What do you know about the Priesthood? Ready? GO!

My dear, dear students-that-I-learned-a-lot-more-from-you-than-you-did-from-me,

If any of you were not at church on Sunday, you may not have heard that you have a new teacher. I know you will all love him, and many of you already do know him well: Brother Troxel. I, on the other hand, hate him for taking my calling to be your teacher. (Kidding!!!) Hate is a strong word. ;)

Anyway, I'm sad to say this is my last blog post for you guys. Our lesson on Sunday was about the Priesthood, DUH, and we just used the scriptures and the True to the Faith manual to find additional things to add to our knowledge base. Brother Troxel was also very helpful in adding some insight about different topics, so thanks!

This is what we wrote on the board:

Aaronic Priesthood:

• Preparatory priesthood (comes before Melchizedek)
• Named after the brother of Moses
• The office of Bishop is an Aaronic Priesthood office
• Priests in the Aaronic Priesthood can bless the sacrament, baptize, and ordain others to offices within the Aaronic Priesthood

Melchizedek Priesthood:

• Authority to confirm members after baptism, and confer the gift of the Holy Ghost
• Officiate in temple ordinances
• Give priesthood blessings

The Priesthood in General:

• Officiate in ordinances
• The power of God, which was used to create the earth
• Purpose is to serve and help others, bring others to salvation
• Rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven
• May only be used in righteousness
• Only given to worthy individuals
• Once you have the priesthood, you retain your authority, but the power of the priesthood is conditional upon obedience/righteousness
• Priesthood keys are used to exercise authority over the church.
• Jesus Christ holds all the priesthood keys
• He gives the Prophet, or President of the Church all of the keys to govern the Church on the earth
• Apostles also hold all the keys, but only exercise or use the keys necessary to perform their duties
• All other priesthood leaders are given the keys that pertain to their offices/callings while they are in those positions
• When a priesthood leader is released, his keys are relinquished

Whew! That was a lot of stuff. The rest of June will continue to be on the theme of priesthood, which is great, because there is much more to learn.

And finally, our LAST...

Challenge: (from Peter) Find a scripture about the priesthood and/or priesthood keys to share with the class on Sunday. Be prepared to say why you chose that scripture.

I hope you all still will say "hi" to me in the hallways at church! I love you all and can't wait to see what amazing and interesting things you do in your lives. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. Remember that I have a testimony of Him and of the restored gospel. Stay close to the Lord and be obedient and you can't go wrong. I want you all to be happy with the kind of happiness that only the gospel of Jesus Christ can provide, so don't forget the importance of your testimonies and SHARING them! ;)

Love,

Sister Lewis

Priesthood Holders and Women Work Together

Oh, toodles! (That's from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse)

I was out of town for a few weeks and Brother Krebs and Nicole helped me out by leading the class while I was away. One of the weeks that Brother Krebs taught, he asked each person in the class to share their favorite scripture, and explain why they liked it. Here is the list of scriptures that were shared:

Connor - 1 Nephi 3:7
Jeremy - 1 Nephi 22:26
Derek - D&C 24:8
Kerri - Moroni 10:5
Madison - Moroni 10:4
Peter - Alma 26:22
Andrew - Hebrews 12:2
Taylor (visitor) - Helaman 5:30
Nick - James 1:5
Kyler - 1 Nephi 3:7
Rachel - D&C 58:42
Nicole - 2 Nephi 31:12
Kayla - 3 Nephi 13:26-28
Whitney - Mosiah 18:9

I just want you all to know that I used your favorite scripture list to have a little scripture study of my own and I loved your choices!

Last Sunday, we talked about how the priesthood holders (men in the Church) and women work together to build the kingdom of God. The following is a list of some of the main points that were shared. The youth read portions of recent Conference talks to find some of these answers.

• From The Family: A Proclamation... "Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children." Fathers preside over the family in love and righteousness, provide the necessities of life, and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these responsibilities, fathers and mothers are "obligated to help one another as equal partners."
• Ministering: to love and care for others, to do what the Savior would do if He were here. There was a story of a group of football players who were Aaronic Priesthood holders that ministered to a young woman in their school who was being bullied. The boys walked her to and from classes, invited her onto the field after their games, and went the extra mile to love and care for her as the Savior would. After seeing their example, other kids in the school began treating their peers with more respect and kindness. 
• Missionary work can be and is performed by both men and women in the Church. 
• Priesthood holders are always priesthood holders, not just while at church, and should conduct themselves accordingly. Similarly, women in the Church who are disciples of Christ just as the priesthood holders are, should represent Christ in every aspect of their lives. This was compared to the 2013 Youth Theme of Stand Ye in Holy Places. 
• Men are not "the priesthood", rather they hold the priesthood. Men need women and women need men. Both the powers of procreation and the full blessings of the priesthood require both roles. 

