True Greatness - Mark 9-10

Today we learned a little about how to become great in the Kingdom of God.  We marked the following scriptures as part of a chain showing us the way to learn the important principles in these chapters of Mark.  Who is the greatest among men? Answer: Mark 9:34-37---Mark 10:13-16---Mark 10:31----Mark 10:43-45. Through these scriptures we learned about the importance of being converted and humbling ourselves as a little child so that we are able to better serve our fellowman.  We learned that the greatest among us is the person who thinks that they are the least.  Another way of saying that is that if you want to be first in the sight of God, then you must be the servant of all, being humbled as a little child is humble and submissive to his father.  Please watch the following Mormon Message about a young man who understands this concept and applies it to his life.

 

Seminary Progress....

Look how well we are doing with our Scripture Mastery!  Can you believe that we have almost finished a quarter of the year of seminary?  It has been tough for all of us this week as the cold, wet weather, and the darkness of winter begins to set in.  We have all felt the fatigue and the temptation to skip seminary. But each day I make the sacrifice to prepare myself and come to teach, I am so glad that I did.  I hope that you are glad that you made the effort to come too.  I really do appreciate your sacrifice because I want so badly for each of you to strengthen yourselves so that you can stay faithful through the temptations and trials of the future.  Speaking of the future.....

I have a little challenge for each of you that I hope that you will take.  It can change the way that you look at your life if you will take just a few minutes to watch it.  If you will take the time to view this fireside, and you tell me the answer to the following question, you will be given a makeup day and ten points for your team!  The question is, what is the parable or analogy given in this talk that helps us understand the Atonement better?

http://byutv.org//watch/49475abb-10d4-4f45-a757-7000b9945468

Remember your promise to read Matthew 26

 The Last Supper

 

The Savior Suffers in the Garden of Gethsemane

The Denial of Peter

So good to come home!

     I know you might think that I am a little crazy, but I really MISSED my seminary class!  I was so excited to see everyone on Monday morning.  You are the most amazing group of youth I have ever known!  Thank you for coming each day to class - it blesses my life.  Here are some fun pictures from our lamp lighting.  Sorry about the quality - between the wind, the rain, the darkness, and my excitement - the focus was not the best.
     Congratulations to the green team for winning the first month's seminary competition.  Cody, Zack, Steph, Sawyer, Sarah, and Ashton all get to choose a prize from the prize box!  New seating assignments were given today which means new teams and a new challenge!  I want to encourage everyone to continue to work on scripture mastery and daily scripture reading.  Remember our class goal is to finish the book of Matthew by this Friday.
     We tried to watch a video in class the other day that I could not get to stream.  I can't link it here, but here is the web address.     http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/doctrine-and-covenants-visual-resources?lang=eng&query=they+wise#2010-07-14-they-that-are-wise      Please take a few minutes to watch it and think about what we learned in class concerning the Parable of the Ten Virgins.
     

News travels fast...

YOUR mission call is just around the corner! 
I heard the wonderful news about the lowering of the missionary age while I was here in Siena, Italy shortly before my bedtime.  Needless to say, I did not fall asleep quickly as I thought about all that this announcement means to the world.  I am so excited for you, the youth of the church, who will be a part of this significant time in our history.  Because I know you, I know that the spirit you will take to the world will change the world. Can you imagine how much work we have to do and how little time we have to prepare?  We better get busy and get serious about learning the gospel and growing our testimonies. 

   The rest of this blog entry is for the 4 of you who are interested in my update on my travels and experience.  For the past 2 days I have been in this place. 

Yes, Brother Colvin made me climb to the very top of that huge tower....it was awesome, and we watched the sun set from the top of the tower. (sigh) I  have been enjoying this medieval city by foot and must say that I LOVE it here.  Below you will find a few of the incredible sights we have seen today along with a little fun for the those who are interested.

For Ten Points - Who is portrayed in the four pictures of Siena artwork shown here?

 

Finally (this is purely for entertainment purposes) this horse race is a traditional race that has been run since August 16, 1656.  Notice the funny colored "pajamas" worn by the riders. These colors represent certain districts within the city.  Each district has a representative mascot (including the speedy giraffe, snail, caterpillar, porcupine, and scallop mascots). They each choose a horse and rider to represent them, and it is a VERY BIG deal to win this race for your district.  We were here in Siena during the celebration of the winners of this race, which was also a very big deal.  Enjoy the race!     

Points for the Diligent

Here I am after another beautiful day of walking miles and miles of Italian streets and museums.  I heard that a few of you actually did read the blog yesterday and so I thought you might be motivated to win a few more points today by looking at some more art from the Italian masters.  Before the days of Martin Luther King (who translated the scriptures into the people's common language), the only way the commoner could learn about God was through art that depicted the biblical stories. Let's see how good you are at identifying the stories.

1. For 5 points - What Bible story is this bronze relief depicting?

2.   For 5 points - Name the three figures in this painting.

 3. 

For ten points - Name the painter and the subject of this painting.

4. For 5 points - What is doctrinally wrong with this bronze relief? 

5.  For 5 points - Who is this Apostle? 

6. These last two are really hard and are worth 10 points each - Tell the story depicted in detail in this bronze relief. 

7.  This is a very old mosaic tile in the baptistry of the Duomo of Florence and
it is depicting a very odd scene...what is it?

Can you begin to understand why so many people became confused as the simple truths of the gospel were distorted and lost during the time of the Great Apostasy? Not only could they not read and write, but they had to depend on the twisted and over exaggerated artist renditions of what they understood from the Bible.  Does this make you appreciate the scriptures and the prophets any more?  It is my testimony to you that the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored in its fullness through the prophet Joseph Smith and that you have been born at this great time in the history of man to take that truth to all the world....maybe even here to Italy.

Biblical Trivia from Italy

For twenty team points - What is draped around St. Bartholomew?

I hope that you are all studying your scripture mastery and keeping up with your scripture reading.  I have posted a Youtube video below that will help you to learn some of the main ideas and references for the New Testament scripture mastery.  Work hard to learn the main ideas so that we can start to play some fun games on FLEX days!

General Conference is coming up this weekend - please take time to listen to/watch conference.  If you have a particular problem in your life and you take the time to listen carefully to the counsel of the prophets, I promise you that you will hear things that will help you to solve the problems you face.  

I am missing all of you and wish you could be here to see all of these amazing sites.  I saw a very interesting statue of Bartholomew, the Apostle, at the Duomo in Milan.  Yesterday I visited a place called Basilica San Marco in Venice.  Today I got to visit Michaelangelo's statue, "The David" in Florence.

 Basilica San Marco, Venice, Italy

For ten team points, what is this a picture of inside Basilica San Marco?

For Ten Team points, be the first to tell me what David is holding in his left hand.