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?
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