Saturday, November 2, 2013

Week of October 27th

Relief Society Purposes:
*Increase faith and personal righteousness
*Strengthen families and homes
*Seek out and help those in need
FAITH
Lesson Review: The Kingdom of God Moves Forward

Key Doctrine:
"The kingdom of God moves on with force and power, and with grand and glorious success."

"This Church will stand, because it is upon a firm basis.  It is not from man; it is not from the study of the New Testament or the Old Testament, it is not the result of the learning that we received in colleges nor seminaries, but it has come directly from the Lord."

Invitation to Action:
"It is the business of those who profess to be engaged in His work to move on, to go forward...without murmuring or having to be urged; so long as there remains a step forward to be taken, that step should be taken."

Promised Blessings:
"Notwithstanding our difficulties may appear very great, yet there will be means provided for our escape if we ourselves perform the duties incumbent upon us as the children of God."
"It is our business to step forward as did Esther, and be willing to risk all for the salvation of the people.  In undertaking her task, Esther said, "If I perish, I perish... But the people of God will not perish.  There will always be a ram caught in the thicket for their deliverance..."

November 10th Lesson Topic:
Lorenzo Snow Chapter 21 - Loving God More Than We Love The World

FAMILY
The family is the most basic and important unit of society and the highest priority for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

RELIEF
Visiting Teaching
From our Visiting Teaching Supervisor - Sister Grethe P:
If our visiting teaching assignments include those who are less active, one thing we should do as visiting teachers, is help them feel the spirit.  One excellent way to do this is to encourage the sister to talk about her past experiences when she felt the spirit.  If she is a convert, we could ask her about her conversion story.  Other experiences she could talk about are her marriage, happy times at girl's camp or other youth activities.  Asking her how she felt may give us the opportunity to help her identify the spirit as the source of the happiness she felt, and a potential source of continued peace.

It is also a good idea to encourage the sister to ask questions.  We can encourage her to write down questions and then be willing to discuss them.  We should be the kind of visiting teachers who allow the sister's questions to determine the topics of messages we bring rather than telling them what we think she needs to hear.  President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said at conference last month, "Some struggle with unanswered questions about things that have been done or said in the past. We openly acknowledge that in nearly 200 years of Church history--along with an uninterrupted line of inspired, honorable and divine events--there have been some things said and done that could cause people to question. Sometimes questions arise because we simply don't have all the information and we just need a bit more patience.  When the entire truth is eventually known, things that didn't make sense to us before will be resolved to our satisfaction....  A question that creates doubt in some can, after careful investigation build faith..."(Ensign, Nov. 2013, p.22)

Every sister has questions and she should feel it is okay to ask them.  Visiting teachers, in these instances, may not want to wait a month before a follow-up visit.  We can invite the sisters to our homes for discussion that could eventually lead us to include missionaries.

Announcements:
*December 5th-7th - Burton 4th Ward Christmas Concert and Art Display

Ward Christmas Concert Information:
We would like to invite every family in the ward to share their testimony of the Savior at our Christmas Concert.  There are several ways this can be done - through art, photography, poetry, or music, or by simply extending an invitation to someone who you feel would benefit from our message about the Savior.

*If your family has artwork, poetry, or photography to contribute, please contact Jen W., Cindy B., or Lorraine F.  We would like all artistic contributions to bear testimony of the Savior and his mission.

*If your family has a Nativity to contribute, please contact Cheri R.

Please include your testimonies of the Savior along with your artistic contributions and Nativities.

*If your family (or a member of it) would like to participate in the Ward Choir, please contact Ruth E. 

*If your family (or a member of it) would like to participate in the Family Orchestra, please contact Julie C.

*If you can help with decorations please contact Heather J. or Jolana G.
*December 14th at 11:00 - Lutheran Church Cantata Performance and Luncheon

November Birthdays

Nov. 1st - McKensie T.
Nov. 4th - Barbara S.
Nov. 6th - Danya L.  
Nov. 13 - Laura C.
Nov. 15th - Dana Rae B.
Nov. 17th - Grethe P.
Nov. 18th - Lynn A.
Nov. 22nd - Mindy H.
Nov. 28th -  Belinda R. 

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Week of Oct. 20

Relief Society Purposes:
*Increase faith and personal righteousness
*Strengthen families and homes
*Seek out and help those in need

 FAITH

Lesson Review:  Missionary Work:  "To Reach Every Human Heart"
Key Doctrine:
"This....should be our aim and object:  to learn to make ourselves useful; to be saviors to our fellow man; to learn how to save them; to communicate to them a knowledge of the principles that are necessary to raise them to the same degree of intelligence that we have ourselves." 

Invitation to Action:
"There is a way to reach every human heart, and it is your business to find the way to the hearts of those to whom you are called."

Promised Blessings:
"Inasmuch as they shall continually seek unto the Lord in humility, having an eye single to His honor and glory, and desiring in their hearts the salvation of the souls of men, and doing all they can to bring about their salvation, they shall have joy beyond expression in their labors in the flesh, and shall at last be made partakers with the Father and the Son of things too great and glorious for mortality to conceive or contemplate."

