Well, the school year is over. And seminary is over until fall. (We are still "doing school" during the summer, but a simpler form of it.) Brother Turley was a wonderful teacher and the girls really loved his lessons. Here is Key Lime Pie and Kotten Kandy's seminary class on the last day...
The following day, I took five of my music students (including Key Lime Pie and Kotten Kandy) to a "real" recording studio. Each kid got to record 3 pieces. They really seemed to enjoy it. And the recording studio was really kind.
Key Lime Pie sang "Hold On" from the musical The Secret Garden
Kotten Kandy sang "The Wind" - I LOVE that song!
Key Lime Pie played "Many Meetings" from The Lord of the Rings
Kotten Kandy sang "Elusive Butterfly"
Key Lime Pie - Kotten Kandy - Muffin
They LOVED the recording studio!
Scott's Birthday was Sunday. It was a beautiful day. And I think Scott enjoyed his cake. We had some good friends over and the girls and I gave him a new video recorder. He was pretty excited. He also got chocolate and a Thor DVD.
Some pics that were too cute:
Scott, Jelly Bean and Key Lime Pie
Apple Pie
Kotten Kandy and Jelly Bean
And Kotten Kandy spoke in sacrament meeting. Once again, she did a fabulous job! She thinks she might want to be a public speaker when she grows up. She writes fabulous talks and delivers them well too! Check it out:
DISCIPLESHIP
Happy Birthday, Dad! Today is a special day, because I get to
celebrate a man who has taught me a lot about being a true disciple of
Christ. My daddy is always reading books
about the Savior and trying to understand His sacrifice and His life. Dad shares with me thoughts and scriptures
about Christ and teaches me what it means to continue learning about the
Atonement and Christlike attributes. I’m
glad I have him as a dad!
L. Tom Perry said, “The word disciple comes from the Latin
[meaning] a learner. A disciple of Christ is one who is learning to be like Christ—learning
to think, to feel, and to act [like]
he does. To be a true disciple, to fulfill that learning task, is the most demanding regimen known to man. No other
discipline compares … in either requirements or rewards. It involves the total
transformation of a person from the state of the natural man to that of [a]
saint, one who loves the Lord and serves with all of his heart, might, mind,
and strength.”
So how do we become like Christ? How do we become a true disciple? We learn about
him. We study his life by reading great
books (like my father has shown me.) We
ponder and we pray to develop the relationship we should have with our Savior
and our Heavenly Father. In essence, we
try to be like him.
I have been studying Preach My Gospel. My favorite chapter is chapter 6. It talks about developing nine Christlike
attributes. To become a true disciple we
need to develop and study these attributes.
The first attribute we should apply is Faith. Alma 32:21 “faith is not to have a perfect
knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are
not seen, which are true.”
Wally, a character in a novel called Children of the Promise,
is a great example of this attribute of faith.
This book takes place during World War II, and follows the life of a fictional
LDS family. It shows their trials during the war and what they each have to
face. This family, the Thomas family, has a son named Wally who leaves his home
to join the Air Force. Just as the War begins, he ends up at a base in the Philippians.
He is taken prisoner by the Japanese,
and he survives the Bataan Death March. For
three years he endures different work details that nearly kill him. He suffers with starvation, multiple
sicknesses, and broken bones. In the long run he makes it home, but throughout
the whole ordeal he remains strong. He
doesn’t give up. He continues to pray,
and to sing they Hymns he had been taught as a little boy in primary. Despite
everything he remains faithful, and that’s what we need to do. Remain faithful until the end.
The next attribute in Preach My Gospel is Hope. “Hope is trust in God’s promises, faith that
if we act now, the desired blessings will be fulfilled in the future… The
unfailing source of our hope is that we are sons and daughters of God and that
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, saved us from death”
We studied the Book of Mormon in seminary this year. Brother Turley taught us about Mormon and
Moroni. They are huge examples to me of
that Hope. They were in one of the worst
circumstances ever. Imagine knowing the
truth but not being able to share it with anyone, because everyone was too
wicked. Mormon and Moroni had to have great
hope in the plan of salvation in order to endure this trial. They could not share the gospel with their
peers, but they could share it with us through the Book of Mormon. Their hope is evident in their writings. I hope that I could have that much hope in
the face of danger.
Charity is one of my favorite Christlike attributes. Charity is the pure love of Christ. In a world full of hate and sorrow, charity
is desperately needed.
My family and I watched a movie called The Saratov Approach.
