Now Serving!

This is a wonderful video produced by the Church! Please take the time to watch it.

While we are on the topic of service...Personal Progress has tons of ways to serve! Just a small listing below:

You need Faith that your service will bless you and the recipient of your service.

You have to know of your Divine Nature and the potential you both nurture and gain when you serve. 

Remembering the Individual Worth of the person you're serving can help you to serve them more personally, knowing that you are both Children of a King!

When you've made gaining varied Knowledge and experience a priority, you can serve people in more unique and personalized ways.

Choice and Accountability - you can choose to serve or not, but you will be accountable for that choice!

Good Works and service are the same. Service can only be good works. Good works is defined as service!

Integrity is required to do the service well and to do it with a pure heart, with no intent of personal gain. 

And finally, Virtue is needed because, as one 2009 MormonAd put it, "Virtue [is] the Gold Standard". And how can we achieve the 'Gold Standard' without serving others as Christ did? Christ led a virtuous life, and thus we can look to HIM as our Gold Standard.

I hope we can all remember how our Savior lived and how much He served everyone during his life and through His Atonement!

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Note: I found this video on my cousin Lily's blog. Please read her many informative and fun posts on family history and the Spirit of Elijah here. Don't forget to comment!!!

As Sisters in Zion We'll Gather Together...

Did you watch the General Women's Session last night?? Wasn't it just fabulous? What was your favorite talk? Tell me in the comments. 

LDS.org now has the highlights of each talk here so that if you didn't get to watch it or you want to keep it fresh in your minds till the talks come out in print, you can review them now. 

***I'm not going to comment on every talk. You'll just have to do that yourself in the COMMENT section. ;) It's there for you!***

There was a strong emphasis on defending and building the family, especially since this year we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of Family Home Evening and the 20th anniversary of The Family: A Proclamation to the World, and because that is our main role as girls and women. 

Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson, Young Women General President, said, “The proclamation on the family has become our benchmark for judging the philosophies of the world and I testify that the principles set forth within this statement are as true today as they were when they were given to us by a prophet of God nearly 20 years ago.” (emphasis added) The family is being attacked from every angle! Sister Oscarson challenged each of us as sisters to commit to boldly defend the Proclamation on the Family and keep those values alive. 

President Henry B. Eyring was the concluding speaker. I really enjoyed his talk. It was sweet, and you definitely need to go back and read/watch it when you have the time. He spoke about the Holy Ghost and its role in comforting Heavenly Father's children.

He told about a little boy who died at the age of five unexpectedly on a family vacation. He visited with the boy's family and testified that the Holy Ghost was there, in that room with them. 

He also spoke about a young lady who was at the funeral. She told President Eyring that she had come to the funeral to possibly offer comfort, but she was also seeking comfort. She had recently lost her own child. The woman was holding a little girl in her arms. President Eyring leaned over to look into the child's sweet eyes. "What is her name?" he asked the young mother. 

She replied, "Her name is Joy. Joy always comes after sorrow." Joy does come after sorrow. The Holy Ghost will bring us peace, joy, and comfort beyond imagination. 

I hope every covenant sister in the Church got to enjoy this broadcast! It is always so wonderful. 

Also, don't forget to watch General Conference this coming Saturday/Sunday (info), and have a lovely Sabbath afternoon!

P.S. Can you think of some Personal Progress ideas? You can write a few of your own in Faith (faith in living prophets, faith to follow prophets, etc.), Individual Worth (along the lines of 'prophets speak to you and answer your questions in General Conference'), Knowledge (increasing your knowledge of the gospel), and so forth. But don't limit yourself to these! Be creative!

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For Who Can Find a Virtuous Woman? For Her Price is Far Above Rubies

Yesterday was a gorgeous, sunny, spring day here in the Southeast! We were all so excited, especially since we've been having odd weather here lately--one day it's 80 degrees and the next it's literally back to 45 or 50. So we're happy whenever there's a halfway nice day out. 

