MoTab Concert

See Brother Jackson for ticket information.

Lesson: Your Personal Ministry

 

Today Bishop Pope talked to the Relief Society and Priesthood brethren about personal ministry in our combined class.

What is personal ministry?

- Reaching out to help others.
- Seeing a need and trying to fill it
- Taking the spiritual gifts we've been given and acting on them
- Accepting and filling callings
- Prayerfully asking Heavenly Father what he wants us to do
- All with the right intent, following the promptings of the Spirit

President Kunz several years ago said, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Better yet do unto others as they do unto themselves, but best of all do unto others as God would do unto them." (Jen Low)

We also need to allow others to minister unto us. Sometimes this is very hard. (Bro. Horton)

Bishop: We need to let others serve us, even when the church tells us we should be self-sufficient. It takes humility to admit that we need help.

High Priests were asked by President Coe to give an additional night a week for personal ministry. This may mean where our families need us, or for our own personal spiritual growth, or in some aspect of our calling. We need to step up the effort. (Dave Behunin)

Bishop: Yes, are we having our daily prayers and scripture study? If we are struggling with an aspect of keeping the commandments, sometimes we need to take time out and work on this.

In prayer we may ask for blessings for family members, such as my widowed mother. When the answer may be that we need to give it some thought ourselves about what we can do to help. And not just throw it over the wall to God and go about our way. (Dave Behunin)

Bishop: The scriptures are full of personal ministry, such as Nephi, Alma, Sons of Mosiah, and King Benjamin. In Mosiah 2:16-18 King Benjamin said if I have been in your service I have only been in the service of God. And if I your King can serve then you can too.

What prevents us from performing our own personal ministries?

• We like to talk the talk, but don't walk the walk (Kellen Wentzel).
• We are so caught up in busy-ness of life (Elizabeth Latey).
• Fear. Reaching out one to one may not be part of our nature (Marie Tiller). Remember the first door you knocked on your mission...the fear of rejection or the unknown reaction (Bishop). There are quiet things you can do...genealogy, or something small that works for you. Or we can choose to grow into the role (Craig Clark). But if the spirit speaks we should find a way. The Lord will make up for our shortfall (Elizabeth Latey). Sometimes we are forced to go beyond our comfort zone just based on the circumstances (Cheryl Wentzel).
• Low confidence, low self-esteem. Bishop: start with baby steps. Do something. Do what you can.
• Our thoughts are not focused. "We move our lives in the direction of our most dominant thought." (Melanie Low, Reylyn Checketts). [My aside: Perhaps this is why we covenant EVERY week to "always remember Him."]
• We talk ourselves out of a good action. Never suppress a generous thought - President Monson (Jenn Low).

Examples

Jenny Boyer's neighbors began helping with dinners and offering to do other things after the twins were born. One neighbor now comes almost every day to help after school and at the dinner hour. She is a single woman and needed do a little more in her life and not dwell on negative thoughts. I need the help and she is taking notice of my parenting style. Our hearts are uniting and understanding one another. It goes both ways when we minister. (Jenny Boyer)

If we feel inspired to help more because of this lesson or General Conference, we have to look no further than being a really good visiting teacher. It's already set up for us (Reylyn Checketts).

Bishop: I want to leave this challenge with you. Start with home teaching and visiting teaching. President Coe said it should start there. Do a little more, take it to the next level. It's amazing what that will do for your testimony and you'll see more and more what you can do.

Sometimes the place to start is in our family. We shouldn't neglect their needs in looking to help others. (Kristen Hinchman)

When I was busy with little kids and was a Relief Society President, I couldn't get in to see a woman I was visiting teaching. She never answered. At the store one day I bought a flower and a card and left it at the communal mailbox, hoping she would get it. It was her birthday and I told myself it was my last effort. She called that night and asked how I knew that she loved African Violets. I didn't know but the Lord knows what our favorite flower is. He will help us in our personal ministries if we forget ourselves and listen to Him. (Margie Clark)

Bishop: I think President Monson and other prophets become so close to the Spirit and have listened so much that it's as if the Lord is there speaking to them. We can become more sensitive to the Spirit to and know what the Lord wants us to do.

The Bishop then went on to relate the story of President Monson who as a young new Bishop was prompted to visit an older ward member in the hospital. He put it off until after a church meeting and arrived too late. Let's not ignore the promptings, but act right away.

Thanks, Bishop, for the reminder to seek to know what our personal ministry is, to listen to the Spirit and to act today.

e

Photo credit

A Response

Remember this from last week: On Salon this week, in “Why I Can't Stop Reading Mormon Housewife Blogs," Emily Matchar admires the presentation of domesticity on popular “Mormon mommy blogs.”

