We've got a lot of fun things going on this summer. Read on to find out more!
Dates to Remember:
July 4th: Ward party at Melinda Park (at the corner of Santa Margarita Pkwy and Melinda) 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Relief Society is in charge of desserts, so look for the sign up sheet in Relief Society or just bring one. You can never have too many desserts!
July 6th: Ward temple night. Make your appointment early for the 6:30 p.m. session. Call 949-644-1820
July 17th: Relief Society Meeting Night. Retro Homemaking: How to Live Like Your Grandmother in a Modern World. Join as at 7 p.m. for a fun night of cooking, cleaning, and crafting. Really, it will be fun. Don't let those three c-words scare you.
July 21st: Pioneer Day 4-6 p.m. at Altisma Park. Go here for more information.
July 24th: Stake Humanitarian Day 7 - 9 p.m. at the Stake Center.
Book of Mormon Challenge:
Our annual summer Book of Mormon reading started on June 17, but it's not too late to start if you haven't! 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. Look for bookmarks outside of Relief Society that have the scheduled reading.
Visiting Teaching:
Summer is crazy with people coming and going on vacation, so schedule your appointments early. Here is this month's visiting teaching message.
Summer Humanitarian Mission:
Our Humanitarian mission for this summer is to raise enough
money to build six wells for people who don't have access to fresh, clean water.
Find out more about it 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 Carlile 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 Carlile is in the Berlin, Germany mission and Landon Gold is serving in Durban, South Africa.
Temple
Theme:
One of our
goals as a Relief Society Presidency and the focus of our Stake Relief Society
Presidency is to get sisters to the temple, so when I found this video of President Monson talking about the
purpose and importance of temples, I had to share it. Please watch it when you
have a chance!
Summer Fun
Days:
School is out, so let's get ready for some fun! Here are some of the fun things a lot of local moms will be doing:
Mondays - Swim at Altisima Pool
Tuesdays - Head to the beach (changes from week to week, but usually San Clemente area)
Wednesdays - Free movie www.regmovies.com/summermovieexpress
Thursdays - Mission Viejo Lake (contact a MV resident to get on the list to get in)
Fridays- RSM beach club (contact RSM resident to get on the list to get in)
For Our Singles:
School is out, so let's get ready for some fun! Here are some of the fun things a lot of local moms will be doing:
Mondays - Swim at Altisima Pool
Tuesdays - Head to the beach (changes from week to week, but usually San Clemente area)
Wednesdays - Free movie www.regmovies.com/summermovieexpress
Thursdays - Mission Viejo Lake (contact a MV resident to get on the list to get in)
Fridays- RSM beach club (contact RSM resident to get on the list to get in)
For Our Singles:
Aug. 2 - 6: Orange County Singles
Conference: Pursue Your Path to Happiness. Contact ocbconference@gmail.com with questions or talk
to sister Cassandra Leonard.
Lesson Schedule:
July 1: Presidency Message
July 29: Bishopric Message
Lesson Recap: Preparing Our
Vessels
Our new second
counselor, Melanie Jacobson, taught us today from the Parable of the Ten
Virgins found in Matthew 25: 3-10. Usually when reading this parable we focus
on how we can prepare ourselves for the Second Coming, but Sister Jacobson
asked us to think about how we can prepare ourselves for the trials and
unexpected things that may come our way.
We know there will be a Second Coming and we've been told how to prepare for it, and though we don't know the time of it, when it comes it shouldn't be unexpected. But we all will have unexpected trials in our lives that we can also prepare spiritually for.
Sister Jacobson quoted from Jesus the Christ and explained that it was the custom at the time of Christ for a Bridegroom to go the home of his bride and then escort her to their new home where the wedding ceremony would take place. As the couple proceeded with their attendants to the ceremony, smaller groups would join them along the way. Since the weddings customarily took place at night, lamps were necessary to light the way. The parties waiting to join them could approximate when the wedding party would appear, there was not an exact time. In the parable told by Jesus, five of the virgins took enough oil for the time they thought it would take the Bridegroom to appear. Unfortunately for them, he tarried and since they had not brought extra oil, they had to purchase more.
We know there will be a Second Coming and we've been told how to prepare for it, and though we don't know the time of it, when it comes it shouldn't be unexpected. But we all will have unexpected trials in our lives that we can also prepare spiritually for.
Sister Jacobson quoted from Jesus the Christ and explained that it was the custom at the time of Christ for a Bridegroom to go the home of his bride and then escort her to their new home where the wedding ceremony would take place. As the couple proceeded with their attendants to the ceremony, smaller groups would join them along the way. Since the weddings customarily took place at night, lamps were necessary to light the way. The parties waiting to join them could approximate when the wedding party would appear, there was not an exact time. In the parable told by Jesus, five of the virgins took enough oil for the time they thought it would take the Bridegroom to appear. Unfortunately for them, he tarried and since they had not brought extra oil, they had to purchase more.
We read about these five virgins in verses 3-10. The five who had planned for just enough are not prepared for he unexpected. Those five have to buy more oil. They have to pay the price for not being prepared.
In this parable the following objects represent the following things:
Vessels - represent
being spiritually prepared
Lamps - represent the light of the gospel we carry with us
Oil - represents our faith and testimonies
How do we apply this scripture to the unexpected challenges that come in life?
