Great announcements for the week:
1. Institute is Wednesday @ 7pm in B092 JFSB.
2. Thursday night is our ward karaoke/untalent night in 214 Crabtree building. It's the building behind the Wilk, on the South side where the Cougareat doors by Subway let out. The room is on the main floor. As you enter the front of the building, immediately turn right, and it's the only room you can enter.
3. Stake Quick Connect is also on Thursday.
4. Friday is Valentine's Day.
5. Thursday, the 20th, is our Ward Temple trip.
5. Thank you for helping keep the sacrament room more reverent this week as you entered. Let's continue to set an example for the ward and watch the improvement. :)
Brittany was our amazing teacher today, with guest lecturer Christine. They taught from the Joseph Fielding Smith manual, chapter 3, the Plan of Salvation. I tried really hard to keep up with the notes today, but the Spirit was touching people's hearts a lot faster than my fingers could touch the keyboard. Please forgive me if I misquoted anyone, or left something out. Feel free to add your testimony or comments below. This really was a beautiful lesson.
http://www.lds.org/manual/teachings-of-presidents-of-the-church-joseph-fielding-smith/chapter-3-the-plan-of-salvation?lang=eng
On April 29, 1901, Joseph Fielding Smith’s 18-year-old sister Alice died after an extended illness. Joseph was just finishing a full-time mission in England. His response to the news of Alice’s passing revealed his love for his family and his testimony of the plan of salvation. “It is a dreadful blow to us all,” he recorded in his journal. “I did not realize the seriousness of her illness although I knew she was sick. I fully expected to meet her again with the rest of the family within a few weeks, but the will of God be done. It is at such times that the hopes which the gospel present[s] to us are most welcome.Brittany: I want to take a step back and go over the elementary things of the Plan of Salvation.
When I was investigating the Church, I don’t know if the Sisters had ever heard the lesson, but for me it changed the entire beginning and end of the universe.
They asked me how I felt and I had no idea. It’s huge. I want us all to appreciate how profound the Plan of Salvation is.
I feel like I’ve been close to people who have gone through these trials before, but it’s so much more comforting to know that not only does God have a plan, but that we have a part in it.
The hope he has when his sister dies, is in the Plan of Salvation.
Ryan: I kind of had an epiphany a couple weeks ago. I went to a Baptist church with my friend. My understanding was if you accept Christ, you go to heaven and chum around all day. I was grateful for this plan because not only does He have a plan for me here on earth and I have a part in this plan, but I can become a goddess and have a part to be there.
We shall all meet again on the other side to enjoy the pleasures and blessings of each other’s presence, where family ties will no more be broken, but where we shall all live to receive the blessings, and realize the tender mercies of our Father in heaven. May I always walk in the path of truth, and honor the name I bear, that the meetings with my kindred may be to me indeed most sweet and everlasting, is my humble prayer.”Brittany: I hope that we’ll take time to ponder this lesson afterwards. “We have the plan of salvation; we administer the gospel; and the gospel is the sole hope of the world, the one way that will bring peace on earth and right the wrongs that exist in all nations.” That is really cool and important to understand. I was thinking at this point we’d have a guest lecturer. So for this next minute, I want you all to think about someone you love who doesn’t have the Plan of Salvation in their life. Think about the issues that might be confusing to them, what questions they might have, and how you would teach them.
Serving as an Apostle and later as President of the Church, President Joseph Fielding Smith repeatedly testified of the hope that comes through an understanding of the gospel. He taught, “We have the plan of salvation; we administer the gospel; and the gospel is the sole hope of the world, the one way that will bring peace on earth and right the wrongs that exist in all nations.”
Christine is going to draw the Plan of Salvation and teach us.
Christine: The Plan of Salvation meant a lot to me on my mission. Every time I taught it, I felt like I was learning. This is going to be fast, and really simple, but think about it as that person and ask some questions like they would.
The Plan of Salvation is one of the greatest things we can know. One of my favorite scriptures is in 2 Nephi 2:25.
Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.Think about that. Men are here on this earth right now to have joy. That’s why God sent us down here. He wants us to be happy. We learned about this before we had bodies.
In the Pre-Earth Life we were with God and Jesus Christ. We were all together. They taught us. That’s great to me because he knew us. He doesn’t only know us here, but he knew us there.
We came to earth to become like him. We came to earth to experience joy and sorrow. Moses 1:39. I know that seems like a lot, but not so we can just stay here, but so we can progress and become more like our Heavenly Father.
Everyone dies right, but one of the most amazing things is that we don’t have to be afraid of that. We keep moving on. That’s because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that’s a big word. It has to do with Jesus Christ living a perfect life and dying for us. One question I had was why is it important that Jesus Christ died 2000 years ago for me. But it’s so we can be perfect.
After we die we go to a place called the Spirit World. There is paradise and prison. Paradise is when we’ve learned the gospel and we rest. Prison is when we don’t understand the gospel. We’re scared because we still don't understand the gospel. But we can still learn it.
