Gratitude

Communication with God

If you want to communicate with God, Pray;
If you want to have God communicate with you, read the scriptures.

Sometimes in our lives we feel really close to Heavenly Father and sometimes we feel a little farther away from him.  And it might be because we are not reading the scriptures with intent to learn more from Him and the spirit.  Reading your scriptures daily will bring peace, joy, happiness, organization, love, and comfort for your day.

IF YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO PRAY AND READ THE SCRIPTURES, YOU ARE BUSIER THAN GOD INTENDED YOU TO BE.

Heavenly Father is our Father in Heaven

Earthly Father, Heavenly Father

A good earthly father is an example of our Heavenly Father.  I really like the part when it says "...All while I work, I'm far, but close; always thinking of them.....I do it all for them.  I work, that they may grow.  They trust so deeply; how I yearn to do the same.  They see so little of how it all came to be, never questioning, only trusting...."

I'm awake. I remember Him. I gaze upon them before I part. They lie in their bed, unaware of me watching. I leave, they sleep. The small home I help provide is their world. They play, they explore, learning to move, to feel, to see, to know, not once thinking how it all came to be. Crayons, toys, books; it's all for them. The fridge opens, the pantry exposed, they expect food to be there. Not a thought, not a doubt, just hunger. Cereal, milk, yogurt, messy fingers, messy faces, all fed. Tummies are full. Now it's nap time. My wife likes nap time. Once again, they lay in the comfort we provide. All while I work, I'm far, but close; always thinking of them. My phone rings, I only hear breathing. I smile; my wife's phone is now missing. I do it all for them. I work, that they may grow. They trust so deeply; how I yearn to do the same. They see so little of how it all came to be, never questioning, only trusting. I come home; two-second hugs. Now I'm a horse. We eat dinner, brush teeth. Jammy time. Finally, it's bed time. Once again, they lay their heads on the pillows we provide. I will be their protector. I will be their gentle friend. I will be my wife's faithful husband. I am a father, I am also a son. And while I may not understand all that He does for me, I do know that all that I am, and all that I have is because He's a father to me. I now stand, very aware, of how it all came to be.

How Familiar Heavenly Father is to us:

“If any of us could now see the God we are striving to serve – if we could see our Father who dwells in the Heavens, we should learn that we are as well acquainted with him as we are with our earthly father, and he would be as familiar to us in the expression of his countenance and we should be ready to embrace him and fall upon his neck and kiss him, if we had the privilege.  And still we, unless the vision of the Spirit is opened to us, know nothing about God.  You know much about him, if you but realize it.  And there is no other one item that will so astound you, when your eyes are opened in eternity, as to think that you were so stupid in the body.”  (Brigham Young, JD 8:30)

Lesson: How can I prepare to be financially self-reliant? (Part 2)

~LESSON PLAN (PART 2)~ How can I prepare to be financially self-reliant?

What is a Budget? Youth Activity
Go through and ask for estimates from the students, then go through and give them the average actual scenario.  Discuss each one.  It is fun to see what youth ideas of what things cost are, some are too high, some too low, and some just right.  Explain why they need to get good grades and have goals for good jobs for them to be able to live comfortably.  

Meet the Sharpe Family
Dad - bank manager making 60,000/yr
Mom
Boy - age 10
Girl - age 7
2 cars
2 cell phones
Live in a 3 bedroom home in San Diego
Rent is $1500/month

INCOME	YOUR ESTIMATE	ACTUAL
Monthly Salary
Taxes
Monthly Salary after Taxes
Other Income
Total Income
EXPENSES
Tithing/Offerings
Food (groceries + eating out)
Mortgage or Rent
Water Utilities
Trash Utilities
Gas/Electic Utilities
Cell Phone
Internet
TV
Clothing
Car Insurance
Medical Insurance
Dental Insurance
School Expenses
Gas
Renters/Home Insurance
Car Maintenance
Savings (for retirement or big future purchases)
Clothing
Debt / Car Payments
Entertainment + Miscellaneous
Total Expenses
Total Income – Total Expenses