Here is how the reaction and conversation is going. Thought you'd like a balanced view.

So, you say you like us Mormons, Eh Salon? 
What is happening here? Are we all so unhappy these days that a bunch of upbeat blogs portraying the positives of domesticity are such a freak show? Is it true what Emily said about most mommy blogs, that they "make parenthood seem like a vale of judgment and anxiety, full of words like 'guilt' and 'chaos' and 'BPA-free' and 'episiotomy?'" Are we seeing the backlash of the unhappiness-as-sophistication model?

Mormon, Muslim, Methodist ... spreading the word online

To many viewers, the LDS Church’s “I’m a Mormon” ad blitz seemed hip, refreshing and original.

The campaign, launched last year in nine U.S. cities, generated a lot of national buzz. Its short videos featured regular folks talking about their lives as doctors, skateboarders, tax attorneys, environmentalists, surfers or former felons before announcing that they are Mormons. Nary an Osmond to be seen.

It helped burst stereotypes of the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by showing individual and diverse members expressing their spirituality.

Turns out, lots of other faiths take a similar tack.

Why I don't keep a mommy blog

While I love writing about lots of other things on this earth and beyond, and while I enjoy peeping at the crafty doings of other moms, I don’t blog about my domestic pursuits because in a world that’s at once as impersonal and voyeuristic as ours, I want the things I do at home to be just for the people I see and touch daily. I don’t want my home life to have a comments button, or ads in the sidebars. 

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Food Storage Clarification

Hello Sisters!

I am worried that having a class on wheat has sent the wrong message to some.

As was discussed in the first food storage “lecture” I gave, you should store what you and your family will eat!  If you don’t, or won’t, eat wheat — or don’t want to deal with grinding it — then please don’t feel that you have to buy it or that “the Church” wants you to buy it!

I thought wheat would be a good place to start because if you don’t have anything else, you could probably survive on bread if you had to!  Remember, you can store flour — you’ll just have to use it more quickly then wheat.  But that is OK — especially if you are just beginning and especially if you are working on your three-month supply first.

Please only store what you will eat; and please don’t go into debt to purchase a grinder or any other food storage item!!!

Concernedly, Debbie Horton

Lesson: The Gift of Gratitude

Teachings for Our Time, The Gift of Divine Gratitude, Thomas S. Monson
Taught by Jill Fairchild

An attitude of gratitude
President Monson recounts the story of the 10 lepers who after being healed by Jesus went away, except one who returned to give him glory and thanks.

"Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings, but it also unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel God’s love."

Today in Relief Society we focused on President Monson's admonition to remember to give thanks for our blessings. 

My beloved friend President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “When you walk with gratitude, you do not walk with arrogance and conceit and egotism, you walk with a spirit of thanksgiving that is becoming to you and will bless your lives.”

A new kernal of truth

In the story of our Savior feeding 4,000 with seven loaves and a few fishes, the key truth is that he gave thanks for the meager meal before the miracle took place that multiplied the food, enough for many with extra leftover.

Take note of this truth and ponder your own approach to God in your prayers. Perhaps more thanksgiving will precede the miracles you long for in your life.

Once you turn to the Savior and give your thanks he will make you "whole", a spiritual blessing the other nine lepers did not receive.

There is much to be thankful for in this world.

Regardless of our circumstances, each of us has much for which to be grateful if we will but pause and contemplate our blessings.

This is a wonderful time to be on earth. While there is much that is wrong in the world today, there are many things that are right and good. There are marriages that make it, parents who love their children and sacrifice for them, friends who care about us and help us, teachers who teach. Our lives are blessed in countless ways.

We can lift ourselves and others as well when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues. Someone has said that “gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”

How can we have more gratitude?

If gratitude is the parent of all other virtues. We want to cultivate it. So, what can we do to have more gratitude?

Marie suggested more humility. Joseph F. Smith said, “The grateful man sees so much in the world to be thankful for, and with him the good outweighs the evil. Love overpowers jealousy, and light drives darkness out of his life.”

Ellen and others point to journaling about your blessings or the ways God has touched your life, especially during dark times. This focuses us on God and his goodness, it gives perspective to our problems, and it fixes in time your gratitude so it can be revisited later.

Cheryl even suggested making more effort to be thankful for our trials and what they teach us.

Amanda testified that the antidote to depression and despair is to count our blessings.

As we do, we spiral up to seeing more blessings and then up to receiving more blessings...perhaps being made "whole" as Christ did with the 10th leper...and that ingratitude can lead down to feeling unheard by God, then feeling unloved and unlovable, and so on downward, as Jill, Owenna and Bethany reminded us.

