Lupe's Notes - Apr 15, 2012

Is it Spring yet? Maybe this week. Hope you are enjoying your Sabbath.

THOUGHT: “In the garden and on the cross, Jesus saw each of us and not only bore our sins but also experienced our deepest feelings so he would know how to comfort and strengthen us”.

Elder Merrill J Bateman

ANNOUCEMENTS:

1. STAKE WOMAN'S CONFERENCE – Saturday, April 21, 10:00-12:00 (including luncheon) Meet in the Chapel for “Look unto me in every thought: doubt not, fear not”. You can attend any 2 classes. 1. “Maintaining Perspective and focus in today's world through small & simple things” 2.”Receiving Daily Revelation” 3.”It cost how much? Manage your money before your money manages you” 4.”Looking at mortality through spiritual Eyes”. It might be nice to car pool.
2. STAKE SEMI ANNUAL 5K & ½ Mile Fun Run – Sat., the 21^st at 8:00 am Deerfield Elem. Parking lot. Any questions, call or e-mail Ben Higbee (801) 471-8165; benhigbee@gmail.com
3. MOMMY MINGLE, Tuesday, April 24^th at Val Vista HOA park at 10:00 am. Meet at the park behind the Thompsons (north end) Bring your kids to play & moms get to relax and visit.
4. CIRCLED IN SEWING at Kay Johnson's home. Tues, April 24^th – 7 pm. Bring mending or projects, or come make a wonder oven or work on humanitarian projects.
5. RS BIRTHDAY BRUNCH – Sat., April 28^th, 11 am (Sisters with birthdays in Jan, Feb, & March) will celebrate at Megan Duckworth's home.
6. Thurs, May 10^th – y pm “GUILT FREE CELEBRATION OF MOTHERHOOD by Amy Waldron. Please fill out one of her “success forms” and return to her.
7. Check out our RS Blog. Http://manilla12thwardrs.blogspot.com

BIRTHDAYS: April 18^th – Lupe Lee. Happy Birthday to me.

Today's lesson was from George Albert Smith, lesson 8 “Temple Blessings for Ourselves and Our Ancestors” taught by Amy Waldron.

I want to thank Eliza Jane for her testimony about the temple. She expressed that “being in the temple helps e feel close to the Spirit of God. It helps me to know that the Savior loves me and everybody. Doing work in the Temple helps me feel good.” This is a difficult topic for me because it can get out of hand. One Sunday when I was teaching on a fourth Sunday, the topic given to me was a talk by Elder Oaks on Divorce. I usually put the title and info on the board, but that time I felt the need to ease into the topic. We will ease into this topic also.

We will do group therapy today. We will all be happy. I have difficulty with Family History. It involves Temple blessings not only for ourselves, but also our family. That is the feeling of President George Albert Smith. As a Family History consultant, I learned that Satan has 2 main plans for we not doing our genealogy and family history.

1. Frozen – there is nothing for me to do. It's all been done from me until Adam. Great great Aunt Ruth did it all. It's all done. The first time someone told me that, I thought that she was joking. And then I realized that they were not joking. I wanted to say to them, that's only a quarter of what needs to be done.
2. Satan – it's too much. I start and before I know it, it has become huge. It becomes too big for our brains. When I am doing something with family history, it becomes too large and then I need to take a break. But I have found that if I can keep it a family size, that will help. Work on a family, family by family. But we need to do something and not avoid it.

I brought a centerpiece for the first time ever. (She puts a big card box on the desk) I'll open it out later.

Quote from President George Albert Smith: Michelle C reads it.

“We thank thee, O God, for sending Elijah, the ancient prophet, to whom was '...committed the keys of the power of turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, that the whole earth may not be smitten with a curse.'

Do you feel like you have felt the Spirit of Elijah before?

Lynette: The first time I felt it was like a shock and it brought me to tears. I was working in the Temple in the youth room and I had a name so I went down to the Baptismal Room and was just going to leave the card there and come back for it, but the brother told me there was a girl there that could do it for me. It felt like I was observing the baptism of my great grandmother whom I had never seen before. It was a beautiful feeling.

Karen M: Anyone who searches for an ancestor has the Spirit of Elijah. It is pour out upon the hearts and minds of a person.

Cheryl N: To me, I am drawn to it. Driven to do it. As a teenager I felt the desire to record my parents' life stories. Even as a young mother, when I didn't have time to do genealogy. Now I can pull out those personal stories that I received as I talked to those people who were alive then. It is the turning of the hearts of the children to the parents.

Gisele M: I am one of those people whose work has been done by my father and mother. My dad said that when I am gone, you carry on. He even paid someone in Denmark and found out that some of the names were not complete. So we went to the Jordon River Temple, and it was when the computers were being used and they had a computer miss function. That night my father had a woman visit him and told him 'my work is not done'. He ignored it, but she came back three times and said the same thing, 'my work is not done' So he got up and checked him computer and hers was the only one with that name. I went with my parents and a niece to do the baptism and before the baptism, my dad said something to my niece. Afterward we asked her what he had said, and she said, 'grandpa told me that this lady wanted her work to be done.

Donna R: I think the spirit of Elijah is multifaceted. Heather Fillmore's testimony showed hearts being turned.

I have never done genealogy in my whole life. That becomes a whole other thing. That requires skills. It will stop me every time. But we have a commandment to be engaged in redeeming the dead. It doesn't require a science of genealogy.

Lynette: There are other facets, stories, sharing stories. Brother Backman shared stories of Sharon today in class. Even writing on the back of a picture, the names of person in the picture, dates, places. How many times do we see a picture and wonder who the person it.