INCOME	YOUR ESTIMATE	ACTUAL
Monthly Salary		5000
Taxes		(*0.18)= 900
Monthly Salary after Taxes		4100
Other Income		100
Total Income		4200
EXPENSES
Tithing/Offerings		510
Food (groceries + eating out)		600
Mortgage or Rent		1500
Water Utilities		30
Trash Utilities		40
Gas/Electic Utilities		70
Cell Phone		(x2) 100
Internet		50
TV		45
Clothing		30
Car Insurance		(x2) 100
Medical Insurance		200
Dental Insurance		50
School Expenses		50
Gas		400
Renters/Home Insurance		50
Car Maintenance		30
Savings (for retirement or big future purchases)		100
Debt / Car Payments		200
Entertainment + Miscellaneous		50
Total Expenses		4100
Total Income – Total Expenses		0 [break even]

To note:

*these are all averages, people give up things and find other deals, etc. etc.

*dog payments

*other payments?

*mortgage v. renting

*you should really be putting 10% into savings

*minimum wage = $8/hr, thats only 16,640 a year

*15/hr = 30,000/yr

*$30 = 60K

Lesson: How can I prepare to be financially self-reliant? (Part 1)

~LESSON PLAN~

How can I prepare to be financially self-reliant?

The Lord has blessed us with resources, and He expects us to be wise stewards over these resources. He wants us to be financially self-reliant so that we can provide for ourselves and serve others. To do this, we should pay tithes and offerings, avoid unnecessary debt, use a budget, and live within our means.

1. Hammer, 2. Mousetrap, 3. Matches, 4. 100 Dollar Bill 

Tools can be both helpful and harmful, depending on how they are used.

*What are the positive and negative uses of money?  How can it be used to bless others and further the Lord’s work?

4 Uses for Money

Save

Spend

Tithing

Invest 

What do all these celebrities have in common?

Mike Tyson

MC Hammer

Michael Jackson

Larry King

Donald Trump

Pamela Anderson

Toni Braxton

BUSINESS INSIDER - 20 CELEBS WHO TANKED THEIR FORTUNES

Basics of Personal Financing

1. Pay Tithes and Offerings

2. Avoid Debt

3. Use a Budget

4. Make a Reserve

F*A*C*T*S

*1 out of 5 Americans lives beyond his or her means.

*Half of Americans do not maintain a budget

*1 in 9 People ages 18-24 uses more than 40% of his or her income to pay off debt.

*High School Students who received personal financial education are able to:

  1. Manage their Money better because they…

    have fewer maxed out credit cards

    have higher savings

    do more comparison shopping

    pay debts on time

  2. Between Ages 30-49 achieve significant higher savings and net worth.

TITHING

* Tithing is a commandment.  Origins:

Anciently - Abraham and Jacob obeyed the commandment to pay a tithe of one-tenth of their increase  (Hebrews 7, Genesis 14, 28)

Modernly – D&C 119 – one-tenth of all their interest annually. (aka income)

* Tithing Shows Gratitude and Faithfulness to Our Heavenly Father.

*Malachi 3:10 “ Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”

* Parable of the Widow’s Mite (Mark 12)

* Tithing brings assurance, peace, faith, and hope.  The Blessings of tithing are significant, but subtle. (David Bednar)

How Can You Apply These Principles Now?

Plan of Salvation

Update! Here is a google document link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11kns0_lKOeh2X878jCiT8Rc4MNgkQLZb/view?usp=sharing

We organized a more depth plan of salvation picture to share and answer more questions with our students.

