Today, my family had the opportunity to speak in church.
At the beginning of the year our bishop came up with a schedule for the whole ward.....just a calendar to help us finish reading the scriptures by the middle of the year. Every day we are assigned a chapter to read, and then each family that has the opportunity to talk in sacramanet meeting, has the topic of whatever the scriptures were for that week.
Our family topic was on 3 Nephi, chapters 11-21.
If you're familiar with 3rd Nephi, it's a very powerful chapter.....and there are so many things to learn from it. It covers Christ's visit to the Americas after his resurrection. We read the versus as a family and each person decided to choose their own topic from the versus and base their talk on that. We helped the kids prepare their talks before we started on ours....
Since Mone is only 4.....he was definitely old enough to give a talk, but just a short, sweet kid talk. He basically just talked about how he's happy to share what he learned in the Book of Mormon and that Jesus wants him to keep the commandments....and then he bore his testimony
Makai was next......I helped him write his talk about baptism....that was the thing that stood out most to him when we were reading the versus, because he's almost turning 8, and almost going to be baptized.....so he was excited. I explained to him that the first thing Christ did when he came to America was call Nephi (his prophet) and give him the ordinances of baptism....then he taught the importance of repentance and baptism....and had everyone get baptized. I was trying to get the point across to Makai that since that was the very first thing Christ did when he came, it must be pretty important! Makai did a great job on his talk and really showed he understood and that he's so excited to get baptized!
Usually Ma would be part of the program with us, but with her health not too good....she opted not to go through the pain of trying to get to the pulpit........
Ashlee, our foster daughter, asked us if she could be a part of the program. We were actually very surprised that she wanted to...because she's a very shy person. When she moved in with us, we told her that we go to church every Sunday and told her if she wanted to come with us, she was more than welcome to....but that we weren't going to make her. She told us she wanted to and has been coming to church ever since. A few months into her stay with us, Tea invited the missionaries over to teach her and see if she wanted to get baptized....she took the discussions, it took a while for her to understand it all.....but eventually she told the missionaries she wanted to be baptized. In the process of preparing her for her baptism, we found out that she had already been baptized back when she was 8 years old.....she just didn't remember. So it was a good chance to get her activated and to help her understand what we believe. Tea helped her prepare her talk.....it was short and sweet just like the kids....but we were happy she wanted to be a part of our program, since she is a part of our family!
Tea was next and she talked about keeping the commandments...
Then there was a musical number.......Makai has his Dad's musical talent and asked us if he could sing. One of his favorite songs is a Tongan hymn called Folofola Mai a Sisu.....you harmonize in the song and there's a part where the boys and girls alternate singing. He wanted to sing that song, and do the boy's part by himself. We asked Ova's sisters Alisi and Siosiana to come and sing with Makai (because, let's face it.....I don't sing!....hahaha) Mone wanted to be part of it too....and even though he only knew the words to the chorus, he sang as loud as he could on those parts..... during the actual program, Ova's mom came up too and made Ova get up and sing with them....but Makai and Mone were front and center with their mouths in the microphone so you could hear them more than anyone else. It was so cute, and I was so proud of them......I'm so happy they are not shy! :)
After the song was me. I like giving talks, but I hate that I am such a cry baby. My voice sounds so retarded when I'm trying to fight back my tears.....that's how it was though. I had a hard time trying to decided what to talk about....because the chapters we were covering covered so much information.....but I finally opted to re-cap what happened when Christ came and compare it to his life before the crucifixion and how we have to prepare ourselves for the next time he comes. I don't ever write my talks out.....I kinda just get a bunch of ideas in my head and then I make bullet points on a piece of paper and go from there......I talked kinda long....almost 20 minutes......I felt bad because I didn't even realize I talked that long, I guess I was just so into my talk and I took up all the time, and left none for Ova. Thankfully the bishop allowed us to go overtime so Ova could be part of our program... :)
