Hope is the Anchor of Our Souls

I was asked by our Sister missionaries if I would be willing to teach a lesson at our church for Family Home Evening. I was lucky enough to find this blog:

http://sofiasprimaryideas.blogspot.com/2009/10/lds-preach-my-gospel-themed-family-home.html

that had some really good ideas and lessons already posted. I took this young ladies lesson entitled Hope is the Anchor of Our Souls and added to is and adjusted it to fit the setting I would be teaching at on Monday night.

Here is my outline:

Hope is the Anchor of Our Souls

Purpose: Exploring the concept of Hope.

Welcome/Opening Pray

Song: I Know that My Redeemer Lives #136.

Demonstration: 

·       Have a child walk across the room and back.

·       Ask them to bend down, hold on to their legs (hugging them) and walk across the room again, without letting go of their legs.

·       Can they walk across the room?

·       If they can ask: Was it easy to walk like that? Did you feel like you were weighted down?

·       If they cannot ask: Why do you think you were not able to walk across the room again? Did you feel weighted down?

·       This is what an anchor does. It holds something down firmly and won’t let it move.

·       If you have one display the boat anchor and ask:

·       What are some of things in our lives that can make us feel like we are being weighed down or have an anchor attached to us? (Answers can include, stress, finances, illness, etc.)

Post Quote: 

“President James E. Faust taught: “Hope is the anchor of our souls… Hope is trust in God’s promises, faith that if we act now, the desired blessings will be fulfilled in the future… The unfailing source of our hope is that we are sons and daughters of God and that His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, saved us from death.” (“Hope, an Anchor of the Soul,” Ensign, Nov. 1999, 59-60)

·       During this lesson we are going to see how we can make Hope the anchor to our soul

Demonstration: 

Go outside and try to pull a large tree out of the ground OR ask participants to imagine you all go outside together and try to pull a large tree out of the ground.

Why can’t you move it? (its planted, it has roots)

What is the anchor of the tree that keeps it in place? (the roots)

Activity: 

·        Have a drawing of a large tree with 6-10 removable roots.

·        Ask the following questions about hope and place a root on the tree as the answers are given correctly.

·        Possible questions could include:

·                  What is the opposite of Hope? despair

·                  When you feel sad or discouraged, what can you have hope in? Heavenly Father’s love, the Saviors Atonement, the plan of Salvation

·                  Read Ether 12:4, what are some of the things we are told we can hope for in this verse? A better world, a place at the right hand of Heavenly Father

·                  What does hope come from according to Ether 12:4? faith

·                  How does Jesus Christ give us hope? Through his resurrection

·                  Read D&C 138:14, what glorious hope do we get to look forward to? Our own resurrection (might want to explain how families can be together forever fits with resurrection)

·                  Who do we hope to live eternally with in the celestial kingdom? Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ (you might want to point out that we will be resurrected beings)

·                  Explain that Alma 32 helps explain how we can come to a knowledge of the truthfulness of gospel principles.

• Talk about how gospel principles can be a root or an anchor to us

·                  Read Alma 32: 37-38, 41-42 and ask:

• What is the “nourishing the word” in verse 41 refer to and how does that pertain to a tree? The word are the scriptures, nourishing the word is to study the scriptures and life a tree the scriptures will take root in our lives to help us live a happier life anchored in the hope and peace of the plan of salvation and the gift if the resurrection

Concluding Scripture and Quote: 

·        As we root or anchor ourselves in the gospel, let us remember that a member missionary we all must be to our fellow brothers and sisters who are still being weighed down by the anchor of life instead of being anchored in the plan of salvation.

·        It says in Proverbs 12: 3 “A man shall not be established by wickedness: but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.”

·        We must work every day to root ourselves in righteousness.

·        We do this through scripture study, living the commandments, having personal and family prayer, and through missionary work.

·        Post Quote: When we are firm in hope, we can share that with others. 

·        Post Quote: “Being blessed with hope, let us, as disciples, reach out to all whom, for whatever reason, have ‘moved away from the hope of the gospel’ (Col. 1:23). Let us reach to lift hands which hang hopelessly down.” ~ Elder Neal A. Maxwell (p. 117 PMG)

Bear your testimony of the plan of salvation, the joy of resurrection and how these gifts have encouraged and helped you to be a member missionary.

Thank you for coming/closing prayer

For my tree I went to google and put in "tree no roots" so that I could get a picture of a tree. See unlike my daughter, I have no drawing talent what so ever.

I was able to find this: 

I will not share the website because you cannot save the photo from there, but there is what it looked like in google:

As you can see using the search criteria I used the tree comes up at the top on the right hand side. Once I saved the image to my PC I pulled it up in Paint.

