June fifth Sunday lessons

For our fifth Sunday, we discussed family and viewed a video from the Church about creating good homes and families. There are several really great videos that the Church has made available to watch. One idea was to use the videos as a discussion generator in family home evening. There are enough there for several family home evenings. Sacrament meeting was about freedom, and some comments made me [Laura] think about some things. I am grateful to live in a country founded on the principles of religious freedom, freedom of speech, and other freedoms. I had to pause to think what those freedoms meant to me. There are some obvious ones: I work at a job that I qualify for because of the education I received because of the education system in this country. I can vote as I see fit. I can live where I please. I can go where I want. I can say what I want, unless I’m on an airplane or in an airport. I can belong to a religion that I choose and believe as I see fit. There are several reasons I am especially grateful for religious freedom. Because I have freedom TO believe in my religion, I have freedom FROM many harmful or debilitating things: I have freedom from wondering or worrying about what the plan is for my life. I have freedom from the health problems that come from smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol or drug abuse or eating harmful substances. I have freedom from the problems that come from having sexual relations outside of marriage. One of the greatest freedoms I have is freedom from fear. I have freedom from the fear of death and that I will be alone after death. I have freedom from the fear of being caught doing something unlawful. I also am free from loneliness or the fear that I will be alone in old age. I know I cannot control what happens in the world, but I am grateful I have some control over my life and that control comes because of the freedoms I enjoy. God bless America.

Choir at 1:00 at Craigs's

We will meet for choir at 1:00 p.m. at the Craigs's house most Sundays.

Lesson for June 9, 2013

Sister Maggie Kopp gave the lesson on blessings. She hoped no one feels like a failure if things are not going well. President Lorenzo Snow said that in the midst of trials we can maintain our faith and keep our mind single to the glory of God. He pointed out that if we keep our mind single to the glory of God, there can be no failure. Keep our focus on the Lord. Keeping an eternal perspective helps us, as Paul says, press toward the mark. Sister Craig said that knowing that, we can keep the motivation to keep moving forward. Sister Young said that still trying is success--not quitting. She sees a lot of difficult things happening to families and sees the changes that come to those people for the better. She feels that God is trying to perfect his children. Sister Francis asks that she can start fresh with the sacrament each Sunday. One sister told of a Mormon family with five children who all need heart transplants and how faithful these people are and what good examples they are. Sister Kopp said we need to be faithful and know that God can give us the power to accomplish whatever we need to accomplish. Lorenzo Snow said we may not achieve success today or tomorrow, but if we persevere, we can achieve great things. He said we may not always be able to do what we want to do, but we will be able to do what we should do. Sister Kopp said she struggled for eight years to find out what she was supposed to do and when she got her job at BYU in the library, she finally felt she was where she should be and helping to build the kingdom at BYU. Over the long term, whatever she learned in the interim was helpful. Sister Card told of feeling pushed to get her graduate degrees by a higher power and after ten years of not knowing why, she got a full time job. Sister Gibson said she feels like she is doing what she should do by being a mother. Sister Hickman said she has children all over the world who are doing great things. She said she looks into the faces of her grandchildren and says, I'm so glad I didn't kill your father. There are so many different times in your life when you have different roles. Betsy Lopez ___ said that she has a friend in Houston who works and decided to quit her job because Mormons know what they're doing for their kids. As mothers we are being influential. In conference we heard that we need more good people in the world and it starts in the home. It is hard, but we all have different roles to play and each has a unique plan for them. Sister Bahr said that the Lord shifted her life to what she should do, such as join the Church and go on a mission and the Lord would find a way. If you keep striving to do what you should, then the Lord will help, even when times change and you have different needs. Having the Spirit makes us powerful and spiritual. President Snow said we all have a purpose, the same as Jesus, our elder brother, and one purpose is to do the will of our Father. Our joy shall be full to overflowing and great will be our reward for our trials and sufferings and God will give us a crown of unfading glory. We need to contemplate what our purpose is at this moment and what we can do to prepare to fulfill a purpose in the future and be on the right path as told to us through prayer.

