The time I met Tad R. Callister

Today, instead of regular church, we had a special stake conference.
(For those of you who are unfamiliar with Mormon lingo: a "ward" is just another word for a congregation, and a "stake" is a collection of wards that exist in the same area. It's kind of like how a school district is a collection of schools in the same area.)

My stake got to listen to Tad R. Callister, who is currently a member of the Presidency of the Quorum of the Seventy in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (aka... the Mormon church).

Elder Callister is one of my favorites. He has already made an appearance on my blog when he came to BYU almost a year ago to give a Devotional address, and I posted about what he talked about.

I had the privilege of singing in a choir that was seated up on the stand where Elder Callister, his wife, and others were sitting. After the conference was over, I went up to Elder Callister. I got to shake his hand. He asked for my name. I got to thank him for speaking to us, and tell him that I absolutely loved his book The Infinite Atonement. Because... I do. I really love that book. He thanked me for taking the time to ponder it.

It was so great to personally speak to him! Even if it was only briefly. His wife is very nice too. Bucket list item... check!


The focus of his talk was on the relationship between husbands and wives. He gave several different ways to make your marriage a celestial one:

1. Adopt the attitude "I will make it work." Be committed, and make the effort to do all you can to make your marriage work.
2. Adopt the "Is it I?" attitude. When there are problems, look for ways you could change instead of trying to find ways that your spouse should change.
3. Pray with your spouse every morning and evening.
4. Make you spouse happy. Love each other with all your heart.
5. Avoid pornography at all costs.
6. There are no secrets between spouses. Confide in each other about everything so that you will have that sure foundation of trust.
7. Multiply and replenish the earth. Yeah... have babies. Do not let worries about schooling and money be detrimental. Where sacrifices are made, the Lord will bless us.
8. Do not neglect daily scripture study. Both individual and with your spouse/family.
9. Stay out of debt.
10. Speak in soft, kind voices.

Can I just say... Elder Callister is a wonderfully straight-forward speaker. Not in the same way that Elder Holland is straight-forward (there's no beating-around-the-bush with Elder Holland!) but in a gentle way. I've noticed that he really likes using lists in his talks... and that makes it easier to take notes and get the main idea, in my opinion.

I love being at a University where I can have the opportunity to hear apostles and prophets of the Lord. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to personally meet and talk to one of my favorite General Authorities. And to top it all off, we gained an hour. I got to sleep in. It's been a magical Sunday.