-One thing they mentioned was the importance of family councils. I want to regularly counsel with my husband to see how each child is doing spiritually and what we need to teach them next. And father's interviews would be great! Councils altogether as a family can happen regularly. And I'm sure my kids will have awesome insights. Because I have the coolest kids ever...I just know it. :)
-The night before I finished my mission, my mission president gave us all advice about post-mission life. One thing he mentioned was to magnify our callings. He said, "If you're a nursery leader, be the best nursery leader that ward has ever seen!" I need to do SO MUCH better at this. I need to pray for inspiration on how to do so, and seeing as I'll be a visiting teacher for the rest of my life, I want to get in the habit of praying specifically for my sisters every day.
-The night before I finished my mission, my mission president gave us all advice about post-mission life. One thing he mentioned was to magnify our callings. He said, "If you're a nursery leader, be the best nursery leader that ward has ever seen!" I need to do SO MUCH better at this. I need to pray for inspiration on how to do so, and seeing as I'll be a visiting teacher for the rest of my life, I want to get in the habit of praying specifically for my sisters every day.
-The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve are good examples of counseling--they do not pass an issue until every person unequivocally comes to the same decision. That is inspired counseling, and there's no reason it can't happen with families! It takes me back to my mission--my companion and I tried confirming our revelation with each other, and it was cool to see how often we both received the same prompting about who to go see!
-One of the speakers, Elder Smith of the Seventy, was so animated and fun! (Example: "If you stick around in this church long enough and keep your covenants, soon enough you'll be a former everything." AKA everyone will be on the ward council at some point because we all have a lot of different callings in our lifetimes! Also, he told the best story about how President Uchtdorf, he, and a companionship of sister missionaries were able to help Italy be more open to the gospel--each person, from a member of the Quorum of the Twelve to humble missionaries, is necessary to do the work!) We were all listening to his every word, and I thought again about how Heavenly Father wants us to be successful so that we can positively influence others and be a light on the hill. Do not confuse mediocrity with humility!
-The thought came to start praying every day for a stronger desire to help build Heavenly Father's kingdom, as well as daily opportunities to do so! Exciting!
-Our stake president had a powerful insight--I heard a lot of pens clicking to write it down as soon as he said it! He said, "we do need to receive confirmation of our promptings. Often it comes in the doing."
-"Keep your covenants, and make new ones." (Elder Smith) Such a good insight! It raises our vision.
-If the ward council was an essay, the thesis would be "How can we help these people?" Every conversation in ward councils should relate back to the thesis.
-"Inspiration often follows information." (President Brotherson) I love this insight! We should get all the information we can! He related this idea when he was explaining how the ward council would invite members who knew a lot of the ward members into some councils in order to know more of the stories about the people whom the council didn't know about. We did this on my mission once and we accomplished so much! It was cool to see how each person had a piece of the puzzle.
-Almost everyone in the ward has a right to revelation in their respective spheres because of their callings, whether it's a visiting teacher or the bishop.
-There is also power in couples' councils. President Brotherson shared a story from Elder Maxwell's life where he was exhausted from his day's work and illnesses. He came home and his wife told him he needed to go visit a specific neighbor. As he followed his wife's counsel, the neighbor told him that she knew he would come because she had been praying for him to. "We learned how the Spirit spoke to each other." That is such a powerful insight! I AM going to be with my husband for the rest of eternity, so I will come to understand how the Spirit speaks to him. President Brotherson also said sometimes it doesn't really matter which partner the prompting comes to--which made me think of the scripture that man and wife are to become one flesh.
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