Youth Theme and The Articles of Faith

 Right now, I am serving in the Young Women's Program (12 - 18 year old girls) as the Beehive Leader (Beehive = just a name that was attached to the group of girls ages 12 - 13).  So, I am one of their teachers and I attend the Wednesday night activities every week.  So, normally we will meet and have a lesson just us girls for the last hour of church, however, today we all met together with the Young Men to go over the new Theme for the Year for the youth worldwide!  Every year, the Prophet, his counselors and the General Young Men and Young Women's presidency meet and pray and plan a theme for the up coming year!  This year's theme for the youth to focus on is the 13 Article of Faith.  It states,

“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, 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.”


What a great theme! So, today when we met with the youth - we reviewed what all these words meant and they taught us the background - such as what are the Articles of Faith, who wrote them and how did it all come about and why do we ask our Primary age kids to memorize them and so forth.  So, this is my topic today -- The Articles of Faith!

So, where did we get the Articles of Faith?  Well, to quote Elder L. Tom Perry, "The Prophet (Jospeh Smith) was often asked to explain the teachings and practices of Mormonism. “John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat, asked Joseph Smith to provide him with a sketch of ‘the rise, progress, persecution, and faith of the Latter-Day Saints.’” Mr. Wentworth, originally from New Hampshire, desired this information to help a friend compile a history of his native state. “Joseph complied with this request and sent Wentworth a multi-page document containing an account of many of the early events in the history of the Restoration, including the First Vision and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. The document also contained thirteen statements outlining Latter-day Saint beliefs, which have come to be known as the Articles of Faith.”

There are 13 Articles of Faith.  The following link will instruct you on what each Article talks about.  http://lds.org/general-conference/1998/04/the-articles-of-faith?lang=eng

And this link is the actual Articles of Faith as found printed in our scriptures back by the Pearl of Great Price.  http://lds.org/scriptures/pgp/a-of-f/1?lang=eng

I don't want to go into too much detail right now about each Article -- but I did want to go over what I learned today in church about the 13th Article.  It is great because basically the first 12 teach doctrine that we believe in.  Then, the 13th says that we also believe that based on the doctrine we will now behave in such a way as not to be a hypocrit with what we believe.  Because we believe all these things we will now act as disciples of God and be honest and true.  We will endure and seek goodness.  Now, today I did something I have never done before, I looked up what it means to "follow the admoniton of Paul."  The 13th Article says "indeed we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul..."  What was Paul's admonition and what is an admonition.  Admonition means a mild rebuke - instruction, reminder.  So, what was Paul's rebuke?  Paul taught many many things! Here is one I found in the Bible that I felt was exactly as the 13th Article points out: "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (Philip. 4:8.)  Of course the Bible is full of other admonitions from Paul. It is fun to read his words! He truly was a great teacher and example!  (To see more teachings of Paul follow this link: http://lds.org/general-conference/1976/10/teachings-of-the-apostle-paul?lang=eng)

It is a lot to think about!  That is quite of list of things we claim to be and to become!  I also loved that we talked about what the word being means.  It doesn't just mean we think about it -- we means that we become it - we live it and do it.  It becomes who we are!! This gospel is defininately a gospel of doing!  I know that it can be overwhelming as we try to live all of God's commandments.  I have found that as we live each day - learning, praying and reading the scriptures to try to understand, then all the rest can fall naturally.  Line upon line.  It takes time.  It takes patience and forgiveness with ourselves and others.  But I am thankful for a church that encourages these youth to live a life of honesty and goodness -- to endure, to seek and live for goodness.  I am thankful for a Prophet to guide us and to know exactly what our youth need to know and focus on this year! Today we had 2 of our youth speak in front of the group - their thoughts on the theme and what it meant to them and it was awesome to hear their words, feel their spirit and testimony to know that they get it!! Some times it takes us so long to figure out life and happiness and it is so great to see such strong kids who get it and want to be happy and want to be good and feel good.  I now hope I can teach my kids.  I hope I can become better at living the gospel and remembering who I want to become! 

I hope this helps!! Let me know if you have questions!!

Food Storage

Recently I was at the grocery store and ran into a friend of mine. I noticed she was very decided on the things she was buying and seemed to have a specific plan in mind. I inquired and she said yes -- she was on a tight budget, trying new methods and had a menu plan. So, when I told her I wanted her ideas and tips she said I will in exchange for your tips and information on home and food storage. She is not a member of our church and did not know exactly how to go about it, but wanted it in her life. I have always done food storage but not well. Several years ago we felt that we had the money and within 3 months we had a whole year supply of food and storage items like first aid, medicines, batteries, etc. Our 72 hour kits were up to par and I felt great! However it is now 2011 and I haven't done much with it! No rotating, no replacing - just using it up and going on with life week to week as I go to the grocery store. I usually have to go to the store twice a week because I forget something or run out of something. So, even though I have been taught -- I feel like now is the time to revamp, rethink and redo!! The church has come out with better suggestions and ideas of how to go about this and I wanted to take a minute to review a few ideas. 1. We can start small. Start little by little. Start with a goal of having a 3 month supply of Food for your family. Then add to it. And the 2. idea is that we should store the foods we eat and eat the foods we store. Rotation and usage is key! It will do us little good if we store for years food that is expired or food our family won't eat.

As I have gone about planning I do believe we can follow the suggestions as outlined on provident living. org As I did searches for it online I found another helpful resources - with many links that link you to other articles. It is at lds.about.com and I searched food and home storage helps. I found a food calculator and other helpful lists and suggestions. Anyway, today I have come away with the impression that I still want to store grains, beans, and other food items that store for many (10+) years. Then once I have a good stock of those items I think I am going to focus on our everyday eating habits and work around that. I went through my pantry and wrote down foods that we like that I can store for at least a year. Crackers, salad dressing and such don't last as long as canned food and other items. But now knowing about how long food lasts on my shelf and seeing what foods my kids really like I can store food based on this. I also have thought about how we will be able to cook if we were in a situation where we didn't have electricity for a while. I have purchased chaffing dishes (warming pans with the use of canned fuel) and bought candles, little canned fuel, a camping stove and made sure I have plenty of water stored as well. Anyway, it is a lot to think about. This year I am starting babysteps again at obtaining a years supply of food and storage items and I am determined to rotate it and keep it all fresh and tasty!! I am willing to try new foods, cook hard beans instead of always grabbing a can and I also am willing to try the different ways of eating wheat -- wheat berries, cracked wheat, puffed wheat, etc. I also have a wheat grinder and hope to make more homemade bread this year with my whole wheat!! If you want more ideas or help let me know!! If you have any ideas or suggestions please respond and comment!!