Nov 25th Weekly Connection

It's a Wrap.... What will you do with it now?

Personal Scripture Study

"My Soul Delighteth in the Scriptures" - Julie Beck

More Diligent and Concerned at Home - David A. Bednar

discussion led by McKenzie Nelson

The sisters were divided into 6 groups and each group was given a scritpure to discuss together and then share what they learned about studying the scriptures:

2nd Nephi: 32:3 We should feast upo the words of Christ, they will tell us all things we should do. The scriptures can help us solve problems.

D&C 11: 22-23 Study the Word, Obtain the Word. Oftentimes when new church policies or changes are announced, it feels a little scary, if we turn to the scriptures, they will help us accept the change.

D&C 33: 16-18 The scriptures will help us prepare for the 2nd Coming, by teaching us to be prepared by having our lamps trimmed, burning and ready. The Spirit will help the scriptures come alive for us.

Joshua 1:8 Be of courage - meditate on the scriptures, which invites the Holy Spirit to abide with you.

Timothy 3: 15-17 Blessings, wisdom, salvation, inspiration and instruction all come from the scriptures.

1st Nephi 15: 23-25 The scriptures are the Rod of Iron, the Word of God, and they will help us avoid temptations. We must hold fast to the Word of God or we will lose it.

Sisters shared their testimonies of scripture study:

Heather C.- Reading the Book of Mormon brings her peace and happiness, especially during this very busy time of year.

Vivian - The scriptures give her bearing on life.

Cynthia Vaillencourt's mother - The scriptures create the desire for her to have the constant companionship of the Spirit and of following the prophet.

Consistency in reading the Scriptures

Being consistent in our homes with our children is so important, because they may never remember a scripture or a lesson, but they will remember that you were diligent and consistent in your efforts.

Each time as you read as a family it is like you are leaving brushstrokes that create the picture of your life. Remember, if you struggle with reading the scriptures, you are not alone, the important thing is that you keep trying.

Sisters shared their testimonies of consistent scripture study:

Guest - She studied the Book of Mormon using the Institute Manual in an institute class. A less active sister began coming and loving it. It wasn't long before she began to come to church. Then she started studying the D&C and became very active which led her to return to the temple.

Kim B. - Testified scripture study and home evening are the most important things you can do with your children.

Sherry S. - As a child, Home Evening was not pretty. But she remembers the efforts of her parents...they consistently kept trying. It made a difference and has given their family the foundation for a good life.

Upcoming Lessons

Dec 2nd - Council Discussion led by Stephanie Howell - "A Christ Centered Christmans"

Birthdays

  

25-Rebecca Sterrett

Upcoming Events - Mark your calendars

Save the Date:
Dec 6th - "Come Follow Me Meeting" for all auxialliary leaders.
Dec 8th - Relief Society Christmas Breakfast 9 AM - 10:30 AM at the home of Julia Witham
Dec 9th - Qrtrly Minstering Interviews, if you still need an interview, please call Cheryl to set one up.
Dec 15th - Ward Christmas program - 6:00 PM - more information coming soon.
Jan 26th - A holiday Message From Your Stake Relief Society Staket Presidency


Ministering to the Sisters

Brothers and sisters, we have a heaven-sent opportunity as an entire Church to demonstrate “pure religion … undefiled before God”—“to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light” and to “comfort those that stand in need of comfort,”9 to minister to the widows and the fatherless, the married and the single, the strong and the distraught, the downtrodden and the robust, the happy and the sad—in short, all of us, every one of us. - Jeffrey R. Holland

Making Ministering Interviews Meaningful 

In supporting President Russell M. Nelson’s statement that the ministering program will be a hinge point on which the course of the Church will swing, Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught, “The realization of his vision … might be predicated upon how well ministering brothers and sisters are taught and engaged in the ministering interview.”

Four tips for ministering brothers and sisters:

• Go to the interview seeking counsel. Be ready to learn.
• Be prepared to discuss needs that you may need help meeting.
• Focus on the individual’s strengths and abilities, not just needs.
• Contact the presidency to counsel between quarterly interviews as needed.

Ministering Interviews

These quarterly interviews between ministering sisters and the Relief Society presidency or ministering brothers and the elders quorum presidency are the only formal report we make regarding those we minister to. The interview is an opportunity on at least a quarterly basis to (1) counsel about the strengths, needs, and challenges of assigned families and individuals; (2) determine what needs the quorum, Relief Society, or ward council might assist with; and (3) learn from leaders and be encouraged in ministering efforts.

The elders quorum president and the Relief Society president communicate important needs directly to the bishop and will receive counsel and direction from him.

"A new name, new flexibility, and fewer reports will not make one ounce of difference in our service unless we see this as an invitation to care for one another in a bold new holier way."  

