April 2013

Prayerfully study this material and, as appropriate, discuss it with the sisters you visit. Use the questions to help you strengthen your sisters and to make Relief Society an active part of your own life. For more information, go to reliefsociety.lds.org.

Temple Covenants

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“The saving ordinances received in the temple that permit us to someday return to our Heavenly Father in an eternal family relationship and to be endowed with blessings and power from on high are worth every sacrifice and every effort,” 1 said President Thomas S. Monson. If you have not yet been to the temple, you can prepare to receive sacred temple ordinances by:

• Believing in Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.
• Cultivating a testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the restored gospel.
• Sustaining and following the living prophet.
• Qualifying for a temple recommend by paying tithing, being morally clean, being honest,      keeping the Word of Wisdom, and living in harmony with the teachings of the Church.
• Giving time, talents, and means to help build the Lord’s kingdom.
• Participating in family history work. 2

President Monson further taught, “As we remember the covenants we make within [the temple], we will be more able to bear every trial and to overcome each temptation.” 3

From the Scriptures

Doctrine and Covenants 14:7; 25:13; 109:22

From Our History

“More than 5,000 Saints thronged the Nauvoo Temple after its dedication. …

“The strength, power, and blessings of temple covenants [sustained] the Latter-day Saints during their journey [west], when they [suffered] cold, heat, hunger, poverty, sickness, accidents, and death.” 4

Like many Relief Society sisters, Sarah Rich served as a temple worker. She spoke of her experience: “If it had not been for the faith and knowledge that was bestowed upon us in that temple by … the Spirit of the Lord, our journey would have been like one taking a leap in the dark. … But we had faith in our Heavenly Father, … feeling that we were His chosen people … , and instead of sorrow, we felt to rejoice that the day of our deliverance had come.” 5

The exodus was not a “leap in the dark” for faithful Latter-day Saint women. They were sustained by their temple covenants.

What Can I Do?

    1. Am I worshipping in the temple regularly?
    2. Am I encouraging my sisters to receive temple blessings?

Notes

1. Thomas S. Monson, “The Holy Temple—a Beacon to the World,” Liahona and Ensign, May 2011, 92.
2. See Daughters in My Kingdom: The History and Work of Relief Society (2011), 21.
3. Thomas S. Monson, Liahona and Ensign, May 2011, 93.
4. Daughters in My Kingdom, 29–30.
5. Sarah Rich, in Daughters in My Kingdom, 30.

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Digital elements from Summertimedesigns

March 2013

Prayerfully study this material and, as appropriate, discuss it with the sisters you visit. Use the questions to help you strengthen your sisters and to make Relief Society an active part of your life. For more information, go to reliefsociety.lds.org.

Activation

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Our prophet, President Thomas S  Monson, has encouraged us to “reach out to rescue those who need our help and lift them to the higher road and the better way. … It is the Lord’s work, and when we are on the Lord’s errand, … we are entitled to the Lord’s help.”1

Many years ago LaVene Call and her visiting teaching companion visited a less-active sister. They knocked on the door and found a young mother in her bathrobe. She looked ill, but they soon realized her problem was alcohol. The visiting teachers sat and talked with the struggling young mother.

After they left, they said, “She is a child of God. We have a responsibility to help her.” So they visited often. Each time, they could see and feel a change for good. They asked the sister to attend Relief Society. Though reluctant, she eventually attended regularly. After encouragement, she and her husband and daughter attended church. The husband felt the Holy Ghost. He said, “I’m going to do what the bishop suggests.” Now they are active in the Church and have been sealed in the temple.2

From the Scriptures

3 Nephi 18:32; Doctrine and Covenants 84:106; 138:56

From Our History

Helping those who have gone astray come back to the gospel of Jesus Christ has always been part of being a Latter-day Saint and a member of Relief Society. President Brigham Young (1801–77) said, “Let us have compassion upon each other, … and let those who can see guide the blind until they can see the way for themselves.”3

Eliza R. Snow, second Relief Society general president, gratefully acknowledged the efforts of sisters in Ogden, Utah, USA, to strengthen one another. “I am well aware that a great deal is donated [in terms of service] that never reaches the [record] books,” she said. But recognizing that a heavenly record is kept of the sisters’ work as they reach out to those whose hearts have grown cold, she said: “President Joseph Smith said this society was organized to save souls. … Another book is kept of your faith, your kindness, your good works, and words. … Nothing is lost.”4

What Can I Do?

    1.    Am I confident asking a less-active sister to attend a Relief Society meeting with me?
    2.    Do the sisters I watch over feel comfortable asking me questions about the gospel?

Notes

      1.  Thomas S. Monson, “The Sacred Call of Service,” Liahona and Ensign, May 2005, 55, 56.
      2.  Letter to the Relief Society general presidency from the daughter of LaVene Call.
      3.  Brigham Young, in Daughters in My Kingdom: The History and Work of Relief Society (2011), 107.
      4.  Eliza R. Snow, in Daughters in My Kingdom, 83.


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Digital elements from Summertimedesigns