Elder Perry Fireside

This evening I went to a fireside where Elder L. Tom Perry spoke. It was amazing. A lot of kids said they felt the Spirit when the congregation stood as he walked in the room. Of course, I wasn't in serious mode yet and could only think of how it felt like when you stand at a funeral, somber organ music and all. I wonder if L. Tom ever feels that way. I don't know. I think I would feel funny if a bunch of people stood like that and got all quiet for me to enter the room. It would make me want to stand out in the foyer and sneak in when no one was looking.

There was one speaker before Elder Perry and I can't remember his name. Anyway, he spoke about the tree of life/hold to the iron rod story in the Book of Mormon. One question I asked myself was, "How far am I wandering away from the tree?" There are a few ways I've been wandering and need to get back on track. I need to be consistent with scripture study. I need to pray more. I feel that I pray a lot in my heart or keep a prayer with me throughout the day but I need to be on my knees more.

One of the things this dude said when he was wrapping it up was to be worthy of the future children you will have. I was immediately reminded of the tender feelings I had for my children before they were even born. So many times in my youth, I remember feeling as if they were the ones watching me from above, cheering me on, hoping I would make righteous decisions and rise above the problems encountered in life. So many times when I felt I had nothing to lose, they would come to my mind and I would think, Is this something I would be proud to tell my children about? I really did forget about those thoughts and feelings but was reminded of them tonight.




When Elder Perry arose to the pulpit, that is when I felt the Holy Ghost testify to me that he truly is a man of God and one of God's servants. It was so powerful I got tears in my eyes. As he spoke, rather than write down the words that he said that I found to be useful and inspiring, I decided to write what came to my mind. These are some of the thoughts I had:

--Reminisce when life comes to and end.
--The way you use and build your physical body should be the way you would build a Temple.
--Sometimes you just have to listen to people when they are going through challenging times.
--Be friends with the scriptures.
--Delay gratification to plan for the future.
--To everything there is a season. Think about the people who come into your life and different times. What do you learn from them? Are they there to help you in a time of need?Are YOU there to help them or teach them? Think about it.

Please note that not every single one of these things came from Elder Perry word for word since I paraphrased above but rather, he told stories or said things that got me thinking about the topics mentioned above through the whisperings of the Spirit. I love how individual these experiences can be when we take care to listen to the promptings we receive.