We are very sad to announce the death of two members of the ward over this last week - Sister Evelyn Dawdry passed away unexpectedly last Sunday and Brother Hugh Turner after a long illness on Monday. Our love and thoughts are with their spouses and families.
The provisional dates for the funeral for Hugh is January 29th, and Evelyn on February 2nd but we will confirm these as more details become available.
Bishop came into RS today to thank the Sisters for their kindnesses and continual acts of service, not just to the families of Evelyn and Hugh but to all those who are suffering in different ways at the moment. He thanked the sisters for acting in ways as the Saviour would.
We have one of our less-active sisters currently in hospital in a very serious condition. Sister Glenda Harrigan (nee Cocker) suffered a brain aneurysm and has been left with severe brain damage and an uncertain prognosis. The family have asked if any sisters who knew Glenda would like to visit they would very much appreciate this. She is on Shotley ward, visiting hours are 2.30-6.30pm. As Glenda is unresponsive visits need to be kept quite short.
We also have several sisters who will be having surgery in the near future so sisters may be needed to assist with providing meals and assistance. More details will be given next Sunday.
This Wednesday evening 7.30pm at the Ipswich Chapel is the General Priesthood Meeting.
Friday 16th January is our Stake Temple Evening.
Lesson:
Today we had the first lesson from the Teachings of President Ezra Taft Benson: The Great Commandment - Love the Lord which was taught by Beth Baxter.
Beth started by sharing the following video to set the scene of what we would learn today:
Many of us remember President Benson and his leadership of the Church and it is well recorded of how much he loved the Lord and served Him with all his heart. The manual shared a formula that Pres Benson lived to and counselled the members to do likewise:
The great test of life is obedience to God.
The great task of life is to learn the will of the Lord and then do it.
The great commandment of life is to love the Lord.
If we think over our lives and the actions we take - is this how we act?
So how are we if we love the Lord? What is that love like? Pres Benson described this perfectly: "To love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength is all-consuming and all-encompassing. It is no lukewarm endeavour. It is total commitment of our very being - physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually - to a love of the Lord."
He went on to say that if we truly love the Lord we would place Him foremost in our lives. We thought about some of the things that sometimes in reality we place in front of Him - maybe work pressures, or fitting in with friends, not managing our time well, 'spending our strength' on things that are not important, desiring material goods, caring too much about how we look or in following the Celebrity culture. However when we act the way President Benson is teaching, he says "When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Out love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities. We should put God ahead of everyone else in our lives." This was something that Pres Benson not only taught but lived on a daily basis.We discussed the example of Joseph and his experience with Potiphar's wife from the Old Testament and how we can learn from his clear declaration 'How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God.'
We shared feelings about how hard life can be sometimes with so much to fit into our lives, but were able to share testimony that although we are being asked by the Lord to love Him and to live as He would wish us to, the blessings for doing so are much more than we ever give.
"Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives that they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life."
Sisters we truly can learn to love the Lord the way President Benson taught, to love Him with all our heart, to put Him at the foremost of our lives and the blessings that come will be immense, our lives will be so much better, happier and full of the spirit. Is there something you can do to enable this to happen in your life?
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