I was listening to John Bytheway's talk "Five Scriptures" that will something- change your life maybe I can't remember... anyway.. one of the scriptures was from 1 Nephi 11:17. The angel asks Nephi if he understands the condescension of God. Nephi responds

And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.

We don't know everything but one thing we CAN know- that God loves His children.






Elder Hales's talk was equally moving. He clearly is suffering physical ailments.

... the purpose of our life on earth is to grow, develop, and be strengthened through our own experiences. How do we do this? The scriptures give us an answer in one simple phrase: we “wait upon the Lord.” Tests and trials are given to all of us. These mortal challenges allow us and our Heavenly Father to see whether we will exercise our agency to follow His Son. He already knows, and we have the opportunity to learn, that no matter how difficult our circumstances, “all these things shall [be for our] experience, and … [our] good.”

Book of Mormon

Elder Eyring's talk about the Book of Mormon was one I used in my YW lesson to the Beehives.

We learn from the words of Alma, the great Book of Mormon prophet, what we promised God that we would become: “Willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life.”

"That is a lofty charge and a glorious promise from God. My message today is of encouragement. Just as the Book of Mormon makes the charge plain to us, it also directs us upward on the path to eternal life.

"First, we promised to become charitable. Second, we promised to become witnesses of God. And third, we promised to endure. The Book of Mormon is the best guide to learn how well we are doing and how to do better.

The talk by Elder Callister is one we've been using as a couple as we are teaching a woman from Lebanon. She is devout Catholic and her husband has been a member just over a year and recently went to the temple for the first time. She's going to be a hard nut to crack, but we love her!

April 2012 GC Reading Schedule

The schedule for the April 2012 General Conference has been added to the Reading Schedule page.
DH is away at pre-deployment training and I don't usually get to bed very easily when he's away so I had time to put this together before the Ensign comes out. :)

Missionaries

I love the story of the young elder serving in the same mission is his father had served, and had his father's coat from that mission.

I am thankful that missionaries are called by the Lord, that they respond to that call, and that they are serving throughout the world. Let me say to all of you beloved returned missionaries: I am truly thankful for all your efforts. You are a treasure of this Church. And may you always continue to be missionaries and act like disciples of Christ.

The story of Elder Misiego is another great story.

Prophets, seers, and revelators assign missionaries under the direction and influence of the Holy Ghost. Inspired mission presidents direct transfers every six weeks and quickly learn that the Lord knows exactly where He wants each missionary to serve.

The Priesthood

As a mother of an Aaronic Priesthood holder I appreciated this talk. I especially liked:

So we call upon you wonderful young brethren to diligently strive to be “born again.”16 Pray for this mighty change in your life. Study the scriptures. Desire more than all else to know God and to become like His holy Son. Enjoy your youth but “put away childish things”:17

• Shun profane and foolish chatter.
• Flee all evil.
• Avoid contention.
• Repent where needed.

This will help you rise to the noble stature of your manhood. The qualities of courage, trustworthiness, humility, faith, and goodness will be yours. Friends will admire you, parents will praise you, brethren in the priesthood will depend on you, and the young women will adore you and become even better because of you. God will honor you and endow your priesthood service with power from on high.

Love Her Mother

I loved this talk as well. I used portions of this to get my Beehive Dads to help volunteer at our quarterly temple trips. A lot of my 13 year olds hadn't been to the temple with their Dads. Because temple attendance is a life-line for me and such an important part of our lives, I wanted to make sure the Beehives had a chance to go often. This was a great talk to quote from.

In Young Women we are helping your daughter understand her identity as a daughter of God and the importance of remaining virtuous and worthy to receive the blessings of the temple and of a temple marriage. We are teaching your daughter the importance of making and keeping sacred covenants. We are teaching her to commit now to live so that she can always be worthy to enter the temple and not to allow anything to delay, distract, or disqualify her from that goal. Your example, as her father, speaks louder than our important words. Young women worry about their fathers. Many express that their greatest desire is to be united eternally as a family. They want you to be there when they go to the temple or get married in the temple. Stay close to your daughter and help her prepare and remain worthy for the temple. When she turns 12, take her with you to the temple often to perform baptisms for your ancestors and others. She will cherish these memories forever.