Watching Music and the Spoken Word.

“Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel.”

Nice.

This post will update the Sunday morning session after each talk…if the kids allow me.

President Eyring is conducting.

Opening Hymn: “Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise”

Didn’t catch who gave the opening prayer, but he was definitely male.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Mentioned a painting in his office. Light from a door only illuminates a small area, the rest in darkness. This is a metaphor. We may be surrounded by darkness through tribulation, but God promises the hope of his light.

Mentioned a woman who was beaten and abused as a child. The woman learned to stop feeling. She had no hope of rescue. She hardened herself to the horror of her reality. She became resigned to the darkness. At age 18 she discovered the Church. The hope of the restored gospel penetrated her heart. For the first time light entered her life. She went to a school far from her abuser. Her abuser died. She was still troubled by the events of her youth. If she allowed the darkness to consume her, her tormenter would win. She sought counseling. She learned that darkness exists, but you shouldn’t dwell there. Light also exists. She held fast to the hope that with God’s help she could be healed. She chose to radiate light and devote her life to helping others. She became a school teacher, and her love has influenced the lives of hundreds of children. She has become a defender of the weak, the victimized and the discouraged.

If you feel darkness encroaching, I repeat a truth: God’s light is real, is available to all, gives life to all things, has the power to soften the sting of the deepest wound. It is the healing bond. It can plant the seeds of a brighter hope, illuminate the path before us and lead us through the darkest night and to the promise of a new dawn. This is the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the light. How do we open our eyes to the hope of God’s light?

1)Start where you are. You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to cross the finish line to receive God’s blessings. The very moment you begin to seek, your Heavenly Father will begin to enoble your soul.
2)Turn your heart toward the Lord. Lift up your soul in prayer. Explain what you are feeling. Pour out your heart. Let him know of the trials you are feeling. Plead for strength. Ask to hear His voice.
3)Walk in the light. The Lord wants you to rise up and become the person you were designed to be. The darkness will fade because it cannot exist in the presence of light. Rely on this certain promise: “I am the light of the world. He that follow me shall not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

Hymn: “Come Follow Me.”

Elder Neil L. Andersen

The voice of warning shall be to all people. All people, all the world, the uttermost parts of the Earth.

Could early Saints foresee the reach and destiny of this marvelous work? Faith overcame doubt.

Our day is no different. Gives numbers on the growth of the Church and growth in number of missionaries. We are few in number but the stone cut without hands is filling the whole Earth. Refers to growth of new missionaries. 58 new missions announced, new MTC in Mexico City.

We are witnessing the miracles of the Lord as his Gospel spreads across the world. More people are receiving the missionaries. Members are an important part of this unfolding miracle.

Paint a missionary badge on your heart. All of us have a contribution to make to this miracle. Members: “Hold up your light so it will shine to the world.”

As you pray to do missionary work, names and faces will come to your minds. Faith will overcome doubt, and the Lord will bless you with your very own miracles.

Invite others to come and see. When you do you will feel the approval of the Lord.

Internet and mobile phones: there are many ways to share the faith. lds.org, mormon.org.

Ahem!! (millennialstar.org)

Start blogs!!!

“This isn’t missionary work, this is missionary fun!”

The Lord will guide you in how to do missionary work. The voice of warning will be to all people by the mouths of my disciples.

Sister Rosemary M. Wixom, Primary President

One of the most important things you can do is to influence a child. You can increase a child’s confidence and increase a child’s faith in Jesus Christ.

From heaven, a voice a perfect mildness giving hope. How we speak to children can affect how they will listen.

A woman lost her child in the store. She called. She was getting more frantic, yelling his name. A patron said perhaps the woman should not scream his name. They walked around quietly calling for him. Then the boy responded. He was hiding. A voice of perfect mildness encouraged him to respond.

We may need to technologically disconnect. Often we are distracted. Take time to turn everything off. Give full attention to your children.

Influence your children by how you write to them. Think about how you would write to your children if you had 25 words or less.

Our words should reflect the love that the Lord has for us.

Hymn: “Guide Us Oh Thy Great Jehovah”

Elder L. Witney Clayton, presidency of the Seventy

We can learn so much by watching and then considering what we have seen and felt.

What has he learned from watching faithful marriages?

1)In the happiest marriages, both husband and wife consider their relationship to be a pearl beyond price. They leave their fathers and mothers and concentrate on a marriage for eternity. No other relationship can bring as much joy.

