We have a special Ward Fireside this Sunday. Our guest speaker will be Elder Wensel! We will hear about his mission experiences, and encourage all to attend!
DATE: 10/18
TIME: 7pm
LOCATION: YouTube
WHO: Everyone!
Served:
New Mexico Farmington Mission
Dates Served:
09/2018 – 09/2020
Brothers and Sisters, I hope you have been doing well this part month and hope you are as excited as I am to hear from our beloved Prophet and other General Officers at General Conference in just two short weeks. This week the Gospel Doctrine is on 3 Nephi 8-11 which is titled “Arise and Come Forth unto Me”. The Nephites who lived nearly 2,000 years ago experienced three days of great tribulation and destruction immediately prior to the visitation of our Beloved Savior Jesus Christ to the America’s following his crucifixion and miraculous resurrection three days later. We too are living in a time of increasing tribulations long prophesied by past Prophets in the Holy Scriptures. In just the past several months, our nation has endured seemingly unprecedented lightning storms, fire tornadoes, flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes and windstorms, violent riots by hateful mobs inspired by the spirit of contention racking our cities and wildfires which have destroyed entire towns. At the same time we have been experiencing a deadly pandemic which has cost the lives of a couple hundred thousand of our fellow Americans and nearly a million people worldwide thus far.
Throughout scriptural history, when the Lord’s people have turned to worldly things and become lax in their adherence to His commandments, picking and choosing which ones they would keep and which ones they transgress, the Lord has sometimes used adversities including famine, pestilence and war to chasten us to turn back to Him as was the case with the Nephites in 3 Nephi 8-10 and as is the case in our time today. As Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has suggested, the increasing trials and tribulations we are now beginning to experience are meant by the Lord to provide the people of our nation and the people of our world with a spiritual re-awakening to prepare us to endure more devastating tribulations to come. These future tribulations might well resemble those that the righteous Nephites experienced in 3 Nephi 8. I believe our current tribulations are a tender mercy of the Lord to motivate us to turn to Him … Read the rest
Good Morning Brothers and Sisters! I hope that you are all doing well. My study this week took me down several paths and I hope that your study was meaningful to you. I believe that this week’s lesson was meant to help give us time to reflect on our lives and take inventory of the things that we need to correct. I hope that you were able to find time to peacefully reflect on the promptings that the spirit taught you. I know that finding quiet time is a hard thing to come by these days.
In 4 weeks, we will have the privilege of participating in General Conference. This event excites me, for one because it is an event that will actually happen when it was originally scheduled. General Conference will continue to be held in a little different manner than I would like, but we will have the opportunity to hear from our prophet and leaders. I have never in my life been so grateful for a prophet than I am today. I know that there are things that I would like to have the Prophet tell us (ex. The exact moment that this pandemic will end and life will return to “normal”). Past experience will tell me that the prophet probably won’t answer this question. Instead, I will hear messages that I have heard before, but they will inspire me in a different way where my testimony will be strengthened and I will be at peace. During General Conference, we might be given instruction on updates to church callings, curriculum or policy. We might hear things that are hard for us to accept because we have always done something a certain way. We might confuse policy changes as changes to doctrine and get confused on the reason for the change. In any event, we should follow the prophet. We should pray for the Spirit to touch our hearts. We should pray for additional understanding.
I found a few quotes this week about prophets that I would like to share:
Ezra Taft Benson: “The prophet will not necessarily … Read the rest
UPDATE:
To ensure that everyone that wants to participate in the Self Reliance classes but may not feel comfortable coming in person to the devotional, we have created an online registration form in Google Forms. For anyone who will be attending the devotional virtually or who may not be able to make the devotional but would still like to jump into one of the groups, please complete the following form no later than Sunday, August 31st at 7:30 PM.
LINK TO FORM
ZOOM LINK
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84484669251?pwd=TXltQldVNTR6ckJNVFNoS0pZQi9WQT09
Meeting ID: 844 8466 9251
Passcode: 750197
DOWNLOAD MANUALS
WHEN:
Saturday, August 22th, 8am-2pm
WHERE:
Ball Park Building
PLEASE NOTE:
All those participating must SIGN-UP ONLINE
Brothers and Sisters, I hope you have had a good week this past week and that you and your family are feeling well and staying safe during this difficult time. This week’s lesson is entitled “Preserved by His Marvelous Power”. This lesson focuses on Alma Chapters 53-63, which concern many of the military battles between the Nephites led by Chief Captain (General) Moroni (aided by Chief Captains Lehi and Teancum and followed by his son Moronihah) and the Lamanites led by Amalickiah, his brother Ammoron. Of Moroni, we learn in Alma 48:17 that if all men and women had been and ever were like Moroni the powers of Hell would be shaken and the Devil would have no power over us.
