Fireside

Last night I had the privilege of going to the Denton Stake and listen to Sister Elaine Dalton, the General Young Women's President of the church. We met at the church and I had 7 kids ride with me. I'm glad they rode with me. I had the chance to talk to Anthony Garret about his plans, its was good to hear him talk about turning in his mission papers in a couple of months. When we got to Denton it was already getting very full, I'm so glad we left early, probably should have left about 20 minutes earlier for better seats for the kids. Everyone in my car got into the auditorium. The Denton stake had it so that only the kids were in the auditorium(thinking that would be enough room it was not). I kept taking kids into the auditorium to get seats, as we were standing by the table for the Hurst Stake. There were a lot of kids from our stake, I'm so glad that they chose to come. Then in the overflow is where they were going to have the leaders be, WELL there was not enough places for kids, they eventually had the adults move out of the chairs so kids could sit down, even with that there were still kids that did not have a seat. She talked about the 3 things they as a presidency have asked the kids to do:
1. Pray everyday both morning and night
2. Read the Book of Mormon for at least 5 minutes everyday (if you
did this you would finish the Book of Mormon in 1 year)
3. Smile
We should do these things, they are not hard.
Sister Dalton's husband served his mission in Texas in 1968, when Texas use to be only 1 mission. That's hard to believe, but very exciting. He bore his testimony. I'm so glad I got to go. There was then a dance that followed, I did not stay I had to be up at 5am for work, bummer. I would have loved to hear the kids talk about the activities on the way home. Thanks to those who picked the kids up for me.
One bummer of the evening, since we were in the foyer/cafeteria time of place and could see the fireside on a TV screen, many did not take the opportunity to listen. Sister Johnson and Sister Furniss and I sat ton the floor against the wall, I had 2 ladies beside me, that did not shut up the entire time SO, the kids that were next to them did not either, but hey what kind of an example did those leaders set for them. I still got a lot out of their talks, I am so thankful to have joined the church, for all those who took me under their wing and taught me the gospel.President Martino spoke for a few minutes, he spoke of many people that I knew, and spent time with. I am so thankful that as a young girl I took advantage of the gospel, of the knowledge it gave me. I think about my sister who joined the church the same time I did, she has not gone to church in years, even before her leg was removed. My good friend Julie has not gone in years either, she has made some pretty wrong choices, and she knows it. Julie will tell me that she still prays everyday. I know that is important, but come on so is what you are doing in your life, you will be judged for your knowledge and choices. Sometimes that is so hard for us to understand, or maybe we understand it, but choose to do what we know is morally wrong anyway.