Lesson for April 24, 2016

Lesson for April 24, 2016 Today our lesson was given by Kristine Hansen about talks from the April Conference this year from the women’s conference, oh Sister Burton’s talk, President Eyring’s talk, and Brother Kearon’s talk. Our own people have been refugees and the people of Quincy, Illinois welcomed them. The Savior was a refugee as a baby. Elder Kieron said it is estimated that there are 60 million refugees in the world today and half are children. They’ve overwhelmed many communities. It is overwhelming to us to know what to do to help them. Many of them are well educated and had to leave all they had. Some of these people will be established and will become leaders where they live. In the past, when Brigham Young heard there were people out on the plains suffering, he stopped conference and sent people to rescue those people. The women stripped off petticoats and stockings and sent them to the sufferers. They then prepared food and places for them and set up means to help their hurts. People said they took pleasure in helping people who were suffering. Kristine gave out handouts to help us see what had been said by our Church leaders about helping refugees. One talk said we may contribute to the Church humanitarian fund and invite us to do such projects. President Eyring said we will be guided by love of God that helps us love others, and knowledge of what to do, and a desire to be closer to the Savior. The Lord feels the comfort we give to others as if given to Him. Sister Burton said we should contribute to the “I Was a Stranger.” We should do what we have strength to do. See that all these things do not make us run faster than we have strength. There are about 60,000 refugees in Utah alone. There is going to be a world refugee day on June 4, 2016 at Liberty Park. Think globally—act locally. Sister Burton said she knew of a Relief Society president who organized a quilt drive and drove them to Kosovo to relieve others. But on the way home she received the impression that she had done well, but that she should go home and serve her neighbor. It is important that we can serve locally. It is also important to donate the right things. Money is always important so it can be used for what is needed, then nothing goes to waste. Use good sense. The Church works with local agencies to see what is really needed. Elder Kearon said that the Saints in Europe and Great Britain are offering services to help resettle and give them medical services, as well as education. If you have the ability to go to some of these places, you can give aid. All those who have given aid are like the people of Alma. We can’t be judges of these people, but need to offer aid. Refugees can be humble and ready to contribute to their new homes and maybe even accept the gospel. Kristine offered a list of things people can do to help refugees. This list will be posted on the Relief Society Facebook page. The list comes from Sharon Eubank who is a representative for the Church for refugee organizations. Also, you can give money to the Church’s Humanitarian Fund. Learning the stories of these people will change you. We have found refuge, so let us come out of our safe places and offer refuge to others. We can give whatever. It doesn’t have to be out of our ability to give. A little will make a difference.

