Shelley First Updates: May 2012

Monday, May 28, 2012

Shelley 1st Ward Missionaries in the News!

Check out Page 76 of the June 2012 Ensign to see our very own Shelley First Ward Missionaries Merlin and Joy Price, who are currently serving in the Nauvoo Family History Center! If you don't get the Ensign, click on the link below.

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2012/06/family-history-missionaries-serve-in-ancestors-home?lang=eng&query=june%20history%20publication3a22Ensign22&cid=email-shared

Lesson Recap

The lesson today was on "Families under Covenant", by Elder Eyring. He talks of the special, essential blessing it is to have the sealing covenant in our lives.

"And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy".

He goes on to say that the Holy Spirit of Promise, through our obedience and sacrifice, must seal our temple covenants in order for them to be realized in the world to come. We may deceive men, but we cannot deceive the Holy Ghost.

In Mormon Doctrine, it says, All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, must be sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise if they are to have efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead. Thus an act which is sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise is one which is ratified by the Holy Ghost. The ratifying seal of approval is put upon an act only if those entering the contract are worthy as a result of personal righteousness to receive the divine approbation. If they are not just and true and worthy, that ratifying is withheld. If later through repentance, they become worthy the seal is put in force.

Also mentioned today in class was having your calling and election made sure. To clarify this point from Mormon Doctrine: Those members of the church who devote themselves wholly to righteousness, living by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God, make their calling and election sure. That is, they receive the more sure word of prophecy, which means that the Lord seals their exaltation upon them while they are in this life. Then it is his privilege to receive the other Comforter. To receive the other Comforter is to have Christ appear to him and to see the visions of eternity.

A special thanks to Rehle Higham who will be moving to Primary. We are going to miss her as a teacher!

Dates to Remember

Sunday, June 3rd, we are having a special Relief Society meeting and want all Sisters to attend. The Priesthood have graciously agreed to teach all the Primary and Young Womens Classes this day! We hope to see everyone there!

Sunday, June 10th, is "Invite a friend to church" day. This was a challenge given by President Searle at our last Regional Conference. The missionaries gave great talks today on missionary work. Keep in mind an invitation for anyone you visit teach or a neighbor you could invite to attend with you.

Use of Church Tables and Chairs

If you would like to use the church tables and/or chairs, you need to call Dallin Andrews, 357-5780, and he will let you know where and how to get them.

Happy Birthday!

Janice Fitzgerald - May 28th
Peggy Pincock - May 28th
Lauren Johnston - May 29th
Luanne Thompson - May 30th
Rhonda Johnson - June 1st
Cathie Morris - June 1st
Heather Olsen - June 2nd
Jasmine Lott - June 3rd

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Happy Birthday!

Connie Hanson - May 23rd
Janice Fitzgerald - May 28th
Peggy Pincock - May 28th
Lauren Johnston - May 29th
Luanne Thompson - May 30th

Thankyou

Thank you to all who put in such hard work making our Mother/Daughter a success. I think all who came had fun.

Great Bread Recipe

This recipe comes from Joyce Killpack and was the one she demonstrated at the Mother/Daughter weekday meeting. According to her children--her breadsticks are famous and everyone that night agreed!

Basic Breadstick Recipe

2 Tablespoons instant yeast

1 ½ cup warm water

1 Tablespoon malted milk flavor powder

1 Tablespoon honey

2 Tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon salt

4-4 ½ cups flour

Dissolve yeast, honey & malted milk in warm water. Add flour, salt and oil. Knead until smooth and elastic. Roll out and cut into strips. Place strips on a greased baking sheet and baste with oil and sprinkle with desired seasonings. Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown.

Garlic Parmesan Cheese Seasoning

2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon season salt

1 teaspoon dried oregano

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Message From the Young Women

The Young Women Leaders are beginning an activity to help the Young Women of our Ward understand that God Loves them and KNOWS them individually to help them develop their Divine Nature and understand their Individual Worth. They would like everyone in the ward to pray for our Young Women.

On Saturday at noon the Young Women will be meeting together to begin a special 24 hour fast to help them understand fully that God loves them. They would like anyone who can and would like to fast part or all of the 24 hours (whatever you can) for our Young Women to join them in this. Our Young Women are amazing and we want them all to understand just how special they really are.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Family History Sunday School Class

A Family History Class is taught each Sunday. The topics vary. Please attend any week that it strikes your interest.

May 20th - Indexing
May 27th - Journals and Personl History

Happy Mother's Day!!!

There are ANGELS God puts on this Earth
Who care for us and guide us.
You can feel their love and gentleness
as they walk through life beside us.