And, finally, the challenge...

Challenge: (from Connor) Name one way that you overcome the wicked ways of the world each day.

What it means to bear testimony...

Hey you, cool-people-that-I-like-pretty-well!

Last week we had a lovely class out on the lawn, and betwixt the flying chunks of sticks and bark that were being absent-mindedly chucked to and fro by a few of you, there were some beautiful words spoken, and great thoughts shared. Andrew gave us an AWESOME review of a Conference talk on testimony, and helped us understand what a testimony really is and how we get one (and keep it!).

Thank you, Andrew, and thanks to the whole class for contributing to the spirit and discussion. We made some assignments for the upcoming week, and I wasn't thinking ahead to tell you all that I was going to be out of town. Oopsie! So, Nicole volunteered to help teach the lesson, and Whitney did the challenge for the week. We are going to go ahead with those plans, and Brother Krebs will be substituting for me for the next two weeks.

At the end of his lesson, Andrew also challenged the whole class to bear their testimonies at the next Fast Sunday testimony meeting. I hope you can remember this challenge and that a lot of you will step up to the plate! I would love to hear from you in testimony meeting, as I'm sure the rest of the ward would too.

For this week the challenge from Whitney is also about testimony:
Challenge: Do something to strengthen your testimony, (such as sharing it.)

Love,
Sister Lewis

Prophets and Revelation!

Heidi-ho, neighbors!

We are already in the month of May! Wow. So our new theme is prophets and revelation. This will be a fun month. We had a great lesson this past Sunday. We tried out our new strategy of bringing treats for the youth who completed the week's challenge, and I'm happy to say that almost everyone had something to contribute (and earned a piece of gum since it was Fast Sunday). I love hearing you guys talk about the gospel, so thank you for your participation.

This week we covered two questions: What is the purpose of prophets? and What is the purpose of General Conference?

We listened to a Conference talk by Jeffrey R. Holland from April 2011 to help us with answers to these questions, as well as used the True to the Faith book. Here are the lists of things we came up with for each.

What is the purpose of prophets?

• Speak for God
• Guide Church through revelation both future and past
• Testify of Christ
• Teach the gospel
• Delineate clear lines of sin and truth
• Denounce sin
• Warn / Cry repentance
• Bear testimony of the living prophet

What is the purpose of General Conference?

• Testify of God
• Speak with love and with warning
• Preach faith, hope and charity
• Inspired messages for individuals, and for the present day
• Teach/listen through the Spirit
• Word of God will be heard
• Set standards for the world

I have a testimony that the words spoken in General Conference are the things that God wants us to hear at that particular moment. I have had several experiences where phrases, whole talks, even the hymns chosen have seemed to be directed toward me personally. I know that as we listen with the Spirit to the inspired messages of Conferences, we will be kept under God's watchful care, and our testimonies of living prophets and continuing revelation will grow.

Love,

Sister Lewis

Challenge: (from Amber) Who is your favorite of the current 12 apostles, and why?

How Joseph Smith's Example Teaches Us About Learning the Gospel

This is an old post I am getting caught up on from two Sundays ago. I just wanted to put on here what we came up with as a class for this topic, looking at the life of Joseph Smith, and how he taught us to study/seek/learn truths about the gospel.

