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