Brooklin gave her first talk in Sacrament Meeting this past Sunday. She has only been 12 for three weeks, and bishop gave her the assignment on her first week in Young Womens. She told me that during the opening of Young Womens meeting, Bishop came in and handed her a 3x5 card, asking her to speak in church in two weeks on the topic of "The Articles of Faith". She didn't even know what the card was at first, but of course every other girl knew (and were probably glad it wasn't them!) They of course have all had the opportunity to speak, and as with most of us, public speaking is not our favorite thing to do. Anyway, she did awesome. Darwin gave her a few places to look to research for her talk, but other than that, she wrote the talk all by herself. She asked me to read through it for her, and I felt so proud to be her mother. I could not have come up with this much on my own at her age. She has prepared several talks for primary, but you only have to deliver those to the little kids, not the whole congregation. She was really cute on the way to church too. She asked me if she was supposed to sit on the stand, or just go up when it was her turn. I told her that usually when you speak, you sit on the stand. She didn't know where to sit, so I told her to sit next to the pianist (who is 16) while she wasn't playing. She went and sat up on the stand, and then came back down and said, "What do I do when I'm done? Do I stay up there, or do I come back and sit with you?" I told her that usually you stay seated on the stand, until the end of the meeting...which is what she did. We forgot to tell her that she needed to occasionally look up from her paper at the audience, but she did such a good job! I have copied her talk below, for those who would like to read it. Also, she didn't mention all 13 of them, but she did memorize them all herself. They are listed here ... http://scriptures.lds.org/en/a_of_f/1
Articles of Faith
Good afternoon my brothers and sisters and ALOHA! A couple of weeks ago, I went to young women’s for the first time. Soon after we started, bishop walked in and gave me a piece of paper. Everybody kept on saying things like, “Wow...that was quick....” and “He sure doesn’t waste any time.” At first, I had no idea what was going on and what the small slip of paper was for, but, as you can see, I do now!
My topic for today is the Articles of Faith. The articles of faith were first made when Joseph Smith was a prophet. He first wrote them in a letter to a man named John Wentworth, who was a newspaper editor, in response to his request to know what the members of the church believed.
The articles of faith are the thirteen basic points of belief in our church. Each one outlines one of the doctrines that our church teaches to us.
Right now I’d like to talk about a few of the articles of faith. The first one I’d like to share with you is the fourth one. The fourth article of faith goes like this, “We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are first, faith in the lord Jesus Christ, second, repentance, third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, fourth, laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.” My sister, London, is getting baptized soon, and after that, she will get the Holy Ghost. This article of faith talks about the four most important steps that we need to take to live with our heavenly father again. Over the past seven and a half years, she has accumulated faith in abundance, and we also accumulate faith and a testimony, when we follow the commandments and choose the right.
The last one that I’d like to talk about is article of faith number one. I know that you think that I’m doing everything out of order, and that I should have done number one, well, where number one usually goes, at the beginning, but bear with me. The first article of faith is “We believe in god the eternal father and in his son, Jesus Christ, and in the holy ghost.” This means that we believe that Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three different personages. Many churches believe just the opposite, and that they are one all person. We know this is not true and that they are all separate beings. When Joseph Smith saw the first vision in the sacred grove, he saw not one being speaking to him out of the light, but two.
As I was preparing for this talk, I came across a story from the October 1978 New Era. It was written by President Spencer W. Kimball. Here is how it goes.
“Some time ago, there was a young boy who was traveling by train to California. He sat all alone across the isle from a man who was also going to California. When he saw the little boy, who was traveling alone, dressed quite neatly and behaving very well, he was impressed by him and went across the isle to talk to him.
He asked how the boy was doing and where he was going. He soon found out that the boy had family in Los Angeles, and was going to visit them. When the man asked where he was from, he answered, “Utah”. “Oh,” said the man, “You must be Mormon.”
“Yes” said the boy with pride in his voice.
“That’s interesting.” The man said, “I’ve been through there once or twice and noticed the beautiful buildings tree lined roads, lovely homes, and wondered what they believed.”
The boy quickly said, “I can tell you!” then recited the first article of faith.
The man was slightly surprised, but listened to the boy as he went on.
Then the boy went on to say the second article of faith. The man thought, “It is quite unusual for a boy of such a young age to know all this.”
He went on to recite the third and fourth articles of faith, and with some encouragement and praise, went on and recited number five.