We broke into groups and each group looked up scriptures from Joseph Smith History, in the Pearl of Great Price. These first several entries are from various verses within JSH Chapter 1:

• v. 11: "while I was laboring"... [looked up scripture James 1:5]. When you're having extreme difficulties, you should look to the scriptures for answers.
• v. 15: Offer up the desires of our hearts despite the challenges from the adversary telling us not to.
• v. 68-75: [The priesthood was restored, John the Baptist gave the priesthood to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.] Receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost through the priesthood helps us learn the gospel.
• v. 24: Joseph Smith likened scriptures to himself (comparing himself to Paul), as should we.
• v. 25: He had conviction in what he saw. We should try to model that firm testimony.
• v. 41: After the angel Moroni left Joseph Smith, Joseph marveled at the message. We should also marvel, ponder, or muse after hearing or reading gospel truths. Moroni's message was delivered three times, repeating verbatim various scriptures and instructions. There is importance in repetition when learning the gospel. We may learn or hear something new even if the content is the same, the second or third time we are exposed to it.
• v. 34: [talks about a book deposited in the ground, and also about the ancient inhabitants of the land.] It blows my mind to think about all the other people who have lived before us, and the lessons we can learn from reading about their lives. We should learn from the past, through the scriptures.
• v. 28: "I frequently fell into many foolish errors"... "displayed weakness" ... "led me into divers temptations." Prayers will be answered, but we still need to deal with consequences. Even Joseph Smith admitted humbly his faults. Humility is a precursor to curiosity. We must be humble, realizing we don't know everything, then seek for the things we don't know.
• D&C 76:19: "We meditated upon these things"... Meditation/pondering opens our hearts to receive spiritual knowledge and revelation.

Lastly, we chose to repeat Derek's challenge from last week since the blog post was accidentally posted to the wrong blog that prior week.

A pasta see or Apostasy!

Greetings from your 30-year-old teacher!

That's right, friends, I have left my twenties behind. And in the spirit of leaving things behind, I have this fabulous quote from Puumba (the warthog on the Lion King), "You've gotta put your behind in the past." Truer words were never spoken. :)

This week in class we talked about what an APOSTASY is. There have been general apostasies throughout time, periods of wickedness when the truth was lost, including the Great Apostasy after Christ's earthly ministry and before the gospel was restored through Joseph Smith. We also talked about the idea of personal apostasy. Nephi taught we should liken the scriptures to ourselves, for our profit and learning. We came up with a list of how we could apply the apostasy to our lives and here's what we came up with:

General Apostasy

• Corrupt or no priesthood
• Wickedness
• Lord takes away truth
• No living prophets

Personal Apostasy

• Going against God's teachings
• Broken
• Doing opposite of what we have been taught
• Going against God when you know he's right
• Doing it for the treats (obeying for worldly rewards)
• Rejecting the Holy Ghost
• Worshipping false gods

We also talked about some ideas to make class better. We are going to continue to do the challenges, with the youth choosing the challenge for each week. The other suggestions were to have treats in class, brought by whoever chose the challenge for the week, and that those who choose to complete the challenge can eat the treats; to have one of the youth teach part of the lesson each week; to get our challenges earlier in the week; and to have the challenges delivered in a different way than just online.  We will be working on making these changes. For this week, the challenge comes from Derek:

Challenge: In church, when do you feel happiest, and why? Please share an example in class.

See you Sunday!

Love,

Sister Lewis

Reunited and it Feels So Good!

Hey! Ho! Hip-hop-hooray! Ho!


The blog is coming back to life after a brief hiatus. I'm in a bit of a weird mood today, so excuse the greeting. Today was my first day back teaching the Sunday School class in several weeks. I was out of town and we also had Stake and General Conferences recently, and I found myself missing my good ol' youth class. So today we did a little catching up with each other. I've been thinking lately that part of the success of learning the gospel in groups is being comfortable with the people who surround you, in this case, the other members of the youth class. So we spent the majority of our lesson today learning new things about each other for the benefit of hopefully opening up a little more and becoming closer as a class. I enjoyed it thoroughly! Thanks to everyone for being a good sport. I didn't take notes while we were talking, but I remembered at least one thing that each person said about themselves. For those of you who weren't in class today, maybe you'll learn something new by looking at this list! There were some pretty funny stories shared. :)

Derek - competed in a spear fishing tournament
Jeremy - almost drowned a few times, has spent more $ on his car than it's worth
Alec - likes wakeboarding, been to Disneyland
Ryan - never been to Disneyland
Braden - likes baseball, hasn't been to Hawaii
Kayla - likes four wheeling and dirt biking
Avery - fluent in Mandarin, choked a python and got scratched by a tiger
Nicole - has been to Harry Potter World three times, has met Adam Sandler
Rachel - has ridden a motorcycle, has been to college
Amber - runs relays in track
Sister Lewis - is pregnant!

