Ensign Magazine

The Ensign Magazine will also be a regular feature on the right column, especially for those of us who don't subscribe to it.  Just click on the cover picture and it'll take you to the content page where you will be able to read any article by clicking on the title.

Reading the Ensign has helped me to: 

1. be uplifted
2. learn something new
3. feel the Spirit
   
4. be drawn nearer to God
5. find answers to my concerns

So, happy reading!

Message from Sister Claire

As all of us can see the Enrichment announcement for April, kindly pass along this message to all sisters you meet, active or less active. We need to get a commitment from them so that we can plan for the car pool. ^__^

Please spread the word from now until then, so that nobody is caught by surprise. Everyone can plan ahead instead.

See you there, sisters! 

Quote - Ordinary Members

". . . The great work of moving the gospel forward has in the past, does now, and will in the future depend upon ordinary members."

--Boyd K Packer, "The Least of These," Ensign, November 2004, 87

Lift Where You Stand

As I read this talk by President Dieter F Uchtdorf, I was very touched by the story he related and decided that it would be an inspiring and uplifting read for all of us. What a great example of valor and dedicated service for us to emulate.

The Example of John Rowe Moyle

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of John Rowe Moyle. John was a convert to the Church who left his home in England and traveled to the Salt Lake Valley as part of a handcart company. He built a home for his family in a small town a valley away from Salt Lake City. John was an accomplished stonecutter and, because of this skill, was asked to work on the Salt Lake Temple.

Every Monday John left home at two o’clock in the morning and walked six hours in order to be at his post on time. On Friday he would leave his work at five o’clock in the evening and walk almost until midnight before arriving home. He did this year after year.

One day, while he was doing his chores at home, a cow kicked him in the leg, causing a compound fracture. With limited medical resources, the only option was to amputate the broken leg. So John’s family and friends strapped him onto a door and, with a bucksaw, cut off his leg a few inches from the knee.

In spite of the crude surgery, the leg started to heal. Once John could sit up in bed, he began carving a wooden leg with an ingenious joint that served as an ankle to an artificial foot. Walking on this device was extremely painful, but John did not give up, building up his endurance until he could make the 22-mile (35-km) journey to the Salt Lake Temple each week, where he continued his work.

His hands carved the words “Holiness to the Lord” that stand today as a golden marker to all who visit the Salt Lake Temple.

John did not do this for the praise of man. Neither did he shirk his duty, even though he had every reason to do so. He knew what the Lord expected him to do.

Years later, John’s grandson Henry D. Moyle was called as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve and, eventually, served in the First Presidency of the Church. President Moyle’s service in these callings was honorable, but his grandfather John’s service, though somewhat less public, is just as pleasing to the Lord. John’s character, his legacy of sacrifice, serves as a banner of faithfulness and an ensign of duty to his family and to the Church. John Rowe Moyle understood the meaning of “lift where you stand.”

--Dieter F Uchtdorf, "Lift Where You Stand", Ensign, November 2009

(For the full talk, click on the title)

Miracles - Our Hands Are His Hands

Remember when President Renner spoke to us last Sunday about miracles and after that I shared with you about miracles that happened when I was preparing the Relief Society Birthday celebration? I experienced another one today.

Remember also that I highlighted a few articles from the Ensign and Liahona that I felt were really important to us? I've posted the Ensign magazine on the right so that you can click on it and read them.

Anyway, one of the articles I mentioned was Focussing on the Lord's Work of Salvation by Julie B Beck, our current General Relief Society President. One of the things she mentioned was: "Visiting teachers minister in behalf of the Savior. Our hands are His hands, our love is His love, and our service is His service."

Now, how did that happen? How was it that our chosen theme was also HANDS? Sisters, I believe that was a miracle. The Lord truly was mindful of us and wanted us to know and understand this concept.

There's another article that echoes the one above entitled: on faith: Relief Society united worldwide in faith and service to others.

The two Enrichment Meetings we had (The Visiting Teaching Workshop and The Relief Society Birthday) truly are tied together and you'll be able to see the connection by reading these articles. Just click on the titles.

