UNIT 5: Family Happiness

As we have learned, there is distinct differences between men and women. These differences are not only in physical appearances, but also in how we act. There are also differences with being a mother and a father and husband and wife. As parents, we have to work together to raise our children in the gospel with love and righteousness. We have to provide for the needs of the children, all of them. And mostly to teach them to love, serve, and observe the commandments of God. As parents we will be accountable for all of these things. But as we do these together there are still some very important differences that we need to remember.

“While they have separate responsibilities, ‘in these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partner.’” –Elder Dallin H Oaks

HUSBANDS

As the man in the family, you are responsible for the priesthood duties and to preside over the family. This does not mean you get to be in control of everything. Elder Oaks warns against misusing the authority they hold. You get to preside in family functions, but your family functions should not interfere with the activities of the church. But the activities of the church, should never interfere of those of the family. He tells a story of how when his father died, his mother presided over the family but she never tried to preside over church affairs. Even though in some areas of the world, it is an okay thing to oppress women, but, the church will never be ok with this practice. If you are doing this you are going against the policies of the church.

My father is a most amazing man. He does everything in his power to make sure that my mother feels like an equal partner. He is a member of the bishopric, and he works 2 different jobs. But he makes sure that all the women in the congregation and that he comes in contact with feel appreciated. He is the best example of this to me.

WIVES

The responsibility of mothers and wives today is more important than ever. We have to be so vigilant in what we are doing with our children. Think about the 2000 stripling warriors and the influence that their mothers had on them. So much as to save them all during battle. The weight of this weighs heavily on us as women, but there is no need to worry, when we are able to make covenants with God, and we keep those covenants, we have great power and influence for good on children.  Sister Julie B. Beck gave a talk in October 2007 titled “Mothers Who Know”. She talks about mothers who know bear children, honor sacred ordinances and covenants, are nurturers, are leaders, are teachers, do less, and stand strong and immovable. This may seem like a daunting task, to be all of these things, but when you bear children you learn.

My mother is also a wonderful example of this. She is a stay at home mother, but she also works at home with her crafting business, and she does the accounting for the dance studio at home. She has always been the best she can be for us children. When her sister passed away, my mother always made sure that my cousins were taken care of. This Cristmas she is hosting me and all my siblings and our families. She is an amazing example to me

I want to end with a quote from Elder Oaks:

“Parents should act to preserve time for family prayer, family scripture study, family home evening, and the other precious togetherness and individual one-on-one time that binds a family together and fixed children’s values on things of eternal worth.”

Unit 4: Law of Chastity

This blog post is going to be short and sweet. It is all about the Law of Chastity. The best way to talk about this is to just place some quotes.

·         “Intimate relations are proper only between a man and a woman in the marriage relationship prescribed in God’s plan. Such relations are not merely a curiosity to be explored, an appetite to be satisfied, or a type of recreation or entertainment to be pursued selfishly. They are not a conquest to be achieved or simply an act to be performed. Rather, they are in mortality one of the ultimate expressions of our divine nature and potential and a way of strengthening emotional and spiritual bonds between husband and wife.”- Elder Bednar

·         “Pornographic or erotic stories and pictures are worse than filthy or polluted food. The body has defenses to rid itself of unwholesome food. With a few fatal exceptions, bad food will only make you sick but do no permanent harm. In contrast, a person who feasts upon filthy stories or pornographic or erotic pictures and literature records them in this marvelous retrieval system we call a brain. The brain won’t vomit back filth. Once recorded, it will always remain subject to recall, flashing its perverted images across your mind and drawing you away from the wholesome things in life.”- Elder Scott

·         “You can’t please God without upsetting Satan, so you will get pressure from those he tempts to do wrong.” –Elder Richard G. Scott

If you do have a problem with pornography, we get 4 steps from Elder Scott. First you have to acknowledge the evil. You cannot defend or justify it. Only you can convince yourself that this is bad. Second you have to seek the help of the Lord and His servants. The bishopric and the stake presidency is there for our help. Utilize them. Third is do everything you can to avoid pornography. If there is a certain time you view pornography, make sure you are somewhere where that can’t happen. Be like Joseph of Egypt, not accommodating any degree of temptation. When you avoid and prevent sin, there is nothing to worry about. And lastly, you have no need to patronize pornography. Don’t purchase anything that helps it. You need to not support it. If you do these things all will be well. 

UNIT 3: Celestial Marriage.

