General Relief Society Broadcast Fall 2009

There were GREAT things that took place both in the meeting as well as in my own heart. My mind has just been flooded with thoughts about this Relief Society meeting that I am anxious to get them in writing.

The General President, Sister Beck, made an announcement about the name of activities in the Relief Society. In my lifetime it has been Homemaking Meeting, Home, Family, and Personal Enrichment, and Enrichment Night. They have now changed it to the name, "Relief Society Meeting" with an emphasis of what you are focusing on that night! I love that! Go back to the basics, simplify, don't make it sound so foreign. I love how the church leaders really look into what is happening even in an "un required" activity in the Relief Society and then they bring that vision to us.

All the teachings were heartfelt, inspired, and touching to me but in this blog I am going to concentrate of the talk that stuck out the most with me and then end with a quote by President Eyring.

I bet you can't guess the one I am going to talk about? I will give you a hint...it was given by a sister that COMPLETELY understands the stage of life that I am now in, Sister Barbara Thompson, who has Enjoyed her Journey a lot longer than I have and has stayed POSITIVE in the midst of being single! I love seeing woman who are older than me and still practicing that positive, hopeful attitude. That is the way I hope I will be.
Sister Thompson, taught about a really neat principle "Mind The Gap". I really connected with this strongly. This caution, "Mind The Gap" is found in London subways. She taught that this helps people realize that there is "danger", a gap between the train and the loading dock and the sign "Mind The Gap" reminds people not to let their foot get caught in the gap or not to drop anything in gap cause it will go under the train and be lost. I loved that she taught this. Isn't there so many "gaps" in our lives that if we don't heed or are not worthy of the promptings of the Spirit we too may find ourselves in danger or under that train lost without realizing how it happened or how we got to that point.
She taught us, " that sometimes it is the difference between what we know, and what we actually do. Or the gap between our goals and what we actually accomplish. These gaps can be reminders of ways that we can actually improve or if ignored can be used as stumbling blocks in our lives."

She gave some great examples as to what some of those gaps can be. I have seen some others in my own life or in lives of people that I truly love and hope that this talk can help us to improve and narrow the gap so that we can be safe from letting ourselves fall under the train.

We are in a time where it is getting more and more confusing. The voices of opposition are becoming louder and louder. The world welcomes things in which I know are not right, in fact, I find them really wrong and yet so many of us who "know" seem to get caught up in them without even remembering what our main objective is in this life, our goal. Before you know it you have a gap that is getting further away from eternal things and closer to things of the world. I am not immune from the gap and neither is anyone else. But if I listen the caution given to "Mind The Gap" in all the choices that I make, I will be a lot closer to making choices with eternal value, then making choices that can ultimately lead me to danger or even worse being lost without direction.

She reminds us that the "IF'S" sometimes get in the way. Oh do they ever! If God loved me than why would he ____? If God loved me, wouldn't I get the chance to ______? She taught, "There is NOTHING that can separate you from love of God. We are all children of God and we should never doubt it and be assured that he loves us dearly and we are his precious children."

I am going to stand a little taller. I am going to proceed with caution the gaps that may come into my life and remember that I have a legacy to live up to, a legacy to fulfill. That I don't just have the responsibility to mind my gaps solely that I have the responsibility to remind those I love, to caution them when I see them heading toward that gap. We need each other to make it through these times, we need each other accomplish our goals, we need each other to keep this great legacy going!

"Just remember that the legacy is past from heart to heart. Charity, the pure love a Christ, is part of the mighty change of heart which the Lord promises to his faithful disciples so it is not hard to see what simple things you can and must do to pass the legacy along." -President Henry B. Eyring-

I am going to try everything in my power to keep the faith, to spread the love, and to be an example of the believers by showing that I believe and listen to the cautions myself!

My heart has been changed and my mind has been spiritually fed. I am so thankful for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the leaders that have been called of God to caution me and counsel me in the things that need to be focused on in my day. We live in a world that is loud with opposing voices, and because of the teachings of Men and Women of God, I still hear!

Sunday Sampler: Prophetic Vision of Elder Maxwell

A friend of mine shared this with me on Facebook and it touched me how right on to our times it was, although it was spoken in 1979! Oh how I love Elder Maxwell and the truth he taught and the seer that he was. Today as a lot of us are fasting for the many issues going on in our nation and the election at hand, I thought this was powerful and true doctrine to think on.

I hope you learn from it as I did...

