Heather left a link on our ward RS Facebook Group to a lovely blog post about her time as our president. Read it here. We will miss her, but are happy that she and her husband will be moving into a new home and starting a new chapter of their life together.
Her lesson focused on how the priesthood blesses our lives.
She said:
Since it is June, and Father’s Day I wanted our lesson to be about something to do with the men in our lives. But then that didn’t feel quite so right. So instead we are going to talk about the priesthood in our lives and our marriages. However—and this is very important—the priesthood and the men are two completely separate things. I want to talk about how we can use the power of the priesthood to bless our marriages and how it can be one of the spiritual landmarks so we do not wander or despair that we are lost.
President Uchdorf's First Presidency Message for June says,
If you want something to last forever you treat it differently. You shield it and protect it. You never abuse it. You don’t expose it to the elements. You don’t make it common or ordinary. If it ever becomes tarnished you lovingly polish it until it gleams like new. It becomes special because you have made it so, and it grows more beautiful and precious as time goes by.” —F. Burton Howard.
They made it across the Ocean, and then across the plains to the North Platte River where they met the blizzard of 1856. George Paddley spent most of the day in the river helping the people of his company dodge huge chunks of ice as they tried to get to the other side and continue their journey to Salt Lake. He got chilled and came down with hypothermia but he recovered and went on to Martin’s Cove—another 150 to 160 miles. There the terrible conditions overcame him and he gave up his mortal life.
They dug trenches in the snow to bury the dead because the ground was too frozen. They did the best they could with the bodies. You can read about the snapping and growling of the wolves as they fought over and carried off the bodies. Sarah didn’t want George to be eaten by the wolves. She took what was probably one of the only things she had to stay warm, her shawl, and asked the brethren to wrap him in it and hang his body in the trees. When she got to Salt Lake and learned that in the spring the brethren were going back to retrieve supplies left behind she asked them to find George’s body and give him a proper burial. But, when they went back to Martin’s Cove the only thing they found was the shawl. They brought it back to her and her family has it still today.
“Without spiritual landmarks, mankind wanders. Without the word of God, we walk in circles. The instructions given at general conference are another landmark that can help us know if we are on course. Maybe while you were listening or reading, you jotted down a note or two. Perhaps you made a commitment to do some things better or differently. Just think about the messages of last general conference. Many encouraged us to strengthen our families and improve our marriages. Are we noting and applying this worthwhile counsel? Are we recognizing and walking toward these real and valuable landmarks? Spiritual landmarks are indispensable for keeping us on the straight and narrow path. They give clear direction as to the way we should travel—but only if we recognize them and walk toward them. In this way, we will not wander in circles but walk with confidence and certainty toward that great heavenly blessing that is the birthright of all who walk in the straight and narrow way of Christ’s discipleship.”
The Priesthood is the power and authority given to act in God's name for the salvation and blessing of His children.
Elder Oaks 2005
Priesthood authority function in both the family and the Church. The priesthood is the power of God used to bless all of His children, male and female. Some of our abbreviated expressions, like “the women and the priesthood,” convey an erroneous idea. Men are not “the priesthood.” Priesthood meeting is a meeting of those who hold and exercise the priesthood. The blessings of the priesthood, such as baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, the temple endowment, and eternal marriage, are available to men and women alike. The authority of the priesthood functions in the family and in the Church according to the principles the Lord has established.”
Elder Oaks said, “The family proclamation gives this beautiful explanation of the relationship between a husband and a wife: While they have separate responsibilities, “in these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.”
Virginia Lee Perry (1947-1974, her death),
in the words of her husband, L. Tom Perry
“There’s no way that you can compensate for that balance of a companion aiding you in the assignment you’re given. The combination of husband and wife working together is more than one and one makes two; it grows in geometric proportions as she magnifies you and your assignment.”
Robert D. Hales
“Mary has never held me back. We follow the Quaker proverb ‘Thee lift me and I’ll lift thee, and we will ascend together.’ A lot of what we have done would not have happened without a team relationship. We always have been a team and always will be. I think listening to my wife, next to listening to the Holy Ghost, has been the most important influence in my life.”
David A. Bednar
Many years ago, Sister Bednar and I were busy trying to meet the countless competing demands of a young and energetic family—and of Church, career, and community responsibilities. One evening after the children were asleep, we talked at length about how effectively we were attending to all of our important priorities. We realized that we would not receive the promised blessings in eternity if we did not honor more fully the covenant we had made in mortality. We resolved together to do and to be better as a husband and a wife. That lesson learned so many years ago has made a tremendous difference in our marriage.
When we work together and have the same landmarks we will be able to have the spirit guide us.
When President James E. Faust heard this story he called it the greatest love story of our time. Sarah and George were in their early 20’s. They met because some missionaries came to England to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. They were each baptized, they attended church, met and fell in love. The wanted to be married. They had been taught about the temple and the sealing ordinances they could receive there. They chose to come to America, to Utah, to be married and sealed in the Endowment House for all eternity.
When President Faust heard about this story he gave special permission for Sarah and George to be sealed for all eternity. (source: http://lakemeadtrek.blogspot.
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