Alvin and Dee Ann Rees Wedding Anniversary - this Saturday 12/29

Holiday Cookie Swap

Please join us for our

Annual Cookie Swap!

Wednesday, December 19th

1 pm at Kim Tanner's (3465 West 6800 South)

7 pm at Pam Beck's (6972 South 2935 West)

Bake your favorite holiday cookie (2 doz)

and the recipe to share. 

Bring copies for the other swappers.

Don't forget a container

to take your cookies home in.

Fast Sunday Lesson - Living up to our privileges

I want to share an experience that I have been dealing with lately.  My son Trey is 17 and a senior in high school.  He will be turning 18 in August, 2 ½ months after he graduates from High School.  This last conference when they announced the missionary age change, I have to tell you that my feelings about this change were those of fear.  Trey’s feelings were the same.  Thankfully my feelings have changed over the past few weeks and so has Trey’s. 

In the Priesthood Session of conference, President Monson gave a talk about how we should develop the capacity to see men not as they are at present, but as they may become.  This talk has helped me with the idea of Trey going on a mission at 18 years of age.

The majority of this talk is on missionary work and how we should look at people who are not of our faith or who are less active.  He shared an experience in this talk that N. Eldon Tanner had while serving as an assistant to the 12 apostles.  N. Eldon Tanner told of a missionary who had been the most successful missionary whom he had met in all of the interviews he had conducted.  He said that as he interviewed that missionary, he said to him, “I suppose that all of the people whom you baptized came into the Church way of referrals.”  The young man answered, “No, we found them all by tracting.”  Bro. Tanner asked him what was different about his approach—why he had such phenomenal success when others didn’t.  The young man said that he attempted to baptize every person whom he met.  He said that if he knocked on the door and saw a man smoking a cigar and dressed in old clothes and seemingly uninterested in anything—particularly religion—the missionary would picture in his own mind what that man would look like under a different set of circumstances.  In his mind he would look at him as clean-shaven and wearing a white shirt and white trousers.  And the missionary could see himself leading that man into the waters of baptism.  He said, “When I look a someone that way, I have the capacity to bear my testimony to him in a way that can touch his heart.”  Pres. Monson went on to say that we have the responsibility to look at our friends, our associates, and our neighbors this way.  Again, we have the responsibility to see individuals not as they are but rather as they can become.  I would plead with you to think of them in this way.

When I look at my son – where he is now – I worry that he won’t be ready for a mission.  But – who is ever ready.  I need to look at him as a missionary – a servant of God. 

What about ourselves.  What do we see in ourselves when we look in the mirror?  What can we become?

I want to share a story with you.

A young man from a wealthy family was about to graduate from high school. 

It was the custom in that affluent neighborhood for the parents to give the graduate an automobile.  “Bill” and his father had spent months looking at cars, and the week before graduation they found the perfect car.  Bill was certain the car would be his on graduation night.

Imagine his disappointment when, on the eve of his graduation, Bill’s father handed him a gift-wrapped bible!  Bill was so angry that he threw the Bible down and stormed out of the house.  He and his father never saw each other again.  It was the news of his father’s death that finally brought Bill home.

As he sat one night going through his father’s possessions that he was to inherit, he came across the Bible his father had given him.  He brushed away the dust and opened it to find a cashier’s check, dated the day of his graduation, in the exact amount of the price of the car they had chosen together.

What is your reaction to this story?  Why didn’t he just open the gift!  If he only would of realized that the gift was everything he could of ever wanted.  Not only would he have had the material thing he wanted, the car, but he would have had the instruction manual on how to live this life and how to be happy. 

What can we learn from this story?

We came to this earth with everything:  100% self esteem and countless gifts from Heavenly Father.  But, we have to search for our gifts.  We have to open each gift and make the most of it.  WE all have gifts, but what is so sad is that we sometimes never recognize them because we spend so much time comparing ourselves to others.

As sisters in the Gospel, we have been blessed with so much.  We have been given several gifts.

As Relief Society Sisters, what are some of the privileges/gifts that we have been given?”

·      Knowledge that I am a Daughter of God

o   RS Declaration:  This document reminds me of what it means to be a Daughter of God.

o   M. Russell Ballard said:  “We believe in and are counting on your goodness and your strength, your propensity for virtue and valor, your kindness and courage, your strength and resilience.  We believe in your mission as women of God. . . We believe that the Church simply will not accomplish what it must without your faith and faithfulness, your innate tendency to put the well being of others ahead of your own, and your spiritual strength and tenacity.  And we believe that God’s plan is for you to become queens and to receive the highest blessings any woman can receive in time or eternity.

