Relief Society Lesson -- Put Your Trust in the Lord

Put Your Trust in the Lord

Elder M. Russell Ballard

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

October 2013 General Conference

There is an urgency for each one of us to be engaged in sharing the gospel.

“after all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel”

—Joseph Smith

“Perhaps the greatest reason for missionary work is to give the world its chance to hear and accept the gospel. – Spencer W. Kimball, 1974

I wonder if we are doing all we can. Are we complacent in our approach to teaching all the world? – Spencer W. Kimball, 1974

“Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together … [and] labor in the Lord’s vineyard to bring souls unto Him. He has prepared the means for us to share the gospel in a multitude of ways, and He will assist us in our labors if we will act in faith to fulfill His work” – Thomas S. Monson 2013

The Lord is hastening His work. In our day this can be done only when every member of the Church reaches out with love to share the truths of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

Most active members of the Church want the blessings of the gospel to be part of the lives of others whom they love, even those whom they have never met.

Many members hesitate to do missionary work and share the gospel for two basic reasons.

1. Fear

 Many members do not even pray for opportunities to share the gospel, fearing that they might receive divine promptings to do something they think they are not capable of doing.

2. Misunderstanding of what missionary work is.

It is impossible for us to fail when we do our best when we are on the Lord’s errand.

If we are not engaged, many who would hear the message of the Restoration will be passed by. Simply stated, it’s a matter of faith and action on our part.

You don’t have to be an outgoing person or an eloquent, persuasive teacher.

It is natural to be somewhat apprehensive about talking to people, but you can pray for the faith and strength to be more bold in opening your mouth to proclaim the restored gospel”

The Lord knows us. He knows we have our challenges. … I pray that none of you would ever feel that reaching out in normal, pleasant ways to share the gospel would ever be a burden. Rather, it is a privilege! 

There is no greater joy in life than being anxiously engaged in the service of the Lord.

The key is that you be inspired of God, that you ask Him for direction and then go and do as the Spirit prompts you.

"There's Nothing I Can Do about It"

this post is for Lisa.  :-) I found these pictures on my computer and I know Lisa will get a kick out of them :-)

"there's nothing I can do about it"-- Grandpa Al

This is the closest picture I have to match that quote.  If it just would have been a little bit wider.  We could have got the finger tapping intact :-)

gramp & gram

Okay I guess I should tell the story.  One day while we were on vacation in California to visit my paternal grandparents so my dad could help haul hay on the ranch --as was our only vacation every year during my childhood-- our family went to visit gram and gramp in the Oaks :-).  Just down the hill from High Valley. 

 Anyway, every time we went there gram and gramp were always sitting in the same spot.  Gram in the chair and Gramp on the couch with his left arm on the armrest.  As we were approaching the sliding glass door of the trailer -- we heard Gram tell gramp, "Mike and his family are here" and gramp's reply was, "there's nothing I can do about it".  :-) That sure made us feel welcome :-)

We always knew when we wore out our welcome because Gramp would start tapping his fingers on the armrest.  :-) That meant it was time for us to go.

I should have cropped this picture but I didn't want to take the time :-)

Gram -- dad's maternal grandmother, dad, Gramp

If I'm guessing -- 1983 give or take a year or two :-)

Gram, mom, gramp, dad

Aunt Linda for life!  :-)

I tried to enlarge the previous two pictures but the resolution is so bad that's because I can make them without being too grainy.  :-(

Aunt Linda for life!

classic Aunt Linda -- at 192!

me on the very left, Lisa, mom, juliet, Grandma Stone, Grandpa Stone at the ranch.  I'm guessing this is 1974 or 1975.

me driving the model T. Lisa and mom on the '33.  I'm guessing 1973.  At the ranch.  :-)

mom and Lisa -- and me sitting in the model T. :-) 1973 I am guessing by Lisa's age :-)

this picture was in the same file so I thought I would include it.  Even though it has nothing to do with the previous pictures :-).  As I recall this is dad and me at Knotts Berry Farm.  Another one of those pictures they take when you enter the park.  This is somewhere around 2000 or maybe 2001. something like that. 

