Sunday School and Elder's Quorum meetings were really good yesterday. I taught Gospel Doctrine again. We finally have a teacher called and he'll begin next week. But while I had the chance, I taught Gospel Doctrine. Class participation was pretty good. I felt pretty good about how the lesson was going, but it seemed to be hobbling along. Then one sister gave this great comment to a question I posed. We were discussing the mission of John the Baptist and how we can apply what he did to our own lives. The comment she made was that we need to find our own calling in life. Of course she elaborated more than that, but the essence was really good. From there I bore my testimony about how not only should we "do" all the Sunday School answers (pray, read the scriptures, temple attendance, go to church, serve, etc.) but that we should specifically ask Heavenly Father what it is we need to say or do with regard to our families and those over whom we have a responsibility.
For example, we can pray about what we should say in our lesson to our families that we visit and teach. We can pray to know whose life we can touch that day. I told the class of an article I read by Elder Eyring when I was a missionary about how he would pray every morning to know whose life he could touch that day. I just went and found the article. Elder Eyring's son said, “Something that we all feel about Dad is that he has the ability to make us feel that we are valuable people. He always makes me want to try harder. My father has told us that there are two things that he prays for every night. The first is, ‘What blessings do I have that I am not aware of?’ and the second is, ‘Whom can I help?’ And,” Matthew adds, “Dad says there has never been a day that his prayers haven’t been answered.” (Ensign, September 1995, 10) So Sunday School went well and I felt the Spirit.
Elder's Quorum was really good too. The teacher was really animated (he's a great person!). Anyway, we got into a discussion about what we need to overcome in this life. He gave this pretty good analogy. He said that life is like walking up an escalator that is going down. If we stand still, then we'll go down. If we walk or run the other direction, then we'll overcome the downward pull of the "natural man." What I really liked is when he said that know what our temptations are and if we know what they are, then we know how to overcome them and then it is simply a matter of doing it. President Kimball was a big promoter of doing rather than knowing. Knowing is important, but doing is more important. It was a good lesson.
Our home is sold. We have a contract on a new home. It's all a matter of time and signatures now. January 31 is the big day. We're hoping to rent our place back from the new owners so that we have a bit of time to move out and clean it up. A lot of people in our ward (along with the missionaries) are going to have a great opportunity to serve at the end of the month!
