This Wednesday is our RS Activity at 7.30pm and is going to be great. We have our Stake Patriarch Barry Lowater coming to speak with us about our Patriarchal Blessings and how to use them in our lives. There will be time for him also to speak with those sisters who do not yet have their blessings or whose youth are preparing to receive theirs. Please bring a COPY of your blessing with you for an activity.
Saturday we have the baptism of Shanice at 6pm. Shanice is a young sister with a wonderful smile and we are really looking forward to her joining our RS.
It was great to have so many of you sisters come and practise with us today ready for our musical item next Sunday. A reminder to all we will be singing prelude music Hymn 129: Where can I turn for peace. Please be at church and sitting on the stand by 9.45.
Today we also welcomed the remainder of the Giles Family , many of you will already know Bro Giles who came to the ward a couple of months ago. This week Sister Bernice Giles and her children arrived in the ward and we are so excited to get to know them better.
On 28th June we have our Stake Family Temple Day - the details are on the last post. The Stake Primary are organising activities for those aged 3-12 from 9.30 - 12.30 to allow their parents to enter the temple. Please let Sister Sue Kennedy our ward Primary President know if your children will be attending - they will need the name / age of the children. The meeting place is the dining room (next to the distribution center). Some activities will be outside so please bring sun hat / rain coat as necessary. Our children aged 8-11 will also be having a Faith in God activity as part of the morning with Sister Kim Spencer.
A note for your diaries - our next RS Activity 'Sister Scriptorians' will be held on Wed 9th July at 7.30 and will follow on from our lesson given by Sister Louise Lamb on effective scripture study. The response from you sisters was great and this evening will build on that and show lots of examples of how to study and some goodies to take away to help.
Also just a thank you from the Turner family - they have been so grateful for all the help they have received this week with meals. Hugh is going into respite for a week whilst Betty stays with her family for a rest. We will let you know if further help will then be needed while the family try and find a longer term solution. It is likely that we will have several sisters / families who will be needing assistance over the next month or so as we have several due to go into hospital for various procedures. Thank you in advance for the care and love you show one another - we appreciate you all so much.
Lesson:
We had a real treat today as Sister Ana Marques taught the lesson from Chapter 12 of Joseph Fielding Smith 'The Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood' building on the lesson we had with Cilla last week.
President Smith said '...the blessings of the priesthood are not confined to men alone. These blessings are also poured out upon our wives and daughters and all the faithful women of the Church. These good sisters can prepare themselves, by keeping the commandments and by serving in the Church, for the blessings of the House of the Lord. The Lord offers to His daughters every spiritual gift and blessing that can be obtained by his sons, for neither is the man without the woman, nor the woman without the man in the Lord.'
We may not hold the Priesthood but we certainly are able to have the blessings that come from it.
Ana asked today about the blessings that come to us from the examples of great Priesthood holders - a blessing that we can all see in our lives through wonderful bishops, great Home Teachers and righteous men which several sisters shared, just as we heard too in Sacrament meeting today. But equally as Pres Smith shared there is something WE need to do to. Just as the brethren must live righteously to be able to receive these blessings we must too.
Ana shared examples of the need for us to serve and we were reminded of the wonderful and numerous examples we have to do so - in our specific callings, as Visiting Teachers and in fact even just by looking around and seeing a need in a sister by our side. Ana shared a personal experience about a homeless man she would often see in her journeys who unlike many wasn't asking for money but simply for some food to eat. Ana shared her food on numerous occasions but knew she couldn't serve this man alone. She prayed for help and over time saw more and more people stopping and serving this man. What a lovely example of the difference one Sister can make.
President Smith also made a lovely comment we can all learn from:
'There is nothing in all this world as important to each of us as putting first in our lives the things of God's kingdom, as keeping the commandments, as magnifying our callings...as going to the House of the Lord and being offered the fullness of the blessings of our Father's kingdom.
'The blessings of the Lord are offered to the Saints and to the world through the ministrations of those who hold His holy priesthood, who represent Him, who are in fact His servants and agents and are willing to serve him and keep his commandments.'
Sisters - what a blessing the priesthood is. There is much we can do to support the righteous men in our lives as they continue to serve our Father in Heaven and much we can do to ensure we are worthy and able to receive those blessings.
What difference will that make in your life this week?
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