A Wonderful Meeting...

Sunday, February 6th, we had a special stake meeting in lieu of our regular three hour block of meetings on Sunday. Elder David Bednar was our special guest. He is one of the 12 Apostles of our Church. Elder Posey, our Area Seventy was also in attendance.

I was to play the organ and Claude was to lead the congregation hymns. This assured us soft, comfy seats at the front of the building. I don't get to play the organ often. I love to play the organ. I don't have any real organ training but I am capable of finding a nice set of stops and playing the hymns and some prelude and postlude. However, I found myself telling Claude Sunday morning that I was a bit more nervous than usual. There would be an Apostle in attendance and it just added a little more to my level of nervousness.

We arrived at the Stake Center in Lexington an hour early. The chapel was already full of people and the cultural hall was open and filling fast. Pres. Hymas, our stake president, had asked me to start prelude 40 minutes early. I told Claude I thought I should start right away. This was confirmed as we met Pres. Hymas when we entered the chapel. So I hurried to the stand and got the organ ready to play prelude for an hour.

Elder Bednar was in charge of how the meeting went. These are some of the remarks that meant the most to me from this wonderful meeting.

Elder Posey quoted Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." What a wonderful scripture to focus on. He also said we need to know who we are, be who we are, and act who we are.
Pres. Hymas was asked to speak next. The thought I liked best from him was the reminder that 'the gospel is beautifully simple and simply beautiful'.

Elder Bednar requested some members come to the stand and bear their testimony. The first was Kathy Hymas, wife of Pres. Hymas. The J.T. Friemann (spelling) from the Frankfort Ward and Brittny Manwaring from the Georgetown Ward each bore their testimony. These are youth that are high school age.

Elder Bednar'a wife, Susan, gave a brief message. She shared her experiences being the wife of an Apostle and seeing the Church through the lens of being a world-wide Church. When Elder Bednar travels outside of the country, which is a great deal, she is invited to travel with him. This does not always happen when he travels within the continental United States. She was very happy to be able to travel with him this time. They lived in Arkansas for 20 years and have a deep love of the South.

Elder Bednar spoke for the last half of this two hour meeting. He started by telling us that, of the 192 (or something close to that number) countries in the world, the Gospel is now in 170 of those countries. Amazing!!!

God is not a changing God. He spoke to his children in Old Testament times and we have that record as the Old Testament. He spoke to his children in New Testament times and we have that record as the New Testament. He still speaks to us today.

The Church is not a building. It is a body of believers.

Agency is the capacity to act and not just be acted upon. We use agency to make and keep covenants. When we use our agency and make a covenant, we accept the terms inherent in that covenant. Then we are bound by the terms and must act within those terms. When we choose not to act within those terms we are not using agency, we are sinning.

The Atonement does not just provide the ability to have our sins remitted after we repent. The Atonement is also provides an enabling grace or a strengthening power to aid us in living and serving Him. This can ease our burdens and help us carry the loads we experience in life.

This was a beautiful meeting. The closing hymn had three verses. The end of each verse had the word Allelujah repeated three times. As Claude led and I played the organ for this hymn, I was overjoyed as the congregation sang those thre Allelujah's at the end of each verse. They actually took a breath between each one so that each Allelujah was accented. It was very powerful.

This meeting was just great. I'm so grateful I was able to attend. It was a filling experience.