Manhattan, New York
119th operating temple
Dedicated: 12 June 2004
By: Gordon B. Hinckley
Jesus Christ, Judge
Deut 32:36
Book of Mormon/"Come Follow Me"
Review 2 Nephi 1-5; Begin 2 Nephi 6-10
"To Act for Ourselves: The Gift and Blessings of Agency"
Elder Robert D. Hales
April 2004
"Witnesses, Aaronic Priesthood Quorums, and Young Women Classes"
President Russell M. Nelson
Oct 2019
"In each ward, the Lord's youth battalion is led by a bishop, a dedicated servant of God. His first and foremost responsibility is to care for the young men and young women of his ward. The bishop and his counselors direct the work of the Aaronic Priesthood quorums and the Young Women classes in the ward."
"Adjustments to Strengthen Youth"
Elder Quentin L. Cook
"How will our beloved and hard-working bishops fulfill this responsibility? As you remember, in 2018 Melchizedek Priesthood quorums were adjusted to work even more closely with Relief Societies so that elders quorums and Relief Societies can, under the direction of the bishop, help shoulder important responsibilities that previously consumed much of his time. These responsibilities include missionary work and temple and family history work in the ward - as well as much of the ministering to ward members."
Jean was not at church today. I need to call and make sure she is ok.
The Westbrook's, Joe and Corrina and their three girls Jolee, Macy, and Kyah were the speakers in sacrament meeting today. The them was "Go and Do" in the Savior's Way.
Jolee - Everything I do brings me closer to Christ.
Macy - Macy said she wrote an outline for her talk but she lost it. She talked about being a good listener when others share their belief's with her. She said she would share her belief's too but she would never tell the other person that their belief's were wrong. Very diplomatic.
Kyah - Spoke about awareness, transformation, and love. She said that her awareness begins with knowing that she is a child of God. She says that everyday we need to work on our mind, body, and soul. She said this was one of her favorite quotes: "When obedience becomes a quest and not a burden then we will be endowed with power." We need to love as Jesus loved. Relationships are very important. Bring out in others what they already know instead of trying to change the other person. I think the missionaries do this when they are teaching investigators. They begin with what they already know.
Corrina - Corrina is part of the Pathway program and you can tell it has had a big impact on her life. She talked about her new understanding of the definition of networking. Networking is simply building new relationships with more people. Be genuine without having an agenda. The Savior established the gospel through a network of believers, one person sharing with another. The gospel came from Jesus and John. Jesus shared with the 12 apostles and told them to go out and teach the world. She spoke about learning to track her spending. The Pathway program calls it tracking, trimming, and targeting. Through tracking what she spends, which she says has helped her marriage and therefore something the Savior would want her to do, she can see ways they can trim back and save for their target goal of taking a vacation. She said we need to treat money as a friend. She closed with this from the scriptures, "Out of small things proceedeth that which is great."
Joe - Joe was nervous. You can tell that public speaking is not something he enjoys doing. He does have a wonderful testimony of his Savior and he shared that with us. He spoke about the character of Christ and how one of His greatest characteristics was His concern for others. Act on promptings. The Holy Ghost pushes us to act, or "go and do." He closed with this quote from the Savior: "Love one another as I have loved you."
Sister Skousen gave the lesson in Relief Society, based on Elder Rasband talk, "Standing By Our Promises and Covenants."
The Savior was our greatest example. He always did the Father's will, he taught the principles of the gospel in word and deed, and He atoned for our sins. His name if the only name by which salvation is possible.
Elder Rasband said that one of the first promises he remembers keeping was the Scout oath. Becky showed a picture of she and her husband and their two boys receiving their Eagle Scout awards. She said she knew that the scouting program helped her sons become better men.
We discussed the youth theme of "going and doing." Tamara said the opposite of going and doing is sitting and watching. I immediately thought of my Hallmark movies. I'm glad I've cut down to watching only one or two a week.
Becky said yesterday she was prompted to go see her friend and fellow ward member Connie Bell. She said Connie was babysitting for her great grand baby. When Becky came to the door with a bag of candy she put the baby down and walked over to give her a hug and said: "I thought everyone had forgotten about me. Thank you so much for coming." Becky is a wonderful example of someone who follows her promptings.
When we say to someone we will pray for them, do we?
Going and doing means rising above the ways of the world, acting on personal revelation, and making sure our thoughts and actions reflect our commitment to the Savior. If we do these things we are promised that we will always have His Spirit to be with us.
Elder Rasband shared a talk he had with his mother when he was young where she made him promise that he would always obey the Word of Wisdom. He says that he has always honored that commitment. Becky says when she is alone with her oldest grandson who is 13 she has him promise to always live the gospel and keep the commandments. She wants the gospel to always be uppermost in his mind.
After church James brought me home and took two deacons, Colter and Eugene with him to take the sacrament to people in our ward who are not able to come to church. They visited Lucretia, Brother Sicard, Pat Tedder, and Dave Kostusiak. Everyone was most appreciative. He also went to Cress Miller's but they were not home.
When James got home Kim and Brian were waiting for him. Kim wanted a father's blessing. Brian anointed and James gave her a blessing of health and well-being. Afterwards Kim gave him a big hug.
I worked on family history today. I went to my add a name and ran off everything I had in temple ready. I did the same for James and checked on some of those names we thought might be duplicates. Most of them were. I found two endowments for brothers and several for sisters so we have names ready for our sessions on the 22nd and 29th.
Vickie called and we set a date for Saturday at 5:30 at Licano's. Dennis and Denise won't be there because they are going to "Out of Africa" with Kyle's family.
This evening we had "Come Follow Me" with Kim and Brian. We discussed this week's lesson and then we introduced the coming week's lesson by watching "Teaching with Power." It was so good. We all enjoyed it.
I am so impressed with Kim. She reads the conference talks on generalconference365 and takes copious notes. She shared some of her favorite quotes with us.
James and I wrote a letter to Elder Trezise and I watched Emily and Dave on "Don't Miss This."
It was a wonderful Sabbath day.
I think I forgot to post a picture of Stacy
for her birthday. I like this one when
she was a year old with her dad and
Teresa.
Trina was thinking about doing Valentine
baskets for her kids. I sent her this.
Sheri says that getting their dogs was one of the
best decisions they have ever made because they
have brought so much joy and happiness into
their home.
Sweetness abounds in the girl!
Sean and Stefani's crew
