Sunday May 11, 2008 - Services Sullivan Hollow Second Ward

Mother's Day
Priesthood Opening
Ether 3:25-26
25 And when the Lord had said these words, he ^ashowed unto the brother of Jared ^ball the inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that would be; and he ^cwithheld them not from his sight, even unto the ends of the earth.

26 For he had said unto him in times before, that ^aif he would ^bbelieve in him that he could show unto him ^call things—it should be shown unto him; therefore the Lord could not withhold anything from him, for he knew that the Lord could show him all things.

Elders' Quorum
Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith - Chapter 8: The Everlasting Priesthood pp. 101–13
Luke 9
28 And it came to pass about an ^aeight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a ^bmountain to ^cpray.

Moses and Elijah were conferring priesthood keys on Peter, James, and John.

The teacher quoted from an April 1983 Ensign article I Have a Question pp 21-23 - The question that was ask was "Who appeared to Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration? What was the purpose of their appearance?"

On the mount Heavenly Father spoke out of a cloud “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” We do not hear much from Heavenly Father in the scriptures. Mostly He just testifies of His Son and confirms that He is the one we are to listen to. In the Old Testament Jehovah did the speaking. Jehovah was the premortal Christ.

The Ensign article noted that John the Baptist was on the mount with them. No one seems to know why since Peter, James, and John already had the Melchizedek priesthood, which encompasses the Aaronic priesthood to which John held the keys.

They referred us to the Bible Dictionary entry on Elias that describes the different uses of the name/title.

Melchizedek Priesthood gives the ability to:
-Bestow the HG
-Baptize - because it encompasses the Aaronic priesthood
-Administer in the temple - sealings and so forth
-give blessings of healing and/or comfort
-Patriarical blessings - scripture specific to our individual life.

Sunday School
Book of Mormon - Lesson 17: “A Seer … Becometh a Great Benefit to His Fellow Beings” p.75

Zeniff - King Noah's Father
Limhi - King Noah's son and Zeniff's grandson

Sacrament Meeting
There were two youth speakers that talked about things their moms have taught them.

3rd Speaker
Mothers should show examples of Christ to their children. They will follow them and if they follow Christ, their children will follow Christ.
3 nephi 27
21 Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my ^agospel; and ye know the things that ye must ^bdo in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do;

If children see their moms read their scriptures the children will learn to go to the scriptures and learn a love for them.
D&C 88: 118
"And as all have not ^afaith, seek ye diligently and ^bteach one another words of ^cwisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best ^dbooks words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith."

They referenced some things from President Monson's talk “Behold Thy Mother” referenced in the April 1998 Ensign.

4th Speaker
Every mother who has a testimony can have a profound effect upon their children. He cited Julie Beck's conference talk "Mothers Who Know"

Eph. 5: 25
25 ^aHusbands, ^blove your ^cwives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

5th Speaker
The bishop spoke briefly. He spoke of the blessing of the restoration of the gospel and the inspiration of the holy ghost.

He also talked a bit about his mother. He said that she taught him everything he needed to know except the gospel. She taught him standards. She talked about their family good name because of their standards and how they were respected by everyone in the community.

Sunday January 13, 2008 - Sunday Services Cumberland Ward

Sacrament Meeting
One of the full time missionaries spoke on the plan of salvation.

He talked about the purpose of Adam and Eve in the plan. He quoted scriptures from 2 Nephi 2
11 For it must needs be, that there is an ^aopposition in all things. If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.
25 ^aAdam ^bfell that men might be; and men ^care, that they might have ^djoy.

He talked of how after his resurrection that Christ preached to those in prison. He quoted 1 Peter 3:18-20

18 For Christ also hath once ^asuffered for sins, the just for the ^bunjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to ^cdeath in the flesh, but quickened by the ^dSpirit:

19 By which also he went and ^apreached unto the ^bspirits in ^cprison;

20 ^aWhich sometime were ^bdisobedient, when once the ^clongsuffering of God waited in the days of ^dNoah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were ^esaved by ^fwater.

He talked of where we go after death to wait for the resurrection. He then talked of the
1 Corinthians 15:39-42
39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.

40 ^aThere are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the ^bcelestial is one, and the glory of the ^cterrestrial is another.

41 There is one glory of the ^asun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the ^bstars: for one star ^cdiffereth from another star in ^dglory.

42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in ^acorruption; it is raised in incorruption:
This scripture outlines that there are different types of flesh of animal. It then tells that there are different types of bodies after we are resurrected.

2 Corinthians 12:2 - references being caught up to the third heaven. Much like was talked about with having different levels we are resurrected to.
2 ^aI knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the ^bbody, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the ^cthird ^dheaven.

A stake high councilman spoke.

He cited DnC 58:26 - Showing that we should use our agency to chose good whether we have a specific commandment or not. We may not have been commanded to do some good thing or refrain from some bad thing, but we should learn to chose wisely.
26 For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is ^acompelled in all things, the same is a ^bslothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.

