A much anticipated weekend conference was held in Huddersfield in the presence of Elder Dallin H Oaks, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from Salt Lake City, on the 7th and 8th September for members from seven areas who were invited to the Saturday meetings: Huddersfield, Hull, Billingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Sunderland and York. There was one session held for Priesthood leaders with Elder Dallin H. Oaks.
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Visiting with Elder Oaks were Elder Teixeira, Europe Area President, and Elder Richard J. Maynes of the Presidency of the Seventy. Elder Oaks also participated in the meeting for the stake presidents of Relief Society (women’s organisation), Young Women and Primary with talks from the wives of the Church leaders: Sister Oaks, Sister Maynes and Sister Teixeira.
Andrea Hinchliffe, Huddersfield Stake Relief Society president, reported that there was a common theme to the talks given by Sister Oaks and Sister Maria Teixeira which was the importance of knowing the doctrine of the Church, in particular that which is in the first chapter of the handbook. Sister Teixeira admitted that she had torn out the first pages of the handbook in order to always have them with her! When Elder Oaks spoke on the same theme and also referred to chapter one in the handbook, she laughingly remarked that they were “obviously on the same page”. Emphasis was given to the necessity of knowing and understanding the fundamentals of the gospel.
Bishop Brendon Leece of the Huddersfield 2nd congregation noted that he “was struck by the comment that we need to treat our youth as our most important people learning about the Church. They are our future and we need to invest the time to help answer their questions and help them. We need to help them become converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ and not to the Church or their leaders. We can help them by encouraging them to make and keep commitments.”
During the Sunday session for the Huddersfield area, the visiting authority was British born Elder Patrick Kearon of the Area Presidency, who was accompanied by his wife Jennifer. He spoke about the need for us to be kind and forgiving of ourselves. Elder Kearon also reiterated a phrase President Boyd McEwen (Huddersfield Stake President) had used in his talk which was to “Imagine, Believe and Achieve”, in regard to ourselves and what we want to accomplish. Elaine Wain and Jennifer Kearon also spoke at the Sunday session and Sister Annabel McEwen, wife of President McEwen, was invited to share her testimony.
Pictured from left to right: Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Elder Maynes and Elder Teixeira.