When I was preparing my talk, so many things came to my head......I started thinking about experiences I had on my mission and how my testimony was strengthened from those experiences. I started thinking about how much Jesus loves us....and all of us no matter where we're from or who we are. I started thinking about how we are so lucky to have the fullness of the gospel and to know what Christ did after his resurrection...that proves he loves everyone equally. We all know that when Christ walked the Earth, he spent his life doing the will of the Father.....he spent his life preaching, teaching, helping, blessing......healing the sick, preforming miracles......but even though he spent his whole life doing good, we all know what happened to him....he was ridiculed, persecuted, beaten, spit-on, denied and eventually crucified. We all know that from the bible he was resurrected after three days.....but what happened after those three days, not everyone knows.....only those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ and become members of his true church know what happened next...... rewinding a little, we know what happened when Christ died on the cross.....the earth started to tremble and shake....there were strong winds and it was chaos....that lasted 3 hours and then there was darkness for three days. In 3 Nephi 8:12-19 it tells what happened here in the Americas at that same time.....the exact same thing that was happening over in Jerusalem where he was crucified.......the whole world experienced that quaking and shaking of the Earth...and then darkness.... what we, as Mormons know is that after the third day, he appeared to the people of the Americas.....and taught them exactly the same thing that he spent his whole life teaching the other part of the world. To me, that shows how much he loves us all, and how important his message is...that he personally came to both nations and taught the same message. I talked about what he did when he was here and how the people must have felt......put yourself in their shoes.....how would you feel if the Savior was in front of you.....proving all the things you've been taught are true....and teaching you how to have happiness and eternal life? I can't imagine it...... I tried to tie that into us now days....we know he's coming again....we've learned how the people mocked, denied and persecuted him when he was alive....we learned how the Nephites, even though they had been taught what was right....rebelled and didn't listen to the signs and warnings.......now it's our turn.....are we listening? Are we ready? Are we prepared......or are we rebelling like the Nephites did?? It's a question we should all ask ourselves.....are we preparing ourselves? That was the basis of my talk.....
Ova was the last one to speak.....he always gives good talks....I love listening to him! He's so knowledgeable about the gospel and he has such deep insights.....he talked about how the thing that was stopping the people from happiness and blessings was the spirit of contention. He gave several modern day examples of the same thing, even personal examples from his own family, and our little family.....things that we've learned from.....it's interesting to see how even over thousands of years, we face the same problems....
Like I said before, we went overtime by about 10 minutes.....and that was all my fault because I'm so long-winded....but we did a good job and I'm glad it's over!!
Happy Sunday everyone!
At the beginning of the year our bishop came up with a schedule for the whole ward.....just a calendar to help us finish reading the scriptures by the middle of the year. Every day we are assigned a chapter to read, and then each family that has the opportunity to talk in sacramanet meeting, has the topic of whatever the scriptures were for that week.
Our family topic was on 3 Nephi, chapters 11-21.
If you're familiar with 3rd Nephi, it's a very powerful chapter.....and there are so many things to learn from it. It covers Christ's visit to the Americas after his resurrection. We read the versus as a family and each person decided to choose their own topic from the versus and base their talk on that. We helped the kids prepare their talks before we started on ours....
Since Mone is only 4.....he was definitely old enough to give a talk, but just a short, sweet kid talk. He basically just talked about how he's happy to share what he learned in the Book of Mormon and that Jesus wants him to keep the commandments....and then he bore his testimony
Makai was next......I helped him write his talk about baptism....that was the thing that stood out most to him when we were reading the versus, because he's almost turning 8, and almost going to be baptized.....so he was excited. I explained to him that the first thing Christ did when he came to America was call Nephi (his prophet) and give him the ordinances of baptism....then he taught the importance of repentance and baptism....and had everyone get baptized. I was trying to get the point across to Makai that since that was the very first thing Christ did when he came, it must be pretty important! Makai did a great job on his talk and really showed he understood and that he's so excited to get baptized!
Usually Ma would be part of the program with us, but with her health not too good....she opted not to go through the pain of trying to get to the pulpit........
Ashlee, our foster daughter, asked us if she could be a part of the program. We were actually very surprised that she wanted to...because she's a very shy person. When she moved in with us, we told her that we go to church every Sunday and told her if she wanted to come with us, she was more than welcome to....but that we weren't going to make her. She told us she wanted to and has been coming to church ever since. A few months into her stay with us, Tea invited the missionaries over to teach her and see if she wanted to get baptized....she took the discussions, it took a while for her to understand it all.....but eventually she told the missionaries she wanted to be baptized. In the process of preparing her for her baptism, we found out that she had already been baptized back when she was 8 years old.....she just didn't remember. So it was a good chance to get her activated and to help her understand what we believe. Tea helped her prepare her talk.....it was short and sweet just like the kids....but we were happy she wanted to be a part of our program, since she is a part of our family!
Tea was next and she talked about keeping the commandments...
