Mormon women told to 'choose this day to serve' at BYU Women's Conference

For more than a decade, Rosella Grant and her friend Annette Saxton have been attending the annual Women's Conference at BYU. They don't even have to call each other to ask if they will attend; when they find out the dates of the conference, they mark it on their calendars and it is assumed that they will attend the conference — together.

"I was in an accident just a few days ago, and Annette has a new grandbaby, and life is crazy, but we talked and decided to come anyways," Grant said.

Saxton and Grant are two of the many women who look forward to attending Women's Conference each year in an effort to learn, grow and be edified by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other women.

"Before the first words were even uttered, I walked in and (the spirit) was there," Saxton said. "It is just there. The sisters bring it, and you feel it before it even starts."

The annual conference, which is co-sponsored by the LDS Relief Society and BYU, began in the Marriott Center on Thursday morning, where women met together and sang the hymn "Scatter Sunshine." This year's conference theme, "Choose ye this day to serve the Lord," was taken from Moses 6:33-34.

Elder Cecil O. Samuelson, BYU president and member of the Seventy, welcomed the women to campus.

"We recognize that a number of you are coming looking for answers, coming to have your spirits lifted, your challenges moderated," he said. "We know that you are going to be lifted and sustained in the sessions you will visit. This will be an opportunity for our testimonies to be strengthened, our understanding to be enlarged."

Sister Julie B. Beck, Relief Society general president, spoke to women of the importance of prioritizing their energy and pursuits as they seek spiritual direction.

"I feel a great urgency for the daughters of God to do all they need to do to strengthen and lift — not just themselves, their families, sisters who are in their wards, but also the world," Sister Beck said. "I feel that the sisters in this church who know and understand their covenants will be a significant force in helping this world, which has seem to have lost its moral moorings."

Using the example of a lioness at the gate, Sister Beck spoke of the role of women and the importance of prioritizing the essential things in life.

"We have to know what are responsibilities are and how to fulfill those," she said. "We know that as women of God, this is a time that we need an increase of faith and personal righteousness."

Other speakers scheduled for Thursday included the Young Women general presidency: Sister Elaine S. Dalton, president, Sister Mary N. Cook, first counselor and Sister Ann M. Dibb, second counselor. Renata Forste, chairwoman of the department of sociology at BYU, spoke at the afternoon general session.

e-mail: mholman@desnews.com