Floradelisa Dela Cruz from 3rd Ward was the first speaker during the Saturday night session of conference. Her comments centered around taking steps to get to the temple. Floradelisa was baptized 2 years ago. At the time of her baptism, she made a goal for herself that she would go to the Manila Temple one year later to receive her personal endowment. She achieved her goal. Now her desire is to attend the Salt Lake Temple on or before her 50th birthday. She quoted Pres. Boyd K. Packer, "No work is more of a protection to this Church than temple work and the genealogical research which supports it. No work is more spiritually refining. No work we do gives us more power. No work requires a higher standard of righteousness. Our labors in the temple cover us with a shield and a protection, both individually and as a people. So come to the temple—come and claim your blessings. It is a sacred work."

She ended by bearing her testimony of the blessings of the temple and stated, “When I am in the temple, I am home.”

Judy Lin from Toa Payoh Ward spoke on the subject of family history and genealogy. She began by sharing information about her own family, which has been traced back 4,000 years. She gave an account of one of the common ancestors of 5 Chinese family names. Pres. Woo took note because he recognized one of the names to be in his own family line. Perhaps Sis. Lin has information he needs to do his genealogy work. Sis. Lin quoted Elder Worthlin from his General Conference talk in April of 2004.

We have “a great debt to our ancestors who have preceded us and who wait beyond the veil for those ordinances that will allow them to continue their eternal progression. This is a debt we can repay for them in our temples.”

Sis. Lin said that it is important for us to do our genealogy research now even though we don’t yet have a temple in Singapore. We need to find and collect our family names now so we can “keep our future temple busy!”

Jean Kwan from Clementi Ward spoke on her decision to be a ‘stay-at-home-mom’. This was a very difficult decision for Sis. Kwan and her husband to make. They relied on the encouragement and faith of Nephi recorded in the Book of Mormon which states, “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.” (1 Nephi 3:7)

When it comes to the individual roles of mothers and fathers, it is clearly stated in A Proclamation on the Family what our choice should be if circumstances allow:

“By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.”

Sis. Kwan and her husband have learned many things because of her decision to stay home. They have learned to be resourceful and to live within their means. They have learned humility. They have learned to work with each other in setting financial goals. One of the biggest blessings they receive because of this decision is peace of mind knowing that the children are being well cared for by their own mother.

Jalin Anderson from 1st Ward spoke on the importance of reducing the “noise of the world” to avoid havoc and chaos in our personal lives and in our families. He quoted L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “We need to make our homes a place of refuge from the storm, which is increasing in intensity all about us. Even if the smallest openings are left unattended, negative influences can penetrate the very walls of our homes.”

Bro. Anderson outlined 9 ways we can make our homes like Zion—a place of refuge. They are as follows: pray together, sing together, study scriptures together, work and serve together, practice discipline and obedience, show loyalty, build personal worth, establish traditions, and do everything in the spirit of love.

Pres. Glen O’Grady of the Stake Presidency spoke on the subject of eternal marriage. He reminded us that the highest blessings from our Heavenly Father come from establishing strong eternal marriages and families. "There is no other way to start an eternal family unit than to be married in the proper place, at the proper time, by the proper authority, receiving the proper instructions that will lay the proper foundation," said Elder L. Tom Perry of the Council of the Twelve during the April 1985 general conference.

When reminding us of all we should do to have strong marriages and families, Bro. O’Grady quoted Bruce C. Hafen saying, “It isn’t easy to translate these principles into a tidy, daily reality. Family life is by its nature a continual struggle between the ideal and the real. But if your home often knows warm feelings of love and laughter, if your family is trying—even most of the time—to have family prayer, home evening, and honestly shared gospel experiences, you are learning the pattern for happiness. We know each other at our worst, and our best, in the closeness of family life. At our worst, we might wonder how we can keep living with each other. But in the best moments, we can’t really imagine living without each other.”

Rachel Meyer from 1st Ward spoke on how answers to every question can be found in the scriptures. She quoted Doctrine & Covenants 38:30, ……”if ye are prepared ye shall not fear.” Rachel reminded us that if we prepare ourselves by studying the scriptures we will not have to suffer from nervousness, stress, or fear. She recounted the story of David and Goliath. David is a good example of being prepared. In the account of his confrontation with Goliath David had five stones. Rachel compared each stone to a principle of the Gospel, which will help us be prepared for the difficulties we face in life. The five principles are prayer, scripture study, worship, service, and fasting.