anyway Lisa, I did this blog post just for you so I hope you enjoyed it :-) I'm sure everyone else in the family will get a kick out of it as well :-)

Quotes from Sheri Dew's New Book

I have been listening to Sheri Dew's new book called, "Women and the Priesthood".  Normally, I would not read a book with such a title because I feel have a good grasp on women's roles and priesthood in the church.  But it had such good reviews that I decided to get it.

I really like Sheri Dew.  I don't want to put myself in the same category as her but she and I do share some commonalities.  We are both spinsters.  :-) She is also very bold like me.  At least I like to think I am :-).  Anyway, she did a really good job in writing this book.  I would suggest it to anyone.  Not just women.

There are a few quotes or thoughts I would like to share from the book.

I can't remember who the quote was from but I think it was a former General Relief Society President.  Anyway it went something like this: "we are in the business of salvation, not entertainment."  That is not a direct quote by any means but that was the gist of it.

I like that quote because I often hear people say that church is boring.  Church isn't for entertainment purposes.  The church is there for our benefit to help us on our journey towards personal salvation and exaltation.

The next quote I really identified with because once again, Sister Dew and I are both spinsters.  She was talking about motherhood.  She said that motherhood does not begin with giving birth in mortality.  But that as women we were foreordained to be mothers in our pre-earth life.  The qualities of motherhood are innate in all women even those who do not become mothers in mortality.

Speaking of mothers who work outside the home, Sister Dew said that we shouldn't judge them because we don't know their circumstances. and we are all going to be accountable to the Lord for what we do.

we can generalize this quote to not judging anybody, for whatever reason, because we don't know their circumstances and it is not our place to judge others, that is up to the Lord.

A story that stuck out to me was when she told about receiving the impression that she has the TV on too much.  She said her original reaction, she was ashamed to say, was defensiveness.  She said she thought that she didn't have the TV on very much at all and if she did it was mostly background noise.  But then she humbled herself and decided to watch General conference instead of TV when she was getting ready in the mornings.  She said the difference was very noticeable in the effect it had on her.

The interesting thing that she mentioned about that was that she said she wasn't allowing Satan's influence in her home through TV.  That's something I've noticed, even if you're watching a supposedly benign educational program, the commercials are often times shockingly evil.  And at very best are mindnumbing.

Music is the same way -- even more so I believe -- the type of music you listen to is very influential for bad or good.  I can hear a song I haven't heard in decades and it will bring back a flood of memories and often times I'll remember the lyrics and tune like it was yesterday.  Music is extremely powerful.

okay one more story from the book -- Sister Dew was on an airplane and the lady next to her introduced herself as a member of the church.  Her seatmate told her that while she was waiting in the airport a couple of famous rappers struck up a conversation with her.  As they were bragging about how famous they were and how influential they were in getting kids involved with drugs and sex, this righteous LDS mother was getting mad but trying to be polite.  Finally she said her mother bear instincts kicked in and she told the rappers that they had been upfront with her so she was going to be upfront with them and told them she has spent her whole life trying to protect children from people like them.

I don't think I would have been as eloquent or polite in my response.  :-)

Anyway I'm sure I could think of several more quotes or stories but this is already getting long. I just thought I would share some of the quotes and stories I remember with you.

Sheri Dew is a great author and wonderful example to follow.  Her new book is wonderfully written and contains many quotes from prophets and apostles.  I highly recommend it to everyone.

That's my two cents.

