The Link to either of the handouts " The Fmaily: A Proclamation to the World" can be found on my other blog... visiting teaching surprise at this link http://visitingteachingsurprise.blogspot.com/2010/09/visiting-teaching-message-suggests-that.html
and the topic is "Our Responsibility to Nurture the Rising Generation" found in the Ensign, September 2010.
I have been a little slow getting my this posted as this past week I was called into Young Women. I can't tell you how much work it has been for me to get calendars, Meeting Agendas, and so many other things put together and looking so cute, like I like to do. There have been Sunday and Weekday meetings, Presidency meeting, and Bishops leadership training as well as a meeting with the President to orient me and fill me in on my new calling. I have come to really admire the time that the Young Women leaders put into their callings, because it really is a sacrifice at times. I know that things take days and weeks to plan and carry out and the focus on teaching and "nurturing the rising generation is a huge responsibility.
This months Visiting Teaching message has a quote from Sister Julie Beck that says: "So what is it that will keep the rising generation safe? In the Church, we teach saving principles, and those principles are family principles, the principles that will help the rising generation to form a family, teach that family, and prepare that family for ordinances and covenants—and then the next generation will teach the next and so on.
As parents, leaders, and Church members, we are preparing this generation for the blessings of Abraham, for the temple. We have the responsibility to be very clear on key points of doctrine found in the proclamation on the family. Motherhood and fatherhood are eternal roles and responsibilities. Each of us carries the responsibility for either the male or the female half of the plan.
We can teach this doctrine in any setting. We must speak respectfully of marriage and family. And from our example, the rising generation can gain great hope and understanding—not just from the words we speak but from the way we feel and emanate the spirit of family."
This quote brings me back to the admiration and gratitude I have come to feel from the leaders who spend so much time with our Youth. This past week, in the Ward Leadership training that I attended for the Young Women leaders and Youth Presidency leaders, there was wonderful council and guidance given. But the one thing that stuck out in my mind and really hit me hard was when our Young Women's president gave a statistic that 1 in every 1000 Youth will "Be Strong" in their moral convictions. I don't know where she got her statistics from but that hit me like a ton of lead. One out of every thousand kids in this world today will stay morally clean? How very sad but what a challenge and goal to be that "ONE!" My mind instantly began to try to comprehend one in a thousand, and I determined that it would take about 3 wards of all ages in my city and stake, to get 1000 people together. I thought about the local High Schools and thought that they probably have 1000 plus kids attending school. Imagine.... only person in the entire school or out of 3 wards, being the one who stayed morally clean.
This thought disturbed me greatly to know that our children are being raised in a world that is so lacking in morality. How difficult it must be for this rising generation to actually rise to all that the Lord has in store for them. I know that the most choice of Gods Children are being born now and some years before because they will most likely be those Warriors who have been saved for this day and time. These children have to be strong and will be like Helamans warriors, but fighting a different kind of battle. Their battle isn't being fought on foreign soil, with breastplates and swords, but they will have to be armed with virtue, and character, purity and soberness, in order to win their battle.
All I can say is Pray for the Youth.... Pray that they can be strong and that their greatest example will always be Christ. Pray for their courage to make righteous choices. Pray for their strength to say no to drugs, alcohol, promiscuity and anything else that the world will try to tempt them with.
The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Ensign, Nov 1995, 102
We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.
All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.
In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.
The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.
We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God’s eternal plan.
Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. “Children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalms 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.
The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.
We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.
We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.
I encourage you sisters to do whatever you can do to strengthen your families, and help to strengthen the families and children of others, through your service in this Church, through your neighborhood friendships, through your family ties and through the associations you have with your children's friends. Do all you can to help teach and protect this Rising Generation.
For the handout... the lesson suggests giving a copy of The Family: A Proclamation to the World, and I have the links posted on http://visitingteachingsurprise.blogspot.com/ so that you can print it off.
Katie G.
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