Announcements:
Peter Talbot-Ashby's funeral will be this Thursday. The service will be at the Ipswich chapel at 10.30am, followed by the burial at 12.00pm in Hadleigh, and then food will be served at the Hintlesham and Chattisham Community Centre from 12.45pm. The ward have been invited to attend all three parts of the funeral. A reminder that it will be family flowers only. Anyone who wishes to make a donation can pass this to the funeral directors for RNLI or St Elizabeths Hospice.
If any sisters would like to help with the food for the funeral and hasn't yet been asked, please speak to Kim Spencer who can confirm what else is needed. - Thank you.
A big thank you to all those who are assisting with taking Trish Read home from the hospital each day. Norman is beginning to do a little better and they very much appreciate all the help they are receiving.
Please note we are now into the last week of February - please make every effort to visit your VT Sisters and report back to the presidency how these sisters are.
Lesson:
What a wonderful Sunday we had for our Ward Conference and what a treat to hear from our Stake Leaders.
President Simon Fagg, our Stake President, said as he had prayed about the upcoming ward conferences he knew that he needed to be in the RS meetings with the sisters and wanted to share how much he loves the sisters and all they do to aid in building the kingdom and families of the stake.
Sister Shirley Allen (2nd counsellor in the Stake RS Presidency) then taught us from Elder Ballard's talk in Octobers General Conference - Put your trust in the Lord.
We talked about the joy of being a member of the Lord's church and how now more than ever there is a need for each of us to share this wonderful message with those around us. President Spencer W Kimball said "Perhaps the greatest reason for missionary work is to give the world its chance to hear and accept the gospel" - just as each of us has been able to do.
There are so many ways to share the gospel now - especially with the use of the internet and social media but still there remains 2 main barriers which tend to stand in our way. We shared what we thought they might be and found we agreed with Elder Ballard:
1. The first one is fear. Many members do not even pray for opportunities to share the gospel, fearing they might receive divine promptings to do something they think they are not capable of doing.
2. The second reason is misunderstanding of what missionary work is.
However we shared thoughts about how these can be overcome, including our faith that the Lord will help us know what to say in the moment and also the idea of simply putting down breadcrumbs as we talk and allow those around us to pick them up and know the Lord will help the conversation to happen.
Elder Ballard assures us "It is impossible for us to fail when we do our best when we are on the Lord's errand."
If you would like to listen to Elder Ballard's talk in full just click HERE
Sunday 23 February 2014
Sunday 16 February 2014
Announcements and Lesson - 16th February 2014
Announcements:
We are sad to announce the passing of Brother Peter Talbot-Ashby this week after a long battle with cancer. We are awaiting confirmation of the date of the funeral but will let you know as soon as possible. We will be helping with food for the funeral so some sisters may be contacted by Kim Spencer who will be co-ordinating this. Family have requested family flowers only, with donations to be made to RNLI or St Elizabeth's Hospice where they hope to purchase a 5 year leaf tribute to Peter on the memorial tree.
Next Sunday we have our Ward Conference which will be followed by a Munch and Mingle. Sister Paula Pereira is co-ordinating this and has requested each family bring a meal (hot) and dessert to share. Any problems please see Paula.
This week is our Stake Temple Week and all are encouraged to attend where possible.
We have a number of sisters who are unwell and having a difficult time - please take time to remember them in your prayers and maybe send a card.
We are now halfway through the month - please ensure you are arranging your VT visits and serving your sisters and showing you care.
Lesson:
Sister Margaret Benmore taught our lesson today from Chapter 4 of Pres Joseph Fielding Smiths teachings on Strengthening and Preserving the Family - a topic close to many of our hearts.
What a wonderful example Joseph Fielding Smith was of this - listen to how this wife Ethel described him:
We are sad to announce the passing of Brother Peter Talbot-Ashby this week after a long battle with cancer. We are awaiting confirmation of the date of the funeral but will let you know as soon as possible. We will be helping with food for the funeral so some sisters may be contacted by Kim Spencer who will be co-ordinating this. Family have requested family flowers only, with donations to be made to RNLI or St Elizabeth's Hospice where they hope to purchase a 5 year leaf tribute to Peter on the memorial tree.
Next Sunday we have our Ward Conference which will be followed by a Munch and Mingle. Sister Paula Pereira is co-ordinating this and has requested each family bring a meal (hot) and dessert to share. Any problems please see Paula.
