2017 April General Conference Files

I started putting these together for myself, but my missionary's birthday made me get them done really fast.  Sharing the wealth - enjoy these printable PDF files of the April 2017 general conference.

General Women's Meeting

Saturday Morning Session

Saturday Afternoon Session

Priesthood Session

Sunday Morning Session

Sunday Afternoon Session

Light

"That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day." --D&C 50:24

My super incredibly inspired visiting teacher mentioned that scripture while visiting a couple days ago, and we discussed a bit about light, enough to get thoughts on it tumbling around in my head, enough that I had to get out of bed and get them on here.

I know people that are "light."  Everything about them is beautiful.  They are loving.  They are peaceful.  They serve.  They care.  They lift.  They don't complain, almost like they are so busy looking out that they don't notice.  To me, they are my personal vision of Moroni 7:48, "Pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him" (italics added).

One person I quickly think of was Sammy's 2nd grade teacher.  I've never seen a teacher care more than she did.   She spent extra time with him, less for academic reasons, and more to lift him and minister to his needs.  She is still deep in his heart (and mine), and when my 14 year old boy sees her, he still goes out of his way to hug her.  A couple years ago she became the principal at a school two of my relatives teach at.  Last Thanksgiving I asked one of them if she's a good principal.  "I love her," he said emphatically, and his face was lighter talking about the ways she has blessed the school.

Which makes me think about another principle of light.  A candle can give and give and give light to other candles, and nothing is ever taken away from it.  Its light is always the same.  She is an excellent example of that, spreading light almost effortlessly everywhere she goes.  It isn't her great knowledge or her resources that she shares (though I'm sure she could), but her heart.

Blessing others effortlessly reminds me again of the Savior.   A woman was healed, just by touching His clothing!

I am thankful to know many others, and I'm always seeking for more.  Interestingly enough, I've met many through different types of service Jamie or I have been involved with, church or otherwise.  From my observations, it seems to me that people willing to give a lot of time in service have more light.  Maybe that is part of the nature of the thing.  A single candle not willing to share its light (if candles had a will to decide), doesn't make the room any brighter that it's lone flame.  Likewise with a candle only sharing selectively, rather than sharing and giving freely.


Laying in bed I had a few other scriptures tumbling around in my mind that go along beautifully with this principle of light, though they don't directly mention light:

"If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."  --Article of Faith 13

Doesn't that just feel light?

"But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God." --Moroni 7:13

I still remember a lesson on light when I was in seminary.  We started class by reading D&C 88:6-13, then shared our light with one another by bearing testimony.  Here is just a portion of that scripture:

"Which truth shineth.  This is the light of Christ.  As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made . . . And the light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings . . . The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed."

Love is light.  "And there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people. " -- 4 Nephi 1:15  Those people had seen the Savior, had been around Him, were blessed by Him, and were taught by Him.  His love and light was so clear in their minds, that it directed their actions in such a way that there was no contention.  To be even more specific, "There were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of laciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God" (v. 16, italics added).

Any of your own thoughts on light you'd like to share?

(Thanks, incredibly inspired visiting teacher, for getting me thinking about light.)

I LOVE My Study Journal

About a year and a half ago I discovered scripture journals (info links at the end).  Even after using it for a short time, I wished I had been doing it for years.  I've had other study journals, but they weren't organized at all - just a place to write great things down in for future reference.  This one has a topic for each two pages, and when I'm studying I like to have it close.  If I don't, I usually have to go find it anyway to jot down a powerful idea or two.

I don't limit myself to just scriptures or general authorities, thus why I don't call it my scripture journal.  I have quotes from books, from people I've studied, from friends I've learned from.  Anything that has spoken to my soul.

Talking about study journals once, a young woman I know mentioned that she'll record something and they write her own thoughts after it.  I've done it a few times, but I think my jottings would be more meaningful to others if I added that.  I guess I just want to get back to whatever I'm studying, and in my hurry, don't want it to say, "I LOVE THAT!" after each one.

It's been interesting to see which topics are filled more than others.  I have never sat down and thought "Today I'm going to study about [whatever topic]," but as I'm studying anything I'll come across something that I just HAVE to write down.

But check these out . . .

