Elder Hall Goes To...

It is always a good week when you have General Conference. General
Conference is one of the great blessings of being a member of the
church. You can listen to men and women of the lord speak words of
truth and comfort to you, and you are able to feel God's love for you
through them.
If you remember from the April session of 2016, I created an awards
ceremony for conference to help add remembrance to the special event.
It was called the Tommy's. I'll take some time this week to offer my
thoughts and comments through these enjoyable awards ceremony.
Your condensed Tommy Awards Ceremony Begins!

Best Costume Design (Who wore the best tie in conference)
The Tommy goes to.. Elder Enrique R. Falabella! He gave the opening
prayer in the Sunday Afternoon Session. It was beautiful. Second place
was Elder Rasband's, and Third goes to President Eyring Saturday's
tie.
Note: President Uchtdorf wore the same tie Saturday that he wore on
Sunday tie in April 2016. That tie won the Tommy as well.

Best Picture (Best Visual Aide used in a talk)
The Tommy goes to... The Savior in Gethsemane, used by Sister
McConkie. It's a powerful moment to catch in a photo. Second place
goes to 1991 Elder Andersen, and last place goes to the Compound Gears
from Elder Cook. Sorry, never was into mechanical engineering.

Best Adapted Screenplay (Best Use of Scriptural References and Quotes)
The Tommy Goes To... Elder David A. Bednar! A Doctrinal wizard, he
beautifully intertwined scripture upon scripture. other nominees were
Elder Ashton's lecture on the Doctrine of Christ and Elder Cook's
excellent analysis of Paul's sermons.

Best Sleeper Pick (The one you probably Slept through)
The Tommy Goes to... Elder Brian T. Ashton! The two spot in the Sunday
Afternoon session paired with a monotone voice probably got your
eyelids closing. If not him, then Elder Cook probably got you right
afterwards. Sound doctrine, soothing voice.

Best Original Screenplay (The most memorable stories and one liners)
The Tommy goes to... Elder Legrand R. Curtis Jr.! I loved his stories
of finding a testimony of the Book of Mormon. Powerful, personal,
lovable. A very close second and third are Elder Nattress and Elder
Holland.

Best Soundtrack (Best Song in Conference)
The Tommy goes to... Called to Serve! How could anything be as
powerful as a choir of missionaries singing Called to Serve with
millions of members throughout the world. Beautiful. A close second is
"I'll follow him in faith", a heartstring plucker, and priesthood
sesison's "Hope of Israel"

Best in Show (the best conference talk)
The Tommy goes to... Two time winner of best in show, Elder David A.
Bednar. You cannot write a more straightforward, empowering talk than
he can. A great step by step instruction on how we can come to know
our Savior Jesus Christ.
Elder Quentin L. Cook is my second favorite, filled with great
references and compelling thoughts on stumbling blocks and stepping
stones.
Elder M. Russell Ballard's powerful thoughts on "to whom shall we go
to?" Takes my third place vote. I feeling I've had in the back of my
head for a long time finally explained to me.
Elder K. Brett Nattress almost made me cry with his great talk on
children, parenting, and conversion. Beautiful talk.
Elder Russell M. Nelson's talk on joy was wonderful, and it made me
realize the importance of being happy.
Other favorites were Elder Ronald A. Rasband, President Dieter F.
Uchtdorf, and Dallin H. Oaks.

Conference is always such a great time. The main takeaways I received
from conference this October was to
- Repent often. It's not a bad thing. It's the best thing.
- Have a relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They love
us more than we can imagine
- Do missionary work!

Conference is the best. I love it.
Now, if you want to know what happened in missionary work this week here it is.
On splits, my companion and his split knocked on the wrong door. The
woman opened up and was excited to see them! She's been "studying
Mormonism" as she puts it, and was glad to have us come in and teach
her. We've had two lessons and great conversations over the phone. She
is truly searching for the truth.
We had a great lesson with a part member family this Wednesday. The
nonmember is more excited about being active in the church than the
member is. She wants to be baptized, but wants to wait until her
husband is active the church again. The gospel is meant for families,
it is best felt within them. We hope to have him active and her
baptized this month.
We had a member with us to every single lesson this week. It is great
to see just how much these wards support missionary work. They do it
with us, they do it on their own, they are an inspiration to me and my
companion.

I'm going to wrap up this email before it gets too long. Have a great
week. Study, re-study, and re-re-study General conference.

Elder Richard Hall

1. District Preparation Day. Fun times.
2. A great exchange with Elder C