Our Perfect Example

First, I give counsel to husbands and wives. Pray for the love which allows you to see the good in your companion. Pray for the love that makes weaknesses and mistakes seem small. Pray for the love to make your companion’s joy your own. Pray for the love to want to lessen the load and soften the sorrows of your companion.

I saw this in my parents’ marriage. In my mother’s final illness, the more uncomfortable she became, the more giving her comfort became the dominant intent of my father’s life. He asked that the hospital set up a bed in her room. He was determined to be there to be sure that she wanted for nothing. He walked the miles to work each morning and back to her side at night through those difficult times for her. I believe it was a gift from God to him that his power to love grew when it mattered so much to her. I think he was doing what Jesus would have done out of love.

--Henry B Eyring, 179th Semiannual General Conference

(To read the whole talk, click here)

What Have I Done For Someone Today?

A few years ago I read an article written by Jack McConnell, MD. He grew up in the hills of southwest Virginia in the United States as one of seven children of a Methodist minister and a stay-at-home mother. Their circumstances were very humble. He recounted that during his childhood, every day as the family sat around the dinner table, his father would ask each one in turn, “And what did you do for someone today?”¹ The children were determined to do a good turn every day so they could report to their father that they had helped someone. Dr. McConnell calls this exercise his father’s most valuable legacy, for that expectation and those words inspired him and his siblings to help others throughout their lives. As they grew and matured, their motivation for providing service changed to an inner desire to help others.

Besides Dr. McConnell’s distinguished medical career—where he directed the development of the tuberculosis tine test, participated in the early development of the polio vaccine, supervised the development of Tylenol, and was instrumental in developing the magnetic resonance imaging procedure, or MRI—he created an organization he calls Volunteers in Medicine, which gives retired medical personnel a chance to volunteer at free clinics serving the working uninsured. Dr. McConnell said his leisure time since he retired has “evaporated into 60-hour weeks of unpaid work, but [his] energy level has increased and there is a satisfaction in [his] life that wasn’t there before.” He made this statement: “In one of those paradoxes of life, I have benefited more from Volunteers in Medicine than my patients have.”² There are now over 70 such clinics across the United States.

Of course, we can’t all be Dr. McConnells, establishing medical clinics to help the poor; however, the needs of others are ever present, and each of us can do something to help someone.

--Thomas S Monson, 179th Semiannual General Conference

(To read the whole talk, click here)

Quote - Prayer

"Never assume that you can make it alone. You need the help of the Lord. Never hesitate to get on your knees in some private place and speak with Him. What a marvelous and wonderful thing is prayer. Think of it. We can actually speak with our Father in Heaven. He will hear and respond, but we need to listen to that response. Nothing is too serious and nothing too unimportant to share with Him."

--Gordon B Hinckley, "Stay on the High Road," Ensign, May 2004, 114

Providing in the Lord's Way - Members' Responsibilities

PROVIDE FOR SELF AND FAMILY

- responsible for own spiritual and temporal well-being

- setting own course, solving own problems, and striving to become self-reliant

ELEMENTS OF SELF-RELIANCE

- Education

= study the scriptures and other good books, improve ability to read, write, and do basic mathematics; and obtain skills needed for suitable employment

- Health

= take care of minds and bodies

= obey the Word of Wisdom, eat nutritious food, exercise regularly, and get adequate sleep

= shun substances or practices that abuse bodies or minds and that could lead to addiction

= practice good sanitation and hygiene and obtain adequate medical and dental care

= strive to cultivate good relationships with family members and others

- Employment

= prepare for and carefully select a suitable occupation or self-employment that will provide for one's own and families' needs

= become skilled at jobs, be diligent and trustworthy, and give honest work for the pay and benefits received

- Home Storage

= build a three-month supply of food that is part of one's normal diet

= store drinking water in case the water supply becomes polluted or disrupted

= build a longer-term supply of food that will sustain life

- Finances

= pay tithes and offerings

= avoid unnecessary debt

= use a budget and live within a plan

= build a financial reserve by regularly saving a little

= teach family members principles of financial management

- Spiritual Strength

= exercise faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, obey God's commandments, pray daily, study the scriptures and teachings of the latter-day prophets, attend Church meetings, and serve in Church callings and assignments