“A covenant is an agreement between God and man, an accord whose terms are set by God. In these divine agreements, God binds Himself to sustain sanctify, and exalt us in return for our commitment to serve Him and keep His commandments.” –Elder D. Todd. Christofferson. In this blog post, I am going to talk about the covenant of celestial marriage. Recently, I have agreed to marry my best friend. I have discovered a lot of things about marriage and how much it is going to mean and what it means for my fiancé and I. This isn’t going to be a civil marriage between just him and me. But it is going to be a covenant, a binding lasting covenant, between God, Reece, and I. We don’t get to set the standards or the agreements, everything is set by God and if we want to be able to have the blessings that come from this, we will have to agree to the standards set by God. The greatest blessing we can have if we obey the covenants we make is, eternal life in the celestial kingdom with our family. We also can have all the divine possibilities God can give us.

In order to make the covenants though, we must first be worthy to enter into the temple. The temple is the House of the Lord, so it is really important that we are able and willing to go to the temple frequently. Right now I am taking what Elder David A. Bendar stated about making temple preparation the most important part of what we do, very seriously. I am going to the temple at the end of February, so I have a bit of time, but it is a very daunting thing, to be honest. Entering the temple is a huge deal and taken very seriously. One of the biggest things that we need to do to be prepared to enter into the temple is to take the sacrament willingly and every week. Elder Dallin H Oaks explained that by partaking of the sacrament we are renewing our baptismal covenants, and when we do that we are willing to take upon us the name of Christ. For me, that is so hard, to realize the magnitude that this means for us. Elder Bendar tells us “As we stand in the waters of baptism. As we partake of the sacrament, we look to the temple. We pledge to always remember the Savior and to keep His commandments as preparation in participate in the sacred ordinances of the temple and receive the highest blessings available through his name and by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.” I think this is an amazing quote because it tells us how important this is. Even at the age of 8 we should be preparing to go through the temple and the magnitude of it. Within all of these ordinances, the power of Godliness is manifest unto us.

Even in marriage, there are still problems. Sometimes, the only way out is divorce. Elder Oaks speaks about divorce. His first statement tells us that he only speaks of concern, but also he speaks with hope. We know that a sealing is not the same as a civil marriage. Today, it is pretty easy to get a divorce, and a first marriage is even referred to as a starter marriage. The only time you should end a marriage is if the marriage is dead and has no hope of being resurrected. After sufficient therapy and trying to become better as a couple. To help with this we are advised not to bring up past wrong doings. We are also told that it is not an all-purpose solution and often causes too much heart ache to even handle. When we get married it should be for time and all eternity and with God’s standards.

UNIT 2- GENDER ROLES

As we know, gender plays an essential role in life, both here on earth, before in the premortal existence, and in the life to come. In order to be happy we need to be able to know who we are and what our genders tell about us. Elder Scott speaks of a dream he had where he was in a strange environment looking for his wife. Everyone he asked and everywhere he turned everyone said that she isn’t the same and he didn’t know her anymore. This really disturbed him. He was also told that there was no Richard Scott and soon, there would be no memories for him. Then the thought came to him that he his relationship was eternal and enduring. He realized that he was surrounded by evil people. They were trying to manipulate them and he was conscious to that. The more he was there, the harder it was to stay in reality. When he awoken, he realized that it was only because of his faith in Christ and the church that he was saved and was alright when he was in the dream. We need to have faith to be happy.

WOMEN

As women we have a moral force. Maybe not at work places, but morally, we need to be strong. We have an obligation to instill certain qualities in the children of today. These qualities can include faith, courage, empathy, refinement in culture and relationships, virtue, and more. Our moral force is felt the most strongly in the home. A father and a mother need to work in harmony to teach, nurture, and provide for their family. One thing a mother can do that no one else can, is to teach her sons how to respect a woman and womanhood. For daughters, they can learn to have their own virtue and stand up for what they think is right. There is nothing more comforting than a mothers love for her child.

Last fall, I was dealing with a great bit of depression. I could hardly get out of bed, I never got my homework done, and I didn’t eat much. Every day, I got a call from my mother, she told me she loved me and she was proud of me for doing what I could. She knew I was failing some classes, she knew I slept most of the day, or watched movies, but yet, she still loved me so much. She even went so far as to text many of my siblings to call me and see what they could do to help. Without her, I don’t know where I would be today. Her love for me, even though I didn’t do much all semester, was astonishing. Mothers and Women are an essential part of God’s plan for us. Without them, let’s be honest, we would all be screwed.

MEN

Men… Let’s talk about men for just a minute. We all know men drive us nuts, but they also play a vital role in God’s plan. First and foremost, they are the only ones who are able to hold the priesthood. And without the priesthood, we would have no life-saving ordinances. Without these ordinances we won’t be together as a family forever, our sins wouldn’t be washed away, and so many more things. Another thing that men get to do is provide for their family. Men get to work and go to work and get money so that their family can have food and a place to live. They also get to teach the family all about the Gospel and how it applies to their lives.

