Time Out! part 1

I went to time out for Women and had a really nice time with my friend JO.  She drove us down and we shared a room at the Days Inn.  We walked to and from the convention each day and save $30 in parking.  We brought our own food and had time to enjoy breaks instead of rushing off to buy food.

There were so many good messages including songs with great messages.

Sheri Dew:  You never know when your time on earth is done.  Have you said everything you were meant to say?  We are placed in an exact orbit to influence and be influenced.
-Aspire to be in the Hall of Fame of Great Repenters.
-Compete not against other people but against death, disease and ignorance.
-Forgiveness is for you.
-Commandments are for all of us.  You never know what good you can do when you follow the prophet.  President Nelson was serving as the Sunday School President when President Mckay said they should learn Mandarin.  So he did.  And because he knew a little bit of Mandarin, he was able to chat a little with a Chinese colleague and that opened doors to his serving the people of China and being named a Friend of China.
-Develop a testimony that Russel M. Nelson is a prophet of God.

Mercy River:  Why sit around and wait for a miracle to come, when you can be one?

Mercy River:  Darkness seems safer than light.  Bring your brokenness and I'll bring mine.

Mercy River:  Do you feel the angels bearing you up?  You are the result of the love of thousands.

Sistas in Zion - Tamu and Zandra:  Our actions as women lay the seeds of future greatness.  One day I heard someone say "I get along better with boys than girls."  I said that in front of my mom.  I said the wrong thing in front of the right person.  She let me know that I should look to the word instead of to the world for how to get along with other women.  Consider the story of Ruth and Naomi.
   Don't choose comfort.  Go out of your way.  Serve.  Pay the price to be a friend and become a family.
Zandra:  What if Love were your only motivation?  Think of Mosiah 18:8-10

8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

    Hearing this I thought we should feed those that stand in need of food.  We should celebrate with those that stand in need of celebration.  Give people what they need.

     Zandra told a story about a friend who was pregnant as a teenager.  Zandra connected this friend with lots of resources so she would not have to drop out of high school  Then the friend lost the pregnancy.  Zandra felt sad that she had only thought of this baby as a problem and hadn't taken the time to celebrate the life and joy a baby bring, even at hard times.  So she said "Take trials out of your head and put them in your heart."

  Jane Manning was an amazing woman who joined the church as a free black person in Connecticut.  She lived and worked with Emma Smith and was invited to be sealed to Emma and Joseph Smith.  Zandra talked about how sometimes it seems like covenants are hard to keep.  But "Covenants contain both the promise and the power to keep them."  You will be strengthened in keeping your covenants because you make them.

  Sometimes people quote Shakespeare "To be or not to be, that is the question."  Zandra gives this a twist saying "To be or to become."  If you are just being, where is the progress in that?

  This spoken word poem "I am she, she is me" is beautiful.  It expresses that as sisters we have a connection that means if one is hurting, the other cannot rejoice.  If one is in bondage, the other cannot be free.

I talked to Julia Orellana about how to be a better, more patient mom.  She said to take a sacred pause to put things in perspective, then speak.

Mercy River:  God gave me your heat.  He told me to keep it safe.  Oh my favorite part of the puzzle is this, He [Christ] is the missing piece that makes us fit.

Mercy River:  It doesn't matter how far apart you are.  God's love will always feel like home.