Today I had an experience where you realize just how much the Lord helps you. I teach Relief Society every third Sunday, and I was excited to do a lesson on the Prophets of God. I had a handout ready, and enough material to go for the 40 minutes I usually get.
When I walked into the room, and the RS president told me I needed to end about 10 minutes early so we could do visiting teaching assignments, I thought, "No prob. I'll just skip a few questions and quotes. No biggie". And then I watched the clock tick away as we did the opening prayer, song, announcements, music moment, good news moment, the practice hymn, and the visiting teaching moment. By the time I got up to teach, I had fifteen minutes.
How on earth was I supposed to cover all the prophets in fifteen minutes?! I wanted a minute to gather my thoughts and try to pare down my lesson, so I had the ladies work on the handout I had made- a quiz to match each prophet with a little tidbit life fact. By the time five minutes had passed, I still hadn't made up my mind which direction to take, so I said in my head. "Lord, just let me say what the ladies need to hear".
From that point on, I didn't use ONE WORD of what I had planned in my notes. I used scriptures and quotes that I remembered from different lessons from years ago, and I just kept going.
That was the best lesson I have ever given.
I know that I said what the Lord wanted me to, because I had several ladies come up and thank me for the lesson and tell me which things I said that affected them the most. It's always very satisfying to be able to get your point across and help someone in the class.
After I was done cleaning up, I talked to Jessica about not using a thing I had prepared. She seemed surprised and told me she thought it was one of my best lessons I had done. Then we talked about the wonderful power of God and how he uses us to give His messages.
I wish all my lessons could be like that!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Patriarchal Blessing
Tonight for my scripture study time I decided to look at my Patriarchal blessing. I haven't looked at it for awhile, and I had forgotten a few things. Additionally, I saw a few details that I have missed in previous times of reading it!
All I can say is that I am SO grateful to have that blessing to help guide my life. It gives me something to strive for- I REALLY want the blessings promised to me. If I am faithful and true, I will receive all of the blessings. I have gotten some of them already, and it's fun to pick them out and see how they have fit into my life.
I know that Patriarch Hammond was speaking for God when he gave me my blessing. I felt the love of the Lord, and the love of my patriarch. I can still remember the prickles running up my spine as some of the words were spoken. The Lord loves each of his children, NO EXCEPTIONS. He gives us wonderful tools like the scriptures, prophets, temples, and blessings to remind us of his love. If we only use them, we can feel His love so much more.
I really needed to read that blessing. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the prompting!
All I can say is that I am SO grateful to have that blessing to help guide my life. It gives me something to strive for- I REALLY want the blessings promised to me. If I am faithful and true, I will receive all of the blessings. I have gotten some of them already, and it's fun to pick them out and see how they have fit into my life.
I know that Patriarch Hammond was speaking for God when he gave me my blessing. I felt the love of the Lord, and the love of my patriarch. I can still remember the prickles running up my spine as some of the words were spoken. The Lord loves each of his children, NO EXCEPTIONS. He gives us wonderful tools like the scriptures, prophets, temples, and blessings to remind us of his love. If we only use them, we can feel His love so much more.
I really needed to read that blessing. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the prompting!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
My first day of Institute (sounds like the first day of school!)
Tonight Jess and I decided to head to our Stake Institute class. We figured that it was about time we started to go. We are studying the Pearl of Great Price, and I am pretty stoked to get started! I don't know a ton about the Pearl of Great Price except what we read in classes at church, scripture mastery scriptures, etc. I just have never really tried diving into this one.
The teachers got me pretty excited for this class. I think that they both are the type of people that know a lot, but like to hear from those in the class- making it more like a discussion. Woo hoo! Doesn't mean I will ever participate (I'm shy in big groups like that!), but I think it is more fun to hear other people's insights and comments. Yay for Institute!
