Lesson for Septemer 25, 2016

Lesson for September 25, 2016 Today our lesson was given by Kristine Hansen about three conference talks: “Always Retain a Remission of Your Sins” by Elder Bednar; “The Healing Ointment of Forgiveness” by Elder Duncan; and “He Will Place You on His Shoulders and Carry You Home” by President Uchtdorf. President Uchtdorf told of visiting Dresden and the church that was nearly destroyed. After the reunification of Germany, the city decided to rebuild the church, using the blackened stone among new white stones. The scars are a reminder of what happened, but of hope and man’s ability of creating new hope from rubble. How much more capable is our Heavenly Father of making something beautiful out of our hopelessness or despair. No life is so shattered that it cannot be restored. He told of the parable of the lost sheep. All of us are at some point in our lives, the lost sheep. Over the centuries this parable has been seen as a call to bring back the lost sheep. But could it be possible that the parable is about the Savior’s mission to reach out to those who are lost. What do the sheep need to know to be reached out to? Does it need specialized technology or sponsorship? No, the Good Shepherd knows and loves us and he will reach out to us. Perhaps He will reach out to us more than once. There is a catch. We have to want to be rescued. We have to have hope to be able to feel the love that is reaching out to us. Obedience is the life blood of faith. It is by obedience that we gather light to our souls. Sometimes we feel like a piece of iron being hammered into shape, but that iron is our support. Kristine had us look at D&C 93 where it says that intelligence is light and truth and God’s glory is also light and truth and Satan doesn’t have it. If we want to have light and truth, we need to keep the commandments. If we keep them long enough, we will gather enough light and truth to be filled. D&C 130 tells us that whatever light and truth we gather in this life will rise with us in the resurrection. If we gain more of that light and truth in this life, we will have more light and truth in heaven. We could read the scriptures, but if we didn’t keep the commandments we wouldn’t get what we should out of them. Through obedience and diligence through living the gospel. If we know what we should do, but don’t actually do it, we won’t gain what we should. Being a member of the Church is not checking off a check list, but doing what we should by light and truth and becoming the type of person who does those things out of light and truth and love. No matter how dark our world seems, the Lord will seek us out, especially if we signal that we are ready to be healed. Chelsea Jolley said her daughter deals with severe depression and sometimes feels that she is too far down for Heavenly Father to reach. Chelsea said she has to remind her daughter that there have been times when her Heavenly Father has stepped in to help her. A lot of her help has to be when she is ready. If we seek him the Lord will find us. Elder Bednar talked about the process of spiritual rebirth. It takes a lifetime to be spiritually reborn. The ordinances of exaltation and redemption some through channels. If we recognize this, we have the power to be lifted up through the power of the gospel. The baptismal covenant contains having His spirit to be with us, and the initial cleansing, remember Christ, and remembering Him. This ordinance is not enough. We need the laying on of hands to receive the Holy Ghost for the ongoing cleansing of our souls. Members of the Lord’s restored Church can have the companionship of the Holy Ghost that gives us an ongoing cleansing. We will be warned and prompted to repent. But even that is not enough, so we need the sacrament to help us be cleansed every week. If you take it 48 times a year from 8-78 you will take it over 3,000 times. It gives us access to the Lord’s power of Atonement and to be made pure and holy so we can stand spotless before Him in the final day. The act of partaking of the sacrament does not remit sins, but preparing to take it worthily does help us retain a remission of our sins by leading us to repent weekly and have the Spirit of God with us. That is the promise of the sacrament and helps us to retain a remission of our sins, by being worthy to take the sacrament every week. If you keep working at it, you can be clean and ready to enter the presence of God. We should not want to be baptized again to feel renewed, but we should feel it many times in our lives through preparing to take the sacrament. The gift of the Holy Ghost, taking the sacrament, and other ordinances are an interwoven network of events to help us retain a remission of our sins. Elder Duncan’s talk about forgiveness is lovely because we can get rid of burdens of bad feelings toward others, we can retain a remission of our sins because God will forgive us, and others will forgive us. Our families are those we should practice the forgiveness that we are required to give all men. When someone hurts us on purpose, it is so painful for so long. We don’t forgive others for them, we forgive others for ourselves. Elder Duncan said we sometimes can’t forgive because it does not feel like justice. We have to remember that God will forgive and we are required to forgive. One sister’s father said that when someone makes him angry that person is taking up rent in his brain and he says it isn’t worth it to be damaged further by that person. Have you ever see someone more like Heavenly Father sees them by forgiving them. One sister said that one sister companion on her mission needed some forgiveness because they talked and forgave each other and understood that they were not enemies and that they served each other. They are still in contact and their friendship is special. The forgiveness we give to others can redeem them and change their lives. The forgiveness the Lord gives to us can change us. If we seek Him out, the Lord will lift us up on His shoulders and make us who we can be.

