District Conference in Tarma

Usually General Authorities don't attend a member district conference, because they are assigned only to stake conferences. But we were privileged this past weekend to enjoy the company of Elder Carlos A. Godoy of the First Quorum of Seventy. He is from Brazil, speaks a fascinating mixture of Spanish and Portuguese, and is a dynamic, entertaining, inspiring speaker. During the conference, Elder Godoy challenged the members of the Tarma District to work toward becoming a stake.


His attendance at our Tarma District Conference did cause Scott some consternation, however, because Scott was in charge of developing the program (the topics, the speakers, the music, etc.), and didn't get confirmation that Elder Godoy was coming until the day before the conference. In fact, Scott didn't know for sure if President and Sister Leyva were going to be at the conference, so he had to develop several versions of the program to be ready for whoever showed up.

Beverly played the piano for all the sessions, except the priesthood leadership session in which Scott played. Here she is playing the piano during one of the several choir rehearsals for the conference:


The conference sessions were all held in the Tarma chapel:


Scott gave a 40-minute training presentation at the priesthood leadership session (to about 65 men) and then an 10-minute talk in the adult session Saturday night. Beverly gave a talk in the auxiliary leadership meeting (to about 50 women) and then bore her testimony in the adult session. About 700 people attended the Sunday morning of the conference.

Scott spent the weekend in interviews (the district presidency was reorganized and members with special needs came from the outlying areas to attend conference and have interviews). Scott also attended training meetings for the new district presidency with President Leyva and Elder Godoy, and then later he gave training at the first presidency meeting of the new district presidency.

What a relief it is to have the Tarma District Conference over. And, more importantly, how wonderful it was to feel the Spirit in all the meetings, to have wonderful attendance at the conference, and to see the members excited about the prospects of eventually becoming a stake.