We recently attended a class with Ed and Brooke Rowe, recently returned mission presidents. They asked us a question that we’ve been pondering for weeks now. President Rowe would ask the new missionaries, “Tell me about your latest spiritual experience with your parents.” Often they would stumble or would tell him a story that happened years before. This concerned him and it concerned me. I immediately thought about my family, I was prepared to answer, my children and I often had spiritual experiences together while learning in homeschool. Sister Rowe then asked, “When is the last time your family had a spiritual experience together?” "Oh, my family?” I panicked. The whole family? That was harder for me to answer. Needless to say, Thom and I have, now, made a new resolution to consciously create more opportunities and an environment for all of us to have more spiritual experiences. The Rowe’s also taught us a pattern to experience conversion or to have more spiritual experiences. They call their tip: T.T.I.P. T - Teach T - Testify I - Invite P - Promise TEACH - share something with your children. Such as, scriptures, inspired questions, statements of truth, examples, experiences, (listen and discern) TESTIFY - "I know these teachings (story, principes,etc.) are true because...." INVITE - "Will you…" Do not say, "I challenge you..." This a call to action, an invitation to act and feel. Remember to allow them to use their agency, this is not a command. PROMISE - "I promise you…" (the Lord with bless you, extend the same promise God has given) or say, "The Lord promises you…" Parents have the right (stewardship) to promise. Parent extend the "then" of a statement of principle or "if-then" statement. Another way to use this pattern is with their chores. "Having clean clothes brings the spirit and confidence. I know I feel better when my clothes are clean. Will you do your laundry and clean your clothes? I promise you too will feel more confident and have the spirit more with you." During this week's Table Talk Discussion we share this pattern and listen the testimonies of Ali Eisenach and Blaine and Audrey Rindlisbacher.
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God sends you subjects when you need them. We are studying the subject of Revelation this month and the sacrament talk yesterday was on the attributes of revelation. Wow! I thought, God has a message to send out to our audience. Here are my notes from that talk: There are 4 attributes of revelation:
In the past six years of directing events I have been on the lookout for hidden talent or amazing teachers or mothers with wonderful ideas. Allow me to share with you five that will be presenting at this conference:
Dianne is a gem. She came prepared with two presentations and is helping with the family church history trip planning. She came with different sets of clothes too. :) We completed four presentations that day with her. First was her Learn Spanish using the Book of Mormon, next we filmed the introduction to the trip and the interview questions. Last we changed up the set and she taught us how to learn history using your own family history. The Book of Mormon presentation was great, she had several examples and video clips. She also taught us practical ways to learn the language using at least 4 different colors to identify the verbs, pronouns, etc. In her history presentation I was amazed at the many different types of timelines she mentioned and showed (see below) It's fun to be able to view timelines and the whole picture too. You will love these presentation. :) Nicholeen makes conferences, recordings and visits easy. She's "chill" as Dave says. We sat down planned out what to do and when. Then we came and talked with Dave who mic'd us up and prepared us for the recordings. Her presentation was on Language, God gift to us. She taught us how to use our language for the best. She told funny and encouraging stories about how she overcame telling lies and how they had become as addiction for her. After her presentation I asked her questions. Fun questions about how she homeschools her children and tips and resources she recommends for you. You will want to see this presentation! Jenny and her husband drove all the way from St. George to share with us her message and warnings. Her main concern was keeping the presentation positive. The first half of her message was about what the future of education is going. She showed a video from the ACT program made about how the future could look. It was actually cool and positive, but then she asked the question, "What message is behind the teaching? and "Who is doing the teaching?" Come to find out the "stockholders" are those who are investing in education and they are anti-God, anti-community and anti-family. People we don't want to be having teach our children! The second half was about how we can fight back. Trust God, trust that he has entrusted YOU to teach your children. This is a very informative presentation - eye opening. Marlene had a few issues in getting to the studio however it worked out well for everyone. She and I visited for a minute to get us focused, relaxed and a good understanding of what we wanted to share. Once we got started with the recording she shared her message of language and how we can better improve our relationships with our children. During the recording she seemed like she was not herself and I stopped the recording and talked about it with her. She then opened up and told us some funny stories and examples of what not to do when talking to your children. All of which helped her come up with better ideas and the material for her presentation. You will enjoy the tools and the stories. :) Christopher was very kind and patient with us. We were in such a hurry to get to another appointment that we rushed him the first time and later felt like we had cheated him out of a great presentation verse a good one. So we invited him back and redid it. We learned a lot about the liberal and servile arts and how we need to know both. It was great information and helped me to organize my learning into a much better system than I had currently been using. He was able to teach much longer the second time and did such a good job we won't have to do much editing. Also, we decided that we would split his presentation into two parts. Here is a nugget I have thought about since watching this: When our nation was beginning they took our laws from the Romans; the language from the Greeks and our religious base from the Hebrew. ~ ponder. Heidi and I have hung out in the same crowds for years. I was introduced to her by her mother. She couldn't wait for me to meet her daughter because I was a homeschooler. :) Heidi now goes to Kenya to help them with education and way of living. Sometimes her friends from their come here to help her promote building a cultural center. It just so happened that Moses was here when our recording session was scheduled, so he brought him into the conversation and interviewed him too. It was a wonderful experience. "Heidi uses her experience with humanitarian work as a basis of a lot of examples. But as she asks her questions, think in your mind about how YOU would answer them for your family and your life." Heidi shared her 9 statements of change that will help us to grow and stretch. Moses shared his life in Kenya and his vision for the cultural center. He also told us about his costume that his tribe still wears. He told us doesn't jump well. :) It was a treat!! Alex Speiser makes me smile. He is a young man with a great smile and a passionate heart. I loved his spirit and his desire to serve and help others. I met him at an event several months back and as we talked I felt he had something to share with our audience and invited him at that time. His message was one of hope. He opened the scriptures and shared his understanding of the common story of Captain Moroni. I found his insights helpful and brought me new understanding. I loved what he said about preparation and putting on the armor of God and how to help grow our testimonies. You will enjoy this presentation. |
AuthorHi, we're Thom & Tresta, the interviewers for this conference. Here are some of our experiences and thoughts. Archives
April 2017
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