Margie suggested that we find inspiration from other's stories such as Corrie Ten Boom whose sister found something good in every day during their awful stay in a WWII concentration camp.

And last, more prayer...President Monson reminds us "that a prayerful life is the key to possessing gratitude."

Give the gift

A grateful heart, then, comes through expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His blessings and to those around us for all that they bring into our lives. This requires conscious effort—at least until we have truly learned and cultivated an attitude of gratitude.

Often we feel grateful and intend to express our thanks but forget to do so or just don’t get around to it. Someone has said that “feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”

Do as President Coe counseled us a few weeks ago: If you feel the inspiration or gratitude, act on it right away; don't wait.

Of Christ, President Monson urged, "Let us follow Him. Let us emulate His example. Let us obey His words. By so doing, we give to Him the divine gift of gratitude."

e

 

Just For Families

From the Church's Newsroom:

New Church Website Supports an Evening Just for the Family

It’s a good idea, perhaps even vital, that families find time to be together to pray, talk, sing and play games without the interference of the television and cell phones.

For members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this coordinated event is referred to as family home evening. Families in the Church, similar to those of other faiths, work hard to bring harmony, fun and spiritual education into their lives, but a singular night set aside brings families closer together at a time when outside influences can tear them apart.

The Church’s official website, LDS.org, has launched The Family. The updated site offers three major components to help families improve the quality of their family home evening. They include prophetic counsel on the importance of the family home evening program, most memorable family home evening stories from members around the world, and links to resources to plan and create family home evenings.

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Introducing Two New Church Websites

This just in from the LDS Media Talk...

Below is a comparison of the functionalities of the two websites:
Personal Progress website (PersonalProgress.lds.org)
Young women can:

• Read the Personal Progress booklet online.
• Track their value experiences and projects.
• Keep an online journal.
• Add photographs.
• Print their personalized Personal Progress book.

Parents and young women leaders can:

• Track and sign off requirements completed by their young women.
• Create and view Personal Progress tracking information for all the young women in their family, ward, or stake.

Duty to God website (DutytoGod.lds.org)
Young men can:

• Read the Duty to God booklet online.
• See videos related to Duty to God.
• Make online journal entries, but no ability to print them.

There are no options for parents and young men leaders to sign off requirements or track the progress of the young men.

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Next Tuesday (January 25) is our quarterly Relief Society activity, and we would love to see all of you!
It is at 7:00 pm at the church, casual dress. The theme from the activity is "Oil in our Lamps" and we are having three great mini-sessions given by sisters in our ward. There will be a light dinner served, plus we will be working on a service project that evening as well, so the more of us there the better!

All youth activities will be cancelled for the night so that all Sisters will be able to come!

Feel free to reply with any questions you have.  Hope to see you all soon!

Devon

BPVF - Wheat!

Hello Sisters!

We had a fun meeting centered around wheat today and I want to send out the recipes and the handout.

We will be having the same class on Feb. 16 at 7 pm at someone’s house (any volunteers?) so if you weren’t able to come today, you will get another chance to sample different wheat and different ways to cook it. 

Included in the handout are prices of bulk wheat and flour and other stuff.

Also, there are some sample prices for wheat grinders. If we can get at least 5 people to buy one, we can get a price break on the kitchen mill. (We will have two wheat grinders at the Feb. meeting—one electric and one hand—for you to see and try out.)

There is also a wheat grinder at the church if you want to buy wheat and then just mill it at the church—no need to purchase your own wheat grinder.

If you have some great wheat recipes, please plan on making some to share at our next meeting! 

Wheat recipes
Wheat handout

Debbie Horton

Photo credit

"Why I can't stop reading Mormon housewife blogs"

Emily Flinders found  a great article about non-members who love reading blogs written by Mormon housewifes.  It may be interesting to all you bloggers!  Check it out here.

Lesson Recap - The Sabbath Day

Given by Margie Clark

Jesus taught that the Sabbath day was made for our benefit (see Mark 2:27). The purpose of the Sabbath is to give us a certain day of the week on which to direct our thoughts and actions toward God. It is not a day merely to rest from work. It is a sacred day to be spent in worship and reverence. As we rest from our usual daily activities, our minds are freed to ponder spiritual matters. On this day we should renew our covenants with the Lord and feed our souls on the things of the Spirit.

