Charity Suffereth Long

Suffereth Long

(Black words are commentary, Red Words are from the slides, most slides were just titles to facilitate the discussion, so discuss amongst yourselves or the comments)

 

Suffereth long? Sounds awful. No thanks, I'd rather not suffereth at all, or at least make it suffereth short. Sometimes we really do feel we are 'suffering long' and sometimes we really are. What is another way to put this? Instead of 'suffereth long' how about 'patient'

Patient      what is patience?

Patient with Yourself

Are you patient with yourself? Do you understand that change and growth are processes, not events? President Hinckley said to "try a little harder," he didn't say "be perfect by tomorrow." President Monson says courage is "trying again tomorrow." Be patient with yourself.

Patient with Your Companion

 

Are you patient with your companion? She's human, too. She's different than you are (surprise!) If you feel you are 'suffereth-ing long' with your companion then continue in patience with her. The Lord is patient with all of us-- we need to be patient with our companions, even if they are annoying, crazy, bossy, whatever. How would the Savior react to your companion?

Pray for the love which allows you to see the good in your companion. Pray for the love that makes weaknesses and mistakes seem small. Pray for the love to make your companion’s joy your own. Pray for the love to want to lessen the load and soften the sorrows of your companion            President Henry B Eyring

 

 

Charity

Charity

Love is the measure of our faith, the inspiration for our obedience, and the true altitude of our discipleship.
President Dieter F Uchtdorf

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Love is the way of the disciple.President Dieter F Uchtdorf

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Charity is the Pure Love of Christ

 

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How Do We Obtain Charity?

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Charity is born of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and is an effect of His Atonement working in the hearts of the members.   President Henry B Eyring

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And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked,thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Moroni 7:45

 



True Love

True Love



If you were Sherlock Holmes, you would no doubt observe that the date of this post is incorrect.  Today is March something (actually it is March something-else since I wrote that whole first sentence).  But, these are the slides from the Sisters Specialized Training we had on Valentine's Day.  And since we are talking about True Love, we'll keep up the symbolism.

 On Februrary 14th, we had the most wonderful opportunity to meet with all the Sisters of the Great California San Fernando Mission. Thirty-one beautiful missionaries who spend all day, every day, inviting and bringing people unto Christ.  They are wonderful women and I wish you all could meet every one of them.

We took as our our theme, True Love, meaning Charity, the pure love of Christ as defined by Mormon in Moroni 7:45.  We broke it down attribute by attribute and learned how it applies to us as daughters of God, as missionary companions and as missionaries.  We could have stayed for days and days and still only scratched the surface.  As it was, we had only five hours to spend on the one verse, so we had to hustle. 


The format was simple, a few quotes/scriptures and a lot of discussion which means a lot of slides with only topics on them--you'll have to come up with your own discussion.  Each attribute from Mormon is also "translated" into a more modern term.  There are many other words you could use but I tried to focus on those that would be most applicable to the day-to-day life of a missionary.

I started out as one post but it got too long and blogger began to wig (and you might not have brought a lunch and sleeping bag to get through it all).  So each attribute is a blog post--some are really short, others not as short, but all in all not bad for a batch of amateurs.  Anything in RED is what was on the slides, anything in black is just my random thoughts, Green is a link. (Admit it, you were expecting that link to be a rick-roll, weren't you). 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Guest Blog by Rebecca, who spoke in Church today

Sometimes we are asked to do hard things. We know they are right, but that does not always mean that they are easy, like packing everything up and journeying into the wilderness, or in my case California. However we must go forward with faith to do what the lord asks of us.

For, as it states in Hebrews 11 verse 6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is”. So the first step of going forward with faith is to understand what faith is.

 On page 116 of Preach my Gospel it tells us that “When you have faith in Christ, you believe in him as the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father in the Flesh. You accept Him as your Savior and Redeemer and follow His teachings. You believe that your sins can be forgiven through his atonement. Faith in Him means that you trust him and are confident that he loves you” it then goes on to say that “When you have faith in Jesus Christ, you trust the Lord enough to follow His commandments –even when you do not completely understand the reasons for them.”