Then there was a musical number.......Makai has his Dad's musical talent and asked us if he could sing. One of his favorite songs is a Tongan hymn called Folofola Mai a Sisu.....you harmonize in the song and there's a part where the boys and girls alternate singing. He wanted to sing that song, and do the boy's part by himself. We asked Ova's sisters Alisi and Siosiana to come and sing with Makai (because, let's face it.....I don't sing!....hahaha) Mone wanted to be part of it too....and even though he only knew the words to the chorus, he sang as loud as he could on those parts..... during the actual program, Ova's mom came up too and made Ova get up and sing with them....but Makai and Mone were front and center with their mouths in the microphone so you could hear them more than anyone else. It was so cute, and I was so proud of them......I'm so happy they are not shy! :)
After the song was me. I like giving talks, but I hate that I am such a cry baby. My voice sounds so retarded when I'm trying to fight back my tears.....that's how it was though. I had a hard time trying to decided what to talk about....because the chapters we were covering covered so much information.....but I finally opted to re-cap what happened when Christ came and compare it to his life before the crucifixion and how we have to prepare ourselves for the next time he comes. I don't ever write my talks out.....I kinda just get a bunch of ideas in my head and then I make bullet points on a piece of paper and go from there......I talked kinda long....almost 20 minutes......I felt bad because I didn't even realize I talked that long, I guess I was just so into my talk and I took up all the time, and left none for Ova. Thankfully the bishop allowed us to go overtime so Ova could be part of our program... :)
When I was preparing my talk, so many things came to my head......I started thinking about experiences I had on my mission and how my testimony was strengthened from those experiences. I started thinking about how much Jesus loves us....and all of us no matter where we're from or who we are. I started thinking about how we are so lucky to have the fullness of the gospel and to know what Christ did after his resurrection...that proves he loves everyone equally. We all know that when Christ walked the Earth, he spent his life doing the will of the Father.....he spent his life preaching, teaching, helping, blessing......healing the sick, preforming miracles......but even though he spent his whole life doing good, we all know what happened to him....he was ridiculed, persecuted, beaten, spit-on, denied and eventually crucified. We all know that from the bible he was resurrected after three days.....but what happened after those three days, not everyone knows.....only those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ and become members of his true church know what happened next...... rewinding a little, we know what happened when Christ died on the cross.....the earth started to tremble and shake....there were strong winds and it was chaos....that lasted 3 hours and then there was darkness for three days. In 3 Nephi 8:12-19 it tells what happened here in the Americas at that same time.....the exact same thing that was happening over in Jerusalem where he was crucified.......the whole world experienced that quaking and shaking of the Earth...and then darkness.... what we, as Mormons know is that after the third day, he appeared to the people of the Americas.....and taught them exactly the same thing that he spent his whole life teaching the other part of the world. To me, that shows how much he loves us all, and how important his message is...that he personally came to both nations and taught the same message. I talked about what he did when he was here and how the people must have felt......put yourself in their shoes.....how would you feel if the Savior was in front of you.....proving all the things you've been taught are true....and teaching you how to have happiness and eternal life? I can't imagine it...... I tried to tie that into us now days....we know he's coming again....we've learned how the people mocked, denied and persecuted him when he was alive....we learned how the Nephites, even though they had been taught what was right....rebelled and didn't listen to the signs and warnings.......now it's our turn.....are we listening? Are we ready? Are we prepared......or are we rebelling like the Nephites did?? It's a question we should all ask ourselves.....are we preparing ourselves? That was the basis of my talk.....
Ova was the last one to speak.....he always gives good talks....I love listening to him! He's so knowledgeable about the gospel and he has such deep insights.....he talked about how the thing that was stopping the people from happiness and blessings was the spirit of contention. He gave several modern day examples of the same thing, even personal examples from his own family, and our little family.....things that we've learned from.....it's interesting to see how even over thousands of years, we face the same problems....
Like I said before, we went overtime by about 10 minutes.....and that was all my fault because I'm so long-winded....but we did a good job and I'm glad it's over!!
Happy Sunday everyone!
2 comments:
How come I'm the same way when I have to give talks. Lol My voice sounds so ugly, when I'm trying to fight back the tears! haha Sounds like you had such a beautiful family program! When we have a family program, I'm going to have to ask you for help with my talk. Cause I hate talking in front of a lot of people! I sort of panick, and studder!! LOL.. It's so terrible! haha Thanks for sharing your insight on the gospel! I absolutely LOVED it! :)
Love this post Monica!! I learn so much from reading your blog.....LOVE IT!!
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