Enjoy this last week of summer. Here are some things coming up:
Dates to Remember:
Sept. 6 - First day of school for Saddleback Unified School District
Sept. 7 - Ward temple night at 6:30 p.m. Call 644-1820 to make your appointment
Sept. 8 - Adult Session of Stake Conference
Sept. 9 - Stake Conference
Sept. 9 - Seminary Kickoff and Standards Night. 7:00 p.m. at the stake center.
Sept. 9 - 16 - Newport Beach Temple closed
Book of Mormon Challenge:
Our annual summer Book of Mormon reading ends on Sept. 14, but, if you're behind (like me) it doesn't have to. Read til you finish or spend a weekend catching up! 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:
The month's almost over, so get your visiting teaching done now. Here is this month's visiting teaching message and a cute handout to go with it.
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.
If you'd like to write to any of the missionaries, here are there addresses:
If you'd like to write to any of the missionaries, here are there addresses:
Elder Patrick Carlile
Germany Berlin Mission
Zerbster Straffe
42
12209
Berlin
Germany
Hermana Danielle Anderton
Chile Concepcion South Mission
O'Higgins 940, Oficina 503
Concepcion Bio-Bio
Chile
Elder Landon
Gold
South Africa, Durban Mission
Suite 4, 2 Derby Place
Derby Downs Office Park
Westville 3630, South
Africa
Elder Brendan Hong
Bacolod Philippies Mission
P.O. Box 660
Bacolod City
Philippines
Whether you know them or not,
they would love to hear from you!
Members in the Military:
In addition to
our missionaries, we have two young adult members of our ward currently serving
in the military who could also use your letters and support. Here are their
addresses:
LCPL, Ryan,
Sean, M.
P.O. Box 349000
#696
Kailua, HI
96734
RCT Joyce, Jessica, M
4th RTBN, PLT 4027 Co, O
P.O. Box 16435
Parris Island, SC 29905-6445
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)
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)
Lesson Schedule:
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)
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)
Lesson Schedule:
Lesson
Recap:
Sacrifice
Shelly Griffith gave us a beautiful lesson taken from Elder Dallin H. Oaks April 2012 General Conference talk, Sacrifice.
Elder Oaks began his talk by quoting from the Eliza R. Snow hymn, "How Great the Wisdom and the Love."
His precious blood he freely spilt;
Elder Oaks explains that in Old Testament times animal sacrifices were made as a symbol of the sacrifice that the Son of God would make but that "[t]he incomprehensible suffering of Jesus Christ ended sacrifice by the shedding of blood, but it did not end the importance of sacrifice in the gospel plan. Our Savior requires us to continue to offer sacrifices, but the sacrifices He now commands are that we “offer for a sacrifice unto [Him] a broken heart and a contrite spirit” (3 Nephi 9:20)."
Elder Oaks goes on to state, "He also commands each of us to love and serve one another—in effect, to offer a small imitation of His own sacrifice by making sacrifices of our own time and selfish priorities. In an inspired hymn, we sing, 'Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven.'"
Elder Oaks explains explains that sacrifice is a symbol of our belief in Christ. "Today the most visible strength of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the unselfish service and sacrifice of its members. Prior to the rededication of one of our temples, a Christian minister asked President Gordon B. Hinckley why it did not contain any representation of the cross, the most common symbol of the Christian faith. President Hinckley replied that the symbols of our Christian faith are “the lives of our people.”5 Truly, our lives of service and sacrifice are the most appropriate expressions of our commitment to serve the Master and our fellowmen."
A few things that we as sisters do to sacrifice are:
Visiting Teaching- the bishop and Relief Society president can't see everyone. We are their hands and eyes and thereby the Lord's.
Missionaries- Some of us serve missions, others send missionaries out, many of us feed and support the missionaries in serving in our ward.
New members - Converts often make great sacrifices to join the church. Elder Oaks shared the following storty:
Thank you Shelly for a great lesson!