Then there’s the Celestial Kingdom. That’s where God lives. There are other places where we can go if we haven’t accepted the gospel. The Terrestrial Kingdom is where we go if we lived a good life but don’t accept the gospel. The Telestial Kingdom is where we go if we didn’t live a good life and don’t accept the gospel.
What are questions that you have as that person you’re thinking about?
Ginger: I’m happy doing the things I’m doing now, but I don’t think I’d be doing those things if I was in God’s presence. Why should I want those things if it’s as good as you say it is?
Christine: If you have that eternal; perspective, and show them this, then they can internalize it. Plant those seeds so they can think about it.
Brittany: I had the same thought before I was baptized. I believed that in the end my happiness would expire. Even accepting the gospel and not having that goal realized, I’m happier than I’ve ever been. Just invite someone to experiment with more happiness.
Ashley: I just went through trial x.y.z and it doesn’t seem like God wants me to be happy.
Christine: That’s part of what the Atonement does. It doesn’t right all our wrongs, but just like Adam and Eve, they fell, but they fell forward. With the Atonement, we are raised back up past our trials. We’re not raised back up to be even, but better. Those trials won’t be big enough to do anything to us anymore. God makes us stronger.
Ginger: We’ve talked before about God not always caring about our comfort in the moment, but what’s in our future. With Christ, he had a hard life, and how excruciating it was, God allowed him to suffer, but right now he is glorified and doing so much more. Even though it’s hard right now, when we see the eternal perspective, we’ll learn from our trials and be so much stronger.
Amber: along that same idea, there is opposition in all things. In the Pearl of Great Price, Eve talks about how we need to have opposition to have joy. Our trials are helping us learn so we can have joy.
Ashley: So you’re saying I’ll be miserable my whole life until I die?
Christine: My sister had the same question that I didn’t know how to answer until my mission. I taught someone with a difficult trial, and I told them that if they learned this and followed the gospel the way we taught them, that they wouldn’t trade those trials for anything. It’s made them who they are. I know this plan does something for us. The Atonement does something for us. Christ understands us.
Brittany: You will benefit from the Atonement. I don’t know who among us are feeling those blessings. I feel blessed by association with you people. I know you have my best interaction at heart when you interact with me. I’m not just doing anything with you just for a good time, or to jeopardize your happiness, and I don’t think you’re doing that for me. We really care about each other.
Christine: This isn’t just to be happy there, but now. The gospel gives us happiness in our trials. The PoS is the shell for talking about the gospel. People have concerns, but they can be answered through this.
Lacey: Misery is a state of mind. You can be in miserable circumstances, but it’s a choice. The gospel gives us that peace and allows us to not get caught up into that drama.
Brittany: The point is, starting today, we can start feeling the blessings. We’ll start realizing them when we have eternal families. I don’t think I always understood why an eternal family would be so great, but Elder Oaks said: The kind of family required for exaltation is enduring and godlike in quality. That’s what the Plan of Salvation offers.
Ryan: One thing that rally helped me understand the Plan of Salvation was my relationship with my Heavenly Father. If we don’t even understand who God is, we’re not going to want this.
Brittany: How do we understand who God is?
Ashley: The most important part of the Plan of Salvation for me is the family. That’s also how you get to know God better. We’ll be creating families for all eternity. It’s so unique in our theology that we’re going to be like God someday. When we realize that we’re in a practice run.
Christine: I love to read 2 Nephi 4 when Nephi really gives himself to God. When we seek him, we get to know him, because he’s always there.
Brittany: How you feel the Spirit is indicative of who he is.
Arianne: I was talking to Kiersten the other day about Christ, Gd and our relationship with them. I feel like I have a different relationship with them. With Christ it feels so huge and encompassing. I feel closer with God because it seems simpler. I can picture my Dad. I have a good relationship with my dad. We’ve all been given a relationship like that where we can look to and understand better. It’s that and more. And another thing that’s helped me, is when I pray, I used just pray and not picture anything. Once I was in a fireside and they said, when you pray, picture something like you’re kneeling down in front of a throne. Or something like that. Being able to picture that has really helped me understand how caring and loving God is. And still tough, like “you’re going to get through this”.
Brittany: Arianne is right. Heavenly Father is our father. Just like someday we’ll be mothers and they’ll trip and fall. We’ll nurture them and hopefully they’ll grow up and be like us or better than us. I think that’s how Heavenly Father sees us. We’re infants, but he wants us to become like him. The Plan of Salvation helps us become that. I have a testimony that Heavenly Father loves us. That he loves us so much. He wants us to come live with him again, understand who he is, and receive the blessings he has. I know that’s all possible because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
I encourage us to all ponder that this week. We’re in the middle of the Plan of Salvation right now.
Ashley: I’m really grateful for that lesson. That was a unique lesson, because I’ve never thought about how difficult that would be to teach that. I want to add my testimony, I have a very strong testimony that everything we’re going through right now, this is it as far as tests goes. Everything that we’re going through is for our good. Heavenly Father has a plan a d he wants even more than we do that we return to him. He’s doing every single things to bring us back to him. If you look for those tender mercies during those hard times, you’ll see them and be able to endure them.
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