Afterward I headed out to TGI Fridays to meet my friend, Rachel. We haven't talked for a long time, and it was really nice to catch up. In fact, we were some of the LAST people out of the restaurant! We even sat in my car for awhile and talked. I enjoyed hearing her stories. Rachel is an extremely passionate person, and it was funny seeing that come out . . . about the movie "How To Train Your Dragon"! She is adamant that it is the BEST movie. I love it!
The teachers got me pretty excited for this class. I think that they both are the type of people that know a lot, but like to hear from those in the class- making it more like a discussion. Woo hoo! Doesn't mean I will ever participate (I'm shy in big groups like that!), but I think it is more fun to hear other people's insights and comments. Yay for Institute!
Afterward I headed out to TGI Fridays to meet my friend, Rachel. We haven't talked for a long time, and it was really nice to catch up. In fact, we were some of the LAST people out of the restaurant! We even sat in my car for awhile and talked. I enjoyed hearing her stories. Rachel is an extremely passionate person, and it was funny seeing that come out . . . about the movie "How To Train Your Dragon"! She is adamant that it is the BEST movie. I love it!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
What a whirlwind day!
Today was kind of crazy. It was good, though, because I needed a day like this.
Work was good. Busy, but good. It wasn't to the point of tear-my-hair-out-now, just enough to keep me busy, and make the hours fly by. I was at work a little late, but as I was driving home I found out that the Stake softball game was at 6, instead of 7 like I thought. I made a few more calls to have some friends come with me, changed quickly, and headed out with Jessie and Keith.
We found the field, and were surprised to see a ton of people from our ward there! It wasn't even supposed to be a huge deal, but there were around 18 players on the team. Well, one injury (she just twisted her ankle), three innings, and an hour later (In church softball, you get a 50 minute time limit), our ward squeaked out a win of 16-14. Woo hoo! We even had someone hit the ball into another field! It was cRaZy!
Next it was on to a birthday party for our friend, Meesh. She is in our ward and wanted to celebrate her birthday by getting heartburn from our local Mexican treat, El Azteca. Now, you all should know that when I moved out to Utah, I HATED Mexican food. My experience with Mexican food had ended in grade school, as soon as my mom made Mexican Luncheon for the first time. Blech! But it's mostly because I don't like tomatoes and peppers. Take that out, and I'm fine. Sicne Jessica has been in Utah, however, I have tried to expand on my too-American-diet of hamburgers, chicken fingers, and fries being what I eat when I go out. Well, I found a burrito that I wanted to try, and I think I amused the lady when I asked her for no pico de gallo, no peppers, and no tomatoes. Yeah, well, at least I'm not as amusing as the lady who pulled up in the drive thru with a LIVE CAT across her shoulders like it was a cape! It was one huge cat, too.
The food was good, but the company was amazing! We had about five tables all put together, and I got to meet some really cool new guys. James, Doug, Craig, and Joseph. Hilarious! James even tried to beat Jessica's Bubble Wrap score. Yeah. Didn't even come close.
After dinner, we headed home with a few peeps to catch the last part of Glee. It was SO MUCH BETTER than last week! It really restored my faith in the show. Rest assured, I will be watching the first part on Hulu in the next few days. New fave quote from Brittany: "I don't know how to turn on a computer". She gets some of the best lines!
Anne popped by afterward, because I had been bragging about how good "Heart & Souls" was, and she wanted to give it a try. We had a great time watching it, and Patrice surprised us with strawberry shortcake about halfway through. Nice! If you haven't seen that movie, though, do yourself a favor and go rent it today! Really good!
So. Twilight. Scripture study. Prayer. Bed. In that order. Goodnight!
Work was good. Busy, but good. It wasn't to the point of tear-my-hair-out-now, just enough to keep me busy, and make the hours fly by. I was at work a little late, but as I was driving home I found out that the Stake softball game was at 6, instead of 7 like I thought. I made a few more calls to have some friends come with me, changed quickly, and headed out with Jessie and Keith.
