Sunday, September 29th Pinetown ward - getting extra wheelchairs

Today, we attended Pinetown Ward again, so Elder Kyle could get some wheelchairs. He has turned into the wheelchair guy. If people need chairs, he finds a way to get them their chairs. Luckily, there are some extras in a room at the Pinetown building.

In sacrament meeting, the first speaker was a woman who said that if you really want to do what is right, you will have no more desire to do wrong. As an example, she talked about the Anti-Nephi-Lehites and how they were truly converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Are we more concerned about what the Lord thinks about us or about what others think about us? When you are truly converted you will not criticize others, but love and help others. Devote time to pray. If you don't feel like praying, that means that this is a critical time to pray. When you convert, you want to pay your tithe...you see it as a privilege and the blessings are worth more that the money you paid. Be truly converted and you will find peace in your lives.

The second speaker was the second counselor in the bishopric. He said he was speaking because he just found out the speaker was not coming: True disciples of Jesus Christ want to serve others. In the commandment to love one another, Jesus Christ demonstrated perfect love by paying for our sins. Perfect love means we bear one another's burdens, mourn with those that mourn and comfort those who stand in need of comfort. No man can be a true follower of Christ who is not neighborly, who does not reach out to help others. If we go outside, we will see those on the street with no food and no clothes. If we have so much, how can we not help those in need? In the scripture where Jesus was asked, "When saw me naked and clothed me...", he answered that if you do it to the least of these my brethren, you do it unto me. To become as God wants us to be, we must rejoice in the service of others. As we serve in our callings, we bless the lives of others, regardless of how insignificant we think our callings are. Heavenly Father has called us to feed his sheep and says he will reward us for all our sacrifices. People are turning down callings. Accept these callings from the Lord. You have an obligation when you are called. Moses, who was called to save the children of Israel by taking them out of Egypt said, "Who am I who should go to Pharaoh and say these things. I am not eloquent, but am slow of speech...slow tongue." The Lord tells him, "Go and I will be with thee." This reminds me of Nephi. God gave him a commandment to build a ship. Nephi didn't know how to build a ship, so the Lord helped him. Trust in the Lord and he will provide a way. When the Lord was looking for his apostles he chose fishermen, not great orators. If we have faith, all is possible to God. The Lord has not chosen the great and learned, but humble people who are willing to be led and guided by the Holy Spirit. As we strive to serve others, let us look at the Savior. He showed the importance of this by washing his apostles feet. Perform labors for others that they cannot do for themselves. True happiness lies in helping others. When we serve others, we increase our ability to love and our everyday challenges will seem smaller. Bless the lives of others and make the world a better place. Give of your time and talents to build up his Kingdom. He gives us the duty to make sure not a single soul is lost. Sustain the leaders of the Church. The Book of Mormon is true and will help us if we follow its teachings and learn from the mistakes of those on its pages.

The next speaker talked about avoiding temptation. He spoke about when Jesus was tempted by Satan. When Satan asked him to prove that he was the son of God, Jesus did not succumb to this temptation. Sometimes when people are found stealing, you find them saying that they had no choice, because they had to put food on the table. I tell you that you always have a choice. Put Heavenly Father first and no more will we worry about what we shall eat or where we will sleep. When Satan challenged Jesus, he said, "Do not tempt the Lord thy God." Satan showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and offered all if Jesus would fall down and worship him. Jesus did not hesitate to send Satan away. We need to do the same and withstand temptation without hesitation. Jesus reminds us in 2 Timothy 3:10-14, "Of all the persecutions I have suffered, the Lord delivered me. Continue thou in the things thou hast learned." Lead righteous lives. The Devil waits for the weak moments to tell us lies and to tempt us, because he wants us to go against Heavenly Father's teachings. In these difficult times, we need to follow the commandments and keep strong by drawing nearer to the Savior, by prayer, living the commandments and reading the scriptures, so that when the tempter comes we can answer like Jesus Christ did when he was tempted. I've thought from time to time that if I hadn't had such a mess in my earlier life, I could have served a mission and my life would have been on track a lot sooner, and I could have avoided some bad things in my life. Then I thought that it is not too late to be exemplary. We may be thinking that we are enjoying ourselves, so why get married, but when you meet someone you truly love, the Lord will bless you and your relationship." "And now my sons it is upon the rock of Jesus Christ that when the devil sends forth his mighty winds...it shall have no power over you." If you build your life on the sure foundation, you will be able to withstand temptation. Pray in the morning, noon and night for the companionship of the Holy Ghost to be your guide. It's not easy to walk by ourselves. Ask Heavenly Father to be with you, as you start your day and it will be easier to withstand temptation. In 3 Nephi, Heavenly Father counsels us to pray on fighting temptation. We are not here by chance. Heavenly Father has picked us to go out and help others who are tempted by their peers. Do not be afraid to stand up and shine. Follow the Savior's example and say, "Get thee behind me Satan." Draw near unto God and he will draw near unto you.

Then we went to Sunday School where we talked about the temple and what it might symbolize. Underneath the temple is a very solid foundation. Pioneers began building the temple right away when they came to a new area. The layout of the city focused the people on the temple. As we prepare for the Durban temple, let's think of whether the temple is central in our lives. Let us make our temple our ultimate and earthly home. At the Salt Lake Temple, the excavation was done by hand. On April 6, 1853, the cornerstones were laid, but they had to stop because the government thought they were plotting against them. They came to inspect the town and the workers covered the cornerstones up with dirt, to avoid any questions about what they were building. When they uncovered the stones (made of sandstone) they found some cracks in the stones. They had to take these stones out and replace them with rock hard granite. Brigham Young said that he wanted this temple to stand through the millennium. He said that hundreds of other temples would be built, but that this temple would stand as a beautiful, magnificent house of the Lord. It was built through dedication, endurance, perseverance, love of God, faith and hope. It took the saints 40 years to finish building the temple. Those who worked on that temple for 40 years, many of them never got a chance to go there. D&C 64:33-34  (Really love God) and D&C 82: 10, "I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye will have no promise."

Relief Society and Priesthood meeting was combined. The Stake Welfare person came and talked about being self-reliant and believing in yourself to help you find work. She explained the various resources of the church to help those looking for jobs, creating resumes, interviewing skills, etc. and gave out websites for them to search for LDS jobs...basically how to make use of the church's resources. She told them to sign up for the workshop to help them learn to get jobs.

Sister Wilson (Relief Society President and her husband a member of the bishopric) invited us and the Sutherlands (Seminary and Institute couple) to come to their home for dinner on Monday. We told her of our FHE meetings, so she said to come Thursday instead. That was a very nice offer, so of course we said we would love to come. We filled the car with wheelchairs after church and headed for home...Another really nice day.