Day 36: My Testimony

Today, I taught Lesson 3: Our Testimony of Jesus Christ from The Teachings of George Albert Smith to the Relief Society women.  The lesson had a ton of great information...I didn't have near enough time to talk about everything I wanted to because we were having some great conversations.  My favorite portion of the lesson was the following story:

In his travels as a General Authority, George Albert Smith occasionally met those who thought Latter-day Saints do not believe in Jesus Christ. This misconception amazed and worried President Smith, and he tried to correct it by sharing his personal witness of the Savior.

On one occasion, in Cardston, Canada, he spoke at a Church meeting, about the life and mission of Christ. The next morning he went to the railway station to buy a train ticket.

While he waited in line, he overheard a conversation between a woman and the ticket agent. The woman mentioned the evening before she had decided to attend a Latter-day Saint worship service.

The ticket agent looked surprised. “My goodness,” she said. “You do not mean to say you went to church there."

“Yes, I did,” the woman answered. “Why not?”

The ticket agent said, “They do not even believe in Jesus Christ.”

The woman replied, “Only last night I listened to one of the elders of the Church speaking of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, and I have never heard anybody who seemed more profoundly impressed with a knowledge that Jesus was indeed the Christ, than the speaker on that occasion.”

As I prepared for the lesson, I thought a lot about my own testimony. I was pretty nervous about the lesson because I think I have a very young testimony. I've gone through periods of inactivity, but I really never stopped beleiving, unfortunately I did makee some bad choices.  I have a testimony of my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, the living son of God.  I know Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon through the power of the Lord and he was the first prophet in this dispensation.  I beleive in and have felt the power of tithing in my own life.  I know Thomas S. Monson is the living prophet today.  The church leadership does receive revelation for the church and leads it to the best of thier ability.  I beleive families can be sealed together forever in the temple (and I am so thankful to work there each week).  I know I am happier and more content in my life when I follow the commandments and continually think about the eternal perspective.

Day 22: Stake Conference

For those of you who don't know much about the Chuch of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the church is separated into different areas called Stakes.  Each stake has approximately 6-8 wards, also divided up by area based on the number of priesthood holders in the area.  My ward, San Diego 12th ward, is in the San Diego North stake. All 88 stakes in Southern California had Stake Conference this weekend.  It started yesterday with a Priesthood leadership meeting at 4pm, the adult meeting at 7pm, then today's broadcast at 10am. Stake Conference is always a great opportunity to hear some wonderful guidance from leadership in the church and this weekend was no exception.

Yesterday, I was really tired when I got home from the temple (not very shocking since I had to wake up at 5am.  Around 2:30PM, I feel asleep, but didn't set an alarm, since Stake Conference didn't start until 7pm.  I woke up in a panic hours later because it was dark outside and I thought I had missed the meeting.  Luckily, it was only 6pm, so I got dressed and headed over to the Mt Abernathy building (typically buildings are named after the street they are on). Last night's session was great.  The stake presidency spoke on charity and keeping our hearts open to our ancestors.  The stake has been asked to work on geneology.  A lot of my family work has been completed, but I know I could help with my mom's family....looks like I need to start learning how to use ancestry.com. 

This morning, I met up with friends about 9am to get seats on the comfy pews (plus we brought each other snacks...best row ever!!!!).  Today's broadcast started promptly at 10:15am, with opening prayer, song, and a little stake business for 15 minutes prior to the broadcast.  Elder Steven E. Snow, Sister Barbara Thompson (2nd counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency), Elder Paul V. Johnson, and Elder L. Tom Perry all spoke and it was fantastic.  The importance of family prayer was a major focus of the conference and Elder Snow's talk.  Below are the highlights:

- Family prayer should be scheduled at a regular time
- Assignments should be rotated amongst family members
- Prayers don't need to be long
- Whoever is giving the prayer should really think about what to say
- Ask for specific blessings
- Be specific in gratitude (which fits really well with my thankfulness blog)
- Take time to listen for an answer

I also really enjoyed Elder Johnson's talk about faith.  Faith is the power of God and can only be used to do his will, so we must make our requests in harmony with his will. 

Overall, stake conference was really uplifting and I am looking forward to working on the guidance we all received. 

Day 8: Teaching Relief Society

In late October 2011, I was asked to be the 1st counselor in my ward's (San Diego 12th) Relief Society.  I was very apprehensive since I just moved into the ward in August, but I've always been taught to accept whatever callings are offered.  Since my call, I've had the blessing to teach 2 lessons to the Relief Society sisters, so today I am thankful for teaching Relief Society.

I've always had a fear of talking in front of large groups.  I always cry and make myself sick from all the worrying.  My last calling was teaching 6 young women (ages 12-18), which was a mixed blessing.  I learned a lot about the gospel from the lessons I prepared, but getting young women to talk is sometimes like pulling teeth.  Teaching Relief Society is very different because there are women 18-90 years old with lifetimes of different experiences and most of them aren't afraid to share :)

Today's lesson was "Living What We Believe" from the George Albert Smith manual.  When George Albert Smith was 34 years old, he made a list of resolutions called his “personal creed”—11 ideals he committed to live by:

1.   Be a friend to the friendless; find joy in ministering to the needs of the poor

2.   Visit the sick and afflicted; inspire a desire for faith to be healed

3.   Teach the truth to the understanding and blessing of all mankind

4.   Seek out the erring one and try to win him back to a righteous and a happy life

5.   Not seek to force people to live up to my ideals, but rather love them into doing the right thing

6.  Live with the masses; help solve their problems, so life may be happy

7.   Avoid the publicity of high positions and discourage the flattery of thoughtless friends

8.  Not knowingly wound the feelings of any, not even one who may have wronged me, but would seek to do good and make him my friend

9.  Overcome selfishness and jealousy; rejoice in the successes of all the children of my Heavenly Father

10. Not be an enemy to any living soul

11.  Know the Redeemer of mankind has offered to the world the only plan that will fully develop us and make us really happy here and hereafter, I feel it not only a duty but also a blessed privilege to disseminate this truth

If I could live the above ideals, my life would be pretty happy, but I know I am there yet.  Preparing for the lesson really made me think about how I am living the gospel in my daily life.  Some gospel principles come really easy to me...tithing, family, prayer, temples, etc. While other items are personal trials and I need to gain a stronger testimony, so they aren't as diffcult for me.  I do want to be known as different from my neighbor for all the good things I am accomplishing.  Being middle of the road isn't good enough.  In the coming weeks, I am going to think about my own life ideals and what it will take to live them.