Lesson for September 18, 2016

Lesson for September 18, 2016 Today our lesson was given by Camille Maynard on “Preserve and Protect the Family,” chapter 17 in the Teachings of Howard W. Hunter. The Church has the responsibility and authority to preserve and protect the family. The authorities of the church can give us guidance for our goals for our family. The Proclamation on the Family is to the entire world, not just members of the Church. We should treat it as if it is for everyone in the world. The Lord was interested in the family when it instituted Family Home Evening and has been around for a long time, since the time of President Joseph F. Smith. Mondays were designated during the time of President McKay. The Proclamation says that it is the duty of a father and a mother to raise their family in the way of the Lord. For except the Lord build the house, it shall not stand. In seeking after the welfare of the members of the Church, families of all sorts are needful of having home teachers and other support from their congregations. Wherever we are in the world, we can have support from our ward congregations. Parents can be partners in the leadership of their homes to love and protect children. President Hunter talked to the men of the Church about what they should do: the family is ordained of God, the men should lead their families to church, improve the spiritual atmosphere of the home through personal scripture study, honoring their wives, accept their wives as their partners to make decisions. Most of us understand we need home evening or scripture study, but we need to be ready to teach our children to study and pray. We need to get our own spiritual state in order. We need to honor the priesthood and temple covenants, as well as honoring and reverencing motherhood. We should understand it is an honor to be a mother and an honor to be a father. We can help our men to take responsibility for family home evening or scripture study or family prayer. Sometimes our men don’t recognize that there are things they can do, we can remind them. It seems they don’t work that way. One thing we can do to be united, we can plan and talk about things before they happen, if we can. We can decide to have open communication. You can be united in how to come to a decision that works is modeling how to function as a couple for the children. Don’t talk about it in front of the kids, but do it in private. Our homes should be places of prayer, and love, and teaching the gospel. We should not just rely on schools, church, and others to give our children a foundation. President Hunter said that a home is strong and beautiful when we strive to live the gospel in our family circles. Children need to feel secure and safe in their homes, so integrity in the family is essential, as is showing love to each other. What we do in private will come out in public behavior. We can be more relaxed and comfortable if we are secure and not lash out at our family members if we respect them. We can do things together to build relationships through family home evening and build strength in the family. When we are not close to our family, we can use technology to connect, such as Skype or smart phones. Dinners with families is a way to be connected. Afterwards, then games can be played. We can change the focus of FHE from having to learn the gospel to connecting to each other with a touch of gospel lessons thrown in. We need to recognize what is needed for our family, or our spouses. Sometimes the gospel questions come up at random times, such as driving in the car, or after school. Keeping technology distractions away at a time when you can be all together is important. It shows that we place importance on our times together. Family scripture and family prayer are also important. Getting out the scripture packet of the scripture stories can help children relate to the stories and remember the points of the story. Sister Bush has each child be in charge of a day for family prayer and they each say some reason they are grateful for that person before the prayer. Prayers where we mention family members help our children and ourselves know we are prayed for. It helps if our children can hear us praying for them. President Hunter said our homes should be a holy place.

