LDS General Conference

Conference Center

"Just to let you know, I've got Conference fever! I'm so excited. It really means like 10 times more to me out here on the mission. Just gotta listen to what the Apostles say, then take it and share it with others. The best is when we are able to bring investigators to Conference to see President Hinckley and the Apostles speak. It's like impossible not to feel the confirmations of the Spirit. I just hope I don't miss Priesthood Session like I did when I was in Guarulhos. Elder Domaredzky and Elder Walker already said no. So I tried to get Elder Borland, but he wouldn't get up with me at 5:30 to go. But I won't miss it this time."

Annual and Semiannual Conferences

The General Conference is a semi-annual meeting where general authorities and other Church leaders and give guidance and council to the members of the Church. It is held on the weekends containing the first Sunday in April and the first Sunday in October. The April meeting is known as the Annual General Conference, and includes annual statistical and financial reports not included in the October meeting, which is called the Semiannual General Conference. Both conferences in a given year are identified by the number of years since the Church was founded in April 1830; thus the October 2005 meeting was the 175th Semiannual General Conference, and the April 2006 meeting was the 176th Annual General Conference.

Although the schedule varied in the past, these days each conference consists of five two-hour sessions. The conferences have been held in Salt Lake City, Utah since 1848, and in the LDS Conference Center of that city since its completion in 2000. For more than 100 years they were held in a large building known as The Tabernacle which is adjacent to the Salt Lake Temple on Temple Square. General Sessions commence at 10 am and 2 pm (Mountain Time) on Saturday and on Sunday. At 6 pm on Saturday a Priesthood session is held for men holding the priesthood of the Church. General sessions are open to all Church members and guests holding tickets, usually for only one session. The tickets are free of charge (they are used for capacity and order), and members of the church the world over can request them from either their local leaders, or by writing to the church headquarters. Standby tickets are also available, as frequently many ticket holders for one reason or another are not able to attend.

October 4, 2006

"The week has gone well, General Conference was much needed. Did you watch any of it? I love conference, and I am gonna be in the Conference Center for the next one! Wanna come? I made Elder Jones a little trunky by telling him that I would be home for the next one, but he is a good kid, he is fine with it."