Gilbert, Arizona Temple
The Sunday morning session of the Chandler West Stake conference was incredible. The theme was "Trust in the Lord."
President Randall Jones was the first speaker. He talked about the importance of being obedient as we put our trust in the Lord. He quoted Alma speaking to his son Shiblon in Alma 38:5:
"And now my son, I would that ye should remember, that as much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last day."
Sister Danielle Curtis from the Pleasant 3rd ward was the next speaker. She spoke on "Facing Adversity with Faith." Her five year old son has bone cancer and she described some of the experiences their family went through and the comfort she received. She quoted Matthew 11:28-30:
"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Her talk was very inspirational and powerful!
President Blacker spoke about the power that comes from fasting and prayer. He encouraged us to contribute as generous a fast offering as we possibly can. He shared some personal examples of when his sixth child, a son, was born with Downs Syndrome
Nancy LeSueur, the matron of the Gilbert temple, was the next speaker. She talked a little bit about the groundbreaking of the Star Valley Wyoming temple which took place yesterday and then she focused on the Christ-like attribute of kindness. She quoted from a conference address given by President Hinckley in April 1999:
"Now, brethren and sisters, let us return to our homes with resolution in our hearts to do a little better than we have done in the past. We can all be a little kinder, a little more generous, a little more tolerant and friendly to those not of our faith, going out of our way to show our respect for them We cannot afford to be arrogant or self-righteous. It is our obligation to reach out in helpfulness, not only to our own but to all others as well. Their interest in and respect for this Church will increase as we do so."
She said that the temple is a place of kindness as we extend the hand of love and fellowship.
President David LeSueur of the Gilbert temple is a masterful gospel teacher. I don't think he had a written talk but just spoke as he was inspired by the Spirit. He spoke about the gospel principals taugt in the Sermon on the Mount: Avoiding anger, thinking pure thoughts, and loving unconditionally. He said the Savior taught not a law of doing and not doing, but of becoming.
We must be born of the water and of the Spirit and have a mighty change of heart.
An ordinance is a sacred ceremony performed by someone with priesthood authority.
The doctrines of the priesthood distill as the dew from heaven.
The blessings of the Atonement are conveyed through ordinances.
"I am a witness of the Restoration...." An amazing talk!
I always love President Johansen's talks. He has such a wonderful spirit about him. He quoted President Benson by saying:
"When we put God first, all other things fall into
their proper place or drop out of our lives."
He also quoted from Joshua: "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve, but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord."
The little things are the big things.
It was a wonderful conference session. The stake choir sang: "I Wonder When He Comes Again", and "Lead Kindly Light." The closing hymn was "Our Savior's Love" and the benediction was give by Lynette Braddock.
We came home and had pesto flatbread for lunch and James took a short nap before leaving to go home teaching with Dave to the Bingham's. Later I went with Bunny Miner and we visited Nancy Tolman and her little six month old granddaughter Alice Jane. Nancy has applied for a job at Good Samaritan hospital in Phoenix to train nurses as to how to care for diabetic patients. Nancy is a nurse and her specialty is diabetes. Right now she works at the wound center here in Chandler but she really would like to have the other job so we told her we would pray for her. She will find out on Wednesday if she got the job or not.
It was cloudy, cool and there were beautiful clouds this afternoon. It was so nice because by the end of the week we will be hitting around 100 degrees.
James fixed steak and gravy for dinner and I made my delicious 7-Up biscuits. Yummy!