For example I planned on writing my talk Wednesday since school got out early, but instead I felt that I should go to zone conference where I heard an amazing story that Elder R told. He was on exchanges with Elder L in the San Fernando Valley, and they went to go contact a referral that they felt good about, but when they got to his house he wasn’t home. Even though he was not home the Elders felt that they should leave him a pamphlet and were trying to figure out how to leave him one in his fence so he would see it.

While they were doing that a lady came up to them and started to talk to them about the Jesus Christ and the restoration, and while they were talking to her another lady came up to them and said “I want to learn about God”, and then someone pulled up next to them and started to talk to them from their car—it was a woman who had not been to Church since she was a little girl and wanted to come back. Now not only is she re-learning the gospel but the missionaries are teaching four new investigators because of her.  None of this would have happened if these two Elders had not gone forward with faith and did as they were prompted to do.  And I would not have been able to share this story if I had not gone to zone conference as I was prompted to do.

 It is not always so obvious with immediate results, but when we go forward with faith trusting that the Spirit will guide us we can accomplish what the lord asks of us. Every little thing helps, whether it be explaining to a friend why you can’t go with them to the football game on Sunday, or telling them that you don’t date until you’re sixteen. These things may not seem to make a difference and would be easy to go around, all you would have to do is say ‘I already have plans, or I’m not allowed, or something along those lines. But if you have the faith to say ‘I can’t go because I going to church on Sunday, and wouldn’t miss it for the world, or I’m a Mormon and we don’t date until we are sixteen’. These few words are easy to say when you are telling yourself that the next time someone asks you, you’ll say them, but at the time it is often difficult to muster up the few words that will plant the seed in their mind. But if you have the faith and courage to say these things it will make people ask more and more questions.

Brothers and Sisters I want you to know that if we have the faith to do what Heavenly father wants even if it seems impossible, he will help and guide us along the way. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Do You Know the Words to Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree?

Technically this is Popcorn Popping on the Cherry Tree

Well, do you know the words to Popcorn Popping?  Are you sure?

It is Zone Conference time which mean time to teach the missionaries so they can go out and teach the gospel.  Parts of Zone Conference are boring but must be done, like car inspections, reminders on how to fill out this form or when to call for medical stuff.  Part of it is really intense (or maybe just really tense) like when your mission president reviews the rules and explains that he will not let you ruin another missionary's mission.  If you are unwilling to be a full-time missionary and follow the standards in Preach My Gospel and the Missionary Handbook, then you are not acting as a missionary and it is better that you go home so you are not being held accountable for doing things that are fine in civilian life but not appropriate as a missionary.  Things like watching movies all day or, ditching your companion.  So, really only intense for one or two of them.

Almost all missionaries want to be good missionaries.  They know it is hard work and often discouraging, but they know they have been called of God to do this and they are going to give it their best shot.  Sometimes though, there are things they are doing that they shouldn't or things they are doing that they should.  They just aren't aware of it and would change it if it were brought to their attention.  Hence, the words to Popcorn Popping.  In each of the conferences I (because I have no dignity) invite the missionaries to stand and sing/do the actions to Popcorn Popping. For the non-North American and converts I invite them to behold the wonder of their companions "looking out the window."

I looked out the window and what did I see?  Popcorn popping on the apricot tree.
Spring has brought me such a nice surprise, ______________ popping right before my eyes.

What word goes in that blank?  Is it popcorn? After we sing, I ask that very question.  Some say popcorn and some say blossoms and some simply look around in bewilderment.  There are usually one or two who confidently assert that it is blossoms.  Those that think it is popcorn lose some of their confidence in the face of the confidence of the blossoms group.  But, the majority determine that it is Popcorn.  One even said there was no way to know since no one had a Primary book with them. Apparently he thought I wanted to really know and had no point.  An understandable impulse, but, of course I had my Primary book with me (Ok, it was on my phone). 

