I, Like Nephi

Mike and I went to the adult session of stake conference tonight.  I am so glad we did.  The conference was great.  My favorite was a speaker, Sister Crowley, who was probably a few years younger than me.  Her talk was amazing.  I wish I had recorded it to remember everything. She started off something like, "I, like Nephi, was raised by goodly parents.  My dad was ........., my mom was.........  I, like Nephi, was raised strong in the gospel.  I attended primary, young women's and seminary.  We had family home evening every Monday.  We always attended church. ..........  I, like Nephi, am large in stature."  That is where the audience burst out laughing.  Then she talked about how that is where all the similarities ended.  She didn't have a testimony in the gospel and as soon as she left the house she never went back to church again.  She talked about several different things, but I will skip all that. Her son is almost ready to graduate high school, she wanted to start a new hobby so she wouldn't feel so alone when he left.  She decided to try out acting.  She had been classically trained in voice as a child and decided to start working on this again.  She searched and searched to find a voice coach who was well respected and she did find one she was excited about.  When she went for her first lesson, this is what her new voice coach said to her, "Do you have a patriarchal blessing?"  Sister Crowley said, "To say that I was shocked with this question was an understatement.  The color of my nose ring was blue."  She told her she got one when she was 12, but hadn't read it in a long, long time.  Her new voice teacher said, "After we talked, I prayed about you.  I felt prompted to ask you about your patriarchal blessing.  To encourage you to read it and to let you know it is true."  Wow.  That's crazy.  I don't think I would ever think to pray about someone I have never met to see if there was some way I could be of service to Heavenly Father. I'm just not that good.  Long story short, this started Sister Crowley's reactivation.  Her entire talk was amazing.  I wish I had taken notes.  I did write down two things from the end of her talk.  That is when I realized I would never remember all the cool things she said.  One was something her mother would tell her.  "Remember every saint has a past and every sinner has a future."  I like that.  The other quote I want to remember that Sister Crowley said is, "Not until the student is ready does the teacher appear."  Sister Crowley was such an engaging speaker.  I can see why she is interested in the theater.  She was mesmerizing.