He read “The Bridge Builder” poem by Will Allen Dromgoole, which President Monson quoted in the first presidency message in the Ensign this month.
An old man, going a lone highway,
Came at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast and deep and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fears for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.
“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,
“You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again must pass this way;
You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide—
Why build you the bridge at the eventide?”
The builder lifted his old gray head:
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There followeth after me today
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm that has been naught to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building the bridge for him.”

Are we building bridges or allowing those around us to fall in the pit.

In commenting on adversity the high councilman stated that the strongest timbers that grow through winds and storms.

In commenting on our free will he stated, we choose how we will respond to life. We choose to be in a good mood or bad. Be anxiously engaged in a good cause. We are not spectators in life.

Sunday School
Book of Mormon Lesson 2 - “All Things According to His Will”
Lehi prophesied of Jerusalem's destruction. The reception to his words was a lot more extreme, but similar to the responses one gets if they suggest that disasters or trials of our day could be a consequence of our wickedness.

Lehi was commanded to get the plates to preserve their literacy, genealogy, and religion.

1 Nephi 3:7 - And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I ^awill go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no ^bcommandments unto the children of men, save he shall ^cprepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

Priesthood
Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith Chapter 1: The First Vision: The Father and the Son Appear to Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith is known as the prophet of the restoration. The instructor pointed out that the restoration is ongoing and that all the prophets of this dispensation are prophets of the restoration.

Sunday April 1, 2007 - Afternoon Session of General Conference

Elder L. Tom Perry - Apostle (Audio, Text)

The Message of the Restoration
The restoration of the gospel cleared up many misconceptions and points of contention among religious sects. One of them being the nature of God. When God and Jesus appeared to Joseph Smith this event revealed that God the Father and Jesus Christ were two separate beings and they each had "a body of flesh and bones that is glorified and perfected".

Elder Perry quoted from the Doctrine and Covenants about the bring forth of the Book of Mormon, "Proving to the world that the holy scriptures are true, and that God does inspire men and call them to his holy work in this age and generation, as well as in generations of old" (D&C 20:7–11).

Elder Henry B. Eyring - Apostle (Audio, Text)
This Day

Someday means not today. "Someday I will repent." "Someday I will forgive him." "Someday I will speak to my friend about the Church." "Someday I will start to pay tithing." "Someday I will return to the temple." "Someday. . . . "

He talked of the purpose of creation was for us to prove ourselves. When we lived with God before we were born we chose to come here. "Hard as we knew the test would be, we felt joy because we had confidence that we could pass it. Our confidence came from knowing that Jesus Christ would come into the world as our Savior. He would overcome death. He would make it possible for us to be cleansed of our sins by qualifying for the effects of His Atonement."

Elder Gary J. Coleman - Seventy (Audio, Text)
"Mom, Are We Christians?"
He starts off his talk with the story of a girl that is scoffed at in school by those claiming that Latter-day Saints are not Christians.

Elder Coleman did not get into this in his talk, but I get to thinking about this every so often. So many lash out at the Church and most time at the members of the Church because some leader in the their church has told them that we are not Christians. It is interesting how they pick and choose who they label. Within protestantism there are churches that believe that God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are the same person. There are other protestant churches that believe that they are individuals with a single purpose. One of these doctrines would have to be non biblical, yet I rarely hear protestants calling other protestants or protestant churches out as being a cult or nonChristian. On the other hand, I have heard it frequently from others that I am not a Christian. Not because my actions don't represent what a follower of Christ would do, but because I am a Latter-day Saint.

The definition of a Christian has become so blurred that I sometimes wonder if that is even a title that I should try to claim. Does Christian mean follower of Christ or does it just mean someone that only uses parts of the New and Old Testaments in their sermons?

Charles W. Dahlquist II - Young Men General President (Audio, Text)

Who's on the Lord's side?
He quoted the words of a young pioneer which is now part of one of our hymns:
Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
Now is the time to show.
We ask it fearlessly:
Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
("Who’s on the Lord's Side?" Hymns, no. 260)

He talked of David fighting Goliath and his response contrasted with the other young men of Israel. "Their response to the question "Who's on the Lord side?" was not "I am!" but rather "Who me?""

He also gave some good thoughts on resisting temptations and becoming stronger people.

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf - Apostle (Audio, Text)
Point of Safe Return
Elder Uchtdorf often pulls from his experience as a pilot to relate that to the gospel. He did so again this time. He talked of how in piloting there is a point of safe return sometimes referred to as the point of no return. Before this point you have enough fuel to return safely to where you started. He said that Satan tries to convince us that we are pasted the point of safe return. He does this in our individual lives, our marriages, our families, and in our sorrows.

Elder Russell M. Nelson - Apostle (Audio, Text)

Repentance and Conversion
His talk seemed to build on the points Elder Uchtdorf made on there being hope. Elder Nelson went on to describe the steps of repentance and the urgency of doing so.

President Gordon B. Hinckley - Prophet (Audio, Text)

Closing Remarks
He summarized the conference and dismissed everyone. He cautioned everyone to be safe when leaving the conference. He counseled that we should use the May Ensign magazine, which will contain this weekends proceedings, in our family home evening to teach our families. He closed with telling wife's and husbands to be decent and supportive of each other and to their children.