Announcements & Lesson - 21 September 2014

Announcements:

For those of you not at church today, there was a change in the RS Presidency.  Louise, Sara and Fatima were released and the new Presidency are as follows:

President -          Ana Nunes
1st Counsellor -   Miriam Wedderburn
2nd Counsellor -  Cristina Torres

We very much appreciate all the support and love that has been given to us as a Presidency and love the Sisters of this ward dearly.

Due to the change in Presidency please note the Cream Tea activity scheduled for this Wednesday has been postponed.

The first weekend in October will be our General Conference.  The sisters session will be shown at 3pm at the Chapel - please come along and join together to watch this special meeting.

Fast Sunday will therefore be brought forward to Sunday 28th September.

The cleaning team this week will be both Garnham families and David Myers.

Lesson:

We had a wonderful lesson today from Sister Beth Baxter on Chapter 18, Living by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

The lesson focused on Obedience and the need for us to be fully obedient to the Lord.    As President Smith said 'There is nothing more important to any individual than keeping the Lord's commandments.  He expects us to cleave unto every principle, to put first in our lives the things of His kingdom"

Beth shared a lovely poem that shows us how vital these commandments are:

The Parable of the Kite:

 

 

 

There once lived a girl, so faithful and true, With so much potential, so much she could do.
Her favorite past time was spent in the park- Flying her kite, from dusk until dark.
Her father had built it, a bright, sturdy frame, It seemed to hold up when the strong whirlwinds came.
It had a long tail, and what joy it could bring, As it flew through the air, tightly held by the string.
Her father had warned her, to hold on quite tight, The trial of the wind could put up a big fight.
This daughter grew restless, just watching it fly, She wanted to see it soar deep in the sky.
One day she decided that it wasn't fair, To punish this kite, and to hold back the air.
This kite deserved more than the same point of view, If she just let it go,it could fly away too.
Because she was struggling- life was so hard, She longed for the freedom to let down her guard.
Rules and commandments were causing such strife, They just held her back, there was much more to life!
In just a brief instant, she cut off the string, She took a deep breath as the air caught the wing.
It spiraled, it turned, and quite soon she had found Her precious kite mangled and crushed on the ground.
She then heard her father, his voice calm and true, My child, these commandments are given FOR you
To help you and guide you and keep you in flight, Just as the string has preserved your invaluable kite.
I love you. I need you. You're precious to me. If you keep my commandments, They help make you free!
Free to fly high, free from the sorrow, Free to awake without guilt for tomorrow.
My daughter, please know that I'm sending my love,  I'll guide you; I'll hold you with strength from above.
As I hold your string, I won't let you down, I promise, in heaven, that you'll get your crown!

We discussed what the Lord is asking of us in Matthew 5:48 and that the Lord really does want us to be perfect - but that we need to understand that it is a long term goal that we can reach step by step.  President Smith shared that perfectly when he said 'It is my duty, it is yours, to be better today that I was yesterday, and for you to be better today than you were yesterday and better tomorrow than you were today.'  This then becomes more manageable - we can all try to do that!

We spent a few moments considering our own lives - what is the one commandment we struggle with most?  And what are we going to do about it?  President Smith asked us to each work on that one principle, live it, again and again, until not only are we DOING it but we are LOVING it.

We discussed the blessings from obedience - some mentioned by President Smith were - exaltation / protection / more blessings that we ever thought possible / knowledge / greater faith / a quickened mind / conversion and testimony / immortality / all the Father has / a place in the Kingdom of God, with the Lord Himself.

As we looked through the list Beth pointed out - why when this is what is on offer, do we ever choose instead to disobey, to not do as the Lord asks.

So far what we had studied looked very black and white, we obey the Lord because we know we should.  Beth then took us back to the most vital and amazing reason we obey... "if ye love me, keep the commandments" (John 14:15).

We watched this beautiful Mormon Message which reminded us of what living the Gospel obediently is all about...it is taken from a talk by Elder Holland where he spoke of the Lord ever being true to us and the need to equally be to Him...

None were with Him - VIDEO

Beth finished by posing the question of President Smith:

"Can I help loving Him?  No I cannot.  Do you love Him?  Then keep His commandments!"

Announcements & Lesson - 14 September 2014

Announcements:

We are sad to announce the death of Sister Djamilia Riberio this week who many of the Portuguese sisters will know well.  She was not active at church but has been fighting a long battle with cancer.  She leaves three little children so please remember her family in your prayers.  We will let you know the funeral details once we have them.

