For Latter-day Saints around the world, General Conference is a special time to spend with family and feast on the word of God through His servants. However, it isn’t always easy to get your family excited about three long days of sitting and listening. Ponder on these five ideas to help inspire your loved ones to embrace the Conference experience every six months.
Create Fun Traditions
Traditions are important! They bond us together, help our family invest, and make Conference more enjoyable. Your General Conference traditions can be big or small and should definitely be made by the spirit. Here are a few tradition ideas to help you get started:
- Build a tent for children to watch Conference in
- Bake a favorite treat, such as cinnamon rolls
- Complete a service project as a family
- Listen at a unique place for one of the sessions
- Find a family name and take it to the temple
- Record all of your testimonies
It’s important that your Conference traditions don’t stress you out. The most important thing is that your family gains a testimony of the peace and power of Conference.
Conference Consistency
General Conference can sneak up on us, can’t it? Those six months in-between go by so fast and suddenly Conference weekend is upon us and we haven’t even thought about it. You can help your family fall in love with General Conference by making the words of modern-day prophets and apostles a part of their everyday lives. If we talk about Conference consistently with a positive attitude, we’ll build up excitement and anticipation for Conference weekend.
You could post a quote every week on your fridge, include Conference in your Come, Follow Me study, and talk about how awesome Conference is going to be in the weeks leading up to it. Get your family involved and help them create a Conference experience they’ll feel like they helped create. Remember, the way you feel and treat General Conference will be an example for your family.
Utilize Inspiring Resources
There are lots of great resources out there to help your family before, during, and after General Conference! Here are a few of our favorites:
- Ideas to Prepare to Participate in General Conference
- Learn About the Speakers at General Conference
- Kid’s General Conference Workbook & Adult Resource Journals
- Printable General Conference Activity Packet
Learn About Church Leaders
The more you know about someone, the more you care. Learning about the leaders of the Church who speak to us will help connect your family with General Conference. They’ll be more excited to see who is speaking next and they’ll be able to appreciate their words after learning about their life experiences. For younger children, focus on learning faces and names. For older children and teenagers, try to teach them a few facts about the leaders.
Don’t Force It
Entreat your family with love and gentleness. Don’t be too hard on your family if or when they struggle with watching General Conference. No one will love Conference if it’s always a fight. Don’t be hard on yourself either! As long as you’re trying, the power of General Conference will enter into your life.
What ideas do you have about helping families love General Conference?
