Conference Report: October, 2009

I know, I'm late. After each conference issue of the Ensign comes out, I read all of the talks. Then I go back and study each talk. This includes looking up each scripture referenced in my scriptures, often marking them and making notes. To me, it's a great way to study the scriptures. It's letting general authorities, including apostles, take me by the hand and lead me through the scriptures, teaching me what they have learned. Often (examples include Elder Nelson& Elder Andersen) you get a whole extra talk in the footnotes. It takes a long time to do this, but I figure I'm going to study scriptures anyway, and this is a great way to do it. I work this in with other scripture study I do, so it takes me the full six months to get it done. My goal is to have each Conference issue studied before the next one comes out, which means this one should have been done by the end of April. I'm late, but I finished this morning.

As I finish studying each talk, I tally how many times the speaker references each of the standard works, how many times they quote apostles, literature and hymns. Then, when I've studied the whole Ensign, I do a total tally of each of those. Why? Statistics such as this are very interesting to me. I like to see changes over the years and ponder what those changes might mean. I won't give you my conclusions, I'll let you do that for yourself, but I will give you the total tallies, in case you're interested. I will mention that I've seen a great increase in how much the general authorities quote latter-day apostles, living and dead. In this conference, apostles were quoted 75 times. Just in case you're interested, following are the totals: (These totals include scriptures quoted and referenced-scriptures referred to, but not actually quoted):

Book of Mormon: 186

Old Testament: 36

New Testament: 98

Doctrine and Covenants: 108

Pearl of Great Price: 24

Apostles: 75

Hymns: 7

Works of Literature: 22

There is a great quote from Elder Michael T. Ringwood in this conference that expresses a reason I love to study conference talks:

"My testimony is that the teachings from our prophet and apostles in this conference, if followed, will lead to an easiness and willingness to believe in the word of God."

In these troubled times, I am grateful for bi-annual conferences that keep me focused on eternal things, help me live my life better, and lead me through the scriptures.