Conference in General

What a wonderful weekend! Conference was absolutely inspiring. I was humbled and uplifted and motivated to excel. I did pay attention to the speakers' diction and "lard" content. I felt a little hypocritical, like a second-grader criticizing rhetorical giants. But I did notice how straightforward and simple many of the talks were. The speakers didn't use fluff or extra wording. You could tell they had put a lot of work into prepare these talks, and President Monson informed us on Saturday morning that the speakers had prayed much to know what to say.
Passive tense was avoided. :) just kidding. The speakers seemed to avoid passive tense carefully, with the blatant exception of President Monson, who is famous for his parallelisms. "Hearts were touched, testimonies were strengthened, memories were made..." This is forgiveable (of course!) because the emphasis President Monson intended was on the actions and not the people. This parallel structure also makes for more interesting listening.

These Brethren are superb rhetoricians. They have our hearts and employ expert pathos with humor, warmth, and empathy. They have ethos that comes with their calling and demeanor. But more than that, there is another factor in their talks. The Spirit truly bears witness that they are teaching the truth. This cannot come from their own rhetorical skills. I bear testimony of that; I've tried to teach people the gospel, and without the Holy Ghost teaching them it is impossible. I sustain these prophets not because they are great speakers, (and indeed, not all are. Some of the foreign ones struggled a great deal) but because of the Holy Ghost which witnesses of their message.

I have three tiny regrets from this weekend: 1. I didn't stay awake the entire time. 2. I could sit with my family at home. 3. I miss the home cooking, the roast and mashed potatoes we usually have on a Sunday. That's my tie to food. :)