3 Ways to Carry the Spirit of General Conference Throughout the Year + a FREE month of Deseret Bookshelf PLUS

This weekend is General Conference! Which to me is seriously one of the most wonderful times of the year!! I love the feeling I have throughout the weekend and how rejuvenating and motivating it is. I wish that feeling could last all year.

So I've been experimenting with different ways that I could MAKE that feeling last all year and I wanted to share my top THREE ways that you can keep that spirit of #LDSConf with you in the 6 months between each conference.

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1. Use Conference Talks for Family Home Evening

When my husband & are on an FHE kick (it doesn't happen all that often...) we like to read conference talks together and share our thoughts and feelings. We often read one and then can talk about it for 30+ minutes. The church published magazines (Ensign, New Era, & The Friend) all have great ideas each month for incorporating conference talks into your Family Home Evenings.

2. Use Deseret Bookshelf PLUS for Gospel Learning 

Have you heard about Deseret Book's new subscription offer? It's called Deseret Bookshelf PLUS. It's AMAZING! For just $9.99/month ($6.99/month for Platinum Members) can listen to unlimited audiobooks + access to over 1,500 eBooks.

There are so many books by our General Authorities that you will have available to you. There is something so powerful about hearing (and reading!) the words of those who are in tune with the spirit. Want to read...?

Broken Things to Mend by Jeffery R. Holland

Increase In Learning by David A. Bednar

No Ordinary Women by Elaine Dalton

The Orphan Keeper by Camron Wright (THIS IS ON MY TO READ!)

These (and many more are INCLUDED in your Deseret Bookshelf Plus. I'm seriously obsessing over it you guys!! You can even try it for FREE for an entire month! Use it on your commute, while you're at work, before going to bed, while taking a bath, etc. We spend so much time staring at our phones, we may as well be reading/listening to something worthwhile!

I usually prefer to read, but some days I just want to snuggle up in bed and listen, and that's why I love that this app gives you both options!

CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR FREE MONTH

3. Set General Conference Quotes as your Phone Background

As soon as the conference starts the LDS bloggers get their fingers ready and make BEAUTIFUL prints of the most prominent quotes. For the longest time I had the quote, "Many things are good, many are important, but only a few are essential." by Elder D. Todd Christofferson set as my wallpaper. Our lives are busy and it was a reminder that although there are lots of good and important things I COULD be doing with my time, only a few are really ESSENTIAL.

So choose a quote you love and put it on your phone (or wall!) so you can reminded of what you learned in General Conference.

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So now... tell me what YOU do to keep the spirit of General Conference alive throughout the year!

Thanks to Deseret Book for sponsoring this post, all opinions are my own.

Books I Read in March //

I've been reading A LOT lately. I swear it's because I got a Kindle, but I've just had a renewed love for reading and it hasn't let up yet. So this month I read SIX books cover to cover, which is just crazy. Here's the list of books I read and my ratings!

1. My Story by Elizabeth Smart 5/5

I've always been intrigued by the story of Elizabeth Smart because it happened just 30 minutes away from where I grew up. My husband and I read this book together and we were basically addicted. We wanted to get to the rescue part and have her live happily ever after. The story was well written, and although the situation was horrible and terrible things were done to her, she tastefully wrote about it.



2. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan 3/5

The information in this book was good but man was it a snoozer. I started it in November and just barely finished it. I loved learning more about nutrition, but I just struggled to get into it. I had to take it like a chapter at a time because it was pretty boring!



3. Worth the Wrestle by Sheri Dew 5/5

I LOVE LOVE LOVED this book. It's all about how we should always be "wrestling" with our testimonies. When we ask questions and seek answers, our testimonies grow! We become more committed disciples of Christ. Questions aren't bad! Some answers may not come while we are mortal, and we have to trust. But there are many things we CAN learn if we seek knowledge by study & faith.

* I was give a pre-release copy of this book to read from Deseret Book in exchange for an honest review



4. List to Love by for Busy Wives 4/5

This was an easy read but uplifting and inspiring. It made me want to set some goals to improve my marriage. I love how it talked about marriage isn't just there to make us happy, but to make us holy. Sometimes we need to remember that! Lots of good ideas for your marriage and things you can pray and ponder about. I definitely recommend for all married ladies!



5. Getting Noticed by Lindsay Teague Moreno 5/5

This is probably my favorite book I've read about business! My shampoo biz is finally starting to grow and this book is gonna help me explode it even more. This book dives into how to stand out from all the other millions of businesses and how to use social media without being annoying. We all know direct sales can be annoying on social media right? It was my biggest pet peeve and why I almost didn't join one! I may order this in a hard copy soon because I want to highlight the crap out of it and start implementing what I learned! I loved this one!



