Coming Up: Stake Conference

Brothers and Sisters,

Please come and enjoy our spring 2015, Highlands Ranch Colorado Stake Conference. It will be held Saturday, February 28 and Sunday, March 1.

We are pleased to have Elder Donald Deshler (of the Seventy) presiding at all sessions. 

Please be in your seats 10 minutes prior to each session begining to allow the sprit to be with each of us. 

Note: We will not be broadcasting Conference to the Colorado Building on Sunday March 1.

Saturday, February 28

4 pm Priesthood Leadership Meeting

Location: Highlands Ranch Stake Center

Stake Choir Practice

Brothers and Sisters, 

Come and join the Choir for Stake Conference, be assured of great seats.

Practice begins Sunday Nights at 6:00 p.m. (starting this Sunday) at the Stake Center, come join the singing!
Bring all your family members ages 12 and older, Let's All SING on in the work of the Lord!!

General Women's Meeting Photos

Upcoming: Stake Conference, Oct. 18-19

Brothers and Sisters,

The Highlands Ranch Colorado Stake Conference will be held on October 18th and 19th. We encourage you all to attend. The details of who should attend each session are included below.

Saturday, October 18th

4 pm Priesthood Leadership Meeting

Location: Highlands Ranch Stake Center

Those invited: Stake Presidency, High Council, Stake Executive Secretary and assistants, Stake Clerk and assistants, Bishoprics, Ward Executive Secretaries, Ward Clerks and assistant Ward Clerks, High Priest Group leaders/assistants/secretaries, Elders quorum presidencies/secretaries, Ward Mission leaders, Stake and Ward Young Men presidencies/secretaries/assistant advisers.

NOTE: For this Conference we are inviting Priest Quorum Assistants and Secretary, Teachers Quorum Presidencies and Secretary, Deacons Quorum Presidencies and Secretary

7 pm Saturday Evening Session

Location: Highlands Ranch Stake Center

Those invited: All members of the stake who are 12 years of age and older.

Sunday, October 19th

10 am Sunday General Session - Broadcast with General Authorities

Location: Highlands Ranch Colorado Stake Center; Foothills Canyon Building (live direct transmission); Wildcat Building (live webcast) and Colorado Building (live webcast)

Those invited: All stake members, friends, and neighbors.

Everyone is welcome to attend the Sunday session in the building of his or her choice.

We look forward to seeing each of you at Stake Conference.

The Highlands Ranch Stake Presidency

Coming Up: General Women's Meeting

General Women's Conference: Part Two

For the first time, women and young women ages 8 and up were invited to attend a General Women's Meeting. Becca of Avenue B Photography (visit her website HERE) attended the event and photographed the meeting from the Highlands Ranch Stake Center. Here are some of her pictures (look for more that we posted last Wednesday!):

(Do you recognize the picture below? It was featured in the May 2014 Ensign- congratulations to Becca for getting one of her many amazing photos published!)

General Women's Conferece: Part One

For the first time, women and young women ages 8 and up were invited to attend a General Women's Meeting. Becca of Avenue B Photography (visit her website HERE) attended the event and photographed the meeting from the Highlands Ranch Stake Center. Here are some of her pictures (look for more to be posted next Wednesday!):

Sister Wilcox's Stake Conference Talk

Sister Wilcox spoke at stake conference in March. Here is a copy of her talk:

My nephew sent an email from his mission about a talk he gave and his testimony of 1 Corinthians 12:12-20 about the body of the church.  Verse 13 says:  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be bond or free and have been all make to drink into one Spirit. It is essentially passage that is talking about a body needing all its pieces.  And how the arrangement of these pieces are really divine.  And that we each have a place.  I had a chance to reflect on the places that I belonged throughout my life, but one place came to mind teaching me that I also knew what it felt like to feel out of place.

I was in the 4th grade.  It was picture day, and I took picture day seriously. The night before I put my hair in rollers.  I wore the Easter dress my mom had made me.  It was blue and white pin striped and at that time of life, the more ruffles the better. I had white knee socks and light brown sandals. 

As we lined up to go into the cafeteria, I just realized that, with my almost 5 foot frame,  I would be in the back row again. I threw a fit and unfortunately ended up getting what I wanted.  I was sat in the front row.  My hair covered the student behind me, dress covered the students to my sides, legs stuck out a mile in front of me as my classmates legs tucked pretty neatly under their chairs.  And to top it off I had a mouthful of crooked teeth.

I wonder as a mom now if it was as painful for my mom to see this… and I can only imagine what my classmates parents thought of it!

