THE CHURCH OF
JESUS CHRIST
OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
HOUSTON TEXAS SOUTH STAKE
December 8, 2013
Dear
Brothers & Sisters,
In preparing for our recent Stake
Conference, I felt impressed to extend the following three invitations, or
“Gifts for Christ,” as we ponder the profound gifts He has provided to
us. These Gifts for Christ are things we can do between now and our next
Stake Conference, to bless our own
lives and those around us and to help hasten His work of salvation
here in the Houston Texas South Stake:
1.
Lift your family.
Uplift your family with specific acts and words that will inspire them to grow
closer to God. You have been blessed with your family for
divine purposes. You have made sacred covenants that connect you to each
other. You have the potential
within your family to be together forever. Make
good use of the precious time here on
earth! As with the scriptural examples of family influence of
Enos (see Enos 1:1, 3) and Alma (See Alma 36:17–19), so it can be with us. What
we do, how we “nurture” and “admonish” in our homes and with our families,
matters a great deal. As mothers and fathers, you are blessed to hold lives
together through your love and faith, passed on to the next generation, one
child at a time. As faithful and courageous grandmothers and
grandfathers, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles and cousins, you can do
the same. Even when a family member strays, if you are faithful and
diligent, they will be inspired to return
to God’s ways. For those Stake members who have limited opportunities to
interact with immediate or direct family members, look for ways to lift your
neighbors, friends and coworkers. If you have any questions about ways you can
lift your family/friends, or if you need help in any way with this request, ask your home
or visiting teachers,
any Stake or Ward leader, or any missionary. They can help.
2.
Memorize Scripture –
Commit to memory one of your favorite verses of scripture. If you haven’t
done this before, start small—a single short verse—and build from there.
Learn it “by heart.” It is my hope and my prayer that, as Jeremiah says,
God will put his law in our “inward parts and write it in [our] hearts” (Jer.
31:33). May we learn “by heart” the words of God, so those words
will continually fill our minds with wisdom and then use that wisdom
in His service. If you need help in any way with this request, ask your home or visiting teachers, any
Stake or Ward leader, or any missionary. They can help.
3.
Save an Ancestor
The youth of this great Stake have challenged themselves to do their
family research and find at least one family member who has not yet received
the ordinances of salvation, and take those names to the
temple during the “Find the One” Stake Youth Temple Day on Saturday, January
11, 2014. I ask that every member of this Stake do the same – do family
history research, find an ancestor who has
not yet received the ordinances of salvation, and participate in
an ordinance on behalf of that ancestor. As priesthood quorum and
auxiliary leaders, and as parents, I also ask that you find ways to help our
youth accomplish their goal, and help with the temple work on January 11th
and during the weeks that follow, so that the work for these ancestors can be
completed by next Stake Conference. If you do this, I promise that your
temple experiences will be enriched and that you will better understand the doctrine of “turning
the hearts to the fathers” and the blessings of temple attendance. These ancestors have died
without the full blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They are
helpless without us. We carry the power to bring the saving ordinances to
them and offer our gift. If you feel that all the temple work for your
ancestors has been done, or if you have any questions about this request, ask your home or visiting teachers, any Stake or Ward leader, or any
missionary. They can help.
If you
will do these three things,
you will present a gift for Christ that is fitting for what He has done for
you. If you will present these gifts, I know that you will experience
greater spiritual power and increased blessings in your personal life and
within your families. You will better understand the doctrine of turning
hearts, and you will experience not only increased wisdom and inspiration, but
also increased protection in your life. I testify that Jesus Christ lives,
that He loves us, and that He wants us to draw near to Him and to help everyone
do the same.
In
the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Kenneth S. Barrow