“That is wonderful. I am amazed that you know so much about the doctrines of your church!” Said the man. To which the boy answered, “Do you want to know more?”
As the man listened to the boy recite numbers six through seven than commented, “It sounds as if you believe in the bible!” “We do” said the boy, then recited number eight.
The man listened to him as he told him the rest of the articles of faith. When the boy finished, he relaxed and the man was very excited.
“When I'm done in Los Angeles, I’m going to stop in Salt Lake to learn more about the gospel” said the man. And he did.
Have any of you had this kind of experience? Have all of you memorized your articles of faith? If not, I encourage you to do so now because you are always prepared to teach the gospel and do missionary work when you know your articles of faith.
(Bear testimony. )
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Good afternoon my brothers and sisters and ALOHA! A couple of weeks ago, I went to young women’s for the first time. Soon after we started, bishop walked in and gave me a piece of paper. Everybody kept on saying things like, “Wow...that was quick....” and “He sure doesn’t waste any time.” At first, I had no idea what was going on and what the small slip of paper was for, but, as you can see, I do now!
My topic for today is the Articles of Faith. The articles of faith were first made when Joseph Smith was a prophet. He first wrote them in a letter to a man named John Wentworth, who was a newspaper editor, in response to his request to know what the members of the church believed.
The articles of faith are the thirteen basic points of belief in our church. Each one outlines one of the doctrines that our church teaches to us.
Right now I’d like to talk about a few of the articles of faith. The first one I’d like to share with you is the fourth one. The fourth article of faith goes like this, “We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are first, faith in the lord Jesus Christ, second, repentance, third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, fourth, laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.” My sister, London, is getting baptized soon, and after that, she will get the Holy Ghost. This article of faith talks about the four most important steps that we need to take to live with our heavenly father again. Over the past seven and a half years, she has accumulated faith in abundance, and we also accumulate faith and a testimony, when we follow the commandments and choose the right.
The last one that I’d like to talk about is article of faith number one. I know that you think that I’m doing everything out of order, and that I should have done number one, well, where number one usually goes, at the beginning, but bear with me. The first article of faith is “We believe in god the eternal father and in his son, Jesus Christ, and in the holy ghost.” This means that we believe that Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three different personages. Many churches believe just the opposite, and that they are one all person. We know this is not true and that they are all separate beings. When Joseph Smith saw the first vision in the sacred grove, he saw not one being speaking to him out of the light, but two.
As I was preparing for this talk, I came across a story from the October 1978 New Era. It was written by President Spencer W. Kimball. Here is how it goes.
“Some time ago, there was a young boy who was traveling by train to California. He sat all alone across the isle from a man who was also going to California. When he saw the little boy, who was traveling alone, dressed quite neatly and behaving very well, he was impressed by him and went across the isle to talk to him.
He asked how the boy was doing and where he was going. He soon found out that the boy had family in Los Angeles, and was going to visit them. When the man asked where he was from, he answered, “Utah”. “Oh,” said the man, “You must be Mormon.”
“Yes” said the boy with pride in his voice.
“That’s interesting.” The man said, “I’ve been through there once or twice and noticed the beautiful buildings tree lined roads, lovely homes, and wondered what they believed.”
The boy quickly said, “I can tell you!” then recited the first article of faith.
The man was slightly surprised, but listened to the boy as he went on.
Then the boy went on to say the second article of faith. The man thought, “It is quite unusual for a boy of such a young age to know all this.”
He went on to recite the third and fourth articles of faith, and with some encouragement and praise, went on and recited number five.
“That is wonderful. I am amazed that you know so much about the doctrines of your church!” Said the man. To which the boy answered, “Do you want to know more?”
As the man listened to the boy recite numbers six through seven than commented, “It sounds as if you believe in the bible!” “We do” said the boy, then recited number eight.
The man listened to him as he told him the rest of the articles of faith. When the boy finished, he relaxed and the man was very excited.
“When I'm done in Los Angeles, I’m going to stop in Salt Lake to learn more about the gospel” said the man. And he did.
Have any of you had this kind of experience? Have all of you memorized your articles of faith? If not, I encourage you to do so now because you are always prepared to teach the gospel and do missionary work when you know your articles of faith.
(Bear testimony. )
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
1 comment:
Brooklin,
That was a very good talk...guess what, I did my first talk in church only about a month ago! I'm so happy I had the opportunity too, I was really scared but I'm so happy I got to do it! I love you and great job!
Love,
Aunt Marnie
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