{Believe, Obey, Endure - President Monson}

This week I am preparing for a lesson on the talk "Believe, Obey, & Endure." This was given by President Monson to the Young Women.

Since I need a "THEME" to help me personalize my lessons, I have decided on the Olympics. I'm hoping that it is still fresh on everyone's mind.  I purchased Gold Medal's from target. $1.99 for 1-dozen. I'll be showing you my packaging and artwork to go with these soon.

This is VERY rough. I'm just beginning my outline but this is the general direction I will go with the opening section of the lesson.

I was watching the news a few weeks ago after the Olympics were over and I saw some stats on the media coverage from the Olympics.

Basically stated that The London Olympics had a much higher %age of viewers than

Bejing. And in the USA,  Utah had the highest number of viewers in the Country.

I know that I was addicted especially to swimming and gymnastics. I'm curious how many of you watched a good portion of the Olympics? Raise Hands

Why do you think that people in general were fixated on the Olympics? What made you want to watch? (NAME)

For me it is exciting to watch what I believe that I could never do. It seems impossible for the average person but there are these amazingly talented people who ARE doing it.

SISTER Ross... I know that you like to run and I have heard that you are quite good at it.

What if I came to you and said that I was an Olympic Scout. I have seen you run and I think that you have the capability and potential to be an Olympic GOLD medalist and I want to train you.

ARE YOU WILLING?

What if I said that I've seen all of you in Action and that ALL of you have this same potential to be a Gold Medalist. ?

Some of you are smiling but I PROMISE you that this program that I have developed is fool proof. It has NEVER failed as long as people have followed it.

I'm not going to lie, it is a little tough, it requires hard work and discipline but I PROMIE you that even with our crazy schedules as mother, grandmothers, workers it IS DOABLE!

So who's with me? Who wants to train to be the next Gold Medalist?

There is ONE catch. This isn't the Olympics that we just watched on TV a few weeks ago, it is the HEAVENLY Olympics.

There are some significant differences between the Heavenly and the Earthly Olympics.

1.  We are ALL invited to participate in the H.O..  /  In Earthly Olympics less than 1% are able to participate.

2.  In our Earthly Olympics every aspect is a competition. there is always a winner and a loser. Whether it be in our work, sports, school. It seems like we are ALWAYS competing. /

          In the H.O. Heavenly Father requires that we all work together and not compete against each other. In fact he wants us to all WIN GOLD.  The only competition involved in the Heavenly Olympics is the internal competition between the spirit and the Flesh.

I was given two talks for this lesson. The first is titled "ABIDE IN THE LORD'S TERRITORY" by Elder Soares

He talks about this internal competition a lot. He quotes George Albert Smith and says,  “There is a line of demarcation well defined between the Lord’s territory and the devil’s territory." - What do you think that he means here? 

DRAW LINE (I started with the basic horizontal line, then added the rest as I went through the lesson)

While we are here on earth it seems like we can easily bounce back and forth between the Lords Territory and the devils territory and like I said before, this is the only competition we face.

The SECOND talk I was given is by President Monson. He was speaking to the YW in the last conference and he gave a basic testimony of how YW in the church can remain strong and faithful to the truths of the gospel.

He broke the talk down to 3 basic principles. BELIEVE, OBEY and ENDURE.

·         Just like the process that I walked each of you through to see if you wanted to be a GOLD medalist in the Olympics. You had to BELIVE me that you could be an Olympian, You had to Obey my program that I was going to give you and then ENDURE the pain and suffering that goes a long with training to be an Olympic Gold Medalist.

Pres Monson has basically done the same thing with these YW and talked about the diff phases of our lives and how each one of these applies to the different principals from the Lord. BEL, OBEY, END. (Fill in words on LINE above)

BELIEVE - He started at Birth until age 8 (Fill in ages on LINE above}- WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THIS STAGE IN LIFE? Characteristics of children at this stage?

·     

·         We are "innocent before God, Satan had no power to tempt us and we were not yet accountable." Unconditional Love, They are Trusting, They'll do anything you say.  

·         On a quick google search I read on three different sites that children are most impressionable from birth to third grade.

·         I think that this is a little daunting as parents to know that we are the main influence of our children in the phase. I know this, I have heard it a hundred times but in the daily chaos, I sometimes forget to take a step back and realize how important this phase of their lives are as far as the decisions they'll make and the way that they'll respond to things when they are older.

·         Do any of you have thoughts on what we can do to help influence the children around us in this phase?

·         One thing that I try to do is reward good choices and make a huge deal out of them and many times depending on the situation I tell them that HF is proud of that choice as well.

·         BELIEVE - I think, like I said that these children are innocent and they do Believe EVERYTHING that we tell them. If we can give them a basic testimony they'll carry that with them forever.