I didn't re-size the image or anything to make my large tree. What I did was I went into the print setup settings and made the following changes:

Orientation: landscape

Margins: 0.5 on all sides

Scaling: Fit to: 4 by 4 page(s)

I printed two copies, one if color for the tree and one in black and white for my roots. I cut and taped it all together, except the roots I left those separate.

At our Family Home Evening I hung it up on the chalkboard and then used magnets to "attach" our roots.

As for for my outline. I didn't really touch on most of it. I tend to create my thoughts and then I allow the spirit to dictate what I use and what I don't use during the lesson. If the participants seem to catch onto a concept quickly, then I skip over to the next concept as clearly the spirit needs that concept taught in a deeper way.

One of my greatest joys in life is teaching and specifically teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nothing outside of my children, has ever given more joy and satisfaction thank sharing the love that Jesus has offered to us all.

I hope this lesson or blogger Sofia's lesson can help you at home or in your local ward with teaching and preaching the gospel.

Take Care,

Dianna :)

St Patrick's Day Wreath

I don't consider myself a crafty person, but I have been itching lately to make something. With St Patrick's Day coming up I decided that I would do something for that holiday and since we didn't have a wreath for the door I knew what my project would be! So off to Pinterest I went to look for ideas and found a blog about making a wreath out of material and a wire coat hanger. The only problem Teresa and I had was we didn't have scrap material and we didn't have a wire coat hanger. I would not be daunted though and off to Wal-Mart and Hobby Lobby we went to get supplies.

What you will need if you don't have a coat hanger is this wire wreath frame like this:

We also purchased quilting squares in 12 different patterns in colors of green, yellows, green-browns and even a blue with green and yellow flowers on it. We then cut them per the blog I found into 1" wide by 6" long strips.

Once cut and stacked we then made stacks of 15 strips for each wire on each section. The instructions to make the wreath seemed very easy until we started tying them onto the frame and found that 1" by 6" strips were a little too short. 

When I make my next wreath we will cut the strips in 1" by 8" strips, that should be easier to tie, but not sure how it will look in the end, so stay tuned for that next adventure.

The other thing we figured out as we went along that were not in the blog I found, but might be helpful to you is the placing of the material. First start by identifying which side of the material is the print side:

Its a little hard to see in the photo, but the piece on the left is lighter than on the right, so the right is the print side of the material. This is the side you want on the outside. Then take the strip and fold it in half like below:

This narrows the material and makes it easier to get a good tight knot which in the end will allow longer tails once tied. Once you fold the material in half slip it under the metal wire like so:

After that its simply tying one knot and then a second knot and slide it to the side to you can repeat the process:

I also found out that its easier to do the inner wire first, then move out each wire to the outside a section at a time. At first Teresa was doing one tie in each wire and found that as we were going we were smashing what we had already done and as we got closer to the end of the section it was harder to have room to tie the strips. 

As I was going along I was a little worried about what the end product was going to look like because I felt like colors seemed to be bunched together, but in the end the whole thing looked really good.

Teresa and I really enjoyed ourselves making this wreath together, I think its simple and pretty and personally I think it looks better than the one I found on Pinterest. lol

I hope you take the time to make this project.

Dianna

Tex-Mex Chicken and Rice

Tonight for dinner I made what I am calling Tex-Mex Chicken and Rice. It was quick, easy and very, very taste. I started with four boneless, skinless chicken breast cleaned, seasoned them on both sides with my fejita seasoning mix (http://allrecipes.com/personalrecipe/63506142/fajita-seasoning-mix/detail.aspx) and browned them in EVOO on both sides.



While those were browning I took a jar of salsa, corn and black beans and mixed them together and I grated cheddar cheese. Once the chicken was browned on both sides I lowered the heat and poured the salsa, corn and black bean mixture over the chicken. I let the chicken cook covered while I made the rice, so about 20-25 minutes. About 2 minutes before serving I put grated cheddar cheese over the top.



Once the rice was cooked I put rice on each plate and then spooned the salsa, corn and black bean mixture over the top (except for the kids) then I placed the chicken breast on top.

The chicken was moist, flavorful and everyone really enjoyed it. Can't wait to make this one again!



Here is the recipe:



4 boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 TBSP Fajita mix

2 TBSP EVOO

16 oz jar of salsa

1/2 can corn, drained

1/2 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup cheddar cheese



1. Season chicken on both sides with fajita mix.

2. Heat EVOO in a skillet over medium-high heat.

3. Brown chicken on both sides, about two minutes per side depending on thickness of the breasts.

4. Mix salsa, corn and black beans in a bowl while chicken browns.

5. Shred cheddar cheese and set aside.

6. Once chicken is brown on both sides, pour salsa mixture over the chicken and cover cooking for about 20-25 minutes

7. Place chicken breasts on top of the salsa mixture and sprinkle with cheese cover until melted.

8. Serve over rice.



Enjoy!! :)



Dianna