In 1 Corinthians 12:13 it says the by the Spirit we are baptized into one body.
Verse 14: It says the body has and needs many members. 
Verse 17: Is my favorite as it says;  If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing, or if the whole was hearing, where were the smelling… (or in my case… if we were all on the front row, where were the back row?)  
Verse 18:  “But now hath God set the members everyone of them in the body as it hath pleased him.”  He knows where we are and our placement in places is where it pleases Him.

I have gone grudgingly into callings,  trying to be ‘all ears’  and forgetting that hands are also necessary,  but I tend to end up repenting plenty.

One calling I had years ago, I thought certainly no member in the church in my life time had ever suffered quite as much as I.  I was nursery leader at the time when my second child was in nursery and my third was on the way.   I struggled plenty to feel the importance of that place for me then. 

I slowly realized that I became my nursery aged daughter’s hero when she grabbed my hand after Sacrament meeting to go to nursery together.  We practiced songs together at home.  I was able to decide the types of games she likes to play in nursery … rough and active ones.  And she helped decide on the treat.  She was very happy in nursery, and eventually I was too.   And I was able to see the joy in it in every other nursery calling I got, but for that first one, I gained the chance to struggle with the Lord in prayer and to find a testimony of that every piece of the body is important.  I have spent very few callings away from primary in the 20 years I have been an adult in this church. 

Lately the Olympics have been on in our home and very often throughout the coverage there has been a commercial for ipad air using a poem by Walt Whitman… It says; “What amid these oh me oh life?  Answer; That life exists and identity, that the powerful play goes on and we may contribute a verse.” 

That life exists and identity even an eternal identity.  Our identity truly existed far before this mortal existence as we were taught and loved and enjoyed, as we enjoy our own young children at our Heavenly Father’s knee.  What an exciting experience to prove ourselves, and write our verses.  But often there we have struggles remembering this.   Next week all of us Junior Primary workers will teach Lesson 10, which is titled "Heavenly Father Watches Over Us."  If we learned this and learned this well, and sealed it in our heart, (like Joseph Smith and  like the Brother of Jared), we would no longer need faith because we would know. We would know our Heavenly Father, we would know our identity and our worth to him.  We would know our place in His kingdom and rejoice for the chance to serve in even the smallest part.  We would see everyone we encounter as such as well.  How much less scary is it to invite someone back to a place they already belong!

My mom passed away at the end of my high school years, and for a while there my dad fell apart.  For the next 4 years I didn’t have a home to go home to and even if I was away, I didn’t have a home to support me from a distance.  I had many times in which I recognized tender mercies of the Lord, but overall I struggled those years. 

Then I had the opportunity to enter the Endowment Room of the temple for the first time, and then the Celestial room.  And with each of these rooms I regained a sense of belonging somewhere.  I had the chance to kneel across the alter of the Temple to be sealed to my husband.  He’s a great guy and we have had a great life trying to focus our family around service in the temple.

Through the years I have felt the influence of my mom at times, but much more often I have felt the influence of my Heavenly Father through the Holy Ghost…  Which is I am sure how my mom would want it, which is what I most desperately want for my own children as well.  

Many times my husband and I have prayed to Heavenly Father to know his will when it comes to what we say and what we should  do for his children in our home on this earth.  We have received many answers to this prayer.

However, this last year,  I have had the opportunity to be with my oldest child as he received his patriarchal blessing I was a bit surprised at how it both humbled me and lifted me to understand again that my son, is His son.  He is watched over by Heavenly Father most carefully.  

What an exciting time to be here!  Heavenly Father knows what our special verse should be!  It’s definitely more than time to leave the 4th grade behind… (except for you that actually are in 4th grade.. stay there, work hard and look cute in your pictures:)

But I mean leave pain and regrets behind.  Being a part of the church, and in the part that you are needed,  and writing our little verse is the most exciting thing to wake up to every day!

In 1 Nephi 8, Lehi teaches of his vision of the Tree of Life.  There is more commentary and analysis in 1 Nephi 11.  And there are lots of parts to it.  But 2 parts mean the most to me.   First,  the iron rod:  the word of God and my day to day effort  to inch my way down it.  That daily effort is needed  and returning to it is necessary for safety and progression.  And second the Tree of Life where there waiting for us is great joy and the sweetest of fruit.

I am grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ that allows this relationship to be maintained through repentance and forgiveness, and all the ordinances, covenants, scriptures and safe guards that are our iron rod that lead us ever closer to him….

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Thank you so much for sharing your talk with us, Sister Wilcox!

