Lorenzo Snow Lesson 4: Strengthened By The Power of the Holy Ghost

In his first general conference address as President of the Church, Lorenzo Snow taught, we are dependent upon the Spirit of the Lord to aid us and to manifest to us from time to time what is necessary for us to accomplish under the peculiar circumstances that may surround us. 

This past week, one day Makenzie was practicing her piano.  She had some new songs, and she was having trouble with one of them.  After working on it for awhile, she asked me to come in and help her.  As I watched her try to play the song, I could see immediately what the main problem was.  The song was in Middle D position.  Although Makenzie has learned to play songs in several different keys, including Middle C, Middle D position is not used often, and it was unfamiliar to her.  More importantly, it is so near to Middle C, that she kept shifting her fingers to the more familiar keys. 

I tried to explain to her what was happening, but she got so worked up, she wouldn’t listen to what I was saying.  Each time she would do it wrong, I would tell her to try again, which made her angrier and angrier.  Rather than trying to get it right, she just wanted to move on to the next song.

As I lay in bed that night, I thought how similar that experience was to the Holy Ghost in our lives. 

Just like Makenzie, we make mistakes.  Just  like Makenzie, we need assistance .

Often, we recognize our mistakes, or challenges, and ask for help.  Often, however, we are so intent on the problem that we can’t or won’t hear the answer, which may often be a simple solution.

Just like Makenzie, there is someone available to help us.  Because of our baptism, every Latter-day Saint can have the Holy Ghost as a friend to give counsel.  We need the assistance of the Holy Ghost as we endure trials, fulfill our duties, and prepare for Celestial glory.

President Snow said:

“We need assistance.  We are liable to do that which will lead us into trouble and darkness, and those things which will not tend to our good, but with the assistance of that comforter which the Lord has promised his Saints, if we are careful to listen to its whisperings, and understand the nature of its language, we may avoid much trouble and serious difficulty.”

Now, a lot of our problems we can and do, work out through our own struggles.  The very next morning I heard Makenzie playing the song, and she had figured it out, but it was not with out a lot of tears.

However, President Snow has a better answer:

We ought to understand, and I presume that we generally do, that the work which we have come into this life to perform cannot be done to the glory of God or to the satisfaction of ourselves merely by our own natural intelligence.  We are dependent upon the Spirit of the Lord to aid us and to manifest to us from time to time what is necessary for us to accomplish under the peculiar circumstances that may surround us.

It would be simply foolish indeed to expect the Latter-day Saints in these days to comply with the celestial law, with the law that proceeds from God, and with his designs to elevate the people into his presence, except they were sustained by a supernatural [heavenly] power. The gospel promises this. It promises the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is divine in its character, and which is not enjoyed by any other class of people, and which we are told by the Saviour, should lead into all truth, and inspire those who possessed it, and give them a knowledge of Jesus, a knowledge of the Father, and of things pertaining to the celestial world; that it should inspire those who possessed it with a knowledge of things to come, and things that were past; and inspire them to an extent that they should enjoy supernatural gifts.

President Snow emphasizes:

“There are many important things required at our hands, and many things which we can do, when assisted by the Spirit of the Lord, which  may at times seem almost impossible to accomplish.”

Through the gift of the Holy Ghost, we are led to all truth and strengthened in our faith.

President Snow said:

Persons come to me very anxious to receive counsel upon some subject or other. They need not come to me always, for the Spirit is within them to bring about good and to accomplish the purposes of God. … It is not always necessary (to go to a church authority) to get counsel; they have it within them; there is a friend that knows just exactly what to say to them. From the time we receive the Gospel, go down into the waters of baptism and have hands laid upon us afterwards for the gift of the Holy Ghost, we have a friend, if we do not drive it from us by doing wrong. That friend is the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, which partakes of the things of God and shows them unto us. This is a grand means that the Lord has provided for us, that we may know the light, and not be groveling continually in the dark.

Among the many associations with the Holy Ghost, one of the most prominent is Light.  On the Mormon Channel website, Elder David A. Bednar presents a series of 3 video clips entitled “Patterns of Light”, each focused on a different aspect or role of the Holy Ghost.