MINISTERING WEBSITE

Prayers for....

Please keep Charai Layton and her family in your prayers...

Also, keep Cliff Dunston and Judy in your prayers...

And Stephanie Howell's family, especially her step- mother.

Pray for those you minister to...

Do you know of anyone in need of our prayers?  Please contact a presidency member.

Service Opportunities 

Please contact Shauna Keech if you can prepare a meal for the Isoms, or a batch of soup to be frozen for the Laytons

Take a moment and drop a letter or a card to one of our missionaries:

Sister Ellie Ross
Santa Rosa CA Mission
5301 Badger Rd
Santa Rosa, CA 95409
ellie.ross@myldsmail.net

Elder Ethan Graham
Taipei Taiwan Mission
ethan.graham@myldsmail.net

Sister Jordan Fitting
California Ventura Mission
3301 W Gonzales Rd
Oxnard, CA 93036
jordan.fitting@myldsmail.net

Just Serve 

Stake Institute
Every Tuesday 10:00 - 11:15
Stake Center (Tanner Lane)
Bring your scriptures
No babysitting

Click on this link for the schedule of YSA activities

LDS Tools Info

1.  Are you using LDS Tools on your phone or tablet? 

We encourage you to use LDS Tools to access the ward directory, Your Ministering Assignments, Calendar, Temple Info, Missionary Info and more!

2.  Do you have a current photo of you and/or your family? 

Please take a few minutes and follow these instructions. 

3.  Is your contact info correct?  

If not and you need to change or update your info, go to your name in the directory (on a mobile device) and touch the red circle with a pencil and you can edit from there.  If you are signed on at lds.org, click on your name and then the edit button.

4.  Do you know how to access your ministering assignment?

On your mobile device click on your name.  Directly underneath your name is a blue bar that says:  contact, household, membership information, callings and classes and ministering (you must scroll across to access each of these headings.)  Click on ministering and it will list those that minister to you and who you minister to.

Do you have any other questions about LDS Tools?

Nov 18th Weekly Connection

It's a Wrap.... What will you do with it now?

"Divine Discontent" by Michelle D. Craig

discussion led by Julie Peterson

**On a sidenote...Julie knew Michelle Craig when Michelle was a young mother.

Julie started off the discussion by asking the sisters to fill in the blank..."I'm not ___________ enough." Some of the answers were: patient enough, organized enough, good enough

What is discontent?

Unhappy

Depressed

Something's not right

Disappointed

These are all negative feelings.

But there is a difference between Divine Discontent and just regular discontent (which is from Satan)

Divine Discontent                                            Discontent From Satan

Faithful and humble determination                   unsatisfied

At peace                                                            hopeless

Persistent                                                          defeated and fearful

Hopeful                                                              searching

The talk and class was divided into 4 sections to discover what can come rom Divine Discontent:

1- Act in Faith

Joseph Smith was discontented and it brought him to great action to do great things.

It was discussed that rather than wallow in pity, decide what you are going to do about your discontent...turn to God, and take action. Find the positive side of discontent.

Brother Harley would comment to Linda, "Stop wallowing and get up and get busy."

2- Follow Promptings to do Good

Sometimes we are discontented because we feel the need to be perfect, sometimes we need to realize our house can't be perfect, our kids can't be perfect, we can't be perect. Those are the times we need to pick and choose the things you can put your focus on to make them better:

• You can read to a child
• Visit with a friend
• Attend the temple
• Consider what you can do for others
• See people not as interruptions to your day or task, but see them as the purpose of your life
• Simply do something for just one person

#3- Divine Discontent Leads to Christ and Humility

Humility - be humble and accept what you're disontented about, be humble enough to seek help whether is't from our Heavenly Father or a friend.

Seek help from Heavenly Father to gain control over your discontent. As we try to be better,the Lord will pick up where we run short.

#4- We All Have Something to Offer

We all have upheaval and challenges in our lives, as we begin to have pity for ourselves...our progress stops. Don't run from challenges, they make us stronger. The action that often needs to be taken depends on us turning to the Lord.

Prophetic calls to action, coupled with our innate sense that we can do and be more, sometimes create within us what Elder Neal A. Maxwell called “divine discontent.”2 Divine discontent comes when we compare “what we are [to] what we have the power to become.”

Val suggested we turn to our Patriarchal Blessings to discover and be reminded of our potential.

Relief Society helps each of us to feel good about ourselves and build each other up about who we are and what we can do.

