Category: Jesus Christ
Praise Him Advent Calendar 2022
Dear friend,
Here is my 2022 Advent Calendar, with a scripture to praise God every day leading up to Christmas. Whatever you are going through, I know that His goodness, grace, and mercy are able to reach you.
In celebration,
Angela
P. S. If you would like a copy of the pdf file, send me a message. I will be happy to send it to you.
Children Preach, Part 2
This is a continuation of my notes of really heartfelt messages from children’s sacrament meeting presentations that I have attended this fall.
Reflecting on what she learned from reading Daniel in the Old Testament, “I know that Heavenly Father will help us when we face troubles of our own. He gives strength through hard things. He will keep us safe. I am thankful for the example Daniel is to us. (girl, age 10)
After telling the story of Jonah being swallowed by the whale, this boy said, “That’s why I like the story of Jonah though; he teaches us how hard it can be when we have to own up to our mistakes and face the consequences. But he also teaches us that through repentance we can be forgiven.” (boy, age 10)
“My favorite name of the Savior is a Shadow by Day and a Pillar by Night because the Savior is there to keep us protected and lead us with his light. (boy, age 9)
My favorite name of the Savior is Light because Jesus is the biggest light in my life! He is a light for me when I am scared. When you’re in the dark you get scared, but when you are in the light you are going to be fine! (girl, age 9)
Spoken with clarity and confidence, this tiny boy had these words memorized, “Jesus Christ came to earth to live as a mortal man. He suffered and died for us. His suffering is called the Atonement. Jesus was resurrected and came to life again. Because of what Jesus did for us, we can live forever with Heavenly Father.” (boy, age 6)
This boy showed his maturity in gospel knowledge by saying, “We believe that Heavenly Father will continue to teach us and reveal many important things through our prophet. I can also receive personal revelation and learn much about Heavenly Father’s plan for me. I am thankful for President Nelson who receives revelation for our Church. And I am thankful for the restoration of the Gospel.” (boy, around age 9)
“I think the gathering of Israel and the Second Coming [are] important because I want to see Jesus again. I think He will visit all the neighborhoods and will knock on everybody’s door and say “Hi” to them. Because I believe in Jesus, I want to do what He would do. He would help those in need. I wanted to help those in need, so I worked to raise money to help people in need at the Road House.” (boy, age 10)
“The Eleventh article of Faith is talking about religious freedom…I am thankful I could choose to be baptized. I know not everyone in the world has the chance to worship any way they want. It is a blessing to have the freedom to believe and act according to my beliefs.” (boy, age 10)
A tiny little girl recited this from memory, “We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; Indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul–We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things (with her arms extended and moving in a circular motion, as if to show “many things”), and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.” (girl, just barely age 5)
“Whenever I am having a bad day, I can always sing one of the Primary songs to feel better. My faith has grown by understanding each of the Thirteen Articles of Faith and how they make me become closer to Jesus Christ.” (boy, age 11)
Behind the scenes
It has been a busy few months preparing for a stake Primary training about temple and family history work. On the day of the training, Paige and I decorated 70 temple cookies, and that was a big job. Thank you, Paige!
Most of the effort to prepare for this evening can’t be shown. Truly, it was not about the pretty cookies. There was a lot of personal and collaborative work. It was a spiritual journey. By the end, I realized this wasn’t “my” training at all. My original ideas for the evening slowly changed to something better, thanks to counseling with my presidency and an enthusiastic high councilor. Answers to prayers came. My small hope for some help from a few temple and family history consultants resulted in around 16 people showing up to teach.
It’s my birthday weekend, and as I look back on my last week of being 47, I can say that it was one of the best weeks. I was with my Sanchez family in the temple, along with Richard, Paige, Daniel, and McKenna. I got to see ordinances performed for people from my own labors in family history research. And towards the end of the week, I believe miracles happened at our training.
One more great video
The angels! 💕
Which one are you?
This film is a depiction of the Savior Jesus Christ appearing to the people in the Americas from the Book of Mormon.
I have three questions for you to think about.
Which person in this short film responds in the way that you would if Jesus came to visit you today?
What do you learn about your personal relationship with Jesus Christ as you watch?
How will you share His love with others today?
A glimpse
The Timothy iteration of Elder Ross is super funny each week in our video calls. He talks about his service in understatements and we have to draw out the things a different missionary might bring up right away. He is serving in Palau on an island called Koror. He welcomes the rain on the hot, hot days, and he is training a missionary and finding plenty of people to teach. His latest video call was interrupted by a little boy (a frequent visitor on his calls) trying to get his attention by stealing his phone and running away with it. There were scenes of a little palm, then ceilings and hallways whizzing past on the screen, and a final interception by another missionary, a hello, and a handoff. This happened twice.
A lot happens during a mission. There are a lot of emotions. There is a lot of heart stretching taking place on both ends of the weekly call.
Children preach
At church, it is children’s sacrament meeting presentation season. Basically, this means that one Sunday a year, our sacrament meeting talks and music are supplied by children. Last Sunday, I attended two meetings where children sang and gave talks to the adults in their congregations.
Here are some quotes that I felt were especially precious and from the heart. (This post will be updated as I gather more during my visits during the next month.)
“Daniel [from the Old Testament] teaches me to surround myself with friends who are brave and obedient.” -boy, about age 7
Speaking of Joseph who was sold into Egypt, “As you have faith and turn to God, you and others [around you] will be blessed.” -girl, age 11
From a girl whose parents divorced recently, “All bad things can become a victory through the Lord.” -girl, age 10
After quoting John 3:16, a girl said, “There have been some times in my life when I have worried about not being enough like Christ, and making too many mistakes, but then I remember that mistakes are how we learn, and how we improve in our lives.” -girl, age 11
With tears, a girl expressed, “When my great-grandma passed away this summer I was having a hard time. Every day before I went to bed I prayed I wouldn’t be sad. Every day I did that, I felt a little better.” -girl, around age 9
“When I show my gratitude in prayer my heart is filled with more gratitude and I feel those blessings more.” -boy, age 10 or 11.
Assist and witness
I listened to a class where they introduced the idea of adding your name to the witnesses page of the Book of Mormon. I thought it was a great exercise.
The following verses drew me in this time as I read Doctrine and Covenants 14, directed to one of the 3 witnesses of the Book of Mormon.
Maybe I needed a reminder of how much Jesus drives the work to spread His gospel. Maybe I needed the reminder that He asks people like me and you to assist for our own good. Maybe I needed the reminder that God’s chosen method to make things known is person to person, one by one.
Morning light
As I read the scriptures, I try to keep a running list of promises the Lord has made to his covenant people. This was my goal as I approached the book of Jeremiah, and my morning study time during the last few weeks has been dominated by His promises in this book. I ran out of dedicated space in my notebook, and the promises poured onto another sheet of paper. I learned that there are so many good things to come!
This kind of study is one reason I can say that God is good. I know for myself what He has said, what He has done, and what He has promised to do.
The book of Jeremiah has brought me a lot of hope that I did not see coming.
“As you study your scriptures… I encourage you to make a list of all that the Lord has promised He will do for covenant Israel. I think you will be astounded! Ponder these promises. Talk about them with your family and friends. Then live and watch for these promises to be fulfilled in your own life.”
Russell M Nelson