The topic of the first video is The Light of Christ:

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=1737858982001

  

After  the video, I’ve asked a sister to share an experience

The topic of the second video is Discerning Light.  

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=1737858984001

After the video, I've asked a sister to share an experience

The topic of the third video is The Spirit of Revelation.   

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=1737858986001

After the video, I've asked a sister to share the following story, and her thoughts:

(Light Switch)

In 1864, Elders Lorenzo Snow and Ezra T. Benson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles went on a mission to the Hawaiian Islands. They were accompanied by three other missionaries: Elders Joseph F. Smith, William Cluff, and Alma L. Smith. When their ship anchored off the coast of the island of Maui, all but Joseph F. Smith boarded a smaller boat to go ashore. As they approached the island, high waves struck, causing the steersman to lose control of the boat. The boat capsized, and all the occupants were thrown into the water. Soon everyone surfaced except Elder Snow. A group of islanders rushed to help, taking William Cluff and Alma L. Smith in a lifeboat to search for their friend. Elder Cluff related:

“The first I saw of Brother Snow was his hair floating upon the water around one end of the capsized boat. As soon as we got him into our boat, we told the boatmen to pull for the shore with all possible speed. His body was stiff, and life apparently extinct.

“Brother A. L. Smith and I were sitting side by side. We laid Brother Snow across our laps, and, on the way to shore, we quietly administered to him and asked the Lord to spare his life, that he might return to his family and home.

“On reaching the shore, we carried him a little way to some large barrels that were lying on the sandy beach. We laid him face downwards on one of them, and rolled him back and forth until we succeeded in getting the water he had swallowed out of him. …

“After working over him for some time, without any indications of returning life, the by-standers said that nothing more could be done for him. But we did not feel like giving him up, and still prayed and worked over him, with an assurance that the Lord would hear and answer our prayers.

“Finally we were impressed to place our mouth over his and make an effort to inflate his lungs, alternately blowing in and drawing out the air, imitating, as far as possible, the natural process of breathing. This we persevered in until we succeeded in inflating his lungs. After a little, we perceived very faint indications of returning life. A slight wink of the eye, which, until then, had been open and death-like, and a very faint rattle in the throat, were the first symptoms of returning vitality. These grew more and more distinct, until consciousness was fully restored.”

Looking back on this experience, Elder William Cluff knew why he and Elder Alma L. Smith were able to save Elder Snow’s life. “We did not only what was customary in such cases,” he said, “but also what the Spirit seemed to whisper to us.

(Rising Sun)
 

Back in November, I shared with you how Keaton was having such a struggle.  I was so grateful for the inspiration of the Spirit to keep him in his school.  But then, of course, we still had to deal with the issues.  As I looked for a solution,  I can tell you that I truly studied it out in my mind.  Based on the information, I tried to find what fit the symptoms.  I looked at the possibility of drugs, but immediately felt that was not it.  I went back and looked for patterns, I tried to determine if I could see a starting point.  Looking at it in this way, I could see a clear 180˚ change immediately after he broke his hand.  He went from happy and excited about school, friends and so on, to grouchy, poor grades, feeling down and depressed.  That’s when I realized it was depression.  I remember having a clear impression in my mind of Post-surgical depression.”  I looked it up on the computer, and knew what I would find—post surgical depression is a real thing.  We went to the Doctor, and the Doctor agreed.  He talked to Keaton for a long time about how an injury affects males, especially teenagers.  They can’t deal with the fact that they are not invincible, and they get depressed.  Just that visit was the turn around point, and now he is just back to normal.

A sister will then share her thoughts on the Spirit of Revelation.

I would like to close with these words by President Snow:

If we keep the light of the Spirit within us, we can so walk in the gospel that we can measurably enjoy peace and happiness in this world; and while we are traveling outward, striving for peace and happiness that lies in our path, in the distance, we shall have a peace of mind that none can enjoy but those who are filled with the Holy Spirit.

