Sunday, March 2, 2014

Sabbath Samplings


  • .We arrived at church and sat in "our" pew. In front of our pew is the pew that accommodate the Bolton family.  In a few months that pew will be up for grabs. Our beloved Bolton family will find a new pew in Utah.  Can I just say how that tugged at my heart today.  It did.  As Jared and I drove home, he expressed the very same thoughts  to me.  I don't know how we are going to stand it.
  • Aaron McCombs blessed his little daughter, Lillian Joyce this morning.  He blessed her with the gift of charity, that she may see others not as they are, but as they may become; that she may see beyond what the eye can see.   What a beautiful expression and understanding of charity.  
  • Testimony meeting is "one of a kind" in our ward.  I would want it no other way.   Cayson is an 11 year old boy with Williams Syndrome.  He was very determined as he walked up to the microphone. He told us about his kitty dying.  He did not want to sit down and did not take it well when his older sister came up to the stand to tell him to end his testimony.  He had something to say and he was going to say it.  This is the same boy who last week shouted out "thanks dad" and gave him a big hug when his father ended his talk in sacrament meeting.  Every ward needs a Cayson.    We also heard from Brooke.  She is a 22 year-old girl with Downs Syndrome.  She is very comfortable going up each fast  and testimony meeting where she stands to the side of the pulpit and pulls the mic over to mouth.  She twinkles with purity and mischievousness as she shares whatever is on her mind at the moment.  Today she shared with us how much she loves her grandpa and as she did so she cast her eyes upward.  Brooke refered to her grandpa as her "Sweet Man" up in heaven.  She also included that she is strong because she drinks milk everyday and has lost four pounds.  Never a dull moment when Brooke is at the pulpit!   To add to the  diversity of our meeting, we were lucky to hear from Senaida.  I have to pay close attention when Senaida speaks because of her heavy accent.    It took me a few seconds to figure out that she was talking about "faith"  and not "fate".    She was wearing a crocheted poncho and told us that she was missing her mother greatly this week and so she wore this poncho to feel close to her.  Senaida explained that her mother would make ponchos for her when she was little and would wrap her up in them.  I thought that was such a beautiful tribute to her mother.
  • And finally in Primary today..... The song that we were to learn this week was "I Stand All Amazed".  I really try to teach a song with the spirit of the song; meaning, not just teach words but help them understand content and  to feel it as they sing.  The first sentence was easy for the children to understand:  I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me.  Jace did very well in explaining what that meant to him.  The second sentence was somewhat more complicated :  Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me.  In simple words, I explained that grace is the enabling power of Jesus' atonement.  When there is something that we can not do on our own, Jesus has the power to help us or enable us to do what we need to do.  I shared the experience of Grandma Skousen needing the enabling power of the atonement so that she could stand and talk with others at the viewing of Grandpa.  I then asked the children if they had any experiences of using the enabling power of the atonement.  Ally shared that she knew that she needed to let her teacher know that her friends had written the answers to the test on their arms, but she was scared.  She told us that the only way she could have done what she did was with the enabling power of the Savior.  She got it, and so did many of the other children.  Preston bore a sweet testimony of feeling Jesus' love.  Emma shared that she felt the enabling power as she prayed to remember the things she had studied for a test.  Primary is the place to learn, feel and love such powerful doctrines as the Atonement of the Savior.