We've all probably heard "Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy" lessons before, and sometimes it can really seem like a list of "DO NOTs" that make us feel like we can't do anything on Sunday.  Instead, if we focus on the "DOs" it will open up a world of things that we can spend our time on.  Using the quote given by President Kimball as a basis for our list, we discussed these things that we CAN do on the Sabbath:

• set aside time for our family to be together
• personal study and meditation
• service to others
• read the scriptures, conference reports, and Church publications
• study the lives and teachings of the prophets
• prepare Church lessons and other Church assignments
• write in journals
• pray and meditate
• write to or visit relatives and friends
• write to missionaries
• enjoy uplifting music
• have family gospel instruction
• hold family council meetings
• build husband-wife relationships
• read with a child
• genealogical research
• work on family or personal histories
• Church hymns
• read uplifting literature
• develop our appreciation for the cultural arts
• plan family home evening study and activities
• plan other family activities
• friendship nonmembers
• fellowship neighbors
• visit the sick, the aged, and the lonely
• hold interviews with family members

That's a lot of things we can do on Sundays! President Kimball beautifully summarizes things we can do to truly observe the Sabbath and feel the spirit in this quote:

“The Sabbath is a day on which to take inventory—to analyze our weaknesses, to confess our sins to our associates and our Lord. It is a day on which to fast in ‘sackcloth and ashes.’ It is a day on which to read good books, a day to contemplate and ponder, … a day to study the scriptures and to prepare sermons, a day to nap and rest and relax, a day to visit the sick, a day to preach the gospel, a day to proselyte, a day to visit quietly with the family and get acquainted with our children, a day for proper courting, a day to do good, a day to drink at the fountain of knowledge and of instruction, a day to seek forgiveness of our sins, a day for the enrichment of our spirit and our soul, a day to restore us to our spiritual stature, a day to partake of the emblems of his sacrifice and atonement, a day to contemplate the glories of the gospel and of the eternal realms, a day to climb high on the upward path toward our Heavenly Father.”

There are so many things that we always WANT to do in life but we feel we don't have the time for in our hustle and bustle of daily living, but we can work on a lot of them on Sunday. The Sabbath is set aside for us to renew ourselves and grow closer to the Lord and feel the Holy Ghost.  It is a day to strengthen our spiritual selves.

The point about each member deciding for themselves what was appropriate on the Sabbath was discussed during our lesson as well, and in a conference talk entitled "Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy," Elder Earl C. Tingey says:

"However, we should not be judgmental of others who do not believe or practice as we should. Tolerance and humility, in a personal sense, are true attributes of a follower of Christ."

We each get to have our own agency, and must allow others to do the same.  One example of this is how watching TV on Sundays as a personal choice, and one that varies widely in the church.  Just because something is right for us, that doesn't always make it right for everyone else.

During the lesson, we were each encouraged to pick one or two things from the list of "DOs" that we can each try to focus on the next couple of Sundays, and then once they become habits then we can work on a few more...and then a few more.  Little by little we can each enrich our lives by spending our sabbath days concentrating on improving our spiritually lives.

What a great reminder for all of us.  Thanks for the wonderful lesson Margie!

Flowers

Thank you Sisters for the beautiful flowers for my dad's funeral. The red white and blue was especially appropriate because he was a WWII veteran. The viewing, graveside, and family luncheon were all a celebration of his life as only Mormon funerals can be. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. e

The 2010 History of our Relief Society

Every year the Stake asks us to give a brief history of our Relief Society. This is what we sent for 2010.

2010 History of the Valley Forge First Ward Relief Society

“Relief Society prepares women for the blessings of eternal life by helping them increase their faith and personal righteousness, strengthen families and homes, and help those in need. Relief Society accomplishes these purposes through Sunday gospel instruction, other Relief Society meetings, visiting teaching, and welfare and compassionate service.” (new Handbook 2)

Along with the overall purpose of Relief Society, our focus this year was on love, friendship and unity. Our heart’s desire is that every sister feel needed, included, valued and loved.

March brought change to our presidency. We said good-bye to Nancy Martin who moved with her family to California. We said hello to a new presidency: Devon Linn, president; Ellen King, first counselor; Charity Wolf, second counselor; and Missy Gochoco, secretary. Later Madelyn O’Farell was called as secretary. Other board members included Shellie Blake as compassionate service leader; Shobha Kothapalli and later Connie Thornloe as visiting teaching coordinator; Miranda Searle and later Cheryl Wentzel as music leader; and Meredith DuPass and later Melissa Tafuna as pianist.

Gospel instruction
Our teachers this year have been Marie Jurecki-Tiller, Margie Clark, Cheryl Wentzel, Jill Farichild, and Debbie Horton. Our curriculum included the Gospel Principles topics and selected conference talks, along with instruction from the presidency on topics relevant to our ward sisters. We so appreciate the dedicated service of these sisters.

