I Love It Here

This past weekend was General Conference.  As always, it's a pleasure to listen to the word of God be spoken by His chosen servants.  This time however I had new feelings associated with preparing for conference...gratitude.

Not the gratitude that I always feel for being a member of the church or the gratitude for the messages shared, but a deep, emotional gratitude for being born, raised and currently living in Zion.  I know, I know, true Zion is a state of being as read in the scriptures but there is another Zion.  In church history the headquarters of the church have always been referred to as Zion.  Zion is wherever the main body of the church resides.  I also know that this definition is getting thinner as the church grows worldwide.  There is just something special about living close to the center of the church here in Utah.

I love the fact that every 6 months as conference rolls around I know exactly what to expect.  I know that my very active neighborhood shuts down for 2 days.  The constant ring of children's voices are quiet and I know that all those friends are inside their homes watching conference just like my children.  I know that should I choose to venture out to the store on the first Saturday of October or April I will be met with enormous crowds between the hours of 9-10am, 12-2pm and 5pm.   I also know that the soccer crowds are smaller if your game happens to fall between the hours of 10-12am and 2-4pm.   I love that there are businesses that take the opportunity to market special "Ladies Night" sales and activities on those same Saturdays during the hours of 6-8pm.  I never go to these events but I smile thinking about all the ladies that do. 

I love that there are families choosing to dress in their Sunday best to sit in their family rooms and watch conference and I love that there are other families (like mine) that watch in their pajamas.  I love that I get to watch conference in my home, on regular old antenna TV.  Or if I choose, I can make advance arrangements and actually go to the Conference Center and watch it live.  Because I live here, I can literally sit at the prophets feet (or more appropriately above his head) and be taught.  What a blessing!  

Living in Utah along the Wasatch Front, I am minutes from Salt Lake, minutes from walking where the prophet of the Lord lives, works and walks. When I really think about it I am amazed.  I love living where a huge population of Latter-Day Saints live.  I love going on a walk with my friends and in the course of walking one hour in any direction we can pass through the boundaries of at least 7 wards and 3 stakes.  I love that for a family that does not travel much my children have personally walked on the grounds and touched 9 different temples.  I love that here, in my home state, a new record will be set of the first city in the world to have 2 temples. 

I know there are many wonderful and faithful members of the church living all over this world and I thank them for raising righteous families and living good lives where ever they are. I also know that many of them think that by living here in Utah it's like living in an unrealistic bubble.  I have heard it expressed by many members living here in Utah that they wish they could move out of the state to really know how it feels to be a Latter-Day Saint, to be truly converted. I get that mentality.  It's just not for me.


I love Utah.  I love living the gospel in Utah.  I can't imagine another place for me.  I feel so grateful, so blessed to have been born in the covenant, in the state that was founded by a prophet of God and that I have the opportunity to give that same blessing to my children.