Elder Galloway has 4 Weeks Left--This Week in Atahualpa

3 Jun 2013 This Week in Atahualpa Well, this week has been super busy, and has taken half the time that the first week of the change took. I´m sure things will compact like that as time goes on... for the which I´m not so excited. But we´re trying to make the most of things, and I think we´re doing a pretty good job. This week we worked super hard, and, as I said, we´re starting with our divisions with all the missionaries. We had a great baptism, good Sunday meetings, and a great outing with the zone to the north of Quito to visit the Mitad del Mundo (the "Middle of the World"). We´re getting along just great. I know that with our happiness-level, the fruits of our work will be evident, too. Responses of the Week: Well, the pattern continues -- two weeks of freezing cold rain, and now we are being cooked by a blaaaaazing sun. But that´s how Quito is! I liked what you said this week, especially that by coming to church, people can see the gospel in action. That´s why it´s so important to do everything we can to get them to come! (Have I told you this before?:) President has showed us a diagram that Salt Lake sends him every month with the mission report. It´s like a funnel, and shows number of new investigators and attendances at church needed to get ONE baptism. The average for the area (South America NW) is that for every 18 or 19 investigators (people to whom we have taught a lesson and have a return appointment), like 4 or 5 attend church. Then of those 4 or 5 who attend, one gets baptized. Our mission´s funnel is a LOT more skinny: for every 10 new investigators we find, 2 attend church. Then once they attend church, they have a 50-50 probability of getting baptized. Isn´t that wonderful? So for every two people who attend the meetings, one gets baptized! That means the secret for working in our mission is getting them to church! That´s why we focus so much on doing tours of the chapel. Because that raises the probabilities a whole bunch that they attend church. I think there´s just something special that they can feel in the church buildings, and it´s a great introduction to what the Church does. Then they automatically want to be a part of it. · That´s crazy about my homecoming talk topic! I´ll be sure to prepare myself well. We just barely got the May issue of the Liahonas yesterday, and we were geeking out over getting them. I like the Church: it´s like Christmas at least four times a year (you get General Conference awe repeated twice!). · Say hi to Nick for me. I hope everything goes well for him. ... to be continued... This Week in Atahualpa (2) Attitudes of the Week: I´ve reflected a bit. I am suuuuuuper happy. I loooooooove being involved in missionary work. I think we´re having so much success now for a few reasons: 1) as I have always said, "God honors those who honor Him;" 2) I´m totally happy that I was able to stay here; I think the fact that I know the members means I can work with them effectively; 3) I finally feel confident about my skills as a missionary; I feel like anyone can ask me any question and I could respond comfortably with the Spirit so they feel its truthfulness, and with Elder Martin at my side, what more could you ask?; 4) I´m sure and I feel that many of you are praying for my success. All in all, I´m just in the right place at the right time with the right skills to do God´s work. Baptism of the Week: We planned everything for the U. boys´ baptism this week. It turned out marvelously. Jorge U. had been baptized at 8 years old, because the rest of his family are members. They live in other parts of Quito. In fact, one of his little sisters served a mission in Bolivia 10 years ago, and the littlest brother is serving right now in Barranquilla, Colombia. It was a constant desire of the rest of the family that his sons were baptized. So when they heard the news, they were ecstatic! They all came in for the baptism, then we had a little get-together at Jorge´s house afterward. The ward has been really receptive of all of them, and Jorge has a ton of desire to keep learning and going forward. We sent them to institute on Tuesday nights, and the sons to seminaries that they have every afternoon in the chapel. It will help them a lot. Fast and Testimony Meeting of the Week: Just yesterday morning I realized that it would be my last fast and testimony meeting as a missionary here in Ecuador, and my last opportunity to share my testimony as a missionary. I remember my first testimony meeting in Los Chillos that I let pass by and I told myself I wouldn´t let the opportunity slip by again. It has been wonderful to be able to testify in front of my ward wherever I have served during my mission, and it was especially poignant yesterday. I´ve been here a long time! I don´t know if you know what it is like standing at the pulpit in front of 200 people you have loved and served and helped and strengthened -- Eduardo C., the Al. family, the B. family, the M. family, the T. family... On top of that, I saw the faces of the many people I have helped bring into the Church here -- Martha, Ivette, Luis and Lashmi, the U. family, the An. family, Julio and Diego, Guido, Soraya... and many others. Needless to say, I cried up there. I was able to say very sincerely the joy I felt to see the fruits of my labors, and the joy I had to be an instrument in the hands of God to do His work. I told them that we are all missionaries, with our without a nametag. I told them that I knew that this Church is true, because I DO! It is too big, too perfect, and too marvelous to not be. I told them that we all need to keep going forward... among many other things. There were few dry eyes in the congregation, and I think there was a puddle in front of the pulpit... Tomorrow we are going to have our "mission leaders´ council," at the which it is tradition that the departing missionaries share their testimonies. At least I had a practice, right? New Investigators of the Week: Diego T. has invited his mother, Magdalena, to church for a few weeks now. He wanted us to wait to talk with her until she was a little more ready. So yesterday, after church, she came up to us to ask us a question. We went to a room and taught her the answers. She´s a wonderful woman, and it´s easy to see why Diego is how he is. She was touched and... accepted a baptismal date for the 29th of June. We look forward to teach and help her in these coming weeks. Zone Activity of the Week: As requested, I finally went to the middle of the world! It´s past the nooooooooorth of Quito, and about 2 hours by bus from our house. It was a loooooooong journey, and really interesting to see how things change from open, dry, and hot, and ritzy in the north (it looks like St. George), through the center, to the historic windy streets, and down into the south of Quito, which is hardly as ritzy (but I prefer it that way -- I would hate to work in the north of Quito). It´s kind of like 4 corners -- way out there, there´s not much, and the only people who pay attention to it are tourists. At least we got some good pictures as a zone. It was fun just to get out and about. It´s been almost 10 months since I passed through there. It was a perfect day to go sightseeing -- sunny and very hot. Well, as one sister said in her testimony yesterday, "FORWARD, ELDERS!" We´re keeping busy and trying to keep ourselves occupied. I know that you are, too. Keep it up, have fun, and know that I am very content. With love, Elder Galloway