Elder Neal A. Maxwell- Apostle for The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints

1926 –2004

"Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions. President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had ‘never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or political life.'"This is hard doctrine, but it is particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ. . . . Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. . . . This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions."Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened.... Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel. There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was, till then, unconscious of itself. Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth their leaves, 'summer is nigh.' Thus warned that summer is upon us,let us not then complain of the heat.“…there is occurring a discounting of religiously based opinions. There may even be a covert and subtle disqualification of some for certain offices in some situations, in an ironic irreligious test for office. If people, however, are not permitted to advocate, to assert, and to bring to bear, in every legitimate way, the opinions and views they hold which grow out of their religious convictions, what manner of men and women would we be?“If we let come into being a secular church which is shorn of traditional and divine values, where shall we go for inspiration in the crises of tomorrow? Can we appeal to the rightness of a specific regulation to sustain us in our hour of need? Will we be able to seek shelter under a First Amendment which by then may have been twisted to favor irreligion? Will we be able to rely for counterforce on value education aided in school systems which are increasingly secularized? And if our governments and schools were to fail us, would we be able to fall back upon and rely upon the institution of the family, when so many secular movements seek to shred it?It may well be that as our time comes to “suffer shame for his name” (Acts 5:41), some of that special stress will grow out of that portion of discipleship which involves citizenship.”

Neal A. Maxwell, “A More Determined Discipleship,” Ensign, Feb 1979, 69–73

Come, Come ye Saints...Happy Pioneer Day

Throughout Utah, July 24th is known as Pioneer day! This is a day that we take a moment to celebrate the pioneers who sacrificed so much so that we could have the church established in these latter days. Celebrations include parades, fireworks, marathons, bbq's, family reunions, firesides and devotionals, decorating of graves etc.

I have had opportunities to visit the sites that the pioneers traveled through. I have been several times to Kirtland (Where the members were forced out of), Nauvoo (where the temple was burnt to the ground and the members forced to flee), Carthege (where our beloved prophet Joseph Smith and brother Hyrum were murdered), Winter Quarters in Nebraska (where we lost many pioneers in the bitter cold), as well as Martin's Cove where I was incharge of a trek last year in that sacred place. All these experiences were sweet and unforgetable. I learned so much of what huge sacrifices were made for us and the faith to continue the long, hard journey these pioneers had. They showed such increased faith as to say they had "nothing to fear from the journey."

In Nauvoo I was so touched walking down Parley street reading about all the lives of faith and courage which existed among the pioneers. They were so honorable and led lives of true devotion to the Savior.

While on the trek at Martin's cove I couldn't believe how hard it was to pull and push the handcarts up the steep inclines and rocky areas. An astonishing part that made the ending of the trek the hardest part because it turned out to be miserable was while crossing the sweet water. We were hot and tired and stopped to take in the moment as we crossed. Getting the handcart through the water was a chore! But what it did to you after crossing was MISERABLE. We got wet and experienced great chafing as well as blistery feet due to wet shoes. I could only imagine the condition of those dear saints feet and bodies!

I am going to recap some of my favorite pioneer stories I have been told. I hope they touch and inspire you, as they do me at the faithful spirits within each of them.

I think of the girl who lost all but one of her family members on the trek to the Salt Lake valley. Carried her last remaining sibling on her back all the way there. As soon as she made it on Utah soil, she put her sibling down. Layed on the ground and died.

Or the story of a little girl who was so frozen and so cold that she kept climbing into the hancart to rest and her father kept putting her down and making her run alongside the cart the whole way. She was so upset that she wasn't given a rest.. later she came to find out that the reason for that was to keep her blood flowing to all her extremities so that she wouldn't loose any from frostbite.

Of all the illustrations of faith in the Lord, few stories are more powerful than that told of the pioneer who years later stood to defend the decision of the Martin Handcart Company to start for the Salt Lake Valley late in the year of 1856. He had been one of the nearly 3,000 Saints who walked from Iowa and Nebraska to Utah between 1856 and 1860 in one of 10 companies pushing and pulling handcarts loaded with their belongings.
In a Sunday School class there was sharp criticism of the ill-fated Martin and Willie Handcart Companies, which met with tragedy because of their late start on the trek to the Salt Lake Valley.
An elderly man arose and said: “I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts … give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. Mistake to send the Handcart Company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that company and my wife … too. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but … we became acquainted with God in our extremities.
“I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go that far and there I must give up, for I cannot pull the load through it. … I have gone on to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there.
“Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No. Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company” (as quoted in David O. McKay, “Pioneer Women,” The Relief Society Magazine, Jan. 1948, 8).

Often time I think of the hymn Come, come ye saints. This part is especially poinant to me.. "And shall we die, before our journey's through, HAPPY DAY all is well." I think I would think it was a happy day after suffering that much on the plains.. they probably meant it very differently but I have to sing that Happy day with such emphasis after experiencing the trek myself.

These stories are only but a mini sized portion of the trials and miracles that these blessed saints endured. In my own life I hope that I can be worthy of this kind of faith that is displayed. Thank you pioneers for the rights and freedoms and truths that you suffered so that we would have everything that we have here in Utah in 2008. My faith is increased through your example!