Can you belive it? May is more than half over! Here is what's going on for the rest of the month.
Dates to Remember:
May 22: Stake Temple Days
May 30: Temple outing with Relief Society Presidency. If you'd like to attend the 10 a.m. session on this day, call the temple for an appointment (949-644-1820). If you'd like to carpool call Shannon Lo (949-309-8241).
June 1: Ward temple night 6:30 p.m. Call early to save your spot!
Park Day:
Kids making you crazy? Need to get out of the house? Remember park day each Thurday at 12:00 p.m. at Altisma park. Even if you don't have kids, come by and enjoy chatting with lots of women from our ward and the Mission Lake ward.
Book of Mormon Challenge:
Our annual summer Book of Mormon reading will start soon, so get ready! This is a great opportunity to encourage your children to read the entire book when they don't have homework or other school activities to distract them. It's also a great time to read it yourself! Reading it in a short amount of time gives you a whole new perspective on scriptures that may already be familiar.
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.
*May 24 - 10 a.m. Learn how to make ebelskiver (Danish pancakes) with Brittany Larsen & Carrie Maxfield at Brittany's house, 51 Via Anadeja, RSM. *Note this is Thursday, not Friday as was originally scheduled. Bring kids if you need to & they can play in the backyard.
June - Making wheat bread with Eileen
Stidham - time and date 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.
Visiting
Teaching:
The May issue of the Ensign is the conference
report, so please choose a message from conference to share with the sisters you
visit. You can find all of the talks here.
Missionary News:
If you would like to feed the missionaries, please contact
Lauri Rex at laurirex@yahoo.com or 589-2929.
Don't forget to keep not only the elders serving in our ward in your prayers, but also the elders serving from our ward. Patrick Carlisle is in the Berlin, Germany mission and Landon Gold is serving in Durban, South Africa.
Don't forget to keep not only the elders serving in our ward in your prayers, but also the elders serving from our ward. Patrick Carlisle is in the Berlin, Germany mission and Landon Gold is serving in Durban, South Africa.
Lesson Schedule:
May 20: George Albert Smith chapter 10 The Scriptures
May 27: TFOT The Laborers in the Vineyard Elder Holland
June 3: Presidency message
Lesson Recap: The Scriptures, the Most Valuable Library in the World
Sister Marroquin gave our lesson today and shared some very valuable insights into the importance of the scriptures. She began by sharing the following story from the manual about President George Albert Smith:
Late in his life, President George Albert Smith recalled an experience from his youth when a passage of scripture had a long-lasting effect on him: “When I was about fourteen years of age, I read the fortieth chapter of Alma in the Book of Mormon in our Sunday School class. It made an impression on my mind that has been helpful when death has taken loved ones away. … It is one place in the scriptures that tells us where our spirits go when they leave this body [see verses 11–14], and I have wanted to go to that place called paradise ever since.”
Tracine focused her message on three major purposes of the scriptures:
1. The Scriptures are our Primary Reference Library.
1. The Scriptures are our Primary Reference Library.
President Smith said, The Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price, do not contain the wisdom of men alone, but of God. While they do not find their way into the homes of many people, they contain the word of the Lord. What mattereth it, though we understand Homer and Shakespeare and Milton, and I might enumerate all the great writers of the world; if we have failed to read the scriptures we have missed the better part of this world’s literature.
As someone who loves to read, this was a great reminder to me that the scriptures are the most important books in my library.
President Smith also said, I am not concerned whether or not you have the books of the great libraries of the world in your home, provided you do have these books. Think of the millions of volumes that there are in [the] Congressional Library at Washington, in the British Library, and in the libraries of other countries, millions of volumes—and yet all that God has revealed and published to the children of men that is necessary to prepare them for a place in the celestial kingdom is contained within the covers of these sacred books.
Tracine pointed out that our opening hymn, As I Search the Holy Scriptures, illustrates how the scriptures are our reference library. The words, "May my hart be blessd with wisdom, And may knowledge fill my mind" state simply that they give us answers, knowledge and comfort.
2. The Scriptures Help Us Overcome Trials and Prepare for Exaltation
Tracine shared this quote from President Smtih with us: This is a day of proving ourselves, a day of trial. This is a day when men’s hearts are failing them with fear. When the multitudes in the world are asking themselves what the end will be. A few inspired men know what the end will be. The Lord has told us what would occur, in [the scriptures], this wonderful library that I hold in my hand. He has given us the information that we need to adjust our lives and to prepare ourselves that no matter what may transpire we will be on the Lord’s side of the line.
In order to grow we have to have trials. In our most recent conference Elder Quentin Cook gave a talk entitled, In Tune With the Music of Faith. In it Elder Cook the importance scripture study in times of trial. We can learn from the examples of those we read about in our scriptures and Elder Cook presents Lehi as evidence of this. He states,
The great introductory vision in the Book of Mormon is Lehi’s prophetic dream of the tree of life.3 This vision starkly describes the challenges to faith that exist in our day and the great divide between those who love, worship, and feel accountable to God and those who do not. Lehi explains some of the conduct that destroys faith. Some are proud, vain, and foolish. They are interested only in the so-called wisdom of the world.4 Others have some interest in God but are lost in worldly mists of darkness and sin.5 Some have tasted of the love of God and His word but feel ashamed because of those mocking them and fall away into “forbidden paths.”6
Finally, there are those who are in tune with the music of faith. You know who you are. You love the Lord and His gospel and continuously try to live and share His message, especially with your families.7 You are in harmony with the promptings of the Spirit, have awakened to the power of God’s word, have religious observance in your homes, and diligently try to live Christlike lives as His disciples.
One way to "be in tune with the music of faith" is to make scripture study a priority in our homes.
3. The Scriptures Bring Blessings to Families.
Tracine didn't have time to get to this section of her lesson, but here is a quote from President Smith that illustrates this point.
Brethren and sisters, I desire to emphasize again the teaching of the Master: “search the scriptures;” read them prayerfully and faithfully, teach them in your homes; call your families around you and inspire in them a faith in the living God, by reading those things that have been revealed. They are the most precious of all the libraries in all the world.14
Keep this library where you can find it, and where your children will find it, and then have enough interest in the eternal salvation of those boys and girls that are in your home that you will find ways and means to interest them in what these books contain, that they may know how precious they are in the sight of their Heavenly Father.
Thanks, Tracine, for a wonderful and thought provoking lesson.
Have a great week!
Have a great week!
Brittany Larsen
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
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