Visiting Teaching Gift Ideas

OK, to all those who didn't make it to our Relief Society Activity last night, you really missed out! We had a great time discovering new ideas for visiting teaching gifts, and came home with several projects we'd made over the course of the evening. (Along with full tummies from Make's delicious stirfry). It was wonderful to have Sister Pei join us too (welcome to our ward by the way). Lots of crafty talent this lady.

There are a lot of ready made resources on the internet in regards to visiting teaching, so I'm going to link you up to the ones we showcased last night. Here goes. Someone let me know if I miss any out:

SURVIVAL KIT. This is an awesome, inexpensive gift for your VT families. The items are generally ones you can find at home, and you can tailor the kit to suit any situation. We did the Scripture Survival Kit for a take home activity, but there are tons of other themes such as:

New Parent Survival Kit
Christmas Survival Kit
Day Care Provider Survival Kit
Getting Old Survival Kit
Hospital Survival Kit
Friendship Survival Kit
Birthday Survival Kit
and a ton more

ADVENT PAPER CHAINS. Oh I love this project. So easy to do too.A great idea for families with children. There is a free download at this link all ready to cut out and put together.
"The links are numbered 1-25 and on each link is a different theme and scripture reference. Hang the chain with 25th link at the top and remove one link each day during December leading up to Christmas, using the scripture for family devotions and the theme as a focus for prayer. It's a handy way to count off the days until Christmas and learn more about the real meaning of the holiday. ~ Jim Elzerman"

Bookmarks. These are so easy to do. Pick a favourite scripture or quote, copy onto tall thin cardboard and decorate. These JESUS CHRIST BOOKMARKS are just beautiful, and can be downloaded from the Visiting Teaching Blog. They look great printed on photo paper so they're all glossy. I print mine at Harvey Normans, as either a 6x4 or 5x7 photo (make sure you select no cropping when printing):


WARM FUZZIES.

This is SUCH a cute project about service. Another way to present it is to fill a baby food jar with pom poms and attach the poem to it. The lady who designed this also put a neat “Nutritional Chart” on the back to help us calculate how many calories we can burn (aka warm fuzzy feelings) from serving others. Super cute.

M&M CHRISTMAS

My favourite visiting teaching gift at Christmas time. Attach the poem to a small bag of M&Ms and voila, one thoughtful, yummy, Christ centered gift all done. Here's the poem:

As you hold these candies in your hand
and turn them, you will see
The ‘M’ becomes a ‘W’,
An ‘E’, and then a ‘3′.

They tell the Christmas Story
I’m sure it’s one you know.
It took place in a stable
A long, long time ago.

The ‘E’ is for the East,
Where the star shone so bright.
The ‘M’ is for the Manger,
where the Baby Jesus slept at night.

The ‘3′ is for the Wise Men,
Bearing gifts, with which they came.
‘W’ is for Worship,
Hallelujah! Praise His Name!

So as you eat these candies
Or share them with a friend,
Remember the meaning of Christmas:
It’s a love that never ends.

Click HERE, to download my ready to print version (A4 sheet with 7 poems).

TIP JUNKIE has a ton of fabulous Christmas Printables - too many to list here, so just go check out her site and see what you can find.

GIFTS IN A JAR

Lots of wonderful ideas here with photos and instructions.

RECHARGE YOUR BATTERIES.
I liked this idea. Visit the website for the printable version and attach to a small packet of batteries.


SIMPLE POP-UP CARDS. Now we didn't have these last night, but how awesome would your sisters feel to receive a handmade card like this? You have to check these out. The cards are amazing, and range from simple to advanced, all with step-by-step instructions:



OK, there are more ideas which I'll post later. Check back as I add them to the bottom of this post.

General Conference

It's General Conference Weekend here. Are you going? 3pm and 6pm Saturday, 1pm and 4pm Sunday. If you're not able to attend one or all of the sessions, you can watch, read or listen to the talks on the LDS.org website HERE.

You might like to listen to these beautiful songs to lift your spirit too.

Are you ready for October?

I had a pile of announcements, calendars and notes on my desk with all the October activities on them. Not exactly the tidiest or best way to remember stuff, so I decided to get all organised and collate the information onto one sheet. I'm guessing I'm not the only one trying to keep track of all the church activities in October, so here you go . . . . our Mountfort Ward October Calendar.

3 Oct (Sunday)
General Relief Society Video Broadcast at our chapel at 6pm. The Stake will provide a supper afterwards.

8th Oct (Friday)
Our Relief Society Activity night starts promptly at 6.30pm. Dress tidy/casual. There's nothing like an earthquake in the South Island to get one motivated to sort out Emergency Kits and stuff!

If you have a 72hr kit already, please bring it along for show. Everyone packs theirs different and it's good to have a wide range for the sisters to be inspired by. Bring a snack bar or something you would have in your Emergency 72hr kit for your own supper. It's all about survival sisters!

We will have lots of handouts and information for you on the night, but if you want to start preparing your kits and family emergency plans in the mean time, see this site www.getthru.govt.nz.

