Grand finale with a splash!

I have been missing seminary...that's right, MISSING SEMINARY!  No way you may say, but it is true.  I really miss spending that time 5 out of 7 days of the week thinking about our Savior and sharing the Spirit with my amazing class.  I miss seeing each of you and your sleepy faces and I can't wait to start over (after a good long rest of course!) In my nostalgia I was looking at pictures from our swim party and realized that I did not share them with you.  That was a great night...wished you could have all been there.

JUMP PICTURES - I can't decide which one is best:

I think this one is my pick!

 Then there were the faces on the wall pictures:

Casual pool shot:

Cassi entertaining our guests:

Hot-tubbing

KEEP READING!

Watch these videos and act:

I too have a testimony of the truthfulness of this miraculous book.  It has been a privilege to teach from it this year in Seminary.  I hope that your testimony was strengthened as much as mine was.  I love each of my students and will miss you very much. Have a great summer, and keep reading!

Scritpures Legacy - makeup lesson

Here is the link to the video that I mentioned in class.  I hope that you will all watch it and think about what we have been learning this year.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-04-004-scriptures-legacy?lang=eng

Alma 61. Responding to those who offend or hurt us (make up lesson)

We learned about Moroni and Pahoran today in class.  As part of the lesson we watched the video below.  I asked you to review the conference talk referenced in this video.  Here is a link to that talk https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/the-merciful-obtain-mercy?lang=eng

President James E. Faust of the First Presidency shared an account that illustrates the importance of not harboring ill feelings toward those who may try to offend or hurt us:
 

“In the beautiful hills of Pennsylvania, a devout group of Christian people live a simple life without automobiles, electricity, or modern machinery. They work hard and live quiet, peaceful lives separate from the world. Most of their food comes from their own farms. The women sew and knit and weave their clothing, which is modest and plain. They are known as the Amish people.

“A 32-year-old milk truck driver lived with his family in their Nickel Mines community. He was not Amish, but his pickup route took him to many Amish dairy farms, where he became known as the quiet milkman. Last October he suddenly lost all reason and control. In his tormented mind he blamed God for the death of his first child and some unsubstantiated memories. He stormed into the Amish school without any provocation, released the boys and adults, and tied up the 10 girls. He shot the girls, killing five and wounding five. Then he took his own life.

“This shocking violence caused great anguish among the Amish but no anger. There was hurt but no hate. Their forgiveness was immediate. Collectively they began to reach out to the milkman’s suffering family. As the milkman’s family gathered in his home the day after the shootings, an Amish neighbor came over, wrapped his arms around the father of the dead gunman, and said, ‘We will forgive you.’ [In Joan Kern, “A Community Cries,” Lancaster New Era, Oct. 4, 2006, p. A8.] Amish leaders visited the milkman’s wife and children to extend their sympathy, their forgiveness, their help, and their love. About half of the mourners at the milkman’s funeral were Amish. In turn, the Amish invited the milkman’s family to attend the funeral services of the girls who had been killed. A remarkable peace settled on the Amish as their faith sustained them during this crisis.

“One local resident very eloquently summed up the aftermath of this tragedy when he said, ‘We were all speaking the same language, and not just English, but a language of caring, a language of community, [and] a language of service. And, yes, a language of forgiveness.’ [In Helen Colwell Adams, “After That Tragic Day, a Deeper Respect among English, Amish?” Sunday News, Oct. 15, 2006, p. A1.] It was an amazing outpouring of their complete faith in the Lord’s teachings in the Sermon on the Mount: ‘Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.’ [Matthew 5:44.]

“The family of the milkman who killed the five girls released the following statement to the public:

“‘To our Amish friends, neighbors, and local community:

“‘Our family wants each of you to know that we are overwhelmed by the forgiveness, grace, and mercy that you’ve extended to us. Your love for our family has helped to provide the healing we so desperately need. The prayers, flowers, cards, and gifts you’ve given have touched our hearts in a way no words can describe. Your compassion has reached beyond our family, beyond our community, and is changing our world, and for this we sincerely thank you.

“‘Please know that our hearts have been broken by all that has happened. We are filled with sorrow for all of our Amish neighbors whom we have loved and continue to love. We know that there are many hard days ahead for all the families who lost loved ones, and so we will continue to put our hope and trust in the God of all comfort, as we all seek to rebuild our lives.’ [“Amish Shooting Victims,” www.800padutch.com/amishvictims.shtml.]

“How could the whole Amish group manifest such an expression of forgiveness? It was because of their faith in God and trust in His word, which is part of their inner beings. They see themselves as disciples of Christ and want to follow His example.

