Relief Society Lesson – The Power of Scripture

The Power of Scripture

Elder Richard G. Scott

October 2011 General Conference

Our Father in Heaven … provided tools to help us be successful in our mortal probation. One tool is the scriptures. Because scriptures are …from …the Holy Ghost, they are pure truth.

We need not be concerned about the validity of concepts …in the standard works.

Scriptures are like packets of light that illuminate our minds and give place to guidance and inspiration from on high.

Learning, pondering, searching, and memorizing scriptures is like filling a filing cabinet with friends, values, and truths that can be called upon anytime, anywhere in the world.

Great power can come from memorizing scriptures.

Pondering a passage of scripture can be a key to unlock revelation and the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Ghost.

Scriptures can calm an agitated soul, giving peace, hope, and a restoration of confidence in one’s ability to overcome the challenges of life. They have potent power to heal emotional challenges when there is faith in the Savior. They can accelerate physical healing.

Scriptures can communicate different meanings at different times in our life, according to our needs. A scripture that we may have read many times can take on nuances of meaning that are refreshing and insightful when we face a new challenge in life.

Quote from Juliet

This morning while Juliet was putting my Blair polyester pants on me she said, "We should all be wearing Blair pants. The world would be a better place."

I thought that was a pretty profound statement. I would have to agree with her.

That's my two cents.

I Wouldn't Trade Places...

Yesterday I was watching a DVR. I think it was 20/20. I. thought it was a murder mystery or I probably wouldn’t have started watching it. Anyway, it was about the Sunset strip. I was telling mom about it yesterday along with some of my thoughts and she told me I should blog about it.

So, here you go. If you don’t like it, you can blame Mom. J

I really only saw the first 30 to 40 minutes of the show. But that was enough. It started out

showing the Sunset strip through the decades. Starting in the 50s. When they showed the 70s I thought to myself that that's when I started my earthly sojourn. I made a mental note of how wicked, corrupt, horrible the world had become when I was born. Obviously it's much worse now.

they followed several different stories. one was about a young man who came to Los Angeles from the Midwest. he became a writer for a magazine. he told of going to parties six days a week and rubbing shoulders with celebrities. I use the term party loosely because my definition is different . Hollywood's definition of party involves alcohol, drugs and all kinds of debauchery .

the writer told of being the middle man between drug dealers and celebrities. and he also indulged in drugs and alcohol himself to fit in. he said he was talking to Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor one time and he couldn't believe how great his life was. he also mentioned "partying" with Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, etc..

I thought to myself, "I would not want to trade places with any of those people.” even with my broken, scarred, imperfect body. I would much rather be me than them. they don't know true happiness. true happiness is only found in living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. the Hollywood writer couldn't have been more wrong. not only was his life not great , it was horrible. but I guess he never realized that.


Doctrine and Covenants 29:39 And it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet—

I suppose the opposite is true also. That if they never tasted the sweet they wouldn’t know that what they had was bitter.

Another story was about an up-and-coming band in Los Angeles that played the Roxy. It reminded me of when I lived in Los Angeles and watched Michael play the Roxy with Trash Wednesday. Anyway to make a long story short (Dragon is not cooperating-- this is taking me all day) I’ve been at the Roxy. It’s like being in H. Yet, the band that was featured acted like it was the greatest moment of their entire lives. And said they could never be happier than at that moment. They looked haggard, worn and older than their years.

was that really the happiest they could ever be? Of course not. why did they think they were happy? because they felt loved, important, and admired. the Problem is that it was by plastic people who didn't really care about them. Hollywood and the Sunset strip epitomizes the great and spacious building. that's exactly what I thought when I started watching this.

sure, there's fame, wealth, and beauty but those things do not bring happiness. so I will continue to wear my Blair polyester pants and clearance shirts and be happy to be me in my broken , scarred, not even close to perfect body. and they can keep their fame, expensive designer clothing , and plastic surgery perfect bodies . and I will live a much happier contented life than they will.

no, I wouldn't trade places with any of them for anything.

that's my two cents.

[ sorry about all the grammatical errors .you get the rough draft. Dragon is not cooperating today . it would take me much too long to try to fix everything. I don’t have the energy to edit it L ]

Random updates

First --we tried some of my homemade cheddar cheese on our sandwiches today. It was pretty good. It's gratifying to know that we made it. I love to learn how to do new things. I guess I can check cheesemaking of my list. The cream cheese we made turned out really well also. We made some smoke/onion/bacon flavored cheese ball. It was delicious. Sadly, it's all gone.


