I have just listened to the two Saturday general sessions of April 2020 conference.  They were tremendous.  Conference was filled with the Spirit.  I made notes.  There are many things that I want to think about and to write about.  As I do so, I know that the Spirit will teach me additional things.

When I was serving as a bishop I depended upon general conference to keep me going.  I tried to attend in person as often as possible.  I often said that I was able to be a good bishop for four months, and that I then needed general conference to recharge me.

I feel recharged now.  General conference energizes me.  General conference makes me more aware.  I become more aware of my blessings, of other people, of the Spirit, and of my surroundings.

For instance, today, because of conference, I think, I have noticed lessons on patience, suffering and blessings, growth, leadership, and renewal.  The lessons come from my surroundings.

Patience:  Amy Geese II has been laying eggs in the goose nest that I erected to try to entice a tenant.  She lays an egg each day, carefully covers the eggs with the hay that I put in the nest, and then waits on the pond with Shawn until time to lay another egg the next day.  She has been collecting a clutch.  This very morning (4 April 2020) she decided that it was time to begin setting on the eggs.  By collecting the right number of eggs over several days, and by waiting to begin setting on them, she insures that they will develop together and all hatch within hours of one another.  Today she voluntarily sentenced herself to 35 days of inactivity.  She did it out of love.  She will sit in one place for 35 days as she incubates her children.  She'll only leave the nest once each day for a few minutes to get a drink of water and a quick snack.

This is patience and sacrifice.  I chafe under my current COVID-19 isolation and lock down.  Hers is worse.  She has more patience.  Her sacrifice is greater.  Perhaps her love is, too.

Suffering and blessings:  At the conclusion of the morning session I stepped out the back door for a bit of fresh air.  I noticed that it was 39-degrees.  I was startled to notice a 2-foot-long garter snake beside the rock garden.  It looked sluggish, and unwilling to move.  Snakes are cold blooded, meaning that they can't generate their own heat, and that their bodies are, therefore, the same temperature as their surroundings.  No wonder the snake didn't want to move.  Its body temperature was 39-degrees.

I hate to be cold.  I can take heat better than I can stand cold.  I love being warm and comfortable.  I love my propane and electric heaters.  I love the blanket that my wife made for me, and which I wrap up in every morning.  I love my warm bed.

The snake has none of these things.  It sat unmoving by a rock for an hour.  I kept checking on it.  In that hour it only moved one foot.  Eventually it began a slow slither along the base of our rock garden, and finally headed for the area of the pond.  I was hoping to discover where the dark den is that it spent the winter in, and to which it was probably returning.

Hell is depicted by sectarian churches as a lake of fire and brimstone.  The suffering of those who go there will be as that of such a place, but latter-day scripture rather refers to hell as "outer darkness."  The Savior is the light of the world.  He is also the light of the sun.  Light makes heat.  Hell will not enjoy any part of the Savior's influence.  Rather than it being a hot place, I believe that it would more appropriately be depicted as cold and dark.  That's the type of place the snake emerged from and went back to.

I'm glad I'm not a snake.

Growth:  As conference progressed, I looked out the window to check the weather.  My attention focused on the quaking aspen tree in the backyard.  I've never paid any attention to it before.  Its trunk grew straight for 20 feet, then bent somewhat and grew another four feet before being unable to go higher.  What should have been the trunk became a horizontal branch.  The tree is as tall as it can possibly get.  Every other species of tree, I realized, has a limit, too.  Aspens might reach 80 feet.  The tallest redwood is 312 feet.  A pine might reach 100 feet.  While it's still growing, a pine's top is pointed.  When it reaches its maximum height the branches grow outward, and the top becomes rounded.  That's how you tell a mature tree.

At the top of my page of conference notes I wrote, "A tree has limits on how high it may grow.  I have none."

My potential is limitless.  So is my progress and growth if I am faithful.  There are no dams or barricades in my way.  The Savior's Atonement removed them all.  They can only exist if I put them there.  Continual repentance insures that the Atonement stays in full play in one's life.

Leadership:  The aspen tree is also a lesson in leadership.  Other aspen trees have successfully gotten three or four times taller than this one.  The central leader of this tree got tired of leading, and decided that it wanted to be a follower instead.  It abandoned its responsibilities.  No one else was in a position to take over.  Without leadership, the tree has become stunted in its growth.

I've seen wards, branches, and organizations like that.  A good leader is vital to any organization.

In other species of trees, when the top gets broken off, other limbs take over and try to become the new central leader.  That is what happened to the spruce tree up in the Shaeffer Creek draw on the Mountain Place.  In its childhood the top was broken off.  Three other branches took over.  As a boy I was able to easily stand in the crotch created by the three new trunks.  Nearly 70 years later I no longer fit.  The three trunks are thick, and are filling in the empty space between them.

I've seen organizations like that, too, where several individuals or parties compete for leadership.  I used to sell IMSI blocks.  They were concrete blocks with internal baffles and foam inserts.  They were stacked dry, reinforced with rebar and concrete columns and rows, and covered inside and out with a stucco-type covering.  The resulting building was well-insulated, waterproof, soundproof, vermin-proof, and fireproof.  It was a wonderful product, but there was so much infighting among the leadership of the company that I don't think IMSI blocks even exist anymore.  What a pity.

The same conditions presently exist in Washington, D.C.

Renewal:  After conference I slipped outside and made a small bouquet of flowers for Marjorie.  They're the first flowers of the season.  I found a Dutch iris, a purple crocus, a miniature yellow daffodil, and Johnny jump-ups.  They're a reminder that better days are on the way.  Spring is coming, and everything is going to become new.  The world is going to become beautiful.  The COVID-19 virus is going to go away.  The world is going to return to normal.  We'll be able to go to church again, and associate with our families and friends.  The temples will reopen.  We'll be able to serve again.

President Nelson just announced the future construction of eight new temples.  The Church is surging ahead.  We will have temples in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and in Shanghai, China!!!  A Muslim country, and China!  In my lifetime!

President Nelson pointed out that "We have front row seats to witness what Nephi only saw in vision."  We have front row seats in this ongoing Restoration of the gospel.  We're part of it.  We have amazing leadership.  This Church is growing upward and outward and will fill the world.

1. Whitney Clayton told of meeting with the stake presidents in Buenos Aires, Argentina at a time when they felt overwhelmed with problems. He asked them how many of their members who were paying their tithing, magnifying their callings, studying their scriptures, praying, holding Family Home Evening, and doing their home and visiting teaching were having problems that they couldn't solve themselves?  The stake presidents meekly answered, "None."

If we are doing those things, we can weather any storm.  President Nelson said that the Saints can be happy under any circumstance.

I'm a believer.