3 Oct 2021, Sunday

 3 Oct 2021, Sunday

Prioritized Daily Task

Semi-Annual General Conference

Stephanie Hobbs 38th Birthday, Debbie sent her a happy birthday text and called her

Debbie and I were up late and slept in.  I showered, shaved, and got dressed in a suit and tie.  I walked over to the church.  Debbie stayed at home and watched the Saturday evening session last night; I did not know if anyone would be at the church in Novi Sad for General Conference.  I was a little late; Elder Baldwin and Elder Garlick could not get any of the broadcast sessions of the conferences in the Serbian language.  The only member who came was Erika and she had left.  There is a mission transfer this week and the sister missionaries have already left Novi Sad.  The Elders are leaving tomorrow.  Debbie called just before we finished watching the Saturday evening session of the 191st Semiannual General Conference and ask if I would like to invite the missionaries to come over for dinner.  We walked home, about 20 minutes.  Debbie had a nice meal prepared.

6 PM - Watch Sunday morning session from Salt Lake City live at Mirko and Ljunica's.  She had treats for us while we watched General Conference.   Sister Camille N. Johnson, Primary general president gave an excellent talk about the life we led, the things we think, say, and do; we are writing a book each hour, day, and year of our life.  Some day that book will be opened and read.  After conference, Debbie and I walked home.  

10 PM - Watched Sunday afternoon session of the conference.  Story of 2003 British Bike Racing; The organization, which was the governing body for professional cycling in Great Britain, had recently hired Dave Brailsford as its new performance director. At the time, professional cyclists in Great Britain had endured nearly one hundred years of mediocrity. Since 1908, British riders had won just a single gold medal at the Olympic Games, and they had fared even worse in cycling’s biggest race, the Tour de France. In 110 years, no British cyclist had ever won the event.                                         In fact, the performance of British riders had been so underwhelming that one of the top bike manufacturers in Europe refused to sell bikes to the team because they were afraid that it would hurt sales if other professionals saw the Brits using their gear.                                                             Brailsford had been hired to put British Cycling on a new trajectory. What made him different from previous coaches was his relentless commitment to a strategy that he referred to as “the aggregation of marginal gains,” which was the philosophy of searching for a tiny margin of improvement in everything you do. Brailsford said, “The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, and then improve it by 1 percent, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together.                                                      As these and hundreds of other small improvements accumulated, the results came faster than anyone could have imagined.                                  Just five years after Brailsford took over, the British Cycling team dominated the road and track cycling events at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, where they won an astounding 60 percent of the gold medals available. Four years later, when the Olympic Games came to London, the Brits raised the bar as they set nine Olympic records and seven world records.

Psesident Nelson was the concluding speaker for 191st Semiannual General Conference.  He admonished us to set our own prioterities; we deiode how we will use our time, energy, and means to the way we will turn to truth and guidance.  Make time for the Lord in our lives each day.  Seek the Lord through daily prayer and study (focus on making the foundation of your life on Jesus Christ.  Rejoice in Christ, Feast upon the words of Christ, and press forward in Christ.  Make your Sabbaths a delete by worshiping Him, partaking of the sacrament, and keep his day Holy.  Make time for the Lord in His Holy House, the Temple.

                                                              Treats provided by Jelicics

Every day Debbie and I have prayer together in the morning and evening, as well as our personal prayers.  We had prayer yesterday and today before we left and came home from the Jelicics.  Mirko led us in prayer both days.  We still have a prayer when we are in the car before going anywhere, just as we did as missionaries. Debbie and are certainly not perfect but we try to put the Lord, our family, and others before ourselves because we love them.