We maintain an unofficial blog (ValleyForgeWoman.blogspot.com) to post announcements and reminders, but more importantly to instruct, inspire and encourage one another. It includes articles written by sisters in the ward about their lives and spiritual insights, recaps of Sunday lessons, and inspirational videos, articles and websites from the Church and its members. It is a place for parenting tips, recipes, social media information, and digital resources. Each month we’ve focused on a topic such as goal-setting, showing love, feeling lucky or blessed, empowerment, motherhood, a single’s perspective, missionary work, unity, prophets, gratitude and many more gospel topics. We’ve linked to sisters’ blogs so we may increase friendship, and better sharing and caring about the ups and downs of one another’s lives.

Other Relief Society meetings
Quarterly we have gathered to educate and lift one another. We love being together.

In March we gathered for an early morning breakfast to celebrate the birthday of the Relief Society, with inspirational talks and then a trip to the Washington DC temple.

In June we learned how we choose to walk with the Lord in “Walk with Me,” with three mini classes on what is essential, necessary or nice-to-do, how to fortify our family and home using the Book of Mormon, and how to provide a safety net for each other in our lives.

In August we enjoyed a dip in the pool and good food at Wolf’s home and learned about being “A Light in the Darkness” for one another. The talks and slide show (on a makeshift outdoor screen) were thought-provoking and uplifting.

In October we focused on “Peace in Preparation” with dinner of food from food storage and three classes on different aspects of preparedness: prophetic counsel about food storage, emergency preparedness, paying off debt and living within our means; 72-hour kits and some fun things to entertain children with; and a hands-on class where everyone canned one can of oats to take home, using the dry pack canner from the Bishop’s storehouse. This meeting spawned a new monthly meeting called Be Prepared Valley Forge (BPVF) to support one another in our efforts to be better prepared in our food storage and for emergencies.

Other weekday meetings included several book discussions to focus on truths in literature, a mad skilz class (a topic taught by a sister who excels in it) on photography, and monthly “mentoring moms” where our sisters meet to set goals and encourage each other in achieving them. Weekly institute classes also enrich our lives.

Visiting teaching
We had two visiting teaching conferences, one in May (Circle of Sisters) and one in November (To Support and Uplift) where all the sisters were able to meet together for instruction. Devon quoted Sister Beck on each occasion. “It has been my experience that each ward Relief Society has the capacity to give to one another the support that is needed. ...If we seek and receive the help of the Holy Ghost, all answers can be found in each circle of sisters.” And, “Visiting teaching becomes the Lord’s work when our focus is on people rather than percentages. In reality, visiting teaching is never finished. It is more a way of life than a task.”

Welfare and compassionate service
One of our regular service activities was to gather and assemble dozens of newborn kits for our local hospital to give to low-income moms who need a blanket, clothes and booties for their baby to leave the hospital. At Christmas time we gathered gifts for some of the families in the city ward who needed a little help with Christmas for their children. We’ve also participated in on-going clothing drives for our fellow stake members.

But the real work of compassionate service goes unheralded: countless meals delivered to new or sick moms and families, fasting and praying for ward members, generous fast offerings, smiling, listening, yard help, cleaning and packing for a move, rides to and from church, hours of babysitting, lunch dates, kind notes or e-mails, dedicated visiting teaching and writing letters to missionaries. We have sought unity and strength in caring for one another.

This year we welcomed nine new babies into the world to these families: Wentzels, Carrs, Fairchilds, Tingeys, Boyers (twins), Tafunas, Behunins, and Templetons. We congratulated Kelsey Howell on her mission call and the Vagnonis on their wedding in the temple. We had a few young sisters here with their husbands for summer employment, and made friends quickly knowing our time was short. We had a lot of families moving in and out due to the changes in the economy and will miss old friends, but warmly welcome new friends to our ward family.

At the beginning of the year President Julie B. Beck urged all sisters to focus on the three responsibilities of Relief Society. She said, “As Latter-day Saint women we have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and testimonies of the plan of salvation. We are responsible for the female half of that plan. It cannot be delegated to others. We are accountable before the Lord for the discharge of our duties.” We have done our best this year to carry on the work of the women in the kingdom and to find unity and love in that labor.

The Valley Forge First Ward Relief Society Presidency
Devon Linn, Ellen King, Charity Wolf, Madelyn O’Farrell

Lesson Recap: Ward Conference

Today in Relief Society we heard from President Coe, President Brenda Hymas and President Lona Engle of the Stake Young Women and Relief Society presidencies. Here are a few of their thoughts.