His life he freely gave,
A sinless sacrifice for guilt,
A dying world to save
Elder Oaks explains that in Old Testament times animal sacrifices were made as a symbol of the sacrifice that the Son of God would make but that "[t]he incomprehensible suffering of Jesus Christ ended sacrifice by the shedding of blood, but it did not end the importance of sacrifice in the gospel plan. Our Savior requires us to continue to offer sacrifices, but the sacrifices He now commands are that we “offer for a sacrifice unto [Him] a broken heart and a contrite spirit” (3 Nephi 9:20)."
Elder Oaks goes on to state, "He also commands each of us to love and serve one another—in effect, to offer a small imitation of His own sacrifice by making sacrifices of our own time and selfish priorities. In an inspired hymn, we sing, 'Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven.'"
Elder Oaks explains explains that sacrifice is a symbol of our belief in Christ. "Today the most visible strength of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the unselfish service and sacrifice of its members. Prior to the rededication of one of our temples, a Christian minister asked President Gordon B. Hinckley why it did not contain any representation of the cross, the most common symbol of the Christian faith. President Hinckley replied that the symbols of our Christian faith are “the lives of our people.”5 Truly, our lives of service and sacrifice are the most appropriate expressions of our commitment to serve the Master and our fellowmen."
A few things that we as sisters do to sacrifice are:
Visiting Teaching- the bishop and Relief Society president can't see everyone. We are their hands and eyes and thereby the Lord's.
Missionaries- Some of us serve missions, others send missionaries out, many of us feed and support the missionaries in serving in our ward.
New members - Converts often make great sacrifices to join the church. Elder Oaks shared the following storty:
Many years ago this conference heard of a young man who found the restored gospel while he was studying in the United States. As this man was about to return to his native land, President Gordon B. Hinckley asked him what would happen to him when he returned home as a Christian. “My family will be disappointed,” the young man answered. “They may cast me out and regard me as dead. As for my future and my career, all opportunity may be foreclosed against me.”
“Are you willing to pay so great a price for the gospel?” President Hinckley asked.
Tearfully the young man answered, “It’s true, isn’t it?” When that was affirmed, he replied, “Then what else matters?”
Temple workers - Many sisters give up their free time to serve in the temple
Temple attendance - Time is often the greatest sacrifice when we don't have very much of it. It is sometimes a great sacrifice to use that time to attend the temple regularly
Callings - Elder Oaks said that the "cloak of membership is not one of comfort but of duty"
Community service - as women we can serve in our communities by serving in our schools, neighborhoods, or other groups outside of the careers we may have
Families - We care for our families whether it's children, spouses, parents, siblings, or other family members.
Temple attendance - Time is often the greatest sacrifice when we don't have very much of it. It is sometimes a great sacrifice to use that time to attend the temple regularly
Callings - Elder Oaks said that the "cloak of membership is not one of comfort but of duty"
Community service - as women we can serve in our communities by serving in our schools, neighborhoods, or other groups outside of the careers we may have
Families - We care for our families whether it's children, spouses, parents, siblings, or other family members.
Elder Oaks said, "Perhaps the most familiar and most important examples of unselfish service and sacrifice are performed in our families. Mothers devote themselves to the bearing and nurturing of their children. Husbands give themselves to supporting their wives and children. The sacrifices involved in the eternally important service to our families are too numerous to mention and too familiar to need mention."
Care for poor - We give fast offerings, donate goods and other services to help our fellow man.
There is a time and place for us to serve in each of these capacities. We can't do it all now. Our sacrifices should lighten our burdens, not make us feel more burdened because when we are I'm the service of our fellow man we are in the service of our God.
Thank you Shelly for a great lesson!
Brittany
Larsen
Jalane Hong - 1st Counselor john_jalane@msn.com
Melanie Jacobson - 2nd Counselor melanie53@hotmail.com
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