Lesson for March 25, 2016

Lesson for March 27, 2016 Today our lesson was given by Kristine Hansen about talks by Elder Ballard (“God is at the Helm”), Elder Christofferson (“Why the Church”), and Elder Bednar (“Chosen to Bear Testimony of My Name”). On this Easter, she reminded us of something President Hinckley said: that there would be no Christmas if there had been no Easter. Our lesson today is about the Lord’s church as it is organized based on how the Church at Christ’s time was established. He taught us that it should bear His name and be based on apostles and evangelists. She invited us to share our thoughts. Her nephew drew a clipper ship on a poster for Kristine to use as an object lesson. She says the fastest growing segment of religious people is people who say they believe in God and they feel they can go it alone. However Elder Bednar said that the Church is to strengthen and edify those in the Church and we are the members of the body of Christ. One of the blessings is to have a community to join. When we think of serving together and praying together, we bond and unite. The Lord wants us to bear one another’s burdens, so we need someone we trust to go through with these things. Claudia Laycock said she knows a young woman who recently moved to Tennessee and instantly had a family in her new ward. It causes you to learn to like and love others who you never would have sought out otherwise. It enriches your life in ways you never would have known. What a blessing it is to have people we can talk about religion with. It is so nice to have friends who are like us. It is good to see other families and see examples whom we can look up to. Elder Ballard introduced us to the concept of the old ship Zion, and to hold on and not jump ship. He gives four things to hold on to. (1) Prophets and apostles, we need to see the extraordinary things they do in spite of their humanity. Elder Bednar said it is good we have older men in positions of authority who are spiritually seasoned and wise to guide us. The mortal limitations of these men actually show the divine object of God in calling these men, so the Lord is blessing and sustaining them. Elder Hales said when you can’t do everything, you do what matters. Sisters brought up the Proclamation on the Family and knowing they were emphasizing good things rather than telling people they are bad. Also, admonitions to love one another. Also we need to see the potential in people—just love them—no matter what path they should be on. We don’t need to fear the future; the future is as bright as our faith. These prophets and apostles give us the means to have personal revelation in General Conference. (2) We have the Plan of Salvation. (3) We have a voice of warning. It is a blessing to be reproved and shown our faults. Repentance is individual, but fellowship on that painful path comes from the Church. (4) They teach us to keep the commandments. (5) We can make covenants and ordinances. Families can qualify for eternal life through covenants. The Church does not supplant the family. (6) We also get the gift of the Holy Ghost. We do not become converted to the Church, but to the gospel, and the Church strengthens us. The size of the Church and the organization is to work together with the families to strengthen us. We all benefit because we share our talents and service. Because the Church is as big as it is, we can help the poor and send supplies to disaster areas. We can build buildings and temples. We can take the gospel to the world. The goal of the Church is to establish Zion and prepare for the Second Coming of the Lord. The Prophets and Apostles are the officers of the ship and we are the crew and the Lord is the guidance system. If we stay on the ship we will arrive at our destination.

Lesson for March 6, 2016

Lesson for March 6, 2016 Today our lesson was given by Andrea Gerber of the Relief Society presidency. She taught us about understanding our eternal worth and living consistent with our divine heritage. We need to find our worth in eternal things and not just worldly things. She said as a teenager, she did not understand how to feel self-confident, especially as a daughter of God. She said she finally realized that she was very self-absorbed and worried about how other people thought of her. She said it was not an enjoyable way to live. She had to constantly be aware of threats or seeking for approval. It was an impediment to her spiritual connection to God and her ability to help others. There is a difference between humility and lack of confidence. If we know that God can use our weaknesses to bless others and our own good. Lack of confidence means you reject God’s ability to work with us. We’re not always aware of how we are denying our divine nature. Every time we’re sinning, we are not being close to God. If we compare ourselves to others, we do not have a good foundation. When we see others as competitors, we live small. When we aren’t willing to ask others to teach us, we live small. Neglecting self-care can also be detrimental. Calling yourself bad names blocks the Spirit. Then judging others indicates lack of the Spirit. Three benefits of being aware are knowledge, preparing our minds, and one more way we can overcome. The big picture is that there was a time when we were with Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father and we have their attributes in ourselves, even if some are dormant. If we recognize our divine nature, we can face down Satan and temptations, because we know who we are a children of God. Then every time we fail, and we will, we will believe we do not measure up and that we never will, or that we’re not worthy. Sometimes we resent that God knows all about us. Then our foundation is shaky. If we accept that God and Jesus Christ love us, then we can build and look upward and hopeful for where it can lead us. That critical inner voice is not God’s. The difference between God and Satan is an interesting one Satan, in the pre-earth life, was a leader and said he would do everything for us. God, on the other hand, knew we could do these things ourselves and that we could grow. Heather Cantrell always felt less than she was. She found that reading the scriptures and focusing on the Lord and His love for her, she felt like she had self-worth. We not only need to realize what we need to work on, we need to acknowledge our strengths. One sister said she started saying two nice things about herself whenever she said something negative about herself and her whole family picked up the habit, too. Looking at a patriarchal blessing is like seeing a love letter from God. Reading is important, especially patriarchal blessings, scriptures, and conference talks. It is good motivation to realize that the negatives are what Satan would like us to think. Elder Cook said it is hard to feel gratitude and envy at the same time. There is a difference between how God tells us what we’ve done wrong and how Satan tells us. God is kind and gentle and answers our prayers. Being familiar with the hymns and Primary songs can be good to use as response to negative feelings. Guilt is often overdone. The worth of souls is great in the sight of God. We may not remember the pre-earth life, but we can know that we were important in the sight of God and we chose Him. By being modest, we can show our own worth. Our Heavenly Father knows our struggles and wants to bless us. He says to us that we are good enough, but He can make us so much better.

