Relief Society e-news March 11- 17

Hi Sisters,

Welcome to the Aliso Creek Relief Society Blog! There are a lot of links to follow here, so when you see a highlighted word be sure to click on it and it will take you directly to the link. We've got a lot of fun things going on over the next month!

Dates to Remember:

March 15, 16, 23 - Demo days. See below for the fun activities we have planned.

March 20 - Girls Night Out! Come join us for Bunco at 7 pm in the cultural hall. Babysitting will be provided.
March 24 - Stake Cooking Class: Fabulous Meals for Today's Busy Families. 9:30 am at the Stake Center. See the attachment to the email for more info or look for an email from Debra Rice
March 24 - General Young Women Meeting 5:00 pm at the Stake Center
March 29 - Solar oven demonstration 10 am at Peggy Nelson's in the Santa Margarita Ward. Please contact her at 949-459-1911 or peggymnelson@hotmail.com to RSVP and for directions.
Mar. 31 & Ap. 1 - General Conference
April 8 - Easter. The church has released new videos about the Savior's life you can find here.

Monthly Demo Class:

We will be offering demos monthly that can help strengthen our families and homes. Here is the schedule for the next few months. The times and dates change depending on the teacher, so take note of when demos are offered.

March 15^th- Fun with Ukuleles- 7pm with Cheri Haggard (at her home)

March 16^th- A Walking Garden Tour with Sally Hunt. 10 am at 52 Via Anadeja (1 block from the church).

March 23^rd - Haircutting- 4pm with Geralene Beckett (at her home)

April- Making wheat bread- with Eileen Stidham- time and date TBD

April- Learning CPR- with Ashley Sturm- time and date TBD

April 24^th- Food Nanny- 7:30pm with Geralene Beckett (at her home)

May 3- California Rolls- with Jane Boihem- 11am at Geralene Beckett’s home

May- Food Dehydration with Elaine Gold- Date and Time TBD

If you have a skill you would like to learn or a skill you would be willing to offer, please contact Katie Anderson or Geralene Beckett and we will get it on the schedule for the second half of the year. If you would like a copy of these dates to print out, you can find it here.

Visiting Teaching:

Here is the lesson for March. You can go here for a cute handout too.

Primary Presidency Message:

As you may know, we in the Primary have made a concerted effort to safeguard the children during Primary. We are mindful of the fact that our building is open and that there are many people throughout the building, especially on Sundays. We have noticed that sometimes children are using the bathroom alone during Sacrament meeting. We would like to encourage parents to reinforce the steps we have taken in Primary so that the same safety message is consistent while they are in the church building. These steps include: in the case of older children to use the buddy system, or in the case of younger children, to have an adult accompany the children to the restroom, to get a drink of water, etc. We are grateful for your children and want to ensure both their physical and spiritual safety.

Alison Bennett

Eileen Stidham

Dawn Curry

Ronnetta Johnson

Lesson Schedule:

Mar. 11: George A. Smith chapter 5, The Holy Priesthood

Mar. 18: George A. Smith chapter 6, Sustaining Those Whom the Lord Sustains

Mar. 25: TFOT, President Henry B. Eyring's talk A Witness.

Lesson Recap: The Holy Priesthood

I missed the lesson today so Annette sent me her notes and reading over them, it sounds like I missed a great one. Here are her notes in case you missed it too.

During the priesthood session of general conference on October 2, 1948, President George Albert Smith said:

 “I wonder sometimes if as fathers we take pains to explain to our boys the seriousness of the obligation assumed when a boy becomes a deacon. I wonder if when the boy is ordained a deacon the father lets him feel that he has something now that is eternally important.

 “I remember, as if it were yesterday, when John Tingey placed his hands on my head and ordained me a deacon. I had the matter so presented to me and the importance of it, that I felt it was a great honor. The result was, it was a blessing to me, and then after awhile other ordinations came to me. But in each case the foundation was laid in my mind that here was an opportunity for another blessing.”

In the same talk, President Smith taught that one of the blessings that come from ordination to the priesthood is the opportunity to bless the lives of others. As an example, he told about an influential priesthood holder—a home teacher—from his youth:

 “Rodney Badger was a teacher in my father’s home for years, and a great man. Whenever he came the family met and he sat and asked us questions and told us the things that he thought we ought to understand. And I want to tell you that when he came into our home he brought the spirit of the Lord with him. And when he went out we felt we had had a visit from a servant of the Lord.”

 President Smith concluded by expressing his desire that priesthood holders serve the members of their wards and stakes and “not lose an opportunity to help uplift and develop and bring them to be what our Father would have them be.”

In what other ways can we reap the blessings that come from the priesthood?

·        Asking for blessings from husbands, home teachers, or other priesthood holders

·        Participating in ordinances within the temple and outside of it (i.e. temple ordinances, being baptized and confirmed ourselves, baby blessings)

·        Family home evenings (fathers instructing children)

·        Men are instructed every week in how to honor their priesthood and by participating in priesthood quorums they are learning how to be good fathers and husbands

 How did we get the Priesthood?

