Day 79 - Conference Time and American Football

Last weekend was the actual general conference broadcast, but my Branch had to wait until this week to watch it because of the time it takes for the other part of our stake (all Russian/ Ukrainian speaking) to translate the words to their language (or something like that). Our entire branch (or at least all those who came to watch conference) gathered in the Relief Society room where we listened to the words of the latter day prophets. It was an awesome experience, and definitely a different one than I've ever had before. In the back was the "kids" table, where President Powell and his family (their three primary children make up half of the primary!) sat. There were about five or six rows of chairs, half of them filled with the missionaries/ temple presidency/ embassy workers, and the other half filled with ILP volunteers. I've just got to say, I'm in an awesome branch! Most everyone in attendance there is volunteering their time and life in some way for the better of the world. To me, that makes up a great group of people :) Anyways, we watched the first two hours of conference (which was amazing!), then had a two hour break. They provided pizza and a whole assortment of other goodies (fruit salad, cookies, cut fruit, soda, juice, etc.) for us to eat. A group of us decided to eat outside because it was such a fabulously sunny day. (I may be able to steal pictures of us eating out in the grass later.) After eating, we proceeded to start a game of good old American football. At first there were maybe eight of us playing, but then some of the other ILP's came and joined, then some missionaries, and then some kids from one of the local branches. We had a full field of people by the end, and it was all just a ton of fun. Near the end of the break, we went back inside and watched the second session of General Conference. Man, I should probably tell you some about Conference! It was so amazing too! I don't know if I can really recap the experience for you, but I hope it suffices for me to say that my understanding of life and my part in it has become so much more clear to me, and my determination to do good and be happy has grown much more too :) I know that's not really enough to show you how much I love Conference, but I really really do! I've only got a couple months left here in Ukraine, but I am determined to make the most of every moment, and to enjoy every bit of it, even when the going gets tough.