Cake Bosses - We made some cakes like a BOSS!

 Cool activity this past week.  We had a Cake-Off!

We all got baked cakes and decorating supplies.

Awesome results!  Cayden made a very original Zombie Owl cake, which in fact won the most creative design award.












Josh (a blast from our past) made a monkey.  The rest of that team ... I'm not sure if we were a help or a hindrance to Josh, but the monkey came through none the less.

 Jonathan, Jason, and Michael made a pink elephant with rider.  I often think of a pink elephant, but in my mind it is in a blue tutu and ballet shoes and it is doing pirouettes. It is a therapeutic tool I use to help people see how the mind must be occupied with something.

It is nice to see a different viewpoint of a pink elephant.

Alex joined forces with some of the Priests who made a pretty awesome 3D bear cake.  It was somewhat akin to a Minecraft bear methinks. 

Cakey squares rendered together with sugary goodness.  Now that is a virtual reality that I could get behind.











At D2G-G2G (Duty to God - Get to Gether) today we met at Bro. Kinikini's house and discussed how a prophet has different meanings.

1) Prophet for the entire church/world. Only one holds all of the keys, but the Quorum of the Twelve and the members of the First Presidency all hold keys.  So there are 15 prophets of that sort on the earth at a time.

2) The Bible Dictionary states that a prophet can be "In a general sense a prophet is anyone who has a testimony of Jesus Christ by the Holy Ghost.

Essentially, a prophet receives revelation; and the type of prophet depends on who the information received is for.  A person may receive personal revelation, or revelation relevant to their family or calling in church.  But only the prophet (President Monson at this time) and the other 14 can receive revelation for the church as a whole.

We also discussed the importance of administering the ordinance of the sacrament and that the attitude which we carry with us about the importance and sacredness of any priesthood responsibility can affect that ordinance and the power of the priesthood that we carry into that situation.

BTW the chips and salsa and snickerdoodle cookies were delicious.  Thanks Sis. Kinikini!

Klondike 2014

We had 8 teachers go up and help as staff for Klondike 2014.  It was fun, it was cold and I came home with a crick in my neck.

See below:  Trey, Grant, Trevor, Michael, Jake, and can you see Kaleb??

Running the First Aid Strecher Race.  Winners of that race were our neighbors from Stone Creek Troop 223 The Spartans with an earth shattering time of 21.94 seconds to carry a troop member 30 yards down and 30 yards back up the hill.

Jonathan and Jason ran the sled races which was also a popular event.

We learned a little bit about humility and our need to watch our behavior as well.  At night time on Friday night some of the young men struggled with settling down and others struggled with how to deal with other young men's behaviors that were bothering them.  One if the awesome leaders in charge of organizing the Klondike was bothered and offended.  The next morning our young men went and apologized.  I was proud of their ability to see their wrongs and acknowledge them and to begin making repairs to them.  I believe that at this age young men begin to learn better boundaries with behavior, language, and appropriateness.  We will continue to work on these things.  

Oh .... and here is a picture of Trevor buried in the snow.

And the Ping Pong Champion is ......

Jason "The Hammer"

He pounded through four rigorous rounds of pong to emerge as the Champ.

Cayden and Hunter had an epic battle which ended with Cayden trying to absorb a ping pong ball through his skin.  This type of osmotic movement is not possible with such a large object trying to pass through such a resilient and selectively permeable membrane as human skin.  Therefore Cayden has an incredible welt on his arm.  A badge of honor which he wears with pride.

There was fun to be had .... and we also got program plan ideas to select activities for the next two years.

And for your viewing entertainment: 

New Presidency and Awesome Sunday Stuff

 

In class today we had a re-organization of the quorum presidency.

We want to thank our outgoing presidency:

President: Kaleb, 1st Counselor: Grant, 2nd Counselor: Cayden Secretary: Josh.

Our new presidency is:

President: Hunter, 1st Counselor: Jordan, 2nd Counselor: Jonathan, Secretary: Michael

In our discussion in Teacher's Quorum today we continued our discussion about relationships of fathers and sons.  The challenge was issued to read Elder Ballard's talk mentioned in the previous post, and to invite their father/father figure to also read it.

The relationship with our fathers here on earth teach us quite a lot about how we tend think about our relationship with our Heavenly Father.  Because this is the case, it is a great idea to continually work on our relationship with our fathers/sons/children.  A great video on the topic can be can be found at the following link at lds.org  CLICK HERE.

We discussed also the Godhead and the blessing of knowing the doctrines that allow us to understand the separateness and roles of all three members of the Godhead.  Heavenly Father has a body and we are created in His image.  Jesus Christ is the Son of God and also has a body and came to the earth to be our savior.  The Holy Ghost is a spirit and he testifies of the roles of our Heavenly Father and of Jesus Christ and of all truth.

D2GG2G = D2G (Duty to God) G2G (Get ToGether) 

(2nd and 4th Sundays each month)

Today at D2GG2G we met at Bishop Erickson's home and had a discussion of our current doctrinal study topic (Prophets), and then selected our focus for Priesthood Duties (Preparing the Sacrament).  We have asked all of the teachers to notice how their preparing of the sacrament in a reverent, timely, and prepared manner helps the whole ward have a better experience each week with the sacrament.

We have asked all of the young men to ponder this and notice the effect that they can have upon the ward and then to commit to make sure that they are taking this Priesthood duty seriously.

Some of these duties include:

• Bringing bread when assigned 30 minutes before church begins
• Helping to prepare the sacrament 30 minutes before church begins to make sure that it is ready before the majority of people arrive.  This allows the ward to be focused on preparing to renew their covenants as they prepare to receive the sacrament.
• Providing ushering for the doors to help maintain reverence prior to and during the administration of the sacrament.
• Making sure that our own behavior and focus is on the ordinance of the sacrament.

 Sister Erickson made some super-delicious breadsticks with dipping sauces for us which the young men (and old men) scarfed down with enthusiasm.  (Thanks Sis. Erickson!)

Youth Fireside

There was also a youth fireside at 7:00 PM at the Stake Center.  It featured musical numbers by each ward's youth.  It was awesome and included testimonies throughout including those of the Stake's awesome sister missionaries (Sister Williams and Sister Havea).

What a great Sunday!

How can I know my Heavenly Father?

Today's discussion was "How can I know my Heavenly Father?"

I was impressed with the knowledge and insights of the young men in our quorum.  Praying, going to church, reading the scriptures, and  other primary answers were quickly out of the gate and then Kaleb talked about how we can talk to someone a lot and still not know them.  That is where our discussion led to levels that were of the level needed to deepen testimony.

We found that it was not just talking to God in prayer, but how we talk to Him.  We explored how obeying commandments helps us understand God and His plan better.  Jordan shared that we must serve Him to really know Him.

We then listened to part of a conference talk by Elder M. Russell Ballard titled, Fathers and Sons: A Remarkable Relationship.  We discussed that we can learn many things about our Heavenly Father through our relationship with our earthly fathers.  Becoming a father helped to deepen my understanding about how God feels about me and His other children.

I have issued a challenge to the young men to work on building their relationship with their fathers.  Elder Ballard mentioned 3 things in his talk that he suggested for young men to do to build their relationship with their fathers.  1) Trust him, 2) Take an interest in your father's life, 3) Ask him for advice.

For parents reading this Elder Ballard also makes 3 specific suggestions for fathers to build their relationship with their sons.  You can read it by clicking the title of the talk up above.

It is a joy to work with the youth of this ward.  We have great young men in our Teacher's Quorum.  Thanks for being who you are!