Family Traditions and Missionaries

***UPDATED****

This will be my first Christmas as a Missionary Mom. While I am thrilled that Elder Bailey is serving the Lord and the people in West Virginia, I miss him and I don't want him to miss our on our family Christmas traditions.  One of our favorite traditions is an advent calendar and a Christmas book with scriptures, songs and stories to count down the days until Christmas.  

I found this simple advent calendar in the dollar bin at Target and after drawing a tie and badge on the gingerbread man, I added a little slip of paper with the day's scripture and song.  These are all from the Hymn book or Primary Songbook and missionary approved. 

Click Here for the PDF Link for the song and scripture list.

 

I also included a folder with the stories that we read after reading the scripture and singing the song each night.  Many of them are from The Ensign or other Traditional stories like The Gift of the Magi, The Man who missed Christmas, & Christmas Day in the Morning. If you would like a link to our stories leave a comment below. 

 

Here is the link for the Christmas Stories.  They are in a very basic format for the fewest pages possible to make it easy to send to missionaries.  Please know that these are stories my family has enjoyed for years.  I did my best to find resources and give credit to authors were possible.   

 

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas based on the Peace and Love only found through our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Words of the Prophet Oct 2016 The most Perfect Plan to Happiness

Years ago, I read and article about a woman sharing with a friend that she believed in modern day prophets. The friend asked, "what does this modern-day prophet have to say?" and the woman didn't know.  As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I believe in modern-day prophets.  I committed a long time ago to keep myself informed of the words of the prophet and to follow his teachings. To help with the commitment, I keep a list of the instructions and promised blessings offered by the prophet at each General Conference. Attached here is the most recent invitations and promises from President Thomas S. Monson.

Click here for the PDF Link to print your own.

Book of Mormon Unified Reading

My son's Mission President recently asked us to participate in a unified reading of the Book of Mormon  and pray for the missionaries and the people of West Virginia. I was inspired by the talks of Elders Dallin H Oaks,  Neil L Anderson, Gary E. Stevenson and Kazuhiko Yamashita on missionary work and the Book of Mormon.  You can listen to or read their talks here.

Using the list from the president and with the help of my awesome daughter, I made this reading chart to begin the Book of Mormon today and finish in early December.

Click here for PDF Format

Here for Word Format if you need to make changes

 

General Authorities and Candy!

*****UPDATED FOR APRIL 2018*****
As a child, my mom helped us learn the General Authorities by their voices. I will always remember the scratchy tone of President Kimball,  the authoritative sound of Elder Bruce R. McConkie. and the fancy words of Elder Neal A. Maxwell. I know you can hear their voices in your head right now! I wanted to help my children recognize their faces too.  Years ago we started the tradition of pasting pictures of the General Authorities on candy and then if the child can name the person they can have the candy. Even though my children are older now and have had opportunity to interact with several of our incredible leaders this is a tradition that  I'm not allowed to neglect.  This year I even sent a huge bag of candy to my missionary son to share with the people he is working with.

Maybe you might enjoy this tradition too. Here's a copy the most updated pictures of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Enjoy!!

Candy Pics

Session Recap Form

Though it is difficult for me to imagine, not everyone likes to take detailed general conference notes. So.. for these friends, this is a Session Recap form.   Please know, I found one online but I didn't love it so I copied and made some changes.  (I want to give credit to the original writer, but I can't find it.  I will keep looking. :-{ and add an updates. )

So here it is!

Session Recap

General Conference is right around the Corner

******* UPDATE - FINAL DRAFT FOR DOWNLOAD BELOW ******

I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE!  In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint we have a worldwide General Conference every six months.  On the first weekend of April and October each year members are invited to listen to the words of living prophets and apostles. I look forward to these weekends all year long.  Actually, I am either planning for the upcoming conference or reviewing the information from the last conference every day all year long.  I love to listen to a talk everyday as I get ready for the day.  I review my notes and hang little cards with quotes throughout my house.  I highlight scriptures that were emphasized. I strive to understand the Lord's will for me and my family through the words of those that have been called to speak for Him. You can find more information here: Mormon.org or here Restoration

I am a ferocious note taker. I take notes in every meeting and many conversation.  You can imagine how my note-taking slips in to hyper drive with something as beloved and important as General Conference!  I have stacks of paper and notebooks and Ensigns, not to mention highlights and tags on my LDS Library App. I'm desperate for a better system!

I've used lots of different note taking methods. This time I'd like to create my own with a few specific ideas in mind.

• Several times I have taken notes only to go back and check the transcript of the talk and what I wrote down is nowhere to be found.  Yet, I distinctly remember hearing and writing down something that touched me.  I finally figured out that this was the Holy Ghost prompting or teaching me something specific for me.   
• Over the last few years I have diligently looked for invitations to act from the speakers.  Often, speakers will follow the invitation with a promise or a blessing.   Keeping track of these invitations and  blessings has helped strengthen my testimony and commitment to the gospel.  I can see how my family has been blessed and enriched as we have followed the counsel of our leaders.
• I like to scripture chain.  Some people call it mapping.  I like to mark the first scripture in a talk and list the reference for the next scripture beside it. I go through all the references sited, ending with the reference for the first scripture next to the last one creating a Doctrinal or Topical scripture chain. 
• I like to focus on the doctrine or principle the Lord, through the speaker, is trying to teach me.  Putting the talk in a doctrinal context helps me to remember the talk better and dig deeper than an interesting story or some nice platitudes.  Elder Boyd K. Packer has said: "True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior" The whole point of General Conference is to help change, grow and develop into the person my Heavenly Father created me to be.

With these ideas in mind, I've come up with the note templates below.  Feel Free to download and print as many copies as you like.  The file includes full page and 2 per page templates..

Enjoy!!

The pdf version for a closer look.
General Conference Notes Template

If you would like to use this format for other meetings you may make edits with this Excel File.
Excel General Conference Notes Template

CHOICES - Words of the Prophet

My goodness, I am easily distracted and very inconsistent with this blog!  I'm also quite behind in putting together my list of insights from the April 2016 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  You can find more information here. LDS General Conference Apr 2016

Years ago I heard a story of a Latter-day Saint telling an acquaintance about the marvelous gift of a living prophet and modern revelation. The question was asked, "Well, what does this prophet have to say?" Unfortunately, the Latter-day Saint hadn't studied General Conference or the Ensign and didn't know.  I promised myself I would keep current on the words of the prophet and live his words so that I could share by example and through discussion the will of the Lord for his children today.  

To accomplish this goal, I study all of the talks from general conference, but make a special effort to keep the words of the Prophet and President of the Church before my eyes.  At my house, this means it's posted on the Fridge! :-)   I'm finally getting  around to posting here: Click the link below to download. 

Words of the Prophet Apr 2016

 

For a full transcript or to watch or listen to the talk, click here: Choices by Thomas S. Monson

I follow the guidance given in Amos 3:7  Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. I want to know the will of the Lord God and I want to be prepared to share it with others.  I know that Thomas S. Monson is the living prophet on the earth today and that as we follow his guidance we will reach the goal of Living with our Father in Heaven again.