I know that there are moments when I feel the spirit speaking to my soul that I need to share my thoughts with all of you. First of all and foremost I would like you to know how very much I love each of you. I treasure you all and you have added a great deal of love and spice to my life. Dad too loves you all more than you can ever realize. You are constantly in our prayers.
Last evening I thought Dad would want to watch the BYU and Utah game but instead he asked if I wanted to go to the Adult session of conference in our home stake. I was thrilled to have him want to go. Deep inside, I hungered to go to this meeting. As we walked over to the Stake Center, I felt in some respects like I was coming home. I have always loved the Stake Presidency and I knew that it would be a very spiritual evening and it was.
If there was a theme to the Stake Conference I would say that it was on "The Family Proclamation", For The Strength Of Youth booklet. Our Stake President taught a great message on; The Family Proclamation To The World. He said that these were our scriptures for our family. This proclamation should be read, pondered upon and followed as the standards and doctrine of the church. He listed and discussed the recipe for our marriages and families that are found within the Proclamation to the family. Here are the elements of that recipe:
"Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities."
In closing he made this statement. We need to all follow this Family Proclamation because it is the Pattern of Heaven.
The President Haight of the Jordan River Temple told a sweet story about the Family Proclamation. He said that the weekend before this proclamation was announced; his father, Elder David B. Haight invited his family to come over to their home. He said that you don't turn down his father. He said the the first presidency and quorum of the twelve spent a year putting together this document. They prayed and fasted over what was to be in this great proclamation. Finally after a year President Hinckley gave the proclamation to Elder Neil A. Maxwell and told him that he was to go over every word and make sure it was ready. This is a scared document and we should all read it, pray about it and ponder upon it.
He encouraged us all to be more diligent in temple attendance. He said that as you are faithful and do this great work your spouses and children will be blessed. Come often to the temple and keep your names and the names of your family members on the prayer roll especially when there are great needs.This is one thing that Dad and I have been doing for a long while and we see the blessings from it.
May I encourage you to all go to the temple as often as possible. You know that the temple has always been our favorite date night. Make that commitment to attend weekly if possible or at least monthly. Always have a current Temple recommend. Here is where we can receive revelation for our families and ourselves. You can also take your children age twelve and older to do baptisms for the dead; so do it. This will help their testimonies grow.
Our general authority was Elder Lynn Robbins. He gave a beautiful message and Dad and I couldn't stop the tears. He said that everything we do for the youth in the church is temple oriented. Never let your recommend expire. Do not let Family Home Evening relapse. Use for lessons for Family Home Evening thoughts from For The Strength of Youth booklet, Personal Progress, Duty to God and The Faith In God program in Primary.
He taught a powerful lesson about love. You can not fall out of love. Love is an action word both in your mind and heart. It is both a noun and a verb. In marriages and families you should be telling one another I love you frequently through the day. He reminded the men to always hold their spouses hands when together and to honor and respect each other. If you have struggles in your marriage then use love and forgiveness to bind the wounds. You can choose to love.
In our morning session of conference today we were reminded to study the conference reports. they are the current direction that the Lord wants us to take. Read them; they are just as important if not more important than the scriptures. Remember that The Book of Mormon is your greatest child rearing book. I know this to be true.
Be strong in your commitments to one another and the gospel. Keep you standards high and dress and behave as a righteous daughter and son of our Heavenly Father. Be the example your children need to follow.
Follow the Prophet and First Presidency.They can't lead you astray. Our Prophets and Apostles of today are sending the messages that the world needs. We desperately need their words.
I have been studying the last CR for the last few months. I decided to see what subjects was discussed the most during our last conference. Here is the list:
1. Family 9
2. Jesus Christ 8
3. Priesthood 7
4. Holy Ghost, 6; Faith 6; Service 6.
5. Adversity 5,
6. Plan of Salvation and Missionary work 4
Sister Orme our recently released RS President gave thoughts from this message from Thomas S. Monson entitled; "Love At Home". This is a short message that I hope you will all read. It is a powerful message from our prophet.
Elder Robbins shared a couple of thoughts in closing his remarks:
"The Savior is the great Good Samaritan". President Monson is the Good Samaritan of our day. His life is his great sermon. He will be remembered as a Prophet who loved his people and served them well."
Love and Hugs to you all!
Mom
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