Presser/Christiansen Family: August 28th- Women's Conference

The TSAM Women's conference August 28, 2015

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August 28^th they had a Sisters Conference in the mission which all of us were invited to, it was a spiritual feast. I took a few notes on the conference and they gave us a CD of pictures so I would like to tell you a few of the things that they said.

President Slaughter began by telling us that we are all beautiful. Sometimes we don’t define beauty as the Lord but follow the world’s definition. There are three ways that God defines beauty.

Sister Cannon, , , Sister Leiter

1. Romans 10:15 How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

2. Have you received his image in your countenance?

3. There is beauty of holiness in women of strength.
a. 1 Chronicles 16:29 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

b. Psalms 29:2 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

Sister Studevant, Sister Leslie Williams, and Sister Garff

c. Psalms 96:9 O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.

Sister Burrows and Sister Rowley foreground

President Slaughter told us to tell ourselves every day, “President Slaughter says I am beautiful. I declare you today beautiful. Don’t let the world or your inner self tell you otherwise.”

Sister Slaughter said that Missionaries are called to be missionaries to their president. She quoted the following scriptures:

1. Moses 1:29 And he beheld many lands; and each land was called earth, and there were inhabitants on the face thereof.

2. 2 Nephi 2 The major theme of the chapter is to have joy. Joseph Smith was known to have joy in the midst of everything, the atonement brings joy, the plan of redemption brings joy, the plan helps us make better decisions and to accept differences and circumstances.

Sister Powell

Siblings come from the same family but come away with different perspectives. The Lord knows our hearts and he will bless you with the joy you need.

Sister Slaughter’s mother loved roses because she said that a rose is true, it has integrity all the way through. Even though some part dies it still looks like a rose. She listed some of the accomplishments that the Senior Sisters had done in the eyes of their husbands and gave us each a rose.

Sister McCombs, Sister Spencer, Sister Clark

I was surprised at all the things that Larry had said about me that were so good. He has been upset with me more than once on this mission. He told them that with taking care of Nathan and taking care of our grandchildren and working at the Family History Center on Wednesdays that I had fulfilled 4 missions. I had a hard time trying to keep from crying. They took a picture of us but it must not have turned out because it was not on the CD.

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Sister Slaughter told the story of the woman who was asked to push the boulder and she did for many years but she could not move it. She felt that she had failed until God told her I did not ask you to move it. By pushing on the boulder you have become stronger. Let no trial ever dissuade you.

Sister Clawson presented on Self Doubt vs. Christ

Sister Ormsby

She talked about the way to lower the wall of Self Doubt between us and Christ. She said that if you serve others you can forget your self-doubts. Forget yourself and change your perspective by moving towards Christ. Don’t tell yourself that you can’t do something. If you tear yourself down you cannot lift yourself. Promise God to be positive and then report at night.

Sister McBride, , Sister Sunkees

You need to apply the doctrine to your heart. Think of Joseph Smith’s feelings at reading James. Love God, and Love yourself. We are fallen mortals therefore we need to turn to Christ. When you come to know yourself as God sees you will be able to overcome the self-doubts that you have.

Sister Garner

Sister Smith, Sister Vorwaller

Sister Rankin presented on the Actuals of Agency. She showed in a chart that there is Agency as God intended it to be and there is it’s opposite Satan’s distortion. She read from 2 Nephi 2: 28 where it talks about the differences between God’s plan of agency which leads to Eternal Life and the companionship of the Holy Ghost or the Light of Christ. Satan’s plan leads to Eternal Death of the Flesh. There is also a difference in where their power comes from. God’s plan gets it’s power from Christ. Satan uses his own power for his plan. With Christ’s plan we learn to rely on him and with our knowledge of good we are free to act for ourselves. With Satan’s plan we have only knowledge of evil and are in a fallen state where we are acted upon. Satan tried to distort our agency. You have the power to choose. Because we have a loving Savior who uses his agency we can use our own agency to choose good.

Sister Greenwood spoke on Becoming. She asked, “Who are we?”, Carnal, sensual, devilish, lost, enemies to God. She quoted from Lesson Three of Preach my Gospel. Repentance is forming a fresh view of ourselves. Some of the Scriptures that can describe us after we have repented are as follows:

· Mosiah 27:24, Righteousness, daughter of God, born again, redeemed.

· Alma 11:45, Raised from death, spiritual, immortal.

· 3 Nephi 27, Sanctified, spotless.

· Moroni 10:32-33, Perfected in Christ, holy, without spot.

· Mosiah 3:19, Saints, full of Love.

Sister Pyper,,Sister Stidham

In the information in Preach my Gospel on the Plan of Salvation it tells us that as we are becoming in Moroni 7:48, We will see him(Christ) as he is.

Sister E. Smith

After this they had fourteen Sisters bear their testimonies.

Then they had a talk on improving our communication. These are some quotes that I wrote down.

1. Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt communication out of your mouth!

2. Communication is so important but we have a fallen method of communication.

3. Read the For Strength of Youth about Language.

4. A few don’ts to consider:

a. Don’t fuel the fire, all it takes is one person to not fight back to end an argument.

b. Don’t sweat the small stuff

c. Don’t play guess what’s in my head

d. Don’t use the words always and never

e. Don’t be offended and think before you speak

5. Proverbs 15

6. Apologize if you offend

7. You are not ingrained to be a certain way, You can change because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

8. We are agents unto ourselves

9. If you cannot say something nice, read the Book of Mormon!!!

Sister Budke, Sister Winn,

10. Uplift and Edify, D&C 50:23, That which does not edify is not of God.

Sister Clark,

There was a question and answer session with President Slaughter and Sister Slaughter at the end which lasted about a half hour to an hour after which we had a wonderful luncheon provided by the Relief Society of the San Antonio North Stake. Later they had a clothing exchange and took a group picture.


Sister Rowley

Sister Jenkins, Sister Graff

One tender mercy, Sister Sturdevant has been the unofficial photographer for the mission for as long as we were there. When she broke her arm she could not lift it. They asked Elder Spencer if he would do it just to have someone to fill in. It turns out that Elder Spencer has been a photography buff for a long time and had all kinds of fancy camera equipment. The Lord knows who to ask!!!