9th Oct (Saturday)
General Conference Video sessions, 3pm and 6pm

10th Oct (Sunday)
General Conference Video sessions, 1pm and 4pm

15th Oct (Friday)
Reminder to RS and YW Presidencies about meeting with Sister Julie Beck (RS President) and Sister Mary Cook (1st Counselor YW Presidency) 15th October 6.30pm at Robertson Road Chapel.

22nd Oct (Friday)
Stake Ball 7.00pm to 11.30pm
Formal Dress; 14yrs and older
Rowandale Chapel

23rd Oct (Saturday) - Stake Conference
Priesthood Session 4pm
Evening Session 7pm to 9pm
Rowandale Chapel

24th Oct (Sunday) - Stake Conference
Morning Conference Session 10am to 12noon
Missionary Fireside 7pm
Rowandale Chapel

30th Oct (Saturday)
Justin Williams from American Idol is performing a free show at the new Manurewa Stake Centre as part of his NZ tour, at 7pm on the 30th of October, also featuring the Walmsley Family. Music from Justin's latest album "Familiar Strangers". They will be on the Good Morning TV show on Friday 22nd October any time after 9am. Click HERE for a bigger version of the poster.

30th Oct (Saturday)
Stake Temple Day. Note this is the 5th Saturday of the month, not the 4th as normal. This is due to our Stake Conference being conducted on our regular Temple Day.

31st Oct
No longer having a Stake Temple Fireside this day as noted in Stake Calendar. Has been rescheduled to 28th November.

Testing, testing, anyone still there?

Was May 24th really my last post?? SORRY! Life got pretty hectic for a while there. We had a great RS Activity last night with the talented Millie showing us how to do flower arranging. I learnt SO much, seriously. Millie has such a beautiful hand with flowers and I love seeing her arrangements at our meetings - she makes it look so easy. Akesa and Susan cooked up some scrumptious low budget dishes for our supper: Chicken noodle stirfry and Nachos. Mmmm.....it's been ages since I last had nachos.

We have our Relief Society Board Meeting on Thursday the 23rd of September. Anyone with a calling in Mountfort Ward Relief Society is invited to attend. (Teachers, Music, Piano, Visiting Teaching Supervisors, Compassionate Service, etc). We'll start with a Pot luck finger food type dinner followed by a little in-house training. It will be at Jacinda's house, starting at 7pm.

Now I just have to share this story I found this morning. With all the calamities going on around the world, this is one feel good story that I promise will warm your heart and maybe even bring out a few tears.

LIFE OF REILLY.

Amazing huh!

I got all motivated this week, what with the Christchurch Earthquakes and all, to finally get my 72 hr kit packed. My girls and I are all sorted, ready for whatever emergency may come, and it has given me great peace of mind just knowing those bags are there should I need them. I do have one or two little things to add (and a couple more bottles of water), so once that's done I'll take some photos and write up a 72hr post here on the blog for those that are interested. HOPEfully I'll have it all written up by the end of next week.

12 year old prodigy

Sister Gallagher, our former RS President forwarded me this incredible story today. It is a CNN news article about a 12 year old prodigy who's paintings are inspired by visions from Heaven. Most remarkably, the girl grew up in an atheist home...

Lift me up

Scriptures for Kids

If you have kids (or plan to have kids) there is a New Zealand website you really need to check out. It's called Scriptures 4 Kids, and is a fantastic resource for parents, children and the whole family. Here's some info from their website:

Mission

The mission of Scriptures 4 Kids is to provide parents with tools that will help them teach their children to love the scriptures and to help children gain a testimony of Jesus Christ.

Scriptures 4 Kids currently offers:

• 71 stories on 4 different reading levels including audio narration
• 71 original illustrations
• 71 thought provoking questions
• 71 coloring pages
• 71 original games that teach a gospel principle (2 games currently live, 30 to be released Summer 2010)
• 71 Family Home Evenings (released weekly)

Join the Daily Scripture Reading Challenge!

Scriptures 4 Kids is challenging children to read their scriptures every day, starting with one month. Oh, and we are not talking about Family Scripture Study (you are probably already doing that)! We want kids to learn the value of individual scripture study. But with Scriptures 4 Kids, individual scripture study is possible even if you are only three years old and even when mom is too busy to squeeze it in! Each month, extend the challenge for one more month and shoot for an entire year! Teach your children the importance of establishing habits while they are young. Help them to understand that if they start now with Scriptures 4 Kids, that someday they will be able to be partakers of the blessings that come with life long daily scripture study.

I love this site! There are Sacrament Activity Packs for Junior and Senior Primary kids, General Conference Activity Packs, Colouring Pages, Family Home Evening Lessons....and a ton of other resources. Go check them out. You can download everything for free, or make a voluntary donation if you like.