June 2 Lesson Presidency lesson

Today the lesson is being given by the Relief Society presidency. Sister Lewis said to look ahead to Sister Wixhom's talk with the goal of helping her with the lesson. Amy Young started with the quote from President Kimball, "God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs Therefore, it is vital that we serve each other." Comments were made that if we follow the promptings of the Spirit we will recognize when we can help and when we are being helped. One quote said that we are the hands that must help and be God;s hands. Amy said that the statue of Christ about when the hands were vandalized, that it was decided to leave them off with the sign on it that we are God's hands. We also need to be observant about what we can do and how we can do it, because we need to notice when others need help and how to make it effective and not awkward. If you start with a prayer in the morning you will be more observant. When you ask Heavenly Father for specific things, He will answer your prayer specifically.We should also recognize that serving is a blessing. Sister Burton tells a story about how we are busy and doing things, but when we take the opportunity to serve others, we are blessed. She took the time to go to the temple and met a young lady who was there for the first time and needed guidance. Sister Burton felt that she was the one who benefited most. Such occasions are like a little love note from Heavenly Father, said Sister Craig. Stacie Card thought it was interesting that she has been prompted and not recognized it. She had a friend in high school who thanked her for smiling at her all the time. Stacie always smiled and didn't know she was making a difference.Sister Lewis said that sometimes people just need a hug or someone being friendly. One sister said that it is easy to serve someone with a temporal need, but others need spiritual help. Would we go to someone's house who was suffering from alcoholism or drug abuse and be strong enough to lift others. Sister Campbell said there are certain times in our lives when we can serve. She told of her mother who was well known as someone who had a hot meal and a place to stay for homeless, military, and family. Amy said we need to be more sensitive to the Spirit. There are simple ways we can serve others. President Monson said that we can invite others to sit by us or invite someone to a ward function and that it is simple things. Amy was in a ward where the bishop actually assigned someone to be her friend, but that person kept forgetting her name. She would have liked a real friend. Visiting teaching and home teaching is a way to get to know people and know when to serve. Emily Campbell said that for those who had been served, they really appreciated it. One sister said she once prayed to have someone help for three days and no one came, so now she tries to follow the Spirit because she knows. Sister Cantrell also told of a recent experience where she called a friend whose husband had died and she was very grateful. Amy Young said when she was first Relief Society president she had to learn that she actually had to do more than pray for sisters who are having trouble. There are sisters who are uniquely ours to help, such as those for whom we are visiting teachers or our family or those we teach or even those our husband's home teach. Linda Campbell said that serving others can change us. After her little daughter died and she had Spencer, she was despondent and watched soap operas for several months. Then she realized she was being pathetic and she got a box of note cards and wrote to others. It helped her forget her problems. Little things we do can have huge consequences, even though we may not think we are being anything but nice.

More Missonaries Need More Contributions

With the addition of several thousand new missionaries, many of whom are struggling with finances, the Church is asking that members increase their donations to the Ward missionary fund.

Insiitute Get to Know for graduating seniors

This Thursday, June 7, is I-Day at the Orem Institute where graduating high school seniors can get to know the Institute and participate in a dinner and activities. Please encourage your senior to attend.