As the newest family in the ward, Richard and I had the pleasure of speaking along with Annalina and Joseph in sacrament meeting on Sunday! I wanted to keep track of these talks so the kids can look back on the experience someday, so I am posting them here as part of our family history!
My name is
Joseph and today I want to talk to you about service. Jesus taught us
many lessons about serving each other. One of those lessons came after he
had dinner with his Apostles. Jesus got a basin of water and a towel and
started washing the feet of the Apostles.
It was not unusual for people to have their feet washed in Jesus’ time, because
most people wore sandals and their feet became very dusty and dirty. But
usually a servant did this job. Peter did not want Jesus to wash his feet
because he thought it was not right for Jesus to act as a servant. Jesus
explained to the Apostles that even though he was the Savior, he still served
them. He wanted them to understand that they should serve each other.
Jesus wants us to follow his example and serve others.
We can all serve others by:
- Doing nice things for
our family and friends
- Helping to clean the
church when it is our turn
- Doing service projects
like helping neighbors weed their yards
- Making treats to share
with others
- Helping those in
need
When I serve others, I feel good and know that I am following the example of
Jesus. I know it make Heavenly Father
happy when we give service to each other.
I want to
bear my testimony that I know the church is true. I know that Heavenly Father loves me. I love my family and I know we can be
together forever. I know the scriptures
are true.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Hi, my name is Annalina and today I am going to give
a talk on kindness. I think kindness is a
very important part of the gospel. It reminds me of how Jesus treated everyone
while he was on the earth.
In
John 15 verse 12 it says "This is
my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you."
This
verse tells us how we should treat others.
We are being commanded to be kind to each other. We should try to love other people as much as Jesus loves us.
I
just read a story from the Friend magazine
and I want to share it with you.
It
was a very hot day and Audrey was coming home from the store with her mom. Her mom had let her pick out a treat and they
were rainbow popsicles. But as they were
driving, they came to roadwork. Audrey's
mom said that she forgot they were doing roadwork there. Audrey was disappointed and sad that it would
take longer to get home. Audrey's mom
said to be patient. But Audrey's rainbow
popsicles were going to melt before they got home. As she watched the road workers out in the
heat, Audrey got an idea. She gave the
popsicles to her mom to give to the workers.
When her mom gave the popsicles to the workers, they were grateful and
when Audrey got home she felt good that she had shared with them.
Audrey
showed that she loved the workers by sharing her special treat with them
instead of letting them melt.
One
day I was shopping with my family at the grocery store. As we were checking out, I saw a woman who
was holding a sleeping child in her arms.
She was trying to unload her groceries.
I decided that I wanted to help her.
As we were leaving, my Dad and I stayed behind to help her load her
groceries into bags. She was very
grateful. Even though we did not know
who this woman was, we wanted to be kind to her and help her out. It made me feel great. And it made me feel warmth in my heart. I know that when we are kind to other people,
it makes Heavenly Father happy too.
It
is easy to be kind to others, we just have to watch for the chance to help
people. We can say hello to someone who
is new. We can offer to help someone who
is in need. We can tell someone they
look nice. We can smile at people. All
these things show them and Heavenly Father that we care. I know that kindness is a good thing and that
we should all try to be kind to each other and it will help our testimony
grow.
I
want to bear my testimony that I know this church is true and that I know
President of Monson is a prophet of God.
I know he helps other and teaches us to be kind to others too. I say these things in the name of Jesus
Christ, Amen.
Good afternoon brothers and sisters. My name is Amy Loomis and you just met two of
my four amazing children. I am so proud of them for getting up here and
speaking. I have never been in a ward
where children speak in sacrament meeting.
And they did great!
Shortly after
we moved in, Becky Allen came to visit and she asked me what I liked to
do. My mind went blank and I think the
only thing I came up with is that I love to read, which is true. But my first passion is my children. I
absolutely adore being a mother and my children are my greatest pride and
joy. I read somewhere that we learn more
from our children than we ever learned from our parents. I don't know that this is 100% true, but I do
know that we learn on a much deeper level from our children.
So we have two other children who are not here in
Rexburg with us yet. Or oldest daughter Adrienne
is 20 and just finished her associates degree in Portland and is working full
time to fund her next couple of years of college here at the University. She will be joining us in November and we are
so excited for her arrival. Our next
oldest is our son Jacob and he missed being able to speak with the family by
just a few days. He will arrive on
Thursday. He just graduated from High
School and will be spending the next year with us preparing for a mission. Annalina is ten years old and she is a happy
sweet spirit who brings much love into our family. Joseph is a sweet seven year old and he makes
us laugh every single day! My husband
telecommutes for the same company he worked for in Beaverton. He is going to school part time while we are
here. I will be starting at the
University in the fall as a Junior and am eager to finish my education! We are excited and very blessed to be here.
