Calorie Link and Sunday's Announcement

Want to know how many calories are in the food you are about to eat?? Look it up on Calorie Connect. Thanks for the link Susan!

Now for the announcements...

Volunteers are needed at St. John's (6th and B) to help make sandwiches tomorrow at 1:00. Please contact Susan Holder if you are able to help and with any questions.

The ward activity is Wednesday night at 6:30. The Cub Scouts will be showing off their pinewood cars as they race them in the Pinewood Derby.

Be sure to get your Visiting Teaching done this month so we can reach our goal of 100% the Stake Presidency asked us to make. If you are unable to finish it, please let someone in the RS Presidency know by Monday so it can be done for you. If you do have it completed, Sister Condren will love to get a phone call from you! ;)

Don't forget about General Conference next weekend! Check your email for a ward email with a conference packet for your kids.

Our next Relief Society meeting is April 6th at 6:30. We will be doing mini-classes to help out with our Relief Society University goals.

Beginning with the May newsletter (Charity Chatter), we will have a Question of the Month. May's question is this: How do you save money/cut costs in your family? You can email or write out responses to Kim Hackworth.

Family Search and a Yummy Recipe

Susan Holder found this on the Family Search website. It's online classes to help you learn how to research your family. It looks like an easy way to get started! Family Search Education

Now to the yummy recipe! I made this for Becky Bowman's baby shower last night and Jen Houston asked me to post it to the blog. You can also find it on the packaging for Hormel's Real Crumbled Bacon.

BLT Dip

1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
1 (4.3 oz) package of Hormel Premium Real Crumbled Bacon
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 cup shredded lettuce
Assorted crackers, for dipping

In bowl, combine mayonnaise, sour cream, bacon, and diced tomatoes. Place in large pie plate or on platter. Chill until serving time. Before serving, place shredded lettuce around the edges. Sprinkle with additional bacon or tomatoes, if desired. Serve with assorted crackers for dipping.

Ok...that's what the package says but this is what I do to mine. I put mine in a bowl, not a messy pie plate. Also, I mix the shredded lettuce up in the dip instead of placing it around the edges. And I just use whatever looks right with the lettuce instead of making sure it's a cup. I really love using the flavored crackers with this (like Ritz's vegetable crackers). I also don't substitute Miracle Whip for the mayo and I don't substitute the fake bacon bits either. If you use the real bacon bits instead of cooking your own and crumbling them up yourself, it will be less fattening.

If you are someone who hates mayonnaise and/or sour cream by themselves, you will still like this! I hate both of those but I eat this dip up like it's going out of style. So give it a try!!

Scripture Reading

I found this site today while I was working on finding a handout for our March Visiting Teaching Message. It's called Read the Scriptures. If you sign up, then you will receive reading schedules from any of the Standard Works, Preach My Gospel, the Gospel Doctrine schedule, or the Seminary schedule. You can also make your own customized schedule. After you complete your reading assignment, then you click the Completed button at the end of the email and you will be sent the next one. I'm hoping this will help me with my reading! You can also have teams to help motivate and encourage each other on it. If any of you have any ideas on how to motivate ourselves to read our scriptures like we are supposed to, please email me and I will post them here on our blog.

Fun Blog

I found this blog somewhere...probably linked off of Sugardoodle. Anyway, it's a fun blog full of fun craft ideas including some precious scripture totes. You can find it here...Brown Paper Packages. Have fun!

March 14 Announcements and RS Lesson

Announcements:

Volunteers are needed every Monday at 1:00 to make sandwiches at St. John's (6th and B).

The weight-loss group will meet Wednesday at 6:30 in the RS room. Men are welcome to attend too!

Visiting Teaching interviews are being held this month. Emails have been sent out with your time. If you need to change your time or find out when it is, please contact Kim Hackworth.

Be sure to get your Visiting Teaching done this month and reported to Sister Condren or Sister Holder. The Stake Presidency is asking for 100% completion this month.

Our Ward Temple day is March 20th.

Don't forget to work on your Relief Society University and/or Personal Progress.

Steph taught our lesson on the Creation out of the Gospel Principles manual. You can access it here.

Fort Smith and Spanish Missionaries Need Help

If anyone has any spare twin-size beds and/or some decent mattresses, please contact the missionaries. They would really like to have them! And they deserve a good night's sleep for doing the work they do. :) You can also call Kim Hackworth at 646-7638 and I can pass the information along. Thanks!

FHE Lesson Plan Sharing Project

As part of the R.S. we are putting together this wonderful project.

Those interested will be responsible for putting together two complete FHE Lessons 'kits' and make copies for all other participants.

Example: 10 participants=10 copies of each FHE kit per participant=a final product of 20 FHE kits for everyone to have for future use.

Depending on the interest we may have to do more than one group.

