Walk with gratitude

“Walk with gratitude in your hearts, my dear friends. Be thankful for the wonderful blessings that are yours. Be grateful for the tremendous opportunities that you have. Be thankful to your parents who care so very much about you and who have worked so very hard to provide for you. Let them know that you are grateful. Say thank you to your mother and father. Say thanks you to your friends. Say thank you to your teachers. Express appreciation to everyone who does you a favor or assists you in any way.”

“Thank the Lord for His goodness to you. Thank the Almighty for His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, who has done for you what no other in all this world could do. Thanks Him for His great example, for His tremendous teachings, for His reaching hand to lift and help. Thank the Lord for His marvelous Church restored in this great season of history. Thank Him for all that it offers you. Thank Him for friends and loved ones, for parents and brothers and sisters, and family. Thank Him for a strong body, for a sound mind, for teachers who guide you and mentors who take a special interest in you, for those willing to coach you and help you develop new talents or become better at something you love."

"Thank Him that you live in a land of freedom, where you can come and go as you please and make choices that suit you. Thank Him that you live in a time of relative prosperity. Thank Him for the advances in communication that allow you to stay close to those you love and interact with. Thank Him for the ease of travel and the privilege of getting an education. And even thank Him for your struggles, for they will make you strong if you will let them.”

Gordon B Hinkley

For our Youth

A little something for our Young Women today. Listen to the words. Really listen. Hear what he's saying...



And a message all young women should hear.



I love this story. How wonderful the world would be if all the youth did a good deed instead of a prank.

Photo evidence of a great night in

We had an awesome turnout to our Relief Society Birthday Party. The Activity Committee did a great job organising the evening, and I could see everyone had a wonderful time. I think next time we have a quiz evening everyone is going to be clamouring to be on Sister Tipene's team. Hidden talents there ay Leslie! Talk about quick on the draw. I maybe answered 2 questions the whole night, and even then, it was 4.5 seconds AFTER everyone else answered. LOL. I choose to believe my talents lie in other areas. ;D






A Relief Society gathering wouldn't be complete without supper now would it? For the birthday celebration everyone brought a dessert type dish to share, and as you can see, it was absolutely delicious.



Our next activity is on April 12th, at 7pm. It's going to be a wearable arts night, and you all are going to get the chance to channel the designer within. Bring along recyclable, reusable products from home (paper, plastic, etc) to make your outfit with, and be prepared for another evening of fun and sisterhood. Bring your friends along, and a finger food supper plate to share. See you there.

Relief Society 169th Birthday

It's a milestone. You can't NOT celebrate it right? It's 169 years since the Relief Society was formed, and that's reason enough for us to celebrate this wonderful organisation. Come along on to the chapel on Tuesday 15th March, ready to start the fun at 6.30pm sharp. Click on the image below for an enlarged view.



We'll start with a bit of Relief Society History first, then move on to a game show/trivia night activity. (You might just want to take note of the history lesson by the way - later in the night they may just pop up in the trivia questions). It's going to be a lot of fun, and don't worry if you don't know much church history, we're going to work in teams, and there are other non-church categories too.

We'll end the evening with a dessert style supper and cake. If you could bring a dessert, pudding, cake, or fruit to share for supper, that would be fabulous. Please let your Visiting Teaching homes know about the activity too, and invite them along for the fun.

Dress for the activity is skirt/top or a dress. Please be on time, or you'll miss the info at the start, and you're going to need it for the trivia game later on.

Time Out For Women (TOFW)

Time Out For Women is coming to New Zealand in July. This is a fantastic opportunity to see and hear from some amazing LDS speakers and entertainers. They are having one show here in NZ before heading over to Australia. Here's an intro from the TOFW blog:

Choose to Become 2011 Tour

What if you had the chance to take a weekend to discover something new?

What if this was the year for you to make meaningful change?

You do. This is!

It’s the TIME OUT FOR WOMEN 2011 TOUR and it’s coming to a city near you. CHOOSE TO BECOME just a little closer to the woman you were meant to be—through your testimony, through your relationships, and through your personal improvement. Join us for an inspirational weekend of messages and music. We see a whole world of possibilities out there just waiting to be discovered…come find the ones waiting for YOU!

It is our hope that during this day filled with messages of inspiration from respected authors and music artists, you will learn, you will laugh, and your spirits and sights will be lifted. It is Deseret Book’s great pleasure to invite you to catch your breath, take a break from daily pressures, “huddle” with your sisters and friends, and feel rejuvenated for the days ahead.

We look forward to taking a Time Out with you!

Sheri Dew
President and Chief Executive Officer, Deseret Book Company"



This clip advertises their DVD, but it also gives you a glimpse of what TOFW is like:





NZ TOUR DETAILS

Auckland, NZ
Saturday, July 30, 2011
9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Auckland Convention Center
ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre
50 Mayoral Drive
Auckland CBD, AL 1010 NZ

See a list of the speakers HERE.