. . . four things for parenting . . .

. . . three for motherhood . . .

. . . a ton for prayer (counting the two pages I keep in there from a lesson I taught on the difference prayer makes using examples from the Book of Mormon) . . .

 . . . a ton for trials - about ready to start two more pages for that.

 Makes me wonder why I need to know so much about trials and so little about mothering.  ???

I use a plain-old-lame-old composition journal.  I didn't want to spend a lot of money, not sure if I would continue it at first, but if I were starting again, I think I would do the same thing.  I like the size, it's decently sturdy, and again, not pricey.

It's such a treasure to me!  I doubt mine will ever become something as incredible as the ones in the examples below, but I love having it all.  I record so much more because I feel like it's something I can access easily, and I feel like my study goes towards a more directed purpose.  Here and there I'm adding things from my old study journal, so someday those things can be in a nice organized place too. For ease of access, I've thought about making them google docs, but haven't made that move yet.

For information on starting your own:

Scripture Journals:
http://www.theredheadedhostess.com/scripture-study-tips-2/scripture-journals-scripture-study-tips-2/scripture-journals-2/

Scripture Journal Set-Up:  (I looked over her topics, took off some, and added some of my own.  Topics I added:  Becoming, Blessings, Callings, Children, Enduring, Exactness, Fasting, Gifts, God's Perfect Love for His Children, Happiness, Hope, Judgement, Justice and Mercy, Love, Mentoring, Mission, Peace, Personal Revelation, Pride, Relief Society, Sacrifice, Scouting, Self-Reliance, Trials, United States of America, Unity, Vision, Work)

Scripture Journal Ideas:
http://www.theredheadedhostess.com/scripture-study-tips-2/scripture-journals-scripture-study-tips-2/ideas-for-your-topics-journals/

ENJOY!

Scripture Study and a Study Tool

I can't remember if I've mentioned it before, but at the start of December Jamie challenged anyone in our family that wanted to to read the entire standard works and Jesus the Christ in a year.  I admit I went into panic mode and told him there's no way I have time to do that, but trying to have a "Can Do!" attitude, below the surface somewhere I kept thinking about how it could work.

I finally decided that while I can't do the whole thing at this point in my life, I can do the Old Testament (I've been wanting to), Doctrine and Covenants (Sunday School topic this year), and Jesus the Christ.  We're reading the Book of Mormon as a family like always, so I'm counting that.  New Testament will have to wait until next year.

I'm actually doing pretty good!  (Until this week, to be explained in a bit.)  It's been a long time since I read the Old Testament, and I really loved Genesis and Exodus.  And so exciting to learn things in the Old Testament, then read the Book of Mormon and have my eyes opened to all the Old Testament-ness there too.  Every part of my scripture study has been so much more exciting and I'm learning so much.

Leviticus . . . not as exciting.  UNTIL, one night I opened up the Citation Index app (also available online here) and would read what prophets and apostles have said about different verses there.  That's why I'm behind now, because not only am I reading the chapter, but I'm reading that as well, and documenting parts of that in my scriptures or study journal.  In a way I wish I had been doing that all along, but I would probably be way more behind too.  Such a blessing to have that as a study tool.

And maybe staying home with a sick one from church today will give me the time I need to get back on track...

I remember hearing people say they study their scriptures for an hour a day, and thinking that it's not possible  at this time of my life.  Amazing how a goal and people working that goal with you can make it happen.  And thankful for a wonderful priesthood leader that threw out the challenge.

Scripture Gems

When reading my scriptures, I love coming across little "ooooh, I like that!" verses.  Thank goodness for cool apps like Citation Index where I can immediately look it up and see how church leaders have referenced it.  There are three I've found with zero commentary.

Alma 44:5 mentions "the sacred support which we owe to our wives and our children."  The first time I read that, I had to sit and think about sacred support for a long time.  Love that idea.  And actually, while googling for the scripture reference (call me lazy), I found this BYU-Idaho talk about it.

Genesis 24 gives the story of Abraham sending his servant to find a wife for Isaac.  After being inspired with the plan to ask for water where the right woman will give water not only for him but his camels, he finds Rebekah.  In verse 27 the servant makes the comment that "I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my Master's brethren."  Wonderful reminder that when we are doing what we are supposed to, "being in the way," we will be led.  I can easily say that for myself, "I being in the way, the Lord led me" many, many times.

