Monday, May 16, 2011

Announcements for May 15th, 2011

Happy Birthday!!!
20 - Judy Brimhall
23 - Michelle Rogers
25 - Michelle Leonard
26 - Charity Jordan
28 - Michelle Barker

Stake Conference May 21st and 22nd
Adult Session: Saturday 7pm at the Stake Center
Priesthood Leadership Meeting: Sunday 7:30 am in our ward building
General Session: Sunday at 10am at the Stake Center, also broadcast to our ward building

Choir Practice
We are singing in Stake Conference with the 6th ward. Please come join us! We will be practicing Sunday morning at 8:30 at the Stake Center

Lesson Review for May 15th

"Developing Talents" lesson #34 taught by Ester Grover

Esther's lesson about talents was really great! Her lessons are always interesting and fun. Here are some of the notes I took:

God gave us talents to benefit ourselves and others. Some talents are easy to spot in others or ourselves, such as musical talent, athletics, making things with our hands, etc. But some talents aren't as obvious, like a talent for leadership, cheerfulness, sympathy , or patience.

How can we develop talents? Some suggestions from the sisters were to serve in the church, and to practice. In the manual it lists 6 ways to develop talents. They are on p. 197-198:

1. Discover talents, helps if you ask family and friends what they think you're talents are
2. be willing to spend the time and effort
3. Faith in yourself and faith that Heavenly Father will help you
4. Be willing to learn the skills necessary by taking a class, asking a friend for help, etc.
5. Practice. "The mastry of a talent must be earned"
6. Share. It is by using our talents that they grow.

Because we are mortal, we have weaknesses. But God can help us overcome our weaknesses. Ether 12:27, 37 Talk about how our weaknesses can be made strong. One example Esther gave was of Beethoven who composed some of his greatest works after he was deaf. Also, Enoch was slow of speech, but he was a great prophet (Moses 6:47)

Esther told the story of Shelly Mann who was an Olympic Gold Medalist swimmer. When she was 5 years old, she was diagnosed with Polio. But she still wanted to swim. She started off by just swimming the length of the pool, then added more and more distance until she was a great swimmer. Years later, she won the Gold Medal doing the Butterfly stroke, which is the most difficult stroke.

Esther then invited Lori Francis up to tell the parable of the Talents in her own words. Lori told about the three servants who received talents, and they each did something different with their talents. The servant who did nothing with his talent had that talent taken away. Lori said you don't just get blessings in heaven, but you get blessings from sharing your talents with others.

Next we had three sisters share their talents with us. Sandra Chatterly read us some of her poems that she has written. An artist friend of hers once told her that "sharing your work is like riding a bike down the middle fo the street with no clothes on", and we all got a good laugh because it is so true! Next, Maureen Beeston showed us her balloon animals and told a story about a little girl she sat next to in the waiting room at her Doctor's office last week. She made the little girl a pink flower with balloons and the little girl hugged it and smiled, and said "I've really been having a rotton time lately, and this flower just made my day." Maureen said how happy it makes her to see the children happy and smiling because of the balloon animals she makes them. Next, Jenny Rasmussen played a beautiful piano piece by Edward Grieg called, "The Butterfly" It was really fun and uplifting to see all these sisters among us share their talents with us.

Esther displayed an amazing quilt she made. She made the quilt during a time in her life when her husband was going through school, so making the quilt brought her peace and comfort, and she could feel the Lord helping her as she worked on her talent. She closed by saying that talents are "filling our own needs, and filling the needs of others".

Thanks to Esther for that wonderful lesson!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Announcements for May 1st, 2011

"Gone to Pieces" quilting class will meet on Wed. May 11th at 1pm at Karen Maughan's home. You will learn how to make a flannel receiving blanket, or you can just come visit or work on your own project. To make a receiving blanket you will need: 1 1/8 yds of flannel for the back and 7/8 yd of contrasting flannel for the front.

Stake Conference May 21st and 22nd
Adult session: Saturday 7pm
Priesthood leadership mtng: Sunday 7:30 am
General Session: Sunday 10 am

Ward Choir will sing at Stake conference on May 22nd. The choir practices each Sunday after church in the RS room.

Lesson Review for May 1st

Cindy Rees gave a great lesson derived from Julie B. Beck's talk from Women's Conference 2010. Here are some of my notes and things I liked. She talked about being a "Lioness at the Gate" meaning that whatever good happens in the home, happens because the woman helped make it happen. One quote I liked went something like this, "Oh how we need each other, young need old and old need young." You have been placed in a ward family.

Cindy went to Women's Conference and realized that she already knew the things that people were teaching about. Every woman there had already heard those things before, but the reason for repeating the lessons was so that the women could learn and apply. Cindy talked about the "Essential, Necessary, and Nice to do" things in life. As women, and as the "Lioness at the Gate" we need to realize what things in our lives are essential, such as prayer, scripture study, taking the Sacrament, "basking in the Spirit", and doing other things that will help us have eternal life. We also need to prioritize time wisely and realize that we can't do all the shifts. Cindy told a story of a woman who realized the importance of the "afternoon shift" when people get home from school or work and they are hungry, tired, etc. This is a special time that people are also the most teachable, so maybe this is the "shift" that we could put the most effort into. She said "Don't expect to use your strength on all the other shifts"

"The only person you have to be better than is the person you were yesterday." The Lord knows you, he knows your responsibilities, and he knows how you can fulfill them. There are so many good tings we can do with our time, but we have to prioritize essential, necessary, and nice to do in order to truly be a "Lioness at the Gate".

Thanks for the wonderful lesson Cindy!