CARE FOR OTHERS

- give personal compassionate service to those in need

- offerings should include members' talents

- includes faithful offerings of time, talents, compassion, materials, and financial means of faithful members given to the bishop to care for the poor and needy

Choose This Day

An Excerpt of Sister Julie B Beck's Talk from The General Relief Society Meeting

"Home, Family and Personal Enrichment Meeting" changed to "Relief Society Meeting"

Sister Beck said weekly meetings on Sunday are held as part of the regular three-hour block. Additional Relief Society meetings can also be held to help sisters "learn and accomplish the charitable and practical responsibilities of the Relief Society."

She then announced that in response to concerns about the complexity of the title "home, family and personal enrichment meetings" — as well as the different interpretations about the purpose of those meetings – that the name will be discontinued.

"In counsel with the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, it was determined that rather than give these additional Relief Society meetings a new title, all such meetings and activities will now be referred to simply as Relief Society meetings. Individual Relief Society meetings that are not held on Sunday will be called whatever they are: Relief Society service, classes, projects, conferences or workshops."

The additional meetings can be valuable supplements to Sunday instruction. However, she added, sisters should not feel that attendance is mandatory.

"These meetings are meant to be instrumental in teaching the skills and responsibilities of womanhood and motherhood in the Lord's plan. It is here that women learn and apply principles of provident living and spiritual and temporal self-reliance and they also increase in sisterhood and unity as they teach one another and serve together."

Visiting Teaching

Sister Beck said most of the essential Relief Society work doesn't happen in meetings. "A sister has no other responsibility outside of her family that has the potential to do as much good as does visiting teaching."

Visiting teaching, she said, becomes a faith-based work when the focus is on people rather than percentages. "In reality, visiting teaching is never finished. It is more a way of life than a task. Faithfully serving as a visiting teacher is evidence of our discipleship."

Sister Beck said compassionate service and assistance with the welfare needs of individuals and families is an outgrowth of visiting teaching. "We can know with certainly that our Father in Heaven knows us personally because He sends us to be His hands and heart to those in need. As we do so, our faith in Him is strengthened."

(For the full article, click here)

Flooding in the Philippines

Sisters, please pray for those who are suffering as a consequence to the flooding in the Philippines especially the family members of some of our sisters in the branch. Below is a church newsroom article about the flood.

CHURCH RESPONDS TO FLOODING IN THE PHILIPPINES
Philippines
28 September 2009

Tropical storm Ketsana struck the Philippines on Saturday, 26 September 2009, triggering the heaviest rainfall in forty years and causing significant flooding.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is providing food, water, clothing, hygiene items and other relief supplies which are being purchased locally and distributed to those in the affected region. Local Church members and missionaries are assisting with clean-up efforts. Church members in nonaffected areas of the Philippines are mobilizing to donate clothing and bedding as Church leaders continue to monitor the situation.

Of the 140 confirmed fatalities, 24 Church members have been reported dead with others still missing. The total number of members affected by the flooding is still being assessed, however all Church missionaries are safe and accounted for.

Fifteen Church meetinghouses have suffered water damage, with others still yet to be assessed.

Honorably Hold a Name and Standing

Within the sound of my voice are many young women, young men, and children. I plead with you to be worthy, to be steadfast, and to look forward with great anticipation to the day you will receive the ordinances and blessings of the temple.

Within the sound of my voice are individuals who should have but have not yet received the ordinances of the house of the Lord. Whatever the reason, however long the delay, I invite you to begin making the spiritual preparations so you can receive the blessings available only in the holy temple. Please cast away the things in your life that stand in the way. Please seek after the things that are of eternal consequence.

Within the sound of my voice are individuals who have received the ordinances of the temple and for various reasons have not returned to the house of the Lord in quite some time. Please repent, prepare, and do whatever needs to be done so you can again worship in the temple and more fully remember and honor your sacred covenants.