Valiant in the Cause of Christ

I love the lesson we had last Sunday.  We learnt the meaning of being valiant.  The dictionary meaning is possessing or showing courage or determination.  Do we have what it takes?  Here's the checklist:

1. cheerfully do all we can, even during times of trouble.
2. love the cause of Christ and strive to develop Christlike qualities.
3. strive to improve ourselves while in this life.
4. endure faithfully to the end.

I know we can do it.  Let us strive each day to be valiant in the cause of Christ and help one another as sisters to achieve the same.

167th Relief Society Birthday

What fun birthday cupcakes we had!

Most of us who were there, minus 2 who had to leave.

HANDS!  The theme of our activity.

I sure hope all 27 of us learnt something about our hands and how our hands represent the Lord's hands in our service to others.

To the sisters who couldn't make it, we sure did miss you!

Why Mormons Build Temples

In line with President Renner's message, I feel it appropriate to post this video so that we can all have the correct understanding of our temples especially for those of us who haven't been there before.

Message from President Renner

A lot of people are getting bent out of shape over the upcoming episode of "Big Love" on HBO.  The episode is of course crude and members are free to boycott HBO as my family certainly does.  However, I feel the spirit of the LDS press release is dead-center with regard to the issue.

The link to the press release is:

http://www.newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/the-publicity-dilemma

Living with Others in Peace and Harmony

What a wonderful lesson we had today.  Just to recap, here are some parts of the lesson:

1. We want to live in peace with all men.
2. By striving to be peacemakers, we can live in greater harmony and love with others.
3. In the Sermon on the Mount, the Savior taught, "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."
4. We can cultivate peace by honoring one another and refusing to find fault.
5. We can cultivate harmony in our communities by respecting the freedom of all people to believe according to their own conscience.
6. We will ... cultivate peace and friendship with all, mind our own business, and come off with flying colors, respected, because, in respecting others, we respect ourselves.

Visiting Teaching Workshop

We had such a spiritual experience on Saturday.  I felt the spirit so strongly.  Thank you, Sister Lim for inspiring us to do our best in our visiting teaching.

Personal Righteousness

I was privileged to teach yesterday and I'd just like to post some quotes used in the lesson on the Ten Virgins.

Someone proposed a serious question to me a few years ago by asking, "What is the most important item to have stored in your year's supply?" My response was seriously given - personal righteousness.

--Marion G Romney, Ensign, April 7, 1981, 6

In the parable, oil can be purchased at the market. In our lives the oil of preparedness is accumulated drop by drop in righteous living. Attendance at sacrament meetings adds oil to our lamps, drop by drop over the years. Fasting, family prayer, home teaching, control of bodily appetites, preaching the gospel, studying the scriptures, each act of dedication and obedience is a drop added

to our store. Deeds of kindness, payment of offerings and tithes, chaste thoughts and actions, marriage in the covenant for eternity, these, too, contribute importantly to the oil with which we can at midnight refuel our exhausted lamps.

--Spencer W Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle, 256

Quote - Challenges

"When the challenges of mortality come, and they come for all of us, it may seem hard to have faith and hard to believe. At these times only faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His Atonement can bring us peace, hope, and understanding. Only faith that He suffered for our sakes will give us the strength to endure to the end. When we gain this faith, we experience a mighty change of heart, and like Enos, we become stronger and begin to feel a desire for the welfare of our brothers and sisters. We pray for them, that they too will be lifted and strengthened through faith on the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ."

--Rober D Hales, "Finding Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ," Ensign, November 2004, 73

Come What May And Love It

I was so glad today that we had a lesson on this talk by the late Elder Joseph B Wirthlin.  I hope we can all develop this great attitude that his mother had lovingly taught him.  Here's a clip to help us remember him and what he said.

Quote - Courage

"Life's journey is not traveled on a freeway devoid of obstacles, pitfalls, and snares. Rather, it is a pathway marked by forks and turnings. Decisions are constantly before us. To make them wisely, courage is needed: the courage to say, 'No,' the courage to say, 'Yes.' Decisions do determine destiny. The call for courage comes constantly to each of us. It has ever been so, and so shall it ever be."

--Thomas S Monson, "The Call for Courage", Ensign, May 2004, 54-55

I love quotes from our church leaders. They are like scripture to me. This is a feature I'd like to add to this blog so that all of us can learn together. What do you think?