Monthly Archives: May 2009

General Conference Book Club Week 6: Elder Teixeira

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05_04_teixeIt’s week 6.  Welcome back again to the GCBC!  This week we’ll be studying the Sunday afternoon session talk called “Gifts to Help Us Navigate Our Lives,” by Elder Jose A. Teixeira of the Quorum of the Seventy.  He teaches that, “We are not left alone. God has given us the necessary gifts to help us in our mortal experience.”

If this is your first visit to the General Conference Book Club, click here to learn more about it. You’re welcome to join us at any point along the way.

>>Click here to read the talk “Gifts to Help Us Navigate Our Lives,” by Elder Jose A. Teixeira<<

I don’t have anything else profound to say yet.  I’ll just wait around to see what you’ve got. 🙂

Women’s Conference chapter 5: Humility

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enos_prayingSince I spend most of my time thinking about how cool I am (just. kidding.), I thought it would be a good idea to attend a class called, “More Fit for the Kingdom:  Approaching the Lord in Humility,” taught by Sandy Jensen and David Marsh.  Here are some of my notes  (Warning:  I took lots of notes in this class.  Get a snack if you need to.  And for some reason, I had a lot of trouble with spacing on this post.  Please forgive.):

Humility is to recognize gratefully our dependance on the Lord.  We know where our true strength lies.  Humility Brings Power.

The first speaker used the story of Enos from the Book of Mormon to teach lessons about humility.   She broke the story down into 4 segments, assigned each one a key word, and the words together form a sentence.

1.  “I”:  Enos 1: 1-4.

1 Behold, it came to pass that I, Enos, knowing my father that he was a just man—for he taught me in his language, and also in the nurture and admonition of the Lord—and blessed be the name of my God for it—

2 And I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God, before I received a remission of my sins.

3 Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; and the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart.

4 And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.
Like Enos, we must recognize our standing, our existence before God.  We must establish communication. We are totally dependent upon the Lord.
2.  “Will”:  Enos 1:26.
26 And I saw that I must soon go down to my grave, having been wrought upon by the power of God that I must preach and prophesy unto this people, and declare the word according to the truth which is in Christ. And I have declared it in all my days, and have rejoiced in it above that of the world.
Wrought– being shaped because of turning our will over to God.  In doing so, we don’t lose our identity; We find our true identity.  It’s like decluttering our soul.
3.  “Trust”:  Enos 1:5-6.
5 And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed.
6 And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away.
God only speaks truth; Be confident in what he says.  D&C 112:10: “Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.”
4.  “Love”: Enos 1:9-12.
9 Now, it came to pass that when I had heard these words I began to feel a desire for the welfare of my brethren, the Nephites; wherefore, I did pour out my whole soul unto God for them.

10 And while I was thus struggling in the spirit, behold, the voice of the Lord came into my mind again, saying: I will visit thy brethren according to their diligence in keeping my commandments. I have given unto them this land, and it is a holy land; and I curse it not save it be for the cause of iniquity; wherefore, I will visit thy brethren according as I have said; and their transgressions will I bring down with sorrow upon their own heads.
11 And after I, Enos, had heard these words, my faith began to be unshaken in the Lord; and I prayed unto him with many long strugglings for my brethren, the Lamanites.
12 And it came to pass that after I had prayed and labored with all diligence, the Lord said unto me: I will grant unto thee according to thy desires, because of thy faith.
It is commonly misunderstood that humility means making ourselves small and lowly.  Humility is not about bringing ourselves down; it’s about lifting those around us up.
Sentence:  I. Will. Trust. Love.
1 John 4:16:  “God is love.”
Humility is a cardinal part of a Christ-like character.  He discussed what the Savior taught us about humility:
  • The Savior led by serving.  Phillipians 2:5-7:  “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:” Matthew 20:25-28:  “But Jesus called them unto him,and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:”
  • Brother Marsh told a story that as a newlywed, he would come home and be a little disturbed that his wife was receiving revelation about the family while he was gone.  He felt like he should do that as the provider and “patriarch” of the family.  Then as he thought about it, he realized that, duh, (he was making fun of himself as he told the story.), of course she’s going to receive revelation about caring for the children.  She’s with them all day.  It just makes sense.  He said that through that experience he learned that (and I love this):  “My responsibility as a provider was to protect her ability to receive revelation.”  Seriously, one of my favorite ideas from this talk; I shared it with Matt right away because it needs to be taught in every Elder’s Quorum class in the church!
  • The Savior served with all his might.  In referring to the Atonement in D&C 19:18-19, the Savior said, “Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink,— Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.” Brother Marsh claimed that the Savior did not ask to escape the suffering, but asked that he would not shrink, or draw back.  It was a deep thought I had not considered before, and I’m still trying to think that one through.
  • The Savior did not get credit for everything.  People didn’t recognize what he was doing or even who He was.  Matthew 16: 13-14: “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.” The humble don’t get much publicity or praise.  Think of all these great folks in the scriptures who barely get any mention at all:  Sam, Aaron, Omner, Himni, Zeezrom, Joseph & Mary, Elkinah and Hannah….
  • Humble people are merciful and practice love.  Awesome quote by President J. Reuben Clark, quoted by President Monson:
“I believe that our Heavenly Father wants to save every one of his children. I do not think he intends to shut any of us off because of some slight transgression, some slight failure to observe some rule or regulation. There are the great elementals that we must observe, but he is not going to be captious about the lesser things.  “I believe that his juridical concept of his dealings with his children could be expressed in this way: I believe that in his justice and mercy, he will give us the maximum reward for our acts, give us all that he can give, and in the reverse, I believe that he will impose upon us the minimum penalty which it is possible for him to impose.”