Homeschool Language Arts

Next to math, Language Arts is the next big struggle with my 6th grader, who is not only dyslexic, but also has attention issues.  Everything is a struggle for him academically, but much of that stems from his poor reading skills.  Now, thanks to many years of determined tutors, he is reading pretty well.  Not totally smoothly and fluently, but well enough for now.  So, when I decided to pull him out in October, I knew it was time to work on some of the other weak area:  spelling, writing, grammar.  This is what we're trying:

Spelling:  All About Spelling.  When I read about this program from a homeschool review site, the advice was to start at Level 1, no matter what age your child was.  For a 6th grader, that was going back quite a bit, but I did, and I'm glad.  We started at Level 1 at the first of November, and finished Level 4 by Christmas by doing 4-6 lessons per day.  We weren't doing a whole lot of other subjects, because I wanted the spelling up to grade level before we moved into writing.  Now I am confident that we have filled in all the gaps, and we will be up to grade level (grade 6) on Friday!!  This system has really worked for him--I can see a definite improvement in his spelling.  When he does misspell a word, I can ask him to think about certain rules, and he can see the problem.  This program uses a kinetic approach combined with phonograms.  Each phonogram, including the alphabet, is printed on 1 inch plastic tiles, which you use to spell words.  The vowel and consonant combination tiles replace individual letters as you spell out the words, so the student comes to see those as a single piece of the word.  The system also includes key cards, with spelling rules on them, which you review until memorized.  The system teaches how to break a word into syllables, and how that can help you determine the correct spelling.  We're excited to get to Level 7 next year, which focuses on Latin and Greek roots.  My 4th grade daughter is just starting this spelling program with her reading tutor at Level 1, and I'm excited to see how it helps her spelling.

Grammar:  We've just finished First Language Lessons Level 3.  In the reviews I've read about this grammar program, it had a lot of good reviews, but there were also many people who felt it was too boring and repetitive.  It is VERY repetitive, and that is what has made it perfect for my son who struggles to learn.  There is a lot of memorization, of poems and of the definitions of parts of speech.  These are repeated over and over again throughout the year.  The lessons are fully scripted, with teacher instruction and student response.  This has been great to help my son retain the information.  Like with AAS, we went through the material extra fast (3 lessons per day), to try to get him to grade level.  After finishing FLL 3, I wasn't sure what to go with for grammar.  I've used Rod and Staff, and liked it, but there is no workbook; the student has to write everything out on a separate notebook.  Which is fine, but in his case, I thought it would be too time consuming and overwhelming since we are trying to accelerate through to grade level.  In the end, I purchased FLL 4 and Growing With Grammar 5, because I didn't want to skip straight to Level 5 and leave gaps (since filling gaps is our whole focus this year).  When I compared the programs, I found that I was able to integrate the two together, teaching similar lessons in succession.  I used the FLL 4 as the spine, and inserted the corresponding GWG 5 lessons where they best fit.  We will finish both FLL 4 and GWG 5 by the end of the year, and  then do GWG 6 and 7 next year to get to grade level.

Writing:  My son is great at writing fiction--especially now that he can spell.  However, at all other types of writing, he really struggles.  So, again, I decided to go back to square one.  We are starting with Writing With Ease Level 1, by Susan Wise Bauer.  I've looked at this program before, and to be honest, it seems so boring and tedious.  The program includes copywork, dictation, listening and narration.  However, I feel this repetitiveness, very thorough program is what he needs to become a good writer.  We aren't going to do the full program, though.  His handwriting is fine, so we won't do the copywork, and for now we are doing dictation in the spelling lessons. So, for the first two levels, we are just going to do every other week of lessons, the narration portion only.  Not real excited about it, but I looked at SWB's writing program for his age level, Writing With Skill, and I know he won't be able to do it without the background of this preparatory program.  Better to lay the foundation and excel later, than try to push it on him too early.

Vocabulary:  We do Wordly Wise, Level 6.  We're on lesson 6.  It's too early to tell if he will retain any of it, but I can tell you he didn't retain a thing from the vocabulary he was doing at school, and he really enjoys the lessons, so it is a thumbs up from me!