Anyone use 'scrapbook' as a verb? We have collecting pictures, but not do scrape booking. Scrap booking is a hobby, but anyone can collect pictures. Scrap booking is not genealogy and family history. Don't be fooling yourself. You are scrape booking.

Quote continues:

We thank thee that he was sent to thy servant, Joseph Smith, to confer the keys and authority of the work for the dead, and to reveal that the plan of salvation embraces the whole of the human family, that the gospel is universal in scope, and that thou art no respecter of persons, having provided for the preaching of the gospel of salvation to both the living and the dead.”

Robby: That the authority has been brought back to the earth. That he was the last one to have the sealing keys. That he gave them to Peter, James and John at the Mount of Transfiguration and then on April 3, 1836 at the Kirkland Temple. Family History is also huge in Australia.

The Spirit of Elijah is a really important use of our time and enjoyment.

The problem we have with doing Jewish names is with our own folks, our own members. We should be doing work for our own family. We are given commandment to care for and do the work for our family. Family History is about family.

Michele C: Contrary to the Spirit of Elijah is to do work for the famous.

I bear testimony that God is no respecter of persons. I remember as a 14 year old girl, losing sleep over the thought that I had to be sure that my dad was baptize during his life time; that this was his last chance. But what a beautiful plan that the Lord has. Look at the great apostasy, lots and lots of people who didn't have the opportunity for baptism. Also where people may have lived.

Donna L: There is much information that will be available to us. What is going on in the Church with technology is amazing.

George Albert Smith's final comment: Quote

We are most grateful unto thee that salvation is provided for all who desire to be saved in thy kingdom.” George Albert Smith, Dedicatory Prayer, Idaho Falls Temple.

Melissa B: My mom wanted to serve a mission with my dad, but they were caretakers for my grandparents and afterward she got cancer. I felt sad for her. At her funeral, the Bishop said that she could now get to be a missionary on the other side She is doing what she wanted to do. And she is doing great work on the other side.

I love to hear “The Spirit of God” - we'll sing and we'll shout with the armies of heaven. D&C 138. Who is the army of heaven? The vision of the redemption of the dead. President Joseph F Smith saw the people. The Savior goes and organizes the souls to do missionary work. Lead by Adam and Eve, with many of her faithful daughters who had lived through the ages and worhiped the true and living

God. And he lists all of them. I have an image of the army of heaven. That group of people having success in teaching, but they can't do it without us doing the ordinances.

President George Albert Smith talks about doing.

Elder Dallin H Oaks talks about that in an address Family History “In Wisdom and in Order”, Ensign, June 1989. He talks about two principles.

The first principle is that our efforts to promote temple and family history work should be such as to accomplish the work of the Lord, not to impose guilt on his children. Members of this church have many individual circumstances—age, health, education, place of residence, family responsibilities, financial circumstances, accessibility to sources for individual or library research, and many others. If we encourage members in this work without taking these individual circumstances into account, we may do more to impose guilt than to further the work.

The second principle is that we should understand that in the work of redeeming the dead there are many tasks to be performed, and that all members should participate by prayerfully selecting those way that fit their personal circumstances at a particular time. This should be done under the influence of the Spirit of the Lord and with the guidance of priesthood leaders who issue calls and direct the Church-administered portions of this work. Our effort is not to compel everyone to do everything, but to encourage everyone to do something.

Do something in Family History work.

Let's look at the handout.

1. 3-5 generations. We can do three generations. That would be me, my parents and grandparents.

Lynette: I am the only one doing any genealogy, but I have been gathering data about my brothers so that someday, someone will be all together and do the work that needs to be done.

Our responsibility is to do this. Have one pedigree chart with family group sheets. There should be a family group sheet for every marriage. That's how Heavenly Father takes care of every soul. We need to have documentation and then do the ordinances. When Lehi got the brass plates, he read it and then he made copies of the genealogy of his fathers onto his own plates.

Janet S: It is important to share personal experiences with your children. Try to find stories to share with them. Sharing the thoughts of great grandfathers, what can they learn from those experiences. My dad gave me a copies of some records of an ancestor that the situations can't be shared with my children yet, but I can share his testimony and values that he shared with the sailors. It is important that I share with them later.

I want to now share with you some of the things that I have done about Family History, while at the same time not doing genealogy.

While my children were still young I showed them a picture of my dad as a High School basketball player. My kids love this. I put the pictures up and my kids will talk about it.

I have my mother's yearbook when she was at BYU, they can look through it.

I have a book about my ancestors. Someone did this, it wasn't me. I call it, 'Amy's Mayflower line. When my youngest child was learning about the Mayflower in first grade, we would look through it.

I have a picture of the graduation of my grandmother. They know her, even though she has been dead before they were born.

I have my father's life story. (a binder)

My mother's life story.

What my father calls this a descendent list.

Grandmother owned this (a baking dish) On dad's mother's birthday, we have a birthday party, and I'll bake a cobble in this dish, and we'll talk about her.

My grandmother's Book of Remembrance” all handwritten. How much work it took her compared to what we are able to do now.

How easy it is for us to find these records now. There is so much to be done. Doing Family History is the work of the Lord

You can have a family home evening about family history. It wouldn't have to include genealogy, just family history. God is no respecter of persons.

Next week's lesson is from Teachings for Our Time “Stand in Holy Places”, by President Monson.

Amy Waldron has a desk (5' long) with a hutch, and two file drawers and two white table lamps that she is giving away. Please contact her if you are interested.

Posted in: Lupe's Notes