Nineteen

Last Friday, my cousin announced on Facebook that she had extra tickets to the Saturday morning session of General Conference. Brock and I had been looking forward to a lazy morning at home cooking breakfast, lounging in bed, and avoiding the craziness that comes to SLC during GC.

But I figured why not?  The Conference Center is a fifteen-minute walk from our apartment, and who passes up a chance to hear a living prophet when they have one?

Our seats were fantastic--ground level, center. I'd never sat so close to the speaker's podium before. The Prophet entered the room and twenty thousand bodies rose and stood in silence. Forever the jokester, as President Monson passed the podium, he took a quick step towards it as if he were about to start speaking . . . and continued walking towards his chair. A group chuckle rumbled softly through the room.

After a beautiful performance by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, President Monson began his opening remarks and announced new temples. 

3:10 Hey cool! A new temple in Arequipa, Peru. Brock had companions from Arequipa.

4:00 Talking about missionaries in some countries who serve at age 18 in order to fulfill military requirements. Where is this going?

4:45: WHAAAATT?!?!? My heart started pounding. What about female missionaries? 

At 5:38 I felt a rush of disappointment. I had so been hoping for gender equality in missionary ages and mission length, but I was still grateful. I'll write a post tomorrow about the thoughts I've had since then. But for now, suffice it to say that this announcement--although I wish it had come five years sooner! ;) --means so much to me as a Mormon, as a feminist, and as a future mother. Things can still change in this Church and they can change drastically.