Homeschool Math Reviews: What I've used, what I like

If you are a homeschooler, trying to decide what math curriculum to use, I can sure relate to that.  I have only one child (6th grade) homeschooling right now, but trying to decide what math curriculum to use has been a time-consuming challenge.  Over the years, through various mutations of homeschooling, I've tried quite a variety of math curriculums with various success.  These are some of the different ones we tried:

Saxon:  My children have used this both at home and at school of and on for the past 9 years.  It is a popular, solid program.  Saxon uses a spiral approach, which teaches a concept on day and moves on to a different concept the next day.  My son had been using Saxon at school for 4 years when I decided to pull him out.  At that point he was a year behind and getting an F in math.  Working with him at home, I could see that he has a lot of gaps, for example, time.  My other kids (younger) are the same way.  I don't think they are getting the concepts jumping from one to another, even though what they have learned previously is constantly reinforced in the lesson.  Basically, I've gone back to square one with this child, and am trying to reinforce one concept at a time.  I much preferred the lower levels with the consumable workbook and 25 or 100 fact sheets to the textbooks.

Math-U-See:  We used this program for one year with all the children.  It seems like a good program, but there seemed to be an overkill of repetitious problems in the exercises each day.  It was too much, especially for my younger ones.  I didn't like the Alpha, Beta, Gamma leveling-just tell me what the grade level is supposed to be!

Singapore:  I loved the books and the low cost of this program.  What I didn't like was having a text with the explanation and some exercises, and a separate workbook with additional problems.  So, 4 small paperback books for each grade (3A Test and Workbook, 3B Test and Workbook) I prefer everything in one place.  Also, the text and workbook are not made to be written in--you have to write the problems all out on separate paper.  The program is cute, but moved to fast for my kids.  They (particularly my 6th grader) need more explanation and review than this program.  I wanted to love it, but it didn't work for me.  Later on, I would be willing to look at this program again.

Miquon:  I really adore this program.  I just love its quirkiness and all the different exercises that you won't find in ANY other math program.  This comes in 6 workbooks, (Red, Orange, Blue, Green, Yellow and Purple), with roughly 2 books for grades 1, 2, and 3.  Each book teaches a variety of concepts, including starting multiplication and division in Level 1.  There is a chart at the back of each book showing what concepts are taught in each book, assigned by letter.  For example, addition is A, and Red may have A-1 through A-23, while Orange has A-24 through A-39, and Purple has no A section.  This program uses cuisinaire rods.  Even in 6th grade, these are challenging for my son.

Kumon:  I got these workbooks at Target, although they do have Kumon math tutoring centers around. I liked them, but only as a supplement.  A high proportion of the answer boxes have the answer shaded in, leaving too little of the remaining problems for the kids to figure out on their own.

Math Mammoth:  I've only been doing this program for about 3 weeks or a little more, but there are so many things I like about it.  First, they have a placement test online.  That was very helpful.  Second, there are such a variety of materials available.  Light Blue series is a full curriculum from 1st to 5th.  The Blue series are workbook of individual concepts, such as Addition, Clocks, Measuring, Money, Geometry.  Some of these Blue series workbooks cover a range of levels, like from 1-3 or 4-6.  After doing the diagnostic, my 6th son didn't pass the 3rd test!  Rather than going clear back through the whole 3rd level, though, I was able to see where his weaknesses were, and just buy the concept workbooks for those, to fill the gaps, then we will more into the 4th Light Blue Text.  There are two more series of workbooks, Gold and Green, which are supplement worksheets either by grade level or by concept.  Just a very thorough program.  One of my favorite things about this program is that there is so much emphasis on mental math.  I'm so tired of seeing my children slug through all the borrowing and regrouping on their Saxon problems, when I can easily see the answer through simple mental math.
Can't wait to see it if really works.

