Friday, November 28, 2008
December 2008 Visiting Teaching message
To go directly to the message for this month, go to this link http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,2044-1-4702-1,00.html
My favorite quote from this message is from President Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency: "The gospel of Jesus Christ has the divine power to lift you to great heights from what appears at times to be an unbearable burden or weakness. The Lord knows your circumstances and your challenges. He said to Paul and to all of us, 'My grace is sufficient for thee.' And like Paul we can answer: 'My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me' (2 Corinthians 12:9)" ("Have We Not Reason to Rejoice?" Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2007, 19).
I testify that I personally know that the Lord can lift us up from what appears at time to be unbearable burdens. Many times in my own life, I have felt the strength of the Lord enter into me and either take from me my burdens or give me the strength to bare them up.
I have had the great blessing of raising a very special child. She was my last child and she was born with some physical challenges. One of the troubles she had as a baby was breathing difficulties. We didn't know until much later that she suffered from obstructive and central apnea which put her life at risk when she slept. Needless to say that as a Mother, I didn't sleep much either as I worried that she would stop breathing all together. Many nights I would take her to the family room and I would make her a little bed of quilts on the floor beside the sofa which I slept on. I would lay my hand on her chest so that I could tell if she was breathing or not. When she stopped breathing long enough periods of time, I would shake her and start up her breathing again. I would do this all night long, not getting much sleep, but fearing more for my little girls survival through the night.
After lots of sleepless nights, I felt almost like a zombie the next day though I still had 4 other children to care for besides my little girl. I will never forget one night, we went to bed, once again me on the sofa and my daughter on the quilts by the side of the sofa, and I was soooo exhausted. By the time about 3:00 am rolled around and I had spent my night without any sleep, I felt as if I could not do it anymore. I was just too exhausted and I needed some sleep. I got off the sofa and knelt down by the side of my little girl and said a prayer. I remember crying all the way though it. My words in essence where that I needed to turn over my little daughters care into the Lords hands, and I needed to get some sleep. I knew that there was a possibility that if it was the Lord's will, she could die in her sleep if I didn't keep shaking her.
After my prayer, I just laid down beside my little girl on the floor and before I knew it, I had fallen into a deep sleep. I slept the rest of the night and only awakened when I heard some of my other children getting up. I was frantic when I woke up and looked at my little girl to see if she was alive. She was not only alive, but sleeping very soundly herself. I realized that Heavenly Father had answered my prayer and had given me rest as well as my daughter. He had lifted my heavy burden and had preserved my daughter that night.
Like the quote from President Uchtdorf, "The Lord knows your circumstances and your challenges," and I testify that this is true, because he knew mine and lifted me.
I also want to testify that Jesus Christ is the Light and life of the world. Like the quote from Elder Dallin H. Oaks said, "His example and His teachings illuminate the path we should walk. His resurrection and His Atonement save us from both physical and spiritual death." What a blessing His life and death have given to the whole world. What an opportunity we have this month to think about Christ and read about his birth in the scriptures. Jesus is the Christ in Christmas. He is whose birth we reverence as well as celebrate.
Jesus is indeed the light and life of the world, as well as the eternal giver of hope. Julie B. Beck, Relief Society general president says, "Mormon asks, 'What is it . . . ye shall hope for?' His answer tells us of the three great hopes: 'Ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal' (Moroni 7:41).
"When you were baptized, you became participants in the first great hope, the Atonement of Christ. Every time you worthily partake of the sacrament, you have the opportunity to begin again. . . . Your hope and faith in the Savior will increase as you repent and make personal changes. . . .
"The second great hope is the Resurrection. You are all promised that through our Savior Jesus Christ you will be resurrected. . . .
"With the hope of the Atonement and the Resurrection, you have a third great hope, the hope of eternal life."
Though this life presents us with trials, challenges, heartaches, pain and grief, we can be eternally grateful, feel blessed and strengthened in our trials knowing that our loving Heavenly Father provided us a Savior, giving hope to this world.
General Conference Talks
General Conference Reports
Proceedings of Recent General Conferences
What shall we give?
An Apostles Easter Thoughts on Christ
This short video is an Important message from the mouths of our Prophets!
My broken wagon wheel, hath bit the dust!
July 6 - Pioneer Cooking
Click on this link to take you to the Pioneer Recipes:
http://visitingteachingsurprisedocuments.blogspot.com/2009/07/pioneer-recipes.html
I was also thinking that if you were to copy some of these recipes and print them off, that might be a fun handout for the Sisters you Visit Teach!