I have been asked to speak about Faith. I feel that
I have a lot of experience in this subject from the past few years, but putting
it all into words is difficult. When I
first heard this subject the primary song about faith popped into my head and I
have been singing it in my mind all week.
1. Faith is knowing the sun will
rise, lighting each new day.
Faith is knowing the Lord will hear
my prayers each time I pray.
Faith is like a little seed: If
planted, it will grow.
Faith is a swelling within my heart.
When I do right, I know.
I looked up this song to make sure I
had the words right and I found a second verse that I did not remember....
2. Faith is knowing I lived with God
before my mortal birth.
Faith is knowing I can return when
my life ends here on earth
Faith is trust in God above; In Christ, who showed the way.
Faith is strengthened; I feel it
grow
Whenever I obey.
I love this song, it is simple, but it says so much
about this important principle of the gospel.
In fact, The 4th Article of
Faith tells us that Faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ is the very first principle
of the Gospel.
in
2003, Anne C. Pingree gave a talk about Faith and I want to share one of her
experiences with you...She says, I will never forget a sauna-hot day
in the lush rain forest of southeastern Nigeria. My husband and I had traveled
to one of the most remote locations in our mission so he could conduct temple
recommend interviews with members in the district. Some in this growing
district had been Church members less than two years. All the members lived
3,000 miles away from the nearest temple in Johannesburg, South Africa. None
had received their temple endowment.
These members knew the appointed day
each month we would come to their district, but even we didn’t know the exact
hour we would arrive; nor could we call, for telephones were rare in that part
of West Africa. So these committed African Saints gathered early in the morning
to wait all day if necessary for their temple recommend interviews. When we
arrived, I noticed among those waiting in the searing heat were two Relief
Society sisters dressed in bold-patterned wraps, white blouses, and the
traditional African head-ties.
Many hours later, after all the
interviews were completed, as my husband and I drove back along that sandy
jungle trail, we were stunned when we saw these two sisters still walking. We
realized they had trekked from their village—a distance of 18 miles round
trip—just to obtain a temple recommend they knew they would never have the
privilege of using.
These Nigerian Saints believed the
counsel of President Howard W. Hunter: “It would please the Lord for every
adult member to be worthy of—and to carry—a current temple recommend, even if
proximity to a temple does not allow immediate or frequent use of it.” In her
hand, carefully wrapped in a clean handkerchief, each sister carried her
precious temple recommend.
These two covenant Relief Society
sisters embody the meaning of Alma’s teaching “concerning faith—faith is not to
have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for
things which are not seen, which are true.”
My
husband and I tenderly recalled these sisters and so many other West African
Saints on that remarkable day in April 2000 when President Gordon B. Hinckley
said, “We announce at this conference that we hope to build a house of the Lord
in Aba, Nigeria.”
Brothers and sisters, I testify that sometimes “miracles … confirm …
faith.” The temples of Africa are a magnificent representation of miracles
wrought by the faith of so many Saints in the small villages and large cities
spread across that vast continent.
President Gordon B. Hinckley is a wonderful example
to us of a man with great faith. When President Hinckley announced his goal of
providing 100 temples by the year 2000, he acted by faith. He didn’t build any
of the temples using his own construction skills. He acted by the word of
faith, and that faith unlocked the energy of thousands of others who physically
planned and built those temples. He also exercised the priesthood keys that he
and only he held. This was a miracle just as surely as if he had removed a
mountain. Faith has thus brought about the miracle of more than 100 temples, a
number that continues to grow. Even a lifetime of service, of obedience, and of
magnifying his callings was not enough to cause this miracle. President
Hinckley could have said, “I have done enough. I am old and deserve a rest.” If
he had adopted that attitude, we would not have seen the result of his
increased faith. The faith of countless
saints has been strengthened through the faith of this one man.
Elder John K. Carmack Of the Seventy gave a
wonderful talk about increasing our faith.
He
said, When the Prophet Joseph Smith
left Nauvoo, bound for Carthage Jail and death, he had perhaps reached a point
in his life where he could act with complete trust in the Lord, even in the
face of grave danger. Previously, we know from the Doctrine
and Covenants 122:7–9 the Lord had answered his prayers in the Liberty Jail
with the following: “And
if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the
sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the
billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if
the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way;
and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after
thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall
be for thy good.
“The Son of Man hath descended below
them all. Art thou greater than he?
“Therefore, hold on thy way, and the
priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass.
Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear
not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.”2
Joseph smith could
have escaped his enemies by departing Illinois to settle in the wilderness of
the West. From there he could have directed the Saints to join him. He already
knew prophetically that the Saints were going to settle in the Rocky Mountains. But rather, in D&C 135:4 he said, “I am
going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer’s morning; I have
a conscience void of offense towards God, and towards all men”. He clearly had
traded his own desire to live to the purposes of the Lord and His plan for him.
