Monday, November 15, 2021

STUDENT EXPERIENCE IN SEMINARY SURVEY

CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW or CUT & PASTE IN YOUR BROWSER:

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=s-7mYddfqkquPGHo3rCbeZM7ynduSydComQn2iADvnJUMzJUNE5HSTRDM0cyM09GWE9UTzdEOVRCTi4u

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

The Message

How Can I Make Daily Prayer More Meaningful?

By Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

A member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles answers teens’ questions about prayer.

How can I make daily prayer more meaningful? It’s a good question, and it’s one that applies to all of us. President Hinckley used to say that sometimes when we pray it’s like we’re picking up a phone, ordering groceries, and then we hang up the phone—we put in our order, and we don’t think any more about it than that. But if we take a few minutes just to think about our particular need in a given moment, then prayer becomes more meaningful.

In 2 Nephi 32:9 it says: “Behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.”

Everything we do ought to be done with an eye toward our Heavenly Father’s blessing and consecrating to our good all of our activities in a given day. So if we sense our need and think about it, prayer becomes more meaningful.

Beyond that, it’s important to remember we shouldn’t just be praying about ourselves, because there are a lot of people in our sphere of acquaintance who have great needs as well, and we ought to be remembering them and what kind of help they need from the Lord. Those kinds of prayers are like when Enos prayed. He prayed about himself first and then about the Nephites and then the Lamanites—even his enemies were a part of his concern. That really makes prayer meaningful, to focus on others.

Lastly, when you’re grateful, when your prayers include a lot of thanks to the Lord for your blessings, they become much more meaningful.

How do you have the Spirit with you when you pray?

This is crucial. It makes all the difference. Remember the promise we find in Moroni 10:4. It tells us to pray about the Book of Mormon “with a sincere heart, with real intent.” And when we say “sincere heart” and “real intent,” it means that you want to know the Lord’s will and you want to do it, that you’re committed, as you pray, to knowing and doing His will. And that makes prayer very meaningful. If we’re just praying for what we want and we don’t want to know His will, it won’t be the same feeling or have the same meaning.

Years ago when I was serving as a bishop and was weighed down with all of the problems members of the ward seemed to have, I began praying about finding solutions and ways to help. I got some impressions in answer to my pleas for help. Then, it seemed that the Spirit would guide my prayer so that what I was praying was guided by the Spirit as well as what came back in answer to my prayers. And I think that’s the most meaningful kind of prayer we can achieve, where the Spirit guides the prayer as well as the responses from our Heavenly Father. And I believe that comes when we really do want to know what the Lord wants and we’re committed to do whatever that is as we pray.

How often should we pray?

There really is not a rule. We don’t have a set number. I think as you go through a day, it’s natural to pray about things as they come along.

Elder David A. Bednar talked in a general conference about prayer and praying always (see “Pray Always,” Ensign, Nov. 2008, 41). He said if our morning prayers are looking out toward the day and what’s coming, we’re previewing the day in our prayer. In our evening prayers, we report to the Lord on what’s happened through the course of the day. We may be thanking Him for blessings received, we may be repenting of a few things that happened that were not right, and then there are all the prayers in between. It just becomes part of a stream of prayers. It’s all part of a pattern, and that goes on day in and day out and week after week and through the years. That’s what it means to have your heart drawn out in prayer to Him.

One other scripture comes to mind, from Alma 37:36–37: “Cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

“Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.”

Sometimes it’s a very, very simple prayer in a stressful crisis (“Help. Please help me.”). So we’re talking about our thoughts going to Heavenly Father. Our prayers can be brief through the course of the day, and it’s just what flows out of us naturally. The closer we get to Him, the more that happens automatically and we feel that closeness. It’s like having a friend and walking together through a hallway at school. You want to turn and talk to each other about what’s going on at the moment. And as you draw closer to God, that companionship, that friendship, if you will, tends to develop in the same way.

That being said, don’t forget that we ought to look for opportunities when we can have long prayers, when we can have a quiet time and will not be interrupted. We need a time where we can pray as long as we feel we want to and need to, where Heavenly Father can teach us and talk to us at length and not just always be responding to a quick prayer—that’s fine for the moment but not all we should ever do.

What if we don’t get an answer to our prayers when we want it or need it?

That’s an interesting question. It brings to mind something that Elder Richard G. Scott said in a general conference talk: “What do you do when you have prepared carefully, have prayed fervently, waited a reasonable time for a response, and still do not feel an answer? You may want to express thanks when that occurs, for it is an evidence of His trust. When you are living worthily and your choice is consistent with the Savior’s teachings and you need to act, proceed with trust. As you are sensitive to the promptings of the Spirit, one of two things will certainly occur at the appropriate time: either the stupor of thought will come, indicating an improper choice, or the peace or the burning in the bosom will be felt, confirming that your choice was correct. When you are living righteously and are acting with trust, God will not let you proceed too far without a warning impression if you have made the wrong decision” (“Using the Supernal Gift of Prayer,” Ensign, May 2007, 10).