This Weekend: General Conference!

This weekend is General Conference! You can watch conference on BYUTV or on-line at lds.org.

If you would like some tips for making conference more memorable for kids, here are some sites with some great ideas:

lds.org
Mormon Momma
LDS Living
Live Craft Eat

What are some of your favorite conference traditions? Please share in the comments section below!

If you are interested in learning more about why Mormons have general conference, you can find out more HERE.

Healing Of A Broken Heart: Sister Ashby's Stake Conference Talk

Many people have asked for a copy of the beautiful talk given by Sister Ashby at stake conference last weekend because it cut out for the live stream during conference. In response, Sister Ashby has kindly agreed to share her talk on our blog. Thank you, Sister Ashby! 

You can listen to the talk by clicking below, or read the talk just underneath.

WHY I BELIEVE—MY SHATTERED HEART MADE WHOLE

Gina Ashby 3/2/14

My desire this morning is to convey the deep and immense love of God, a love that is so real that it can mend the broken heart.  I know because my own heart was once shattered into a million pieces.  After eight years of struggle, and despite my family’s best efforts, fasting, and endless prayer, my sweet older brother ended his life.

I’m going to attempt to describe what the healing process has been like for me. The path has been rough, unpredictable, and sometimes felt like I’d only been moving backwards, but through it I’ve learned God never leaves us alone.

THE PAIN:

I cannot describe the pain and agony that swept over me and my family having to bury my brother at the age of 23.  Life became very dark.  I felt like I entered a nightmare that would prevent me from ever feeling truly happy. I was absolutely broken.  The morning after receiving the tragic news and relaying the news to my family I stared at the mountains terrified of the painful climb ahead of me, but resolved to face things head on, determined to heal and do whatever it would take, no matter how hard.  I pleaded for God to help me through such a daunting process. 

If I could boil my 15 years of healing down to four key components, it would include these words: See, Search, Thank, and Give.

SEE: 

Once the choice was made to push forward, I had to try to see through God’s eyes—to see the situation, my brother, myself, life and death the way God sees.  This was really the process that freed me of anger.  God sees beauty and intention.  He sees potential and opportunity for growth.  He sees the big picture and the end result.  What He sees from such a high vantage point gives us a glimmer of hope, tolerance, patience, and forgiveness.  It helps us recognize that we can press forward in faith and hope for something better to come.

About two months after my brother’s death, I found myself in Guatemala on a humanitarian effort.  My agony was so intense.  One incredibly starry night, I cried out to God, telling him how much I hated my new reality, how I didn’t want this new life, I didn’t ask for it.  I was angry that reality meant our family was incomplete, I wouldn’t be able to see or talk to my brother any more, my future husband and children wouldn’t know him.  After giving a lengthy list of reasons why I hated reality, I heard a calm voice say to my mind, “Stop hating reality. Reality is—a Savior has been provided.  Reality is—He has overcome death and paid the price of our sins.  Reality is—you will see your brother again!” I suddenly zoomed out and saw the bigger picture of what that reality is and how glorious it is.  I realized that the reasons I mourned were temporary and ultimately conquered by Jesus Christ. How instantly grateful I became when my perspective of life and death was shown to me in the way that God sees it. My sorrow turned to rejoicing. Oh, how I love reality!

SEARCH:

After I received the awful news, feeling sick, I went into another room and collapsed to the floor, feeling as though my heart would stop from such pain, I started to quietly sing the words of the hymn “Where Can I Turn For Peace?” I knew my only hope was to turn to Christ to save me. I resolved to draw close to the Lord and ensue an all-out push towards Him.

Coupled with prayer, I have found no better way to propel myself toward God than by a sincere reading of the Book of Mormon.  The Book of Mormon literally changed the course of my life when the missionaries asked me to take an unmarked copy and read it as though I had never seen it before in my life. I was to mark, with a red pencil, all the passages that answered life’s most important questions to me.  I read with a long list of desperate questions—Does God truly exist?, Does He really have a plan for us?, Can families truly be together again after we die?  These were things I’d believed all my life, but suddenly were put in question with a desperate need to know the answers. As I read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover, a power swept through my soul with hope and reassurance opening my understanding to who Jesus Christ is, what He offers us, and how we obtain healing and deliverance.  I was astonished that almost every page speaks of Him. I love that holy book of scripture.  It calmed my troubled soul and really started to heal me. There is power in that book to draw everyone closer to God. Do you need answers? Healing? A testimony? I invite everyone everywhere to take a copy of the Book of Mormon and read it as though you’ve never seen it before.  I promise you miracles.

