Thousands gather for historic 180th general conference
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At a time when "the world seems to have slipped from the mooring of safety and drifted from the harbor of peace," Latter-day Saints worldwide were counseled during the Church's 180th Annual General Conference to "look to the lighthouse of the Lord."
"There is no fog so dense, no night so dark, no gale so strong, no mariner so lost but what its beacon light can rescue," said President Thomas S. Monson. "It beckons through the storms of life. The lighthouse of the Lord sends forth signals readily recognized and never failing.... The Lord loves us, my brothers and sisters, and will bless us as we call upon Him."
More than 100,000 Latter-day Saints gathered on Easter weekend, April 3-4, in downtown Salt Lake City to hear President Monson and other Church leaders offer counsel and direction.
Capacity crowds filled the 21,000-seat Conference Center and overflow areas on Temple Square for the five conference sessions, which were translated into more than 90 languages and sent via satellite to more than 170 countries and territories. In addition, proceedings were broadcast on KSL-TV and BYU-TV, in Spanish on TV-Azteca and to more than 1,700 cable television systems and radio and television stations in the united States and Canada.
President Monson presided at the conference and spoke during four of the five sessions.
The 360-voice Mormon Tabernacle Choir, under the direction of Mack Wilberg and Ryan Murphy, provided music for three sessions of conference. A combined choir from the Orem Institute of Religion, directed by Ryan Eggett and Allen Matthews, provided music for the Saturday afternoon session; a priesthood choir from BYU, directed by Ronald Staheli, provided music for the priesthood session. Clay Christiansen, Richard Elliott, Andrew Unsworth, Linda Margetts and Bonnie Goodliffe accompanied the choirs on the organ.
"As we leave this conference, I invoke the blessings of heaven upon each of you," President Monson said Sunday afternoon as the conference concluded. "As you return to your homes around the world, I pray our Heavenly Father will bless you and your families. May the messages and spirit of this conference find expression in all that you do — in your homes, in your work, in your meetings, and in all your comings and goings.
"I love you. I pray for you. May God bless you."
