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This last Saturday, I had the privileged of baptizing my 2nd son, Dylan. It was quite a different experience than the other baptisms that I have been to. This time, it seems like it was HIGHLY organized by our stake and there were so much people that it filled the entire chapel of the stake center.
This time around, each ward took turns at the font and split up into different areas of the stake center afterwards. Since Dylan was the only one being baptized for our ward, we ended up in the small family history / employment center room.
I also found myself referring back to my posts: My Son’s Baptism, A Convert’s Survival Guide: What to Expect BEFORE your Baptism and A Convert’s Survival Guide: What to Expect AFTER your Baptism to reference the prayers and procedures needing to be performed.
During the opening of the baptism service, I was impressed that my son was eager to answer all the questions by the speaker in the chapel for the service before the ordinance was performed. The baptism had to be done twice because his toe poked out of the water. The 2nd time I dunked him, I made sure to push him down to the very bottom of the font by his chest and knees.
Next during his confirmation, my heart was full of joy and I know my son felt the same way when telling him to “receive the holy ghost.”
I am thankful that my best friend Mike and his family could come and support Dylan in his decision. Also glad that Mike was on hand for being a witness in the baptism and part of the confirmation as well. I am glad to have the privilege to hold the priesthood and minister unto my family and those around me.
My son’s baptism has given me another person to look up to when living the gospel. Together I know we will help each other grow closer to Jesus Christ.
Saturday Session 1, Talk 2 – Boyd K. Packer, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
- Spoke about the duty of the Priesthood in the home
- Presiding Authority always vested in the Father.
- Father is to direct the administration of ordinances in his home.
- Father presides at the table, prayer and general instruction to the family whenever he is present.
- Soldier with orders to Vietnam asked president Harold B. Lee for a blessing. Turned him down and told him to ask his father.
- 2 years later, the soldier said he did as was asked and he felt the power of the priesthood.
- Another time a young man was to be set apart as an Elder, Bro. Packer, told him his father was to do it. Good thing he was an Elder, or else he would have had a “Battlefield commission.” 🙂
Just something that’s been stuck in my head all week. During sacrament last Sunday, the Bishop spoke to us about what he called:
THE FABULOUS FOUR!
I like how he put it. It immediately got everyone’s attention and then he told it how it was…
If you are not doing these four things in your life, DO IT. Don’t do it half way, do all of it and you will be blessed.
- Go to Chuch EVERY Sunday, to EVERY meeting.
Do all three hours, don’t pick and choose. - Daily Prayer
Say your prayers daily. Say them in the morning, at night and throughout the day. - Daily Scripture Study
As you read and study your understanding and faith will grow. - Pay a Full and Honest Tithe
“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house; and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” (3 Nephi 24:8–10; Malachi. 3:8–10)
There you have it. The fabulous four… or what I like to call the fantastic four. I personally feel it is wise advice in which my Bishop addressed head on.
Saturday Session 3 (Priesthood), Talk 1 – M. Russell Ballard, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
- Priesthood is the divine power that seals
- How to Talk between Father and Son:
- Most Nurturing
- Who Sons and Fathers Become
- Applies to All Mentors
- 3 Suggestions for the Son:
- 1. Trust Your Father:
- Not Perfect, but loves you and is looking out for your best interests.
- Your Father will feel responsibility and will make him work harder.
- 2. Take an interest in your father’s life.
- Interests
- Goals
- Job
- How he met your mother?
- Watch your father, you’ll understand your father better.
- 3. Ask for your father’s advice:
- Ask on Church, Classes, School, Assignments, Missions, Callings.
- Asking says to him: “I appreciate your knowledge and experience.”
- 1. Trust Your Father:
- 3 Suggestions for the Father:
- 1. Listen to your sons. Ask the right questions and what to know.
- Connect with your son: Driving, Fishing, Conversations before bed, working in the yard.
- Have one deep conversation with your son at least once a month.
- Where and when is not important. Just that it happens.
- Ask how they “feel”
- Just listen. You don’t have to fix everything.
- 2. Pray with and for your sons.