Lesson for February 28, 2016

February 28, 2016 Today our lesson was given by Kristine Hansen on the General Conference talks: “Discovering the Divinity Within” by Sister Wixom, “Behold thy Mother,” by Elder Holland, and “A Plea to My Sisters,” by Elder Nelson. She wrote some thematic statements: (a) We have divinity within us and it can grow; (b) We are the mothers of the human race and have power and influence in life; (c) we can encourage others to understand their divine nature and destiny; (d) we have a responsibility to build the kingdom. What these things mean is that we do not need outside approval and love from the world, since we have it in abundance from God. As we go from child to adult, we focus on ourselves, but it is divine to look for ways to help others and as we mature and grounded in our identities as daughters of God we will want to serve others. We are daughters of God and that’s all that matters—say that over and over. Elder Holland quoted many scriptures that contain the word bear and he made the link from what the Savior does for us to what our mothers do for us no matter the cost. That no love in mortality comes closer to the love of Christ to the love of a mother and her child. Kristine looks at her students at BYU and can see the influence of their mothers. The introduction of righteous young people into the world is the most important thing we can do. She told stories that Elder Holland told. One man who was dying and said that it would be difficult to face Christ, but he feared more that he would meet his mother. Another story was a young man who came home early from his mission because of same-sex attraction. His mother was the one who stood by him until he became reconciled to the Church and he returned to the mission field and finished his mission. He also told of a mother at the Mexico City temple rededication who helped her disabled child participate in the Hosanna shout. One sister calls her mother every morning before she goes to work, just to talk and get the strength. When we are given the stewardship to care for our children, we have to realize they will grow and change. We will miss them when they leave, but there comes a time when we need to turn our children back to the Lord, such as when they go on missions. Linda Campbell’s mother had to struggle with a non-member husband and now Linda recognizes the sacrifice her mother made to bring her up in the Church. Elder Holland said thank you to mothers—you are doing better than you think you are. Elder Nelson said it would be impossible to measure the influence of all women in the Church. He told of President Kimball’s statement that the women of the Church will play a vital role in the winding up scene of the world. President Hinckley said the women of the Church will move the growth of the Church as they flock to the gospel in great numbers. More and more young women are going on missions. Women are anchors in their families as the winds blow people to and fro. Women are turning their hearts to the Lord as they share their testimony about the Church, or even going to the Provo City Center Temple. President Nelson said that to the degree that the women of the Church are different in good ways, we influence the world. Elder Nelson said his wife helped him through a very difficult time when a patient, a baby girl, had died. She told him to learn more so he could help others not die. Elder Nelson said we need to be partners in our families and marriages and provide a unique influence. Attacks against our church are going to increase, so we need to know the gospel so we can have the strength to influence others. We are here to lift an inspire others to do their best and speak up and build our relationships. Kristine wants us to wake up every day and say we’re awesome and then ask our Father in Heaven what we should do.