THANK:

Filling your heart with gratitude is a huge key to healing.  Look for every possible thing to be grateful for, and as that list starts to flow you’ll find it’s hard to stop adding to it.  You then recognize the Giver of the gifts—everything comes from God as demonstration of His love. A grateful heart cannot be an angry heart.  There is a softening that takes place when we fill our hearts with gratitude, a door that opens us to more of God’s love, and an urge to repay Him.

I learned to fill my heart with gratitude for the Savior and look forward with anxious, joyful anticipation to the day of the Savior’s return.  I learned for myself that even my brother has full access to the Atonement, that his spirit is alive, often near, that his mind is now clear.  I know that I will be rushing to his open arms after this life is over.  Now it is my turn to do all I must do to be with him.  I live each day longing for that day and make choices with that scene in mind. Truly, when you weigh everything, the reasons to be grateful and rejoice far outweigh the reasons to mourn.

GIVE: 

The fourth component of healing for me required an outward focus, a shift of attending to my own wounds and turning to the wounds of others, even if I didn’t feel like it. Getting out of myself and looking for ways to help others proved to be incredibly strengthening and brought tender blessings from heaven.

Noticing the healing take place in my heart, I felt a deep desire to show the Lord my gratitude and serve a full-time mission.  And what did He do? He assigned me to go back to my family’s happy childhood home of Helsinki, Finland, but this time as a missionary, wearing the name of Jesus Christ upon my heart. That was a place where the best times for our family happened before things got hard for my brother. Going back there brought back many wonderful forgotten memories and filled my heart with joy. I even returned to our old house and after explaining I had lived there as a young girl, and was welcomed in to the very living room where our family had knelt in prayer so many times, and shared the powerful message of God’s Plan of Happiness.  Yes, God wants to heal us! I bore witness daily to the people in that great country, some of whom had also lost loved ones, that because of the Savior’s Atonement—His incredible selfless sacrifice, there is a purpose for this life. Christ’s Church has been restored to the earth with power in His temples to seal families together forever. Through His prophets and apostles in our day so much truth and light has been revealed from heaven.  I loved testifying that Jesus Christ has already paid the price, desires to heal and cleanse us, and never gives up on any one of us.

THE MIRACLE:

At the end of my missionary service, I scanned my soul and could not find an ounce of pain.  And my heart? Not even a crack! I was astonished that I was whole! It was a total miracle. Repeatedly working to See through God’s eyes, Search for Him, Thank Him, and Give service to others brought about a mighty change in my once-shattered heart. Through the Atonement of Christ, darkness, resentment and pain were replaced with purpose, faith, and a brightness of hope.

Becoming whole meant for me a peaceful acceptance of what had happened and a release of blame towards everyone involved. It included my consenting to let my brother live where he is now, and a resolve to live where I am with a greater degree of patience and recognition that our realms overlap. With this acceptance came an inner harmony and wholeness, trusting that the Lord will do what He says He is will do.  In other words, faith in Christ and application of His Atonement enable His power to flow through and heal us.  This is not to say we are free from future heartache. I miss my brother everyday. Triggers still cause stabs of pain, but do not “re-break” my heart. I most quickly come back to acceptance when applying the principles of See, Search, Thank, and Give.

God is aware of us. We are His work. We are His full-time/over-time job.  As a loving parent so invested in our progress, our Heavenly Father has provided the perfect conditions to refine us, away from His presence here on earth.  He respects our freedom to choose for ourselves, and knows that there will be pain, suffering, and injustice in the world because of it.  But with that same freedom we can choose compassion, empathy, patience, courage, faith, to practice forgiving others, and experience the sweetness of being forgiven. He deserves our trust, our gratitude, our awe, our loyalty, and our worship.

Why do I believe all of this?  It is because I was almost completely ruined, seemingly irreparably.  I needed Him.  And He came.  It is my greatest joy to know Him more deeply.  In coming to know Him, I have discovered how desperately I need Him.  I have learned that "Happiness is not the absence of pain, but the presence of God. “ I need Him to cleanse me to be worthy to return to our Father in Heaven and be with my brother again. There is so much more God desires to bless us with.  All He asks is that we come to Him, broken heart and all.  I testify that if we have even the tiniest speck of desire to believe, to repent, to be baptized, to receive His Spirit, and to endure with faith to the end, God’s love will carry us through the trials of life, heal our wounded souls, and give us reason to rejoice!

A youtube video of the talk can be found HERE. This is great to share with friends!