July 2nd - Diana Lucina Spicer Block
Visiting Teaching Tips, handouts and Ideas
For many years, I have been creating very cute and fun things to take to the ladies I Visit Teach. I have shared from time to time, my ideas with others and they have really appreciated them. I decided that since I do these anyway, I would start doing one every month and then post it on this blog to share with anyone for their Visiting Teaching. I do need to make a disclaimer.... the ideas, thoughts, stories, graphics etc. used are created by me and they are not in any way official LDS Church quotes, handouts or ideas. They are my creations or others as noted, except for the quotes that will come directly from the Monthly Visiting Teaching message found in the Ensign. Also, many thanks to the talented designers of the digital paper and elements that I use to create the beautiful artwork, and handouts you see on my blog.
You can go to http://www.lds.org/ and look up and even print the monthly message if you do not have your own Ensign magazine subscription in English or to choose to read the Liahona or Ensign in a different language go to http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=03103c7ff44f2010VgnVCM1000001f5e340aRCRD&locale=0.
For Spanish you can go to http://www.sud.org.es/
I highly recommend you get your own subscription because you will find a wealth of really good & wholesome, moral reading, that you can't find anywhere else. If you go to http://www.lds.org/ and click on "Gospel Library" then click on "Magazines" you can order your own Ensign, Liahona, New Era, or Friend magazines.
Posted by Katie Gauger at 10:41 AM 0 comments
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"Returning to the Past" A Relief Society Activity Idea
Dear Katie,
I just found your blog. It is so great. I love the idea of the Hearts of Angels. I am trying to figure out how we can use it for our VT conference and incorporate some of the things for our VT interviews. I am a new R/S president and all these things we have to do throughout the year are a little overwhelming. I love all of you ideas. So much work involved, thank you for being willing to share with all of us! I would love anything else you could pass my way.
WE had the thought earlier to use a theme of "Returning to the past" for our activities this year. So all of your old-fashioned pictures will be great to use as invites and handouts.
You might be interested in the idea we had for our B-Day dinner. We always have a progressive dinner in December to the homes of different sisters. We divide them up into about 5 smaller groups and go around to the different sisters homes in the ward. Because of the weather we cancelled it and had it at the church. We decided to do it for our B-Day dinner instead when the weather would be better. We are having the women bring a sack lunch with them and to wear something old, like a grandmothers broach or shawl, or to dress up in the time of the 1800's, and to bring a pint jar with a lid. We will have the sisters make lemonade at the first house and take with them in the jar that they brought, and then go to the next house. At the last house we will have and old fashioned cake to serve like apple walnut cake or something like that.
We still have some details to work out but at the end each member of the presidency will be at a different home and will share a prepared script. It will be written as if they were at the very first R/S meeting when the prophet Joseph Smith organized the R/S with just a handful of women.
Anyway, thank you for sharing what you have! You have a great talent!
Stacey McClellan - Blackfoot, Idaho
SELF RELIANT SISTERS BLOG HAS A GREAT ACTIVITY ABOUT GARDENING WITH KIDS - go to http://selfreliantsisters.blogspot.com/ It is well worth the time and a terriffic idea as Spring is just around the corner! Here is a tiny bit of information that you will see at the site.....
Gardening with Kids has great tips on getting kids started with gardening. Give your child some space; literally! Kids loving having spaces that are all their own, whether it`s their own desk area in the house, or the tent they've created with chairs and blankets in the family room. The same is true for gardening. Dedicate a small plot of the garden just for them. Put a fancy border around it, perhaps purchase one of the stepping stone making kits found at crafts stores in which they can mold their name and make their hand print.
Let them join you at the nursery. Let your kids know you value their opinion. Ask them which kinds of plants, flowers, and vegetables they like. Explain what will work well in your garden and what won't.
Give them (limited) choices. While you're at the nursery, ask them if they'd like pansies or petunias, marigolds or zinnias. This will give them the feeling of power without letting it get out of control.
Remind them money doesn't grow on trees. With older children discuss the budget. Let them help select seeds and blossoming plants at the nursery - and turn it into a math lesson. Let your child do the money calculations; they can tell you when the money runs out.
Let your child do what he will (especially if you have a preschooler). Let him dig, explore, play with bugs. You may be tempted to steer your child in another direction (like actually watering or weeding his garden), but this is a great way for your child to explore this exciting new universe.
Plan, plan, plan. If you have older children, say 8 or 9 or older, let them plot out their own garden on paper. Provide him or her with graph paper, pencils and seed catalogs. Give them a group of flowers and vegetables from which to choose, and then let them draw out their garden.
Get them their own gardening tools. Nothing will motivate your little gardener more than having her own little shovel, her own gardening gloves, and her own watering pail. And don't forget those bright colored rubber boots. You need to go to the site and explore all the rest of the links and ideas.
1 comment:
Katie,
Your blog is a tapastry of talent and inspiration. Bless you for your spirit of giving and sharing.
Love,
Becky
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