Ministering

President Coe spoke about Minster vs. Ministry. The first is about keys of the priesthood, the other is about love. All are called to the ministry.

What does it take to minister to others? Desire, inspiration from the Spirit, and acting right away on that thought and inspiration.

We learn from Ephesians 4: 26-32 that it matters day to day what you say, how you feel, the forgiveness you proffer, the kindness that edifies. These are all things we can do to minister to others.

26  Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
27  Neither give place to the devil.
28  Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
29  Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
30  And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
31  Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Express love. Speak no evil. Do not judge. Forgive. Don't wait to act.

President Coe ended with this invitation, "Sisters, participate in the ministry. It is your right to do so."

Spiritual Independence

President Hymas compared spiritual independence to teaching her daughter to drive. There were manuals to read, and classes to take, but nothing could replace the experience she needed of actually driving, to discover for herself how to brake and accelerate and stay in her lane. This experience is first gained with her parents by her side.

We gain spiritual independence in the same way. The programs in the church guide us, the scriptures instruct us, and it's okay to rely on someone for a time. Eventually we gain independent testimonies after many experiences with the Spirit.

Helaman taught his sons where to get spiritual strength in their lives:

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. Helaman 5:12

Spiritual strength built on the rock of our Redeemer ensures that we will be able to weather the big storms or the long drizzling rain.

Truths that unite us
President Engle reminded us of a truth, that our first relationship with each other was as sisters in heaven. We made hard choices to together and taught one another. Today sharing beauty and truth, heart to heart, unites us.

She went on to talk about the truths she had learned in Primary, Young Women (MIA) and Relief Society that unite us regardless of age.

As a child she remembers the truths two missionaries taught her family about the plan of salvation. In Primary the gospel truths are taught in the simple songs that we remember easily, and that reverence is a feeling you have and it's not just holding still.

As Young Women we love being with friends, learning from the example of good leaders and earning that piece of jewelry by setting and achieving goals.

In Relief Society we learn that age doesn't matter, we share common burdens, we share a love for Christ, we're able to talk through our problems together, and that we need each other.

Relief Society is all those things, but more. It's purpose is to increase our faith, strengthen our families and provide relief to those in need. She left us with a promise: If you attend Relief Society you will have a better life.

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New Bishopric Called

It was a busy day at ward conference today in the Valley Forge 1st Ward.  Bishop Hood, Brother Jackson, and Brother Hall were released by President Coe and a new bishopric was called.  We are so grateful for all the love and service Bishop Hood and his counselors have given the ward, and we hope they know how much we appreciate all that they've done for us.  We could feel their love for all the members of the ward and we are so grateful for the sacrifices that have been made over the past years by them and their families.

The new bishop that was called is Richard Pope, and his counselors are Brother Bruce Kneeland and Brother Thom Kinghorn. We are excited to get to know them better and we hope we can do all we can to support them and their families in their upcoming service!

Bishop and Sister Pope

Six Words About Happiness

Share your Six words on the secrets of happiness. Read what others have posted.

Short sweet post, check it out!

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Wedding Congratulations to Brie & Adam!

Brie Walker and Adam Allred were married yesterday, January 6th.

Thanks to Michelle Leighton for providing these photos from the reception. And a big thank you to all who pitched in to put together a very nice evening.

All our best hopes and wishes to Brie and Adam in their new life together. We look forward to getting to know them both better.

Lesson Recap - Change

Lesson: IMPLEMENTING CHANGE IN OUR LIVES
by Devon Linn
 

 

I AM NOT PERFECT….yet?

Are any of us perfect? I for one definitely am not, though I tell my husband that’s a good thing. Who wants to be married to someone who is absolutely perfect? It would make you feel so inadequate all the time being less than they are, right? So I tell my darling Milt that it's a good thing that I'm a little bit messy, because if I were neat then I would be absolutely perfect in every way!  He is so lucky to have such a messy wife!

Other than having a cleaner house, I think I probably have plenty of other things to work on. What’s great is that with the gospel, the Lord will help give us promptings telling us the ways we can improve in our lives and the changes we need to make if we have the Spirit.

I get these promptings all the time. Sometimes they come to me while listening to General Conference, or a lesson in church on Sunday, or reading my scriptures, and then I usually do try to be better for at least a few days but then….*poof* they're just gone and I've forgotten the prompting and moved onto something else I need to work on. And I don’t think I forget because I’m lazy or don’t really want to be better, but it’s more because life just seems to get too darn busy and my brain just has too much going on to remember everything (or sometimes anything at all!)