This week is our Stake Temple Week and all are encouraged to attend where possible.
We have a number of sisters who are unwell and having a difficult time - please take time to remember them in your prayers and maybe send a card.
We are now halfway through the month - please ensure you are arranging your VT visits and serving your sisters and showing you care.
Lesson:
Sister Margaret Benmore taught our lesson today from Chapter 4 of Pres Joseph Fielding Smiths teachings on Strengthening and Preserving the Family - a topic close to many of our hearts.
What a wonderful example Joseph Fielding Smith was of this - listen to how this wife Ethel described him:
"You ask me to tell of the man I know. I have often thought when he is gone people will say, he is a very good man, sincere, orthodox etc. They will speak of him as the public knows him, but the man they have in mind is very different from the man I know. The man I know is a kind, loving husband and father whose greatest ambition in life is to make his family happy, entirely forgetful of self in his efforts to do this. He is the man that lulls to sleep the fretful child, who tells bedtime stories to the little ones, who is never too tired or too busy to sit up late at night or to get up early in the morning to help the older children solve perplexing school problems. When illness comes the man I know watches tenderly over the afflicted one and waits upon him. It is their father for whom they cry, feeling his presence a panacea for their ills. It is his hands that bind up the wounds, his arms that give courage to the sufferer, his voice that remonstrates with them gently when they err, until it becomes their happiness to do the thing that will make him happy...The man I know is unselfish, uncomplaining, considerate, thoughtful, sympathetic, doing everything within his power to make life a supreme joy for his loved ones. That is the man I know."
We discussed how with the family being THE most important unit it needs our very best efforts just as President Smith ensured was the case in his family.
There are so many ways in which the world is attacking that family unit and no longer will a half hearted effort keep us safe. We discussed what some of these dangers are - including peer pressure, too much time spent on careers outside the home (both for mother and father), pornography, not valuing the law of chastity, media and the internet, immoral music, the acceptance of gay marriage and societal views of marriage as important to name just a few. And then spent much of the lesson discussing the steps we can take to protect our families from such attacks.
Some ideas suggested were to be cautious on the influences allowed in the home, on voicing our concerns when we don't agree with programmes used in schools or on the TV, having open communication with our children so they can speak to us about concerns. Also mentioned was that we live in this world and it will continue to get worse so one of the best things we can do to ensure safety in the family is to help our children know the standards and gain testimonies of them for themselves - help them have spiritual experiences and grow in faith so they will WANT to live the Lord's way.
Margaret left us to ponder over this coming week some questions posed by President Smith:
Do you spend as much time making your family and home successful as you do in pursuing social and professional success?
Are you devoting your best creative energy to the most important unit in society - the family?
Or is your relationship with your family merely a routine, unrewarding part of life?
Parent and child must be willing to put family responsibilities first in order to achieve family exaltation....
Sisters are we willing?
Sunday 9 February 2014
Annoucements and Lesson - 9 February 2014
Announcements:
We have our Ward Conference on 23rd February which will be followed by a Munch and Mingle. More details will follow shortly.
Our first Stake Temple Week for 2014 is 18th - 22nd February. If you wish for accommodation to be booked for you by the stake an email was sent out by Kurt Green to sisters last night. This needs to be completed and returned to Kurt TODAY. Otherwise you may of course book accommodation directly with the temple.
During Temple Week on 20th February our youth will be doing baptisms at the temple. They are looking for ward members to provide enough names for the youth to do baptisms for. If you can assist please see the email sent to sisters today from Sara which will give more information. Kurt Green is co-ordinating this and will need all the papers by next Sunday.
Missionary Moment - we will be having a minute or two each Sunday in RS where a sister can share a missionary experience she has had in the preceding week. Today Gloria Watson shared how simply from talking about the church with her friend Maggie while swimming she asked to come to church and how much she felt the spirit and wishes to come again. If you have an experience you would like to share please email a member of the presidency.
Lesson:
Today Graca taught our lesson on chapter 3 of The Teachings of Joseph Fielding Smith which was a review of the plan of salvation.
We talked about how wonderful this plan truly is, what it might have felt like to have lived with our Heavenly Father in the pre-existence and to hear His plan presented to us. About how due to the fall of Adam we became so very dependant on a Saviour, Jesus Christ to make it possible for us to return back home.