2)Faith. Successful eternal marriages are based on faith. Marriages that are priceless practice faith. Attend sacrament, hold FHE, pay tithing. Their mutual quest is to be obedient and good. Don’t consider the commandments a buffet. Strengthening faith strengthens marriage.

3)Repentance. Spouses who regularly conduct honest self-examination and take steps to repent and improve experience a healing bond in their marriages. Humility is the essence of repentance. Both husbands and wives seek to help and bless each other.

4)Respect. Husbands and wive treat each other as equal partners. Husbands do not dominate wives or treat them as second-class partners. Make decisions unanimously, each acting as a full participant. Focus first on the home. Marriages based on cooperation, not negotiation. Turn off electronics. Help with household duties. Read with your children every night, put the kids together, retire to bed together. Work side by side to work in the homes. Transparency. No secret about relevant matters. Make decisions about finances together. Successful marriage partners are fiercely loyal to each other. Do not keep secrets about on-line behavior. Don’t approach the appearance of impropriety.

5)Love. Husbands: thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart and cleave unto her and no one else. Serve and love each other, keep covenants. Marriage is first priority.

Elder L. Tom Perry

Holds up a small book. LDS servicemen received them when entered armed services in WWII. Book intended to give renewed hope and faith, consolation and peace of spirit.

Today we are in another war. Of words, deed and thought. We need to be reminded of the commandments. Secularism is beginning to be the norm.

Obedience to law is liberty. Book from WWII: “Observe God’s law, and in so doing you can add to these freedoms…freedom from sin. Obedience to law is liberty.”

Satan said he would redeem all mankind, and not one soul would be lost. Satan disregarded man’s agency, it was the principle issue over which the war in Heaven was fought. Satan’s backup plan was to tempt men and women, to prove we are undeserving of free agency. Satan wants revenge. Wants to make us miserable. Don’t underestimate how driven Satan is to succeed.

Each choice is a test of our agency. Ten commandments have been the most acceptable and enduring delineation between good and evil. Four are taken seriously today: murder, stealing and lying and responsibility of children to their parents. We routinely dismiss the other six. We put other Gods before God. We make idols of celebrities. We take the name of God in vain. We use the Sabbath day for our biggest games, our recreation, shopping. We treat sexual relations as a recreation and entertainment. Coveting has become an all too common way of life.

Families are deteriorating. This deterioration is causing damage to society. As we give up commitments and fidelity, we remove the glue that holds our society together. The sacred powers of procreation are employed only between a man and woman lawfully married. The world changes, but God’s commandments do not change. Wickedness never was happiness.

Blessings come from obedience. Unchanging commandments and connection to our happiness and well-being. These are moral absolutes. These things do not change. The restored Gospel of Jesus Christ never wavers. We must not pick and choose which commandments are important to keep.

May we be a beacon to the whole Earth.

Hymn: “Where Love is, There God is Also.”

President Thomas S. Monson

Truth will weather the worst, unchanged, evermore.

Truth is knowledge of things are they are, as they were and as they are to come. No man receiveth a fullness unless he keeps God’s commandments.

We don’t need to search for truth. A loving Heavenly Father has plotted our course: obedience. Knowledge of truth comes as we are obedient to the commandments of God.

Hilarious story by President Monson about a fire in a meadow that he started when he was eight years old. The boys ran for help. All the people nearby helped put out the fire. No homes or pine trees were destroyed.

We learned the importance of obedience. There are rules and laws to assure physical safety. The Lord has given us commandments to help keep us safe.

Abraham and Isaac. Sacrifice. Can we imagine the heaviness of Abraham’s heart? Anguish. With unwavering faith and trust in the Lord, he responded. How glorious was the pronouncement: “Lay not thine hand upon the lad.” Abraham had been tried and tested.

We are not asked to prove our obedience in such a way, obedience is required of us as well. Obedience is a hallmark of prophets. Provided strength and knowledge. We are entitled to this source of strength and knowledge.

(My wife says she knew Walter Krause, who is mentioned by Pres. Monson).

Bro. Krause was assigned to be a home teacher. Bro. Krause lived in East Germany, the brother Bro. Dendorfer lived in Hungary. It would take a week to visit. They took train and bus. Bro. Dendorfer had not had home teachers in years. The first thing Bro. Dendorfer did was to present his tithing. “Now I feel worthy to shake the hands of the servants of the Lord,” he said. Bro. Dendorfer had taken 10 percent, not knowing when or if he would pay it.

Bro. Krause never questioned or murmured, never made excuses. The great test of this life is obedience. The Savior was obedient.

Closing prayer: another man!!!