Second -- birthday season is coming up. We have seven birthdays coming up in the next month. It's always fun to get together as family. We usually have a birthday party here so everyone can attend. Hopefully we will be able to put my new soft serve machine to good use! I am sure excited to try it. (We can't try it until we get the sanitizer) :-(

Third -- Michael has agreed to do another concert in the near future. I thoroughly enjoyed the last one and am excited for the next one. I even gave him a list a mile long of requests. Hopefully he will be able to do a couple of them. I've already got a tentative schedule planned.

It goes something like this: 1:30-3:00 PM -- First Set. Break. 3:30 PM-5:00 PM -- Second Set. For snacks we will have popcorn and soft serve ice cream! Sounds fun to me. We just need to figure out when to do it. Hopefully this summer sometime. Dad is planning on setting up his trailer like a stage. It will be awesome.

Michael’s Country Concert

Yesterday was a good day. We had all been looking forward to hearing my brother, Michael, play his country concert ever since he announced it several months ago. Life kept getting in the way, and he finally decided he better just do it, even if he wasn’t totally ready.

He played for about two hours, but it seemed like two minutes. It was the best concert I have ever been to. And I have been to a lot. He played all good songs mostly from the 80s. Reminded me of being back at 852.J

Michael is an incredible vocalist and guitarist. Some of the songs, I thought, sounded better than the original artist. A few tears were shed, and many laughs were shared. It was fun!

Michael learned the gambler on guitar so Rex could sing it. That was fun. The highlight was probably, Meet Me in Montana. Lisa, Chanelle, and Derrinda sang Marie Osmond’s part. They practiced really hard to try to get the harmonies right. Marie Osmond hard to come by. Anyway it was fun. Michael even worked up my favorite Mark Chesnutt song, which was awesome. Even though it didn’t have the greatest message L .

Afterwards, the kids had fun singing a few songs. It’s amazing how Michael can follow along on guitar to songs he never even learned before or practiced. Lisa started busting out singing In the Ghetto, and Michael followed right along and didn’t miss a beat. It was astounding.

Thanks for sharing your talents with us, Michael. You are amazing. It was awesome!

*Update: I worked hard trying to upload the video version of Meet Me in Montana to no avail. I produced it three times in three different versions. It won't load to blogger.

Say Cheese

Monday Juliet came over and we had a fun time making cheese. The last time we attempted it, it didn't turn out very well. Come to find out, the rennet we had purchased was out of date, and therefore ineffective. So, we bought a fresh box, and made sure to check the lot number this time. It worked!

We made Neufchâtel, mozzarella, and cheddar. The cheddar is the one I'm most proud of because it is the most difficult.


Here are the pictures along with the recipes if you would like to attempt cheese making yourself. We doubled the rennet in all recipes to be safe.
You will notice the cheddar cheese is white. We did not add annatto which gives it the orange color.

How to Make Cheddar Cheese

Instructions: Things You'll Need
Thermometer
Cheese press
Cheesecloth (flour sack towel)
2 gallons of whole milk (if using store bought pasteurized milk, add ½ teaspoon calcium chloride dissolved in ½ cup water) the calcium chloride aids rennet coagulation in pasteurized milk.
1/2 cup of cultured buttermilk
1 tsp. liquid rennet or ½ tablet of rennet dissolved in ½ cup chilled water.
4 tsp. non-iodized salt
1
Heat the milk to 88 degrees in a large pot. Stir in the buttermilk. Let it sit for one hour while maintaining the 88-degree temperature. This can be accomplished by letting the pot sit in a sink partially filled with warm water.
2
Add rennet, which contains a proteolytic enzyme, which coagulates milk and divides it into curds (solids) and whey (liquid) into the cool water. Stir the water-rennet mixture into the milk for 30 seconds. While maintaining the 88-degree temperature, let the mixture sit for 45 minutes. During this time, the milk will separate into liquids and solids.[may take up to three hours]
3
Cut the curds into small cubes and let them sit for 20 to 25 minutes. Slowly stir them for 30 to 45 minutes while gradually increasing the temperature to 98 degrees.
4
Strain: Once the curds have settled to the bottom, pour out the excess liquid. Strain the curds in a colander for about 10 minutes. Pour the curds back into the pot, add the non-iodized salt and mix well. Let the pot of curds sit in warm water for one hour. Stir frequently.
5
Line the press with cheesecloth. If you do not have a press, you can make one by cutting both ends off of a large number 10 can. Cheesecloth can be improvised from a clean pillowcase. Pour the curds into the cheesecloth. Place a wood follower on top of the cheese and apply 15 lbs. of pressure for about 20 minutes. To apply pressure, consider wrapping bricks in aluminum foil.
6
Redress the curds in new cheesecloth. Cover with the wood follower and apply 30 lbs. of pressure for two hours.
7
Redress the curds in new cheesecloth, cover with the wood follower and apply 30 to 40 lbs. of pressure overnight or for at least eight hours.
8
Remove the curds from the cheesecloth and allow them to air dry for three to five days. Turn the curds frequently to allow all sides to dry evenly.
9
Coat the curds in cheese wax. Age for two to six months at 55 degrees. The longer the cheese ages, the sharper the taste will be. For very sharp taste, age for approximately one year. Basements, cellars and non-working refrigerators are ideal environments for aging cheese.

