Disgruntled about local policy.


mikbone
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4 hours ago, mikbone said:

When I asked a member from my stake leadership (Anesthesiologist) about attending the neighboring stake conference he stated that I was not supposed to know about Elder Bednar’s visit.

That's just like an anesthesiologist. Man, you just can't trust those guys.

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11 hours ago, Jane_Doe said:

Local leadership asked Mikbone's stake not to come.  Hence his disgruntled thread.  

Just because I'm curious and ignorant.

What is a Stake Conference (I assume it's a meeting of some kind but would like specifics) and why would a member of that Stake be asked not to attend?

M.

Edited by Maureen
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3 hours ago, Just_A_Guy said:

The two things that kept me from pursuing a career in medicine:  blood, and calculus.

Guess how much calculus I use.

And there were 3 people in my med school class that were accepted to both med school and law school.  All of them dropped med school after the first day of anatomy. 😂

Blood you get used to.  The formaldehyde stench from the anatomy lab was nasty.

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32 minutes ago, Maureen said:

Just because I'm curious and ignorant.

What is a Stake Conference (I assume it's a meeting of some kind but would like specifics) and why would a member of that Stake be asked not to attend?

M.

A stake is the primary organizational unit of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is led by a man called to be the stake president. It consists of about 2000-3000 Saints living in a specified geographic area. Each stake is subdivided into about 8-12 congregations, called wards. People typically do not choose their congregation; they go based on where in the stake they live. (Rare exceptions can be approved by the stake president.) Each ward congregation is presided over by a ward president, called the bishop, and meets weekly to partake of the sacrament, attend classes and Priesthood quorums, and otherwise worship together.

Twice a year, the stake gathers for a stake conference, where stake leaders and members give instruction to the people of the stake. A stake conference is just that: A conference or meeting that involves the entire stake. Typically, it takes place on both Saturday and Sunday, with those stake members who hold leadership positions attending leadership instructional meetings Saturday morning, an adults-only session Saturday evening, and a regular two-hour general session on Sunday.

The stake conference is often presided over not by the stake president, but by someone in a position of authority superior to him, usually a Seventy. Sometimes an apostle will preside at a stake conference; this used to be standard operating procedure many years ago, but nowadays it's a rare treat.

A stake member would not be asked not to attend a stake meeting in any normal circumstance, barring something like a protective restraining order. You probably misread what someone wrote, which was likely that people from an adjacent stake were asked not to attend someone else's stake conference. It seems that I've seen this done when an apostle presides.

Edited by Vort
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48 minutes ago, Vort said:

...A stake member would not be asked not to attend a stake meeting in any normal circumstance, barring something like a protective restraining order. You probably misread what someone wrote, which was likely that people from an adjacent stake were asked not to attend someone else's stake conference. It seems that I've seen this done when an apostle presides.

@mikbone did mention a neighbouring Stake and I asked in a round about way what that means. @Jane_Doe answered my post and I assumed from her answer that "neighbouring Stake" just meant mikbone's Stake.

M.

Edited by Maureen
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49 minutes ago, mikbone said:

Guess how much calculus I use.

And there were 3 people in my med school class that were accepted to both med school and law school.  All of them dropped med school after the first day of anatomy. 😂

Blood you get used to.  The formaldehyde stench from the anatomy lab was nasty.

We had a fifty-something medical doctor in my law school class who decided he’d gotten tired of doing autopsies.

No idea what he’s doing now . . .

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I live in a metro area that encompasses 5 stakes (one less than six months old). Because there is a lot of overlap in the community (my mail delivery person at work is in a different stake than where I live, and also a lot of boundary shifting in the last decade) news of a visiting apostle spreads quickly. I've known people who have gone to another state's conference to hear a GA. They don't check your recommend at the door, but a lot of people will know you are there against the counsel of your local leaders.

Because my local stakes also cover some wide geography, we have started to broadcast stake meetings. My dad doesn't have to drive 45-60 minutes to the stake center on Sunday because there will be a closed circuit broadcast to his regular chapel (some would have to drive upwards of two hours one way). Leadership utilized this technology when Elder Nelson visited a neighboring stake a few months before being ordained as the President of the church so the youth in all 4 stakes (at the time) could benefit from his fireside. 

My point is this: if leadership thought it was important for you and your family to hear his message, that would be happening. 

I've been privileged to be in the presence of two apostles: Elder Eyring and Elder Oaks, and I can tell you that it did nothing more to affirm my testimony of their apostolic calling than the messages they share to a broader audience do. In fact, the stake conference Eyring presided over put a bad taste in my mouth towards him for almost a decade. I was 16, had driven an hour by myself to a city I hate driving in and heard him say from  the pulpit that he understood our struggle because when he was little, worship services were held in his home because membership was so small in number. He joked, "I didn't go to Primary, Primary came to me." And I immediately tuned out because he obviously did not spend more time traveling between seminary and school than he spent at seminary. I hsve since repented of my ways and he has become one of my favorite apostles and the reason I don't apologize when I get weepy at the pulpit. 

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It was an Elder Bednar weekend.  And it was great.  Initially we were going to stay in overflow rooms, but there was plenty of room in both venues.  We sat on the stage at the far end of the cultural hall.

He mentioned that we were lucky to have him there and that the times when apostles (D&C 107:33) show up to stake conferences will become less and less common.  It wasn’t actually a stake conference, he was here for a Priesthood leadership conference and decided to stay the weekend to have a meeting with the youth and speak during Sunday services.

He mentioned that he goes to Africa almost as much as some people go to the grocery store.  And that the Church will grow to 50M and then 100M members.

I took notes.  During the youth meeting, he gave us his cell phone # so the youth could ask questions anonymously.

He asked that the questions be inspired and specific to person, place, and time.

His testimony was awesome.  Instead of making statements with the preface (I know) he used (I witness).  

He also used material and expounded on two of his prior talks

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/broadcasts/article/ces-devotionals/2013/01/that-we-might-not-shrink-d-c-19-18?lang=eng

and 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2016/05/saturday-afternoon-session/always-retain-a-remission-of-your-sins?lang=eng

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15 minutes ago, mikbone said:

He asked that the questions be inspired and specific to person, place, and time.

That is awesome, but it does not surprise me. He came and visited my mission not long after he was called into the apostleship. He spent three hours letting us, 60 or 70 missionaries, ask him any question that came to mind, and then insisted on shaking all of our hands individually. I was so excited as it was the first of only two times I've met one of the brethren personally. I'm glad you guys had such a great experience.

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