We are talking about the Apostasy and Restoration this month, and I am excited for this topic of study. We also talked about ways the youth would like to improve upon the format of the class, or whether they would like to add something new, or change something we're already doing. One idea was to continue this trend of getting to know one another better by sharing some new fact about ourselves at every class. What do you all think of that? I enjoy the opportunity to get to talk with you and hear things about your lives outside of church because I don't see any of you apart from Sundays very often. There was also discussion about whether we want to continue the weekly challenges, or substitute them for a different idea.

Please help me make this the kind of Sunday School class that you want it to be! I think it has been going well, but can get even better. This week's challenge is related to the topic of improving our class:

Challenge: Come to class next week with at least one suggestion or idea for improving class. Tell me whether you want to keep doing weekly challenges, and if not, what you propose to do instead.

As always, enjoy your week, thank you for all you do, and you ROCK.

Love,
Sister Lewis

The Scriptures Teach About the Atonement

What's up, everybody?

Last Sunday we had a great class with all the youth crammed into one small classroom. We like to snuggle. ;) Thank you to everyone who helped with our activity! We found a lot of scriptures that taught something about the atonement, and told each other why those scriptures were meaningful to us. Here is a list of the scriptures we found:

D&C 24:8
Moses 1:39
Matthew 8:17
Luke 22:44
John 17:4
D&C 20:21-24
Acts 2:21
Article of Faith 3
Exodus 30:16
Psalm 27:1
1 Peter 2:21
D&C 76 Chapter Heading
Matthew 16:25
D&C 20:17-28

We get to talk about the atonement for the whole month of March, in Sunday School, Young Mens and Young Womens! I am looking forward to our next lesson, which focuses specifically on the Book of Mormon and the atonement. Remember to do our challenge if you haven't already. See you Sunday!

Love,
Sister Lewis

Challenge: Make a scripture chain on the topic of the atonement. You can use any of the scriptures from class or new ones you have found.

I Learnt Something...

Bonjour from West Jordan!

That's the town just west of Middle Jordan. (He he). Anyway, I am posting about our last lesson on LEARNING. I hope you all have been having a great week. I have! So last Sunday we discussed why learning is an important part of the plan of salvation. The first list we made was reasons that learning is important, and which components of our Father's Plan each reason related to. This is what we came up with:

Why is learning important? / What does that have to do with the Plan of S.?

1. Knowledge is the only thing you take with you / Resurrection and Eternal Life
2. Politically advantageous / Gift of Agency, becoming more like Heavenly Father
3. Avoiding awkward silence in class / Building relationships, spreading the gospel 
4. Qualifies you for jobs / Supporting family, creating a good home environment
5. Ability to teach or lead others / Missionary work

We also talked about sources of learning, which we identified as parents, teachers, books, Internet resources, research articles, the scriptures or Church leaders, friends, and personal witnesses from the Holy Ghost. Some sources of information are very reliable while others need to be used with caution or at least judiciously. The only 100% reliable source of truth is the Holy Ghost, and He can teach us the truth of all things, bring things to our remembrance, reveal mysteries of God, or give us the answers to any kind of questions we ask. That's pretty impressive, eh? 

One other thing we talked about was what each of you might like to do as a future occupation. We had a great list including things like: engineer, fire fighter, mortician, police officer, car designer, surgeon, chemist, musical performer, interior designer, nurse, professional backpacker, and more! I fully support you guys in becoming whatever you want to be! Let's remember as we're learning to seek knowledge from the best sources.

Love,

Sister Lewis

Challenge: (from Alec) Think of ways to bring you and your families closer together. 

La Musica

Yo, yo, yo.

I have to apologize for the lateness of this post. It will be my personal challenge to get it up sooner next week. :) On Sunday we talked about how MUSIC helps us learn about the Plan of Salvation. We looked through our hymn book to find some examples of songs that teach different things about the Plan. Here is what we found during that exercise:

Hymn #  /  phrases

32  /  The truth restored is now made known
48  /  This earth was once a garden place
83  /  Guide us oh thou Great Jehovah, guide us to the promised land. We are weak, but thou art able, hold us with thy powerful hand
301  /  Has given me an earthly home
186  /  Again we meet
196  /  The atoning blood, our only access unto God
300  /  Families can be together forever
301  /  I'll live with him once more
304  /  Of his commandments that we may return

I also shared with you guys one of my favorite songs that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings: Consider the Lilies. I have felt the spirit so strongly through music on many occasions, but when I heard this song during a session of General Conference, it was an answer to a prayer, telling me that God was aware of me personally. It felt like getting a warm hug directly from Heavenly Father! Here are the lyrics again to that song.

