Announcements & Lesson - 30 November 2014

Announcements:

Over the next few weeks we have some wonderful Christmas events which will offer some lovely opportunities to invite friends and family to enjoy the season with us.  Next Sunday there will be some flyers available to share with friends.

This Saturday evening we have a Stake Christmas Festival which will include a presentation that is being travelling around the LDS chapels in England.  It is called 'The Christmas Truce' and a trailer can be viewed HERE    We are all asked to bring a cake / cookies and also an empty jar.

Saturday 13th December will be our Ward Christmas Party - more details to follow.

Sunday 21st December will be the Ward 'Music and the Spoken Word' with readings and carols.  Again more details will follow.

We have received a special request this month from our Stake Presidency with regards to Fast Sunday next week, as below:

"We invite all members of the Ipswich Stake to dedicate next week's fast to Esther Greene of the Witham Ward.  Esther is a 15 year old woman who has recently been diagnosed with a cancerous tumour.  This is the third time that she has had cancer and this rare tumour occurred as a result of the radiotherapy she had during previous treatment.  It is a Spindle Cell Sarcoma and the proposed treatment is surgery.  The Greene family have asked us to pray that the treatment plan devised by the clinicians will be inspired and ultimately be successful.  Esther is a very special young woman who is full of faith: as we unify our prayers and fasting we know the Lord will bless the Greene family."

Also we have heard that Sister Lisa Stopcyznski recently passed away - Many of you may remember Lisa who lived in the Woodbridge area and was only in her early 40's.  We ask for prayers for her children.

The RS activity that was planned for Wednesday December 10th has been postponed due to the various Christmas activities and will be rescheduled in the New Year.

Lesson:

Today's Joint RS / P'Hood lesson was given by Bishop Pentreath and Sister Sara McCullum.  At the Saturday evening session of Stake Conference Elder Leimer informed us a new initiative was being introduced with regards to Self Reliance and more information would follow shortly. Today's presentation was the beginning of this.

President Monson said: "Self reliance is an essential element in our spiritual as well as our temporal wellbeing...Salvation can be obtained on no other principle".

With this in mind the First Presidency have introduced 12 new Principles of Self Reliance as follows:

1. Exercise Faith in Jesus Christ
2. Use Time Wisely
3. Be Obedient
4. Manage Money
5. Work: Take responsibility
6. Solve Problems
7. Become One, Work Together
8. Communicate: Petition and Listen
9. Perservere
10. Show Integrity
11. Seek Learning and Education
12. Stay on Task, Receive Ordinances

Bishop and Sara facilitated a presentation on Principle 6 as follows:

Ponder - Why do you feel Heavenly Father allows us to face problems and challenges?

Video Presentation - 'Sheep & Pig' which can be viewed HERE followed by a discussion on what Sheep did to help Pig solve his problem.

Read - Ether 2:18-19, 23, 3:1, 4 and discussed what the Brother of Jared did to solve his problem.

We discussed that we all have problems but the Lord has provided a way for us to face these challenges:

Step One - IDENTIFY - What is the real problem?
Step Two - STUDY OPTIONS - What are possible solutions?  Which one is best?
Step Three - DECIDE AND ACT - Pray for guidance.  Then act with faith.  Good results?  If not, try steps 1-3 again.

We then discussed with our neighbours a problem we may face ourselves and how this process might work. 

The challenge was to identify a problem within our families and over the next week begin working on the Lords process of solving problems.

We then split into 11 groups and each had a chance to work through another of the 12 Principles of Self Reliance.

Throughout 2015 the Ward will be working more with these 12 principles and other parts of the Self Reliance Initiative led by The First Presidency by concentrating on one of these each month. 

The question was posed - Do you believe in the Prophet of God?  And that he informs us of what the Lord needs us to hear and do?  We thought about this as this letter was read from the First Presidency to us:

Dear Brothers & Sisters,

The Lord has declared. 'It is my purpose to provide for my saints' (D&C 104:15).  This revelation is a promise from the Lord that He will provide temporal blessings and open the door of self-reliance, which is the ability for us to provide the necessities of life for ourselves and our family members.