They do great things for us every day
they whisper in our ears,
they even hold us in their hearts
when we are filled with all our fears.

They are always there to give a hug
and try to make us smile.
They treat us with respect and love,
they treat us like their child.

God blessed me with an Angel,
I'm proud to call my own.
She's been with me throughout my
life, been with me as I've grown.

She's guided me the best she can,
she's taught me like no other,
and I'm thankful I'm the lucky one
who get's to call her...
Mother

President's Message

I listened to a talk once by Sheri Dew. She mentioned how she, being in the Young Women's program , one day a girl said how she would listen or read a conference talk everyday between conferences. She found herself more prepared to receive the revelation during conference while listening to our prophets. This is a great idea she thought, and I thought it sure is. So each of those 6 months between conference, I try to daily read or listen to a conference talk. I buy the conference CD's and have one always in my car. You will be amazed at how much you can listen to just running around town. I was surprised at how much more excited, and prepared for conference I was by this simple act of faith. This morning I listened to Elder Hales talk. He spoke of the prodigal son and how "he came to himself", this being the changing action, he took to return to his father. Elder Hales invites us to follow our spiritual desires and come to ourselves. Let's have a talk with ourselves in the mirror, he continues and asks, "where do I stand on living my convenants?" We are on the right path when we can say, "I worthily partake of the sacrament each week. I am worthy to hold a temple recomment and go to the temple. I sacrifice to serve and bless others." If these are not things we can currently say yes to, like the prodigal son, lets come to ourselves, and use the atonement and prepare to receive the Savior as he runs to help, comfort and lift us in our process! How glorious is the gospel! How magnificent is our Savior!

Sister Kim Strupp

Happy Birthday!

Jaclyn Hanson - May 15th
Brandi Timm - May 15th
Naomi Baker - May 20th

Dates to Remember

May 17th at 7:00 p.m. will be our Mother Daughter Weekday Meeting. Bring your daughters, mothers, granddaughters, friends or just yourself. Everyone is invited!

Classes are:
pillow cases
bread dough creations
hair bows
painting nails

We will be taking pictures of you and your daughter and you can make a frame to put the picture in as well.

We will also be having a "gently used clothing swap" on that night. Clean out your closets and come trade with others sisters. We thought this might be fun for the younger girls also. Please take home what doesn't get swapped that night.

There will be signup sheets in the kitchen on Sunday May 13th as well as a list of supplies you will need for either the hair bows or the pillow cases. You may contact Brandi Timm if you have further questions.

May 18th at 6:30 p.m. at the Stake Pavillion behind our church will be a Ward BBQ. Meat will be provided. Bring a salad or dessert to share. There will be games, food, and fun!

May 19th is Shelley Arbor Day at Brinkman Park at 9a.m. Volunteers are need to help plant trees. This is a great scout activity. Mayor Eric Christensen will be presented with the Tree City USA banner, the 10th consecutive year that the city has qualified for the designation. Refreshments will be served.

Updates

Welcome New Sisters!

Cynthia Fyfe
287 Maple #2 602-1256

Lauren Johnston
275 W. Oak #37 390-6022

Sister Barker is still in the I.F. Care and Rehab Center across from EIRMC in room 405. She would love a phone call or visit.
(227-1245)

Monday, May 7, 2012

Crayons - Who Knew?

We could learn a lot from crayons:
Some are sharp,
Some are pretty,
Some are dull,
Some have weird names,
And all are different...
But they all exist very nicely
in the same box.

Letter From Russ & Lorraine Stewart

Dear President Searle and Bishop Bolander,

Here we sit in the Laundromat, taking care of life’s necessities. I learned by watching the missionaries in the MTC that waiting for the washers and dryers goes pretty fast if you are using the time for letters. Today is Saturday and it has been a little over a month since we drove to Provo to enter the MTC. In the MTC we received Preach My Gospel training the first week. The second week some really fine young men taught us how to teach Institute classes. (One of our teachers was Janis Fitzgerald’s nephew.) They are in the midst of rewriting lesson plans (format) and taught us the way to do lessons using the new techniques. The new methods are spectacular, to say the least. We also spent a day at the Church Office Building with the Military Relations personnel. It was good, also. In the afternoon, Elder Frank Clawson met with us. Our plan was to take our fifth wheel, so we returned home to get it and we have been here since April 2 or 3.

