Star Valley, Wyoming
154th operating temple
Dedicated: 30 Oct 2016
By: David A. Bednar
Jesus Christ, Lord
2 Nephi 28:5
And they deny the power of God, the Holy One of Israel; and they say unto the people: Hearken unto us, and hear ye our precept; for behold there is no God today, for the Lord and the Redeemer hath done his work, and he hath given his power unto men;
Book of Mormon/"Come Follow Me"
Review Helaman 7-12 "Remember the Lord" with the Crane's
April General Conference
"Sharing the Message of the Restoration and the Resurrection"
Elder D. Todd Christofferson
Perhaps it goes without saying that despite genuine love and sincerity, many, if not most, of our invitations to share the message of the Restoration will be declined. But remember this: everyone is worthy of such an invitation - "all are alike unto God";the Lord is pleased with every effort we make, no matter the outcome; a declined invitation is no reason for our association to end; and a lack of interest today may well turn to interest tomorrow. Regardless, our love remains constant.
"Prayers of Faith"
President Henry B. Eyring
James's neck and should pain is still apparent. I gave him a good rub down with Deep Blue and then went downstairs and found a heating pad for him to use.
I spent the early morning reviewing my notes on the "Come Follow Me" lesson for this week and recording them on one page in my gospel study notebook. I've divided one page up into four sections; The Church manual, Book of Mormon Central, Teaching with Power, and "Don't Miss This."
In spite of his pain James gets up to make a cobbler for our "CFM" group meeting today. James is the King of Cobblers. He tried a new recipe, somewhat, but still used a yellow cake mix and a can of cherry pie filling. He kept coming in and asking me questions, it was so cute. Of course he used some almond extract as he always does.
The cobbler turned out delicious, the Crane's and I both loved it.
The Crane's were the only ones who came today. Both the Peeler's and the Goodman's are out of town. We had a great discussion and I shared with them my review of President Nelson's last conference addresses and what he as a prophet has asked us to do. Here are the notes I took:
What is our prophet telling us today?
"If we are prepared we shall not fear."
Prepare to meet our Maker. Strive daily to become like Him.
Daily Repentance - Stand in Holy Places.
Hear Him. Change our hearts, Follow the Lord Jesus Christ,
Remember Him, do our best to restore the correct name of the Lord's Church and the Lord will pour down His power and blessings upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints, the likes of which we have never seen. I renew that promise today.
The new symbol of the Church indicates that this is the Savior's Church. All we do centers on Jesus Christ and His gospel.
We need to fast and pray for this pandemic.
We must remember our covenants.
We need to Hear His Son and Hearken and Heed His words.
Where can we hear Him?
In the scriptures. Daily immersion is critical for our spiritual survival.
We Hear Him in the temple. If we can't attend the temple we need to be involved in family history research and indexing.
We Hear Him as we refine our ability to recognize the whisperings of the Holy Ghost.
We Hear Him as we hear the words of prophets.
Personal revelation is key to our survival.
Go Forward in Faith.
We need to make our homes sanctuaries.
President Nelson left us an apostolic blessing:
Peace and increasing faith in the Lord. I bless you with a desire to repent and become a little more like Him each day. I bless you to know that the Prophet Joseph Smith is the prophet of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fulness.
In regards to the Restoration Proclamation:
"What will happen as you more intentionally hear, hearken, and heed what the Savior has said and what He is saying now through His prophets? I promise that you will be blessed with additional power to deal with temptation, struggles, and weakness. I promise miracles in your marriage, family relationships, and daily work. I promise that your capacity to feel joy will increase even if turbulence increases in you life.
The Lord loves effort."
I love President Russell M. Nelson and I know he is the Lord's prophet today.
We Facetimed with Jared, Kacey and Charlie. The first thing Charlie wanted was to see Luna so I grabbed a couple of carrots and James went outside to whistle for her. She immediately came, but she was not running. She wanted to go towards her corral even though we were on the front porch. She finally came and Charlie got to see her eat her carrots. Charlie said she wants to ride her. I told her she needed to come and see us and she could ride Luna. When it was time to go, she said, "Goodbye Luna."
Stacy has some health issues that she shared with us and asked for our prayers. Here are her words:
I got my cat scan results back and it wasn't great so now I need an MRI. I am not doing well. Please pray for me. I have a large cyst on my pancreas and multiple symptoms of pancreatitis. Also enlarged liver. Most cysts are benign but some can be pre-cancerous or even malignant. It hurts all the time and I can't digest food properly. Also I get itchy sometimes and my bilirubin levels are a bit off. No jaundice, however I did have yellow eyes about 3 months ago. All are symptoms.
I looked up pancreatitis and it says an inflammed pancreas usually due to heavy alcohol drinking or gall stones.
Kim is still having squeezing sensations in her head and dizziness. She has not been able to drive or do her job all week. At one point Brian had to come and rescue her when she tried to drive.
Our family seems to be going through lots of health issues and other trials lately. We need to put our trust in the Lord and exercise great faith.
Sheri did not attend our study group because she said she threw her back out yesterday cleaning Alex's room in preparation for Ben's return.
We discussed the first session of the April General Conference. It took two Zoom sessions to cover all of the talks. One of the favorites was Elder James R. Rasband's talk, "Enduring a Righteous Judgment." We loved all of the talks but his stood out as he talked about the doctrine of Christ and what our lives would be like without the Book of Mormon. Kim said this quote from Sister Jones's talk was perhaps her all-time favorite conference quote:
"Women wear many hats, but it is impossible, and unnecessary, to wear them all at once. The Spirit helps us determine which work to focus on today."
This evening after our Lambson Study Group James and I both wrote letters to Ben.