This booklet, My Foundation, has been prepared to help members of the Church learn and put into practice principles of faith, education, hard work and trust in the Lord.  Accepting and living these principles will better enable you to receive the temporal blessings promised by the Lord.

We invite you to diligently study and apply these principles and teach them to your family members.  As you do so, your life will be blessed.  You will learn how to act on your path towards greater self-reliance.  You will be blessed with greater hope, peace and progress.

Please be assured that you are a child of our Father in Heaven.  He loves you and will never forsake you.  He knows you and is ready to extend to you the spiritual and temporal blessings of self-reliance.

Sincerely
The First Presidency

Both Sara (as a member of the Stake Self Reliance Committee) and Bishop have attended training meetings on this new initiative and bore testimony of the truth of these principles and the importance of making these part of our lives and teaching them to our children.

We were invited to review the booklet which can be found in the first link on THIS LINK on LDS.org or within the Self Reliance tab in Gospel Library on  devices (Booklet entitled: My Foundation).

Annoucements & Lesson - 23 November 2014

Announcements:

A reminder that next Sunday is the Primary Sacrament Presentation which is a wonderful time to invite friends and family.  Those with children involved please take some time this week to help them with their assignments.

Next Sunday at 6pm there is a Youth fireside with a guest speaker

On 6th December we have a very special Christmas presentation coming to the Ipswich chapel called The Christmas Truce.  This is being shown in chapels around the country throughout December - a trailer of the event can be seen HERE

Our next RS Activity will be on the 10th December and will be replacing the Cream Tea activity which was cancelled in September. 

The Ward Christmas Party is on 13th December - more details to follow.

FIND the charity who run the towns Food Bank are in need of some help this December in delivering Christmas parcels to some of the neediest families in the town.  We have had a long history now of assisting this charity and if anyone can assist for a couple of hours, please let Sara McCullum know who can put you in touch with them.

Jo Stockill has been assigned to aid the sisters in their trips to the temple.  If any sister is driving to the temple and has spaces, or has no transport but would like to go, please speak with Jo and she will attempt to co-ordinate the two.

Kim Spencer who is the food storage specialist for the Ipswich RS let us know today that next year we will be working on preparing for small emergencies each month, so in a practical way we will be able to build up our storage and also evaluate just what stage we are at and how we can improve. As the state in Buffalo, New York has shown this week, emergencies can come with very little notice - how long would we be able to survive?

Lesson:

Today the lesson was given by Sister Annie Green based on the talk from General Conference by President Henry B Eyring: Continuing Revelation.

The full talk can be viewed / read HERE

Annie started by reminding us how important revelation is for every one of us - indeed the restoration of the church relied on revelation, as the Lord and His Son appeared to Joseph Smith.  

In our lives we all have people we love and care about who we see struggle and we desperately want to assist.  But often we just do not know what we can possibly do to lift those burdens. As President Eyring said 'We all know that human judgement and logical thinking will not be enough to get answers that matter most in life.  We need revelation from God.'  Revelation is so very important, it enables us to hear the voice of the Lord through His Spirit, prompting us, comforting us, directing us, and enabling us to serve one another and begin to lift each other's burdens.  It teaches us truth and allows us to move forward confident in following the Lords words.

President Eyring shared 'Revelations continues in the Church. The prophet receiving it for the Church, the president for his stake, his mission or his quorum, the bishop for his ward, the father for his family, the individual for himself.'

He went on to share a wonderful influence a parent can be when following revelation for their children.  When he would come home late his mother would always be awake, and call gently to him as he passed her door:

'I would go in and sit on the edge of the bed.  The room would be dark.  If you had listened you would have thought it was only friendly talk about life.  But to this day, what she said comes back to my mind with the same power I feel when I read the transcript of my patriarchal blessing.  I don't know what she was asking for in prayer as she waited for me those nights.  I suppose it would have been in part for my safety.  But i am sure that she prayed as a patriarch does before he gives a blessing.  He prays that his words will come to the recipient as the words of God, not his.  My mother's prayers for that blessing were answered on my head.  She is in the spirit world and has been for more than 40 years.  I am sure that she has been exceedingly glad that i was blessed, as she asked, to hear in her counsel the commands of God,  And i have tried to go and do as she hoped I would.'