Lesson for September 11, 2016

Lesson for September 11, 2016 Today our lesson was given by Maggie Kopp on Chapter 16, “Marriage—An Eternal Partnership.” Maggie reminded us about relationships from last week’s lesson. Some of the qualities with those relationships are that they are long-term (really long term), there is respect, honesty, love, free agency, enjoy being around them, traditions together, you can depend on each other, trust, laughter, sincerity, want to be each other’s friend, generosity, and others to be talked about later. She had some quotes from President Hunter. “It is not good for man or woman to be alone.” Neither can reach eternal blessings without the other. As baptism is necessary to enter the church, so temple marriage is necessary for eternal life. We need to see it as essential because it is central to the gospel. It is a commandment. It will help us become exalted. It takes a man and a woman to be their very best. It takes us both to do it. We have to have a goal to be a celestial person and look forward to being with a person who is celestial, too, and who wouldn’t want to be married to a celestial person. Sometimes we are not the normal happy family. How do we balance out the idea that we may not be the ideal. Lisa Anderson said she has been offered other opportunities, such as serving in the temple as much as she do, so we all have our own paths. We have to find out what those paths are. So many young males have died before adulthood—many more than young females—so they are promised marriage in eternity. Marriage is a learned behavior, according to President Hunter. All the things we listed at first, those are learned behaviors as well. We learn relationship skills, such as saying the right thing to our spouse or teenager. We had to learn how to get over a rejection, or breakup, or other hardships. There is a lot of adjusting and learning to do on a daily basis. Everyone has to work. Sometimes we can make it fun and enjoyable, even with the hard work. If you are a baker, you still need to go through the process of mixing and baking and presenting the baked goods to others. Some people may be better at some things, than others, but we can all work on things. President Hunter spoke of some qualities that are essential: charity and patience, oneness of heart, fidelity, tenderness and respect, attentive listening, and selflessness. Charity and patience is especially difficult. There is a scripture that you can pray for charity and that kind of love can tide us over. Chelsea’s mother is good at this. Her father had an accident with a brain injury while they already had four children. Her mother said she had to remember that her father did not choose to have a brain injury. Her mother’s charity spills over onto her kids. Prayer and being accepting is key. We have to be reciprocal and talk together and get on the same page. It takes work to get together on a day-to-day basis. Maggie had a good friend in California that she could go for months without talking, but it eventually got so where they were not on the same page. Maggie realized she had to keep up the communication to maintain their relationship. One of the great stories is Adam and Eve and how the temptations came when they were not together, but when they were together they could not be tempted. We need to share goals, too, so you can work on them together. Being articulate can help, so being up front in the way couples interact—maybe even more obvious than we think we need to be. Being humble and being OK with your partner doing as well as you can. Being considerate and positive toward each other. Ask each other how each feels loved so we know how to show love to the other one. Wherever we are in our relationships, we need to remember that these relationships make us more celestial. Sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes it’s easy. It’s still work.

Lesson for August 28, 2016

Lesson for August 28, 2016 Today our lesson was given by Kristine Hansen on Teachings for Our Times on talks by Elder Stevenson (“Where are the Keys and Authority of the Priesthood”), President Monson (“A Sacred Trust”), and By Elder Rasband (“Standing with the Leaders of the Church”). The theme is being united by priesthood authority and priesthood keys. These were addressed to priesthood and the youth. How do we as women experience the priesthood and priesthood keys and those we associate with who hold the priesthood. Kristine went to Denmark and saw the original Christus, along with the statues of the twelve apostles that are in the church with the Christus. President Kimball and several apostles and seventies went to Copenhagen and had a private showing. President Kimball told the stake president, pointing to the statue of Peter with keys, that he held the real keys and told the stake president to tell everyone in Denmark. He told the caretaker that he worked every day with apostles in stone and today he was in the presence of real apostles. The original keys had disappeared from the earth, so after Joseph Smith began his ministry, he was visited, along with Oliver Cowdery, along the banks of the Susquehannah River by Peter, James, and John. The keys those apostles gave to Joseph and Oliver were for leadership, the gift of the Holy Ghost, giving blessings, organizing the Church, preaching. Before that in the Doctrine and Covenants, they were able to get the keys of baptism, sacrament, and the ministering of angels in the Aaronic Temple. In the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, Joseph and his counselors went behind the pulpit and were visited by Jesus Christ, Moses with the gathering of Israel, Elias and the gospel of Abraham and gathering our families for eternity, and Elijah with the sealing keys. The rest of the Christian world does not understanding the existence and necessity for keys. President Monson has all the keys and the apostles have the keys in dormancy. When President Monson dies, the other apostles place their hands on the chosen apostle and activate the all the keys in that person. It’s as if we have a car, but no keys. What keys really mean is the ability to preside, direct, and delegate. President Monson can use these keys to delegate to the other leaders of the Church in an orderly fashion by authority and by revelation so the Church can function. It’s not about age or experience, it’s about order and calling and keys. People who are called to a calling are given the keys to operate in that calling. Not all decisions have to be made by a bishop, but can be made by a father or one who has stewardship over something. President Monson told a story about a WWII pilot who was shot down. He and his crew were in a life raft for three days and rescuers didn’t see them. The young pilot had the priesthood and was impressed to command a rescue ship to pick them up. The ship turned and came to them and picked them up. Chelsea Jolley said her father was in an accident when Chelsea was five. He was on life support and the family was being prepared for his death, but the stake president gave him a blessing that he would have a miraculous recovery. Chelsea’s mother went home and started baking cookies, because everything would be all right. Her father lived for more than twenty more years and was able to work, even though he had some physical problems. Heather Cantrell’s daughter was healed by the power of the priesthood when she nearly died because of heart problems. Elder Rasband asked several questions about standing with the leaders of the Church, such as are we listening to the counsel of the leaders of the Church? Do we accept their counsel? Do we have a testimony of the leaders of the Church? Do we choose to follow their counsel? Do we choose to hold fast to the iron rod? Are we standing with the leaders of the Church? Do we believe they have the keys and represent the Lord? Our leaders include the General Authorities, the stake president, the bishop, and the other leaders in our ward, including both women and men. If we don’t stand with any of these, we’re not standing with the Savior as well as we can. Kristine found that a beloved niece who married a returned missionary is not going to bless her child in the Church because of literature by those disaffected by the Church. Her older sister has a husband who is not in the Church. They have seven children and some have followed her into the Church and some have followed her husband. She was asked to be a Young Women’s president, but thought she would not take the calling because she was not the perfect Mormon woman. She dreamed that the Savior called her to the calling, so she did accept. How can we stand with the Relief Society presidency or the leaders of the Church? Accepting callings is one way. Doing what they ask us to, such as studying the scriptures, going to the temple, doing our visiting teaching, etc. Going the extra mile in small things, such as setting up and tearing down chairs and tables, sitting next to people who are new, not thinking somebody else can do whatever needs to be done. One of the ways is to realize that all the levels of people in the Church are trying to do their best and that we still need to help them without criticism. Not judging is an important principle. Realizing that the Lord guides the Church and will help to qualify those who serve is a good way to operate.

