Easter dinner is one of my favorite meals. I look forward to it all year and since I was in NYC last Easter I was double looking forward to this year. Seth and Jenn came into town, since they needed to leave in the early afternoon on Sunday to get back home we decided to have our special dinner on Saturday night.
Our annual dinner consists of mandarin orange salad, 7 layer jell-o, leg of lamb, asparagus, and rice pilaf. I LOVE it all. THEN for dessert we have trifle. Heavenly.
On Sunday we had our Easter egg hunt and yummy brunch. (If you can't tell our family is all about the food!) We had egg and sausage casserole, fruit, and cinnamon and sugar bread...with creme brulee for dessert (yes, dessert at brunch.)
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| We each got 3 coupons in our eggs. Mine were good for; lunch with my daddy, jamba juice, and a 1hour massage! |
Bain gave a talk in church today, her topic was temples-she did such a good job. Here is her talk..
"I was asked to speak about temples and Easter today.
Our bodies are sacred, just like the temple. Only the most pure and precious are permitted to enter the temple because it is an extension of God’s Home here on Earth. If this is true, if temples are a Holy place for God to enter here on His Earth and if it is true that our bodies are temples then we can truly be a vessel for the Lord. He can reside in us if we prepare ourselves and let Him in. We need to keep our bodies clean and pure so that we are ready for the Lord. Temples are all different. They are each unique in design, size, location, and structure-just like all of us, we are each special and unique. The beauty is that each temple, including our bodies, were inspired and designed by God. Each has their own personality with the same purpose, to perform God’s work.
We as individuals can use our temple bodies to spread the word of this gospel to all God’s children. Our duty is to bring souls unto Christ. This Easter season we recognize the Atonement and all God did for us, His children. He paid for our sins so we could return to Heavenly Father. In return we must help Him in the work of redeeming souls.
Because we accepted God’s plan we accepted this work. God’s plan is meant for all men, we agreed to this in the pre-mortal life, which means we agreed to be saviors for not only ourselves but to all of our brothers and sisters. We joined in a partnership with the Lord. We have the duty to help achieve the purposes of the eternal plan of salvation.
My sister had to read a book for her New Testament class at BYU this semester and she shared parts of it that she really enjoyed with us. In this book His Final Hours, Jeffrey Marsh expresses the importance of our duty to perform temple work.
“The Savior invites us to become saviors with him. In Doctrine and Covenants 103:9 it reads, “For they were set to be a light unto the world, and to be the saviors of men.” Brother Marsh explains, “that the word ‘saviors’ in this verse is plural and not capitalized. It refers to the volunteer corps of latter-day saints who would help God accomplish his work. And that is our privilege. Imagine! We can, at God’s invitation, under his direction, and with his authority, help him accomplish his work. What an incredible opportunity.” Close quote.
We talked about this as a family and realized that we had never really thought of the Atonement as a group effort before. Jesus Christ willing gave up his life and suffered in Gethsemane so that we could be reunited with our Heavenly Father, but that reunion cannot happen without the saving ordinances that are performed in the temple. We all have a part to play in our own salvation and the salvation of our whole human family.
Quoting from Brother Marsh again he says, “We have a great responsibility. We are responsible for all who have lived, all who now live, and all who will yet live. The eternal salvation of the world rests on our shoulders. We will not finish this work “until we have saved ourselves, and then not until we shall have saved all depending upon us. “ Close quote.
It is not only our duty to perform work for others, and to take care of our bodies, but it is essential that our home becomes a heaven on Earth.
Boyd K. Packer has said that if you put the words “Holy Temple” and “Home” together, you have described the house of the Lord.
“Under the definition of ‘Temple’ in the Bible Dictionary, we read the following: ‘It is the most holy of any place of worship on the earth,’ followed by this insightful statement: ‘Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness.’ For me this suggests a sacred relationship between the temple and the home. Gary E. Stevenson said this, “Not only can we turn the doors of our homes to the temple, or the house of the Lord; we can make our homes a ‘house of the Lord.’
"If we can look back through the generations, we see those who helped us to get where we are now—those who forged the way before us, whether they were members of the Church or not. And in the restored gospel we realize even more deeply our responsibility to link them to us through the ordinances of the temple. In a letter from the Prophet Joseph Smith to the members of the Church, we read: 'These are principles in relation to the dead and the living that cannot be lightly passed over. . . . For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, . . . they without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made perfect' (D&C 128:15, 18)."
