News from our Stake Leaders--PREPARE EVERY NEEDFUL THING...

       The dictionary defines provident as 1) preparing for the future and 2) frugal.  My father grew up very poor and often went to bed hungry, so having plenty of food on the shelves was a big deal to him.  His motivation was guided more by the first definition.  Mother was a bargain shopper, and always watched the shopping ads to stock up when items were on sale.  She was driven more by the second.  I have lived most of my adult life a considerable distance from stores, so being prepared and buying ahead has just been a way of life for me.
       For decades our prophets have advised us to live providently; to prepare for the future, to live within our means, and to be self-reliant.  Now, as never before in my lifetime, I am seeing the cost of food rising, in some cases alarmingly, every time I shop.  I have noticed that as prices have risen on many products, packaging sizes have decreased.  As this trend continues the need to live providently will increase.
       Our church leaders have advised that we all have a three months supply on hand of the foods we normally eat.  A good way to accomplish this it to begin to make a record of the types of food and quanities of food our families consume.
       Similar to making a shopping list, make a consumption list.  Start on a given day and keep a record posted on your refrigerator of the food your family uses.  For items that are used up gradually, like salt for instance, write the date you first open it right on the package with a Sharpie.  Over time you will begin to realize how much of each item you use and know how to plan for future preparedness.
       Involving the family in this process will increase your chances of success!  Plan a FHE lesson and include your children in plannng and keeping track of food consumption.  This will help them gain an understanding of the importance of living providently.  I believe that children who are taught these lessons will be less likely to be wasteful and more likely to feel gratitude for the blessings that provident living brings.
       Make provident living a goal and take your gials to the Lord in prayer for help and inspiration.  He will help and bless you for your desire to be obedient and prepared.

Leann Lundgren

Self-relience is a product of our work and undergirds all other welfare practices...It is an essential element in our spiritual as well as our temporal well-being.

President Thomas S. Monson

Great article in Ensign--On Sunday we Attend Church!!

I had to laugh when I saw this article.  Picture is the greatest!!  I know I felt like this alot when my kids were little.  It's a must read!!!  It's on page 34. 

" On Sunday We Attend Church"

Attending chruch alone with six small children was a challenge.  Why did I even bother?

Giving to Christ all year round

This year we are going to be giving you suggestions on how we can give to Christ all year round.  Our Ward Christmas Party's theme was "Giving to Christ all year round", if you remember.  So we decided that we would help you accomplish this for you individually, and also for your families. 
Personal:  Read or watch and then ponder "The Living Christ:  The Testimony of the Apostles."  This is available at www.lds.org.  It is such a powerful testimony of Christ.
 
Family:  You may, in a family home evening ask your kids to search the scriptures and find answers to the following questions..
1.  What did Christ like to do?  2.  How did He react to things?  3.  What did He teach?  4.  Who were His friends, and how did He treat them? 

Hope these ideas will get you started for the month of January. 

Temple night time has changed!!!

We will be going together as sisters to the temple on Wednesday the 15th of January.  We need to leave the church by 6:15.  We found out that the schedule at the temple has changed for this year, 2014.  We want to make the 7:20 session so we need to leave earlier than we had planned before.  Meet at the church at 6:00 p.m.  Hope that gives you enough time to settle your family in for the night before we leave.  Hoepfully we can stop for a little treat on the way home.  Please calendar this so we can experience good things together.

Goals for 2014, January 5th Sunday Lesson

The bishop asked us as a presidency about a month ago to submit some goasl for our very own Relief Society this year.  We thought it a good idea to involve all of you in the process, since you are the ones that will help achieve those goals.  We came up with 3 goals that we would like all of us to work on for this upcoming year.  Remember our SMART GOALS that we discussed last week.  We need them to be specific, measurable, attainable, reasonable, and with a time line.   So here they are:
1.  To develop a closer relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ.
2.  To create a more unified force among our sisters.
3.  To do our Visiting Teaching for the right reasons.
After reviewing these goasl we felt that they really all tied together.  If we develop a closer relationship with our Savior, we will want to do our visiting teaching for the right reasons.  And if we are not one we are not His!!
We discussed all three goals and decided that we would come up with at least 1 thing that we could all work on to improve on in each of these areas.

Suggestions:  #1--Memorize a scripture a month, read scriptures daily, pray with real intent, have meanful FHE, write in your journal, start a journal, take time to be quiet, ponder, think about the Savior, attend church every week, magnify your calling, play good music in your home, read and discuss conference talks, break a bad habit, bear your testimony, join the choir, sing all hymns and pay attention to the words, write down why you are a mormon.  We want you to pick your own goal and work on it for at least 3 months.  See where we get!!

We talked about Unity and what it means to each of us.  What creates unity and what doesn't!!  We encourage each of you to attend our activities and come get to know your sisters in our ward.  We will plan each activity with a specific goal in mind.  YOU!! 

We also talked about visiting teaching and what it means to each of us.  It is such a great way to follow our Savior's example and reach out to the one.  Sister Beck makes the comment that visiting teaching becomes the Lord's work when our focus is centered on people rather than on percentages.  We can never say--my visiting teaching is done!!  In reality, visiting teaching is never finished.  It is more a way of life than a task.  Faithfully serving as a visiting teacher is evidence of our discipleship.  We demonstrate our faith and follow a pattern established by the Lord as we report on our assignments every month.

Let's all work on this together this year.  We are excited to be able to accomplish this as the Indian Hills  Relief Society sisters.  We love you and wish good things for you.  We pray for you and will always be here to help and support in any way we can.

Deb, Kathy, Carisa and Jerrolyn

Have any good recipes to share?

Looking for good recipes

We would love it if you would share any good recipes.  Just call me and we will put them on the blog.  I think all of us are looking for simple, healthy and maybe not so healty, quick recipes to help make our lives easier!!!   Give me a call...590-5917

Thought of the day

The most destructive force in the universe is gossip!! 

Saw this in Jimmy John's the other day.  They have some pretty good advice there!!