This Saturday we have our Ward Easter Activity. We are meeting at Christchurch Park (Park Road entrance) at 12 noon. Please bring a picnic, a blanket to sit on and some small wrapped chocolate eggs if you would like to take part in the Easter egg hunt. Any questions please see Sarah Garnham.
Our Enrichment meeting this month is on Wednesday 23rd April and is based on Emotional Health and Wellbeing. There will be two classes to attend, one run by Sister Ros Lafevre and the other by Sister Jill Lucas who is a counsellor in the stake.
Stake Conference will be on the 3rd-4th May. We will give more details as they are received.
On May 17th is our Stake Womens Day which is always fantastic. As part of this day the Stake will be focusing on a challenge they have set for al sisters in the stake. This is a challenge to live the 'Spiritual Five' which are:
1. Personal Prayer Daily
2. Personal Scripture Study
3. Take time to ponder each day
4. Service
5. Observe our Covenants
Lesson:
We had a real treat today as our lesson was given by Sister Sarah Garnham on Chapter 7 of the Joseph Fielding Smith manual 'Joseph and Hyrum Smith, witnesses for Jesus Christ'.
Sarah posed the question 'who are we inspired by and why?' We shared various comments from the wonderful qualities of the Saviour, Prophets and Pioneers, through to members of our own family. Then we read of how very inspired Pres Smith was by Joseph and Hyrum (Hyrum Smith being his grandfather who he was never able to meet). He recalls hearing wonderful accounts of these men while he was a child and how the spirit gave him a witness of the reality of what they had done for the Lord.
"I never knew my Grandmother Smith. I have always regretted that, because she was one of the most noble women who ever lived but I did know her good sister, my Aunt Mercy Thompson and as a boy I used to go and visit her in her home and sit at her knee, where she told me stories about the prophet Joseph Smith and oh how grateful I am for that experience."
We then thought about our own children and how we could also help them to feel this same inspiration and love for the prophet Joseph Smith. Ideas shared included the use of films and music portraying his life, the testifying of your love for him, teaching them the truths he restored to the world, looking at the growth of the church and playing games that he played etc to help understand the real man he was.
Sarah shared her testimony for Joseph and the wonderful links with the Saviour as we looked at the roles they both played in the building and restoring of the Kingdom. President Joseph Fielding Smith shared his feelings:
"There is no doubt in my mind that the Lord raised the Prophet Joseph Smith up and gave him revelation, commandment, opened the heavens to him and called upon him to stand at the head of this glorious dispensation. I am perfectly satisfied in my mind that in his youth, when he went out to pray, he beheld and stood in the actual presence of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ."
Of course we also looked at the most wonderful relationship that Joseph and Hyrum as brothers shared and how we too can use that as our example in how we love and support each other as sisters in the gospel. What a beautiful description was shared of Hyrum by Joseph:
We closed today sisters with a portion of this incredible and powerful testimony from Elder Jeffrey R Holland:
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