Sacrament Meeting Talks

 Jim and I were asked to give talks in Sacrament Meeting.  I just gave a lesson in Relief Society, so giving a talk in Sacrament Meeting sounded too early for me, but we accepted the assignment and spoke.  Jim introduced the family to the ward, even though we have lived in the ward for 20 years.  He mentioned that he served a mission in Philadelphia, graduated from ASU, and worked in Phoenix as a computer programmer.  He mentioned that I graduated from ASU with a teaching degree in Mathematics.  We mentioned that we were married in 1995, have 4 wonderful kids and lived in the ward for 20 years. Here are the talks that we prepared and shared with the ward. 

Tami - The Lord Teaches Us to Pray

• Elder Ueda talked a bout a dangerous hike went on a a missionary.  He fell and held onto some branches.  As he was holding onto the branches about to fall, he prayed intensely "Father, help me!"  A missionary was behind him and helped him to safety.  That night and the next morning he prayed.  He learned hat he should always pray with a sincere heart, with real intent, exercising faith in Christ.    Heavenly Father guide us through our problems.  Praying is communicating with our Father in Heaven.
• Example of my broken both and surgery.  I prayed with a sincere heart that I would find peace with the surgery and I would be healed.
• Luke 11:1 On One occasion the Lord Jesus Christ"was praying in a certain places" and when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray."  The he taught his disciples to pray.
• Primary song -"I Pray in Faith" teaches us how to pry.  "I begin by saying 'Dear Heavenly Father, I thank him for blessings he sends Then humbly I ask him for thinks that I need, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
• Jesus taught through example
• In Gethsemane by saying (Luke 3:21) "Neverless not my will, buy thing be done" - When you pray , do you really want that His will be done?  My family's move to AZ was not my will, but it was the best thing.
• Jesus prayed with a sincere heart -Paul described how Jesus prayed in Hebrews 5.  When you pray, are you really praying of just saying prayers.  Do we just say our personal prayer quickly or do we make them meaningful an sincere?  Do we pray with a purpose?
• Jesus prayed intensely and spoke with the Father (Luke 3:21) "It came to pass, the Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened'.  When you pray, do the heaves open.  When I pray for my family, I feel the Spirit strong.
• Jesus prepared himself o make important decisions by praying )Luke 6:12-13) "He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.  And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples and of them he chose twelve".  Do you prepare to make important decisions by praying to your Heavenly Father? Do you prepare yourself for a moment of Prayer .  Joseph Smith's 1st vision is a good example.  I did for deciding to marry Jim.
• Jesus came to the American continent, he taught the people to pray. "And Jesus said unto them:  Pray on nevertheless they did not cease to pray. (3 Nephi 19:26)  Jesus invites us to pray.

"You are a child of God. Your Heavenly Father loves you and knows your needs, and He wants you to communicate with Him through prayer. Pray to Him and no one else. The Lord Jesus Christ commanded, “Ye must always pray unto the Father in my name” (3 Nephi 18:19).

As you make a habit of approaching God in prayer, you will come to know Him and draw ever nearer to Him. Your desires will become more like His. You will be able to secure for yourself and for others blessings that He is ready to give if you will but ask in faith."

Pres. Hinckley - "Believe in prayer and the power of prayer.  Be prayerful and the Gold of heaven will smile upon you and bless you, and give happiness in your hearts and a sense of peace in your lives"

Jim - Living the Gospel Joyfully

In the Book of Mormon the prophet Alma refers to the plan of salvation as the “great plan of happiness”

There are many things in the world today that can challenge us, such as financial hardship, medical challenges, and many others.

Alma 42:8 - Now behold, it was not expedient that man should be reclaimed from this temporal death, for that would destroy the great plan of happiness.

Lift Up Your Head and Rejoice

By M. Joseph Brough

In 1981, my father, two close friends, and I went on an adventure in Alaska. We were to land on a remote lake and climb to some beautiful high country. In order to reduce the load we would have to personally carry, we wrapped our supplies in boxes, covered them with foam, attached large colored streamers, and threw them out the window of our bush plane at our intended destination.

After arriving, we searched and searched, but to our dismay, we could not find any of the boxes. Eventually we found one. It contained a small gas stove, a tarp, some candy, and a couple packages of Hamburger Helper—but no hamburger. We had no way to communicate with the outside world, and our scheduled pickup was a week later

I learned two valuable lessons from this experience: One, do not throw your food out the window. Two, sometimes we have to face hard things.

Frequently, our first reaction to hard things is “Why me?” 

Asking why, however, never takes away the hard thing. The Lord requires that we overcome challenges, and He has indicated “that all these things shall give [us] experience, and shall be for [our] good.”

I was forever changed upon hearing these words from Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve, spoken in the midst of his struggle with leukemia. He said, “I was doing some pensive pondering and these 13 instructive and reassuring words came into my mind: ‘I have given you leukemia that you might teach my people with authenticity.’” He then went on to express how this experience had blessed him with “perspective about the great realities of eternity. … Such glimpses of eternity can help us to travel the next 100 yards, which may be very difficult.”

May I suggest two things. We must face hard things, first, by forgiving others and, second, by giving ourselves to Heavenly Father.  Forgiving others brings peace. I learned of forgiveness when my stake president, Bruce M. Cook, shared the following story.   “During the late 1970s, some associates and I started a business. Although we did nothing illegal.  “Some investors filed a lawsuit to recover their losses. Their attorney happened to be a counselor in my family’s bishopric. It was very difficult to sustain the man who seemed to be seeking to destroy me.  We  lost everything we owned, including our home.

More than 20 years later, he was called to serve as Stake President, and was prompted to call the attorney as one of his counselors.

“When Elder David E. Sorensen extended to me the call to serve as stake president, he gave me an hour to select counselors. Through tears, I indicated that the Lord had already provided that revelation. As I spoke the name of the man I had considered my enemy, the anger, animosity, and hate I had harbored disappeared. In that moment, I learned of the peace that comes with forgiveness through the Atonement of Christ.”

In other words, my stake president did “frankly forgive” him, like Nephi of old. I knew President Cook and his counselor as two righteous priesthood leaders who loved one another. I determined to be like them.

Years before, during our misadventure in Alaska, I had quickly learned that blaming our circumstances on others—the pilot launching the food out in fading light—was not a solution. However, as we experienced physical exhaustion, lack of food, sickness, and sleeping on the ground during a major storm with only a tarp to cover us, I learned that “with God nothing shall be impossible.”

In President Russell M. Nelson’s worldwide devotional for youth, he requested some hard things of the youth. President Nelson said: “My fifth invitation is for you to stand out; be different from the world. … The Lord needs you to look like, sound like, act like, and dress like a true disciple of Jesus Christ.”9 That can be a hard thing, yet I know you can do it—with joy.

2 Nephi 2:25 -  Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.

Remember that “men are, that they might have joy.”10 With all that Lehi faced, he still found joy. Remember when Alma was “weighed down with sorrow”11 because of the people of Ammonihah? The angel told him, “Blessed art thou, Alma; therefore, lift up thy head and rejoice, … for thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God.”12 Alma learned a great truth: we can always rejoice when we keep the commandments. Remember that during the wars and challenges faced during the time of Captain Moroni, “there never was a happier time among the people of Nephi.”13 We can and should find joy when we face hard things.

The Savior faced hard things: 

1 Nephi 19:9 - And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men.