Within the sound of my voice are many individuals who hold current temple recommends and strive worthily to use them. I commend you for your faithfulness and devotion.

--David A Bednar

(For the full talk, click here)

Enrichment Activity - Food Storage Recipes

We had such a great time cooking and discussing the things we could do for our families. And here are the recipes! Enjoy!


Sister Nuek-Chin Ee's special rice recipe:

3 cups brown rice (washed)
1 packet mixed beans (soaked for at least a few hours)
1 can tuna (in olive oil)
water
dried seaweed (cut up for garnishing)
salt to taste


1. Mix together the rice, the beans, oil from the tuna, and salt.
2. Add enough water to the mixture and cook (in a rice cooker).
3. When the rice is cooked, mix in the tuna.
4. Serve with shredded dried seaweed.


Sister Lillian Lim's special beehoon recipe:


1 packet brown rice beehoon (soaked until soft)
1 large can sardine (mashed to bite size)
1 small tub kimchi (cut to bite size)
tomato sauce to taste
water


1. Pour sardine into wok to heat up.
2. Add kimchi and tomato sauce.
3. Add beehoon and mix everything up.
4. Add water as required and fry until cooked.

Principles from Prophets

This is a talk given by President Thomas S Monson during a BYU devotional on 5 September 2009. Here he shares insights into the lives of President Heber J Grant, President George Albert Smith, President David O McKay, President Joseph Fielding Smith, President Harold B Lee, President Spencer W Kimball, President Ezra Taft Benson, President Howard W Hunter, and President Gordon B Hinckley. It is both humorous and spiritual. You'll surely enjoy it.

(To watch this talk, click here, then click "Watch Now")

Thanks Sister Claire, for forwarding this wonderful talk to me.

Family: The Sweetest Union for Time and for Eternity

“Verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood; … it shall be done unto them in all things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them, in time, and through all eternity; and shall be of full force when they are out of the world; and they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever.

“Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye abide my law ye cannot attain to this glory” (D&C 132:19–21).

For Elder Parley P. Pratt of the Quorum of the Twelve, a knowledge of this doctrine deepened his love for his family: “It was Joseph Smith who taught me how to prize the endearing relationships of father and mother, husband and wife; of brother and sister, son and daughter. It was from him that I learned that the wife of my bosom might be secured to me for time and all eternity; and that the refined sympathies and affections which endeared us to each other emanated from the fountain of divine eternal love. It was from him that I learned that we might cultivate these affections, and grow and increase in the same to all eternity; while the result of our endless union would be an offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, or the sands of the sea shore. … I had loved before, but I knew not why. But now I loved—with a pureness—an intensity of elevated, exalted feeling, which would lift my soul from the transitory things of this grovelling sphere and expand it as the ocean. … In short, I could now love with the spirit and with the understanding also.”

• Husbands and wives honor each other by showing love, kindness, and affection.

“It is the duty of a husband to love, cherish, and nourish his wife, and cleave unto her and none else [see D&C 42:22]; he ought to honor her as himself, and he ought to regard her feelings with tenderness, for she is his flesh, and his bone, designed to be an help unto him, both in temporal, and spiritual things; one into whose bosom he can pour all his complaints without reserve, who is willing (being designed) to take part of his burden, to soothe and encourage his feelings by her gentle voice.

“It is the place of the man, to stand at the head of his family, … not to rule over his wife as a tyrant, neither as one who is fearful or jealous that his wife will get out of her place, and prevent him from exercising his authority. It is his duty to be a man of God (for a man of God is a man of wisdom,) ready at all times to obtain from the scriptures, the revelations, and from on high, such instructions as are necessary for the edification, and salvation of his household.”