Genesis 32:10 is another.  Not only did Abraham receive great revelations and talk with God (Abraham 3:11), but so did Isaac (Genesis 26:2), and so did Jacob (Genesis 35:7).  Jacob's humility is a great example as he prays about his concern that Esau is coming to wipe him and his family out.

My friend, Mary, just posted about another ultra beautiful one on her blog with no citations - Abraham 2:16.

By the way, Jamie recently gave our family a challenge to read the Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Jesus the Christ in one year.  My initial reaction was something out of a horror film, fast shallow breathing, rapid heart rate.  "I don't have time for that!!!!!"  (Though I never really said that, I was screaming it inside.)  When I looked closer at the first week, it was 3 chapters a day.  Pshaw!  That's nothing!  (For some weeks, especially since week 2 ended up being more than that...)  I have determined that even if I'm behind, I'm still going to stick with the weeks.  My main goal is to do the OT, D&C, and JtC, since we're already reading the BoM as a family.  Not that I don't like the NT, but I read the first four books within the last year or two, though I do want to work harder on the NT when it gets past those.  I'm especially enjoying the OT so far.  Who knew?  I think going through this book about the House of Israel helped immensely.  Plus, while reading the BoM with the family I'm noticing more references to those covenants.  Pretty interesting.

LOVE THE SCRIPTURES!

Sammy's Ah-Ha

I started reading 10 Conversations You Need to Have With Your Children the other day.  Right off the author mentions Psalms 127 where it talks about children being arrows and happy is the man that has his quiver full.  The analogy is made that if children are the arrows, then parents are like the bow, so no matter how far the arrow has flown, the path was originally guided by the bow.  I like that.

So tonight Sammy and I were reading about George Frideric Handel, and withing the first couple of pages in that it talks about Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Handel's father DID NOT want his son to become a musician).  Sammy went to grab his scriptures to look it up, so since they are similar, I shared the Psalms 127 scripture with him.

While telling the boys good night tonight, Sammy told me he'd thought of something.  "If kids are the arrows, and the parents are the bow, Heavenly Father is like the person using them, and heaven is the target."

L.O.V.E. I.T.

I told him thank you for teaching me.  Children truly are an heritage of the Lord.

Liken - David and Goliath

Blanche was climbing on her father's knee, begging for one of his Sunday stories.

The narration, in his low tones, roused [Ethel] from her mood of vexation. It was the story of David, which he told in language scriptural and poetical, so pretty and tender in its simplicity, that she could not choose but attend. Ever and anon there was a glance towards Harry, as if he were secretly likening his own "yellow haired laddied" to the "shepherd boy, ruddy, and of a fair countenance."

"So Tom and Blanche," he concluded, "can you tell me how we may be like the shepherd-boy, David?"

"There aren't giants now," said Tom.

"Wrong is a giant," said his little sister.

"Right, my white May-flower, and what then?"

"We are to fight," said Tom.

"Yes, and mind, the giant with all his armour may be some great thing we have to do: but what did David begin with when he was younger?"

"The lion and the bear."

"Aye, and minding his sheep. Perhaps little things, now you are little children, maybe be like the lion and the bear--so kill them them off--get rid of them--cure yourself of whining or dawdling, or whatever it be, and mind your sheep well," said he, smiling sweetly in answer to the children's earnest looks as they caught his meaning, "and if you do, you will not find it near so hard to deal with your great giant struggle when it comes."

Ah! thought Ethel, it suits me as well as the children. I have a great giant... and here I am, not allowed to attack him, because, perhaps, I am not minding my sheep, and letting my lion and my bear run loose about the house." (pp. 83-84)

[Ethel's] lion and bear . . . were the greatest hindrances to her doing anything good and great." (p. 87)

from "The Daisy Chain" by Mary Charlotte Yonge

Scriptures with Children - Final Thoughts

The ultimate goal in reading the scriptures with your children is to help get the gospel into their hearts. Even if they have hundreds of scriptures memorized in their heads, if it doesn't get into their hearts it won't matter. That's why we pray before we begin - so the spirit can be there with us.

