STRENGTHENING FAMILIES IS OUR SACRED DUTY:

Remember, "a soft answer turneth away wrath" (Prov. 15:1). Elder Robert D. Hales, said: '"When my sweetheart and I were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple, Elder Harold B. Lee gave us wise counsel: "When you raise your voice in anger, the Spirit departs from your home." ' We must never, out of anger, lock the door of our home or our heart to our children. Like the prodigal son, our children need to know that when they come to themselves they can turn to us for love and counsel.

The family who meet regularly on Monday evening with prayers, playing games together, planning of future family activities, counselling a family council, Teaching and sharing talents to one another and with many more activities that is strengthening each member of the family to become better citizens of the community.

CLICK the coconut grove picture at the right to know more and how to apply this in our lives that we might make our family more stronger.

It is natural that there are opposition in all things. We ponder sometimes why our lives are full of challenges. There are ups and down, trials, tribulations, and many barriers in front but these are but for our own good. Adversity is a part of life. There are interesting laws that we should know and understand, e.g., the Law of Resistance, demonstrates that there are opposites in everything for our own good. That is why we are taught to be valiant in the side of righteousness or else we will fall in the side of unrighteousness. This is how we gain progression by pressing forward or else we will fall into retrogression and soon die without attaining any glory.

Do you know that, "It is impossible for a man to be save in ignorance?"
"We live and learn," don't stay idle. . . enjoy life to the fullest by following the commandments of God. Wickedness will never be happiness. Call home! Your Father in Heaven loves you. Pray always.

Perhaps most significant of all classrooms is the classroom of the home. It is in the home that we form our attitudes, our deeply held beliefs. It is in the home that hope is fostered or destroyed. Our homes are the laboratories of our lives. What we do there determines the course of our lives when we leave home. Dr. Stuart E. Rosenberg wrote in his book The Road to Confidence, "Despite all new inventions and modern designs, fads and fetishes, no one has yet invented, or will ever invent, a satisfying substitute for one's own family."

A happy home is but an earlier heaven. President George Albert Smith asked, "[Do] we want our homes to be happy[?] If we do, let them be the abiding place of prayer, thanksgiving and gratitude."

Prophets throughout the ages have counseled us to read, study, ponder, and pray --and to set the proper example of love and service to others. If we develop and then live our testimony, the kingdomof God will flourish and grow.

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Everyone must find their Sacred Grove --whether it's a quiet place in the bedroom or a private spot in the yard. Go to the Lord with the desires of your heart and ask for strength and direction. If you feel like you are short on faith and hope, start by asking for even the "desire to believe" (Alma 32:27). and then put the process outlined in Alma 32 to the test. Plant a seed of faith in your heart. You will be blessed with answers. You will not be disappointed. For every principle you pray about and live, you will be assured of it's truth, and your heart will swell with love, peace, and joy. The principle will become "delicious" unto you (Alma 32:28).

Being fully taught in the ways of God also means we must make and keep necessary ordinances and sacred covenants. President Boyd K. Packer has said: "Ordinances and covenants become our credentials for admission into [God's] presence. To worthily receive them is the quest of a lifetime. To keep them hereafter is the challenge of mortality" (Ensign, May 1987, 24).