Friday, October 30, 2009

IT'S FRIDAY!!

Today we sang Did You Think To Pray with a remix (I think that it what you call it). Ask your student if they liked it. I know it will never be played in Sacrament Meeting that way. We, also, did some scripture mastery. We are earning points for a pizza (or whatever) party. We now have close to 7,000....we need 10,000.
Our scripture of the week has taught us that we need to pray. When we do not feel like praying, the evil one is teaching us that we should not pray. It's a GREAT scripture. Thank you Nephi!
THANK YOU SISTER WILBURN FOR THE WONDERFUL BREAKFAST!! IT WAS DELICIOUS!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

DID YOU THINK TO PRAY?

MOSIAH 1 & 2

We are now in the large plates of Nephi...so now we are reading in the 3rd person. Mormon is now abridging the plates -- so he can get a little tricky when Mormon says "he". Who is "he"? But I am sure we will be just fine.
We learned today that King Benjamin (son of Mosiah who took righteous people to the Land of Zarahemla) fought with the sword of Laban. We are now with King Benjamin and all the people who have pitched their tents at the temple. We are eagerly awaiting what King Benjamin is going to tell us. We know that he is not going to trifle with words and we need to "hearken" to them.
DINNER TOPIC: How do we hearken to the words in Sacrament Meeting and are we hearing the words with our ears and our heart? How can we do more than just "hear"?

JON...GET BETTER....WE MISS YOU!!

Monday, October 26, 2009

JACOB 6 & 7

In Jacob we see that Jacob presents us with the two goals of the Book of Mormon. The first goal is to teach people plainly of Christ and His gospel. The second goal is to show the enemies of Christ and how to know they are the enemy. In chapter 6 Jacob teaches us about Christ when he says, "repent ye, and enter in at the strait gate, and continue in the way which is narrow, until ye shall obtain eternal life." Then he tells his people Brother Merrill's favorite (maybe ALL TIME favorite scripture). This scripture is one Harrison has heard many, many times. O BE WISE; WHAT CAN I SAY MORE?

In chapter 7 we meet the first anti-Christ in the Book of Mormon, Sherem. We find out how to know the enemy. Sherem comes to the people preaching that there is no Christ. He was learned and had a perfect knowledge of the language. He used much flattery and power of speech and his power was from the devil. Sherem tells Jacob that he cannot say that there is going to be a Christ because no man can tell of things to come. Then Sherem says that there is no Christ, neither has been, nor every will be. Didn't he just say that NO MAN CAN TELL OF THINGS TO COME? With the Holy Ghost as his guide, Jacob was able to confound Sherem in his words.

DINNER CONVERSATION: Who do you know that uses tactics like Sherem to get us to believe them?

Jacob teaches us three ways to not be deceived. First the scriptures....what do the standard works have to say about it? Second the prophet....what do the latter-day Presidents of the Church have to say on the subject -- particularly the living President. Third the Holy Ghost....this can only be fully effective if one's channels of communication with God are clean and virtuous and uncluttered with sin.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

PANORAMA PICTURES OF UTAH

The following web page has some wonderful pictures. Enjoy.

http://www.utah3d.net/GalleryTempleSquare.html

Today in seminary we had a video about Jacob 5...the allegory of the olive tree.
Dinner Discussion: What is your role in this allegory?

HAVE A HAPPY FALL BREAK!!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

MONEY

The students were each given (OK, this is pretend) $500,000. They needed to spend their money in one day. It was interesting to see how they spent their money. We had college paid for, missions paid for, cars, tithing, home improvements, new homes, a condo and two people even bought new socks! After we talked about what we would purchase we read Jacob 2:12-16. Why do you think pride and misuse of wealth can lead us to treat other people unkindly? Then Jacob 2:17-20 offers some guidelines that can govern our attitude towards riches.
Dinner Topic: What would you buy with $500,000 and how can you incorporate Jacob's teachings into your spending?