When we put on the whole armour of God we only get one weapon - the sword of truth. What sound does the sword of truth make when it's unsheathed? An unzipping noise!

From President Henry B. Eyring:

“Whether what you do is to correct or to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, you will do it better if you remember what success will be. You are to help Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, make eternal life possible for those you serve. To do that, the Spirit must take a testimony down into their hearts. And that testimony has to lead them to choose to keep the commandments of God, whatever storms and temptations may come.

“With that in mind, the Spirit will guide you in teaching.”

Old Brother Higgins built a shelf
For the old family Bible to rest itself,
Lest a sticky finger or a grimy thumb
Might injure the delicate pages some.
He cautioned his children to touch it not,
And it rests there with never a blot,
Though the Higgins tribe was a troublesome lot.

His neighbor, Miggins, built a shelf.
"Come, children," he said, "and help yourself."
Now his book is old and ragged and worn,
With some of the choicest pages torn,
Where children have fingered, and thumbed, and read,
But of the Miggins children I've heard it said,
That each carries a Bible in his head.

Get reading!

Scriptures with Children - How We Do It

We start our scripture reading with music. We've got a stereo with a timer on it, so I set it to got off at scripture time and let the music call everyone to scriptures. It was a huge help when we started our latest push to read the scriptures almost a year and a half ago. The music reminded me on days when I wasn't thinking about it, and helped make it a habit. It also helps to set the tone, and gives the kids a couple minutes to finish what they're doing and gather. When people start getting slow, I will give a surprise reward (small treat or something) for those that show up on time.

We start with a prayer, and read together for about 20 minutes, taking turns as we go. Even the two littlest get their turn, repeating a few words at a time after me.

When we're done with our reading, we work on memorizing a scripture. Our original goal was one a month, and we were doing it so the kids could learn the Articles of Faith, but they learned those surprisingly fast working on them just a couple minutes a day, and we just kept going. In about 14 months we've learned 28 scriptures, involving about 38 verses.

I got a new perspective on our memorization a few months ago when Jamie read President Benson's vision of flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon during family home evening:

“I have a vision of thousands of missionaries going into the mission field with hundreds of passages memorized from the Book of Mormon so that they might feed the needs of a spiritually famished world."

Adam has seven years left before he turns 19. I wonder how many we'll have by then. We just finished learning the purposes of the Aaronic Priesthood, we'll do the Young Women's Theme sometime, and we keep talking about doing the Family Proclamation. So far the hardest to learn (I never got really good at it) was Alma 7:11-12. If you memorize it really well let me know the trick.

The cool thing with memorizing scriptures is that even if the kids aren't listening to anything else in church, when they hear a scripture they've memorized they'll look over at me and mouth the words. Of course I make a mental note of the scripture and what they were talking about that included it, and we can talk about it when they get home.

I'll finish this off with a few final thoughts next.

Scriptures with Children - GOALS & OPTIONS

There are a variety of goals you can work towards in reading scriptures with your children, and deciding yours will help make your scripture time more beneficial.

Do you want them to be familiar with scripture stories? Then using the scripture stories for children are fine, or jumping from story to story in the scriptures. Ask the kids what their favorites are and read them. Go in order, or don't worry about the order.

Do you want them to be able to read well from the scriptures? The language of the scriptures is definitely different. If you want them to be able to read them well, you need to have them reading in the scriptures.

Do you want to be consecutive, reading every day? If that is your goal, then what you read or how much you read might not be a factor, as long as you read something.

Do you want to finish in a certain amount of time? In August 2005 President Hinckley gave a challenge to members of the LDS church to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. If you want to set a goal with a time factor in it, figure out how much you need to read daily and run with it.

Determining your scripture reading goals is a huge help in deciding just what direction you need to take, and also helps in deciding just what you'll read. There are a variety of options really.

When the boys were very young we started with the scriptures stories books for children. We really enjoyed that time and it helped them learn the stories in the scriptures. It got to the point that I felt like they were missing out on the power of the words in the scriptures, things like "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded," so we switched to the real deal. I wish someone had told me it was okay to jump from story to story back then, because I think if we did that we would have stuck with it better. But we didn't, so it stopped being fun for the kids and we got out of the habit.

