Manhattan, New York
119th operating temple
Dedicated: 13 June 2004
By: Gordon B. Hinckley
Jesus Christ, Mission of
John 1:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Book of Mormon
1 Nephi 8:16-38
"Come Follow Me"
JS-H 1:21-26 I can remain true to what I know even if others reject me.
OctGenCon
'There Was Bread'
Bishop W. Christopher Waddell
In today's environment, with a pandemic that has devastated whole economies as well as individual lives, it would be inconsistent with a compassionate Savior to ignore the reality that many are struggling and ask them to begin building a reserve of food and money for the future. However, that does not mean that we should permanently ignore principles of preparation - only that these principles should be applied "in wisdom and order" so that in the future we might say, as did Joseph in Egypt, "There was bread."
The Lord does ot expect us to do more than we can do, but He does expect us to do what we can do, when we can do it. As President Nelson reminded us in our last general conference, "The Lord loves effort."
P6 S3
Jesus Christ has once again called Apostles and has given them priesthood authority.
As I look out the window this morning, I don't see Luna, but I do see a small herd of elk containing some with spikes. James said there were around 20. That got him out of bed although it was 16 degrees when he went out to feed Luna.
Today was our ward conference and after sacrament meeting we had a meeting with the Relief Society stake presidency. I was determined that I was going to attend, which I did. It was a wonderful ward conference. Sister Wilcock, the stake Relief Society president, was the first speaker in our meeting. She shared a personal experience about dealing with her teenage son and getting him motivated to get ready for church. She spoke loudly to him several times but he was still dragging his feet. Everyone else was in the car when he came out holding his scriptures in one hand and his shoes in the other. He slammed his scriptures on the hood of the car at which point his dad got out of the car and chased him down the road. As she sat in the car she said to herself, "This is all my fault." She decided she needed to make some changes and when she asked in prayer what she could do differently she received the answer that she needed to look for the positive and give more compliments. She said that this has made all the difference in their home. James said to me: "This is an example of someone recognizing a weakness, repenting, listening to the Spirit and becoming more Christlike." I agreed. Here are some other points that Sister Wilcock made: " There is too much anger in the world. We need to look for the good in others even those whom we don't agree with. We need to have a change of heart and see others the way Christ sees them." Such a good talk!
Our stake president, President Beeler, was the next speaker. He started out by saying that his relationship with others is the most important thing to him. President Beeler spoke about the "Culture of Christ". Elder William K. Jackson of the Seventy gave a talk in the last conference entitled "The Culture of Christ." Here are some sketchy notes I took during President Beeler's talk:
What is the culture of Christ? Part of it is the sacrifice missionaries make to serve a full-time mission. It's living our covenants. What is the culture like in your home? Do you have open communication with members of your family regarding sacred things. He gave an example of talking to his son about his upcoming mission and addressing the son's concerns. Some of the culture of the Church has recently been somewhat stripped away. What is left is the culture of Christ. He compared the culture of the Church with the culture along the Wasatch Front, which is not necessarily the culture of Christ. He talked about the fire in 2010 of the Provo Tabernacle. It has now been rebuilt to be a temple. The Lord allowed a fire to destroy the inside of the building to create something new and better. How do we take 200 years of Church history and find out what is most important in the culture of Christ? He then quoted 3 Nephi 11:10 - 11: Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world. And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.
Pointing people to Christ is the most important thing we can do in our callings. Justice and mercy. Last conference there was a quote:
"Justice restores what we cannot restore. Christ teaches but never demands." Watch, listen, obey. President Beeler says he follows all of the prophets on social media. There should be no contention in our lives. We need to love one another. Satan is raging in the hearts of men. Let not your heart be troubled. Worry is denying faith. Peace is the exclusive right of the Holy Ghost. Simplify does not mean to be casual. Which team are we on? The culture of Christ puts Him at the center and us on the covenant path. No disputations, only sacrifice and obedience. Read 3 Nephi 11 to the end of the book of 3 Nephi to understand what the culture of Christ can and should mean to your family.
Wow! we were spiritually fed!
Our meeting with the Relief Society presidency went well. I did not take notes but I remember we discussed missionary work, family history and indexing, and ministering. The sisters counseled us with good advice. Sister Wilcock has a daughter serving a mission in Romania right now.
James and I got to meet Dori, Anthony's new friend today. She seems very nice. She is a good friend of Judy Hunter who introduced Anthony to her.
We had our first monthly FHE Zoom meeting today. Every family was represented even though it was a little chaotic. I think some people forgot to mute their microphones which made some of the comments difficult to hear. We discussed the "Come Follow Me" lesson. I always appreciate hearing other people's ideas. We tried to get Charlie to sing "I Am a Child of God" but she was a little shy, so we sang with her. It was a little pathetic. We talked about goals. Ben said he wanted to lose weight and so far this month he had lost 5 lbs. Evan said he wanted to work on not procrastinating. Lola wants to work on some gymnastic tricks and to learn to eat hot wings. Ruby got her first temple recommend, Joshua and Rowan were both called to be the Teacher's Quorum presidents in their respective wards.
Kim and Brian are in San Diego and before the meeting was over we got to see Michael. Whitehouse, Texas got 3 1/2 inches of snow which is highly unusual for them.
Sheri says it was so chaotic she thinks we maybe need to talk to one family a week. James doesn't like that idea. He likes having everyone on together.
It was a wonderful Sabbath day!
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