Consider the Lilies

"Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow, how they grow."

"Consider the birds in the sky,
How they fly, how they fly.

He clothes the lilies of the field.
He feeds the birds in the sky.
And he will feed those who trust him,
And guide them with His eye."

"Consider the sheep of his fold,
How they follow where he leads.
Though the path may wind across the mountains,
He knows the meadows where they feed."

"He clothes the lilies of the field.
He feeds the birds in the sky,
And he will feed those who trust him,
And guide them with his eye."

"Consider the sweet, tender children
Who must suffer on this earth..."

The pains of all of them he carried
From the day of his birth.
He clothes the lilies of the field,
He feeds the lambs in His fold,
And he will heal those who trust him,
And make their hearts as gold."


As for our challenge, I have not called Alec to remind him, so I think we will take this week off and have him do next week's challenge. I hope to see you all on Sunday!

Love,
Sister Lewis 

Doctrine of Christ

Howdy, y'all!

Last Sunday was a great class. Thanks for inviting the Spirit by your willingness to participate. We talked about how we could teach others about the doctrine of Christ, or the Plan of salvation. The doctrine of Christ is outlined in 2 Nephi 31, and we read about ten verses from that chapter and you guys came up with six components to the doctrine of Christ. We then split into groups and prepared a 2-3 minute "talk" on each topic, presenting it to the class as though we had never heard of it before. I did my best to take notes while the groups were talking, and here is a summary of what you all came up with.

Faith:
Firm belief that Christ is the Only Begotten Son and the savior and redeemer of the world. Leads us to action, to learn about and become more like our Savior.
1 Nephi 7:12

Repentance:
You don't have to suffer for your sins or pay your way out of them. Cleanse yourself and bring yourself closer to God. The first step is to feel bad, not because you got caught, but you realize what you did was wrong (godly sorrow). Next, confess and try not to repeat the sin.
Ezekiel 18:30

Keeping the Commandments:
Exodus chapter 20 outlines the ten commandments. Covet means to be jealous of, or envy.

Baptism:
Faith and repentance are preparatory steps for baptism. It is a sacred ceremony showing we have entered into a covenant with God, a solemn and binding agreement. god promises to bless us and we promise to obey him. If we keep our covenants with Him, it will bring us happiness in this life. Symbolism is beautiful, consequences desirable. Importance of immersion and proper authority.

Gift of the Holy Ghost:
3rd member of the godhead, does not have a body of flesh and bones. Can comfort us and bring all things to our remembrance. Having the Holy Ghost is like being blindfolded and there is someone behind you guiding you, helping you make the right turns in life.
D&C 130:22
John 14:26
The Lord gives to worthy individuals "gifts of the Spirit", a divine help and learning, different for every person.

Enduring to the end:
What we do always. We are living on the earth, trying to make ourselves better and come back to Christ after we die. Once we have been forgiven of our sins, we should try to always be free from sin so we can have the Holy Ghost with us. Relates to everyone else's topics. We have something that a lot of people don't know about (meaning knowledge of the plan of salvation), and we can share it.
2 Nephi 31:20

Excellent work, everybody!

Love,
Sister Lewis

And, finally... Ryan was chosen to do the challenge for the week. Here is what he sent me:

Challenge: This year's theme is Stand in Holy Places. Where is a place in your life that is a holy place ~ a place to escape from the temptations of the everyday world?

We Are Not Chairs!

Hola amigos,

This week we talked about not being chairs. Meaning, we have brains and a free will so we can ACT, not just be acted upon like a chair is. We had some good experiences with Jeremy's challenge last week; thank you all for being willing to speak up in class and let us feel the Holy Ghost together. I had an especially meaningful experience going snowshoeing on the Mesa that turned my attitude for the week completely around, and brought me a lot of happiness!

Nicole expressed her gratitude for friends, Alec told us about his splits with the missionaries, and Andrew bore his testimony about an experience he had while riding his bike. I know that the more we look for opportunities to feel the Holy Ghost, the more we will come to recognize what the influence of the Spirit feels like, and it is a GREAT feeling.

