The real teacher

Elder and sister Nelson went back home today and I will travel tomorrow to Idaho and Nebraska Yay!! I can’t wait to meet Norah and Oliver. My post today is what I learned listening to sister Nelson at the last meeting she had with the women leaders here in the Philippines.

This was a three -hour meeting so I will divide her presentation in parts. I don’t write while I am away so the next post will be after we get back from this trip to to the US and later from our trip to Japan in March.

(This is part I)

Sister Wendy Nelson started the meeting by saying: “The Lord loves it when we get together to learn His Gospel. How many here work in the Relief Society please stand! Primary? Young Women? Now one of you come up and let’s recite the theme together. We are daughters…blessing of exaltation. Now do it in a different way. Let’s recite the young women’s motto filling in your name as the one saying it like I am Veronica Flores de Almeida a daughter of my Heavenly Father…etc.

 I am _______________________ a daughter of my Heavenly Father, who loves me and I love him. I will stand as witness of God at all times and in all things, and in all places as I strive to live the Young Women values, which are:

Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good works, Integrity and Virtue.

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

Post this young women theme on your bathroom mirror and say this every single day as you start your day.

Make sure to memorize this type of themes, and covenants word by word as if you were reading it for the first time. There are so many other covenants and promises we make during our lifetime when we are baptized, to when we enter the temple that we need to memorize those covenants we make because we are covenant people.

We can’t calculate all the contacts you have each day, thousands of people over the years… but what sets us apart from the rest of the world is that the Holy Ghost is speaking directed to you and me. He tells us of what we need to know individually.

Example: “At age 24 I was engaged to be married to this great guy who would write poems and songs about me. He seemed perfect for me. My family and friends loved him. He had a wonderful personality and fun to be around but I wasn’t too sure of marring him. I was attending an Institute class at the time and a teacher in the class asked what is the one question you need to get answered? He suggested to ake that question to General Conference each time because the Holy Ghost will let you know the answer as you listened. 

I had left my home in Canada so I had told my family I would tape all the conference talks to send to them. I got my recorder and as I listened to conference I asked the question: Should I marry him? Well, all the talks that day were about marriage. Amazing! And I distinctly remember the Holy Ghost saying to me, “Wendy, do not marry him.”  

When you get a strong prompting from the Holy Ghost, you will know because it is something unforgettable. You will remember the exact place where you were when you received that confirmation. It was very clear to me, I needed to break up with him so I ended the engagement. 

My family couldn’t believe it. They thought I was crazy. Although he told me he couldn’t possible ever live without me, he got married soon after we broke up and had three children… he was happy, I was happy for him but my family and friends thought I made a mistake since I was still single past my College days... I was actually single for the next 30 years. 

To make a long story short and I don’t know why I am telling you this story because It wasn’t in my notes but perhaps someone here needs to hear it, one day, I got a letter from my ex-boyfriend saying to me that I should be glad for not marring him because he was going to divorce his wife to pursue another life style as a gay man.

Fast forward, I was asked to teach a Relief Society class on marriage considering that I had study marriage all my life as a family marriage therapist I felt at least I knew what the experts had to say but I wanted to hear what the brethren had said at that Conference long ago, so I pulled out the recording to listen to it and Not one talk was on marriage. This is when I realized that whatever I had heard came from the Holy Ghost and not necessarily from what was actually said in those talks and to me that is more than proof of how the Holy Ghost give each one of us a “taylor-made” answer. 

What you learn today from me is not me saying it to you but it’s what the spirit wants you to know.  The Holy Ghost is the true teacher. ” And that is how she started her presentation. 

(to be continued)

Con amor,

Vero