Must-see TV: Set your DVR

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womensconfBelow is the schedule that Women’s Conference will be rebroadcast on BYU Television (channel 374 on DirectTV for me).  They will show all of the main sessions that were taught in the Marriott Center.  It is worth recording and watching.  Especially Sister Beck’s talk.  Even if you’re not Mormon, I think you will see why this talk is go great as she discusses the importance of family.  It was awesome.

If you don’t get BYU TV, the talks will be available online later at this link.

Thursday, May 14th from 2 to 6 pm and again from 6 to 10 pm for the Thursday talks.  And the Friday Women’s Conf. that will be re-broadcast on Friday., May 15th from 2 to 7 pm and 7 pm to midnight Mountain Daylight Time.

May 14 @ 2:00 PM   Thursday Women’s Conference Talks
May 14 @ 6:00 PM   (repeated again)
May 15 @ 2:00 PM    Friday Women’s Conference Talks (w/ Sister Beck)
May 15 @ 7:00 PM    (repeated again)

Women’s Conference chapter 4: Building a child’s testimony

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0407jesus_childrenOne of the greatest lessons I took away from Women’s Conference was the idea that I need to be more intentional in my parenting.  This came from Sister Julie Beck’s talk and was reinforced by many of the classes that I attended.  By the way, her talk was the highlight of the conference for me.  It was so good.  It will be rebroadcast on BYUTV either the 14th or 15th of May.  I’ll post more details tomorrow, because I would love for every woman in the world to see it.

Anyway, the next class I wanted to summarize was called “Children of the Promised Day,” taught by Marsha Beck and Linda Christensen.  I have to confess that I was feeling under-the-weather and a tad restless, and I left this class a little early.  But there were some great principles taught, and some good reminders for me.  Again, in random list form:

  • Children need to feel God’s love now, when they are young.
  • What do you teach them to hope for?  Lehi’s dream can be our dream– for our families to partake of eternal life.  We can model and provide an environment of zealous living faith.  She pointed out Nephi’s pattern for developing a testimony after learning about his father’s dream:
  1. listen to father (parents)
  2. desire to know, understand
  3. prayerful searching
  • Moms need to become scholars of the scriptures.  Pray, plead for the Lord’s help to set aside time and create habits.
  • Envision and establish a home of faith, where we live the principles of the gospel
  • Teach children about temples.  Teach principles that make our lives holy.  Attend temple often and testify to children.
  • Power dwells in humility, unity, sacrifice, obedience.
  • Study “For the Strength of Youth” and strive to live it (individually, and as a family).
  • When children have questions, help them seek for an answer and for the Spirit.  Point them to the scriptures and words of the living prophets.  Answer their questions with your testimony of gospel principles.  When they stand with the Lord, He increases their faith. When they come with questions, say what Nephi said to his brothers, “Have ye enquired of the Lord?”
  • Study Preach my Gospel as a family. (I felt prompted to replace some TV time with MTC time and help my boys learn things they’ll need to know to be powerful missionaries.)
  • It’s very important to teach children about the repentance and the atonement.
  • Many children are defined by their academic or athletic talents.  Encourage them to define themselves by their growing testimony.  State to them what they do righteously.  Point out spiritual gifts.
  • Bear testimony frequently.  This reminds me of one of my favorite Elder Holland talks/quotes:

I think some parents may not understand that even when they feel secure in their own minds regarding matters of personal testimony, they can nevertheless make that faith too difficult for their children to detect. We can be reasonably active, meeting-going Latter-day Saints, but if we do not live lives of gospel integrity and convey to our children powerful heartfelt convictions regarding the truthfulness of the Restoration and the divine guidance of the Church from the First Vision to this very hour, then those children may, to our regret but not surprise, turn out not to be visibly active, meeting-going Latter-day Saints or sometimes anything close to it. . . .