- Important events: New School Year, Birthday, One and One Prayer, Testimony Sharing.
- Never give up. Even when you can’t do anything.
- 3. Talk about and warn about bad things: Drugs, Pornography. Discuss the priesthood and moral cleanliness.
- 1. Listen to your sons. Ask the right questions and what to know.
- Trust will flourish. Be open about Sexual Behavior with open and frequent discussions. Be positive about sexual relations in the bounds of marriage.
- Return Missionaries – All this advice applies to them as well.
- Pray to Heavenly Father. Honor your Earthy Father.
- Most important decision is to marry the right girl in the temple.
- Fathers of return missionaries, this applies to them too.
Saturday Session 3 (Priesthood), Talk 2 – Walter F. Gonzalez, of the Seventy
- USE the Book of Mormon
- Take the Book of Mormon Test: Is it of man or of God?
- 3 Activities to best read and apply:
-
- Feast Upon the Words of Christ. READ IT.
- Implement the Teachings
- Teach From the Book of Mormon
Saturday Session 3 (Priesthood), Talk 3 – Yoon Hwan Choi, of the Seventy
- Story of 9 Rowdy Boys, Baptized and went on missions.
- They went from 9 Boys to a family of 45 members.
- The boys sang in a group.
- Choi prayed about them and was inspired to teach them to be missionaries.
- “Attend all church meetings” – Taft
- Teach them to change their lives
- Adam did not always have to know why, he just obeyed.
Saturday Session 3 (Priesthood), Talk 4 – President Deter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor, First Presidency
- Must remain steadfast in faith.
- Work Hard.
- Trust in God.
- Uchtdorf was teased as a young child. When he looks back, he sees that being teased gave him personal growth.
- Adversity, when faced with faith, can be overcome.
- Prinicples:
- 1. WORK.
- If you keep at it, steady and constant, things will improve.
- In the sweat of thy face, thou shalt eat bread.
- Lord doesn’t expect us to work harder than we are able. Don’t compare your performance to others, he does not.
- When your wagon is stuck in the mude, God is more likely to help one who gets out to push, than those who pray.
- Righteous work in the home is sacred and has eternal results. It cannot be delegated.
- Spend your days growing.
- Spiritual Wings – as sons of God, we should grow to the horizons.
- Retirement is not part of God’s plan. You should always be doing something.
- Excuses with age: Skateboarding, biking, spicy food at the buffet… should not keep you from working.
- No retirement from priesthood.
- Wanting to retire from work is not a thought of a disciple.
- 2. LEARN.
- Old saying: “Education is not so much a filling of a bucket as a lighting of a fire.”
- Learning is a commandment.
- Joseph Smith said as a mortal part of our journey that knowledge in this life crosses into the resurrection.
- Knowledge takes away anxiety, doubt and darkness.
- 1. WORK.
Saturday Session 3 (Priesthood), Talk 5 – President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor, First Presidency
- Keeps olive oil on him at all times.
- Keeps it in his desk (He has a desk!)
- Keeps it on his nightstand.
- The olive oil has a date on it: The day it has been concecrated.
- Always ready.
- Story: A father called him about his three year old daughter. She had been hit by a car. He plead for a priesthood blessing. He had to fight the doctors to place a drop of oil on her head amidst bandages. Doctors said she was dying. They were wrong. She lived and also learned to walk again.
- Those prepared are ready to answer.
- Preparation begins at home, quorums, etc.
- Steady Obedient Service.
- Need:
- To have faith, authority to act in the name of God.
- Nephi – Given the authority to do miracles. He brought drought/rain, god gave him power and trust.
- D&C 121 – Moves are pure, Gentleness, Love, Not Selfish. D&C 121 contains a promise in there.
- Prepare for days when heaven needs you. Service & Opportunity.
Saturday Session 3 (Priesthood), Talk 6 – President Thomas S. Monson, President and Prophet
- Anger
- Story of a couple fighting and a child who got hurt as a direct result.
- Anger doesn’t solve anything.
- Destroys everything.
- Heber grant story about work.