Paul Chan from the Woodlands Ward spoke to the youth on how they can best prepare for a fulltime mission. He quoted Alma 17:2-3, “Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time the angel first appeared unto him; therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.

"But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God.”

He encouraged the youth to study all of the standard works, to ‘treasure’ the word, to pray, to fast, and to seek the Spirit.

Cecilia Yow from Toa Payoh Ward reminded us that “we are a very busy people”. She encouraged us to take time out to replenish our spirits through daily scripture study. “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39).

She also quoted 2 Nephi 32:3, “Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.”

Sis. Yow reminded us that we must be receptive to the Spirit in order to understand the scriptures. “Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life” (2 Nephi 31:20)

Sister Larkins, wife of the Singapore Mission President, told the congregation, “God walks with our missionaries.” Speaking of the newly revamped missionary program she said, “ We have stronger ‘arrows’ to touch the hearts of the investigators.” Committed members of the church are the best resource the missionaries have because members are the 3rd witness that the Gospel is true: "take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established" (Matthew 18:16)

She reminded us that our goal for the year 2004 is to teach the Gospel to the people of Singapore resulting in 200 baptisms. There have been 70 baptisms to date. She encouraged us to continue to be diligent in achieving this goal. She said that if we want our wards to thrive, we should put missionary work at the top of the list. She challenged us to commit some of our time to go with the missionaries to testify of the truthfulness of the Gospel—to be that 3rd witness.

President Larkins began his comments by quoting Matthew 28:19 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:” He reported that the new missionary program consists of 10 key indicators, one of which is number of missionary contacts per week. He said that after the first week of reporting, there had been 2262 contacts. During the second week 1661 contacts had been made.

He had recently returned from meetings in Japan where three of the Twelve Apostles were in attendance—President Packer, Elder Eyring, and Elder Ballard. He quoted Pres. Packer as saying, “The veil has never been thinner.”

Pres. Larkins promised that if we would be committed to do missionary work, Heavenly Father would provide the way for us to be successful. He quoted Doctrine & Covenants 84:88, “And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.”

He then had all of the fulltime missionaries stand and recite the Standard of Truth. He challenged the members of the Stake to learn the Standard of Truth so that in 6 months when we meet again in Stake Conference we can all stand and recite it.

“The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done” (History of the Church, 4:540).

Pres. Steven Lai of the Singapore Stake Presidency spoke on what will be expected of us when we have a temple here in Singapore. He referred to a talk given by Pres. Hinckley in the April 1998 General Conference of the Church where he announced that 30 smaller temples would be built across the world in an effort bring temples to the people. Pres. Hinckley declared, “If temple ordinances are an essential part of the restored gospel, and I testify that they are, then we must provide the means by which they can be accomplished. All of our vast family history endeavor is directed to temple work. There is no other purpose for it. The temple ordinances become the crowning blessings the Church has to offer.”

Pres. Lai pointed out that when we have a temple in Singapore, the Stake members would be expected to man the temple. “We cannot depend on foreign couples and fulltime missionaries. We must raise our level of maturity and dependability. We must sacrifice in order to have a temple. The youth may need to attend the temple on a weeknight or on a Saturday morning. We may need to hold church callings in addition to volunteering at the temple.”

We must be organized and proactive in doing our part to man the temple. Pres. Lai established that “we cannot have the attitude of ‘Don’t call me, I’ll call you’” when it comes to manning the temple.

He ended with a quote from President Hinckley, "I am satisfied that if our people would attend the temple more, there would be less selfishness in their lives. There would be less absence of love in their relationships. There would be more fidelity on the part of husbands and wives. There would be more love and peace and happiness in the homes of our people. There would come into the minds of the Latter-day Saints an increased awareness of their relationship to God our Eternal Father and of the need to work a little harder at the matter of living as sons and daughters of God" (Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley, quoted in "News of the Church," Ensign, May 1984, 99)

President. Chen, the Singapore Stake President, was the concluding speaker. He challenged us to decide what we can do as families to incorporate the messages given at Stake Conference into our lives. He reminded us that we should be in the world but not of the world, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (John 17:15). He reminded us that there are many problems in the world and that “the place to cure the ills of our society is in the home.”

“And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents” (D&C 68:25).

Pres. Chen made reference to a comment that Joseph F. Smith made saying that we should not lend our children out to specialists.

In conclusion, he referred to the parable of the 10 virgins and stated, “If we follow the Savior, we shall never have empty lamps.”