The movie is a true story about two missionaries who get kidnapped and held for
ransom in Russia. While they are in
captivity, the Elders begin to not only pray for their families back home, but
also for their captors. Elder Probst and Elder Tuttle pray that they their
captors can have a change of heart. They
go from wanting to hurt them, to leaving their lives in God’s hands. They showed true charity when they remained
in captivity instead of possibly taking the lives of their kidnappers. Instead of hating the men who planned to kill
them, they relied on charity. When I
have been wronged, I use their example of praying for charity. I have prayed and I have felt that peace and
I have felt that love.
The next Christlike attribute is Virtue. “Virtue originates in your innermost thoughts
and desires. It is a pattern of thought
and behavior based on high moral standards….
What you choose to think and do when you are alone and you believe no
one is watching is a strong measure of your virtue.”
For the Strength of Youth is a great guide to being
virtuous. If we strive to live by the
guidelines set forth in this inspired pamphlet, virtue will follow. One of the guidelines in to dress modestly. In the booklet it states: “Your body is sacred. Respect it and do not defile it in
anyway. Through your dress and
appearance, you can show that you know how precious your body is. You can show that you are a disciple of Jesus
Christ and that you love Him.” My mother
truly internalized this principle. She
decided when she turned 12 that she would NEVER EVER wear anything that was not
temple worthy. She made sure that every
article of clothing that she owned she could wear after she was endowed. She never wanted to be embarrassed in front
of Heavenly Father because of the way she dressed. Her example and guidance has taught me what
it means to be modest.
I LOVE the next Christlike attribute: Knowledge. Learning is something I REALLY enjoy. In D&C 88:118 it states: “Seek ye diligently and teach one another
words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek
learning, even by study and also by faith.
My mom and dad say that I love knowledge almost as much as
Grandpa Mac. My grandpa spent his entire
childhood reading everything he could get his hands on. He read the entire Old and New Testament
about 5 times before he was a teenager.
He still consistently learns.
Whenever he comes to visit, he brings books for us to read, takes us to
the book store to get new books to learn from, and teaches us what he has
learned. He has taught me how to take
care of bees. He has taught me to play
the ukulele. He has shared his knowledge
of gospel principles with me. And he
inspires me to learn more. I am grateful
for his example and his sharing of knowledge.
Patience is the 6th Christlike attribute mentioned
in Preach My Gospel. President Monson
said, “Life is full of difficulties, some minor and others of a more serious
nature. There seems to be an unending
supply of challenges for one and all.
Our problem is that we often expect instantaneous solutions to such
challenges, forgetting that frequently the heavenly virtue of patience is
required.”
Amy Bettenhausen is one of my school teachers. She show constant patience with me and my
sister as we learn grammar, writing and discuss concepts in the novels we read
together. She also shows tons of
patience with her own children. She is a
great example to me of patience.
Humility is the willingness to submit to the will of the Lord
and to give the Lord the honor for what is accomplished. It is also the 7th attribute to
becoming a disciple.
Many of you may be acquainted with Corrie ten Boom’s book
entitled The Hiding Place. It is the
true story of two Dutch women who were imprisoned during World War II for
harboring Jewish refugees. Corrie and
Betsie (her sister) lived by the precepts of Christ and found great comfort in
reading the Bible. (not the Book of
Mormon, because they didn’t have it.)
Their prison cell was infested with fleas. Remembering that the Bible says to thank God
for all things, Betsie told Corrie that they should thank God for the
fleas. Corrie did not want to, but
Betsie insisted. Weeks later they found
out that the fleas were indeed something to be thankful for. It was because of the fleas that they were
able to keep their Bible without the guards finding it. They were humble enough to give God honor for
the fleas even when they didn’t realize how much the fleas were a blessing to
them.
Diligence reminds me of my 41 year old dad. He is steady, consistent, earnest and
energetic in doing the Lord’s work. No
matter what life throws at him, he continues to pray, read his scriptures and
ponder upon the things of Christ. Just
like in D&C 58:27, my dad is anxiously engaged in good causes, and does
many things of his own free will and choice to bring to pass righteousness. When my dad was out of work for a year, he
studied his scriptures daily and attended the temple weekly. At an early age, I learned how diligence
blessed his life and ours.
The last Christlike attribute is obedience. Christ is the ultimate of example of
obedience. He set the example to be
baptized, even though he was perfect and had never sinned. He was baptized to show obedience to His
Father. He Atoned and was crucified to
obey the law. Despite the difficulties
of these tasks, he did it. The least we
can do is obey His commandments and strive to be like him in all we do. This is discipleship in it’s fullest.
