Our Conference Reverence Tent

This weekend is a special weekend for our church and our family. It is General Conference weekend. The members of our church throughout the world gather together to listen to the prophet and other leaders of the church speak to us and give guidance and counsel from the Lord.

Leif and I look forward to listening to the speakers and feeling a renewal of spiritual strength from their words. Jakob on the other hand looks forward to our Conference Reverence Tent. What is this, you ask? Well, in the Book of Mormon there is a righteous king named Benjamin who asks all of his people to gather together to listen to the word of the Lord. He instructs each family to set their tents so their door faces the temple which is where King Benjamin was speaking from.

Last year we took on the tradition of setting up our own Conference Reverence Tent. I told Jakob Friday morning that we would be listening to conference on Saturday. He very excitedly reminded me of the Conference Reverence Tent. He even went on to say "This will be the greatest Sunday EVER!" ... Mission Accomplished!

The night before conference we clean the house and then read a story about either King Benjamin or a story in the church magazine (The Friend) that shares another families story about their Conference Reverence Tent. We then gather the blankets and clothes pins and set up our tent with the opening facing our computer (we watch General Conference online.) And to top it off I plan and make lots of goodies and games for us and the kids to share throughout conference. We bring in Jakob's art desk and art supplies and Caleb's puzzles and a few toys to keep them entertained. The best resource that I've found for ideas is Sugardoodle.net. She lets everyone list their ideas on her site.

So how does it work out? Well, let's just say that I REALLY appreciated Elder Bednar's talk today about the value of consistency in a family. Leif and I are trying to consistently show our children the importance of listening to the prophet and following his counsel. Do they grasp what we are trying to teach them? Yes, I believe they do. Is it perfectly reverent? No. Our goal at this point is to become more and more reverent throughout the growing years. This is our mission and prayer.