Missionary Opportunities:
Ward Christmas Concert

We would like to invite every family in the ward to share their testimony of the Savior at our Christmas Concert!  There are several ways this can be done- through art, photography, poetry, or music, or by simply extending an invitation to someone who you feel would benefit from our message about the Savior.

This is a missionary opportunity!  If possible, we would like each family to contribute something artistic that expresses their testimony of the Savior.  For example:

          *A drawing by a primary age child, youth, or adult accompanied by a brief testimony.

          *A poem that expresses gratitude or praise for the Savior and his life.

          * An original photograph or piece of sculpture that speaks to the Savior and his creations, or life, or 
             ministry.
These will be put on display along with your descriptions and testimonies.  The display will be open for the full-time missionaries to bring investigators, as well as for family, friends, and neighbors to enjoy. 

          * If you are musical, the Choir will be singing - please join and sing along with them!!

          * If you play a musical instrument, we are organizing a family orchestra that you can participate in.

In conjunction with the Art Display and Concert, we will also have a display of Christmas Creches. If you have one that you could contribute that would be wonderful!

There is an opportunity for anyone and everyone to be involved in this great missionary event!  Please be prayerful within your families about what you each can do to make this evening successful and enjoyable.

For questions or more information, please contact Jake (360-0058) or Jen Walz (709-6079), or a member of the Relief Society Presidency.

November 10th Lesson Topic:

Lorenzo Snow Chapter 21 - Loving God More Than We Love The World

FAMILY

Primary:

Primary Leaders Encourage Families to Focus on the Savior:

Youth Curriculum:

October Topic:  Becoming More Christlike

Dinner Recipes:

Check the side-link for a recipe for a frozen dinner, "Poppy Seed Chicken" that I have taken from our recent Relief Society Activity!
RELIEF

Visiting Teaching:

 Message from Sister Grethe P.:
As members of the Church the opportunities to serve are all around us.  There is always someone to serve.  Others, not closely identified with the church, may desire to serve, but may not know this is something missing in their lives, and often don't know how or where to start.
"In many people who are satisfied with their lives, the light of Chirst continues to create a deep need inside to help others...when we help others do God's will, they learn far more about what the church and the Spriit feels like than they ever could through a conversation or from attending a ward social." (Christensen, Clayton M., The Power of Everyday missionaries, p.47-48)

Every opportunity we have to serve is an opportunity to involve someone else.  We might include a sister to help teach a certain concept to a primary class.  If given the opportunity to speak in church you might ask a less-active sister you visit to listen to your talk in advance and ask her to give you pointers.  It is easy to ask a less active sister to help provide a meal or other service.  Youth have a particular power.  Involving a less active sister with service to the youth, and letting her feel the power of the young people can affect change.

Decoupling:  This is a concept where the person inviting someone to serve, separates the church from the opportunity to serve.  It is a way to assure them they are important, and their help is valuable.  We might say something like, " I know attending church is not something you may want to do right now, but we could really use your talents to _____."

Or we might say:  "You can say "no" if you want, but we could really use your help at_____".  Or we could say something like, "I was wondering if you would help me out.  I have to give a talk in church on Sunday and I have heard there may be people attending who are not members of our church.  I know we have terms that others may not understand.  Could you listen to my talk and tell me if there is something that might not be clear to someone unaccustomed to our ways?  I thought you might be more conscientious of those things than someone who came every week."

Decoupling is a way to avoid awkwardness for all involved, respecting a person's choices, while still giving opportunities to learn about the Church and what the Spirit feels like. (See Christensen, Clayton M., The Power of Everyday Missionaries, pp.27-28)

News:

Miranda Smith had a baby girl on October 19th at 12:22 a.m. McKoy weighed 7lbs. 4oz. and was 20" long. Congratulations Smith family!! 

*Stacie Day is engaged to be married in January!

* A note from Lynne Walz who is currently living in Japan:

"Our branch is a military branch.  There are wards and stakes on the island but because the military is so transient, all they get is a branch.  It is literally called the Futemna Military Branch.  Our branch is part of a district and not part of the stakes.  I think there are about 4 military branches.  The military branches speak English, the wards speak Japanese.  The branch is very friendly and very young.  They talk about all of their travels because Okinawa is so small and so close to Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, China and many others, the people in the military travel.  It's funny, because when I ask the members where they are from, most of them say Utah.  I thought I would be in a place where nobody knew where Idaho is, but most people here do."

Announcements:

* The Primary is looking for toy donations for the Nursery.  If you have toys that are in good condition, that you would be willing to donate to the Nursery, please bring them to Mindy Heiner's home.
* December 5th-7th - Burton 4th Ward Christmas Concert and Art Display

* December 14th at 11:00 - The ladies from the Lutheran church have invited the sisters from our ward to their Christmas Cantata Performance.  They are going to have a luncheon for us afterwards!  Be sure to mark your calendars and make an effort to attend.
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