Upcoming Activities
Dec 6th First Presidency Christmas Devotional Broadcast 7:00-8:00 PM
Dec 6th and 13th Giving Tree see link
Sat Dec 12th Wreaths across America link 9:15 carpool from church
Sat Dec 12th Sarah's Baby Shower - 10:30
Sat 12th Ward Christmas Party
Choir practice 5:00 after church
Building cleaning assignments– link

FHE link do thisone before the ward Christmas Party!
Pumpkin dessert - if you signed up to make this, make it without the nuts (for people who have alergies) Thanks!

RS Lesson - the "ity" talk
...integrity, humility, charity, spirituality, accountability, civility, fidelity, and the list goes on and on. Relying on literary license, I refer to the virtues ending in ity as the “ity” virtues.

“Ity” is a suffix that means quality, state, or degree of being

Ensign » 2009 » November
Let Virtue Garnish Your Thoughts
Bishop H. David Burton Presiding Bishop

YW were with us today, so before we started our lesson on virtue, we stood together and said the YW theme which now includes the value virtue:

"We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. We will 'stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places' (Mosiah 18:9) as we strive to live the Young Women values, which are:
Faith,
Divine Nature,
Individual Worth,
Knowledge,
Choice and Accountability,
Good Works,
Integrity and
Virtue.

"We believe as we come to accept and act upon these values, we will be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation."

see link - New Young Women Value: Virtue

Standing with YW saying the YW theme together was a great way to start out a lesson on virtue.

Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God (D&C 121:45).

Karen said she took notes during Fast and Testimony meeting this morning, paying attention to all of the “ity” qualities revealed in the testimonies.

Assurity – we can gain assurity through our patriarchal blessing.
Ability – ability to move quickly to reach a child falling down stairs
Maturity, dignity – Lorna
Personality – Adrianne
Overcoming adversity – Grandmother Jones
Learnability – Pierson

From the testimonies that were given in sacrament meeting, we can see the many different ‘ity’ personality traits we call virtues.

Karen encouraged us to choose a couple of the ‘ity”’s and incorporate them into our life. That by incorporating the “ity”’s into our life, we would be able to rise above what is around us through virtuous living.

Questions to ponder:
What “ity”’s can you think of?
What “ity’s” do you want to personally improve on?
What “ity’s” does your family need to improve on?
What are good ways to teach the ity’s to one another?

Karen gave us some great ideas for FHE – one she passed out to us. Take a picture of Jesus, make a puzzle out of it. For each puzzle piece, name an ity. Talk about the ities until the puzzle is complete. Following the “ity”’s leads us to live a more Christ-like life.

Stories/parables about the ities help explain them. Karen gave a great story about a King:

Charity story:
Once there was a King’s whose well ran dry. He sent out a proclamation asking all in the kingdom to bring water to the palace to refill the well. To repay them for the water, the King invited all who came to a banquet. While delivering the message, the couriers were asked how much water each person was supposed to bring? No one knew, it was up to the villagers to decide that for themselves. The King was known for throwing great banquets, and everyone in the kingdom came to dine, each bringing water with them. Some brought a cup of water, others a bucket, some barrels. They left their water with the King’s servants at the well, and then went inside to eat. At the end of the banquet, the King told everyone to go collect the cups/buckets/barrels that they had brought their water in. The villagers found that their container had been filled with gold/rubies/riches. Those who brought the most water had been rewarded with the greatest treasures.

Karen had a cute little King/castle cut-out to go with the story.

We talked a bit about the 13th article of faith as it lists several virtues that would be good to have:
13 We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing egood to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.
(Pearl of Great Price Articles of Faith 1:13)

President Thomas S. Monson reminded us a few years ago that “most people will not commit desperate acts if they have been taught that dignity, honesty and integrity are more important than revenge or rage; if they understand that respect and kindness ultimately give one a better chance at success”

Bishop Burton ends his talk with:

I testify and declare that our Heavenly Father expects His children to exercise integrity, civility, fidelity, charity, generosity, morality, and all the “ity” virtues. May we have the humility to take the opportunity to act upon our responsibility to demonstrate our ability to do so, I pray in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Thanks for the great lesson Karen!