6. If You Find This Letter by Hannah Brencher 5/5

Be still my heart. This is one of those books that I feel like changed me. It tugged on my heartstrings. Us millenials get a really bad rap. But you guys, we are trying! So many of us are drowning in student debt the generation above us said would be worth it & then they judge us for the debt amiright?? The author took a year between college and "real-life" to do 12 months of service in NYC. While they she starts to write love letters to strangers and leave them around town and eventually started mailing them as well. This story is amazing. I loved it and highly recommend it if you're feeling lost and unsure that you can actually make a difference.



I've already started into some other books so I'm sure my April list will be long too! LOL! Tell me what you are reading and loving lately!

More Posts You May Like...

Books Read in January 2017 
Books Read in February 2017

2,200 Scriptures

Ashley tagged me in an Instagram post the other day about a scripture challenge that President Russell M. Nelson gave in a fireside. He also wrote a post about it on LDS.org. The challenge is to read every single scripture that refers to Jesus Christ as found in the Topical Guide.

There are over 2,200 scriptures about Jesus Christ between the Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants. WOW. 

At first it didn't sound like a ton but now that I've started the challenge I can see that this is a HUGE commitment. President Nelson completed the challenge in 6 weeks. After sitting down for 30+ minutes a couple times this week to work on the challenge, I'm not so sure I will complete it that fast! I'm gonna try and crack down on my social media time and really spend time in the scriptures learning about Christ. I'm going to do as much as possible before General Conference!! 

He even said in the article... 

"To those of you who feel you don't have time, if you will make a sacrifice, you will be well rewarded and very, very grateful for the change of perspective, increased knowledge, and improved depth of conversion. I know this is true because I have seen the same rewards in my own life." 

HE MAKES US AMAZING PROMISES!!! 

His full devotional address can be read HERE and I'd highly recommend reading it if you are thinking about completing the challenge. 

I hope you'll join me! I'll hope you'll commit to give up a few things you love in order to make time to learn more about and become closer to Jesus. We will be so blessed for our efforts.

My scriptures are still fairly new and I haven't marked in them at all. I decided to use a yellow marker to highlight the verses I have read from the Topical Guide to kind of keep track! Feel free to use that idea as well :) 

Let's get it! 

march goals //

February's goals were about a 50/50 hit and miss. Which is fine. Because I'm proud of the progress I DID make. But now... we are into March. I had this great idea that I wanted to super simplify my goals, but of course I still filled up almost every single line in my Powersheets. Nobody can say I don't have big dreams I guess!

So here are my goals in all their glory!!

MONTHLY 

+ Create a Monat Marketing Plan : I LOVE working my Monat business. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT. Which means I can work it all day long and I just don't want it to consume my life like that. I really want to sit down and make a monthly plan and then STICK TO IT. (see my daily goal!)

+ Reschedule Dentist Appt : My dentist's daughter went into labor during the appt to fix my cavities so... I need to reschedule. LOL

+ Temple Date w/ Colten

+ Send in Foster Care Application : IDK why all this foster care stuff has felt so overwhelming, but taking it chunk by chunk is helping)

+ Foster Care Doctor's Notes : We need our doctor's to sign off saying we are healthy enough to be foster parents.

+ Clear Out Phone Photos : I have Disneyland photos from March that I need to print/store and SOOOOO many other random screenshots I just need to go through

+ Finish 2 books : I'm about halfway through 2 different books! Find me on Goodreads

+ Complete 10 hair goals consultations for my Monat business! (email me at brooklynjolley@hotmail.com if you'd like one!)

+ Host an in-person Meet Monat event

WEEKLY

+ BBG Workout : The last 2 weeks got crazy and I've fallen out of my gym routine. I'm ready to get on track with one BBG workout a week! It might not be much but it's so much better than nothing!

+ Go Live in Monat group : I want to keep my Monat Facebook group active and fun and I think going live makes a big difference!

+ 1 HR on my Social Media job : I run the Facebook page for an accounting company and it's really something I just do in my free time but I NEED to committ at least an hour a week to it.

+ Blog : I've been so happy to be getting back into a bit of a blogging routine. I missed it!

DAILY

+ Follow Monat Marketing Plan : See above! I really need to simplify this aspect of my life

+ Scriptures : one hour or one verse. It doesn't matter

+ Duo Lingo : I'm really trying to stretch my brain and remember/learn Spanish! I love the app so far!

+ No Spend Lent : I'm trying a No Spend Lent and it's going to be SO HARD. But... I've been spending too much lately and I have bigger goals in mind so.... it's time to do a no spend challenge and Lent seemed like the perfect time

+ Pray! : I've got my prayer journal I am trying to work in/use daily but I need to get into the habit so this becomes routine

Do you have big (or little!) plans for March? Share them with me!

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Want to read more like this??

2017 GOALS 

January Goals

February Goals