We specifically talked about the role of Christ - and how the atonement took place:
"The driving of the nails into his hands and into the Saviour's feet was the least part of his suffering. We get into the habit, I think, of feeling or thinking that his great suffering was being nailed to the cross and left to hang there. Well, that was a period in the world's history when thousands of men suffered that way. So his suffering, so far as that is concerned, was not any more than the suffering of other men who have been so crucified. What then was his great suffering? I wish we could impress this fact upon the minds of every member of this church. His great suffering occurred before he ever went to the cross. It was in the Garden of Gethsemane, so the scriptures tell us, that blood oozed from every pore of his body and in the extreme agony of his soul, he cried to his father. it was not the nails driven into his hands and feet. Now do not ask me how that was done because I do not know. Nobody knows. All we know is that in some way he took upon himself that extreme penalty. He took upon him our transgressions, and paid a price, a price of torment.
" Think of the Saviour carrying the united burden of every individual - torment - in some way which I say I cannot understand: I just accept."
The same goes for each of us - we cannot understand but we CAN accept. We can live by the first principles and ordinances of the gospel, faith in Jesus Christ, repentance as often as needed, baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost and then always enduring so that one day we can be received into the celestial kingdom - to once again live with our Father in Heaven.
As Elder Smith said:
"I am sure that we all love the Lord. I know that He lives and I look forward to that day when I shall see His face and I hope to hear his voice say unto me, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
"And I pray that this may be the happy lot of all of us, in our own due time."
We have our Ward Conference on 23rd February which will be followed by a Munch and Mingle. More details will follow shortly.
Our first Stake Temple Week for 2014 is 18th - 22nd February. If you wish for accommodation to be booked for you by the stake an email was sent out by Kurt Green to sisters last night. This needs to be completed and returned to Kurt TODAY. Otherwise you may of course book accommodation directly with the temple.
During Temple Week on 20th February our youth will be doing baptisms at the temple. They are looking for ward members to provide enough names for the youth to do baptisms for. If you can assist please see the email sent to sisters today from Sara which will give more information. Kurt Green is co-ordinating this and will need all the papers by next Sunday.
Missionary Moment - we will be having a minute or two each Sunday in RS where a sister can share a missionary experience she has had in the preceding week. Today Gloria Watson shared how simply from talking about the church with her friend Maggie while swimming she asked to come to church and how much she felt the spirit and wishes to come again. If you have an experience you would like to share please email a member of the presidency.
Lesson:
Today Graca taught our lesson on chapter 3 of The Teachings of Joseph Fielding Smith which was a review of the plan of salvation.
We talked about how wonderful this plan truly is, what it might have felt like to have lived with our Heavenly Father in the pre-existence and to hear His plan presented to us. About how due to the fall of Adam we became so very dependant on a Saviour, Jesus Christ to make it possible for us to return back home.
We specifically talked about the role of Christ - and how the atonement took place:
"The driving of the nails into his hands and into the Saviour's feet was the least part of his suffering. We get into the habit, I think, of feeling or thinking that his great suffering was being nailed to the cross and left to hang there. Well, that was a period in the world's history when thousands of men suffered that way. So his suffering, so far as that is concerned, was not any more than the suffering of other men who have been so crucified. What then was his great suffering? I wish we could impress this fact upon the minds of every member of this church. His great suffering occurred before he ever went to the cross. It was in the Garden of Gethsemane, so the scriptures tell us, that blood oozed from every pore of his body and in the extreme agony of his soul, he cried to his father. it was not the nails driven into his hands and feet. Now do not ask me how that was done because I do not know. Nobody knows. All we know is that in some way he took upon himself that extreme penalty. He took upon him our transgressions, and paid a price, a price of torment.
" Think of the Saviour carrying the united burden of every individual - torment - in some way which I say I cannot understand: I just accept."
The same goes for each of us - we cannot understand but we CAN accept. We can live by the first principles and ordinances of the gospel, faith in Jesus Christ, repentance as often as needed, baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost and then always enduring so that one day we can be received into the celestial kingdom - to once again live with our Father in Heaven.
As Elder Smith said:
"I am sure that we all love the Lord. I know that He lives and I look forward to that day when I shall see His face and I hope to hear his voice say unto me, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
"And I pray that this may be the happy lot of all of us, in our own due time."
Tuesday 4 February 2014
A thought for you....
After our lesson on Sunday a Sister sent me this fantastic quote:
What have You done today for the sisters you visit teach?
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