It’s a valuable experience sometimes to pray and not immediately receive the answer you feel you need. It’s all conditioned, of course, on our living the way we should, continuing to seek His guidance, and being open to those promptings.

We ought to remember we don’t dictate to God the timing of His answers to us and the content of what comes in response to our prayers. I learned this when I was about 16. I was in the pageant at Hill Cumorah. I lived in New Jersey at the time, and they had some of the youth from New Jersey and New York as participants. I thought I had a deep belief in the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and felt that they were true and that the First Vision was as he described it. I thought, “This is the perfect chance. I’ll go to the Sacred Grove one night after the performance and get the final confirmation I need there.”

So I did. I went there late one night. It was a beautiful summer evening. Nobody else was there—perfectly reverent and peaceful. And I prayed. I didn’t ask for anything specific. I just said, “Can I have some confirmation of my belief?” Really I wanted a testimony of my feeling about the Prophet and the Book of Mormon.

Nothing happened. I prayed a long time—I’m sure more than an hour. Nothing. I was really disappointed. I said, “What did I do wrong? Why didn’t the Lord answer me? Wasn’t it the perfect place, the perfect time? What should I have done that I didn’t do?”

Later, what I was looking for came, but it was at home in a quiet moment when I was reading the Book of Mormon. That witness from the Holy Ghost flooded over me, and I knew. I knew I knew. And when I looked back on the experience, I said, “Why didn’t He answer my prayer then? Why was it later?” I learned two important lessons from that:

First, you don’t have to be any place special for the Lord to answer your prayer. You don’t have to make a pilgrimage to Palmyra or Jerusalem or anything like that. He knows where you are. He knows your name. He can answer you right here, right now, any moment.

And second, you don’t dictate to God. You just don’t tell Him what and when. That comes according to His will and His timing and His wisdom. He loves us; He knows what’s best for us, and our job is to be open. Our job is always to be willing and ready to receive. Then He knows what’s best and when to answer us and how to answer us. So, after all is said and done, we still have to live by faith.

Prayer is one of the things that will give us the strength and the power to be examples of the believers. The influence of the Lord, the meaningfulness of our prayers, His guidance in our life day to day, the strength that comes with all of that really does make it possible for us to consistently be examples of the believers in everything we do.

When Enos prayed, He prayed about himself first and then about the Nephites and then the Lamanites—even his enemies were a part of his concern. That really makes prayer meaningful, to focus on others.

We need a time where we can pray as long as we feel we want to and need to.

I think that’s the most meaningful kind of prayer we can achieve, where the Spirit guides the prayer as well as the responses from our Heavenly Father.

God loves us; He knows what’s best for us, and our job is always to be willing and ready to receive.

Monday, August 24, 2020

WELCOME to seminary with Bro. Barlow - How to start right

"Treasure up in your minds continually the words of life" D&C 84:85

"And they said unto me: What meaneth the ^arod of iron which our father saw, that led to the tree?

"And I said unto them that it was the ^aword of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would ^bhold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the ^ctemptations and the fiery ^ddarts of the ^eadversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction." 1 Nephi 15:23-24

CRITICAL!!! PLEASE DO THIS BEFORE YOUR FIRST DAY OF CLASS

Welcome! Brother Hugh and I are so excited for a new school year and that we get to start seminary together with you studying the Book of Mormon at Centerville Junior High.

As you know, we are going to have to be flexible and adapt. One challenge/opportunity will be learning remotely and relying on technology to stay in touch and provide some of our lessons.

We can't even officially add you to our classes until you have a Church account! Please do this now.

It's going to be exciting and we will work through the challenging bits together, but we need EVERY student to do ONE thing before school starts.

1) Create and/or have access to your personal Church account (not your parent's or your grandma's). That means you have a Church account, you know your login name and password, and you make sure your MRN is linked to your account.

Please follow the steps in this video to get that done. It will take less than 5 minutes and save us hours of class time. Thanks! Bro. Barlow & Bro. Hugh

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

ONLINE SEMINARY THROUGH CANVAS INSTRUCTIONS

Students,

We have been working diligently to prepare this online resource on Canvas for you and it is now up and running. This will be the mode we will use through April at least. For this week, please choose from the following options in order to receive credit this week. In either option, we will still have the Zoom video sessions on Friday.

Option 1: (Complete this on your own and discuss with your families)... Study Enos-Mosiah 4 using the Book of Mormon Student Study Guide (in Gospel Library... found by opening the Gospel Library App, then going to Seminaries and Institutes, then to Seminary, then to Book of Mormon Study Guide for Home-Study Seminary Students). Use the guide to supplement your study, answer the questions using the note function in Gospel Library.

Option 2: Access Canvas through this website: silearn.churchofjesuschrist.org and sign in with your LDS username and password (account.churchofjesuschrist.org if you need to reset, etc.). You can enter into this class (COVID Book of Mormon) and choose two modules to complete this week (anywhere from Enos through Mosiah 4, posted below). The nice thing about Canvas is that you can interact with your peers and teachers on the discussion boards and get more insights. It's also something you can go back to in your own family studies that will give you a place to turn to to remember insights that you gained. You can also access Canvas on the app by following the instructions in this tutorial: https://youtu.be/_me-HDilYmg (Links to an external site.)