Some members have wondered why the Book of Mormon which focuses on what the Lord wanted us to learn that was most important for our time relating to spiritual matters deals so much with war in these chapters. For others like myself, who have been lifelong students of military history and have served in the military, these chapters are of greater interest. These chapters and others on war in the Book of Mormon, are important because they teach us more about the principles of just war–that wars are only justified by the Lord if they are fought in self-defense or in the defense of others. We have been told by modern Prophets that soldiers are held guiltless by the Lord in killing enemy combatants, however no such promise is given if they deliberately target and kill innocent civilian men, women and children. Some people mistakenly believe that the laws of God forbidding the shedding of innocent blood are somehow suspended during war and that the deliberate mass murder of non-combatant civilians and other great evils promoted by the Devil are somehow justified by God during wartime. Nothing could be further from the truth. The laws of God forbidding the shedding of innocent blood can only be expressly suspended by our Supreme Creator himself who is the author of all life and then only very specifically through the Living Prophet … Read the rest
Message from Sister Luciana Paz:
Hi sisters! I hope you are all doing well. I want you to know that the Relief Society Presidency loves you and we are thinking of and praying for you often.
I want to share a little message about Family History. We all know how important it is to help those that are on the other side of the veil. I want share part of Elder Bednar’s talk with you.
He said, “The Prophet Joseph Smith declared: ‘The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead. … For it is necessary that the sealing power should be in our hands to seal our children and our dead for the fullness of the dispensation of times—a dispensation to meet the promises made by Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world for the salvation of man. … Hence, God said, ‘I will send you Elijah the prophet’” (Teachings: Joseph Smith, 475).
Joseph further explained:
‘But what is the object of [the coming of Elijah]? or how is it to be fulfilled? The keys are to be delivered, the spirit of Elijah is to come, the Gospel to be established, the Saints of God gathered, Zion built up, and the Saints to come up as saviors on Mount Zion [see Obadiah 1:21].’
‘But how are they to become saviors on Mount Zion? By building their temples … and going forth and receiving all the ordinances … in behalf of all their progenitors who are dead …; and herein is the chain that binds the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, which fulfills the mission of Elijah.’ (Teachings: Joseph Smith, 472–73).
Elder Russell M. Nelson has taught that the Spirit of Elijah is ‘a manifestation of the Holy Ghost bearing witness of the divine nature of the family’ (“A New Harvest Time,” Ensign, May 1998, 34). This distinctive influence of the Holy Ghost draws people to identify, document, and cherish their ancestors and family members—both past and present.
The Spirit of Elijah … Read the rest
Hello Friends! I hope that you are all well enough. I hope every month that we will return to a “normal” church schedule so that I can stop writing my thoughts by letter. I sincerely miss having an actual discussion with you so that I can hear your thoughts and learn from you. I feel bad that you have to read my ramblings, however, you are stuck with me!
There were a few prevailing themes that ran through my head as I read this week’s readings. The first was “Fathers” and the second was “How the Lord blesses us”. I will start off by sharing my thoughts about Fathers.
Ezra Taft Benson said, “The sacred title of ‘Father’ is shared with the Almighty. …Fatherhood is not a matter of station or wealth; it is a matter of desire, diligence and determination to see one’s family exalted in the celestial kingdom. If that prize is lost, nothing else really matters.”
Elder D. Todd Christofferson said, “Perhaps the most essential of a father’s work is to turn the hearts of his children to their Heavenly Father. If by his example as well as his words a father can demonstrate what fidelity to God looks like in day -to-day living, that father will have given his children the key to peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come.”
In this week’s readings we conclude the blessing that Alma is giving his sons with the words that he shares with Corianton. I noticed that Alma does not give Corianton a long list of how Corianton did not listen to him. Alma got straight to the point about what Corianton had done wrong (vs 2-4), conveyed to Corianton what the spirit had directed Alma to say (vs 12) and then taught Corianton beautiful doctrine. This allowed for the Spirit to teach Corianton at a level that Corianton could understand due to his life experiences. There was a teaching moment in this for me as I parent my children. I know that the Book of Mormon Videos are artistic interpretations of “What … Read the rest
45min Virtual Concert
Wednesday July 29th 6pm
THEME: Hear the Voice of the Lord
Watch on Youtube / Church Live Broadcast
Hope this message finds you well 🙂
Nature Video pulled from YouTube:
10 TOP Natural History Moments | BBC Earth
Dear Sisters,
I hope that you and your families are all doing well. I want you to know that we as your Relief Society Presidency pray for you and love you. We are here for you. I am grateful for the opportunity to share a message with you today.