“Hearing of this tragedy, many people sent money to the Amish to pay for the health care of the five surviving girls and for the burial expenses of the five who were killed. As a further demonstration of their discipleship, the Amish decided to share some of the money with the widow of the milkman and her three children because they too were victims of this terrible tragedy” (“The Healing Power of Forgiveness,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2007, 67–68).

FORGIVENESS IS SO HARD AND SO IMPORTANT.  The following message is an example of what kind of people we should strive to become.  How many of us have been hurt by others with much more smaller offenses and yet we harbor bad feeling or cast judgement on others? 

 

President Uchtdorf's talk states:

"Let us be kind.

Let us forgive.

Let us talk peacefully with each other.

Let the love of God fill our hearts.

Let us do good unto all men.

We are not perfect.The people around us are not perfect.People do things that annoy, disappoint, and anger. In this mortal life it will always be that way.Nevertheless, we must let go of our grievances. Part of the purpose of mortality is to learn how to let go of such things. That is the Lord’s way.

Remember, heaven is filled with those who have this in common: They are forgiven. And they forgive.Lay your burden at the Savior’s feet. Let go of judgment. Allow Christ’s Atonement to change and heal your heart. 

Love one another. 

Forgive one another.

The merciful will obtain mercy.

Of this I testify in the name of the One who loved so well and so completely that He gave His life for us, His friends—in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen."

Title of Liberty

Moroni to the Rescue

Since we have had a few glorious snow days to sleep in, I thought that I might be able to convince a few of you to watch a video that I intended to show in class, but now do not have the time to show.  It is a really good one and you will recognize a few of the actors!  Please take the time to read Alma 43-44 and watch this video.

Alma 39 (makeup lesson)

For ten team points and a makeup lesson, please read the following quote including the scripture links, watch the videos, and report to Sister Colvin that you have completed the assignment.
 
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke of the seriousness and the consequences of sexual sin:

 

“By assigning such seriousness to a physical appetite so universally bestowed, what is God trying to tell us about its place in His plan for all men and women? I submit to you He is doing precisely that—commenting about the very plan of life itself. Clearly among His greatest concerns regarding mortality are how one gets into this world and how one gets out of it. He has set very strict limits in these matters. …

“The body is an essential part of the soul. This distinctive and very important Latter-day Saint doctrine underscores why sexual sin is so serious. We declare that one who uses the God-given body of another without divine sanction abuses the very soul of that individual, abuses the central purpose and processes of life, ‘the very key’ to life, as President Boyd K. Packer once called it [see Ensign, July 1972, 113]. In exploiting the body of another—which means exploiting his or her soul—one desecrates the Atonement of Christ, which saved that soul and which makes possible the gift of eternal life. And when one mocks the Son of Righteousness, one steps into a realm of heat hotter and holier than the noonday sun. You cannot do so and not be burned.

“Please, never say: ‘Who does it hurt? Why not a little freedom? I can transgress now and repent later.’ Please don’t be so foolish and so cruel. You cannot with impunity ‘crucify Christ afresh.’ [See Hebrews 6:6.] ‘Flee fornication,’ Paul cries [see 1 Corinthians 6:18], and flee ‘anything like unto it,’ the Doctrine and Covenants adds [see D&C 59:6; emphasis added]. Why? Well, for one reason because of the incalculable suffering in both body and spirit endured by the Savior of the world so that we could flee [see especially D&C 19:15–20]. We owe Him something for that. Indeed, we owe Him everything for that. ‘Ye are not your own,’ Paul says. ‘Ye [have been] bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.’ [1 Corinthians 6:19–20; emphasis added; see also vv. 13–18.] In sexual transgression the soul is at stake—the body and the spirit. …

“In matters of human intimacy, you must wait! You must wait until you can give everything, and you cannot give everything until you are legally and lawfully married. To give illicitly that which is not yours to give (remember, ‘you are not your own’) and to give only part of that which cannot be followed with the gift of your whole self is emotional Russian roulette. If you persist in pursuing physical satisfaction without the sanction of heaven, you run the terrible risk of such spiritual, psychic damage that you may undermine both your longing for physical intimacy and your ability to give wholehearted devotion to a later, truer love. You may come to that truer moment of ordained love, of real union, only to discover to your horror that what you should have saved you have spent, and that only God’s grace can recover the piecemeal dissipation of the virtue you so casually gave away. On your wedding day the very best gift you can give your eternal companion is your very best self—clean and pure and worthy of such purity in return” (“Personal Purity,” Ensign, Nov. 1998, 76–77).