Pricing details HERE. If you book as a group of four before June 15th, you get a much cheaper price. Prices on their website are in American dollars.

Hillary Weeks is one of the speakers (I just love this woman, honestly), and she performed this song at one of their previous TOFW conferences:



So what do you think? Looks good huh? I'm going, as is my sister and probably my Mum. We think it's an opportunity to be uplifted and inspired like never before. It does cost a bit, but there is plenty of time to put away your pennies and save for it before June 15. After talking to my American friends, I really don't think anyone who has attended TOFW in the past has regretted it, in fact they all rave about it.

Promise me you'll think about it OK? Do something for YOU this year.....because you know you're worth it. :)

Hold onto your hats

You are going to be so glad you stopped by today - I have some fabulous finds to show you! I love to search the internet for ideas for visiting teaching, family home evening and church in general. This week I stumbled across Simply Fresh Designs, who offer free quiet book downloads for your primary children. I think some of them would be great for new converts too. Click on the headers to be taken to each download page with more information, and click on any photo to see it larger.

We Believe

A simple summary on each card about what we believe in.






Prophets and Apostles

This is an awesome quiet book. What better way for your child (and you) to learn about the prophet and apostles.



Here's a close up of two of the pages.



Book of Mormon Stories

I love this one. The book is 26 pages including the cover and includes the following stories:

Lehi fleeing Jerusalem, Lehi’s Dream, The Liahona, Enos Praying, Mormon Abridging the Plates, King Benjamin, Abinadi, Alma baptizing at the Waters of Mormon, conversion of Alma the Younger, Ammon, Anti-Nephi-Lehies, Moroni and the Title of Liberty, Two Thousand Young Warriors, Samuel the Lamanite, Christ appearing to the Nephites, Christ blessing the children, the Brother of Jared, Mormon & Moroni, and more.




For those in Primary, they have 2011 Primary Theme cards too. They're available in 5x7, 4x6, 3x4 and even poster size. The bigger the size, the more info on it:




How about some Article of Faith cards? They come in 3x4, 4x6 and 8x10 size:


*sigh* Now doesn't all that just make you happy? Makes me happy.Simply Fresh Designs has done such a wonderful job with all of these cards. I printed out a copy of each of these (less the Primary theme cards) at Harvey Normans this week, and slipped them into a 4x6 photo flipbook for my girls. Now during sacrament they can look through these and learn a little something along the way. I'm thinking they'll make great birthday presents to nephews and nieces too....

2011 already?!

I must apologize for not keeping this blog updated more. Life always gets hectic around Christmas/New Years, and I've not had time to post new things on the site. I will be better about it this year I promise.



2011 brings us a new Relief Society Presidency for Mountfort Ward. Sister Maara Mata is our new President, with Sister Priscilla Pei 1st Counselor, and Sister Opal Higgins 2nd Counselor. I'm still the Secretary (yay!) and we're all excited to be serving the Lord and the sisters of Mountfort Ward.

We have had a lot of new sisters join our ward in the last couple of months. Welcome to each and every one of you - we're excited to have you with us, and look forward to getting to know you better.

It is time once again for Visiting Teaching Interviews. We will do this at the chapel over two evenings: Tuesday 15th and Tuesday 22nd February 2011, starting at 6pm. Look out at church for a signup sheet and put your name down early so you get the time you want.


Our next activity will be on Saturday February 12th, from 6pm to 7.30pm. It's going to be a fun evening where we get to know each other better. We've chosen to have this on a Saturday so the Primary and Young Women teachers can attend. We hope you all can make it. If you cannot find a sitter for your kids at home, the Young Women have kindly agreed to babysit in the nursery room at the chapel during our activity. Please arrive early enough to settle your kids in the nursery before the RS activity starts. Parents please bring a snack for your children.



As I browse the net each day I find some wonderfully uplifting articles and videos that I just can't help sharing. These are my favourites at the moment. Brother John Bytheway is the most AMAZING speaker. He keeps you enthralled throughout, and delivers his message in a wonderfully entertaining way:



And I'm not sure if I've posted this before, but this is my absolute favourite version of "Mary Did You Know". The visuals along with the music put me in Mary's position every time, and the emotion has me crying each and everytime I watch it. It's a powerful video, and quite authentic to how it must have been for Jesus on the Cross, and for Mary to be witnessing it all, so be aware it might be a little 'too real' for little kids.



Here's another version of "Mary Did You Know", this time sung by Clay Aitkin. I love this version too, and the visuals are a lot more kid friendly.



I can watch these over and over. If you've found a really beautiful church song on YouTube, send me an email, or leave a message in the comments here, and I'll link it up in a future post. Have a wonderful week sisters, and I will hopefully see you at our activity on Feb 12th.

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).