Our 9th Ward Conference was on Sunday and we were privileged to hear from our Stake President who spoke to the Relief Society in addition to being the main speaker in Sacrament Meeting.
The Ward Conference theme was "Stand Ye in Holy Places" from D&C 87:8.
Some notes from President Smith's remarks:
We need to make the places we're in, as holy as we can.
When the spirit is present, ordinary places can become holy because of the spirit of the Lord.
The power of the priesthood is real God is aware of each of us and He wants to be able to reach and touch us wherever we happen to be. We need to be receptive and ready to feel that spirit.
If we take the time to make a holy place wherever we are, the spirit will visit us.
1. If we make scripture study as a daily part of our lives, the Lord will speak to us daily. President Smith referenced a talk given by Elder David A. Bednar at a Feb 4, 2007 BYU Fireside titled, "A Reservoir of Living Water".
Read the Book of Mormon cover to cover and you will gain a testimony.
Study by Topic and you will gain knowledge.
Search the scriptures and you will gain understanding.
2. Prayer.
Pray constantly (3 Nephi 18:18)
Prayer gives us strength and communication with our maker. Who better to go to to ask, "How do I make my home a holy place?".
You need to be in holy places more often. As you attend the temple regularly the spirit will attend you when you are outside the temple and will become familiar to you. What is "often"? "Often" is personal. President Waite, the Boise Temple president, encourages weekly attendance.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Work and Personal Responsibility - RS Lesson, February 20, 2011
This month's lesson was on Work and Personal Responsibility given by Sister Pam Bitsch, who provided the lesson summary.
We first talked about the principle of working being eternal. We first see evidence of God's work in the scriptures as the creation is described. Then we know that Adam was commanded to work so that by the sweat of his brow he could sustain his life and his family. We know Adam and Eve also taught their children to work. Jesus said that He was here to do the work of His Father. All kinds of work are required to get through life and are necessary and good. It is so important in the home to teach children how to work.
I assembled a panel of "experts" to talk to us about how they did and are teaching their children to work.
First was Priscilla Koudelka. Her family is grown but she said that they always worked together with their children and taught them to work. They have a farm so it was essential for everyone to help out. She said if should could do anything different, she would yell less. But at the same time she was yelling from the house to the kids on the banks of the canal out on the farm so I'm pretty sure that was the only way to make her voice reach that far.
Then was a new sister in our ward, Laurel Nicolayson. (Hope I spelled that right.) She has a 14 month old son whom she is teaching how to work by allowing him to help her to things like vacuuming. He loves to do that so she holds him and lets him put his hand on hers as they push the vacuum cleaner. It's much more efficient to do it herself, but she lets him help because that teaches him how to work.
Our last sister was Maryann McRoberts. She has raised a big family and several members of her extended family. She had lots of young children close together so she said it was essential to their survival for her to get organized. She made a chart that spelled out in detail what the requirements were for doing the job in each room of the house. Each child was assigned a room as their job and they had to do all the things associated with that job before they could go out and play. She told them that passing off their job was their "ticket out of the house" so they all learned to work and get the job done so they could play. Now that they are adults with children of their own, they continue to know how to work hard. Teaching children how to work and provide for their own needs will be a blessing to them for as long as they live.
I was also very privileged that same day to teach singing in the Primary and I loved every minute of it. Your who teach Primary have a stewardship that is priceless beyond measure.
We first talked about the principle of working being eternal. We first see evidence of God's work in the scriptures as the creation is described. Then we know that Adam was commanded to work so that by the sweat of his brow he could sustain his life and his family. We know Adam and Eve also taught their children to work. Jesus said that He was here to do the work of His Father. All kinds of work are required to get through life and are necessary and good. It is so important in the home to teach children how to work.
I assembled a panel of "experts" to talk to us about how they did and are teaching their children to work.
First was Priscilla Koudelka. Her family is grown but she said that they always worked together with their children and taught them to work. They have a farm so it was essential for everyone to help out. She said if should could do anything different, she would yell less. But at the same time she was yelling from the house to the kids on the banks of the canal out on the farm so I'm pretty sure that was the only way to make her voice reach that far.
Then was a new sister in our ward, Laurel Nicolayson. (Hope I spelled that right.) She has a 14 month old son whom she is teaching how to work by allowing him to help her to things like vacuuming. He loves to do that so she holds him and lets him put his hand on hers as they push the vacuum cleaner. It's much more efficient to do it herself, but she lets him help because that teaches him how to work.
Our last sister was Maryann McRoberts. She has raised a big family and several members of her extended family. She had lots of young children close together so she said it was essential to their survival for her to get organized. She made a chart that spelled out in detail what the requirements were for doing the job in each room of the house. Each child was assigned a room as their job and they had to do all the things associated with that job before they could go out and play. She told them that passing off their job was their "ticket out of the house" so they all learned to work and get the job done so they could play. Now that they are adults with children of their own, they continue to know how to work hard. Teaching children how to work and provide for their own needs will be a blessing to them for as long as they live.
I was also very privileged that same day to teach singing in the Primary and I loved every minute of it. Your who teach Primary have a stewardship that is priceless beyond measure.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Choose Ye This Day to Serve the Lord - RS Lesson, February 6, 2011
Sister Kerri Vannucci shared a message from Sister Julie B. Beck's 2010 Women's Conference talk. Which you can watch in its entirety here. You can read/print the written transcript here.
"Sisters, you are each like the lioness at the gate. This means that there has to be some prioritizing…when our priorities are out of order, we lose power. If we need power and influence to carry out our mission, then our priorities have to be straight… how important it is to safeguard that home, that family, to have that kind of power. We discussed that nothing really powerful happens in a home or a family if the lioness doesn’t care about it or invest in it. To move the Lord’s work forward, we have to have a powerful faith, a strong faith. We need stronger families and homes and we are to seek out and help those who are in need."
"Sisters, you are each like the lioness at the gate. This means that there has to be some prioritizing…when our priorities are out of order, we lose power. If we need power and influence to carry out our mission, then our priorities have to be straight… how important it is to safeguard that home, that family, to have that kind of power. We discussed that nothing really powerful happens in a home or a family if the lioness doesn’t care about it or invest in it. To move the Lord’s work forward, we have to have a powerful faith, a strong faith. We need stronger families and homes and we are to seek out and help those who are in need."
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