We can't coast in preparing ourselves spiritually. When things get easy, if we think we know what's going to happen we sometimes get complacent.
Elder Quentin L. Cook said in his October 2008 General Conference address, Hope Ya Know, We Had a Hard Time, ... many of the trials and hardships we encounter in life are severe and appear to have lasting consequences. Each of us will experience some of these during the vicissitudes of life...One of the essential doctrines illuminated by the Restoration is that there must be opposition in all things for righteousness to be brought to pass.2 This life is not always easy, nor was it meant to be; it is a time of testing and proving.
Elder Cook goes on to say, One of the great blessings of the scriptures is that they warn us of challenges that are unexpected but often occur. We would do well to be prepared for them. One form of preparation is to keep the commandments.
Lamps - represent the light of the gospel we carry with us
Oil - represents our faith and testimonies
How do we apply this scripture to the unexpected challenges that come in life?
We can't coast in preparing ourselves spiritually. When things get easy, if we think we know what's going to happen we sometimes get complacent.
Elder Quentin L. Cook said in his October 2008 General Conference address, Hope Ya Know, We Had a Hard Time, ... many of the trials and hardships we encounter in life are severe and appear to have lasting consequences. Each of us will experience some of these during the vicissitudes of life...One of the essential doctrines illuminated by the Restoration is that there must be opposition in all things for righteousness to be brought to pass.2 This life is not always easy, nor was it meant to be; it is a time of testing and proving.
Elder Cook goes on to say, One of the great blessings of the scriptures is that they warn us of challenges that are unexpected but often occur. We would do well to be prepared for them. One form of preparation is to keep the commandments.
In numerous places
in the Book of Mormon, the people were promised
that they would prosper in the land if they would keep the commandments.22 This promise is often accompanied by the
warning that if they do not keep the commandments of God, they shall be cut off
from His presence.23 Clearly, having the blessings of the
Spirit—the ministration of the Holy Ghost—is an essential element to
truly prosper in the land and to be prepared.
Sister Jacobson
also shared a story from Elder Walter F. Gonzales's October 2007 Conference
address Today is the Time.
When President
James E. Faust informed my wife and me that we would be transferred to Lima,
Peru, we had no clue that on August 15, 2007, only a few days after our
arrival, we would witness a devastating earthquake. More than 52,000 houses
were destroyed by its sheer strength. Worse yet, it left more than 500 dead.
Nine of them were members of the Church. Members in the Ica and Pisco stakes
and the Cañete and Chincha districts suffered the brunt of the tremor’s
aftermath.
The Church provided
immediate relief to its members and those of other faiths. The morning after
the quake, our members in the disaster area were receiving food and clothing,
and before noon the Church was donating humanitarian aid to the nation’s civil
defense. Many members who were left homeless were sheltered in our
meetinghouses. Despite how unexpected the catastrophe was, the priesthood
organization functioned very well to bring relief to those less fortunate.
Stake and district
presidents along with bishops went out to help their members only minutes after
the earthquake. The terrible situation in which these priesthood leaders went
out is worth highlighting: it was nighttime; the lights were out; destruction
abounded; and the earth would not stop shaking. These magnificent priesthood leaders
left their families secured and walked out into the darkness, among people who
wept, surrounded by destroyed houses. Thus our leaders went out during the
night and the following days, facing frequent, strong aftershocks and a tsunami
warning. They searched among the rubble, in the midst of commotion, risking
their own lives to get to all the members. A bishop declared, “Without as much
as a second thought, I ran in search of my Church brothers and sisters and
leaders.” He found them. That’s how he spent most of the night.
What motivated
these leaders to go out and help others, even to the risking of their own
lives? Certainly it was their great faith in the Savior and His Church. It was
their understanding of their calling as leaders in the priesthood. It was
gospel principles engraved in their lives before the earthquake, not during the
crisis—engraved not with ink but with fire by the Spirit in the fleshy tablets
of their hearts (see 2 Corinthians 3:3).
The possibility of
an earthquake was always there. When or how it would hit no one knew. When it
came, it was devastating. But under the direction of the priesthood, the
moment’s challenge was faced. In many cases, when members were unable, the Lord
made up the difference. Some members tell of seeing men in white helping to
save their lives. Others heard guiding voices. Years of Church service were a
preparatory school to becoming organized and helping one another.
The same happens in
our lives. We don’t know when or how earthquakes will hit us. They likely won’t
be literal shakings of the earth, as happened in Peru, but rather quakes of
temptations, sin, or trials, such as unemployment or serious sickness. Today is
the time to prepare for when that type of quake comes. Today is the time to
prepare—not during the crisis. What are we doing today to engraven in our souls
the gospel principles that will uphold us in times of adversity?
So what do we do to prepare ourselves? The following are suggestions from some of the sisters:
So what do we do to prepare ourselves? The following are suggestions from some of the sisters:
Ask the lord to prepare us
Attend the temple
Do the part of the gospel that scares us
Pay tithing
Read scriptures
Melanie left us with the final thought that we can do hard things. When trials come, look for the tender mercies in your life and know that our Heavenly Father is watching over you and reaching out to help you.
Thanks you for a great lesson, Melanie. We're so glad
to have you as part of our Relief Society Presidency.
Brittany Larsen
Jalane Hong - 1st Counselor john_jalane@msn.com
Melanie Jacobson - 2nd Counselor melanie53@hotmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment