Carrying the Gospel to the World

Kylee gave a great lesson yesterday from the Ezra Taft Benson manual.

Why do we need Heavenly Father as a partner in spreading the gospel?

"The world is hungry for true religion and we have it." - Ezra Taft Benson

We discussed the above question and decided that we are totally incapable of teaching others about the gospel without Heavenly Father's help! As we seek His help, we become capable of teaching others about the gospel.

We also discussed how knowing the gospel doesn't guarantee happiness-- it can give us, however, a sense of underlying peace that is the Holy Ghost.

How can we be missionaries to those around us?

• Example
• Service
• Genuinely caring
• Visiting teaching
• Sharing your testimony
• Home teaching
• Being genuine
• Including others in everything
• Talking about the gospel/mentioning church
• Social media
• Teaching your children

Feed My Sheep

This week, Jayme taught a great lesson on the "Feed My Sheep" chapter in the Ezra Taft Benson manual. 

What does it mean to "feed my sheep"? Service. Following promptings to serve others around us is feeding the Lord's sheep. 

We then read the following story: (long, but worth it, I promise!)

“At a stake presidency meeting in Boise, Idaho, years ago, we were trying to select a president for the weakest and smallest elders quorum in the stake. Our clerk had brought a list of all the elders of that quorum, and on the list was the name of a man whom I had known for some years. He came from a strong Latter-day Saint family, but he wasn’t doing much in the Church.
“If the bishop made a call to do some work on the chapel, he would usually respond, and if the elders wanted to play softball, you would sometimes find him out playing with them. He did have leadership ability; he was president of a service club and was doing a fine job.
“I said to the stake president, ‘Would you authorize me to go out and meet this man and challenge him to square his life with the standards of the Church and take the leadership of his quorum? I know there is some hazard in it, but he has the ability.’
“The stake president said, ‘You go ahead, and the Lord bless you.’
“… I went to this man’s home. I’ll never forget the look on his face as he opened the door and saw a member of his stake presidency standing there. He hesitantly invited me in; his wife was preparing dinner, and I could smell the aroma of coffee coming from the kitchen. I asked him to have his wife join us, and when we were seated, I told him why I had come. ‘I’m not going to askyou for your answer today,’ I told him. ‘All I want you to do is to promise me that you will think about it, pray about it, think about it in terms of what it will mean to your family, and then I’ll be back to see you next week. If you decide not to accept, we’ll go on loving you,’ I added.
“The next Sunday, as soon as he opened the door I saw there had been a change. He was glad to see me, and he quickly invited me in and called to his wife to join us. He said, ‘Brother Benson, we have done as you said. We’ve thought about it and we’ve prayed about it, and we’ve decided to accept the call. If you brethren have that much confidence in me, I’m willing to square my life with the standards of the Church, a thing I should have done long ago.’
“He also said, ‘I haven’t had any coffee since you were here last week, and I’m not going to have any more.’
“He was set apart as elders quorum president, and attendance in his quorum began going up—and it kept going up. He went out, put his arm around the less-active elders, and brought them in. A few months later I moved from the stake.
“Years passed, and one day on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, a man came up to me, extended his hand, and said, ‘Brother Benson, you don’t remember me, do you?’
“‘Yes, I do,’ I said, ‘but I don’t remember your name.’
“He said, ‘Do you remember coming to the home of a delinquent elder in Boise seven years ago?’ And then, of course, it all came back to me. Then he said, ‘Brother Benson, I’ll never live long enough to thank you for coming to my home that Sunday afternoon. I am now a bishop. I used to think I was happy, but I didn’t know what real happiness was.’"

How can we fulfill the mission of "perfecting the saints" when saints have gone less active?

Love them & serve them. Sometimes, all a person needs is to feel that they are cared for and loved. 

Christ is the shepherd, and we should strive to be like Him. We should feed His sheep. 

"Truly Good and Without Guile"

Today's lesson by Cassidy was focused on a talk by Elder Michael T. Ringwood called "Truly Good and Without Guile."

We started out by talking about what guile really means-- it's one of those words that comes up all the time in the scriptures, but do we know what it really means?

Guile (noun): sly or cunning intelligence, deceitfulness

We then brainstormed ideas of how to develop the characteristic of "being without guile":

• Overcome the natural man (easier said than done!)
• Make a conscious decision to be honest
• Act immediately when things go wrong-- make amends
• Have the best intentions you can muster
• Say what you mean-- be direct (but kind!)
• Be vulnerable and open

The final method we thought of to be without guile is to think of people you know who truly live without guile and try to emulate them. Sometimes, it helps to think of someone you know when making decisions (ex. think of the Lord of a trusted leader or family member when making decisions-- would they approve of this decision?)

"In a world where praise, position, power, accolades, and authority are sought on every side, I honor those wonderful and blessed souls who are truly good and without guile, those who are motivated by a love of God and their neighbors, those great women and men who are 'more anxious to serve than to have dominion.'" 

--Elder Ringwood

Christlike Leadership

Michelle gave a great lesson today on chapter 19, "Leadership," in the Ezra Taft Benson manual.

The first question we discussed was, "How can we be leaders?" 

We talked about how we can magnify our callings, show initiative in our lives, and serve those around us. 

We then discussed how the Lord was a leader and how learning about Him can make us better leaders. 

The ideal attributes of a leader are Christ-like attributes: 

• Humility
• Spiritual Strength
• Knowledge
• Loyalty
• Love & expressions of confidence
• Unity

Why is each important to Christlike leadership?

Why do people respond well to such leadership?

How can we develop this characteristic?

Each group got one of the attributes and discussed the three questions. 

Let's strive to be good leaders in our lives!

Receiving Personal Revelation

Lindsey taught a great lesson today on Elder Scott's talk from the October 2009 General Conference.

During the lesson, we focused on three questions:

• What can you do to enhance your capacity to be led to correct decisions in your life?
• What are the principles upon which spiritual communication depends?
• What are the potential barriers to such communication that you need to avoid?

We talked about how our spiritual communication depends on how well we can listen to the Spirit, and how willing we are to obey the things the Spirit tells us.

As we listen to the Spirit and obey what we learn from the Spirit, we will be more in-tune with the Spirit. We will then receive more and more personal revelation.

Lots of sisters shared personal experiences about things they learned from the Spirit.

We read the following quote: 

President John Taylor wrote: “Joseph Smith, upwards of forty years ago, said to me: ‘Brother Taylor, you have received the Holy Ghost. Now follow the influence of that Spirit, and it will lead you into all truth, until by and by, it will become in you a principle of revelation.’ Then he told me never to arise in the morning without bowing before the Lord, and dedicating myself to him during that day.”

We brainstormed ideas of how to dedicate ourselves to the Lord so we can receive more revelation. Simple things like reading our scriptures, doing our visiting teaching, praying regularly, serving others, and listening to the Lord are what bring us closer to Him.

We decided that one of the best ways to receive more revelation is to write down what we do receive to ponder and pray about it after we receive the revelation.

If you would like to watch or read the talk, click here.  

We'll Ascend Together

This week's lesson focused on marriage and family, specifically as discussed in Linda K. Burton's talk from the April 2015 General Conference. The lesson started out with a few quotes from general authorities about their spouses:

President Boyd K. Packer about his wife, Donna: "Because of the office I hold, I have a solemn obligation to tell the truth: She's perfect."

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf about his wife, Harriet: "She is the sunshine of my life."

President Henry B. Eyring about his wife, Kathleen: "She is a person who has always made my want to be the very best that I can be."

President Monson about his wife, Frances: "She was the love of my life, my trusted confidant, and my closest friend. To say that I miss her does not begin to convey the depth of my feelings."

We discussed ways that husbands and wives can help support and lift each other. Wives can encourage their husbands to exercise the priesthood, to be a spiritual leader in the home, to do their home teaching, to fulfill their calling, to attend the temple, and to set and keep individual and family goals. Kim emphasized that wives and husbands have complementary roles, that they COMPLETE each other rather than COMPETE with each other. Together as a unit, we can accomplish far more than as separate individuals.

We wrote down the answers to these five questions:

1. When was the last time I sincerely praised my companions, either alone or in the presence of our children?

2. When was the last time I thanked, expressed love for, or earnestly pleaded in faith for him or her in prayer?

3. When was the last time I stopped myself from saying something I knew could be hurtful?

4. When was the last time I apologized and humbly asked for forgiveness--without adding the words "but if only you had" or "but if only you hadn't?"