Neufchâtel Cheese

Ingredients:

2 gallons whole milk

½ cup cultured buttermilk
½ tablet Rennet dissolved in ¼ cup cold water

½ teaspoon calcium chloride dissolved in ¼ cup cold water [if using store-bought milk]

Directions:

1. Sterilize a large stainless steel pot with lid by boiling a small amount of water for five minutes.

2 . Add 2 gallons of whole milk

3. Add dissolved ½ teaspoon calcium chloride-- stir well

4. Add ½ cup cultured buttermilk-- stir well

5. Warm while stirring to 65°F

6. Add dissolved ½ tablet Rennet -- stir well using top to bottom motion.

7. Cover and let sit undisturbed overnight at room temperature (65-70°F)

8. The next morning a soft curd should have formed. If not, let sit for another 12 hours. You should get a clean break. Slice into ½ inch cubes.

9. Line a colander with a flour sack towel. Pour the curds and whey into lined colander.

10. Gather the four corners of the cloth, wrapped with a heavy rubber band. Tie the corners together on a wooden spoon. Place the wooden spoon between #10 cans to suspend curds and allow whey to drip into a bowl. Let hang overnight.

11. Sprinkle approximately 1 Tablespoon of salt, according to taste, on cheese. mix the salt in thoroughly. Store covered in refrigerator until use.

12. Cheese can be molded before refrigerating. Or, seasonings can be added to make cheese balls.

Mozzarella Cheese
Add 1/4 teaspoon calcium chloride diluted in 1/4 cup cold water to 1 gallon of whole milk. Stir thoroughly and let sit 15 minutes.
Add 1 1/2 tsp. Citric Acid diluted in 1 cup cool water to milk.
Heat slowly to 90°F.



Remove pot from burner. slowly stir 1/4 tab or ¼ tsp of rennet diluted in ¼ cup. cool water for 30 sec. Cover and leave for 5 minutes.

Check the curd, it will look like custard and the whey will be clear. If too soft let set a few more minutes.(may take up to two hours)

Now cut the curd into 1 inch squares with a knife that reaches the bottom of the pot. Place pot back on stove and heat to 105° F while stirring slowly. (If you will be stretching in water heat to 110°F)

Take off the burner and continue stirring slowly for 2-5 minutes.

Transfer the curd to a colander or bowl using a slotted spoon.

Notice how the curd is beginning to get firmer as the whey drains.


Continue separating the curd and notice the color of the whey. Drain the whey from the curd while gently pressing to aid whey runoff.

Using a heat proof bowl microwave on High for 45 seconds -1 min. pour off the whey.

Knead and reheat for 30 sec, repeat if needed until the curd is 135°F, almost too hot to handle. add 2 teaspoons non-iodized salt

Now the fun begins, knead the curd as you would bread dough. Remove curd from bowl and continue kneading, return it to the microwave if needed.

At this point, if hot enough, it will begin to stretch, and stretch, and stretch some more this is what makes it Mozzarella.

Now knead it back into a big ball until it is smooth and shiny.

GSWC

I just noticed that the Graham Stake Women's Conference website is updated with the schedule. So you can plan which classes you would like to attend and when. There are descriptions of the different classes being offered, along with bios of the instructors on the website.

I've put a link to the website on my sidebar. GSWC is the title. I think at least half the people who read my blog are in the Graham Stake so I thought I would pass the information along.

It looks like they've put a lot of work into organizing the conference. So, hopefully it will be informative and uplifting.

[Sorry for copying your blog, Kelli. I just wanted to make sure everybody knew about the updated schedule.]