Well, yesterday it was 80 or so degrees and we were all settling into our seats for our Beehive lesson when someone said, "Why don't we go sit outside and have class on the steps?" It was a novel idea and everyone happily agreed. So we headed out into the sun and started our lesson. 

Once every month or two, my Beehive teachers will look for a Personal Progress experience that correlates directly with their topic and use it as their lesson. Yesterday was one of those days. Our lesson was on repentance and was taken entirely from Virtue Experience #4:

Because the Savior loves you and has given His life for you, you can repent. Repentance is an act of faith in Jesus Christ. Read Moroni 10:32–33, the book of Enos, and the section on repentance in For the Strength of Youth. The Savior’s atoning sacrifice has made it possible for you to be forgiven of your sins. Read the sacrament prayers in Doctrine and Covenants 20:77, 79. Determine to partake worthily of the sacrament each week and fill your life with virtuous activities that will bring spiritual power. As you do this, you will grow stronger in your ability to resist temptation, keep the commandments, and become more like Jesus Christ. Determine what you can do daily to remain pure and worthy, and write your plan in your journal.

We read the scriptures in Moroni and Enos together and discussed what they meant to us. Then we read the Repentance section in the For the Strength of Youth to ourselves. In my pamphlet, I underlined some things that stood out to me:

Repentance is more than simply acknowledging wrongdoings. It is a change of mind and heart. It includes turning away from sin and turning to God for forgiveness. It is motivated by love for God and the sincere desire to obey His commandments. This kind of came as a slap in the face, to be honest. Up to that point, I hadn't really thought about this. I had only been acknowledging my wrongdoings and apologizing...but then the same thing would often repeat itself later and I would again apologize. This is NOT a true change of heart! I wasn't truly changed if I was still doing the same thing over and over. This is something I am going to work on in my life.

Then it continues: If you have sinned, the sooner you repent, the sooner you begin to make your way back and find the peace and joy that come with forgiveness. If you delay repentance, you may lose blessings, opportunities, and spiritual guidance. Again, I am guilty. Sometimes I feel like, 'Oh, I can repent of this when I say my prayers tonight. It'll be fine. I mean, it's not like I'm gonna die or anything between here and then.' Do you see the problem? Rationalization and delaying are not part of the repentance process! Who knows? Maybe I will die before the day is over!

When we finished reading, we had a nice discussion about what we learned, and others pointed out what I had noticed. 

We were going to read the sacrament prayers, but somebody suggested that we try and recite them from memory. We didn't think we'd make it all the way through, but guess what? We did it! It was kind of cool to note the differences between them that you wouldn't normally notice if you were just listening to the priests as they blessed the bread and water. I won't tell them to you here, but you can read them yourself and let me know in the comments what you notice. 

Blessing on the Bread | Blessing on the Water

Finally, we wrote in our journals our plans to remain pure and worthy. Mine was heavily based on the eye-openers I received as I read about repentance. This was the first experience I've done in Virtue, but it was a good introduction and a perfect lesson on repenting!

See you later! (Or in the comments☺)

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Special Edition!!!

I know, I posted only yesterday, but I wanted to share something really neat. My cousin, Lily, who is a family history guru, has started a blog on the Spirit of Elijah and how youth can get involved, their purpose in being here on earth in the last days, etc. Anyway, I was very impressed by her thorough knowledge and explanation. You can read her blog here.

Well, I am very excited for this new resource to help youth in their quest to find their ancestors, but I also noticed that this correlates closely with some Personal Progress Experiences. And, of course, I am always looking for fun ways to get involved with Personal Progress. ;)

Individual Worth Elective Experience #6 says:

When you participate in family history, you come to understand your identity and individual worth. Visit with your living relatives to learn as much information about your family history as possible. Then complete a pedigree chart of your family and list the temple ordinances that have been completed for each person.

Well, this is pretty self-explanatory, at least to me, but if you have questions, please ask in the comments!