- “Man is a fool who takes insult that is not intended”
- Anger is Satans tool.
- Story about Brother Marsh, how a result of a quarrel over milk and cream lead to the extermination order.
- Story about two brothers who shared a 1 room cabin in New York. They got into a fight and drew a line down the center of the room. They did not speak or cross the line for 62 years. This story was told at a funeral.
- Reads “School Thy Feelings Poem”
Sunday Session 5, Talk 8 – Thomas S. Monson, President of the Church, Prophet
My Notes:
-Read and study the conference talks in the November Ensign. It will inspire us. Incorporate the truths into our daily lives.
-Book of Mormon, Book of Ether Quote: Ye cannot cross this great deep, save I prepare you against the waves of the sea and the winds which have gone forth and the floods which shall come.
Sunday Session 5, Talk 7 – D. Todd Christofferson, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
My Notes:
- Moral Agency, the right to make choices and account for those choices.
- WW II – James E. Faust was in enlisted in the US Army.
- Asked the question “In times of war, should not the morale code be relaxed? Does not the stress of battle justify men in doing things they would not do while at home under normal situations?”
- Answered “I do not believe there is a double standard of morality.”
- Moral Discipline is the practice of exercising agency to choose the right, just be cause it is right.
- Discipline’s root word is Disciple.
- The more of God’s laws we obey, the fewer laws we need on earth.
- Morale Discipline is learned at home.
- Teach your children while you have them and convert them while they are with you.
- Book of Mormon quote: “Wickedness never was happiness”
- His mother’s quick correction put an abrupt end to his life of crime! 🙂
- Discipline needs to be founded on faith in Heavenly Father and the son and what we can achieve with atonement of Jesus Christ.
- God is our Father, his son Jesus is our redeemer. Their law is immutable, truth everlasting and love is infinite.
Sunday Session 5, Talk 6 – Joseph W. Sitati, of the Seventy
My Notes:
- Speaks on the history of the Priesthood Keys from Adam to today.
Sunday Session 5, Talk 5 – Michael T. Ringwood, of the Seventy
My Notes:
- What causes mighty change? As in the Laminites?
- Easiness and willingness to believe in god comes from the softness of heart that is: Sensitive to the Holy Ghost, can love, will make and keep sacred covenants, feel the power of the atonement of Christ.
- The daily living of the gospel brings about a soft heart that brings an easiness and willingness to believe.
- Periods with a soft heart: marriage, birth a child, intense service from a calling or mission, in our youth with leaders and bishop, trials, growth from learning for the first time of the Gospel.
- Most significant period is childhood, easy to receive the world of god taught by parents and grand parents.
- Obedience will bring soft hearts, scripture study and prayer will bring soft hearts.
Sunday Session 5, Talk 4 – Dale G. Renlund, of the Seventy
My Notes:
- Heart Transplant, body will naturally (as the natural man) reject the new heart.
- Medication must be taken daily and with exactness.
- Heart Health must be monitored.
- Patience Become casual with medicine and monitoring. – They feel good for all is well.
- Consider the state of your changed heart.
- If ye have experienced the change of heart…can you feel so now?
- Are you humble? Free of pride and envy/ Kind to your fellow man?
- Pray and read scriptures every day keep your changed heart.
- Do not be casual about those small actions.
- Partake of the Sacrament each week and have the Holy Ghost as your constant companion.
- In homes, talk of, rejoice in and preach of Christ.
- Frequently biopsy our changed heart. The tendencies of the natural man will reject a changed heart if not kept in check.
Sunday Session 5, Talk 3 – Brent H. Hielson, of the Seventy
My Notes:
- Kimball’s Prophetic Address that challenged the Church to stronger missionary work.
- The rising generation is the fulfillment of prophesy of the Gospel blanketing the earth.
- Scripture Quote Matthew 28:18-20 – Teach all nations
- Jacob – Olive Tree Story, working in the vineyard.
- The Savior said to Peter and Andrew: “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men”
- The new generation should do their part and teach all nations.
LDS Pad: The Journey Back to Heavenly Father 
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