It was Elise's farewell. She did a phenomenal job with her farewell talk. Seriously. I'm a little critical when it comes to farewell and homecoming talks. Not all of them are good. Not all of my talks or lessons are good. That's just life. But some are FANTASTIC. And that was Elise's. (And Marty's. I'm not biased. I'm really not.)
Because we had Elise's farewell, the boys skipped Sacrament Meeting in our ward which was frustrating because it was Ward Conference and our bishop gave a fantastic talk as well on EXACTLY what we've been talking with Chris about on gaining a testimony. Grandpa's 30 days to a testimony sums up by saying, "Do you want to be a Nephi or a Laman and Lemuel?" And that's pretty much what our bishop talked on as well. I kept thinking sometimes Heavenly Father answers our prayers, but we're not there to hear the answer. Fortunately he keeps trying. I had the idea to have Chris teach the rest of the family about Grandpa's 30-days-to-a-testimony instead.
Marty gave a great Come Follow Me lesson. It's so amazing to hear him teach so confidently. Not just talk, but actually teach. It's cool to see how he knows where to find relevant scriptures -- even when they're not listed in the lesson. It's cool to see how smoothly he asks people to read scriptures and what they think it means. Aaaahhh. I just love it. It's so cool to have Come Follow Me that we can all take turns teaching. And I love that he so willingly accepted when I asked if he'd teach.
Part of the lesson was the Sermon on the Mount. I mentioned how cool it was that I'd read the same thing in the Book of Mormon that morning when I read Mosiah 2 while studying Preach My Gospel. Chris said, "That's kind of weird because Mosiah 2 is King Benjamin." I realized he was right. Then I looked back at my notes and realized I'd also read 3 Nephi 13 and Marty said, "that makes more sense" and Chris said, "Yeah, when Christ came to the Nephites."
And I felt a lot of gratitude that my boys are really learning the scriptures! And amazed that Chris is remembering so much of what he is reading! I'm impressed at how much he retains!
Chris shared Grandpa's 30-days like I asked, as well. He said when he finishes the 30 days this week, if he doesn't get an answer, he'll just keep reading to the end. I love his attitude. It shows true Faith.
Dan shared a cool object from his talk from Elder's Quorum today too. He talked about how his dad, Marty, was an excellent pilot. He trained carefully and always checked out the plane for any safety issues before he went up. His careful preparation served him well when he encountered emergencies.
One time his Dad's engine blew a piston causing the engine to go out and having limited time and distance to glide into an emergency landing.
Dan showed this satellite image of what a plane would see from 15,000 feet. That's what Marty could see from the plane.
But because he had taken the time to train and prepare properly, he was able to spot a crop duster's landing strip amongst everything else and he was able to land the plane safely.
What a great metaphor for preparing ourselves spiritually. By reading the scriptures, going to church, saying prayers and attending the temple, we'll be more in tune to avoiding sin as well as taking precautions that help us keep the commandments.
After FHE/Come Follow Me, we worked on some brain teasers that Marge had brought for everyone. It's fun to have Marty home because he loves that kind of stuff. I do too. Even Dan worked on them. And then I made bundt cake. Chris and Dan worked on mission papers. Marty kept running up from downstairs to make plans with Dan about his trip to Japan with his friends. I love it when we're all nearby and hanging out together. That's the best part of Sundays.
 |
| Chris is working on making some more knee-room in his pants. |
No comments:
Post a Comment