Conference

[Craig Jessop]

This is an open thread to talk about reactions to conference. I happened to LOVE priesthood and Sunday afternoon, and I thought "I Know That My Savior Loves Me" was the best song of the entire conference. What about you?

[Unit of Energy]

I loved the talk that Elder Holland gave.

[thebigcheese]

Yeah, Elder Holland's talk was very unique and very cool. You don't hear talks about talks very often. Personally, I would say that the Sunday sessions were better, but I slept through most of Saturday afternoon...so I can't say for sure.

[Yarjka]

Conference got progressively better with each session this time (although I had to miss Priesthood session for the first time in my post-12-year-old life, so I can't speak to the quality of that as yet (although I just checked lds.org and it seems to be available online -- is this a new thing??)). Saturday afternoon had some fabulous talks. Elder Holland's message about how they need to speak to everyone while also speaking to the few was quite well-put. Elder Robbins's talk about the "to be" list was exactly the kind of thing I needed to keep myself motivated to improve in my life. Any talk that begins with Shakespeare is off to a pretty good start in my book. And Elder Scott's personal experience with the loss of loved ones was heartbreaking and encouraging at the same time.

[Katya]

(although I just checked lds.org and it seems to be available online -- is this a new thing??)

I believe so.

[Unit of Energy]

I find it incredibly interesting how each of us can hear the same talk and get such different things from it.

[Dragon Lady]

and I thought "I Know That My Savior Loves Me" was the best song of the entire conference. What about you?

a) My friend's mom wrote that song.
b) That was the new Primary song last year, so I already knew and have sung it more times than I can count. Did you know the Primary gets a new song every year they ask the Primary to learn? They put it in the Sharing Time manual.

[Whistler]

I knew the song too! hooray for working in Primary.

[Quiet Lamb]

How is the reaction in Provo over the repeating subject of relationships (specifically guys looking for marriage instead of hanging out) in conference? My first thought (besides "this is awkward" because we had Elders over watching conference with us) was, "Did something catastrophic happen in the dating world since I left on my mission?" Four times mentioned at conference seems like a lot. Maybe I'm just being naïve or remember the dating world through rose-colored glasses, but I didn't think it was that bad before. Any comments?

[Dead Cat]

My mom says that they've always been emphasizing marriage like that. I guess it's more noticeable when you've been overloaded with it already.

[Marduk]

(specifically guys looking for marriage instead of hanging out)

This was.....annoying. And not in the least bit applicable to any situation I'm aware of. Seriously, I can name at least a half dozen guys who are ready to get married, but either can't find a girl who will seriously date them, or are in relationships and the girl is dithering. If anything, from my experience, everything that was said to guys specifically should have been said with the genders reversed.

[Dragon Lady]

I can name at least two guys who I know very well that spend all of their free time with their guy friends. I watched conference with one of them and after conference (and I hear priesthood, though I wasn't there for that) he said, "Yup. Those were all directed at me."

So although I'm sure you're right in thinking that many girls needed to hear it (and I believe at least one talk said the genders could be reversed), I also know a lot of guys needed to hear it, too.

[thebigcheese]

Funny you should say that...my sister was just telling me about her non-committal guy friend. About a week before conference, he basically told her, "You know, I've never really thought about getting married. Just hasn't occurred to me."

I can't imagine how that's possible, since he's an active LDS guy in his 30's...but I guess it happens sometimes.

[Dead Cat]

Since I was watching it on my laptop, I turned it off before I saw it, but this guy is so much win.

[Laser Jock]

I more or less agree with Marduk. Not so much that I know girls who are hesitant about marriage, but when I heard that guys needed to stop avoiding marriage and get to it, I was thinking "Which guys are they talking about?" I can't think of any guys I know who wouldn't love to get married. But maybe that's selection bias at work.

[Laser Jock]

Also, Dead Cat, I'm sure your mom is right, but this was still more than usual. I've been in the BYU singles wards for a while now, so it's not just that I'm new to the emphasis on marriage.

[Unit of Energy]

My best guy friends definitely needed to hear those talks, though probably not as much as others.

[Katya]

Also, Dead Cat, I'm sure your mom is right, but this was still more than usual. I've been in the BYU singles wards for a while now, so it's not just that I'm new to the emphasis on marriage.

I think some topics naturally tend to ebb and flow. If this has been on the minds of several GAs, then it's possible that they could all independently decide to talk about it.

[Katya]

I more or less agree with Marduk. Not so much that I know girls who are hesitant about marriage, but when I heard that guys needed to stop avoiding marriage and get to it, I was thinking "Which guys are they talking about?" I can't think of any guys I know who wouldn't love to get married. But maybe that's selection bias at work.

This makes me wonder what kind of information the GAs have access to that leads them to think this is an issue for a significant number of young Mormon men. I know that the Church keeps track of a lot of demographic information—a friend of my parents works for the Church as a sociologist—but I wonder if it's just statistics about first marriages generally occurring later or if they're investigating why such a trend might exist. (I'm assuming that the desire to address this issue is motivated by more than just an assumption that young people these days are lazy and unmotivated.)

[Dragon Lady]

I more or less agree with Marduk. Not so much that I know girls who are hesitant about marriage, but when I heard that guys needed to stop avoiding marriage and get to it, I was thinking "Which guys are they talking about?" I can't think of any guys I know who wouldn't love to get married. But maybe that's selection bias at work.

They guys I know would never say they wouldn't love to get married. One would LOVE to get married, but has simply had his heart broken too many times (one fairly recently) and thus has a hard time even putting forth the effort to find a date, and thus ends up hanging out with us or his roommates or other guy friends more than any potential girls. He's just stopped trying. The other would also love to get married…someday, but is having way too much fun with having fun to seriously consider slowing down and getting married. He loves to date and almost every single girl he comes in contact with probably has a crush on him, but he never slows down enough to give them a chance. If he isn't blown away on his first date, then obviously nothing is going to work and they're "just buds".