I was saying my prayers this morning and as I was ending my prayer by saying, "in the name of Jesus Christ, amen," I stopped mid sentence, and I asked God what He wanted or needed me to do and the thought that came back to me was, I already told you what I wanted you to do, now go and write it down.
So this morning as I was praying, I was asking about a couple different things in particular. The first, how to help the leaders understand that I think we need to be asking the girls about their relationship with God. I LOVED the example in the Come, Follow Me this week when Ammon asked King Lamoni, "Believest thou that there is God?" (Alma 18:24) This scripture really jumped off the page at me and has had me thinking for days. See what Ammon did? He asked a question, a non-threatening question that got Lamoni thinking. And the question was specifically about God! And then at the training we went to on Saturday, when we split up into small groups, some random guy names Mike shared a question that we could ask the youth, it was "where do you feel you could use the Savior's help?" This too has had me thinking for days! And I've had these thoughts in my mind, wondering often about what the best way is to take these questions and use them with our young women. And then this morning, while saying my prayers, I remembered an experience I had when I was 18. I was in high school, getting ready to go to BYU and I was doing my interviews with a stake leader for my ecclesiastic endorsement and the man from the stake I was sitting with asked me if I had a testimony of God our Father and his son Jesus Christ. And when I said I did, he didn't stop there. He said, "how did you gain that testimony?" And so I told him about EFY. When I sat in a huge classroom full of tons of other EFY kids from all over the nation, and the teacher had given the lesson and at the end he asked us if we had ever asked God if he was real. He wasn't expecting a show of hands for the kids who'd asked and the one's who hadn't. But again, it was a question that got me thinking. Was God real? And then this teacher invited each of us to bow our heads, right there, right where we were sitting, and ask God if He was real. And if His son Jesus Christ was real, and I did. And even though I was sitting in a room full of people, it was like I was alone with God, and He was wrapping me in a hug, and I knew that He was real. I could feel it deep within me. And I shared that experience with the man doing my interview. To this I could not tell you who he was, I don't remember his name or what he looked like but I remember as I shared my experience with him the room filled with that same feeling I had when I prayed at EFY. Once again, it was like God was with me, the love so full in the room that it wrapped both of us like a blanket. And so it was, that through questions, both times, I had these experiences. And not just any question, but questions that specifically made me recall my relationship with God and my Savior. And then I did the thinking! And I did the praying! And I did the pondering! And this is what I want to accomplish with our young women! And I'm not sure of the best way to go about this. Is it to reach out tot he girls individually and ask them each one by one? I know that that can be effective, because of my experience when I was one-on-one with the stake leader. Or should it be at a time when you're with all your girls? Because that too I know is effective, since the first time I prayed, I was in a room full of people! Either way, as I prayed this morning and this memory came back to me, I felt prompted to share this at my presidency meeting on Sunday. And since God asked me to write down the things I learned in my prayer, I am here! Writing it down! We can have a discussion as a presidency to come up with the best way to ask these questions to the girls. One thing I have been thinking of doing is hosting a weekly young women's discussion. Nothing formal, and nobody is required to come. But, if it were at the same time every week then girls could come if they were free and wanted to. And hopefully, over time we would get more people! So that's just one thought that keeps coming back to me.
Okay, the other thing I prayed about today was resuming church meetings. The bishopric has asked specifically that we pray about the best way to move forward with this, and so I did. And what I find interesting, and what I even said in my prayers, is that I know God is at the helm! And he is almighty! And if He wanted to, he could guide some scientist somewhere, to come up with a vaccine or solution of some type to end this pandemic. But that hasn't happened yet! And so we are going to have to alter our way of thinking and doing in a way that we never have before! Giving of our time and energy to Him in a higher and holier way. And as I said those words, I remembered Elder Holland talking about the new ministering program. And I'm pretty sure he used those exact same words. Well, I just went and pulled up his talk and re-read it and it was actually President Nelson who used words similar to that. But I like a lot of the things that Elder Holland said in his talk as well. Here are some:
Speaking of Christ, and what he said to his apostles before he died, "He did not list a dozen administrative steps they had to take or hand them a fistful of reports to be filled out in triplicate. No, He summarized their task in one fundamental commandment: 'Love one another as I have loved you ... By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love, one to another.'"
The primary purpose we be as it was in Alma's day to "watch over the people, and ...nourish them with the things pertaining to righteousness."
With these adjustments we want more care and concern, not less!
This is an invitation to care for another in a build, new, holier way, as President Nelson has just said.
So as I was praying, this is what came back to me, MINISTERING! I don't know what God is hoping for through this, and how this can apply to having sacrament meeting. But this is what has come to my mind. Maybe we don't do a service held at the church. Maybe we do it ministering families! And then the families that feel the need to get together can do as as families and the one's who are doing fine can participate when and where they are needed to better serve those in need! That way masks can be worn and the numbers can be smaller. I don't pretend to have the answers, but I have been thinking about this a lot. And as I prayed, this is what came to my mind. So I will head to ward council on Sunday with this information, hoping that as a group, God can guide us to what He would have us do!
I am excited for the two meetings I have on Sunday and am equally as excited to see what comes of it.
I chose this picture since this is me, at 18, the age I was when I met with that stake leader and had that interview. This is one of my senior pictures.
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