Bednar

Last night the Mannheim/Heidelberg Stake a wonderful fireside, and I'm sure you can guess by the title why. Elder Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was here and needless to say the meeting house in Kaiserslautern was PACKED! I arrived late because I had a class I couldn't miss, but when I got there the parking lot was so full that people had filled the lanes between the rows of parking spots. Everything was bumper to bumper, and you could say the same thing about the seating conditions inside. Luckily I managed to find an open piece of wall up on the stage I could lean on, and despite the heat there seemed to be enough people fanning themselves with their progams to create a subtle enough breeze through the place. I don't know if he gave a talk or not, but when I got their E. Bednar was doing a Q&A Session with the members.
While there were certainly tons of questions, some of the one that stood out in my memory were:
From a 12 year old deacon:How do I prepare to become a Missionary?
Bednar: You are a missionary now, and you should have a good 6 years of missionary experiences before you become a full time missionary. He pointed out that he could 1) Pray like a missionary, 2)Read like a missionary, and 3)Invite others to come unto the Gospel like a Missionary.

From a mother of five daughters: How do you raise children to be able to live in the world without being of the world?
Bednar: Speak less, Listen More, Invite to Action.

From a Father: Which form of Football do you prefer? American or European?
Bednar: I prefer the favorite sport of which ever country I am in.

And one answer to which I cannot remember the question I remember hearing E. Bednar give strong testimony to the amazing power of the atonement. He admonished that the Savior does in fact know us by name, and personality, and that whatever it is we're going through. WE CAN DO IT.

In the end he bore his testimony of the Savior and firmly admonished his role a a witness of Jesus Christ, and of the reality and divinity of The Man.

It really was a great evening. One that left me staring out the car window in thought on the ride home. Kinda cool to have what we have :D