Gather as a family for 30 Minutes to have the following discussion:
Read and discuss the following quotes/talks, and then decide as a family what you can do to make temple worship a bigger focus in your lives, and then commit to what you will do.
Today’s youth [and adults] are being confronted on every side with complex social issues, moral challenges, and significant temptations. As President Thomas S. Monson has taught, “decisions determine destiny.” So how can the youth survive and thrive in these tumultuous times that were foreseen by prophets long ago?
One of the ways youth can fortify their spirits is to claim blessings promised by Church leaders if they participate in family history and temple work. What are these promised blessings?
Elder Dale G. Renlund: “I extend the promise of protection that’s been offered in the past. . . . I promise you protection for you and your family as you take this challenge to find as many names to take to the temple as ordinances you perform in the temple, and teach others to do the same. . . . If you accept this challenge, blessings will begin to flow to you and your family. . . . You’ll find not only protection from the temptations and ills of this world, but you’ll also find personal power, power to change, power to repent, power to learn, power to be sanctified, and power to turn the hearts of your family together and heal that which needs healing.”
Elder Richard G. Scott: “Do you young people want a sure way to eliminate the influence of the adversary in your life? Immerse yourself in searching for your ancestors, prepare their names for the sacred vicarious ordinances available in the temple, and then go to the temple to stand as proxy for them.”
Elder Quentin L. Cook: “If the youth in each ward will not only go to the temple and do baptisms for their dead but also work with their families and other ward members to provide the family names for the ordinance work they perform, both they and the Church will be greatly blessed.”
Elder Russell M. Nelson: “Consider the spiritual connections that are formed when a young woman helps her grandmother enter family information into a computer. . . . When our hearts turn to our ancestors, something changes inside us. We feel part of something greater than ourselves.”
Elder David A. Bednar: “I encourage you to study, to search out your ancestors, and to prepare yourselves to perform proxy baptisms in the house of the Lord for your kindred dead. . . . “As you respond in faith to this invitation, your hearts shall turn to the fathers. . . . And I promise you will be protected against the intensifying influence of the adversary. As you participate in and love this holy work, you will be safeguarded in your youth and throughout your lives.”
I invite you to listen or read the whole talk here: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2011/10/the-hearts-of-the-children-shall-turn?lang=eng
Elder Allan F. Packer: “Like partaking of the sacrament, attending meetings, reading the scriptures, and saying personal prayers, doing family history and temple work should be a regular part of our personal worship. The response of our youth and others to prophetic invitations has been inspiring and proves this work can and should be done by all members at any age.”
Sister Elaine Dalton, former Young Women General President, sums up the youth’s call to action nicely: “This is our day, and temple work is the work that we have been prepared to do. It is a work for every generation. . . .
President Russell M Nelson:
It is now time that we each implement extraordinary measures—perhaps measures we have never taken before—to strengthen our personal spiritual foundations. Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures.
If you don’t yet love to attend the temple, go more often—not less.
And to each of you who has made temple covenants, I plead with you to seek—prayerfully and consistently—to understand temple covenants and ordinances. Spiritual doors will open. You will learn how to part the veil between heaven and earth, how to ask for God’s angels to attend you, and how better to receive direction from heaven. Your diligent efforts to do so will reinforce and strengthen your spiritual foundation.
Regular worship in the temple will help us. In the house of the Lord, we focus on Jesus Christ. We learn of Him. We make covenants to follow Him. We come to know Him. As we keep our temple covenants, we gain greater access to the Lord’s strengthening power. In the temple, we receive protection from the buffetings of the world. We experience the pure love of Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father in great abundance! We feel peace and spiritual reassurance, in contrast to the turbulence of the world.
I also know that as we catch the spirit of temple worship, and attend regularly (especially with our own family names), that we will have an increased amount of strength to face each days stresses, trials, and temptations. I also know that we will have true joy in our lives as we do this because the spirit will be with us. I invite us all to reevaluate what we can do a little better to keep temple worship, and our covenant path a bigger part of our lives.
-Love Bishop Israelsen
*Some Notes from Leadership Conference (with Elder Uchtdorf, Elder McCewen, and Elder Hancock)
Never refer to the mission-field as somewhere else, cause we live in the mission-field and we have full control over how we Love, Share, and Invite our neighbors.
To whom much is given, much is required, (not suggested)
Serve by our example and testimony
Share with the youth what you feel in your heart
Why you love the gospel, why love to wear garments, why love to go to church, etc
The youth need church experiences, they need to experience hard things, we need to give them experiences to stretch their testimonies.
Parents help the kids study the FSY guidebook, just because the FSY guidebook teaches principles not rules, we should still have rules in our families, that is the role of parents.
With the new garment styles coming out how do they relate to modesty?
Garments do not drive modesty, just cause the garment lengths are different doesn't mean modesty needs to change.
The church does not specify in inches how we should dress, instead study the FSY guidebook on the principles taught, and then think to yourself in Christ's presence how would I dress.