An Evening with Elder Bednar

It was wonderful! I loved seeing a familiar face from BYU-Idaho. Yes, Grandma, I probably did stand out. But there were quite a few non-Chinese, non-Taiwanese people there.

(I'd say Americans but I have a Canadian co-worker and he's taught me that it bugs people of other nationalities when Americans think all white people are American.)

But I was in the 5th row surrounded by non-white people :) I really, really liked my seat so I didn't move to a different spot even though the new spot was where I could have gotten English translations. I mean, I don't need it, right? Elder and Sister Bednar speak English and that's who I'm here to listen to.

Mistake. They changed things up and didn't give talks. They opened it up as a question-and-answer session. Ah! Very neat, but I don't know what any of the questions were. I could sort of guess from his answers.

Because of the format, a lot of translations took place. An audience member got up and asked a question in Chinese ~ A gentleman translated it into English for Elder Bednar ~ Elder Bednar answered in English ~ A different gentleman translated it into Chinese. It was funny to me. (that sounds wrong. I think my English is getting worse!!)

I did not get to shake his hand. I was so close to them when they walked in and out. Just 2 people between me and the aisle!

He suggested we study the latest conference talks. He said they aren't just talks, they are the Lord's will revealed through His servants.

And he told how young single adults shouldn't write people off after only one date.
[His and Sis. Bednar's first date was un-extraordinary. They are very different. They still wonder how they ended up going on a second date. But they're very happily married.
He asked if Sis. Bednar wanted to add anything. She went to the pulpit and said: "If I had known he would be an apostle, I probably wouldn't have married him. I would've been scared to death."
I'd totally been wondering about that. She answered my question.]

It was a wonderful, rewarding evening. 4 tour buses of people came from other areas. The chapel and auditorium and stage were full. They also had chairs set up in rooms and foyers throughout the building. I wonder how many people were actually there....

PS - I arrived at 5:30 pm to get my 5th row seat. The fireside started at 7 pm.