Upcoming Lessons

Nov. 25th - Consistency in Gospel Study and Personal Scripture Study

Birthdays

  

15-Sandra Webb

18-LeAnne Hunt

Upcoming Events - Mark your calendars

Ministering Interviews - Nov 11th & 15th

Save the Date:
Nov 24th - Ballards could use help moving into their new home - 10:30 AM
Dec 8th - Relief Society Christmas Breakfast 9 AM - 10:30 AM
Jan 26th - A holiday Message From Your Stake Relief Society Staket Presidency


Ministering to the Sisters

Effective ministering efforts are enabled by the innate gifts of the sisters and by the incomparable power of the priesthood. We all need such protection from the cunning wiles of the adversary. - President Russel M. Nelson

Making Ministering Interviews Meaningful 

In supporting President Russell M. Nelson’s statement that the ministering program will be a hinge point on which the course of the Church will swing, Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught, “The realization of his vision … might be predicated upon how well ministering brothers and sisters are taught and engaged in the ministering interview.”

Four tips for ministering brothers and sisters:

• Go to the interview seeking counsel. Be ready to learn.
• Be prepared to discuss needs that you may need help meeting.
• Focus on the individual’s strengths and abilities, not just needs.
• Contact the presidency to counsel between quarterly interviews as needed.

Ministering Interviews

These quarterly interviews between ministering sisters and the Relief Society presidency or ministering brothers and the elders quorum presidency are the only formal report we make regarding those we minister to. The interview is an opportunity on at least a quarterly basis to (1) counsel about the strengths, needs, and challenges of assigned families and individuals; (2) determine what needs the quorum, Relief Society, or ward council might assist with; and (3) learn from leaders and be encouraged in ministering efforts.

The elders quorum president and the Relief Society president communicate important needs directly to the bishop and will receive counsel and direction from him.

"A new name, new flexibility, and fewer reports will not make one ounce of difference in our service unless we see this as an invitation to care for one another in a bold new holier way."  

MINISTERING WEBSITE

Prayers for....

Please keep Charai Layton and her family in your prayers...

Also, keep Cliff Dunston and Judy in your prayers...

Pray for those you minister to...

Do you know of anyone in need of our prayers?  Please contact a presidency member.

Service Opportunities 

Take a moment and drop a letter or a card to one of our missionaries:

Sister Ellie Ross
Santa Rosa CA Mission
5301 Badger Rd
Santa Rosa, CA 95409
ellie.ross@myldsmail.net

Elder Ethan Graham
Taipei Taiwan Mission
ethan.graham@myldsmail.net

Sister Jordan Fitting
California Ventura Mission
3301 W Gonzales Rd
Oxnard, CA 93036
jordan.fitting@myldsmail.net

Just Serve 

Stake Institute
Every Tuesday 10:00 - 11:15
Stake Center (Tanner Lane)
Bring your scriptures
No babysitting

Click on this link for the schedule of YSA activities

LDS Tools Info

1.  Are you using LDS Tools on your phone or tablet? 

We encourage you to use LDS Tools to access the ward directory, Your Ministering Assignments, Calendar, Temple Info, Missionary Info and more!

2.  Do you have a current photo of you and/or your family? 

Please take a few minutes and follow these instructions. 

3.  Is your contact info correct?  

If not and you need to change or update your info, go to your name in the directory (on a mobile device) and touch the red circle with a pencil and you can edit from there.  If you are signed on at lds.org, click on your name and then the edit button.

4.  Do you know how to access your ministering assignment?

On your mobile device click on your name.  Directly underneath your name is a blue bar that says:  contact, household, membership information, callings and classes and ministering (you must scroll across to access each of these headings.)  Click on ministering and it will list those that minister to you and who you minister to.

Do you have any other questions about LDS Tools?

Nov 11th Weekly Connection

It's a Wrap.... What will you do with it now?

"For Him" by Joy D. Jones - lesson led by Alissa Allen

Alissa put a list on the board of thngs that touch our hearts about service, and then asked the sisters to choose which ones meant the most to us. Some of the ones that the sisters chose were:

• A more excellent way
• Divinity within us
• Acts of kindness
• Care for others
• Greater perspective

It was brought out that we serve for "Him", and not for the glory we might receive from others....service isn't about us, it's about "Him", and those we serve. We serve our Father as we serve each other and Christ as our brother.

Is it easy to serve?

Some people are easy to serve and others are not. When we keep trying to serve someone who is not receptive, how do we change our mindset to continue to serve?

• We must remember we are in fact serving Heavenly Father rather than the person
• Seek direction from the scriptures: Mosiah 2:17 "And Behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.
• Remember that service is about sharing loving and planting the seeds of the gospel

Ask yourself: Are we serving out of love for the Lord or are we serving out of duty?

We should serve our less active sisters not to bring them back into activity, but to build friendships and love between one another.

As mothers, we often serve or children without eceiving gatitude from the. But we must remember they show it later in ways you don't expect, or they may not show it at all.