I’m sure everyone has failed at least once or twice to follow a prompting. Usually for me, it begins with listening to a lesson or a talk and thinking, “Yes! I can do that and be better! I can improve in my efforts to ______________ (fill in the blank: pray more, work on family history, judge less, prioritize my time better, study my scriptures, write in my journal, etc etc etc).”

But when it comes time to actually and consistently IMPLEMENT the change, I find myself too busy cleaning, doing laundry, working, paying bills, and other everyday things that I’m just so busy and exhausted that I’ve totally forgotten the prompting I received in the first place. Does this happen to everyone? Luckily the Lord knows and loves us, so he sends a lot of “reminder” promptings, because He just won't give up on us.

One of my favorite quotes to read when I feel overwhelmed at all the things I need to be doing is this one by Sister Beck:

 “Good women always have a desire to know if they are succeeding. In a world where the measures of success are often distorted, it is important to seek appreciation and affirmation from proper sources. To paraphrase a list found in Preach My Gospel, we are doing well when we develop attributes of Christ and strive to obey His gospel with exactness. We are doing well when we seek to improve ourselves and do our best. We are doing well when we increase faith and personal righteousness, strengthen families and homes, and seek out and help others who are in need. We know we are successful if we live so that we qualify for, receive, and know how to follow the Spirit. When we have done our very best, we may still experience disappointments, but we will not be disappointed in ourselves. We can feel certain that the Lord is pleased when we feel the Spirit working through us. Peace, joy, and hope are available to those who measure success properly.” – Julie B. Beck

Oh, if I could only read this quote every day! Sister Beck’s words are exactly what I constantly need to hear to re-commit myself to try harder and keep working in the right direction. It’s not important to be hard on ourselves if we aren't perfect already, but it is important that we are trying to improve ourselves every day.

I love that Sister Beck specifically mentions trying to develop attributes of Christ, because that goal seems to encompass all the other promptings I receive. I also love that she pointed out that doing our best still won’t keep disappointments away, because that’s just not how the plan works, but at least we won’t be disappointed in ourselves when we’ve followed the Spirit and done our best. I have felt the peace and hope that comes when we feel the Spirit working through us, and it is worth every effort I make to strive to feel that love and joy as often as I can while on this earth.

RESOLUTION TIME!

I don’t normally believe in Yearly Resolutions, but I whole-heartedly vote for having weekly ones that I think about during the Sacrament. Last year Ellen did a post on this RS blog on what our Resolutions for the year were going to be, and I actually thought about it and replied to her, thinking I’d give it a try. Sad to say…this week I had to go back to the blog to remember exactly what they were. I did remember that there was something about not yelling at my children, so that’s something!  And I do think I did better (minus maybe 10 days or so, give or take).

 

But I think the resolutions listed by other sisters were inspiring for me. They were things that seemed to be prompted not by the world, but by the Spirit. Read a recap of these here, because there were some goals that I thought were some great ideas. 

What are some of your goals/resolutions/changes you want to make?

Here are some of the things sisters mentioned in Relief Society:

• Pray more, better, more intently
• Be more in tune with the Spirit/more Spiritually Discerning
• Work on Family History
• Write Personal History/Journal
• Learn/Gain Knowledge
• Be Healthier
• Better Visiting Teacher
• Scripture study/Institute
• More Self-Reliant (work on food storage, 72-hour kits, etc).
• Prioritize time better
• NOT making lists & plans (obviously, this one applied to some of our proactive sisters, and does not apply to me. :)

PIECE OF CAKE, RIGHT?  Oh, wait...Obstacles?

It can be hard to change. When we are truly trying to change something that is really going to make an impact in our lives, that’s when the adversary seems to work the hardest on us. I love this quote by C.S. Lewis:

“Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. … You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means” (Mere Christianity [1960], 109–10). -C.S. Lewis

What are some of the things that are blowing against us? What is keeping us from making these inspired changes in our lives?  Here is a list of things sisters in Relief Society mentioned:

• Time!!!
• GUILT/Feelings of Inadequacy
• Habits
• Addictions/Natural Man
• Physical hardships
• Stress

I think guilt is really the one that sneaks in more often than we realize. We hear lessons like this and we immediately think, “oh, I've already failed so many times! I’m so terrible, and I just can’t change because I’ve already failed before!” You know if you are feeling a pit in your stomach right now about something that you want to change.  That icky feeling is not from the Lord.  Satan is the one that makes us feel bad about ourselves and inadequate.  "Good guilt" that comes from the Lord should be something you feel inspired about and feel hopeful that you can change, and should never make you feel terrible about yourself.

 

 All of these obstacles listed are real and hard, but I think the one that many of us need to overcome first is the guilt that we carry around with us. Then we can work on overcoming the others.