5. When was the last time I chose to happy rather than demanding to be right?

After some reflection, Kim had us write down five things we love about our spouse. Then we went around the room and shared one thing. That was a really tender moment, to hear everyone express what they love about their husbands. I am grateful for this lesson and the reflection time we had. It helped me realize what I can do better to lift my husband and be more united with him. I highly recommend reading the original talk if you haven't; it has some great counsel about how husbands and wives can help each other become the people that the Lord wants us to become.

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The Power of the Word

This week's lesson was chapter 8 out of the Ezra Taft Benson manual, and Alison did a fantastic job teaching it. I loved all the "Once Upon a Time" and "The Hobbit" dragon references.

We started off by discussing some examples of challenging times in our own lives (school finals, work, self worth issues, loosing testimony, infertility, pornography, etc.) and talked about that scripture in Revelation 12 where Satan is described as a dragon and the Church is described as a woman. Dragons are powerful, but we can beat them.

The power of the word of God will help us beat Satan and the temptations he throws at us. For clarity, we talked about how the word of God could be scriptures, personal revelation, and the words of the prophets and apostles. The power of the word of God comes when we fortify ourselves with the word, arm ourselves with the spirit, and hold fast to the good.

Some blessings that come from listening to/reading the word of God:

1. Stronger relationships with family members who read with us
2. Solidify family roles (let husband lead family scripture study and prayer)
3. Internal happiness and peace
4. Change hearts and soften hearts
5. Communication improves when you share your ideas and thoughts about the scriptures
6. Progression

The word of God is a gift, and we should love and treasure the words. We will be happy if we let them govern our lives.

At the end of the lesson we all made goals relating to our own personal scripture study. Feel free to set your own goals if you weren't able to make it to the lesson today! I know I have so much I need to improve when it comes to my personal scripture study habits.

Living Joyfully in Troubled Times

I loved the Relief Society lesson this past Sunday, the spirit was so strong, plus Shelly did a great job teaching.  :)

We learned about lesson 4 from the manual, about how we can live joyfully in troubled times. We talked about how hope, optimism and peace work together to help us out during times of trouble. With all three, you don't necessarily know what is going to happen to you next, but you can hope that God is directing your life and will help lead you where you need to be. You can be optimistic that things in the future are going to be good. Then with those two things in place, you can feel peace that everything will be okay. Even if you are not happy in the moment, at least you can feel calming peace.



It makes me think of how Christ was there to help Peter when he saw the waves around him and started to doubt. He will always be there for us, and if it doesn't stretch out his hand to lift us up, it means he wants us to realize that we can do hard things all by ourselves - we can swim!

One of the last things that was mentioned was that when times get hard, we all need to stick to two things:

1. Our marriages
2. Our membership in the Church

Both of these things involve covenants we have made with God and with other people (our husbands), and if we hold on to both, can be a firm foundation that will keep us floating when the troublesome waves of life get too high and rough.

Freedom of Choice, an Eternal Principle

Last Sunday's Relief Society lesson was based on Chapter 3 from the Ezra Taft Benson manual. Alicia did a fantastic job teaching and there were a lot of really good comments.

Here are some quick points we covered:

1. A great use of our agency is choosing to keep the commandments. Plus we are better able to keep our agency that way because we do not get addicted to various sins and bound by consequences.
2. Steps of decision making:
1. Study it out
2. Pray about it
3. Actively wait for an answer (read the scriptures, listen to the prophet, think about it more)
4. Have patience while waiting for an answer
5. Have faith in the answer you receive
3. If we trust in the Lord and consult him when making decisions, we will always end up where we are supposed to be. He wants what is best for us and will not lead us astray and will not let us make a wrong choice without giving some warning.
4. Sometimes the Lord just lets us make our own decisions.

The part about decision making got me thinking about a decision my husband and I made recently. We were trying to decide where he should work after graduating. The choices were a small town in California, at a job with really awesome benefits, and the chance for my husband to help program jets and missiles (which was really exciting to him). Or to stay with the company he is currently working at, here in Utah. We didn't want to stay in Utah so we decided to go with the other one. 

However as he was filling out paperwork for the job in California, he felt restless about the decision. I was just excited to be moving out of Utah, but I did feel a tiny bit concerned about the town that we were going to live in, it seemed really run down and dusty.

We were sitting together one evening when my husband came across this video. We watched it and I was actually in tears by the end, we both felt through the spirit that our decision was wrong and that we should stay with the company my husband was currently working at.

