Letter to the Class

When we reflect on the Savior, the amazing moment when Jesus meets Peter, James and John at the same shores of Galalee, I marvel of how merciful the Lord was. Imagine this, the three men in silence have been working all night catching nothing. Their hearts are still heavy over the three days.  A man walks along the shore and calling out to them asks them if they have caught anything. They reply in the negative. The stranger asks them to throw their nets on the other side of the boat. They do so and much to their surprise the nets are so full they begin to break again. The men reflect, "This hasn't happen since..." They quickly finish the catch and Peter in his excitement dives off the boat and swims to shore. His heart beating and his arms aching as he does. The excitement is intense. Peter doesn't want the Savior to disappear. James and John begin sailing to the shore. They cannot stop smiling. They recognize the Savior, his voice, so familiar has awoken something in

When the Savior died, how quickly did the Apostles go back to their old lives, but when Jesus met with them He made the effort to open their eyes to the scriptures about the Savior's mission and helping them realize that it should be their mission. How quick are we to go back to our old lives when changed by the Savior's charity? He asks us daily to cherish God and Man through the scriptures. The word cherish means to do the work and show your love. When Peter saw the Savior after the resurrection, he was asked, Peter, cherish thou me? Some want to say love but love is flighty and temporary and requires no work so we will use cherish as it requires work. Jesus asked Peter if he had worked on his appreciation of the Savior and not just call it a spiritual experience. The Savior wanted to know it it had changed him and if it did, would he let it change others.  There is a reason why Peter was chosen as an Apostle. Jesus knew it would change him. It was hard enough to be called ou

image Children, It is questionable as to when Jesus was crucified. Was it Thursday as John said or was it Friday as the others said? The answer is, it doesn't matter. The point is when the unblemish lamb bleeted as they were destroyed in the homes of thousands of Jews, Jesus was tried and tested and found wrongly suitable to live.  This wonderful man begged his Father to remove the bitterness that was placed before him. He would bleet (cry), bleed, be betrayed by a friend, tried with lies, whipped, mocked and embarrassed, and finally nailed to a tree for all the world at the highest point of Jerusalem north of the city to be an example. Example indeed. Nephi was told once, “it is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief” (1 Nephi 4:13). How prophetic. We the children of God would of dwindled and parished if wicked man withheld their hand so the Savior could give His life. No one took it, it was given. At times we need co

image Children, The incident in the garden was rough. The physician Luke says that Jesus bled from every pore. After celebrating with bread wine and song, the Savior who knew the sacrifice had to begin, went to the garden with good spirits unknowly fully what was to come and as it began, like a woman in labor, asked God to remove the bitter cup but took the will of the Father over His own as a woman bears the brunt of their experience. At times, we are asked to go through bitter times. The question we ask is to have our bitter cup of life removed and some of us become bitter because we have to drink it. We let the bitter cup of life, make us bitter instead of asking for strength to bear it. The Savior received an angel. We are no different. Angels attend us throughout our toughest times. They encourage and bear us up to complete our trials.  Now at times our friends will shortchange us. They will say they will stand with us and never betray us. Jesus had those friends too.

image Children, We are going to talk about the last supper. During it, the Savior taught the Sacrament, washed His apostles feet and had His own feet washed by a woman. He asked us three times through three gospels (through Joseph Smith translation in some cases) asked us to remember Him. Some faiths call it transfiguration but we seek to just remember in our hearts and allow the Sacrament to change us to be more like the Savior. The towel girded Jesus cleaned the physical dirt from the Apostles. What does he do for us before we partake of the Supper... The sacrament. How does He wash our soles/souls and do we remember it through the week how He took our imperfections on Himself.  The Lord uses homonyms to teach us how much we can gain a greater understanding. For example we are encouraged to go outside as children and bathe in the sun, discover and explore. Get your feet dirty, your soles harden to the grit that would otherwise hurt you, but you are happy in the sun and th