Officers
• Becoming Goodly Parents
• Be Anxiously Engaged
• “Come unto Me, O Ye House of Israel”
• What Shall a Man Give in Exchange for His Soul?
• Temple Standard
• Trial of Your Faith
• Protect the Children

Sunday Morning Session

• Where Is the Pavilion?
• The Atonement
• First Observe, Then Serve
• Learning with Our Hearts
• The First Great Commandment
• Consider the Blessings

Sunday Afternoon Session

• Being a More Christian Christian
• The Joy of Redeeming the Dead
• One Step Closer to the Savior
• By Faith All Things Are Fulfilled
• Becoming a True Disciple
• Blessings of the Sacrament
• Converted unto the Lord
• God Be with You Till We Meet Again

My Initial Thoughts, Questions, and Observations

I’m excited for this challenge. I hope I can get others to participate with me since I’ve found that when I work on projects like this with a group, or at least another person, I tend to stay more committed to the task.

Talks that I remember:

• Elder Holland’s was really strong and straight forward,
• Elder Bednar’s was really intellectual – one I knew I’d need to re-read a few times to get all the meaning,
• Elder Gonzalez talked a lot about things I felt pertained to Mandy’s situation with anti-Mormon stuff,
• I vaguely remember Elder Hales talk about being more of a Christian Christian.

Ultimately I’m excited to re-read, re-study all of the talks and get new meanings and insight that I may not have got when I took initial notes.

My Questions

• What do I need to get most from these talks?
• How can these talks help me with my day to day challenges?
• How can I apply what I learn into being a better husband and father?
• As I commit to reading these talks every week for the next 6 months, will I feel an increase of the Spirit in my life?
• Will others join in the challenge with me?
• How can I get a few people to commit to studying with me?
• Is there a best way to go about studying the talks? In order? By topic? Randomly?
• How much time should I commit each day/week to studying these talks?
• Should I find scriptures and references that compliment what the speakers are saying?
• What does Heavenly Father want me to get most out of reading these talks?

How I Want the Process to Work

So here’s a stab at how I plan to work this challenge:

1. I will study in the mornings before 9:00, preferably staring at 8:30 a.m.
2. I plan to study one talk per day, at least one time per week (it could be more but that will be a minimum goal).
3. I will take notes in my journal here.
4. I will invite others to comment.
5. I will link back to other studies I’ve done.
6. As I read a talk, I will come back to this post and put a date next to when I first studied the talk and add additional dates if I study the talk again.
7. I have 26 weeks to study roughly 29 talks (this doesn’t include the Priesthood Session – which I may add).
8. Ultimate Goal: to be more familiar with the will of God for me at this point in my life and to LIVE what I believe every day!

So, here I go!

Nate