Still though, we didn't want to stay in Utah, so we asked if we could move to the Washington location (I don't know why we didn't just do this before... I love the Northwest and it is much closer to our families). We were given special permission to move to Washington a few weeks later and we have never felt better about our decision. I am so grateful the Lord wants what is best for each of us, and helps guide our decisions with a loving hand and through the whispers of the Holy Ghost.

Here is the video again:

Love One Another As I Have Loved You

This week's lesson was taught by Kelsey and was based on the conference talk by Elder Oaks called "Loving Others and living with Differences".

We talked about how we should love others no matter how different they might be from us, and how we should refrain from making snap judgements about others. Sometimes it is easier to refrain from judging others who are different than us than it is to refrain from judging those who hold our same beliefs but who don't live their religion the same way we do. However we should remember to keep the commandment to love one another no matter what.

We should be in the world but not of the world. Meaning we should not limit our association to only those of our faith. We talked about how talking with members of other religions can help enrich our own spirituality. You can still have a nice conversation about faith with someone of a different religion, the key is to stay away from contention and remember to communicate with love.

Members of the Church can still live our beliefs without being contentious, and we can still stand up for our beliefs without offending others.

Increasing Your Light

This Sunday, our lesson was taught by our wonderful president Lauren. It was a beautiful lesson about increasing your light.

She opened with the question, "What do you think of?" These were some of the answers:
Sunshine               Inspiration          Christ
Knowledge          Clarity
Happiness            Hope
Peace                  The Temple

Lauren's lesson was filled with beautiful quotes from President Uchtdorf! Unfortunately, I can't write very fast, so I just gleaned the parts I liked the best haha. The first little sun drop I gleaned was this gem, "God promotes the hope of His light." What an amazing promise! He's not going to leave us in the dark.

We were then asked what decreases light:
Stress
Priorities out of order
Comparing ourselves to others
Shame
Anxiety
negativity about others or ourselves

We then talked about what brings light into our lives:
Charity for others
Faith in God (even when things get hard)
Clean house
Being around others
Finding hobbies
Reading old journals
Surrounding ourselves with good media

Lauren brought up a wonderful point that maybe His light isn't an on or off switch, but maybe it's more like a lighthouse. The closer we get to it, the brighter the light gets.

A big part of this lesson was the promise that as WE draw nearer to GOD, HE will draw nearer to US. I LOVE THAT! We need to learn to use the Atonement so that we can continually draw nearer to our Heavenly Father and our Savior.

I'm so grateful to be part of this Relief Society and know each of you ladies! Love y'all. Let's all try to increase our light this week!

Covenant Keeping Women

Today was ward conference and we had a combined lesson taught by the Stake Relief Society Presidency. Their theme was "covenant keeping women in the kingdom of God."

We spent some time talking about D&C 109:8

Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;

 As women we are most often responsible for setting the tone in our homes. A house of order is physically clean and orderly. It might also include an orderly daily schedule of tasks, organized finances, and a consistent routine of family together time and spiritual endeavors such as family home evening, family prayer, family dinner, traditions, etc.

We touched on what it means to have a house of learning. Some of us are still in school and are always learning through homework and other means. Others are not in school (or have finished already) and can work on improving our minds by reading informational books, and by learning new crafts and skills. I feel better about myself when I know I am continually improving my mind, it's good to always be improving in some way.

Every home is different, but we can do our best to do what is right, as individual people and separate family units. I love this scripture that was mentioned in the lesson:

From http://www.theflourishingabode.com/freebies/bible-art-printables

After that, we spent some time talking about the organization of Relief Society, and the various ways being a part of Relief Society has improved our lives. Relief Society is a support group for like-minded women, we always have the most spiritual experiences when we meet for Relief Society on Sundays (versus going to Sunday School, which is still a great meeting but just not the same).

Relief Society is a place where we can learn from the experiences of other women, and a place where we can make friends. No matter where we go in the world, there will always be a Relief Society with women who want to include us in their circles of friendship.

I love the Lord and I'm so grateful to be a member of His church. I'm also grateful to be surrounded by the kind and loving women in our ward. You girls are the best! 

Happy Sunday everyone!