By completely giving himself in service to God, despite tremendous pressure to
do otherwise, he had gained incredible faith.
When my husband and I first talked about
moving to Rexburg, it seemed like a crazy idea.
I had lived in that part of Oregon most of my life and we had been there
all of our married life. My sisters and parents all live there. My children had friends and were happy
there. We fasted and prayed about it and
got the answer that we should move. Looking
back over the past few years, I can see that the heartache and plentiful trials
we suffered were preparing us for this move.
Over the weeks before the big day, everything seemed to fall into place. Richard got approval for working remotely, we
were accepted to the university, we found a comfortable place to live, we were
able to sell enough things to fund the move.
Our faith that this was the right thing for our family was reinforced
continually. Then moving day came and
our plans for a smooth move fell apart.
Many times through that day and the next I wondered if we were doing the
right thing. Maybe we were not supposed to be moving after all. Then I remembered the blessings we had
enjoyed so freely while getting prepared for the move and I knew I just had to
have faith and the Lord would see us through.
We continue to have experiences that test our faith and we continue to
know deep in our hearts that we are doing what the Lord would have us do. That is a powerful feeling.
I had a huge faith
building experience the day before we packed up the moving truck. I woke up with a stomach bug. Before I could even get out of bed my stomach
was flopping, my body ached and I had very little energy. We had a huge list of things to do in order
to be ready for the load up the very next day.
I knew I could not spend the day in bed.
I prayed and prayed in my mind, all the while wondering if I could get
better so quickly. Miracle like this
happen, but did I have the faith needed for it to happen for me? I told myself that yes, I was worthy of such
assistance from my Heavenly Father and I asked my husband for a blessing and
then I got out of bed and got to work. I
was able to work hard and even eat lunch.
It was as if I had never been sick at all.
Establishing faith is very important, but our goal
should be to never be done increasing our faith in the Lord. In his talk, Elder Carmack said, We do not increase our faith by
following a formula, although the ingredients of fasting, prayer, and righteous
living are part of that process. Increasing our faith requires trusting the
Lord with our whole souls. We cannot say, “We have done enough and deserve to
rest.” Nor does the increase of faith come through definitions, logic, or
philosophy. Rather, we must:
Do what is
right and serve the Lord because we know, trust, and love Him with all of our
souls.
Harbor no
thought that we deserve a reward or thanks for what we do, although rewards
will surely come.
Humbly
ask, seek, and knock.
Never
demand anything of our Lord, because we are always in His debt.
Leave to
Him the final decision in all things, having the attitude “Not my will, but
thine be done.”
Be
prepared to sacrifice, even unto death, for our entire mortal lives.
One of the talks I loved this past General
Conference was Mountains to Climb by President Eyering. In it he quoted President Kimball saying “There are great challenges ahead of us,
giant opportunities to be met. I welcome that exciting prospect and feel to say
to the Lord, humbly, ‘Give me this mountain,’ give me these challenges."
This is
obviously not a step to be taken until our faith is the Lord is strong and
unmovable. But that is what we should
always be working toward, faith enough to welcome the challenges that will
prepare us to return to live with the Lord.
President Eyring finished his talk by saying
If we have faith in
Jesus Christ, the hardest as well as the easiest times in life can be a
blessing. In all conditions, we can choose the right with the guidance of the
Spirit. We have the gospel
of Jesus Christ to shape and guide our lives if we choose it. And with
prophets revealing to us our place in the plan of salvation, we can live with
perfect hope and a feeling of peace. We never need to feel that we are alone or
unloved in the Lord’s service because we never are. We can feel the
love of God. The Savior has promised angels on our left and our right to
bear us up.
And He always keeps His word.
I challenge us all to work on our foundation of faith. They need to be strong not only in our minds,
but in our actions, how we live our lives.
I want to take a moment to bear my testimony. I want my children to know that I KNOW with
all my heart that the gospel is true. I
have found that when my life is headed in the right direction, that is when the
challenges come, but not only that, the blessings flow as well. I know my Heavenly Father loves me. He shows me every day that I am important to
him. I marvel at the blessings he pours out upon me so freely, whether I feel
deserving or not. I am grateful for the
challenges in my life that have helped me become who I am. I am grateful for the faith that I have built
up over the years that carries me through dark and difficult times. When
friends or family let us down, I know that our father in heaven will always be
there for us. He is the constant in our
lives, the only one who will never let
us down. I am grateful for this
opportunity to speak to you on such an amazing topic. I say these things in the
name of Jesus Christ Amen.
Posts