My father is the greatest example of all of these things for me. My dad has taken on another part time job just so he can provide for my brothers and sisters and I. He is at work from 6 in the morning, where he attends institute as the faculty member, till around 6 or 6:30 at night when he gets home from his full time job. After that, he gets to attend bishopric meetings all night, he goes on visits, and helps with the bishop interviews. Then he will come home and call me, and talk for a couple hours. It is so nice to know that my dad is so dedicated to what he has been taught, My grandfathers are both the exact same way, which is perfect because it shows me that if my husband is anything like him, our boys will be well mannered.

Our genders are a huge deal in what is going on in this life, the premortal life, and the life to come. I know that this is true, I have seen it in my own life and in the life of my siblings, my parents, cousins, and even the people around me. I just love that as males and females, we have a difference to make. It isn’t weird and we don’t get a choice, we are what we are. And we have a purpose so we need to remember what that purpose is. 

UNIT 1- ETERNAL TRUTHS IN THE FAMILY

Eternal truths are a huge part of the family. But what I think is more important, is the eternal truth of family. Elder Henry B. Eyring reminds us that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has only issued a proclamation a total of 4 times. The one that I am going to focus on is “The Family: A Proclamation to the World”. Some times in this world, especially at this time, we get realize confused about what is needed, about what is expected of us as members. But we have to remember that we have the prophet and his apostles and leaders in the church to help us out. Sometimes he gives us inspirations directly, and sometimes it has to go through the leaders of the church. That is why it is such a blessing for us to have the Prophet and Apostles around to help us.

“The Family: A Proclamation to the World” is one thing that we can always look to when we are needing to be reassured about what we, as women, should be doing. A lot of the literature today is all confusing and you are never sure what you need to do. But this document comes from God, and we all know that God isn’t vague. He will tell us exactly what he wants and how he wants it done. And with the family he tells us what it is and how it will become that way. First of all, we know that marriage is between a man and a woman, and that is how it should be. In this day and age, one of the biggest issues is that of Gay Marriage. This year we have legalized gay marriage in the United States. As a religion we need to make sure that we stand strong in what we believe. It is only going to get worse from here. Another thing we learn is that gender is an essential role. Even in the premortal existence, we had our respective genders. In today’s society, even that isn’t a sacred thing. Like I said before we have got to stand strong.

The way we can be with our family for eternity, is by means of the temple. In the temple we will make covenants and do sacred ordinances that make it possible for us to return to our Father in Heaven and be with our families for time and all eternity. I understand that families can be a pain in the behind, and that we don’t always get along very well. But when you really stop to think about it, who would you rather spend forever with. I know first-hand that families can be a thorn in your hind quarters.

In my family I have:

My dad Terry, he works as a farm loan officer and a part time professor at our community college. He can master any skill you try and throw at him. He is always available if you need to talk. And my favorite thing about him is we share an obsession with brownies.  

My mom Susan, who works as the accountant and really the manager of our dance studio back home. She is super crafty and will sit and listen to me whine all days about my problems. She loves to bake. Her favorite is Wedding cake. I have to stand by that decision; it’s pretty good.

My oldest brother Tyson, and his wife Aly and their baby girl Scout. Ty is in the Army and is a pain in the butt. But he is mine. They were just stationed in California, and now are about to be moved to Hawaii. I sure hope I get to visit! Scout is 1 and a half and I get to see them at Christmas after 2 years of not seeing Ty.

My other brother AJ and his wife Alex. They live in Twin Falls, not too far away. He followed after my dad and Alex works in a doctor’s office. I love them to death. They have been married just barley over a year and have just bought their first house!

My older sister Lilly and her husband Breck. Breck is in PT school right now and Lilly graduated from BYU-Idaho with her Bachelors in Communications. They have a baby girl as well. Lillavie is named after our grandmother and her momma, and just turned 1.

My older sister Megan and her husband Nick. They are working up in Washington right now at his family business but soon will be moving to Texas. They have been married a little over a year as well. While we will miss her in Texas, she will always be my best friend.

And my youngest sister, my baby girl, Tessa. Tess is only 13 but has a very bright future. She loves to dance and sing. She is taking after me and is always on her phone watching Netflix, sorry momma. She will always be my baby girl and my favorite family member.

My family is crazy and big and loud and dysfunctional but they are mine and this week’s unit about the family and the eternal truths behind it has really made me realize how much they mean to me and how hard it would be without them in my life.