Youth Conference--The Speakers

Since today is Sunday, I think it's appropriate that I share the inspirations from Youth Conference.  We were privileged to hear from a variety of speakers that each brought something different to tie into our theme "One...but not alone".

These first two pictures are of Troy Dunn (The Locator), and Thurl Bailey (Utah Jazz). 

 The lady is Elizabeth Craig (former Miss Utah).  She is 6'5" and used her experiences with being different.  John Hedder (Napoleon Dynamite) couldn't come but sent a message.  The last pic is of Greg Simpson who wrote his first song at the age of 14.  He was a great performer who's won a lot of awards but he said his real job is being a full-time seminary teacher (he's a bishop too, wow!!).  I don't have a picture of her, but his wife gave a wonderful talk as well on the first day.  She told us of how her whole family apostatized from the church, all but her.  She realized what kept her close to the faith was her daily prayers and scripture study that she had committed to at an early age. It made it possible for her to recognize the Spirit and God's teachings.  It's those simple things that bring the greatest strength. 

 The pictures above is of John Schmidt who is a fantastic piano player.  He asked his daughter what he should work on and she told him that Taylor Swift's song "Love story" is her favorite.  Go here to listen.  Amazing!!

This group is an acapella group from Southern Virginia University (SVU) a LDS based school.  They taught the kids a line dance to Justin Beiber's song "Baby" and later spoke about service.  I tried to load my video of the 1300 kids dancing but I couldn't get it to work.

This group is Jericho Road who spoke on day on purity in dating then another time they sang and performed for us.  They were great!

Here are some thoughts from all the speakers:
"Your day is less likely to come unravelled if it's hemmed in with prayer." Angie Simpson
"Take note of your life" (write it down) Elizabeth Craig
"You have potential to be what heaven sees in you." Greg Simpson
"Sometimes, to know what you want, you have to know what you don't want." Troy Dunn
"Prepare for a like minded person." speaking on dating with people with same goals. Jericho Road
"You can feel God's pleasure" referring to John Schmidt's wonderful performance--Elizabeth Craig
"Remember the rock upon which ye are built"  Elizabeth Craig
"Don't worry about asking dumb questions.  God will always be patient." Jericho Road
"Seek for those who are seeking what you are seeking."  Troy Dunn

"Don't be so selfish that you don't give your smile."  Brother Ochoa of the General Young Men's Presidency who spoke on the last day.
"We can do hard things" Elder Giddons of the Quorum of the 70. He then quoted President Hinckly "It's not as bas as it seems."  We can overcome "God will not forsake us".

Great Conference!