We have a very special RS Activity planned for this month - Wednesday 24th September at 7.30pm - where we will be enjoying each others company and having a cream tea (without the tea!!!).  Due to catering, we do need a good idea of numbers.  If you have not already let us know, please email Sara and let her know you are coming ASAP.

We hope you all enjoyed the wonderful inspiring counsel from our Church Leaders at our Sisters Conference on Tuesday.  We were able to distribute Book of Mormons to some of you sisters today to begin your study as per Elder Bednar's challenge - as soon as the delivery of the remainder arrives we will get these out to you.  We hope to start up a Facebook Group for those of you who would like to share your thoughts and what you are learning as we progress through this challenge.  It is going to be an exciting journey.

The cleaning team for this week: Adcock Family, Albright Family and Jim Boon.

A reminder that the first weekend in October will be General Conference.  We will be showing the General RS Session on Saturday, we will let you know timings shortly.  This will mean that Fast Sunday will be on 28th September instead.

Lesson:

Todays lesson was based on Joseph Fielding Smith Lesson 17: Sealing Power & Temple Blessings.

President Smith shared a story about a man he met in 1902 in Massachusetts who had taken on the grand task of searching the records of every individual who had come to Essex County before the year 1700.  When asked why, he said "I do not know why, but I got started and I cannot stop."  Pres Smith said to him "I can tell you why you are doing this and why you cannot stop" and proceeded to explain to him about the prophecy concerning Elijah  and the fulfilment of that promise.  And so it continues today...as many men and women, both within and outside of the church, gather their families together further fulfilling the Lord's prophecy:

Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smith the earth with a curse. - Malachi 4:5-6

How blessed we are that Elijah did come and the sealing power, the power to make families eternal was returned to the earth.  How much do we value that power of the temples and sealing power in our own families?

President Smith said "There are thousands of Latter-day Saints who...are willing to go to meeting, willing to pay their tithing and attend to the regular duties of the church, but they do not seem to feel or understand the importance of receiving the blessings in the temple of the Lord which will bring them into exaltation.  It is a strange thing.  People seem to be content just to slide along without taking advantage of the opportunities presented to them and without receiving these necessary covenants that will bring them back into the presence of God as sons and daughters."

We further discussed the need to continue to go to the temple and considered that maybe we take it for granted that it is so easily accessible to us?  Alice Sousa shared with us how just a few years ago the Portuguese Saints had to travel to Switzerland for the nearest temple - a 2 day, 2 night bus journey each way.  They would visit once a year and stay a week and that time was very precious to them.  Is the temple as precious to us?  Do our actions show that to be the case?

We watched a beautiful video which can be viewed HERE

Then had a wonderful opportunity to think about our own ancestors and the experiences we have shared with them in the temple - it was lovely to hear Marian, Bernice and Pam share special moments of feeling close to their ancestors within the temple walls.

Announcements - 7 September 2014

Announcements:

This Tuesday evening from 6pm-8pm we have our Sisters Conference for all sisters aged 8+ at the Chapel.  This will be a live broadcast from Germany.  It will be followed by refreshments and a chance to socialise with one another.

The YW will obviously be with us on Tuesday evening.  The YM will be having their activity at Bro Rui Sousa's home, from 6-8pm. 

We have our next RS activity on Wed 24th September at 7.30pm.  This will be an evening where you will be spoilt and served cream tea :)  Hopefully you will have received your invitation today but if not we will catch you next week.  We do need an idea on numbers so please RSVP to saramccullum1@gmail.com as soon as possible to confirm.  We have a number of older sisters who would like to join us on that evening but who do not have transport.  PLEASE if you are able, have a think about the sisters on your VT list and help them sort a ride so they can be with us.

Visiting Teaching - please note we have had to make some minor changes to include sisters who have recently moved in or been baptized or have moved home.  Your VT supervisors will be in touch if this involves you or your list.

Family History - the Family History Centre will be open next Sunday for any members that would like to go in and receive some help from the FH Consultants.  Please let Alison Pentreath know if you would like to go.

The Cleaning team for the chapel this week is:  Americo and Ana Nunes, Jose & Eva Vinas, Maria Castanheda and Jose Vinas, and Jo Stockill.


Lesson:

Today was the Presidency message and after prayer we felt that we needed to have a Sunday where we were able to share testimony and feelings of the Saviour. 

The youth came in and began our message by singing Come Unto Him - which was just beautiful and evoked a wonderful spirit.  This was followed by Bishop and then the Presidency sharing testimonies, and then some of our sisters shared feelings of Christ. 

This is the song the youth sang:  COME UNTO HIM

We hope you are able to feel the wonderful spirit this song brought to us today.