What I was up to in Alberta

Last updated on: October 23, 2018 at 8:20 pm by Dan Peterson

What I was up to in Alberta 2018-10-23T20:20:36-06:00 Dan Peterson

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Calgary, Alberta, Canada (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

I was in Alberta, Canada, from Friday afternoon through Monday afternoon — that is, from 19 October through 22 October — and, in response to absolutely deafening demand from literally millions of devoted groupies on every continent, I will now briefly explain why I was there.

A province-wide conference for Latter-day Saint “Young Single Adults” (YSAs) took place on Friday evening and all day Saturday. It began with a get-acquainted reception and a “battle of the bands,” and it concluded with a devotional given by Elder James E. Evanson, of the Sixth Quorum of the Seventy, followed by a Mexican dinner and a “fiesta.” Breakfast and lunch were also provided on Saturday, separated by (among other things) an opening devotional. The topic of the overall event was #ShareGoodness, and, true to that theme, various workshops were held on the use of social media (with separate sessions on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, and on the challenges of sharing the gospel online). The point was to generate and share ideas for how best to use social media to take the message of the Restoration to the world.

I thought the whole effort was quite exciting. Imagine the power, the reach, if members of the Church in their multitudes seriously and energetically began to share gospel-related thoughts, Church materials, videos, and so forth online. Effectively. Approachably. Internationally.

I would love to see such programs proliferate throughout the Church. Social media can be a curse and a distraction, or worse, but, used properly, they can be

Anyway, I presented what was billed as a “Book of Mormon Devotional” on Saturday afternoon, from 2:00 PM until 3:30 PM. I’m told that there were about 1200 people in attendance at the “All Alberta YSA #Share Goodness Conference.” I don’t know how many were in my particular audience, but it was the sole conference event at that time. Moreover, the 17th Avenue Chapel in Calgary is an unusually large stake center, and it was full all the way to the back of the cultural hall, along both sides, and up onto the stage at the back.

I’m hoping that the conference — and maybe even my own remarks — did some good.

After my remarks, my very hospitable and extremely kind hosts — Brother and Sister Eric Wilde — drove me down from Calgary to Lethbridge, Alberta, where he is a physician (a respirologist) and where he presides over a YSA stake.

On Sunday, I spoke to a special YSA stake sacrament meeting, presided over by Elder Evanston. I don’t know for sure that I’ve ever seen a “stake sacrament meeting.” It was a novelty to see the bread and water distributed from four different sacrament tables — two forward and two aft, as it were. My assigned topic how to cope with a crisis of faith. Again, there was a capacity crowd.

On Sunday evening, I delivered a variant of the talk that I had given the day before to the attendees at the YSA conference — on evidences for the Book of Mormon — to a special fireside sponsored by all four Lethbridge stakes. Again, Elder Evanson presided, and the stake center was full.

I mention the size of the audiences because I felt really good about these three meetings. I’m very gratified to be able, as I imagine, to do some good. Or, at least, to try.

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