Scriptures 4 Kids Website

Scriptures 4 Kids Facebook Page

Follow the Prophet

Next weeks lesson (May 9th) is taken from Chapter 9 in the Gospel Principles Manual, entitled "Prophets of God". I found this inspiring talk by President Ezra Taft Benson on You Tube titled "Follow the Prophet". It's not the same lesson we'll get next week, but it is a wonderful complement to it, and I highly recommend you take a moment to sit....breathe....and listen.....



Wasn't that great!

On another note, the Relief Society is often called to help feed families-in-need in our ward. Since we don't have a Bishop's storehouse to use, we as a Presidency felt impressed upon to start a Relief Society store cupboard to use in emergencies. We humbly encourage each sister to bring one can of food to donate to the store cupboard each month. Just one can. It can be soup, baked beans, meat...whatever you like. By little things, great things happen. We hope this will help spread the responsibility for welfare among everyone, relieving the pressure off the same sisters who always respond to the call from our Bishop. Thank you so much.

March 2010 General Conference

Click the link below to go to the official Church Website for the transcripts of the March General Conference. You can read, watch or listen to all the talks.

180th Annual General Conference, April 2010

He Lives

Hi Sisters! Are you coming to our Relief Society activity on the 9th of April? Sister Talisa is going to give a fascinating talk on how we can use wheat, rice, milk powder, water, and salt and how we can store them too. I'm looking forward to this, as I'm only just starting my store cupboard. Storing food is one thing - actually knowing how to USE it is another.

After Sister Talisa's lesson, we're going to do a service project for our Primary. They need chair covers for the kids chairs, so they know which classes sit where. Sister Siteine is providing the pillowcases (but if you have some plain spare ones at home please do bring them too), and we will do the sewing and decorating. If you have a sewing machine at home please bring it along, as well as some thread and cutting scissors.

If you're not into sewing, please still come along and enjoy a night out with us. It's important that we continue to build friendships and get to know each other. We constantly have new sisters coming into our ward, so this is a good opportunity to get to know them in a casual environment.

Inspirational quotes

“What a different world and Church this would be if every Latter-day Saint sister excelled at making, renewing, and keeping covenants; if every sister qualified for a temple recommend and worshipped more often in temples; if every sister studied the scriptures and doctrines of Christ and knew them so well that she could teach and defend those doctrines at any time or place. Think of our combined strength if every sister…prayed unceasingly as the Lord has commanded. If every family had family prayer daily and had a family home evening once a week, we would be stronger. If every sister was self-reliant enough to be able to give freely of her knowledge, talents, and resources and if every sister’s discipleship was reflected by what she said and what she wore, we would be immovable in that which is correct.” (Julie B. Beck, What Latter-day Saint Women Do Best: Stand Strong and Immovable, Ensign, Nov 2007)

“Sisters, strengthen yourselves by seeking the source of true strength—the Savior. Come unto him. He loves you. He desires your happiness and exults in your desires for righteousness. Make him your strength, your daily companion, your rod and your staff. Let him comfort you. There is no burden we need bear alone. His grace compensates for our deficiencies. Your strength will strengthen others—your children, your husband, your friends, and your sisters in the gospel. That strength will flow back from them to you when you need it.” (Chieko N. Okazaki, Strength in the Savior, Ensign, Nov. 1993)

“Each of us has a vital role, even a sacred mission to perform as a daughter in Zion. It is a new day, the dawning of a new era. It is our time, and it is our destiny to rejoice as we fill the earth with greater kindness and gentleness, greater love and compassion, greater sympathy and empathy than has ever been known before. It is time to give ourselves to the Master and allow Him to lead us into fruitful fields where we can enrich a world filled with darkness and misery. Each of us, no matter who we are, no matter where we serve, must arise amd make the most of each opportunity that comes. We must follow the counsel given by the Lord and His servants and make our homes houses of prayer and havens of security and safety. We can and must deepen our faith by increasing our obedience and sacrifice. In this individual process a miracle will take place. The Relief Society will begin to stretch and reach out to the millions in need. It will continue to become an organization that brings relief and rejoicing. This will happen one sister at a time. We will unite in our righteousness and truly partake of the fruit of the tree of life together. The fruits of our labors can heal the world, and, sisters, in the process they can heal us too!” (Mary Ellen Smoot, Rejoice, Daughters of Zion, Ensign, Nov 1999)

Charity: An example of the believers

Wow, OK, sorry for not updating this more regularly. I found this beautiful video on the LDS YouTube channel today and had to share:

The window through which we look

A young couple moved into a new neighborhood
The next morning while they were eating breakfast,
The young woman saw her neighbor hanging the wash outside.


'That laundry is not very clean,' she said.
'She doesn't know how to wash correctly.
Perhaps she needs better laundry soap.'

Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry,
The young woman would make the same comments.

About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a
Nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband:

'Look, she has learned how to wash correctly.
I wonder who taught her this.'

The husband said, 'I got up early this morning and
Cleaned our windows.'

And so it is with life. What we see when watching others
Depends on the purity of the window through which we look.


(I found this little life lesson courtesy of Purple Diva's blog).

Let your light shine

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” – Maryanne Williamson