Lesson for January 24, 2016

Lesson for January 24, 2016 Today our lesson was given by Kristine Hansen on a talk by Dieter F. Uchtdorf “It Works Wonderfully,” and a talk by Elder Maynes “The Joy of Living a Christ-Centered Life,” and a talk by Sister Marriott “Yielding Our Hearts to God.” The challenge from last week was to center your life in Christ. Three questions we should ask ourselves: Is my experience in the Church working for me, bringing peace and ?? We all through periods of spiritual drought that can last for weeks or months. We see others who are happy and ask ourselves what is the difference. President Uchtdorf said to simplify your approach to your discipleship and to start where you are. He told of a sister who had to teach a relief Society lesson and wanted to make a quilt a visual aid and had to stay up all night the night before and in the middle of the quilt it said “Simplify.” If we hear the word of God, we then believe more, and we feel His love, and then we want to follow the word of God and then we want to serve God and others and then we are more likely to hear the word of God. We should not over-program others and our stewardships or we complicate our lives. We don’t need to do everything at once. Kristine said she is happiest when she is doing the basics. You don’t have to be more of anything for God to make us who we should be. God will take you as you are and all you need is a willing heart and a desire to trust in the Lord. It’s like being on a diet when you indulge in food and gain back weight. You can still diet again. If you slide back you can start over. We should feel the same way about our children and husbands and love them as they are. They can start at whatever point they are at the moment. Elder Maynes suggested to center your life on Christ. He had a story about pottery making and some Japenese students who went to learn pottery making. They had to learn to center the lump of clay on the wheel and then they could do the task. The world in which we live is like a potter’s wheel and is getting faster. If we center our lives on Christ, we will stay centered and He can successfully mold us into who we should be in relation to how well we are centered. We can all be centered as the clay, not the potter. God is the potter. We have to be willing to be shaped. Also when clay doesn’t turn out right, you don’t get rid of it, you get it back into a lump by slapping it and thumping it and reshaping it. We learn from our failures. We can start again. Where do we start? We can start with prayer if we aren’t sure of the shape we should be in, we can pray to know. If we are unsure and don’t know what to do, we know we can pray. Prayer is a beginning. In the sacrament we are urged to always remember Christ. We can make choices we know He would approve of. Remember how much you value the gospel? Lehi’s family, when they were centered in Christ, lived after the manner of happiness. Even when we can’t attend church as often, even when our loved ones do things that are not good, we can do things to center our lives in Christ and we can be comforted. We are supposed to record our testimonies and if we share those feelings, we will be strengthened. Sister Marriott and her family had a motto that “Everything will work out.” Her daughter died from a bicycle accident while Sister Marriott and her husband were on a mission. So how does this motto work in such a situation? It speaks of an eternal outcome and a long view. It doesn’t say everything will work out now, but in the eternities. The end could be at the end of this week, the end of this year, or the end of this life, or beyond. Heavenly Father might look at us like we view our children, when some things that seem so overwhelming to us now are not that huge in an eternal perspective. It’s never done. Not for us and it is not done for our loved ones. Elder Packer said our lives are a three-act play when act one is about getting to know things, act two is when all the trouble happens, and act three is happily ever after—and this life is act two. Adele Hickman’s brother died five years ago and it was devastating. Then they remembered where he is now and were comforted. Even death is not the end, even if the all right is not what we want it to be. Sister Marriott urged us to yield our hearts to God. She takes sacrament time to try to recognize what we need to do, especially if we have the Spirit with us and have a broken heart and are willing for god to heal us. The gospel will work for us.