Professor B:  Just bought this one, it had great reviews.  It is a VERY different approach, but I'm willing to try anything to help math click for my 6th grader.  This would just be a supplement to MM

Life of Fred:  I'm undecided on whether these books actually teach math, I just don't have enough experience with them to say.  My 11th grader did LOF Algebra I, and was able to move into Geometry at school and do fine.  My 3rd grader loves to just read them, but he doesn't do the "let's play" problems.  There are only about 3-4 "problems" at the end of each chapter.  I do like the way he presents the math concepts in a story.  The things I love about it are the way he discusses so many other subjects, from history to art to economics in the story line along with the math.  I also love that my kids will just read this on their own.  My son has read the first 4 in the series at least 4 times each.  This and Professor B might make a good solid math curriculum.  The books are nice hard back, and about $16.00 each.  The whole series for lower grades is about 14 books, so $240 or so for all.  The next level books are more expensive.

You can see I'm a curriculum junky, especially when it comes to math, but I'm hoping I've found what I need in MM, LOF and Pro B.  For now.

Lorenzo Snow #2, Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost

This lesson is very much personalized to my recent experiences on our trip to India.  It doesn't include a lot of material from the manual, so I'd appreciate any feedback on possible changes--

In his Oct 2006 conference talk, The Atonement Can Clean, Reclaim, and Sanctify Our Lives, Elder Shayne M. Bowen of the Seventy said:

“In Idaho Falls, Idaho, there is a beautiful airport. One of the largest in the region, this airport allows easy access to the Upper Snake River Valley. I remember as a young man returning from Chile to this very airport and greeting my family after two years of missionary service. Similar scenes have taken place thousands of times in this airport as the faithful Saints answer the call to serve. It is a very useful, integral part of the city and region.

Near the airport is another very useful and beautiful part of the city—Freeman Park. The Snake River runs along this park for about two miles. There is a walking path that goes through the park and follows on around the river for miles.

Freeman Park has acres and acres of green grass filled with baseball and softball diamonds, swing sets for children, picnic shelters for family reunions, beautiful lanes filled with trees and bushes for strolling sweethearts. Looking down the river from the park, one can see the majestic Idaho Falls temple, white and clean, standing on high ground. The sound of the rushing waters of the Snake River as it works its way through natural lava outcroppings makes this park very desirable. It is one of my favorite places to walk with my sweetheart, Lynette; relax; contemplate; and meditate. It is very peaceful and inspiring.

Why do I talk about the regional airport and Freeman Park in Idaho Falls? Because they are both built on the same kind of ground; both of these beautiful, useful places used to be sanitary landfills.

A sanitary landfill is where garbage is buried between layers of earth. Webster’s dictionary defines a landfill as “a system of trash and garbage disposal in which the waste is buried between layers of earth to build up low-lying land” (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed. [2003], 699).

Another definition of a landfill is “a place where garbage is buried and the land is reclaimed.” The definition of reclaim is “to recall from wrong or improper conduct … to rescue from an undesirable state” (1039).”

Jan 1^st, 2012, New Year’s Day, my family and I found ourselves doing an unexpected activity.  At 10 am, while you here in Utah geared up to shout in the New Year, we walked down a street in Thottanaval Village, India, on our way to pick up trash from the roadside. Now in India, picking up trash is not like here in Utah, where you have a Pepsi can here, and an old sock there.  At times, there may be the accumulation of several bags of garbage in one small stretch.  As we worked in 90˚ plus heat, sweat pouring into our eyes, the village children watched and giggled.  Dressed in clothing ranging from a simple string to gold embroidered dresses, these darling children watched us, as their mothers looked on from the doorways of their meticulously maintained homes. 

Yes, their homes are clean inside, and yet we have watched as a woman comes out the doorways of her home, glances about, then throws a bag of trash across the street and hurries back inside again.  What accounts for this behavior to cast trash away into the street?  Simple-it is because they do not have a system for dealing with the refuse in their lives.  There is no garbage truck.  Think what would happen in your neighborhood without that weekly truck. 

In addition to this physical refuse, there are also many groups in India who have been cast out of society and fellowship as refuse.  The lowest and poorest of those groups are those afflicted with leprosy.  To be fair, anciently and even into modern times, leprosy has been a disease that has been feared and stigmatized. In most of the ancient world, leprosy was associated with uncleanness, subject to exile.  Today, India is home to 70% of all leprosy patients currently remaining in the world, largely due to the stigma surrounding the disease. 