Sister Beecher reminded us that we are not responsible for what we can't control. So if people don't accept our service or show gratitude for it, that's not in our control. But what we are in control of is that we continue to serve with love and sincerity.

It was also mentioned that bearing our heartfelt testimony and sharing the gospel is serving those around us.

Remember these words of wisdo that wer found on the wall of an orphanage in Calcutta, India:

“If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight. Build anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough. Give the world the best you’ve got anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God … anyway.”

Sisters, it is always between us and the Lord. As President James E. Faust said: “‘What is the greatest need in the world?’ … ‘Is not the greatest need in all of the world for every person to have a personal, ongoing, daily, continuing relationship with the Savior?’ Having such a relationship can unchain the divinity within us, and nothing can make a greater difference in our lives as we come to know and understand our divine relationship with God.”

Upcoming Lessons
Nov. 18th - Divine Discontent by Michelle D. Craig
Nov. 25th - Consistency in Gospel Study and Personal Scripture Study

You only have 2 more days to sign up for your ministering interviews...

If you haven't signed up yet click this link to take you to the sign up list

Birthdays

  

14-Trinie Martinez

15-Sandra Webb

Upcoming Events - Mark your calendars

Ministering Interviews - Nov 11th & 15th

Save the Date:
Dec 8th - Relief Society Christmas Breakfast
Jan 26th - A holiday Message From Your Stake Relief Society Staket Presidency


Ministering to the Sisters

To “minister” is to give service, care, or aid that contributes to the comfort or happiness of another. Visiting teaching is about discovering ways to minister to those we visit. Jesus Christ ministered to all—anytime and anywhere. He fed the 5,000, comforted Mary and Martha at the death of their brother, and taught His gospel to the woman at the well. He did it because of His sincere love.

Making Ministering Interviews Meaningful 

In supporting President Russell M. Nelson’s statement that the ministering program will be a hinge point on which the course of the Church will swing, Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught, “The realization of his vision … might be predicated upon how well ministering brothers and sisters are taught and engaged in the ministering interview.”

Four tips for ministering brothers and sisters:

• Go to the interview seeking counsel. Be ready to learn.
• Be prepared to discuss needs that you may need help meeting.
• Focus on the individual’s strengths and abilities, not just needs.
• Contact the presidency to counsel between quarterly interviews as needed.

Ministering Interviews

These quarterly interviews between ministering sisters and the Relief Society presidency or ministering brothers and the elders quorum presidency are the only formal report we make regarding those we minister to. The interview is an opportunity on at least a quarterly basis to (1) counsel about the strengths, needs, and challenges of assigned families and individuals; (2) determine what needs the quorum, Relief Society, or ward council might assist with; and (3) learn from leaders and be encouraged in ministering efforts.

The elders quorum president and the Relief Society president communicate important needs directly to the bishop and will receive counsel and direction from him.

"A new name, new flexibility, and fewer reports will not make one ounce of difference in our service unless we see this as an invitation to care for one another in a bold new holier way."  

MINISTERING WEBSITE

Prayers for....

Please keep Charai Layton and her family in your prayers...

Pray for those you minister to...

Do you know of anyone in need of our prayers?  Please contact a presidency member.

Service Opportunities 

Take a moment and drop a letter or a card to one of our missionaries:

Sister Ellie Ross
Santa Rosa CA Mission
5301 Badger Rd
Santa Rosa, CA 95409
ellie.ross@myldsmail.net

Elder Ethan Graham
Taipei Taiwan Mission
ethan.graham@myldsmail.net

Sister Jordan Fitting
California Ventura Mission
3301 W Gonzales Rd
Oxnard, CA 93036
jordan.fitting@myldsmail.net

Just Serve 

Stake Institute
Every Tuesday 10:00 - 11:15
Stake Center (Tanner Lane)
Bring your scriptures
No babysitting

Click on this link for the schedule of YSA activities

LDS Tools Info

1.  Are you using LDS Tools on your phone or tablet? 

We encourage you to use LDS Tools to access the ward directory, Your Ministering Assignments, Calendar, Temple Info, Missionary Info and more!

2.  Do you have a current photo of you and/or your family? 

Please take a few minutes and follow these instructions. 

3.  Is your contact info correct?  

If not and you need to change or update your info, go to your name in the directory (on a mobile device) and touch the red circle with a pencil and you can edit from there.  If you are signed on at lds.org, click on your name and then the edit button.

4.  Do you know how to access your ministering assignment?

On your mobile device click on your name.  Directly underneath your name is a blue bar that says:  contact, household, membership information, callings and classes and ministering (you must scroll across to access each of these headings.)  Click on ministering and it will list those that minister to you and who you minister to.

Do you have any other questions about LDS Tools?