consuming stake conference and the fabulous dessert which followed

The Brooklyn, New York Stake (which, so far as I'm aware includes all of Brooklyn and some of Staten Island) had their semi-annual conference this weekend. So on Saturday night for the adult session, and Sunday morning for the general session, we bundled up and trekked through the subway system heading north to Park Slope to the stake center. After attending stake conferences twice a year for pretty much my entire life, I thought I was an old pro, but Brooklyn yet again made things new and interesting for me.

Attending conference here confirmed to me once more just how culturally diverse Brooklyn is. At the adult session just about everyone, unless they were bilingual in English and Spanish, had to use headphones because, while most of the session was in English, there was at least one talk in Spanish. It was quite the experience listening to it. Through my headset I could hear an English translation of the Spanish talk I was simultaneously listening to being given at the pulpit. And then, over my shoulder, I could here the same talk being translated into Chinese. The general session on Sunday was all in English, but not all of the speakers natively knew English. The speaker who represented our ward is from the Ukraine. His story of traveling half-way across the world AND learning English in order to attend the temple for the first time with his family was well worth the sometimes hard to decipher accent. Also, the choir sang each of their musical numbers in three languages: Chinese, Spanish, and English. It definitely takes more effort here to make sure that everyone can understand the messages being shared, but I have never been in a stake that has felt so overwhelmingly unified.

Speaking of unified, I have to say that there's nothing quite like watching the members here gather. It's both incredibly spiritual and fantastically spy-movie-like watching them converge from out of the subway in droves.

A few other thoughts I had from the conference:

• Our stake presidency is very young. That makes Blake and I both a little nervous and very grateful for our callings as nursery leaders.
• The president of the New York New York South mission spoke, which was probably appropriate, seeing as I've never seen so many field missionaries at one time and in one place. I mean, I know Brooklyn is home to millions of people, but wow; I hadn't ever considered those millions translating to a need for so many missionaries.
• One of the counselors in the new Manhattan temple presidency spoke and now I'm really itching to arrange for a babysitter and just go do a session already.
• The stake president saw to it that the adult session was interactive. He led a fascinating discussion on the doctrine outlined in the For Strength of Youth pamphlet by using the primary song "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" (and yes, he made us all stand up and sing it, too).
• I think I will forever be in awe of the amazingly firm testimonies of the people here.

The conference was, I think, wrapped up quite nicely by something I'm going to chalk up to a faith promoting subway experience on the ride home. In the middle of our transfer from the F train to the R, we were stopped by a gentleman needing directions. We helped him to the best of our ability (our little group of Blake and I, along with another young couple, were trying to make sure we were going in the right direction as well), and in doing so missed our train by a fraction of a second. I told Blake that I completely expected another train to arrive shortly since the only reason we missed this one was because we were being kind and serviceable. Before he could completely finish teasing me for thinking this, sure enough, there arrived another train, which just goes to show that Heavenly Father does watch out for those who help His children.

But wait! There's more!

Last night I got to leave Blake at home with Garrett while I went up to Woodside, Queens to listen to Sister Julie B. Beck speak at a fireside. What a fantastic experience -- and not just because I was literally sitting front and center. It was definitely an hour well-spent listening to her share stories from her own experiences about how incredible it is that each and every one of us was chosen before we were born to come to earth to be a part of a family, and how powerful we all can be if we see to it that the spirit resides in our own lives and in our homes with our families. She also convinced me that I can successfully teach Garrett to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover by himself before he is baptized. [UPDATE: If you're curious about this reading the Book of Mormon thing, I've elaborated in the comments section of this post.]

A few other thoughts from the evening:

• I was given a ride to the fireside by my friend, Martha. I highly recommend that all of you at some point in your lives drive north from Brooklyn on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway at night. The view of an all-lit-up Manhattan behind the Brooklyn Bridge is totally worth it.
• The Woodside Stake Center was converted from an old watchmakers factory, and the cultural hall, where we all convened, was at one time an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Martha, who grew up in Queens and knows this building well, gave me the behind-the-scenes tour. It's a maze of a building, but I think that it's quite likely that in no other stake center will you get to walk along an incline in the basement and be told that you're walking from the deep end to the shallow end of what used to be that pool.
• I am convinced that the girl who sang the opening musical number is a Broadway actress because not only did her porcelain doll-like figure dressed in a snazzy yet not too over the top New York ensemble look the part, but she sang the part as well.
  
• This was, I think, the first time I left Blake alone with Garrett for an extended amount of time (if you can call 4 hours truly extended). He did a fabulous job, I must say.

It was a delicious weekend, my friends, and I think it's safe to say that I am now feeling quite stuffed.