By Jason N. Swensen
Deseret News staff writer

      Carlos Sanchez says he's spent years dreaming of being within earshot of President Gordon B. Hinckley and other LDS leaders.
      Sanchez, a Mexican, traveled like many church members from towns and cities around the globe to attend this weekend's general conference.
      Local church members who saw the new film, "An Ensign To The Nations," broadcast on KSL-TV between Sunday sessions of conference, have a little better idea of just what the church means to members in foreign lands.
      The film chronicled accounts of ordinary people in several nations including Brazil, Chile, Nigeria and South Korea who fanned the flames of faith in those lands, helping the church grow through their dedication to spreading the gospel.
      It dovetailed with President Hinckley's emphasis on reaching out to converts and ensuring that they are welcomed into the local ward or branch to which they belong and made to feel a part of the activity there.
      For many years, church leaders have focused on such inclusion, not only inviting foreign visitors to general conference, but providing a team of translators who work in the bowels of the Tabernacle during each session, interpreting conference talks for those who wish to hear. Their efforts provided a vital service to Sanchez and others.
      "It's been marvelous to hear the prophet and the apostles," said Sanchez, who listened to Sunday's morning session of conference in Spanish with the aid of mobile headsets.
      The black and yellow headsets have been a familiar sight in recent decades. Simultaneous language translations were available for one or more conference session in Bulgarian, Cambodian, Cantonese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Haitian-Creole, Hmong, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Mandarin, Navajo, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Thai, Tongan and Vietnamese.
      "I understand English, but it's much better to listen in my language," said Kim Hee Yeon, who arrived from Korea this week to attend her first general conference. "Listening to the talks in Korean helps me feel the spirit."
      Disler Roef and his family learned English in their native Switzerland. Still, the Roefs opted to listen to the French translation to keep from missing "a single word" of the conference talks.
      Other non-English speaking members, like Brazilians Simoni Ferreira and Isa Guimaraes, listened to conference proceedings in their own language at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, Temple Square North Visitors Centers and in local ward chapels.
      "It's special to be able to hear and understand our leaders' words," said Guimaraes.
      Several sessions were also televised along the Wasatch Front in Spanish via Telemundo Operations, Channnel 48.
      Conference proceedings were also conveyed via sign language to hearing-impaired members gathered in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square. Participants not only received the messages of general authorities, they also stood and signed the words of congregation hymns.