·      Capacity to love, nuture, and serve

·      Sisterhood

o   If it weren’t for Relief Society, I don’t know where I would be.  I have learned so much from other RS sisters.  Whether it be their example or the things they have taught me. 

o   How many of you have biological sisters.  What is that like?

o   I was raised with 5 older brothers – no sisters.  I have lots of cousins, but none of them lived close to me.  I would see them maybe once a year.  We moved to California when I had only been married a couple of years.  Became a new mom and raised my children away from any family.  Because of the sisters that I have gained through Relief Society, I was able to make it.  Because of the service that I have been on the receiving end of, I have gained many sisters by participating and being involved in Relief Society.  I have learned how to be a wife, a mother, a sister all through the experiences I have had in RS. 

·      Lead the world in everything praiseworthy

·      A Legacy of Service and Charity that is passed heart to heart

o   I look back on my life and remember all the service that has been shown to me.  Service that has touched my heart in a way that has made me want to give service to others.  The only way we can repay someone for service that has been given to us, is to show service to someone else.

 

o   Charitable Service is the spiritual legacy of every member of RS.  President Eyring said:  “You pass the heritage along as you help others receive the gift of charity in their hearts.  They will then be able to pass it to others.  The history of Relief Society is recorded in words and numbers, but the heritage is passed heart to heart.”

How can we strengthen each other both temporally and spiritually?

We have been given so much as Daughter’s of God.  It is imperative that we live up to these privileges.  Joseph Smith said that if we live up to our privileges, the angels cannot be restrained from being our associates.

I want to share a story that Quentin L. Cook shared at a recent conference:

When I was recently assigned to a conference in the Mission Viejo California Stake, I was touched by an account of their four-stake New Year’s Eve youth dance. Following the dance a purse was found with no outside identification. I share with you part of what Sister Monica Sedgwick, the Young Women president in the Laguna Niguel Stake, recorded:

“We didn’t want to pry; this was someone’s personal stuff! So we gingerly opened it and grabbed the first thing that was on top—hopefully, it would identify her. It did . . . but in another way—it was a For the Strength of Youth pamphlet. . . . Wow! This told us something about her. Then, we reached in for the next item, a little notebook. . . . Surely this would give us answers. But not the kind we were expecting. The first page . . . was a list of favorite scriptures. . . . There were five more pages of carefully written scriptures and personal notes.”

The sisters immediately wanted to meet this stalwart young woman. They returned to that purse to identify its owner. They pulled out some breath mints, soap, lotion, and a brush. I loved their comments: “Oh, good things come out of her mouth; she has clean and soft hands; and she takes care of herself.”

They eagerly awaited the next treasure. Out came a clever little homemade coin purse made from a cardboard juice carton, and there was some money in a zippered pocket. They exclaimed, “Ahh, she’s creative and prepared!” They felt like little children on Christmas morning. What they pulled out next surprised them even more—a recipe for Black Forest chocolate cake, and a note to make the cake for a friend’s birthday. They almost screamed, “She’s a homemaker! Thoughtful and service-minded.” Then, yes, finally, some identification. The youth leaders said they felt greatly blessed “to observe the quiet example of a young lady living the gospel.”

I think this YW was living up to her privileges.  She was definitely utilizing her gifts from Heavenly Father.

I do have a strong testimony of this wonderful organization.  The Relief society was organized by our Heavenly Father.   I know that I have been blessed with a legacy that I hope to pass on to my children.  I know that we all have the potential to be valiant daughters of God.   I know I am not perfect, However, I know what I can become if I fully participate in the privileges that I have been given.  And I know that by participating and being involved in this great organization of the RS I can become something that my Heavenly Father will be proud of.  We all have been blessed by being members of this organization.  What better way for us to show our HF our gratitude by giving back.  It is our turn – Our turn to serve.

The Lord’s promises are sure as sisters follow the counsel He gave to the first Relief Society president:  “Verily I say unto you, all those who receive my gospel are sons and daughters in my kingdom. . . . Lay aside the tings of this world, and seek for the things of a better. . . .Cleave unto the covenants which thou hast made,” When the Prophet Joseph Smith told Relief Society sisters to “live up to their privilege,” he combined that exhortation with a promise:  “The angels cannot be restrained from being your associates. . . If you will be pure, nothing can hinder.”