This weeks lesson options on Canvas (again...choose 2 that you want to study)

BM Lesson 49: Enos

BM Lesson 50: Jarom and Omni

BM Lesson 51: Words of Mormon–Mosiah 1

BM Lesson 52: Mosiah 2

BM Lesson 53: Mosiah 3

BM Lesson 54: Mosiah 4

***Whichever option you choose, you will also be able to join a Zoom session on Friday using meeting ID 583 619 8126. You can choose to join a 40 minute session at one of the following times: 9:00, 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, or 1:00 through the website (zoom.us) or on the Zoom app (free download).

You can reach out to us at any time with any questions. We love and miss you all and look forward to interacting with you via Canvas and Zoom!

Friday, May 17, 2019

Test Prep TEST ON MONDAY

Here are my recommendations for preparing for the test on Monday.

1) You can take the test online at any time this weekend.

Go to http://la.ldschurch.org/online login with your lds account and select the assessment called Doctrine and Covenants 76-Official Declaration 2 Learning Assessment. I would recommend that you do this if you will be missing class on Monday or if you do better with tests when you have more time to think about it. Anyone can take the test online before or during class. Please don't use your scriptures or any other study help when you take the test.

2) Go to join.quizizz.com and use these two game codes to review the material before you take the test.

GAMECODE 093125 (this one will help you master the 10 Doctrinal Mastery passages that are on the test.
GAMECODE 494520 (this one will ask you to login...just make one up...AND it will prepare you for the type of questions that are on the final)

3) Work through the Study Guide (everything on this study guide will be on the test. Please don't miss the BOLDED/HIGHLIGHTED SECTION below..that section will help you prepare for the WRITING portion of the test)

The study guide is available in 2 ways

Online/Gospel library. CLICK HERE TO OPEN IT. The hyperlinks in the online version will speed up your study.
Right here. What could be easier? Links should work here too.

Doctrine and Covenants 76–Official Declaration 2

Doctrinal mastery questions: Understand the doctrine taught in the doctrinal mastery passages.

Doctrine and Covenants 76:22–24

Doctrine and Covenants 82:10

Doctrine and Covenants 84:20–22

Doctrine and Covenants 88:118

Doctrine and Covenants 89:18–21

Doctrine and Covenants 107:8

Doctrine and Covenants 121:36, 41–42

Doctrine and Covenants 130:22–23

Doctrine and Covenants 131:1–4

Doctrine and Covenants 135:3

Context questions: Understand some of the major events or accounts that surround and give background to a particular passage.

The messengers who restored certain priesthood keys to the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple (see D&C 110:11–16)

Principles the Prophet Joseph Smith learned about trials while in Liberty Jail (see D&C 122:7)

The major gathering places of the early Saints (see D&C 124, section heading; D&C 136, section heading, 1–18)

The establishment of the Relief Society (see Daughters in My Kingdom: The History and Work of Relief Society [2011], 11–25)

The coming forth of the Pearl of Great Price (see the introduction to the Pearl of Great Price)

Doctrine and principles: Understand major doctrine and principles taught in the Doctrine and Covenants.

The oath and covenant of the priesthood (see D&C 84:33–44), resurrection and kingdoms of glory (see D&C 88:14–24), the Word of Wisdom (see D&C 89), watchmen on the tower (see D&C 101:43–62), Church disciplinary councils (see D&C 102; True to the Faith: A Gospel Reference [2004], 37–38), when the practice of plural marriage is justified (see D&C 132:45, 48), and tithing (see D&C 119)

Temple work (see D&C 109; 110), performing ordinances for our ancestors (see D&C 128:15), and preaching the gospel in the spirit world (see D&C 138:29–32)

Receiving a kingdom of glory and receiving exaltation in the celestial kingdom (see D&C 76:30–70; 131:1–4; 137:10)

Truths taught in “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” (see “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,”Ensign or Liahona, May 2017, 145)

WRITING QUESTION: The role of the Prophet Joseph Smith in restoring truth, ordinances, and the priesthood (see D&C 135:3)

Revelation announced in Official Declaration 2

Succession in the First Presidency when a prophet dies (see D&C 107:23–24)

The new and everlasting covenant of marriage (see D&C 132:19–21)

Key terms: Understand the meaning of key terms.

Being endowed in the temple (see D&C 95:8; 109:22–23)

The highlighted and bolded prompt above will help you prepare for the written portion of the test. Study and prepare to write about:

Any truth restored to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith and how that truth can help you receive eternal life.

Any ordinance that was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith and how that ordinance can help you receive eternal life.

Any example of priesthood authority that was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith and how it can help you receive eternal life.

Your personal thoughts on the importance of the Prophet Joseph Smith

Remember, the whole purpose of the learning assessment is to help you remember how much we have learned together and to ponder how these truths can bless you and your family. Please continue the learning process by discussing what you have learned with your parents.

The Iron Rod