179th Semiannual General Conference and the trip to Temple Square

The morning of Oct 3rd 2009 was pretty cold. I was suited up and had a scarf on as I walked over to my friend’s apartment at 7 o’clock in the morning. The sun still behind mountains made it seem like dawn. The hype of General Conference had me all excited, and wondering about the day’s proceedings. Soon, we were on the highway, on our way to the Salt Lake Temple.

I had barely spent over one month at BYU, and I had already heard so much about it. “It is the biggest tourist site in Utah; the biggest LDS temple in the world.” In fact, my question is, how can anyone not know of Salt Lake Temple or Temple Square if he or she is at BYU?

We finally reached there around eight. By looking at all the traffic diversions and parked cars I could tell that a lot of people were going to show up. We walked almost quarter of a mile from the parking spot to Temple square, and I was glad we had a close parking spot. Temple Square, just as I had heard, was gorgeous.

A little while after getting seated, President Monson gave a brief welcome speech. The gigantic Conference Center was almost filled up. Afterwards, Elder Scott, Elder Clayton, Elder Bednar, and President Uchtdorf delivered their speeches. My favorite one was by Elder Bednar where he talked about expressing love to members of the family. It made me reflect on my family back at home, and reminded me of my responsibilities. I was really impressed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I was awed every time they sang a hymn. With all the lighting, it seemed epic.

After the first session was over, we roamed around temple square, and went through the Church Museum where I learnt a great deal about church history. That day was a very unique experience for me. Four months ago, I would never have imagined visiting so many new places, and learning so many new things. I am truly grateful to have the wonderful opportunity to experience all this just because I decided to come to BYU. I hope that during the rest of my time here, I keep experiencing new things.