We need to start today by telling ourselves to stop looking back and feeling guilty and inadequate at our previous habits, but just focus forward and the change that we CAN make. We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, and we are free to act however we choose to act. If we want to change, no one can stop us. Satan throws negativity and guilt at us to try to keep us from reaching our divine potential, but he cannot stop us if we choose to change!

We are strong enough for self-control. We are Heavenly Father’s children, and he has sent us here with the capacity to overcome and accomplish great things.

Each of us is accountable for his own actions. How can any of us hope to play a great role in time or eternity if we have no power of self-control? Is overcoming self-control easier or harder than overcoming lack of time?

WHEN SHOULD WE START?  TODAY!

Donald Hallstrom of the seventy gave a talk a few years ago on procrastination, and in it he talked about one the most memorable “prophet-isms” from President Kimball:

"One of President Spencer W. Kimball’s effective encouragements was the succinct “Do It.” He later expanded this to “Do It Now” to pointedly teach the need for timeliness. President Kimball also taught the profound principle that procrastination leads to the loss of exaltation. He said: “One of the most serious human defects in all ages is procrastination, an unwillingness to accept personal responsibilities now. … Many have allowed themselves to be diverted and have become … addicts to mental and spiritual indolence and to the pursuit of worldly pleasure.” - Donald L. Hallstrom

Elder Hallstrom also said:

“We know what is right, but we delay full spiritual involvement because of laziness, fear, rationalization, or lack of faith. We convince ourselves that “someday I’m going to do it.” However, for many “someday” never comes, and even for others who eventually do make a change, there is an irretrievable loss of progress and surely regression.” - Donald L. Hallstrom

Doesn’t that make us realize that we really do need to be working and trying and moving in the right direction? We need to change, because as the quote from C.S. Lewis earlier talked about trials being like the wind, you cannot just stand still and hope to be going anywhere. We need to be moving forward, and improving, and becoming more like our Savior to bring about true joy in our lives here on the earth. And will it be easy? No. It will take some work. As Elder Uchtdorf puts it so perfectly:

"When our wagon gets stuck in the mud, God is much more likely to assist the man who gets out to push than the man who merely raises his voice in prayer—no matter how eloquent the oration. President Thomas S. Monson put it this way: “It is not enough to want to make the effort and to say we’ll make the effort. … It’s in the doing, not just the thinking, that we accomplish our goals. If we constantly put our goals off, we will never see them fulfilled.” -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

THE KEY TO REMEMBER:

The one thing that we have to remember is that we can do it because we have the Savior helping us with our inspired goals. Sister Beck reminds us in this quote how our resolutions really can be weekly ones we think about during the sacrament, and then we can repent and move on.

“It is not possible to make real change all by ourselves. Our own willpower and our own good intentions are not enough. When we make mistakes or choose poorly, we must have the help of our Savior to get back on track. We partake of the sacrament week after week to show our faith in His power to change us. We confess our sins and promise to forsake them.” -Julie B. Beck

One of my favorite scriptures is Philippians 4:13, which says, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” I know that that is true, and that the Savior wants to help us change for the better. He can do anything, and we are worth it! He loves us enough to help us overcome every trial, every bad habit, every addiction. And we can change whatever we don’t feel good about, because HE will be there with us. He is our Savior, and He alone can heal us from all imperfections. It won’t be easy, but we can do it.

Resolution/Goal Setting Time

One of the keys to reaching a goal is accountability. So it's time to look at where we were last year and own up!

These were mine...
Learn to play racquetball.  Didn't happen. I had a problem with my shoulder and elbow for a time and lost my enthusiam. I'm going to keep it on my life list, though.

Read more, write more. I feel fairly good about this one. I discovered free audio books and really enjoyed more books than I would have otherwise.
 
Pray more sincerely, more often, humbly on my knees. (This has been on my list for years.)  And will continue to be. I don't know anyone who is perfect at prayer.

All right...Chell, Owenna, Devon, Elizabeth, Sara, Jill Fairchild...report? Let us know how you did and what you would do differently. It's good to have plans (and friends who could help).

Here are 12 ways to Stick to Your Resolutions
1. Be specific. Don’t resolve to “Make more friends” or “Strengthen friendships”; that’s too vague. To make more friends as part of my happiness project, I have several very concrete resolutions like: “Start a group,” “Remember birthdays,” “Say hello,” “Make plans,” “Show up,” and “No gossip.”
2. Write it down.
3. Review your resolution constantly.
4. Hold yourself accountable.
 ...
7. Ask for help.
8. Consider making only pleasant resolutions.
 ...
11. Set a deadline.

See all 12 ideas here.

Good luck!