Pray Always

This Sunday's Relief Society lesson was given by Katie (thanks Katie!) and was based on lesson number 2 from the President Benson Manual. We talked about how we should pray always and continually carry a prayer (or prayers) in our hearts. We should also pray out loud with our families. Family prayer is a special experience that draws families closer together.

I had the impression that my husband and I should be more specific in our family prayers. We tend to generalize things, but our prayers could be so much more meaningful if we talked about specific blessings we are grateful for or asked for more specific things four ourselves and on behalf of each other.

Some ways we can improve our communication with Heavenly Father:

1. Pray frequently
2. Find an appropriate place to pray
3. Prepare ourselves before we pray - and if you don't feel like praying, talk to Heavenly Father about what's bugging you until you actually feel like praying.
4. Make each prayer meaningful and pertinent. Don't use the same phrases over and over again.
5. Do something to make the blessings asked for in your prayer happen. You do what you can, God will do the rest.

Anyways, hope you all have a great week and remember to apply the things you learned in the lesson! :)

Achieving Personal Peace

Tayler gave the Relief Society lesson today and it was such a great lesson. We talked about universal peace versus personal peace, and how we can still feel personal peace even when the rest of the world is in turmoil.

Here are some points from our discussion on ways we can have personal peace:

1. Make your home a temple
2. Use the atonement in your life

Personally, I am more likely to have a peaceful day (or a day with manageable positive stress instead of feeling helpless) when I start off the day by saying a prayer and reading my scriptures. It always helps me to have a prayer in my heart when things come up throughout the day. I also try to remind myself that (this is going to sound cheesy) everyone is a child of God and I should love them even if they don't know how to drive or if they have a coupon for every single item on their list in the grocery check out line. It helps me not to make snap judgments about people when I remember that God loves them, and maybe the reason they are driving poorly is because they have tears in their eyes, or maybe that person in the grocery check out line hates coupons and is embarrassed by them, but needs to use them out of necessity.

I feel personal peace when I look for the Lord's hand in my life, and when I remember to thank him for the blessings I receive each day (especially the small ones). Serving others also helps bring more peace in to my life, as does going to the temple to ponder and pray. Bonus if I am doing temple work for my own ancestors, but I haven't been on top of that lately...

Anyways, those were my thoughts during the lesson. There were some other fantastic comments shared too, discussions in Relief Society are the best.

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Ponder the Path of Thy Feet

This week's lesson was based on the conference talk by President Monson called "Ponder the Path of Thy Feet" and Shelly did a great job teaching it! If you haven't already, you should give the talk a read. It's a great option of something to study this Sunday afternoon.

During the lesson, we talked about how we are here on Earth to prove ourselves and to use our agency to get back to Heavenly Father. He has given us tools to help us find our way back, including the perfect example of His son, Jesus Christ. We may not be able to walk exactly where he walked (in Jerusalem, Galilee, etc.) but we can all chose to walk how he walked, by following his example.

Some paths that the Savior walked that we will too because we're all human:
- Disappointment
- Temptation
- Pian

Some paths that the Savior walked that we can choose to walk:
- Obedience
- Service
- Prayer

I love this quote from President Monson's talk:

There is no higher end than this, that we should choose to accept His discipline and become His disciples and do His work throughout our lives. Nothing else, no other choice we make, can make of us what He can.

I have definitely seen the Savior's hand in my life as I have tried my best to walk as he walked. He has molded me, guided me, and assisted me, and I would not be where I am right now without His help. He matches my good intentions in every aspect of my life, and fills in where I fall short. Every single time.  :)

Hope you all have an amazing Sunday! I never review all the material from the lesson so feel free to add your comments below if there was something you learned or especially appreciated today.

-Lisa

Love the Lord

This past Sunday's lesson was taught by Kelsey and she did an amazing job. The lesson was on "The Great Commandment of the Lord," Chapter 1 of the Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson book that we are reading this year.

The lesson focused on the first and great commandment, which is to love the Lord. We talked about ways we can show our love for the Lord. The various ways mostly revolved around personal scripture study, following the commandments, prayer, and serving those around us.

One of my favorite points made during the lesson was that we need to love God, not because he is in need of our love, but because loving him will change us. God did not command us to love him out of selfishness and pride. He commanded us to love him because some of the ways we can show our love for him are by giving service to those around us, reading the scriptures, praying, and following the commandments. In a way, his commandment for us to love him is also a commandment to become better, more spiritual individuals, and to become more like him by knowing and loving him. It is a commandment to improve ourselves.