We found the field, and were surprised to see a ton of people from our ward there! It wasn't even supposed to be a huge deal, but there were around 18 players on the team. Well, one injury (she just twisted her ankle), three innings, and an hour later (In church softball, you get a 50 minute time limit), our ward squeaked out a win of 16-14. Woo hoo! We even had someone hit the ball into another field! It was cRaZy!
Next it was on to a birthday party for our friend, Meesh. She is in our ward and wanted to celebrate her birthday by getting heartburn from our local Mexican treat, El Azteca. Now, you all should know that when I moved out to Utah, I HATED Mexican food. My experience with Mexican food had ended in grade school, as soon as my mom made Mexican Luncheon for the first time. Blech! But it's mostly because I don't like tomatoes and peppers. Take that out, and I'm fine. Sicne Jessica has been in Utah, however, I have tried to expand on my too-American-diet of hamburgers, chicken fingers, and fries being what I eat when I go out. Well, I found a burrito that I wanted to try, and I think I amused the lady when I asked her for no pico de gallo, no peppers, and no tomatoes. Yeah, well, at least I'm not as amusing as the lady who pulled up in the drive thru with a LIVE CAT across her shoulders like it was a cape! It was one huge cat, too.
The food was good, but the company was amazing! We had about five tables all put together, and I got to meet some really cool new guys. James, Doug, Craig, and Joseph. Hilarious! James even tried to beat Jessica's Bubble Wrap score. Yeah. Didn't even come close.
After dinner, we headed home with a few peeps to catch the last part of Glee. It was SO MUCH BETTER than last week! It really restored my faith in the show. Rest assured, I will be watching the first part on Hulu in the next few days. New fave quote from Brittany: "I don't know how to turn on a computer". She gets some of the best lines!
Anne popped by afterward, because I had been bragging about how good "Heart & Souls" was, and she wanted to give it a try. We had a great time watching it, and Patrice surprised us with strawberry shortcake about halfway through. Nice! If you haven't seen that movie, though, do yourself a favor and go rent it today! Really good!
So. Twilight. Scripture study. Prayer. Bed. In that order. Goodnight!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Suggestions, please!
Okay peeps, I need suggestions on a few things:
1. What are some good books that I can read? I'm running out of material and need some help.
2. Where are some neat places to stop on my trip to Indiana this summer? I'm going on I-80, and I think I'm going to stop in Omaha for the zoo and Winter Quarters temple, but I haven't been able to come up with anything else so far. Any ideas?
1. What are some good books that I can read? I'm running out of material and need some help.
2. Where are some neat places to stop on my trip to Indiana this summer? I'm going on I-80, and I think I'm going to stop in Omaha for the zoo and Winter Quarters temple, but I haven't been able to come up with anything else so far. Any ideas?
Saturday, May 1, 2010
6 Down, 7 left in Temple Tour 2010!
So Jess and I hit up the Oquirrh Mountain temple today. We went to a session in the early afternoon, and I couldn't stop marveling at the rooms we were in! All of them had so much attention to detail and decor to make them unique. This temple is also special because our whole family (that was able to, Cole was on his mission) was able to go to the open house this last summer. I loved the layout of the temple then, but going through a session gave me the opportunity to see the rooms while I was performing temple ordinances. I don't know if I can explain it, but it was different. I think that this might be my favorite Utah temple. It was gorgeous!So that means that we have been to the Salt Lake, Provo, Mt. Timpanogos, Draper, St. George, and Oquirrh Mountain temples. The ones we have left are Logan, Ogden, Monticello, Bountiful, Manti, Vernal, & Jordan River.
We had some random guy take our pics outside of the temple when it wasn't raining, and headed to Olive Garden for lunch. We gorged ourselves on soup, salad, and breadsticks, and then asked our server to box up our barely-touched dinners. We had something for later! Woot! Once we got home we both decided we wanted it to be a low-key evening, so we popped in "Heart & Souls" with Robert Downey Jr. I'd forgotten how much I love that movie! And now it's early to bed since we have church at 9:30 a.m. Have a good night!
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