{email me for a pdf copy of this, as I do not know how to post pdf on this blog....these are only screen shots.}

For more about the plan of salvation please visit these websites:
www.lds.org
https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/36950_eng.pdf?lang=eng
https://www.lds.org/topics/plan-of-salvation?lang=eng&query=plan+of+salvation

Original Sizes:

Lesson: What blessings does Heavenly Father promise if I obey the commandments?

Lesson from Come Follow Me Program:

What blessings does Heavenly Father promise if I obey the commandments?

Almost every commandment we receive from Heavenly Father is accompanied by a promised blessing. Obedience to the commandments brings freedom, personal growth, protection from danger, and many other temporal and spiritual blessings. Ultimately our obedience can lead to eternal life in the presence of Heavenly Father. Identifying these blessings can inspire us and others to obey the commandments.

Traffic Signs

Commandments are no more restrictive to the spiritual man than street signs are to the motorist.  Neither prohibits our progress; to the contrary, they enhance it by serving as guideposts or directional signs to help us find and reach our destination.

Ice Cream Cone + Vitamins

“I think one of the big things that I love about commandments is the fact that they just make sense. The natural consequences of living the commandments are already so good for us but then on top of that Heavenly Father heaps on added blessings!! He is like an eager first time dad, he just wants to give us all the best things--I mean, imagine the dad that tells his child "if you eat your vitamins I'll give you an ice cream cone" vitamins are great in the first place and have natural good effects and that should be enough but then you get ice cream too!!!  ”

-Sister Debbie H. Wood

Open Book Test

We are in an open book test here in mortality.  We have the bible and book of mormon to help us know what to do.  And Bonus...we even have prophets, teachers and leaders available to us during our test too, who already know the answers.  We just need to Come Unto Jesus.

Our Goal = to Live with Heavenly Father Again.

We need TO BE LIKE HEAVENLY FATHER to be able to live with him

Why did the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints practice Polygamy?

 [5 POINTS QUESTION - to simplify and organize the answers]

Why did the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints practice Polygamy?

1. God commanded it at that specific time; he has commanded it through a prophet in the past in the bible like Abraham, Solomon, David, Moses, Jacob, and more.

2. Not everyone practiced polygamy, only a few were challenged and authorized to do so (about 20-25%). Most members during the time of the commandment were in monogamous relationships. [B]

3. To help and protect the fatherless and widowed, and to raise up families (see Jacob 2:30[A]).  Create a righteous nation of people under the covenant. [C]

4. He commanded the end of the practice for reason known to Him in 1890[D], like also why we don’t sacrifice animals anymore and take the sacrament instead, and how we now obey the word of wisdom.  God can give a law, and revoke a law, as he is the lawgiver.  Polygamy is currently prohibited.  The Lord’s law is one man and one woman marriages (see Jacob 2:27[A]).

5. The churches and people in the news and media practicing polygamy have no affiliation with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  (There are people who leave the LDS church and start their own religion based loosely on LDS beliefs.  Some of them practice polygamy.  They are not members of the LDS church.)

[E][F]

Footnotes:

[A]Jacob 2:27-30

27 Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any ^aman among you have save it be ^bone ^cwife; and concubines he shall have none;

 28 For I, the Lord God, delight in the ^achastity of women. And ^bwhoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts.

 29 Wherefore, this people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord of Hosts, or ^acursed be the land for their sakes.

 30 For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up ^aseed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things.

[B]A lot of women were sealed to men after they have already died having not been married to him while he was alive, until the doctrine was clarified and prohibited these things [ex. Many women married themselves to Joseph Smith after he was martyred].

[C] One UNOFFICIAL point made was that there were more women in the early church than men and were therefore open targets for rape by the frontiersmen and other lawless conditions at the time.  God gave them the protection of marriage.  Many marriages were in name only and involved widows and provided a safe haven for them. 

[D]http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/od/1?lang=eng

[E] We are not ashamed of our polygamy past, as it was a commandment.

[F] More straight facts here :
http://mormon.org/faq/plural-marriage
http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/commentary/polygamy-then-and-now