Random Pictures from the Past -- Juliet part two

okay this will be part two of my Juliet file.  :-) Some of these pictures look like they might be duplicates of those already posted but if they are, they are in the file twice.  Because this is the second half of the file.  So hopefully it won't seem too redundant.  I will try to narrate as much as I can remember about each picture :-)

this is Juliet, me, and Juliet's friend from college, Karen.  This was taken at Knotts Berry Farm.  If I recall correctly, this is the picture that they take of you at the entrance and hope you will buy later.  I think we bought it :-)

We normally wouldn't waste our money on those kind of gimmicks but we must've thought we looked great and couldn't resist :-)

the filename said this was December 2001.  Sounds about right to me.

I believe the name of this ride was ghost rider.  This was one of those automatic pictures they take on the roller coaster and hope you will buy later.  Once again, we bought it :-)

Juliet and Karen in the front.  Me in the back as a single rider :-) hey, I have no shame in being a single rider :-) looks like I'm having more fun than anyone.  Notice that I'm the only one raising my arms.  :-)

I love Knotts Berry Farm!  If I had to choose, it was probably my favorite theme park.  Love the supreme scream!  Remember Archie Bunkering it, Michael?  And then the next time we got brave enough to let go completely and raise our arms?  Oh, the memories.

Remember the water ride, Michael?  You and I got soaked and screamed, "wet people have more fun".  I think some lady died on that ride and they took it out.  It's a shame because it was so much fun.

I could go on and on with stories but moving on...

juliet licking one of the cake topping things from her Scooby-Doo birthday cake that I bought her.

okay this would be in Cedar city Utah at the hotel where we stayed when dad carried the Olympic torch.  This was February 2002 I believe.  Juliet and I took Lisa's kids swimming in the hotel pool.

Richie, Juliet, Mercedes

me and Richie -- bottom left

Mercedes and Juliet -- top

what a sweet picture :-)

look how happy they both are :-)

Juliet and Richie -- Mercedes and me

I think we were racing.  Looks like Mercedes and I have the lead :-)

Mercedes with Aunt Juliet

Derrinda, Mercedes, Michael

Juliet

party stance :-) -- inside joke

Aunt Derrinda, Mercedes, Aunt Juliet

another cute picture :-)

it's hard to believe those two cute little kids are teenagers now!  This doesn't seem that long ago to me.

Juliet talking on the phone at 192!

Gotta love 192!

Juliet holding Mercedes

okay this picture is stamped 2/2/02 so this was when we were flying from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City to see dad carried the Olympic torch.

this was flying back to Los Angeles on 2/8/02 -- I looked at the date stamp on the picture :-)

apparently Juliet and I were first and second to board the flight.  I don't know how that happened -- maybe Juliet's good luck.  Heaven knows it wasn't my luck.  :-) For some reason Juliet has always had good luck.  I wish some of it would have rubbed off on me :-) notice she is number one and I am number two :-) figures.

I don't know what this picture is doing in Juliet's file when obviously I cropped her out of it :-)

sticker pictures!  We used to have a lot of fun getting these sticker pictures at the mall and stuff.

I like the bottom right the best :-)

I think I might have put this one here already before.  I can't remember.

Juliet, Michael, me

I'm not sure if I already put these pictures on here orif they are just similar but hopefully it's not too redundant.

ditto.

I loved those white go-go boots.  Quick story -- Juliet and I went to a multi-stake fireside in Irvine California -- I'm not sure if this picture was taken that day or not.  But anyway, one of the girls there -- it was a young single adult fireside -- complimented me on my white go-go boots and told me that she wished she could pull off wearing them.  I'm not quite sure what she meant by that but I thanked her and took it as a compliment :-).

I think these pictures are a little different than the ones that post before but maybe not.  :-)

I don't think our heads were cut off before :-)

check out our "American-made" legs :-)

this was Juliet's birthday dinner.  Apparently noel celebrated with us.  I don't remember what I ordered but I remember this restaurant had peanut shells all over the floor and I remember the strawberry lemonade in a mason jar.  :-)

this must've been around Christmas time -- notice the Christmas cards on the door.