Another option is to read talks from the most recent general conference. Buy each of the kids their own copy of the conference issue of the Ensign, and choose a day or two each week to read from it.

Use your scripture reading time as an opportunity to teach them about the scriptures. Teach your children to use the topical guide and read by topic, read from the Bible dictionary, or learn the songs that teach the books of scripture in order. Some neighbors of ours are reading from the True to the Faith book and discussing it with their children.

Now that some of our kids are older and some young, I've had to do some reevaluating. We read from the scriptures together as a family in the morning. The two youngest are in and out, and don't listen to much of what we read. I finally realized that I need to start from the beginning with them too, so I've been reading to them from the scripture stories books at night. They LOVE it.

To help children be familiar with the scriptures, draw a simple picture next to the stories so they can find them on their own, like a flag next to the verses about the title of liberty, a sheep next to the story of Ammon, and a bow and arrow next to where Nephi breaks his bow.

Next: how it "looks" in our home.

Scriptures with Children - WHY?

I gave a talk last night for our Relief Society on reading scriptures with young children, getting them excited about the scriptures, etc. I thought it might be fun to share on here.

First of all, why does it even matter? Even after being diligent about this for over a year, the kids still have their whiney moments or choose to disrupt. Every so often when it gets really bad I make them chant, "We're doing this every day! We're doing this every day!" It's as much for me as it is for them, reminding myself that even though it feels like nobody wants to do this and nobody seems to care, we need to keep going.

From President Ezra Taft Benson:

“I challenge all of us to prayerfully consider steps that we can personally take to bring this new witness for Christ more fully into our own lives and into a world that so desperately needs it.

“I have a vision of homes alerted, of classes alive, and of pulpits aflame with the spirit of Book of Mormon messages.

“I have a vision of thousands of missionaries going into the mission field with hundreds of passages memorized from the Book of Mormon so that they might feed the needs of a spiritually famished world.

“I have a vision of the whole Church getting nearer to God by abiding by the precepts of the Book of Mormon.

“Indeed, I have a vision of flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon.”

From Gordon B. Hinckley:

“A week ago a conference of the young women was held in this tabernacle. It was an inspiration to look into their faces, thousands of them. One could not do so without a feeling of peace and certitude concerning the future of this work. The theme of the conference was an appeal to the young women to read the scriptures.

“I look back to my own youth. Neither young men nor young women were doing much scripture reading at that time. What a marvelous change has been wrought. A new generation is arising who are familiar with the word of the Lord.”

From Boyd K. Packer:

"The plan designed by the Father contemplates that man and woman, husband and wife, working together, fit each child individually with a shield of faith made to buckle on so firmly that it can neither be pulled off nor penetrated by those fiery darts.

“This shield of faith is not manufactured on an assembly line, only handmade in a cottage industry. Therefore our leaders press members to understand that what is most worth doing must be done at home.”

From Marion G. Romney:

"And so, I counsel you, my beloved brothers and sisters and friends everywhere, to make reading in the Book of Mormon a lifelong practice... I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to that counsel. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity - the pure love of Christ - will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness."

To be quite honest, we don't have angels singing in the background in our home, but I do feel like our children are getting their own testimonies, and that our family is blessed for our efforts.

The prophet Haggai rebuked the people with a description of scarcity, saying that the Lord had this message for them: “Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages…put[s] it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways” (Haggai 1:5-7).

The people had poured their efforts into projects that had not paid off. Even when it gets hard, reading the scriptures in our home is something that will pay off. It definitely takes commitment and sometimes even creativity to make it happen, but we’ve been given promises by prophets that it will be worthwhile. Doesn’t make it easy, but we do have that promise.

Hebrews 10:35-37 states “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”

I've got a neighbor that tested the "spirit of contention will depart" promise. She told me they were having one of those night where it feels like everyone is grumpy. She finally told everyone to go grab their scriptures, it was scripture time. They moaned and groaned, but they gathered together and read a chapter. "Are we done?" she asked after each chapter. If there was any griping, they kept going. After four chapters everyone was calm again, the spirit was back, and they stopped.

Trust in the promises of the prophets, and get started!

Next - what are your scripture goals?