When I ask the Blossom crowd how they knew it, the most common answer was not that's how I learned it but, I looked it up.

The point is that sometimes we don't know what we think we know.  We need to look it up.  Just because we have always done it this way doesn't mean that there aren't changes to be made.  For a missionary, maybe you have always done something that isn't quite how you should.  You just didn't know it wasn't popcorn.  We are accountable for keeping the commandments (and in this case mission rules) but we need to know what they are, we need to look them up. 

Do we understand faith or repentance?  Are we sure? Maybe there is more to it than what we thought we learned the last time we sang that song.  Look it up.  Do we know how to love one another and bless each other's lives?  Are we sure? Look it up. 

My grandfather had a saying: Don't drink downstream [from the horses].  I haven't shared that saying with the missionaries yet because after loosing my dignity singing Popcorn Popping, I'm not sure I want to have to want to throw in the image of why you shouldn't drink downstream from the horses (hint: horses are less fastidious about using the facilities than you are). His point was that there are things we need to know, things we need to do, but we need to go the source to find out what those things are.  Scriptures, prophets, prayer, you know the drill. Just because somebody once told you it was popcorn doesn't make it so. 

This pattern is the one that Joseph Smith followed

In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it?

 While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

  Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know;

It is the pattern Moroni challenges us to follow.  To find out what is true and what we are to do with that information.

So, now do you know the words to Popcorn Popping? Are you sure? Then if you are so smart, is it me or be?

It wasn't really so, but it seemed to ______, popcorn popping on the apricot tree!

Go look it up.

Happy New Year!

If by chance you have not received a Christmas card from us, it is because they are all sitting on my desk waiting for Santa to write a letter, shove the picture in the envelope and mail it to you.  On the plus side, we actually printed out the pictures this year.  They actually say Merry Christmas on them but, I cleverly left out the year.  I'm a genius, what can I say?

To be perfectly truthful, they aren't on my desk.  Well, at least as not as far as I can see.  I'm guessing they are in one of these piles around/near/under my desk.  In real life, paperwork is not one of my talents and it's even worse now.  Which is why I love online banking and repeating payments.  Though someday I shall tell you the cautionary tale of The Girl Who Assumed Her Insurance Agent was Competent, but for now I shall give the moral of the story, which is always open letters from your insurance agent.  It is a thrilling tale, full of drama and many phone calls but will cause PTSD if I have to repeat it.  (Though how one goes from "we need to change our address" to "while you're at it cancel all of our other policies" is still quite mysterious.)

But, as I always do, I digress. 

Today was New Missionary Training day, tomorrow and the next few days are Zone Conferences and my sister Bonnie (www.overlys.blogspot.com, seriously you should check it out) came to visit before their family Disneyland trip.  So while the Hall kids had to be unceremoniously chucked out of bed and into school, the Overly kids went to Disneyland.  I can't wait to hear their reports and see if Disneyland can survive the twins.  (Prediction: probably not :)

Now, I've distracted myself with thoughts of Disneyland. So here is a picture of some M&M's I found on my floor.   

To the untrained eye that may not look like much.  To the Disneyphile it is obviously Classic Mickey Head with Classic Red Button Pants. 

Where was I again? Oh, yes, New Missionary Training.  New missionaries are awesome.  They have been here for one whole week now and have had some good experiences, some not as good experiences and a whole lot of "I had no idea what a mission was really like" experiences. 

I usually talk to them about what it means to be a Servant of the Lord.  It's not the same as being an employee of the Lord.  No clock punching, no 40 hours and then you are off for the weekend.  You are on call 24/7. Your sleep schedule is even determined for you.  You wear a uniform that in 2013 is about as odd as a lace maid's cap is.  We even tell you how to do your hair (hint: get a haircut). 

It's serious business being a fulltime servant, and it is hard. There are so many rules and at 18/19 you really don't understand them all.  The members don't even understand them all but you still have to follow them (hint: yes, you have to stay with your companion always).