I'm sporting my vinyl snakeskin patterned pants :-)

FYI -- vinyl pants are not the most comfortable things to wear.  But hey, sometimes you have to sacrifice a little for fashion :-)

Juliet in our Downey apartment.  Eating at the kitchen table :-) strangely enough, I don't remember where the kitchen table came from.  Do you remember, Juliet?

Juliet on the Hollywood walk of fame.  Strategically putting her foot over the first name of an actress.

this concludes my Juliet file pictures.

I'm sure I'll be posting more family pictures from the past in the near future.  :-) Stay tuned.

Random Pictures from the Past -- Juliet

I have a file in my pictures on my computer entitled Juliet.  There are 90 pictures in there. and that's not even close to all of the pictures I have with Juliet but it's a good start.  So I decided to break it up into two or three blog posts and just put all of them in that file on here.  So they might be redundant but there are slight variations to each one.  :-)

Most of these would have been taken in 2001 or 2002.  When I lived in Downey, California.

anyway I think this is about 40 of the pictures so don't get too bored looking at them all :-)

this stands in front of our front door in our downey apartment.  I'm not sure this was before after Juliet got married and moved out.  She lived with me in this apartment for a while.

sisterly love

don't we look cute?  :-)

Juliet goofing off :-)

another cute sisterly love picture :-)

okay this one is not so cute.

I don't know what we're doing here except trying to look mean maybe.  Looks like I just finished a cherry slurpee :-)

it looks like Juliet had one too :-)

this was inside my bedroom at my downey apartment. notice my mission cross stitch on the wall above the head of my bed.  And the certificate on the other wall is my Daughter of Helaman certificate from my mission.  Hey, I worked hard to get it -- I was real proud :-)

I think Juliet is holding some custom mix CDs that I made for her.  If I had to guess it was probably Kenny Chesney and maybe George Strait?  :-)

I think this was Air Force One.  Taken during landing at the Salt Lake airport.  I don't know why this picture is in a file called Juliet :-)

this was in San Francisco.  In my apartment in Daly city.  Juliet and me sporting the shiny vinyl pants :-) this is probably around 1998 or 1999.

Juliet at the Dodgers game.

I look hacked apart in this picture but oh well.  This was when Michael and Derrinda, Juliet and I went to a Dodgers game while we were living in the Los Angeles area.  I have no idea who signed our pennant -- it was a former player I believe.

I have pictures with Michael and Derrinda but they are not in the file called Juliet :-).  So I will have to try to find those in another file and post them later.

The one thing I remember about this was after the game Michael found some abandoned nachos in the parking lot as we were walking back toward the car and he ate them!  

I know I posted this already -- this was at the Faith Hill / Tim McGraw concert at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

I think this picture was already posted also. this was in Downey.  Maybe before church one day?  I loved those Black Angus hoofs, as I called them that I'm wearing.

okay get ready for more pictures that look the same -- with slight variations :-)

this is probably shortly after 9/11/2001 because of the shirt Juliet is wearing.this is in Downey.

I don't remember doing this but it appears as though I'd Photoshop the background out.

this is in the living room and our Downey apartment

showing off the scrubs that I made for Juliet.  She was working as a medical assistant at the time.  We went and bought some fabric and I made her a bunch of scrubs.

I remember Juliet came home one day and told me that one of her coworkers wanted to pay me to make some scrubs for her.  I never did, I don't know why.

cute :-)

this is Malibu California.  I think we were celebrating Juliet's birthday.  The timestamp is December 29, 2000.  One day before her 27th birthday :-)

a cute picture of Juliet in my living room in downey.

I think we were heading to watch the taping of a TV show.

another cute sisterly love picture :-)

wearing my snakeskin pants :-)

obviously this was Juliet's 27th birthday.  Juliet always liked store-bought cakes better than homemade cakes.  So I ordered this Scooby-Doo cake -- I think that's what it is -- for her birthday.  :-) Aren't I such a great sister?  :-)

There are more pictures where these came from so check back later for part two.  :-)