….We Seek After These Things!

I have been reading, listening, observing the past few weeks all the discussion and debate about President Packer’s talk this past conference. I agree with him completely but because I look at his words as what can I learn and how can I improve. I love the focus on personal responsibility and the strength of Agency. What a comfort to know we are more powerful than Satan, and even more powerful than the Natural Man that is with in us, perhaps even genetic flaws caused by the fall of Adam and Eve to Mortality. The point is we can choose to sin or we can choose to resist temptation in all its forms.

As I have been pondering everything I have seen and read, I have come to a great realization. We are at a cross roads. Oh, I have known this for awhile, that is not what has come to my attention. What has become more aware is how well do we sustain our leaders. As I have seen people who are or have been at one time faithful members of the church, now attacking this man for the words he had the courage to speak as being hateful and hurtful, and calling him extreme, I was brought to think of other prophets. Prophets that were bold, direct, to the point, and did not hold back anything. Would we be treating them the same. Many of these prophets are held up and revered not just by the LDS members, but people of other faiths, including the Jews.

Would we be speaking against these men? Noah, Enoch, ELIJAH, Moses, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Adam, John the Baptist, the Saviour? Oh, yes there are times that love is spoken, but even the Saviour got direct and blunt with many people. For me, it has become a wake up call to watch how I treat and speak about our current leaders.

Here is the lesson outline for #45 Joseph Smith’s Feelings about His Prophetic Mission: I have organized it differently from the lesson manual, and once again, pick and choose what quotes work for you and your ward/branch. (more…)

I know this is very late in getting up. I had a very difficult time wrapping my head and heart around this lesson, at least to where I feel I can give an inspired lesson. On the blackboard I will write the following scripture.
John 20:29
….Blessed are they that not seen, and yet have believed.
For preparation I have filled out an index card with the names of each person credited with a quote in this lesson. I did this because I did not want to read every quote and I felt by handing them out and at a specific point in the lesson I will have the sisters read each name on the card. I will continue to pass out the cards until they are all handed out.
I have not used all the quotes, you may want to pick and choose which quotes will work best for your ward or branch. Good luck.
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Here is my lesson outline for lesson #39 Relief Society Divine Organization of Women. Two notes here, since the temple dedication will be on the 4th sunday this month I have invited the Laurels to attend my class this month. In my ward the Laurels typically come in for Teaching of Our times every 4th sunday but with the temple dedication and our Stake conference there will not be a 4th Sunday lesson this month. I thought it might be a good one for the Laurels and I designed the first question to get some of their thoughts and ideas about what Relief Society is to them. I have also invited my bishop to come in and speak briefly on the connection between the Priesthood and Relief Society. I have done this because I have seen many feminist blogs that would love to see the Priesthood completely taken away from the Relief Society. I feel that this attitude is in direct conflict with the organization of the the Relief Society and it being a part of the Priesthood, in asmuch as I feel that the Priesthood and Relief Society are inseparately connected in purpose and function.l
Enjoy, I know it is a bit different from other lessons, but I think there is a great deal of room for discussion in individual wards and needs of the Sisters. I also plan on getting several bookmarks from the distribution center with the Relief Society theme or declaration.
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Here is the outline for lesson 37. I plan on focusing more on discussion and scriptures even though I have a few quotes from the manual. I do not plan on using the last section of the lesson since it is mostly about the life of Joseph Smith, and as much as I love it I think it is more important to focus on the here and now. I will paraphrase the first section of the history and times of Joseph and the building of Nauvoo but as I said it is more important to focus on WHAT is CHARITY and WHY it is IMPORTANT, and HOW do we DEVELOP it. (more…)

Here is my lesson outline for lesson #35. I spent much time on the lesson expression and discussing my love for genealogy and this principle of Baptism for the dead. I tried to include as much class discussion and discussion of the principles in the lesson. I only picked three quotes to hand out and one or two others to paraphrase or read. This is a shorter lesson from my typical so you may need to expand it or determine how to guide the discussion for the needs of your particular class.

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This is a very rough draft of my lesson outline. I am going to have to think and ponder on it more over the next few days but I wanted to get it posted for you to have some idea’s and questions. I don’t have an object lesson but I think the lesson is long enough without it. You will need to use your judgement on how you want to go with the lesson. I have seen suggestions that talk about issues not in the manual, especially on some of the Women blogs. I think it is important to emphasize that the proper use of all these gifts comes with Faith in Jesus Christ and by those that have the Gift of the Holy Ghost. The gift of Healing is one area where Prayer can lead to healing but the proper use of the Gift of the healing is with the power of the Priesthood. I have seen other lessons that leave out the gift of discernment thinking it is not important but I personally feel that it is the most important after the gift of prophecy. It is through this gift that we can avoid many evil influences, and also be lead and guided by many good influences as we live our life. I think there is confusion when the lesson discusses the use of Priesthood, especially among the feminist bloggers, but that use is Priesthood in my opinion is what gives each of us the Gift of the Holy Ghost. You might interpret it otherwise.
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I used “God Shall Be with You Forever and Ever”: The Prophet in Liberty Jail
and Elder Jeffery R. Holland’s article from the Winter 2009 issue of BYU magazine as sources for the lesson. Normally I do not pull outside sources for my lesson, but in this case I felt the need for the exception. Feel free to remove those quotes if you feel. What ever the case I strongly suggest that you read his article because it is an excelent discourse on the lessons learned in the Liberty Jail.

The set up for this lesson could be a bit time consuming, inlist the aid of Priesthood brethern to help you out.
Measure out a 14x14 space and place the chairs of the room around it to represent the Liberty Jail. Have the lights turned down for the first part of the lesson, You can turn them up if sisters have trouble reading the quotes.
(Prepare note cards to hand out with this question written on it.) What is my liberty jail?
Pass out pencils.

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On December 1, 1838, the Prophet Joseph Smith, his brother Hyrum, and other brethren were taken from Richmond, Missouri, where they had been incarcerated in a log home, to the jail in Liberty, Missouri. There they would remain for more than four months, awaiting trial on false charges arising from the persecution of the Saints in Missouri. During this time, Church members were being driven from their homes in Missouri by their persecutors, causing tremendous suffering. The trials of the Saints were a source of great anxiety to the Prophet and his companions during their long imprisonment.
Liberty Jail was divided into an upper room and a 14-foot-square lower dungeon, where the prisoners were kept. (more…)

Here is my outline for Joseph Smith Lesson #29, Living with Others in Peace and Harmony

Show various pictures such as scenery, temples, world, ending with sacred grove and O Jerusalem. With each picture ask how the sisters feel as they view each picture. (see if library has a picture of the Lion and Lamb together.) (more…)

I have added two more quotes that is was looking for to use in the lesson if the spirit dictates. They are as follows.

President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had “never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional, or political life” (CR, April 1941, p. 123). This is a hard doctrine, but it is a particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ.

Less than a year after his baptism, John Taylor visited the Prophet Joseph Smith at Kirtland, a town then racked by apostasy. One of those faltering was Parley P. Pratt, his own missionary. Without equivocation, John testified: “If the word was true six months ago, it is true today; if Joseph Smith was then a prophet, he is now a prophet