Joy In The Journey LDS Singles Conference

This past weekend, I attended an LDS Singles Conference in Germantown, MD at the Seneca Stake Center. It is not far from Washington, DC. One of my best friends, Dawn McNeil, who is also a single mother (of 3) came along with me. She is also a church member but recently moved to Elkton, MD. Her oldest son, Chandler, is Matthew's best friend. We haven't had the opportunity to connect since her move last summer. When I told her about the conference, we decided to go together and leave the kids at home with their dads. It was the first time we've spent more than a day together. We stayed in the Gaithersburg Marriott Washingtonian Center on the 8th floor overlooking a picturesque lake . The hotel was flush along a boardwalk that lined the lake and included a pedestrian-friendly shopping and entertainment center. We had fun walking and taking in the scenery.

We arrived Friday evening on June 25th and connected with quite a few attendees at a nice dance complete with DJ at the church and stayed until about midnight. The next morning, after breakfast, we went back to the church to join a roundtable discussion about the Conferences theme:

Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy.....Send a Gleam Across the Wave
"How Great will be your joy..."

"And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me..,

how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me.

The discussion was about how The Father has mercy and love for us, that he send us his light like a lighthouse to a ship. Will we be willing to go out and rescue any survivors from the ship? How great will our love and spirit be filled if are willing to help many like us?

We were then served lunch. Afterwards, we went to several breakout sessions including: Finances for Today's World, Becoming a Daily Desciple of Jesus, and Communicating Effectively with People. After the last session, we left and rested before heading out for the evening.

Saturday evening was so fun. We were sent to the Folger Pratt Barn on Sugarloaf Mountain Road, where we had a true BBQ dinner complete square dance instruction. We had to hold hands with partners and do-si-do in groups of 4 and 8. There was also country line dancing and regular dancing with the same DJ.

Sunday morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and then shared in a very emotional and spiritual testimony meeting that lasted for almost 2 1/2 hours. There were many tears, hugs, and handshakes. Attending members came from Connecticut to Georgia and as far west as Tennessee. We met wonderful singles like ourselves that were parents, non-parents, divorced, never been married, and widowers. The communication and respect given to each other was amazing. We were ages 31+ that shared life stories, trials, and experiences with complete abandon. Dawn and I left feeling full of love and acceptance. As singles in our ward family, we are not always invited to events that are for married couples. We are also small in numbers. As we joined this event we started to feel like there was a place in our organization that would support us no matter our history or circumstances. We certainly found instant family and friends.