We looked up some scriptures that tell us what our responsibilities are when it comes to learning the gospel, or any truth. We have agency, or the gift of action, so we need to use it if we want to gain knowledge.

John 7:17  Do his will --> know the doctrine

James 1:22  Be a doer / act on the word

1 Nephi 10:19  Seek --> find

2 Nephi 2:26  Actions --> consequences

D&C 50:24  Light = knowledge / "receive" truth (catch it like a wide receiver). The more truth or light we receive, the more truth or light we are given.

D&C 88:118  Seek by study and by faith, teach


Next week we will be talking about the doctrine of Christ, and how we can help others understand it. The doctrine of Christ is the Plan of Salvation, and we can read about it in 2 Nephi chapter 31. Remember to go through your week looking for connections between what is happening in your life and what we learn about the gospel. See you Sunday!

Love,
Sister Lewis

Challenge: (from Kayla) Think about the choices you've made throughout the week and how they affect you spiritually. Share an experience.

Wrapping up the Godhead

Dear Class,

I sure hope your week is going well. Thank you all for another great class on Sunday. You really made my day! Were you being extra good for some reason? (Just kidding.) Just to recap, we talked about our experiences with completing Andrew's challenge the previous week, which was to talk to a friend about the Church and then find a scripture that describes your discussion. Continuing on our theme of the godhead, we also talked about how we see the gospel in our everyday lives, connections we are making between what we learn in church and what we do outside of church, and just about life in general. Several of you shared what you had talked about with your friends, and I'm so proud that so many of you were able to do the challenge!

Keep looking for opportunities to talk to your friends, family, and pets (he he) about the gospel. Those are the conversations that invite the Holy Ghost into your life and the lives of others, and will strengthen our testimonies! I know that to be true. 

Here are the scriptures that were shared relating to Andrew's challenge:

John 13:35
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

D&C 42:17
For, behold, the Comforter knoweth all things, and beareth record of the Father and of the Son.

Luke 22:32
But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.


On Sunday we will be talking about the role of agency in learning the gospel. I'm excited to hear your ideas about how we, as a class and individually, can actively participate in learning the gospel and building our testimonies. 

Love,
Sister Lewis

This one is from Jeremy:
Challenge: Look for the blessings in your life and think of any spiritual experiences you've had throughout the week and share them in class.

The Holy Ghost

Hello friends!

Thank you to everyone who helped us make our class on Sunday a good one! For those of you who weren't there, we talked about the Holy Ghost, and how He helps us learn. Here is a summary of what we talked about:

• The Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit (D&C 130:22), meaning he does not have a body of flesh and bones. This allows him to dwell within us.
• When we preach, we preach in the name of the Father, Christ, and the Holy Ghost. (Matthew 28:19)
• The Holy Ghost is a teacher. He brings all things to our remembrance. (John 14:26) As a side note, we made a connection here to another lesson earlier this month. In order to recognize God's hand in our lives, we need to be mindful of him on a regular basis. We need to take time to ponder and remember what He has done for us and our families. We cannot do that without the Holy Ghost because it is His Spirit which brings all things to our remembrance!
• The Holy Ghost can and will lead us where we ought to go. (1 Nephi 4:6)
• We receive the gift of the Holy Ghost after baptism. (2 Nephi 31:12)
• The Holy Ghost is a vessel, which can carry truth to our hearts. (2 Nephi 33:1)
• All things are manifest by the Holy Ghost. (D&C 18:18) Think about that! There is not anything that the Holy Ghost doesn't teach; all truth that anyone can know is taught by the Spirit to our hearts and minds. In the same verse, it says that we must pray if we want the Holy Ghost to influence us. We need to ask.
• The Holy Ghost testifies of God and Christ; He is the Comforter, and the Spirit of truth. (John 15:26)

We also talked about ways to improve our class, based on your input. We'll discuss this further next week too, since we ran out of time. I want each of you to feel like you have a voice in class, that you can determine how and what we learn. The ideas you came up with so far are:

• The youth will pick the challenge each week (instead of me choosing it)
• Would like to build our testimonies
• Want more opportunities to share personal experiences or what is happening in our lives

See you all on Sunday, I hope!

Love,

Sister Lewis

Andrew has chosen the challenge for this week, and he called me to let me know. Here is what he came up with... 

Challenge:

1. Find an opportunity to talk to a friend about church through the guidance of the Spirit. Then, find a scripture that best describes your discussion.

