Sacrament Meeting Program

Sunday, October 26, was the annual Young Women's Sacrament Meeting program. It was wonderful as always. I introduced the program by sharing some of the highlights of our year. The topic was this year's theme found in Mosiah 5:15 "Be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works...." Some of the girls shared what the theme meant to them. Others talked about how Personal Progress helps them be steadfast and immovable. The rest talked about our reading the Book of Mormon challenge. After the passing of President Hinckley, many church members choose to honor him by reading The Book of Mormon in 97 days – a day for each year that he lived. As a YW group we took on this challenge but lengthened it another 80 days to represent the life of our newest prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. That meant we had 177 days or three pages a day to complete it. On Easter Sunday, all the girls received a pocket-size Book of Mormon along with a red pencil and highlighter. With the red pencil we marked every reference to our Savior, Jesus Christ. With the highlighter, we marked the words that He spoke. I can’t begin to tell you how this has changed my life. I’ve read the Book of Mormon 30 plus times never fully realizing the how often the Savior is spoken of until I took on this challenge.
I have watched the girls that have made reading The Book of Mormon part of their lives become stronger and more steadfast. I have watched them have the strength to fight off temptation and withstand the adversary. Their countenances have changed. Their attitude towards life is different. I can always tell when they have made The Book of Mormon a part of their lives. A few of the girls completed the challenge on time, many of the rest have promised to complete it by Thanksgiving. Mostly, I hope they are reading from it each and every day. I've started reading it again with the finish of goal of April 2009 General Conference. This time I am focusing on the blessings promised to the house of Israel and counsel given about prayer. I like reading with a specific purpose.