January 5, 2014 – Lesson Summary


Teacher-- Sister Macugay

Sister M gave out two handouts to be discussed among the sisters.

#1 The Importance of Faith. This hand out referenced Hebrews 11:21 and asked,
"What is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?" and "In what ways can it improve your
life?". Next was Alma32:20 and the question, "How does God help us gain faith.

Then 2Nephi31:6; 3Nephi 12:6; Ether12:27,41 followed by the question, "How can
increasing your faith in God give you power to bless the lives of others?"

The sisters replied saying that faith is an action word which requires us to
obey if we desire to have an increase in faith.

 #2 Elements of Faith which had quotes from "Seek Learning by Faith" and Joshua
3:7-17. The question was asked, "What action was needed for the River Jordan to
be crossed?"

Joshua used his faith in the Lord to communicate (action) to his people what was
needed to cross the river and the priests carrying the Ark had to have the faith
to make that first step (action) into the flood waters but nothing was going to
happen until their faith was made into an action.

Sister M then asked the sisters for ideas to increase their faith.

 Responses included: 1) start with little things and your confidence will
increase, it is a spiral upwards, 2) works will increase our faith but we have
to do our part first, 3) we sometimes forget that it is after all we can do that
we are then saved ( Alma 32:20), 4) keep reading the scriptures esp. the Book of
Mormon, faith increases congruent to our reading the scriptures, and 5) make
small goals which will lead to larger goals.

The lesson ended with a challenge to read all of the conference talks from the
last conference with a hand out to help us remember and a dinner in April to
celebrate doing so.

Here is the lesson schedule for January and February of 2014. The 1st Sunday of the month is the Relief Society Presidency Message, the 2nd and 3rd Sundays are taught from our new manual, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith, and the 4th Sunday is a message from the most recent general conference. As a side note, in Sunday School they will be studying the Old Testament this year (link to the study guide here).

We will continue to include links to the lessons in the weekly updates, but thought it might be helpful to have it all in one place so you can be prepared for the upcoming lessons. It is so wonderful on Sundays to hear your thoughts and comments on the things you have pondered throughout the week!