Do you know the influence YOU can have on those around us as we pray for and follow that revelation?

We then split into four groups where we discussed our own experiences with revelation - what kinds of revelation have we experienced?  Where did those moments happen?  When did they happen?  And what can we do to keep the conduit with the Lord clear so we can more easily receive those promptings? 

It soon became clear, revelation comes to us all.  Often in very small ways, but times where we can see the answers came from the Lord.  What a blessing that is.

What can you do to make sure you are always ready and waiting to hear those promptings? 

Announcements & Lesson - 16 Novemer 2014

Announcements:

We had to announce some sad news this week, Sister Pat Bines, who many of you will know lost her battle with cancer on Wednesday.  If you would like to assist with providing food for the funeral please speak with Sister Lesley Southgate.

This Wednesday evening we have our RS Music Appreciation Activity which will be led by Sister Ashlea Sousa - this will begin at 7.30pm.  It would be lovely to see you all there to support Ashlea.

On Saturday this week we have our Stake Auxiliary Training which is for all Relief Society, Young Women, Primary and Sunday School Presidencies.  This begins at 6.30pm at the chapel.

Lesson:

Sister Beth Baxter was called today as a RS teacher and gave a wonderful lesson today based on Chapter 22 of the Joseph Fielding Smith manual on 'Prayer - a Commandment and a Blessing'.

She began by sharing a story:  Around the year 610 a creative Alpine monk decided to make use of the dough left over from baking bread.  The monk formed them into thin strips folded into a looped twist to represent the folded arms of children in prayer.  This yummy treat was given to the children as they learned their prayers.  The began calling the treat 'Pretiloa' which was Latin for little reward, soon it became known the world over as a pretzel.  The simple shape of the pretzel, arms folded in prayer, remind us to pray each day.

Beth took us through the journey of prayer sharing the message of President Smith:

1. What is our duty regarding prayer?  Obviously for ourselves we learn from the scriptures (2 Nephi 32:8-9) that we should be praying always.  But our duty doesn't end there, it is vital we share this with our children, teaching them not only to pray but why! 

2. When do we pray? President Smith shared numerous times when pray is vital, before we tackle tasks (and after to say thank you!), when we travel, when we have meals, at the start and end of the day, when challenges and temptations strike, when we find time alone, with our families - we decided as we learn to involve the Lord in our lives it really does become a continual conversation with the Lord, we can truly learn to pray always.

3. What / who do we pray for?  The lesson shared the best scripture example of this as we read through Alma 34: 18-28 which was quoted in our manuals.  We talked about remembering to look outside ourselves in prayer as at times they can become a little selfish.



4. Why do we pray?  Obviously it is a commandment and we follow the Saviours amazing example as he continually spoke to His Father.  It allows us to seek Him.  President Smith shared 'One of the chief purposes of our mortal probation is to see if we can learn with the spirit of prayer always in our hearts so that when the Lord chooses to speak, we shall hear His voice in our hearts.'  He also went onto teach us:

'I wonder if we ever stop to think why the Lord has asked us to pray?  Did he ask us to pray because he wants us to bow down and worship him?  Is that the main reason?  I don't think it is.  He is our Heavenly Father and we have been commanded to worship Him and pray to Him in the name of his Beloved Son, Jesus Christ.  His work will go on just the same, whether we pray or whether we do not...Prayer is something that WE need, not that the Lord needs.'

5. How do we pray?  President Smith counselled 'In our prayers we should pour out our souls in thanksgiving...we should acknowledge the hand of the Lord in all things and thank him for all things both temporal and spiritual.'    We also discussed the need to ensure prayers are sincere, that we are willing to follow through with the efforts we need to make to enable our prayers and desires to be realised, and that we must always be willing to accept the Lords will.

Beth spoke of how she likes to have to-do lists and then challenged us - what needs to be on OUR to-do lists when it comes to prayer?  Is there something we could do better on?  Do we need to improve our prayers?  Or maybe start having them on a daily basis?  Whatever the spirit whispers to us to do, maybe we need to ensure it is at the very top of our to-do list and give it urgent action.

We finished the lesson by watching the following Mormon Message - you can see it HERE