Our General Conference Traditions

picture from lds.org

We just finished General Conference weekend for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  It was wonderful as usual!  So much to learn and wisdom to gain from these great leaders of ours.

As we prepared for conference, my daughter told us how they were asked to share a family conference tradition in church and she didn't know which to share because we had so many!  Yes...Conference weekend is a BIG DEAL at our house!   Here are our favorite traditions:

#1 I make breakfast Saturday and Sunday 

(Not a usual thing at our house, especially the last couple of years!)

  We don't have the same thing every conference.  I just make it a point to eat together at the table and have something yummy!  This year it was muffins, eggs, fruit one day and german pancakes the next.

#2 Conference Bingo

I know this is a common one a lot of families do now.  I copied these boards years ago, colored them and laminated them.  Now only my two youngest really do it, but it's not conference without them.  (Apparently they all fight over board #7 because "it's the best.")

#3 Apostles Pictures on the Wall with Quotation Bubbles 

Okay. This one started just a few years ago I think.  It's simple.  We put up the Apostles' pictures up on the wall.  As we listen to conference we are to write the main theme or a sentence about what we learned during his talk.  

#4 Walk Around the Temple 

Throughout our married life we have been fortunate to live close to a temple.  Thus, in between the Sunday session we take a walk around the temple.  In Richland, WA we would spend a long time there - - eating lunch, playing on the grassy hill, enjoying the sunshine.  Now that we live in Rexburg, our time at the temple usually involves a very quick-paced stroll (I think one year we just drove to the temple, looked at it for a minute from our car windows, and drove home again).  The point:  we go to the temple during conference. 

#5 Chicken Salad Pitas 

Every year I make chicken salad pitas for lunch on Sundays.  It was what we would eat at the temple for lunch, but now we just eat it before we take our trip to the temple. 

#6 Order the Speakers 

My husband contributed this little tradition...and we LOVE it.  Basically, we each write down the order in which we think the 15 prophets and apostles will speak.  As conference goes on we calculate our average numbers. For example:

If my guess is that Elder Bednar will speak first but he actually speaks 5th my score would be 4 
(5-1=4)

If I then guess that Elder Holland will speak 2nd and he speaks 12th, my score would be 10 
(12-2=10). 

If I guess President Oaks will speak 8th and he speaks 3rd, my score would be 5 
(8-3=5)

At the end we then total up our final score:  4+10+5=19 

This really is so much fun!  Our missionary son won this year with a score of 39.  Apparently he created a whole spreadsheet evaluating patterns from the last 20 years of conference before ordering his list (guess he had some time on his hands!).

#7 Conference Jeopardy  

Last, but not least, every Monday night following General Conference we play Conference Jeopardy.  Taking information from my notes, I make up a Jeopardy Board.  We have done this for YEARS!  My kids won't let me forget it.  I will be honest, this has not been our most PEACEFUL family home evening activity, resulting in much arguing and many tears.  But in recent years it has become more jovial, less competitive and probably our favorite tradition so far! 

So there you have it - - how the Hathaways "Do" Conference!  

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What is said is not as important as what we hear and what we feel.  That is why we make an effort to experience conference in a setting where the still small voice of the spirit can be clearly heard, felt and understood.

Elder Robert D. Hales, CR Oct. 2013