Church Services This Week at Ridge Crest Ward Northridge Stake Layton Utah 26 July 2015

Sacrament Service

What are some ways we can show compassion?

“We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.” (Charles R. Swindoll)

“But the pioneers did not work only because they had to, he said. “In the process, their labors enlarged their character and broadened their understanding. Work diminished their natural tendencies toward self-love and magnified their understanding of their divine nature. It heightened their compassion for others. In the labors of each day, they discovered and solidified an inner strength and profound spiritual depth.” (President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, All Is Well, July 13, 2014, Pioneer Days Celebration in Ogden, Utah)

"Work is a blessing from God. It is a fundamental principle of salvation, both spiritual and temporal." (J Richard Clarke, The Value of Work, April 1982 General Conference)

Moses 4:23

23 And unto Adam, I, the Lord God, said: Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the fruit of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying—Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed shall be the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.

"1. As Latter-day Saints, if we would be true to our religion, we must perform high-quality work. It is a matter of integrity. Every piece of work we do is a portrait of the one who produced it. We are increasingly concerned with the diminishing quality of work in our society. On every hand we see shoddy workmanship for which full compensation is expected, whether the product meets acceptable standards or not. We must be motivated by a higher ideal than simply meeting the artificial standard of a society which has allowed inferior performance to be acceptable. That is not the Mormon ethic. In times of unemployment, Latter-day Saints who practice the work principles of our religion should be in great demand.

“Let us give full, honest effort to our jobs as though we owned the enterprise. In a very real sense, each of us is in business for ourselves, no matter who pays us. Be honest with your employer. Make sure that “the laborer is worthy of his hire.” (D&C 84:79.) Our employers should get the best we have in us, not just enough to get by or to meet common standards. Each of us should set a personal standard based upon our ability. Let us exemplify the old pioneer motto: A Full Day’s Work for a Full Day’s Pay."

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“ Look to your present job as a stepping-stone along your career path. Take time to think. The dimensions of most jobs are constrained only by the mind of the uncreative worker. I like what one businessman counseled: ‘If at first you do succeed, try something harder!’”

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“To teach our children to work is a primary duty of parenthood.”

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“Fortunate is the young man or woman who has learned how to work. Wise is the parent who requires children to learn responsibility and to meet acceptable performance standards.” (J Richard Clarke, The Value of Work, April 1982 General Conference)

Sunday School

My teaching partner’s lesson on sacrament meeting.

“How we dress is an important indicator of our attitude and preparation for any activity in which we will engage. If we are going swimming or hiking or playing on the beach, our clothing, including our footwear, will indicate this. The same should be true of how we dress when we are to participate in the ordinance of the sacrament. It is like going to the temple. Our manner of dress indicates the degree to which we understand and honor the ordinance in which we will participate.

"During sacrament meeting—and especially during the sacrament service—we should concentrate on worship and refrain from all other activities, especially from behavior that could interfere with the worship of others. Even a person who slips into quiet slumber does not interfere with others. Sacrament meeting is not a time for reading books or magazines. Young people, it is not a time for whispered conversations on cell phones or for texting persons at other locations. When we partake of the sacrament, we make a sacred covenant that we will always remember the Savior. How sad to see persons obviously violating that covenant in the very meeting where they are making it.” (Elder Dallin H Oaks, Sacrament Meeting and the Sacrament, October 2008 General Conference)

Elders Quorum

The lesson was based on Elder Dallin H Oaks April 2015 General Conference talk,The Parable of the Sower