At a meeting of Relief Society sisters, Joseph Smith said: “You need not be teasing your husbands because of their deeds, but let the weight of your innocence, kindness and affection be felt, which is more mighty than a millstone hung about the neck; not war, not jangle [quarreling], not contradiction, or dispute, but meekness, love, purity—these are the things that should magnify you in the eyes of all good men. …

“… When a man is borne down with trouble, when he is perplexed with care and difficulty, if he can meet a smile instead of an argument or a murmur—if he can meet with mildness, it will calm down his soul and soothe his feelings; when the mind is going to despair, it needs a solace of affection and kindness. … When you go home, never give a cross or unkind word to your husbands, but let kindness, charity and love crown your works henceforward.”

• Children honor their parents by expressing gratitude to them and cherishing them throughout their lives.

“When we reflect with what care, and with what unremitting diligence our parents have striven to watch over us, and how many hours of sorrow and anxiety they have spent, over our cradles and bed-sides, in times of sickness, how careful we ought to be of their feelings in their old age! It cannot be a source of sweet reflection to us, to say or do anything that will bring their gray hairs down with sorrow to the grave.”

• Love among brothers and sisters can be sweet and enduring.
• Parents who love, support, and pray for their children bring immeasurable blessings into their children's lives.

(For the full lesson, click here)

Quote - Testimony

"Simply stated, testimony--real testimony, born of the Spirit and confirmed by the Holy Ghost--changes lives. It changes how you think and what you do. It changes what you say. It affects every priority you set and every choice you make."

--M Russell Ballard, "Pure Testimony," Ensign, November 2004, 40

What Matters Most

Ask The Geese

Dear Sisters,

Reminds me of the sisters of Relief Society!

Love,

Cathy

Becoming Saviors on Mount Zion

• The doctrine of salvation for the dead shows the greatness of God's wisdom and compassion.

“This glorious truth is well calculated to enlarge the understanding, and to sustain the soul under troubles, difficulties and distresses. For illustration, suppose the case of two men, brothers, equally intelligent, learned, virtuous and lovely, walking in uprightness and in all good conscience, so far as they have been able to discern duty from the muddy stream of tradition, or from the blotted page of the book of nature.


“One dies and is buried, having never heard the Gospel of reconciliation; to the other the message of salvation is sent, he hears and embraces it, and is made the heir of eternal life. Shall the one become the partaker of glory and the other be consigned to hopeless perdition? Is there no chance for his escape? Sectarianism answers ‘none.’ …


“This doctrine presents in a clear light the wisdom and mercy of God in preparing an ordinance for the salvation of the dead, being baptized by proxy, their names recorded in heaven and they judged according to the deeds done in the body. This doctrine was the burden of the scriptures. Those Saints who neglect it in behalf of their deceased relatives, do it at the peril of their own salvation.”

• We become savior's on Mount Zion by performing sacred ordinances for the dead.

“But how are they to become saviors on Mount Zion? By building their temples, erecting their baptismal fonts, and going forth and receiving all the ordinances, baptisms, confirmations, washings, anointings, ordinations and sealing powers upon their heads, in behalf of all their progenitors who are dead, and redeem them that they may come forth in the first resurrection and be exalted to thrones of glory with them; and herein is the chain that binds the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, which fulfills the mission of Elijah. …

“The Saints have not too much time to save and redeem their dead, and gather together their living relatives, that they may be saved also, before the earth will be smitten, and the consumption decreed falls upon the world.

“I would advise all the Saints to go to with their might and gather together all their living relatives to [the temple], that they may be sealed and saved, that they may be prepared against the day that the destroying angel goes forth; and if the whole Church should go to with all their might to save their dead, seal their posterity, and gather their living friends, and spend none of their time in behalf of the world, they would hardly get through before night would come, when no man can work.”

• God has placed upon us a great responsibility to seek after our dead.

“The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead. The apostle says, ‘They without us cannot be made perfect’ [see Hebrews 11:40]; for it is necessary that the sealing power should be in our hands to seal our children and our dead for the fulness of the dispensation of times—a dispensation to meet the promises made by Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world for the salvation of man.

“… It is necessary that those who are going before and those who come after us should have salvation in common with us; and thus hath God made it obligatory upon man. Hence, God said, ‘I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.’ [Malachi 4:5–6.]”

(For the full lesson, click here)