Around 10 years ago, this woman, Auntie was living in southern India with her husband and two young sons, when she was diagnosed with leprosy.  Fortunately, around that time, she came into contact with Becky Douglas, the founder of Rising Star Outreach.  Through Becky, Auntie received the medication for her leprosy, and was quickly cured, with no lasting damage or evidence from the disease.  Nevertheless, just as sin renders us spiritually unclean and separates us from God, because of the disease, Auntie was cast out of her home, along with her two sons, as refuse, unclean, and cut off from all relations with her friends and family.

In this world of modern medicine and science how does this stigma endure?  In India, an estimated 80% of the population is part of the Hindu religion.  In Hinduism, there is no belief in a Savior to atone or make recompense for sins or misdeeds.  Instead, through a process of reincarnation, or multiple lives, a being struggles to progress from a lower state to a higher state.  This progression may not be linear.  Without the atonement, the soul is subject to corruption, which must be purified through endless ages, through the trials of poverty, misfortunes or a disease such as leprosy.  After much effort, they may redeem themselves and graduate from mortal existence to paradise.

Contrary to this belief, as LDS, we know that no matter how hard we work over a multitude of lives, we can never perfect ourselves to return to God on our own. 

John 14:6 reads:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 

Referring to the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the prophet Alma taught the people in Gideon:

“And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

“And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

“Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me” (Alma 7:11–13).

Fortunately, soon after being cast out, Auntie’s life was reclaimed physically through her contact with Becky.  Auntie was given a position as a housemother at the Rising Star Outreach School, which provided her with a place to live and an education for her sons.

In addition to reclaiming the lives of numerous leprosy patients through medical and economic interventions, the founders of Rising Star realized the need to provide a school for the children of the colonies.  The school not only provides an education for 180 children from the leprosy colonies, the children actually live on the campus in a building that is grouped into 8 dorms of 20-23 students.  The boarding school is necessary to remove the children from constant contact with the filth and disease of the colonies. 

Besides providing for the physical and educational needs of the children, the houses also provide for their spiritual needs.  The mixture of Hindu, Muslim and some Christian children come together each night for a nightly devotional in which songs are sung, prayers offered, and a thought shared.  The songbook available for their use just happens to be the LDS Hymn book. 

In this environment, Auntie was touched by the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and she was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Once cast out as evidence of essential sin, Auntie became reclaimed spiritually through the waters of baptism.  Once purified physically through the rendering of medical aid, Auntie was now eligible to be continually purified spiritually through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, by taking upon herself the saving ordinance of baptism. 

When we are baptized, we promise to take upon ourselves the name of Christ, to keep his commandments, and to serve him to the end.

Mosiah 5:8 reads:

 And under this head ye are made free, and there is no other head whereby ye can be made free. There is no other name given whereby salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God that ye should be obedient unto the end of your lives.

The decision to join the church can be a difficult one in many circumstances.  Even after receiving a witness that Joseph Smith was a prophet, Lorenzo Snow himself wrestled with the decision to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He knew that if he became a member of the Church, he would have to abandon some of his worldly aspirations.  But following an experience that he called his “fiercest struggle of heart and soul”, he agreed to be baptized.

For Auntie, the decision to be baptized must have been difficult.  Although tradition teaches that the first Christian community was established in India in the year 50, by St Thomas the Apostle himself, there are few Christians in India.  Out of 1.2 billion people living in India, only 2.3% are Christian, mostly Catholic.  That is partly because the beliefs of Hinduism are so pervasive throughout all aspects of life, so it has been very hard to penetrate both on a national and personal level.  In addition, there are only about 10,000 members in India, and although the first stake was recently organized there, the member support remains sparse. 

On the other hand, I know that Auntie had felt the hand of the Lord in rescuing her from a low and demeaning fate.  By following the commandment to be baptized, Auntie opened herself to receiving the blessings of obedience.  We know that we receive blessings from God when we follow the principles He has established. 