OBEY - The second phase that he talked about to these YW are the "TERRIBLE TEENS" and then he called them the "TERRIFIC TEENS" ;)

I don't know about you but my teenage years were both TERRIFIC and TERRIBLE (or Terrifying) at times.

Pres Monson Says, " They are also prime years when Satan will tempt you and will do his utmost to entice you from the path which will lead you back to that heavenly home from which you came and back to your loved ones there and back to your Heavenly Father."

·    

Last week I was asked to talk to the Laurels in YW about group dating. But as I was thinking about what I would say to them I reflected back on how I got to where I am today. Why did I choose to be married in the Temple. How was I able to be worth of making that choice?

·   

When I talked to them I told them my KEY pieces of advice that I always tell my nieces and nephews. 1. Listen to your mother (they laughed and rolled their eyes), 2. Wear your Seat Belt (my car accident), 3. Choose Good Friends. - 

Tell Relate-able Story about growing up and having to choose better friends. 

·       I don't have teenagers yet so I'm wondering if any of you have had teenagers can share your thoughts on how we can help influence our teenagers to OBEY and choose the right?

·       

Obviously we as parents need to Obey as well as be good examples to our teenagers.

·       

But Personally I think that helping our children align themselves with GOOD friends is key to their "surviving" the teenage years. 

·       TIM TEBOW article and Link... There was an article in the NY Times about Tim Tebow. If any of you follow NFL Football you probably know him but It was about how hard it was going to be for Tim Tebow to live in NYC because he has committed to being CHASTE until marriage and he is 25 years old.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/sports/football/a-chaste-tim-tebow-will-have-company-in-new-york.html?_r=1&ref=timtebow

In a few other articles -http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865561033/Tim-Tebow-Mormon-singles-target-chastity-and-abstinence-in-New-York-City.html?pg=all Tebow states that he has a friend(s) who are his "accountability" partners. 

For our sons - He is a great role model and more proof that solid friends make a big difference. Same with this kid: 

ENDURE - What does it mean to Endure?

·         Definition: to withstand with courage

·         Pres Monson said, " Courage may be necessary for you to believe; it will at times be necessary as you obey. It will most certainly be required as you endure until that day when you will leave this mortal existence."

·         Going back to the talk given by Elder Soares - He said, "You can't be right by doing wrong; you can't be wrong by doing right." and he gave 4 indicators to all of us to help us ENDURE. (write these 4 things under the EUNDURE section of the LINE)

·         DESIRE - With the line of Demarcation between the Lords and the Devils Territory he said, " If you will stay on the Lord’s side of the line you will be under his influence and will have no desire to do wrong; but if you cross to the devil’s side of that line one inch you are in the tempter’s power and if he is successful, you will not be able to think or even reason properly because you will have lost the Spirit of the Lord” 

·         Attitude -  If our attitudes are good, they are inspired of God, for every good thing comes from God. However, if our attitudes are bad, we are being influenced by the enemy because he persuades men to do evil.

·         REMEMBER OUR COVENANTS - The remembrance of our covenants must guide our behavior in relation to our family, in our social interaction with other people, and especially in our relationship with the Savior.

·         BANISH TEMPTATION - The Savior banished from His life any influence that might take His focus away from His divine mission, especially when He was tempted by the enemy or by his followers while He ministered here on earth. Although He never sinned, He had a broken heart and a contrite spirit, full of love for our Heavenly Father and for all men. He humbled Himself before our Father in Heaven, denying His own will to fulfill what the Father had asked of Him in all things until the end. Even at that moment of extreme physical and spiritual pain, carrying the burden of the sins of all mankind on His shoulders and shedding blood through His pores, He told the Father, “Nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt” (Mark 14:36).

·         CASTAWAY MOVIE - Has anyone seen this movie?

o   During the entire time on the island CHUCK was preparing to get off. He finally thought that he was prepared to do it on his own. he built his little raft and oars and was ready to go home. But then the rain came, he lost WILSON, his raft was slowly falling apart and he was low on food. Finally almost in a ceremony, he took his oars and quietly placed them in the water as a sign that he was giving into the will of the sea. He fell asleep and then the whale sprayed him with water, woke him up and he was saved.

o   The key to enduring is submitting to the will of our Heavenly Father.

In 3rd Nephi 15:9: Behold, I am the alaw, and the blight. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall clive; for unto him that dendureth to the end will I give eternal life.

GIVE GOLD MEDALS WHILE SAYING...

Although we still have to BELIEVE and OBEY in our lives as adults the key to eternal life is the endurance. If we can "abide in the lords territory" and follow the three simple steps, BELIEVE< OBEY < ENDURE we can all be gold medalists in the Heavenly Olympics.

Share your thoughts and ideas on this talk. It's a good one!
http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/general-young-women-meeting/2012/03/believe-obey-and-endure?lang=eng