Live the gospel as conspicuously as you can. Keep the covenants your children know you have made. Give priesthood blessings. And bear your testimony! Don’t just assume your children will somehow get the drift of your beliefs on their own. The prophet Nephi said near the end of his life that they had written their record of Christ and preserved their convictions regarding His gospel in order “to persuade our children … that our children may know … [and believe] the right way.”

Man, I love Elder Holland.  And I love my kids, so these are some great ideas of helping them to build on a sure foundation.

Summary:  As in the other WC posts, these notes are just suggestions, and are not meant to be overwhelming.  Ideas, not a checklist.  Personally, I think the most important things I got from class were 1) read scriptures and study the gospel with your children, 2) Bear testimony often, and 3) Help/encourage children learn to find answers using prayer and gospel study.

Women’s Conference, chapter 3: Friendship

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DSCF2025For those of you who usually come to this blog for the amazing and uplifting stories about boogers, laundry, and night-time diapers, please indulge me several more days of Women’s Conference summaries.  They may, perhaps, be of no benefit to you, but it’s a good exercise for me to review what I learned a week and a half ago, and to think about what I felt inspired to take notes on.  This picture is me and my good friend, Shantel, at Women’s Conference in the Marriott Center waiting for Elder L. Tom Perry’s talk to begin.  It was great to have a friend to share the whole experience with. (It was of course also wonderful to have my mom there, too, but she didn’t look so hot in the picture, so I cropped her out so she wouldn’t get mad at me.  Hi mom.)

I have some friends who are struggling with big things right now– the kinds of challenges that make my trials laughable.  This is why I chose to attend a class called, “The Hand of an Old Friend: Bearing One Another’s Burdens through  True Friendship,” taught by Shauna Harker and Dixie Taylor.  The class didn’t turn out to be exactly what I was expecting, but I learned some good things and set some new goals.

Here is a random compilation of my notes from this class:

  • We should pray to find the gifts in our life’s experiences, and pray to find people that need an extra touch.
  • When we feel spiritually low ourselves, we should fast and pray (and look for opportunities to serve).
  • We feel alone when we are too busy.  We need to pause; make a phone call, send a note, etc.
  • This was my favorite quote from the class and the most prominent principle I walked away with.  Ruby Haight (Elder David B. Haight’s wife) said:  “If you don’t have a loaf of bread, just give a piece of toast.” I was struck by the fact that what we might normally consider a “lame” or unworthy effort can truly be appreciated and make a difference in someone’s day, or life even.  She also quoted Alma 37:6 about “by small and simple things shall great things come to pass.”
  • Hymn says, “In the quiet heart is hidden sorrow that the eye can’t see.”  We should look for the hidden sorrow.  Look for understanding, not judgement.
  • Sheri Dew taught that we should assume that we all are doing the best we can.
  • We gather together for strength, but we bring all our weaknesses and imperfections.
  • Ezekiel 36:26: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”
  • Mark 2:1-5: (Story of man healed by Christ after friends lowered him through the roof) “And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house. And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.” It was the faith of the friends that healed the man.  We should not underestimate the power of our prayers and faith on the behalf of loved ones.
  • James 5:16: “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
  • Christ is our friend.  D&C 84:88: “And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.”  What am I doing to be Christ’s friend?
  • When feeling alone, excluded, in a new situation, etc., be the first to say hello.  Make the first move.
  • Offer a specific service.  Too often the generic phrase “Is there anything I can do to help?” goes unanswered.  Offer something that you can do to help.  For example, “I’d like to come over and {insert  your idea here: help you fold laundry, bring you a meal, take the kids for a couple hours, etc.}.  When would be a good time?”
  • Look for the good in others.  You’ll always find it.

I’m so grateful for good friends.  Occasionally I need some kind of service (feel free to volunteer right now to do laundry or bring me dinner), but what is the most sustaining to me is a friend’s listening ear– a phone call, a treadmill conversation, a kind comment, etc.  I thank God for surrounding me with kind and forgiving people, who whether in sincerity or due to great acting skills, make me feel important.