Happy Sunday!

Hey everyone!

We've got a lot going on today! First, y'all are fabulous. Don't forget it. ;)

Okay, announcements:
1. Tonight is the Stake Leadership Meeting at 7:00pm at the Costco North Chapel 710 S 800 E in Orem. There are 2 chapels on that street, so it's the northernmost chapel.
Here's who needs to attend (I think I have all of them, but I'm not positive):
-Bishopric, ward clerks, executive secretaries, ward mission leader, Elder's Quorum presidencies and secretaries
-Relief Society presidencies and secretaries, Sunday School chairs, FHE coordinators, ALL instructors (RS, EQ, SS), family history and indexing chairs, and spiritual and temporal wellness chairs.
-Probably any other committee chairs that I've forgotten. Double check with Bishop.
2. Due to the training meeting, ward prayer will be at 9:00pm outside Fleur-de-Lis.
3. FHE tomorrow night @ 7pm.
4. Institute @ 7pm in B002 JFSB on Wednesday.
5. General Conference is this weekend! WOOHOO! Get stoked! Saturday and Sunday!
6. That means fast Sunday is on October 13th.
Then a heads up for later, more details to come...
7. Stake Fall Social on October 18th.
8. Ward Conference October 27th.

Okay, so that was a lot. Whew. OH! Hold on! We can't forget this one...

Mariah Livengood became engaged on Saturday just before the RS broadcast! :D
Ask her for the details.

Now for the lesson recap:
Jaden Harvier was our beautiful teacher today! She taught us from President Monson's April 2013 Conference talk. http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/obedience-brings-blessings?lang=eng

Jaden started out telling us about an experience she had as a kid. Her parents warned her to not go swimming in the ditch. Her cousins and friends would always swim without any problems, so one day she decided to join them. Well, she ended up getting a big cut on her knee from a piece of glass. It was kind of an obvious consequence for her that she had disobeyed.

Commandments are guidelines. Like traffic signs, they don't punish us, but protect us. God doesn't want to punish us.

A story that President Monson shared in his talk was about two boys who were pulling weeds. They didn't like how long it was taking, so they decided to burn the weeds. The fire quickly got out of hand and the boys had to run for help. Had they obeyed, they wouldn't have had such a hard time.

Sometimes people mock us for obeying, and sometimes we wonder why we obey, but it is always a worthy goal.

1 Nephi 17:3 nourishment, strength, means to accomplish commandment
Mosiah 2:41 blessed and happy state temporally and spiritually
D&C 58:3-4 glory and blessings after much tribulation

Brittany Bailey commented: It's not only that we're blessed later on, but now. She shared the experience of explaining to a trusted friend why she doesn't participate in commercial activities on Sundays. This friend was having a hard time understanding, but Brittany explained that blessings aren't just for after this life. That very day she saw blessings of not participating in those activities.

Mackenzie Scott commented: It requires a lot of faith to be obedient. That obedience is always accompanied by immediate peace.
Marren Hanneberg commented: Sometimes we don't know why we are asked to do something, but we can say "God asked me to."

Ashley Gengler commented: The hardest things will be a sacrifice, but everything God commands us to do will bring us happiness. He doesn't benefit from us obeying or not obeying, but we do.

Arianne Sam shared a story from high school: She went to school where there were a lot of members of the Church, but she still decided that she would not date anyone who was not a member of the Church, so that they would always have the same standards. One time a really nice, good guy, who wasn't a member of the Church, asked her out on a date. Her friends said she should go on that date with him because he was a good guy, but she had decided that she wouldn't. He later started attending seminary and was baptized. He told her that he had asked another girl on a date and she gave the same response. He decided that if Arianne gave the same response, the Church must be true for two different girls to respond the same. On the flip side, if she had agreed he would've decided that the Church wasn't true.

One of the classic and most inspiring examples of obedience is that of Abraham and Isaac.
In relation to this story, Caitlin Metzger commented: Heavenly Father know, but wanted Abraham to know that he could be obedient to any commandments the Lord gave him.
Sarah Metzger said: One day while she was out running she passed an elderly woman raking her yard. She had a prompting to turn around and ask if the lady needed help. She had had a similar prompting years before and didn't follow it, so she did this time. The lady didn't need help. But as she was leaving Sarah felt like she was given the prompting to understand that she will follow more important promptings later in life.

All prophets have known that obedience is essential to salvation. Nephi didn't know how many people would be blessed for his obedience, but he was faithful anyways.
Jaden's great-great-grandfather was an interpreter for the missionaries when they first started preaching to her people. He had no interest in joining the Church, he just interpreted. After a while there was a famine in the area. He was told to go look in a specific place for food. He said, "There's not going to be any food there." After more prompting he went and found a loaf of bread. He was converted after that, and the first lamanite ward was formed.

We receive revelation through prayer and scripture study, then put that plan into action through obedience. -Barbara Winders

Rachel McCracken commented: Trials are going to come, but as we stay obedient and remember covenants we will be blessed. Heavenly Father will give us that lighter burden.

Everything works out better if you choose the right and do what's right. -Jaden Harvier