Recently, I have been thinking a lot about light. Specifically the light of the gospel and the light of Jesus Christ. The chaos and uncertainty that we are seeing in the world today is overwhelming. I know we have all felt worried, unsure of what is next, things even may have felt heavy and dark sometimes.
Elder Cook said “As Latter Day Saints, we need to do our best to preserve light and protect our families and communities from this assault on morality and religious freedom.” He talked about our responsibility to be “in the world but not of the world.” I would like to focus on what Elder Cook shared about protecting our families and our communities. It’s funny to me how important it is that we should always just stick to the basic principles of the Gospel when life gets crazy. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is our foundation and keeps us on the right path as we navigate life’s challenges. As families we can seek for light and truth, blocking out what destroys our spiritual development and growth. We have many distractions. If we can simply make time for the things that matter most, we can make our homes holy places that shelter us from evil. Family prayer, scripture study, family history, service, spending time together through FHE and other activities can be powerful sources of strength and protection.
In Matthew 5:16 it reads, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven”. We can be a source of light for those around us every day. Elder Cook illustrates how we can protect our communities through two basic principles… Honesty and treating all of God’s children as brothers and sisters.
Being honest plays a significant … Read the rest
Brothers and Sisters, I hope you have been doing well this past month and that your families are staying safe. I know many of us including my own family have been having to endure unique health challenges which we did not have to endure before which have made life more difficult for us. It has been a challenging time for all of us as we have been restricted in attending Church and most especially from attending the Holy Temple during the past four months or so. I hope you are all continuing to enjoy the sweet Spirit that comes from holding Church at Home.
This week the Gospel Doctrine lesson is on Alma 30-31 which is titled “The Virtue of the Word of God.” Alma testified of the powerful effect of the word of God. One of my favorite scriptures is in Helaman 5:17-18 and 51-52 where it talks about how Nephi did speak with such great power and authority to the Lamanites, who were the enemies of the Nephites and had captured and occupied half of the lands of the Nephites in war, that they were converted to the Lord by the power of the word of God and gave up the lands of the Nephites and made peace with them. That is the power of the word of God to change lives and convert individual souls to Christ, convert enemies to friends and replace wars with peace.
In Alma 30, it talks about an anti-Christ named Korihor who tried to deceive as many Nephites as he could to apostatize from the Church. We are taught that an anti-Christ is someone who preaches a counterfeit to the true Gospel or plan of salvation and that openly or secretly works in opposition to our beloved Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That is how Satan works to deceive us by setting himself up as a counterfeit to God and his teachings. Sister Julie Beck, former Relief Society General President taught that “Any doctrine or principle we hear from the world that is anti-family is also anti-Christ.
This chapter states that Korihor … Read the rest
Good Morning Brothers and Sisters!
Happy Independence Day weekend! I hope that you have all recovered from one impressive Firework show last night! It was wonderful to meet with a few of you last week for Sacrament meeting. Sacrament meeting definitely filled a hole inside of me that I have been missing. I look forward to when we will be able to meet together again. I don’t have a specific story to tell this week, so I am touching on some of the scripture passages from this week’s readings that I found meaningful.
The story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies is one of the most beloved in the Book of Mormon. We often recite the end of the story with the 2000 Stripling Warriors marching into battle with Helaman. I am grateful that our lesson this week focuses on the events of the parents of these young men who created an environment in their families to develop strong, valiant and brave children.
Alma 23: 1-4. I find it interesting that the first thing that the King of the Lamanites does when he is converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ is to proclaim religious freedom to his kingdom. The king did protect Ammon and his brothers from harm and did allow Ammon unfiltered access to the people to preach freely. However, the Lamanites were still given a choice on how they wanted to believe. We were just having a conversation in the car yesterday about tolerance and freedom. I thought of the 11th Article of Faith, “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.” We do not have to look far in our current world situations to find examples where religious freedom (or any kind of belief) is not socially acceptable. If your belief does not match what the world says it should, you could lose your job, your friends and your family to be made a public example. The King of the Lamanites should teach us … Read the rest