Lesson for January 10, 2016

January 10, 2016 Today our lesson was given by Sydney Kelsey on chapter 1: “Jesus Christ—Our Only Way to Hope and Joy.” We are using the Howard W. Hunter manual. We must know Christ better than we know Him. We went to Jeremiah 18:2. Sydney also showed us a video about her mother throwing a pot on a potter’s wheel. First she showed what happens when the clay is uncentered and develops thin and thick spots. The clay actually popped off the wheel. Then she showed how the clay works when it is centered. The clay did not jump around as much and her hands were able to smooth the shape evenly. The resulting bowl was strong and nicely shaped. When Sydney heard the title of the lesson, she thought of centering a pottery piece and how it relates to our lives and centering our lives on Christ. If we are centered, we do not flail around. It means to put Him first and then add the rest of our life afterward. Sydney said her husband had to work on Sunday and they looked for a different job. They prayed about it and he got another job with something he loves to do that would pay enough and they could go to school and go to church. They feel so blessed. We have similar opportunities every time we pay tithing. Things often just work out. Our core, the center of our lives, must be Christ. President Hunter had questions to ask ourselves. How central to your life do you know Him to be? How gratefully do you remember His atoning sacrifice? How adoringly do you reflect on His life? How often to you think of the Savior? We must reflect on Him more often and we must serve Him more often. The Savior loves us whether we are easy to center or not. As we exercise faith in the Savior, He smooths the turmoil in our lives. We have sudden squalls arise that make us wonder if the Savior remembers us, but He does. The Father of us all would say, “Why are you so fearful? Why do you even question my love for you? I have overcome the world for you.” If we center our lives on the Savior our fear turns to joy. We often feel ugly and inferior, but God thinks we’re beautiful and we matter and have value in the Master’s hand. If we center our lives in Christ we can feel joy and know we are valued.

Lesson for January 3, 2016

Lesson for January 3, 2016 Today our lesson was given by our Relief Society president, Suzy Sullivan, about thoughts she has had. We are preparing to become what we want to be. What you will be you are now becoming. She wants to share some thoughts and discuss each other’s thoughts. Scriptures about thoughts. For as he thinketh in his heart so is he. Whatsoever things are anything good, think on these things. Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly. Our words and our thoughts will condemn us. God says for my thoughts not your thoughts, but are higher. God knows how people learn because He made us that way. He knows that thinking of good things will affect us neurologically into physically becoming better people. Suzy was reading a talk by Brother Larson from the 1970s when he said that what we let into our minds can uplift us or poison us. What we put into our minds has a great deal to do with what comes out and what we persist in thinking has a great deal to do with what we become. Emily Campbell is going to her daughter’s grief therapy and they say that we are not victims of our thoughts, so we must practice having good thought. If you have obsessive thought patterns, you have to replace bad things with good things and put out the effort to keep on saying good things until they become real. Even thoughts you are given, that come from outside, can be controlled. Katie Lamb said she visualizes a stop sign and then moves forward. Christelle Boyadjian said you have to retrain yourself to have the outcome that you want. You have to give yourself a pep talk. We can help each other. Adele Hickman says she whispers to her grandchildren, “I love you and you make me happy.” Even the one-year-old knows she makes her grandmother happy. We can choose to develop bonds that make us free by not blaming people and giving people the benefit of the doubt. We must understand that we can retrain ourselves to become our potential positive person who can deal with any problem. It is more important to gain positive thoughts. Suzy worked with a young man who was always so positive. He was not that way initially, but he said he trained himself to be positive. We can choose a theme for the coming year that we can live by. The Relief Society motto is a good theme, as well as a scripture so we can have a guide. Even if other people are mean, we can say that Heavenly Father is the one to judge all of us so we can leave others alone and concentrate on what we should become. We are children of God and meant to shine and make manifest the glory of God that is within us. That knowledge liberates us. It is our responsibility to make that light shine. By practicing sustained constructive thinking we can fill our thoughts in an offensive rather than a defensive way. Shannacy Critchfield found that when she studied her scriptures, rather than just reading them, it affects her whole day positively. Katie Lamb said that if you can get the Spirit with you, then you can have more positive thoughts. Vira Bahr said that if our bodies need exercise, so to do our mind and spirit need exercise. If you want to change and the Spirit is involved then your heart can change, then even our basic needs can change as well. We need to let the Spirit in so we can be changed. We have to submit to our Heavenly Father and let Him heal us. Brother Young in Sacrament Meeting compared our lives to learning to play the piano. One mistake is not going to keep you from being a good piano player, but practicing the good will eventually help us develop. The Atonement can help us become better. Suzy read from The Secret Garden, so long as Collin shut himself up in his room and concentrated on his illness, he could not walk. However, when he thought agreeable thoughts, he saw the color and growth and became well. The challenge is to change our thoughts and have happy lives.