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.