We are staying in an RV Park and are parked between a couple of medium-sized cottonwoods, which we hope will help in the hottest months of July, August and September. We are attending the ward in Twentynine Palms, although we are not assigned to a ward. Our Stake President (this will be interesting to you, President Searle) is Jubal Lotze. He grew up in the area and is in his early 30s and has very small children. He is super. Today we participated in a statewide service day. The wards in the upper desert cleaned up what is called Christ Park in Yucca Valley. It was amazing how much different it looked when we left. Russ was a ditch digger along with several young YSA (many are Marines), and I raked and tore out debris. The ditch was designed for rain run-off. There is no grass, but many desert trees, bushes and cactus. Russ, I mean Elder Stewart, trimmed up a Cats Claw shrub, but finished with wounds on his arms and face. It is a nasty little bush—like a confrontation with an angry cat. We wore the yellow Mormon Helping Hands vests. The park is maintained by a non-profit foundation and was started by a local man many years ago with a religious theme. He and another man built many statues of Jesus Christ which are in the park. I am not sure what it is used for today, but it is still maintained.

We have been to the mission home/office twice and are going again on Tuesday for a testimony meeting. It is about 95 miles each way. But it has been good to get acquainted with President Smart and his family. Our second trip was for a FHE with the senior couples. There are five couples, plus two single sisters. One is going home shortly. To my surprise, one of the other couples (Elder Davis) is my Mom’s first cousin and he knows Mom and Dad well. We didn’t make the connection until we started comparing notes on who we know in Blackfoot. We have also had a chance to meet the young Elders (three companionships in the upper desert). One is transferring and another is going home this week, so we will be meeting some new ones. We attend and participate in their district meetings, and a week ago we attended the Redlands Temple with our Zone, which is the same area as the Yucca Valley Stake. The Upper Desert is 29 Palms and Yucca Valley, and down the “hill” is the lower desert (Palm Springs, Desert Palms, etc.) It is a huge geographical stake. We have also had the opportunity to go with them as they taught a lesson.

We are slowly figuring out how to accomplish our purpose here, which is to support, activate and retain young SINGLE members in the military. (No proselyting) We have met two chaplains who are very supportive. But we have very strict guidelines to follow. The military will kick the church off the base if they feel that we step out of bounds. It is voluntary for military members to list their religious affiliation, so it is tricky to find them. We really have to depend on the active members to find their fellow Mormons and get them interested in coming. So we will be affiliated with the YSA. We are not sure that the ward quite understands that our primary purpose is young, single Marines. They gave us their inactive list to work on!

Here is our typical Sunday: 7:30 attend Ward Council, and church in 29 Palms is from 9 until noon. Then we head out to the base and hold a sacrament meeting at Camp Wilson, which is a training base farther out in the desert. Marines who attend Camp Wilson will deploy somewhere in the world. We meet in a Quonset hut with no air conditioning. (I lead the music—which is funny because I haven’t led since I was in Seminary J) We have 4 or 5 Marines who come in, carrying their weapons. (The weapons are pretty impressive.) The meetings a very spiritual, but with the drawdown from Afghanistan, we will probably see fewer who are deploying there. But most who have deployed to Afghanistan train at 29 Palms. It is a live firebase and the terrain and climate is similar to Afghanistan. Then we hit the road to Yucca Valley to make it to the last meeting in the YSA block. Probably starting next month, we will attend the entire block with the YSA on one Sunday a month. Brother Grey (retired military and a great guy) has been called to serve as Group Leader out there. We get home about 6 pm. We also go on base for a “Bible Study” (CES class) on Thursday and a Sacrament meeting on Friday. Since we have been going out for those two meetings, we have not had anyone attend. The times that were given to us are during a lunch hour and during their field day, when they get ready for inspection. So they are not conducive times for young Marines to attend. But we are going to continue to work on that.

We are happy and contented here in the mission field. There are challenges, but we are working on them. And it is a real desert. Sand is everywhere, but we are starting to see the beauty in this part of the world. We have heard the coyotes howl at night, have had lizards (big ones) run across the road in front of us and we can hear the booms of the Marines training with live fire. But the people are very nice and the stake seems strong. We are acclimating to the desert (it was 108° in Palm Desert last Saturday when we went shopping and probably !!0° in the Quonset for Sacrament meeting). (I know, I hit the wrong keys!!!) We tell ourselves, “Buck up, little campers. You can do this.” We are studying hard and our knowledge is deepening. Our testimonies are growing stronger, too. Say hello to Shelley for us and we will see you down the road sometime in 2013!

All our best and Love to all, Elder and Sister Stewart

Russ and Lorraine Stewart russandlorraine@gmail.com

PO Box 2137 rlstewart@q.com

Twentynine Palms, CA 92277 russells@myldsmail.com

208-604-5348 and 208-357-5348

All the emails sync to rlstewart@q.com (We ported our home phone to a cell phone.)