President Lorenzo Snow said:

There are certain principles established of God, which being understood and observed, will put men in possession of spiritual knowledge, gifts and blessings.  (We may come) into possession of spiritual powers and various privileges by obtaining an understanding of and faithfully attending to certain rules which the Lord established. 

Mosiah 8:10 reads:

Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being ^abaptized in the ^bname of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a ^ccovenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

President Snow said:

A famous example of obedience from the Old Testament is the case of Naaman, captain of the Assyrian host.  It appears, being afflicted with the leprosy and hearing of Elisha, the prophet, he made application to him for the removal of that affliction. The prophet, having the Holy Ghost upon him, which [communicates] the Mind of God, informed him that by washing in Jordan’s waters seven times, he might be restored. At first, Naaman thought this most too simple and was displeased and disposed not to conform—not to make use of means so simple. After more due consideration, however, humbling himself, he went forth complying with the rules; when lo! the blessing directly followed.

I think we cannot overlook here the method in which Naaman was made whole, or reclaimed from his leprosy.  He washed, or immersed himself in the water, according to the command of the prophet of God.  In addition, before washing himself in the river, Naaman had to go through a process of humbling himself to accept the council of the prophet, and choosing to have faith that his instructions would bring him the healing he desired. 

This story is a type or symbol of baptism.

Sin renders us spiritually unclean. It separates us from God and the community of his righteous children. It can culminate in spiritual death. But the scriptures teach that sin need not progress unchecked. The Lord has provided a way for us to secure a remission of sin and escape its more deadly spiritual effects. He has extended to each of us, in the form of baptism and repentance, the power to be cleansed.

Likewise, to obtain a remission of sins, we, like Naaman, must humble ourselves and believe in God’s power to cleanse us. We must initiate the process by voluntarily stepping into the waters to be baptized by authorized servants of God. (Travis T Anderson)

We must listen, and do.

The Saviour said, “Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” [Luke 6:46.] And, “He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved.” [Mark 16:16.] Likewise, he says, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” [John 3:5.] Again; he says, “He that heareth my words, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a man that built his house upon a rock.” [See Matthew 7:24.] These sayings of our Saviour require men to perform external works in order to receive their salvation.

One of the songs the kids loved to sing when we went in to have the devotionals with them was “The Wise Men Built His House Upon a Rock”.  In fact, the children knew all the Hymns and most of the songs from the Children’s Songbook.  On our first night having devotional with the children, we were startled to laughter to hear all these children singing “We Thank Thee, Oh God, for a Prophet.”  I have never heard such a bunch of tone-deaf people in my life, but it was beautiful to me.  Was it coincidence or convenience that the Hymn book was chosen for the school?  Of course not.

The manual says of Lorenzo Snow,

“Having received this blessing himself, he was anxious to share it with others. “  A few weeks ago, Wendy shared this comment by David Bednar: “ I’ve learned that God knows us and loves us absolutely and completely and that he would send one of us to the other side of the world if it would make a difference in one person’s life.”  Both of these things are true of Becky Douglas.  She was sent around the world to accomplish a work reclaiming the poor of India, and she was anxious to share the blessings of the gospel with those within her influence.

Over the years, a small, but significant number of the children at the school have joined the church.  There are currently about 30 members at the school.  The nearest church building is 2 hours away by van, and the children take turns making the 7 hour round trip to attend.  Auntie’s own two son’s are not among them.  After several years at the school, her son’s graduated 10^th Standard and were invited by an LDS family in Arizona to complete their studies in the US.  Those two boys are currently serving missions for the church in India.

John, in his Revelations, having seen and spoken of the wandering of the church into darkness, … speaks, in [chapter 14, verse 6], of the restoration of the Gospel. “I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth;”

President Snow testified:

… I now bear testimony, having the highest assurance by revelation from God, that this prophecy has already been fulfilled, that an Angel from God has visited man in these last days and restored that which has long been lost, even the priesthood,—the keys of the kingdom,—the fulness of the everlasting Gospel.