The more I am out here the more I am convinced that the mission is for the missionary.  Not that converts aren't important, because they are, but if a missionary will spend two years as a servant, concerned only about his Master's business then the missionary will change.  He or she will be a better husband/wife, father/mother, brother/sister, a better disciple of Christ because of it.  If you apply what you have learned about listening to the spirit, living and loving your companion and working even when you don't feel like it you will have what it takes to thrive as an adult.  It is like tithing--10 percent of your life (age 18-20) will make all the difference to the other 90.

So do I think those who don't go on missions are doomed?  (Read doomed in an ominous, echo-y voice for full effect).  No. I think Elder Holland addressed that subject beautifully in his April Conference Talk.  Those who are blessed to be able to  serve early in the vineyard are paid no differently at the end of the day, but they also don't have to spend the day stressed out and worrying how they will feed their children that night.   

The eternal reward is the same for all the faithful, but the intensity of the mission work will train you faster than you could do it otherwise.  All worthy, able young men have a priesthood duty to serve.  For the sisters it is much more D & C 4:3. Which reminds me of this meme:

Why? I can guess.  Missionaries are never off the clock.  They spend 24/7 serving others.  They get yelled at and doors slammed.  They work so hard but rarely see the end results of their efforts for decades.  Does this sound like any other calling a woman might have in mortality?  Yes, I did it.  I played the motherhood card.  There are different fields to labor in, as it were.  The Lord has things to teach us that involve sacrifice whether or not it is sacrificing 18 months, cigarettes or sleep for a cranky newborn.  

And while I'm hypothesizing, why do I think so many more women will now have the chance to go?  How does that fit in with my other theory? I think the Lord wants more sisters to have the chance to serve because  we need better marriages.  So many of our missionaries come from homes with no good example of marriage.  They don't know how to disagree without being disagreeable or how to keep loving someone you don't even like sometimes.  If you can learn on a mission that love is action and the solution is always the gospel then when real life smacks you in the head, you know how to deal with it.  So sisters, if you meet the D&C 4:3 requirement, come on out--we'll put you to work.*

See, this is what happens when I am so exhausted (early morning seminary may be the death of me).  I meant to say nice things about new missionaries and have digressed so far I've forgotten my original point.  If I even had one.

Anyhoo, Happy 2013.  Be a little better, work a little harder, pray for your missionaries and their companions.  Oh, and if you have any referrals, I know the password now and can send a referral to any mission in the whole world. How cool is that?

*One big concern I have is that with so many sisters desiring to go is that those who have not felt impressed to serve full-time will be looked down on by others.  I have the same concern for Elders who have not been able to serve full-time for whatever reason.  Atonement is real--we all get paid  for our labor. You worry about yourself and keep your nose out of other people's business.  In the words of President Uchtdorf:  Stop It!



Merry Christmas, Missionaries

--Sorry to post a letter to the missionaries instead of something for the non-missionary types, but things are a bit pressed for time around here.  Merry Christmas!

Dearest Missionaries,

            Merry Christmas!  President Hall and I truly pray that this Christmas season will be one of deep personal meaning to you in your full-time service of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

            As we follow Elder Holland’s counsel to understand Christmas instead of merely enjoying Christmas, our focus shifts. It shifts away from us and towards the baby in the manger.  Instead of wondering what we will get, we wonder how it is that Christ was born, lived, atoned and opened the doors to exaltation to all of us. 

            As we understand Christmas we understand those shepherds who first heard the news from the angels--

Luke 2:15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

                We have heard the Good News, we come in haste to Christ to learn of Him, to do His will and to make it known unto those who have not yet heard. 

            Take some time this Christmas to read the story of our Savior’s birth with your companion.  Sing a Christmas hymn.  Ponder and keep in your heart the feelings you have as a representative of Jesus Christ.  May your most precious gift be that of the Holy Ghost testifying that it is all true--that mankind has a way back to our Father in Heaven, because of Christ.  Because of Christmas.

We Love You, Merry Christmas

President and Sister Hall