Knowledge Elective Experience #4 says:

Select a gospel principle you would like to understand better (for example, faith, repentance, charity, eternal families, or baptismal covenants). Read scriptures and the words of latter-day prophets that relate to the principle. Prepare a five-minute talk on the subject and give the talk in a sacrament meeting, in a Young Women meeting, to your family, or to your class. Record in your journal how you can apply this gospel principle in your life.

If you are curious about genealogy (the fancy-schmancy word for family history), you can research that using the resources they have suggested and prepare your talk on what you have learned!

Good Works Elective Experience #6 says:

Spend at least three hours giving service outside your family. Ask your ward or branch Relief Society president or a community leader for suggestions for service. For example, you might take care of children while parents attend the temple; collect, make, or recondition toys or games for a nursery; accept an assignment to clean the meetinghouse; or perform errands for or read to a homebound person or others in need. Record in your journal the reactions of the person you served and possible goals for future service opportunities.

Family history is SERVICE!!!! Finding names, taking them to the temple, and doing their ordinances may be the one of the biggest, most important services you will ever do for other people. I mean, it's their SALVATION we're talking about here, people! Who KNOWS how long people have been waiting to cross from Spirit Prison into Spirit Paradise?! 

You can also do family history and temple work for a project in many of the values. Be creative!

If you want to get more involved in the work of salvation for the dead (who are NOT actually dead!), familysearch.org is a wonderful resource! Create an account (or log in with your LDS account) and start searching! I promise that you will experience the Spirit of Elijah for yourself and feel your ancestors smiling down on you. 

Here are some great recent conference talks on family history. You don't have to read them all in their entirety, but skim over them and if something catches your eye, read it!

Elder Bednar's "The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn" from the October 2011 General Conference is probably my favorite: The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn. If you don't read the whole of this one, please read these:

I now invite the attention of the young women, young men, and children of the rising generation as I emphasize the importance of the Spirit of Elijah in your lives today. My message is intended for the entire Church in general—but for you in particular.

Many of you may think family history work is to be performed primarily by older people. But I know of no age limit described in the scriptures or guidelines announced by Church leaders restricting this important service to mature adults. You are sons and daughters of God, children of the covenant, and builders of the kingdom. You need not wait until you reach an arbitrary age to fulfill your responsibility to assist in the work of salvation for the human family.

The Lord has made available in our day remarkable resources that enable you to learn about and love this work that is sparked by the Spirit of Elijah. For example,FamilySearch is a collection of records, resources, and services easily accessible with personal computers and a variety of handheld devices, designed to help people discover and document their family history. These resources also are available in the family history centers located in many of our Church buildings throughout the world.

It is no coincidence that FamilySearch and other tools have come forth at a time when young people are so familiar with a wide range of information and communication technologies. Your fingers have been trained to text and tweet to accelerate and advance the work of the Lord—not just to communicate quickly with your friends. The skills and aptitude evident among many young people today are a preparation to contribute to the work of salvation.

I invite the young people of the Church to learn about and experience the Spirit of Elijah. I encourage you to study, to search out your ancestors, and to prepare yourselves to perform proxy baptisms in the house of the Lord for your kindred dead (see D&C 124:28–36).And I urge you to help other people identify their family histories.

As you respond in faith to this invitation, your hearts shall turn to the fathers. The promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be implanted in your hearts. Your patriarchal blessing, with its declaration of lineage, will link you to these fathers and be more meaningful to you. Your love and gratitude for your ancestors will increase. Your testimony of and conversion to the Savior will become deep and abiding.And I promise you will be protected against the intensifying influence of the adversary. As you participate in and love this holy work, you will be safeguarded in your youth and throughout your lives. 

Elder Cook's talk, "Roots and Branches" from the April 2014 conference is a popular one: Roots and Branches.

And Elder Richard G. Scott's "The Joy of Redeeming the Dead" from the October 2012 conference--The Joy of Redeeming the Dead.

Thanks for reading my rambling!