Because of that restoration, the Atonement of Jesus Christ is available, through baptism,  to each of us. His Atonement is infinite. It applies to everyone. It can clean, reclaim, and sanctify even the most unclean of all the earth.

Homeschooling

Since the first of November, I have been homeschooling Carson.  While it may seem like the worst of all worlds to have one child taking up my time all day with school, and the other 3 taking up the evening with homework, it has been such a burden off my shoulders to have Carson home.  Because of the different issues with different kids, we simply could not fit everything into the evenings that we needed to, and have any kind of sanity.  

It's not that we are overbooked with extracurriculars; we actually have the fewest this year of any I can remember.  It was mainly the homework load, and the fact that none of the younger kids could work independently.  I left Carson in longer than I felt I should, gave him "lots" of chances, but I could see he just was not progressing.  I know school is great for social (for some :( ), but 7 hours of social, then try to cram learning into the evening was not working. 

I had concerns in every area, but my top two were research/composition, spelling and math.  I figured there was so point in pushing composition without the spelling, so I bought a spelling system called All About Spelling, or AAS.  I started right at Level 1--Carson has been in 3 schools, and I didn't want there to be any gaps when I was done.  We pushed it hard, (4-6 lessons a day, through Level 4) and are now in the middle of the Level 5 book.  I know a lot of people say dyslexics can't learn to spell well, but this has been, probably the first time since Leap Frog's DVD taught Carson the alphabet, that I have felt a huge jump in ability!! He has improved sooo much in spelling and handwriting.  We will finish Level 6 spelling by the end of the year, unless we have to start doing tons of review words, maybe even get into 7th.  Very exciting.

As far as composition goes, Carson is sooo talented in free-writing fiction.  He is amazing, with such imaginative stories.  Now, we can actually read the spelling!  He struggles with anything that is remotely academic.  No, not struggles, he is completely crappy at it, partly because of lack of effort.  I'm starting to assign him some essays from our great geography curriculum by Beautiful Feet.  Right now we are going through Paddle to the Sea, and learning about the Great Lakes System and the industries along the way.  I'm going to have him do an essay on copper, we'll see how it goes.

Now that we are down to one spelling lesson a day, we have more time for grammar.  I'm doing 3rd grade First Language Lessons by Susan Wise Bauer. Even though he is in 6th grade, I felt he needed the basics.  This program is so thorough and repetitive, it's great for him.  We're doing about 3-4 lessons in that a day, so we'll be done with it soon.  I can't decide what to do next for grammar.  My top 3 are FLL 4, Growing with Grammar or Rod and Staff.  Just don't know.  I need a program that I can do at least 2 Levels a year to get up to grade.  I don't want to skip, again because of the gaps.

We're also getting ready to get serious about the writing.  The system I'm going to start with is Sentence Combining by William Strong and Sentence Composing by Don Killgallon.  These use models from literature to teach how successful sentences sound, and then imitate them.  

Math is my #1 worry now, because he just can't seem to retain it.  He's been doing Saxon math at school, which is a spiral approach, constant review, and very thorough, but just not understanding.  I'm looking for something new.  I've considered Rod and Staff, Math Mammoth, Singapore (which I've used before, and WANT to love, but it just doesn't work for him), and now I'm looking at Professor B. Believe me, we have done the works when it comes to math: MUS, Miquon (LOVE the ideas behind Miquon, although my kids don't "get it"), Kumon, Target workbooks.  The thing I am most attracted to by Math Mammoth is that I can get units for the "gaps" without having to redo the entire 3rd grade.  Just the support from the company is amazing.  But, Professor B sounds intriguing.

I got Carson the most awesome history curriculum EVER, History of the Horse.  You read stories about horses (King of the Wind, Black Beauty, etc), draw horses, study breeds of horses.  He just hasn't got into it.  Well, he just wants to read the books, not do the follow-up.  Recently, I found out about lapbooking, and showed him how to do it.  He is so excited to make a lapbook for each book and put in all the facts on the different pockets.  Hopefully that will get him going.