We will be taking interested participants through March 7th. I will pass sign-up sheets at church and accept sign-ups through email.

Our first meeting to give instruction will be on March 13th. It will be a 'brunch' type meeting at my house.

It's a lot of fun and SOOO helpful to have a ton of FHE's already planned out.

This is obviously something geared toward sisters with small children (around ages 2-10) but not exclusive to those sisters.

If you have grandchildren or you know someone who would benefit from this resource feel free to participate!

If you are interested or have questions please email me: gibsoncasa@gmail.com

Personal Progress with the Young Women

"The Young Women of our ward are so excited several women and mothers in the ward are interested in participating in the Personal Progress program along with them! We have additional books on order, and are excited to work together."

"Should I do Personal Progress with my mother? - You are invited to participate in Personal Progress with your mother. Both of you are constantly doing so many good things. You can encourage each other and recognize the good things you are doing and you can even approve each other’s projects and sign each other’s books! Have fun together, and if your mother does not desire to participate, you may also do Personal Progress with an older young woman or another righteous woman who is working on her Personal Progress. You can also ask for the help of your leaders when you need it."

(all from Sister Dalton, general YW Pres., Jan. 2010 New Era)

Here's an article from the Church News on the new Personal Progress program.

The Church is also developing a new website just for Personal Progress. You can access it at personalprogress.lds.org.

For information on what our ward is doing you can contact Jen Houston or Kira Gustin.

This is a great opportunity to get to know our Young Women better and work on your own spiritual growth at the same time.

Email Subscriptions

If you have signed up to receive email updates and haven't been getting them, try signing up again. I changed the email subscription. It's still Feedburner and you still follow the same steps, but it's been updated. Please let Kim Hackworth know if you are still having problems receiving updates. Thank you!!

"How do you know when your prayer is answered--when the answer is from the Lord and not from your own warm, earnest, and even well-motivated desires?"

Marion G. Romney, “Q&A: Questions and Answers,” New Era, Oct. 1975, 34–35

Answer/President Marion G. Romney

The way I know when the Lord answers my prayers is, in most cases, by the way I feel.

The Lord’s explanations to Oliver Cowdery on this subject are very enlightening. They are found in the sixth, eighth, and ninth sections of the Doctrine and Covenants.

At the time these revelations were given, the Prophet Joseph Smith was translating the Book of Mormon. Oliver, who was acting as his scribe, was concerned about getting a sure witness to the truth of the work in which they were engaged. In response to Oliver’s prayer, the Lord gave him, through the Prophet, the following:

“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, blessed art thou for what thou hast done; for thou hast inquired of me, and behold, as often as thou hast inquired thou hast received instruction of my Spirit. If it had not been so, thou wouldst not have come to the place where thou art at this time.

“Behold, thou knowest that thou hast inquired of me and I did enlighten thy mind; and now I tell thee these things that thou mayest know that thou hast been enlightened by the Spirit of truth;

“Yea, I tell thee, that thou mayest know that there is none else save God that knowest thy thoughts and the intents of thy heart.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things.

“Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?” (D&C 6:14–16, 22–23.)

From these statements of the Lord I know that an answer from the Lord to my prayers enlightens and brings peace to my mind.

The Lord confirmed this fact when a few days later He said:

“Oliver Cowdery, verily, verily, I say unto you, that assuredly as the Lord liveth, who is your God and your Redeemer, even so surely shall you receive a knowledge of whatsoever things you shall ask in faith, with an honest heart, believing that you shall receive a knowledge concerning the engravings of old records, which are ancient, which contain those parts of my scripture of which has been spoken by the manifestation of my Spirit.

“Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.

“Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation; behold, this is the spirit by which Moses brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground.” (D&C 8:1–3.)

In the revelation containing these verses the Lord authorized and gave Oliver the power to do some translating. Because he did not proceed to translate but continued to act as scribe for the Prophet, the Lord withdrew the commission and spoke to Oliver as follows:

“Do not murmur, my son, for it is wisdom in me that I have dealt with you after this manner.

“Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.

“But behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.

“But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; therefore, you cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me.” (D&C 9:6–9.)

In praying, I try to follow the teachings of these scriptures. When confronted with a problem I prayerfully weigh in my mind alternative solutions and come to a conclusion as to which of them is best. Then in prayer I submit to the Lord my problem, tell him I desire to make the right choice, what is, in my judgment, the right course. Then I ask him if I have made the right decision to give me the burning in my bosom that He promised Oliver Cowdery. When enlightenment and peace come into my mind, I know the Lord is saying yes. If I have a “stupor of thought,” I know he is saying no, and I try again, following the same procedure.

In conclusion, I repeat: I know when and how the Lord answers my prayers by the way I feel.

When we learn to distinguish between the inspiration that comes from the Spirit of the Lord and that which comes from our own uninspired hopes and desires, we need make no mistakes. To this I testify.