I would also like to know if you guys are able to leave comments on the blog. Will each of you just try it out, and leave your name as a comment, so I know who has been able to do it? Thanks!

Recognizing Blessings

Hi guys!

This past Sunday we talked about recognizing God's hand in our lives, and also that Heavenly Father's influence can be found in all things around us. We also talked about adding a "Connections" discussion to each class, during which we will spend the first five minutes or so talking about how what we are learning in class connects with things happening in our everyday lives, school, work, personal study, family life, etc.

Here are some ideas we came up with about our Heavenly Father's influence in our lives:

Alma 30:44 tells us that "all things denote [show/witness] there is a God." There are many people today that don't believe God exists, or that He cares about us as individuals. We are so blessed to know that we ARE loved by our Heavenly Father, and He has given us many examples that He indeed cares.

Things that show evidence of God's hand/power/love:

• all the worlds He has created
• the stars / the infinite Universe
• thunder
• order
• animals / birds (singing sweetly in the trees) :)
• mountains
• fish / water
• the Sun
• rain
• our homes
• complexity of the human body

We also talked about the importance of REMEMBERING. Remember what God has done for you. How do you do this? Take time to ponder it, pray for help to recognize His hand in your life, keep a journal, or bear your testimony. All of these things can bring us to a remembrance of the great things God has done for us and our ancestors. 

D&C 59:21 says that God is offended and his wrath is kindled when we do not confess His hand in all things. Let's remember to THANK Heavenly Father for the blessings He gives us so his anger doesn't burst into flame (yikes)!

And NOW..............

This upcoming Sunday we will be discussing the topic: How does the Holy Ghost help me learn? Think about times that you have felt the Spirit, or the influence of the Holy Ghost. Contrast that feeling with another time when you did not have the Holy Ghost with you. What was the difference? What did you gain when you were learning/listening/speaking WITH the Spirit? Those are just some ideas to consider this week.

In order to contribute to our class discussion on Sunday, I would like each of you to find a scripture about the Holy Ghost, and how he helps us learn. Mark the scripture and bring it with you to share with the class. If you would like, you can leave the scripture reference in the comment section of this post. We will look at the references together in class and talk about them. I hope you all have a great week, and I look forward to hearing your ideas this Sunday!

Love,
Sister Lewis

Challenge: Find a scripture about how the Holy Ghost helps us learn. Leave the reference as a comment on this post and/or bring it to class on Sunday.

Welcome to the Blog!

Hi everyone!

We had a HUGE turnout in class this Sunday, and I want to thank all of you again for your comments and ideas in our discussion! I think the first class of the new year went very well. This blog will be where you can come anytime to see what's going on, and what challenges we are trying to complete as a class. You can also leave comments or questions on any of the posts.

Today we talked about qualities and characteristics of Heavenly Father, and we found scriptures that tell us about each of those qualities. Here is the list we came up with:

Things we know about God  >  Scripture references

• Forgiving/Merciful  >  Genesis 50:17, Deuteronomy 4:31
• Just  >  Job 4:17
• Peace  >  1 Nephi 13:37, Jacob 7:23, Numbers 6:26, John 14:27
• Loves all  >  Jeremiah 31:3, John 3:16
• Not a respecter of persons  >  D&C 38:16
• Powerful  >  Isaiah 40:29
• Knowledgeable/All-knowing  >  Hosea 4:6, 1st Samuel 2:3, Exodus 31:3
• Omnipotent  >  Revelation 19:6
• God of miracles  >  2nd Nephi 26:13, Numbers 14:21,22
• Supreme Governor of the Universe  >  Alma 30:44

We also wrote our testimonies in class, so if you didn't get to do that yet, just write your testimony or print it on paper, seal it in an envelope with your name on it and give it to me the next time you see me. I'm going to keep them with me and you will get to open them at the end of the year and see how much your testimony has grown. (I'm doing it too. It'll be great.)

Next week's lesson is about recognizing Heavenly Father's hand in all things. Think about ways that you see Heavenly Father's influence in your life this week, so we can discuss it on Sunday. Have a great week!

Love, 

Sister Lewis

Challenges:

1. (If you haven't done it:) Write your testimony and seal it in an envelope with your name on it. Give it to me when you see me next.
2. Focus on seeing God's influence in your life this week. Come prepared to share one or more ways you observed on Sunday.