Lesson for AUGUST 14, 2016

Lesson for August 14, 2016 Our lesson today was given by Camille Maynard about President Hunter’s teachings about “The Sacrament and the Lord’s Supper.” Because President Hunter was not baptized until later in his life and was not allowed to pass the sacrament, he had some tender feelings about the sacrament, especially about how the boys who get to pass the sacrament should have the feeling that it is a special experience. He talked about the Passover and how the sacrifice was a lamb without blemish. It represents Christ’s sacrifice and the fact that Christ is the Shepherd. It reminds every generation of the freedom and deliverance of the Hebrews from the Egyptians, as well as spring and the deliverance from winter. It shows that the grave and death have no lasting power over us. Chris Boyadjian told of the process in Europe from Christmas to Easter of participating in the Passover. After eating the bitter herbs and unleavened bread, the lamb is so sweet. It is to teach us that accepting the Savior is sweet. When the Savior instituted the sacrament at the time of the Passover, to show that it was another milestone in His ministry. He said that he who believeth on me shall never hunger and he who believeth on me shall never thirst. His sacrament ties the New Testament to the Old Testament. It was the last Passover Jesus was mortal on this earth and he testified of his purpose, but people were still not able to understand. Finally preparations for the Passover were complete. Jesus taught them a newer and holier meaning of the bread as his body and the wine as his blood and how it is to help them remember Him. It took the old covenant of protection to a new covenant of safety. Now animal sacrifice was not needed because He had made the sacrifice and given them the emblems of his blood and body. We can be safe from addictions and other sorrows through being obedient to our covenants. We are spiritually safe, as well. In the preexistence we had the faith that Jesus would save us and the sacrament shows that we are saved from the finality of death and hell. President Hunter told about his experience during a sacrament meeting. He told of taking the sacrament and feeling like we are serving other as we pass the trays along the rows. He told how Christ’s sacrifice took the place of animal sacrifice. He is a good example of what we should think about when we are taking the sacrament. We can think about if we are putting God above all others. He mentioned the baby that cried, but surely the Lord would not be displeased that a child was participating in the ordinance, although we should try to teach the children before church about how to behave. We are teaching our children that on Sunday that is where they should be. Sometimes in other churches, children are not tolerated. We all have strategies to make being in church more attractive than being outside of church. On lds.org there are stories from members about how they handle church things that we can learn from. Our children learn how to behave from that training.