My sister Bree is a great example to me of temple work. Two summers ago she and her friend did a temple tour. They went to every temple in Utah as well as the Las Vegas temple to do baptisms for the dead. While she lived in New York City she tried to attend the temple once a week there as well. Bree and her friend invited me to join them when they went to the Las Vegas temple, which included a visit to the St. George Temple. I really enjoyed being included with them and that experience has motivated me to want to follow in Bree’s example of being a savior for those who have died without the blessings of temple ordinances in their life. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen."
We as individuals can use our temple bodies to spread the word of this gospel to all God’s children. Our duty is to bring souls unto Christ. This Easter season we recognize the Atonement and all God did for us, His children. He paid for our sins so we could return to Heavenly Father. In return we must help Him in the work of redeeming souls.
Because we accepted God’s plan we accepted this work. God’s plan is meant for all men, we agreed to this in the pre-mortal life, which means we agreed to be saviors for not only ourselves but to all of our brothers and sisters. We joined in a partnership with the Lord. We have the duty to help achieve the purposes of the eternal plan of salvation.
My sister had to read a book for her New Testament class at BYU this semester and she shared parts of it that she really enjoyed with us. In this book His Final Hours, Jeffrey Marsh expresses the importance of our duty to perform temple work.
“The Savior invites us to become saviors with him. In Doctrine and Covenants 103:9 it reads, “For they were set to be a light unto the world, and to be the saviors of men.” Brother Marsh explains, “that the word ‘saviors’ in this verse is plural and not capitalized. It refers to the volunteer corps of latter-day saints who would help God accomplish his work. And that is our privilege. Imagine! We can, at God’s invitation, under his direction, and with his authority, help him accomplish his work. What an incredible opportunity.” Close quote.
We talked about this as a family and realized that we had never really thought of the Atonement as a group effort before. Jesus Christ willing gave up his life and suffered in Gethsemane so that we could be reunited with our Heavenly Father, but that reunion cannot happen without the saving ordinances that are performed in the temple. We all have a part to play in our own salvation and the salvation of our whole human family.
Quoting from Brother Marsh again he says, “We have a great responsibility. We are responsible for all who have lived, all who now live, and all who will yet live. The eternal salvation of the world rests on our shoulders. We will not finish this work “until we have saved ourselves, and then not until we shall have saved all depending upon us. “ Close quote.
It is not only our duty to perform work for others, and to take care of our bodies, but it is essential that our home becomes a heaven on Earth.
Boyd K. Packer has said that if you put the words “Holy Temple” and “Home” together, you have described the house of the Lord.
“Under the definition of ‘Temple’ in the Bible Dictionary, we read the following: ‘It is the most holy of any place of worship on the earth,’ followed by this insightful statement: ‘Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness.’ For me this suggests a sacred relationship between the temple and the home. Gary E. Stevenson said this, “Not only can we turn the doors of our homes to the temple, or the house of the Lord; we can make our homes a ‘house of the Lord.’
"If we can look back through the generations, we see those who helped us to get where we are now—those who forged the way before us, whether they were members of the Church or not. And in the restored gospel we realize even more deeply our responsibility to link them to us through the ordinances of the temple. In a letter from the Prophet Joseph Smith to the members of the Church, we read: 'These are principles in relation to the dead and the living that cannot be lightly passed over. . . . For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, . . . they without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made perfect' (D&C 128:15, 18)."
My sister Bree is a great example to me of temple work. Two summers ago she and her friend did a temple tour. They went to every temple in Utah as well as the Las Vegas temple to do baptisms for the dead. While she lived in New York City she tried to attend the temple once a week there as well. Bree and her friend invited me to join them when they went to the Las Vegas temple, which included a visit to the St. George Temple. I really enjoyed being included with them and that experience has motivated me to want to follow in Bree’s example of being a savior for those who have died without the blessings of temple ordinances in their life. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen."
Then my friend, Austin Jones, gave his mission farewell talk. He is the boyfriend of one of my lovely friends, Kenzie (we met in elementary school and danced on the same team all throughout high school). He did such an amazing job. I am so excited for him to go out and teach the people of Michigan...my hometown (well from age 3-10.) I love studly missionaries. When they are ready to go out and preach they just have a glow about them that is so precious and amazing!
I am grateful for the opportunity I had to be with my family this weekend and celebrate Easter with everyone I love! Happy Easter.
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