The first commandment is one of the many ways that the Lord shows his unselfish and unconditional love for us, his children. It shows that he cares for us and really just wants us to improve and be successful in returning back to live with him.

Just some food for thought! I love the Lord and I'm so grateful to know him as I do (from experiences of having prayers answered, and through service, following commandments, and reading the scriptures).

Here is an amazing song that got stuck in my head as I was writing this.

Improving Personal Study

Shelly Myers gave the Relief Society lesson today, I always love Shelly's lessons! We talked about how this year we are going to be learning more about President Ezra Taft Benson, and then spent a big chunk of the lesson talking about ways we can improve our personal scripture study habits.

Here are a few of the ways we came up with:

1. Mark your scriptures up
2. Use a study/spiritual promptings journal
3. Do personal prayer
4. Pray before and after studying your scriptures
5. Pray to know an answer to a question before studying
6. Study with a question in mind
7. Look up the meaning of things in the Bible Dictionary
8. Write in the margins of scriptures
9. Discuss what was read after family scripture study
10. Memorize scriptures

I realized during the lesson that I need to use the paper copy of my scriptures more. I have all these notes in the margins that supplement my reading and it is just not the same on a tablet. Plus with the paper copy I can add more notes and continually build a little treasure trove of spiritual knowledge. Yay for new year's resolutions!

Anyways, feel free to add your thoughts on the lesson in the comments! I know there are some things I missed, it was a great lesson though.

-Lisa

Lessons from the Sacred Grove

This Sunday's lesson was given by Melany Lingam and she did a fantastic job! It was based on the article from the December Ensign called "Lessons From the Sacred Grove."

During the lesson, we related 4 lessons learned from trees to our own personal spiritual experiences. The 4 lessons were:

1. Trees always grow towards the light (people grow towards spiritual light)
2. Trees require opposition to become stronger (we require opposition to grow stronger too)
3. Trees grow best in forests (surround yourself with people who will help you grow)
4. Trees draw strength from nutrients provided by trees before them (you can draw strength and guidance from advice and traditions passed down from older family members, mentors, and friends)

Trees always grow towards the light: We talked about how the spirit of Christ gives off spiritual light, and when you have sinned or even if you are suffering from a mental illness such as depression, you feel like you are in a spiritually dark place. 

The key is to rely on Jesus Christ to help you move forward when you feel like you can't carry on by yourself any more. When you have sinned, repent and sin no more. Christ will lift that burden of guilt off your shoulders and fill the darkness in your life with light. If you are depressed, lean on Him and even if the depression doesn't go away, you will hopefully feel His presence and know that He is right there with you. Because of the atonement, He knows exactly what you are going through.

Trees require opposition to become stronger: This is one of my favorite things. Weird to say, I know, but let me explain. I love the perspective that comes from thinking this way during a hard trial. Instead of being bitter towards the Lord and asking "why would you do this to me??" It makes me think "what do I need to learn from this experience?" and it makes me wonder what experiences I will have in the future where I will need to draw from the added inner strength that comes from going through a trial. 

Jeff and I actually tried for almost 2 years before getting pregnant (I know this is not long at all for some of you, but it seemed like forever to me - my heart goes out to those of you who are struggling with infertility, it's hard). I am grateful now that it took so long because I don't think I would have been fully mentally prepared if we would have gotten pregnant any earlier, and the timing is going to work out perfectly with Jeff's graduation. It was really hard but the experience taught me to just trust in God's timing. Even if we ended up adopting instead of having our own child, it would have been for the best because God knows exactly what experiences we need, and what things will make us most happy.

Plus, now when our baby is crying at 3 AM or when she poops her pants just before we head out the door, I will be less likely to get frustrated because I will always remember what a miracle she is and how blessed I am to have her.

Trees grow best in forests: Families, visiting teaching, church wards and stakes, groups of friends. We all have support groups that help us make it through life. If you feel lonely at church, stop waiting for someone to talk to you and go talk to someone else who looks lonely! I'm sure they will appreciate it and you both will not be lonely any more.

Trees draw strength from nutrients provided by trees before them: Parents can help their children grow. We as young adults should be listening to the words of our own parents, as well as prophets and apostles. Another great way to learn from those who have come before us is to read the scriptures.

Anyways, have a great week everyone!

-Lisa