One Concept at a Time - "Deception and Tools"

            Creating posts is often a feast or famine thing in my mind.  I have notes on paper but have not converted them to a copy and paste form.  The clock moves so quickly when I am on the computer - which means I will need a computer-related job so it won't feel like I'm there for eight hours.

            The Relief Society was organized on March 17, 1842.  LDS churches everywhere celebrate the RS birthday sometime in March (usually the 2nd week)  Each one I've been to in the past includes dinner and a program.  The birthday dinners I have attended in Utah have always been done on a ward level.  When I was called to the activities director in the Myrtle Creek ward, I was told that the March activity is always done by the stake. (For those unfamiliar with term "ward" and "stake", see here)

            I really enjoyed the meeting that I attended in the Roseburg Stake last year.  I don't remember taking notes although I must have.  Those two posts seemed quite lengthy if I was just going off handouts.  No one gave hand-outs this year.  I had even brought a tote bag to put them in. 

            Last year  I created two posts  (here and here) to describe the Saturday meeting.  I seem more pressed for time this year and so may have to stretch it out into several posts.  Last year I had made a comment that I wished the young women had been invited.  Last year we started off our meeting in the chapel.  We were given color bands to wear. 

            This year the young women had been invited.  We started off in the cultural hall and did not use the chapel at all.  The programs were color coded and easily traded.  Jenna told me that she wanted to be in the same room as me.  I didn't care.  We both found programs that were orange.  When she moved to a table to be with a friend, she sat in front of a program that was green but ended up with a yellow program.  Jenna and I were not on the same session - which I think was good for both of us.  I think we both got more out of it.  And she did participate.  But I don't know if she would have participated as freely had I been with her.

            I have mentioned before how the leaders try to assign a specific scripture or just a paragraph or two of someone else's talk and make a new talk out of it.  This assigned topic was Bonnie Oscarson's talk Rise Up, Sisters in Zion.

            There were four sisters at my table.  Eva and Stephanie stayed together, and I went on the same sessions as Sharon.  I was surprised to see her there as I've only seen her 3 or 4 times since I moved to Myrtle Creek.  I asked her if she'd be to church on Sunday, but I don't think she's been attending the Sunday meetings.  So it was nice to see her at a stake activity.

            The first class we attended was called "Don't Be Deceived by False Teachings".  Our instructor used to be a science teacher and started out the lesson by asking for a volunteer to bounce a ball and blow up a balloon.  Her rubber ball bounced but the volunteer's did not.  Both weighed the same and felt the same - yet only one was designed to bounce.  The one that didn't bounce had a heavier material similar to that found on bumpers. 

            The "balloon" was also a scientific "trick" The instructor was able to produce more air than the volunteer.  (Before Jenna went to this same class, I told her to be sure and volunteer - which she did.  But she called me mean.  Jenna had learned these concepts already and she knew was able to get a good amount of air into the "balloon".  She said that had been her favorite of all of the classes.

            We can be deceived by tools, knowledge and experience.  She told us about a book she'd been reading about a Senior devil trying to find a replacement, I think.  The author is C.S. Lewis. I don't remember the title though.  

            She then asked if we know why the ships running  to Portland will come up the river rather than make a direct move from the ocean.  While the boats are in the ocean, the barnacles will stick to the sides and the bottom of the boat; when the boats go into the river, the barnacles fall off.  Just as barnacles attach themselves to the boat, we allow sin to attach.  We need tools for detaching.  We need the "fresh water" tool to remove the "barnacles" of sin. 

            She concluded with a quote from Elder Jeffery R. Holland:

   That was just one class.  I will post more tomorrow and hopefully the rest this week.