The Priesthood was restored in our day by men who held it anciently

President Smith said, “When Joseph Smith was a young man the Lord directed him to translate the Book of Mormon. On one occasion when Joseph and Oliver Cowdery were translating, the Lord sent a holy being to answer their questions about baptism. Who was he that came? John the Baptist, who held the Aaronic Priesthood. Where did he come from? He came from heaven. … He appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery as a glorious resurrected being. He came directed by our Heavenly Father to confer the Aaronic Priesthood upon Joseph and Oliver, for it was not to be found any place in all the world. It was necessary that the heavens open and a man who had held the Priesthood, and still held it, should come and confer it.”

 “Following that, Peter, James and John, who held the Melchizedek Priesthood, conferred that Priesthood upon Joseph and Oliver, and the Lord directed the organization of the Church, with a Presidency, consisting of a president and two counselors; also a Quorum of Twelve Apostles, a Patriarch, High Priests, Seventies, Elders, Priests, Teachers and Deacons; the same kind of an organization that existed in the primitive church, as far as authority was concerned.”

The power and authority of God can be found only in His true Church

Do other religions hold this authority?

·        Some think they do, but no one else save Joseph Smith has been directly visited by Heavenly beings and had the Priesthood conferred upon them!

·        President George Albert Smith says it best: “Your mission is a very remarkable one, you men who bear the Priesthood. Upon you has been conferred divine authority. You did not obtain your right to preach and teach the gospel and officiate in its ordinances as a result of training in a college or university. You received your authority from men divinely commissioned to act as servants of the Lord, and it was conferred upon you by those who received it direct from Jesus Christ our Lord

President Smith said, “I have had men ask me: 'Of what benefit is your church more than some other church?' I have tried, in a tactful way, to explain to them the difference. Any organization may band together for worship, but that does not give them divine authority. Any group of churches may mass together and organize community churches. That does not confer divine authority. Men may unite for good purposes, but authority from our Heavenly Father is only obtained in his way, and his way in former days was by calling and ordaining men and setting them apart for the work. The same thing is true in our day.” 

President Smith continues to say…

“People should be made to understand that just to bow before the Lord in prayer does not give them divine authority. To live up to the requirements that are made of honesty, virtue, truth, etc., does not give them divine authority. … It is not sufficient that we pray, that we attend church. It is necessary that we possess divine authority, and it is the claim that we possess that authority that has brought upon this Church much of the persecution that has followed it from the beginning. But it is the truth and many of our Father’s children are beginning to observe the effect of divine authority in this Church. They see the development that is made in the lives of men and women.”

 “I personally do not desire to be understood to be finding fault and criticizing the people who belong to the various denominations of the world. I am thankful that there are in so many of them good men and good women who believe in him and with the light that they have serve God; but the fact remains that our Father has established in this world, his Church. He has conferred upon men in this day his authority, and there is no other authority in the world that he will recognize but that which he himself has instituted.”

 Priesthood ordinances are essential for us to enter the celestial kingdom

“Joseph Smith, Jr. was called by God to be His prophet and through him was restored to the earth the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood which is the power of God delegated to man to act in His name. Through this Priesthood every ordinance of the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ, necessary for the salvation of the children of man, is authoritatively administered.”

·        Baptism

·        Confirmation

·        Temple Ordinances

·        Temple Marriage

·        Every important step we make in life requires the power of the priesthood

 “The priesthood … is a blessing that, if we are faithful, will open the doors of the celestial kingdom and give us a place there to live throughout the ages of eternity. Do not trifle with this priceless blessing.”

Priesthood holders have a responsibility to live exemplary lives and use the priesthood to bless others

“Some men think that because they hold the Priesthood that that gives them a special way in which they may conduct themselves in their homes. I want to tell you that you men who hold the Priesthood will never get into the Celestial Kingdom, unless you honor your wives and your families and train them and give them the blessings that you want for yourselves.”

 “The authority of our Heavenly Father is upon the earth for the blessing of mankind, not to make those who receive that authority arrogant, but to make them humble; not to make those who have received special privileges feel that they are greater than others, but to make us humble in our souls, prayerful in our hearts, and considerate of all men in all that we do, and thus exemplify by upright lives that which our Heavenly Father desires us to teach.”

 Being a member of the Church and holding the Priesthood will not get us anywhere unless we are worthy. The Lord has said that every blessing that we desire is predicated upon obedience to His commandments. We may deceive our neighbors, and we may deceive ourselves with the idea that we are going through all right, but unless we keep the commandments of our Heavenly Father, unless we bear worthily this holy Priesthood that is so precious, we will not find our place in the celestial kingdom.”

 

How can we help our husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers live up to their priesthood responsibilities?

·        Ask them to exercise it

·        Encourage them to attend meetings

·        Encourage them to home teach and allow home teachers into your home

·        Make opportunities for them to teach your children the importance of the priesthood

 

Thanks Annette!

Have a great week and a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Brittany Larsen

brittanylarsen73@hotmail.com



Presidency members:

Geralene Beckett - Presidentbeckettbunch@cox.net

Diane Smith - 1st Counselordianebsmith.smith5@gmail.com

Katie Anderson - 2nd Counselorkatiewoodanderson@gmail.com

Shannon Lo - Secretaryfoxymomsml@cox.net