Sunday, September 11, 2016

Remembering is so important.

So many more than listed here lost their lives.

This is the prayer President Hinckley offered in General Conferences just a few weeks after this occurred:

 "O God, our Eternal Father,    whose children we are, we look to Thee in faith in this dark and solemn time  please, dear Father, bless us with faith.  Bless us with love.  Bless us with charity in our hearts.  Bless us with a spirit of perseverance to root out the terrible evils that are in this world.  Give protection and guidance to those who are engaged actively in carrying forth the things of battle.  Bless them, preserve their lives, save them from harm and evil.  Hear the prayers of their loved ones for their safety. . . .

"O Father, look with mercy upon this, our own nation, and its friends in this time of need.  Spare us and help us to walk with faith ever in Thee and ever in Thy Beloved Son, on whose mercy we count and to whom we look as our Savior and our Lord.  Bless the cause of peace and bring it quickly to us again, we humbly plead with Thee, asking that Thou wilt forgive our arrogance, pass by our sins, be kind and gracious to us, and cause our hearts to turn with love toward Thee.  We humbly pray in the name of Him who loves us all, even the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and our Savior, amen."  (Ensign, Nov. 2001, 90).

Helaman 2:1-14

How do you avoid being deceived by the flattery of men?

Through the inspiration of the Spirit.  We must stay spiritually centered and remember what really matters.  (See "Why Way Do You Face?", October 2014 General Conference.)

GC: 'Whoso Receiveth Them, Receiveth Me' Elder Andersen

"We recognize the many good parents across the world, of all faiths, who lovingly care for their children.  And we gratefully acknowledge the families in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who are wrapped in the care of a father and mother converted to the Savior, who are sealed by the authority of the priesthood, and who are learning in their family to love and trust their Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ."

Today was high council Sunday in sacrament meeting.  Brother Justin Tregaskes and his daughter Kylie were our speakers.  Kylie is a temple worker and has been called to serve a mission in Peru.  She spoke on D&C 46:3-33.  We are never to cast anyone out of our public meetings or sacrament services.  We must recognize the needs of others.  "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are in the service of your God." Spiritual gifts are given so we can serve others.  Verses 11-29 of section 46 is a list of spiritual gifts.  Sometimes it takes others to help us recognize our gifts.  Give thanks for gifts and blessings.  I really liked Kylie.  She mention Veggie Tales, The Lego Movie, and Cinderella in her talk.  She talked about being kind and having courage, which is what Cinderella's mother tells her as she, the mother, is dying.

Justin Tregaskes of the Country Club Manor ward.  He reminded us about what our stake president ask us to do in the last stake conference.  We are to use Find, Take, Teach in our temple work.  Find names, take them to the temple, and teach others to do the same.  I helped Vickie and James has recently helped Brian.  We will continue to work on this as we do more research and try to get others involved.  He also reminded us that President Williams ask us to study "The Living Christ" and The Family Proclamation.  I am doing this in my personal gospel study everyday.  I am on sentence 16 on both of these documents.  I think that is about half way, or maybe a little less.  Brother Tregaskes spoke about keeping the Sabbath day holy and gave some personal examples from his own life.  He then ask us to ask ourselves: Why am I here today?

To deepen my relationship with the Savior.  Are our Sunday activities uplifting and strengthening our testimonies?  Reach out to the lonely.  Be examples of the believers.  Honor the Sabbath all day long.  Is what I am doing outwardly expressing what I believe inwardly?  It was a great talk!!

Today I had Tana Westbrook and Madison Deatherage in my class.  Denice Hall, their teacher, was sick today.  I also had Kacey, Curtis and Zemira.  I am not sure why Braylin wasn't here.  When I texted his mom she said everyone was fine.

The lesson today was about Jesus teaching the Nephites the Beatitudes.  I made this chart:

The kids in my class got a chart similar to this one to take home and work on.  If they bring it back completed, they get to

chose something from the treasure basket.

Curtis was awesome today.  He even helped with his favorite song, "Book of Mormon Stories", during singing time.  

After church James drove Curtis and I to the Penrod's to see Braxton.  We gave him some cookies I had made and a Book of Mormon with a couple of Pass-along cards.  Curtis says he has known Braxton most of his life.  I am not sure why his family doesn't come to church.

I love this quote by President Uchtdorf

As I am working on my family history I am trying to come up with a clever way to display family pictures.  I found this:

I want James to draw one for me on the wall in the hallway,

but first I have to convince him it will look good.

Today was a wonderful Sabbath day except that an old permanent crown fell out of my mouth.  It is probably because I have had a temporary crown on the other side of my mouth for so long that I have been doing all my chewing on the side of the mouth where I lost the crown.  James helped me put it back in.  Sorry, no pictures.

Buckelew Falls

This picture was taken in September of 2013.

We have not had enough rain this year for the falls to run.