Lesson for August 7, 2016

Lesson for August 7, 2016 Today was a Relief Society presidency lesson. It was given by Adele Hickman on “Approaching the throne of God with confidence” by Elder Jorg Klebingat. First we had Sister Linda Campbell tell us about her experience doing visiting teaching and how Bishop Roundy told her that if every member did their visiting teaching and home teaching, his burden and bishop would be lighter. Sister Hickman told us about her father and how he was her therapist and friend. He had a PhD in psychology, played the piano, and has a song in the Primary songbook. He was so kind and good that Adele is sure he could approach the throne of God with confidence. Elder Klebingat said that the adversary tries to put as much distance as possible between you and God and that there is no use in trying to do better. It’s a lie that Satan uses to confound us. As long as you allow these lies to chisel away at your soul, you will not live life in a healthy way. There are things we can do to gain spiritual confidence: (1) Take responsibility for your own spiritual wellbeing. Stop making excuses. The Lord knows your circumstances and also if you don’t want to live the gospel. Spiritual confidence grows when you take responsibility for your growth. (2) Take responsibility for your physical wellbeing and start at where you are and then you can increase your strength. You can be more confident if you feel well. (3) Be obedient. Confidence comes when you are obedient. Sister Jolley said when her son was getting ready for his mission, she thought it was genius to send out a self-centered young man to where he has to be 100% obedient and learn something. What a great time for them to learn. Her son learned so much about how much better life is when he was obedient. Sister Hickman said her son Adam played ice hockey and the championship game was on a Sunday. His teammates and their parents all tried to persuade him to play. He decided not to play and when Sister Hickman asked him why, he said “You taught me.” She was so happy. (4) Repent quickly. We get confident when we know we are right with God. Emily Campbell said her kids are learning to repent quickly. Another sister said that happy families and unhappy families fight the same number of times, but the happy families forgive each other quickly. In Dorothy Francis’s family they can say, “Erase, erase” when they say something wrong. Sister Hickman told the story of a family of quail where some fell in the drain on the street and they were able to get all but one out. The one would not cooperate. (5) Become really, really good at forgiving. Spiritual confidence increases when God knows you have no ill feelings toward someone else. Sister Boyadjian said that taking responsibility for your own actions and repenting quickly is like what they ask you to do in therapy. It’s our decision to be better and choose what to do. There are plenty of excuses, but we need to stop being the victim. In the Olympics yesterday in the women’s rugby a woman had cancer, but kept training in spite of her chemotherapy and now she is in the Olympics. (6) Accept your trials as part of mortality. You never know what will happen. Millions are being tested. Don’t feel like you are being punished, but that it’s part of the plan. Partner with God to do well to the end. Some of your experiences with be with you for your life and you need to just do your best to be acceptable before God all the time in spite of your shortcomings. God has planned many experiences for all of us that we signed up for and that will only happen in this life. We need to have an eternal perspective that we agreed. Adele’s son Brent was teaching at University of Chicago and was made bishop and had a family. He found that he had tumors in his sinuses and had to have serious operations. Adele asked him how he could go on. Brent said, “Heavenly Father knew I had these tumors when he made me the bishop.” Our Heavenly Father and His Son love us and put us here to succeed.

Lesson for July 17, 2016

Lesson for July 17, 2016 Today our lesson was given by Camille Maynard on the temple. President Howard W. Hunter preached that the temple should be the symbol of our membership. She said that we have to want to go to the temple. It is a symbol that we have done certain things to get there. President Hunter’s father was not a member until Pres. Hunter was nineteen. When President Hunter was a stake president, on his birthday he was asked to speak to a group in the temple. His parents walked in dressed in white and ready to have their endowments and sealing. He was speechless. Just the building is a symbol that others see. The placement of temples makes it so people can see them all of a sudden. Doing work for others can strengthen our own testimonies. How does going to the temple sustain the leaders of the church, even the local leaders? When we sustain someone, it is a commitment to support them, not just a vote, and it says that we believe in the gospel. We need to be morally clean. We need to treat our family well. We need to be honest in our dealings with others. We need to be a full tithe payer. We need to observe the Word of Wisdom. People who pay tithing and observe the Word of Wisdom usually are faithful about other things as well. Being in the temple is a break from worldly things and even being on the grounds brings us comfort. Even having a temple recommend relieves a lot of worry about things that go on in the world. Living those principles can help us in many areas of life. When we are free and clean from the sins of the world, then going to God’s house shows us what it will be like in the next life. President Hunter dedicated the Bountiful Temple before he died. He said that entering the temple helps us rededicate our lives and receive comfort. Having the temple in our lives can bring us peace and calmness. D&C 3:1 What a glorious thing to go to the temple and what a glorious thing to do temple work for others. Doing the work for the dead brings us blessings as well. Realizing that going with open minds can help us get the inspiration we should be getting. Jessica Lewis made a commitment to go to the temple so many times and had all kinds of problems getting it done, but on the last day, when she had too much to do, the temple workers and her Heavenly Father went to a great deal of trouble to help her go to the temple and get her other things done on time. We will receive blessings if we go to the temple and do our family history. In 1994, on his birthday and the birthday of the Utah Genealogical Society, President Hunter reflected on the great movement toward family history and how so many advancements have taken place that forwards the work. He also mentioned how important it is to work on family history. When we explain the temple to those who do not understand them, then we can perhaps help them to want to do their genealogy. How do you explain it to non-members? Books by the Church can help us explain that doing a person’s work is honoring that person.