April 2013
Visiting Teaching Message
Contact your sister by
the 5th, make an appointment by
the 10th, visit by the 15th and report by the 20th
the 10th, visit by the 15th and report by the 20th
Temple
Covenants
Prayerfully study this
material and, as appropriate, discuss it with the sisters you visit. Use the
questions to help you strengthen your sisters and to make Relief Society an
active part of your own life. For more information, go to reliefsociety.lds.org.
Temple Covenants
“The
saving ordinances received in the temple that permit us to someday return to
our Heavenly Father in an eternal family relationship and to be
endowed with blessings and power from on high are worth every sacrifice and
every effort,”1 said President Thomas S. Monson. If you have not yet been to
the temple, you can prepare to receive sacred temple ordinances by:
Sustaining
and following the living prophet.
Qualifying
for a temple recommend by paying tithing,
being morally clean, being honest, keeping the Word of Wisdom, and living in harmony with
the teachings of the Church.
Giving
time, talents, and means to help build the Lord’s kingdom.
Participating
in family history work.2
President
Monson further taught, “As we remember the covenants we make within [the temple],
we will be more able to bear every trial and to overcome each temptation.”3
From the Scriptures
From Our History
“More
than 5,000 Saints thronged the Nauvoo Temple after its dedication. …
“The
strength, power, and blessings of temple covenants [sustained] the Latter-day
Saints during their journey [west], when they [suffered] cold, heat, hunger,
poverty, sickness, accidents, and death.”4
Like
many Relief Society sisters, Sarah Rich served as a temple worker. She spoke of
her experience: “If it had not been for the faith and knowledge that was
bestowed upon us in that temple by … the Spirit of the Lord, our journey would
have been like one taking a leap in the dark. … But we had faith in our
Heavenly Father, … feeling that we were His chosen people … , and
instead of sorrow, we felt to rejoice that the day of our deliverance had
come.”5
The
exodus was not a “leap in the dark” for faithful Latter-day Saint women. They
were sustained by their temple covenants.
What Can I Do?
Am
I worshipping in the temple regularly?
Am
I encouraging my sisters to receive temple blessings?
Notes
Thomas S.
Monson, “The Holy Temple—a Beacon to the World,” Liahona and Ensign 2011, 92.
See
Daughters in My Kingdom: The History and Work of Relief Society (2011), 21.
Thomas S.
Monson, Liahona and Ensign, May 2011, 93.
Daughters
in My Kingdom, 29–30.
Sarah
Rich, in Daughters in My Kingdom, 30.
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Web site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
© 2013 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All Rights Reserved
© 2013 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All Rights Reserved
