Sunday On Saturday night we passed by a chapel on our drive back to the hotel. Conveniently that building just happened to house the nearest singles ward so Sunday morning we got ready for church and headed back to the chapel we discovered the night before for the 9:00 meeting. After sitting down Tommy, from our ward in Provo, showed up. His father was in the bishopric and Tommy was visiting home for the weekend so we had to get a picture.
I realized after the picture how short I really am... ;)
After church we went back to the hotel to make a lunch and plan the rest of the day. We decided that we would go to the Jelly Belly Factory (because tours stopped at 4:00) and then to the Oakland Temple. While doing some research of the area near the Temple Jessica found a park area that looked like fun so we decided to go there after the temple. At the Jelly Belly Factory we were able to go on a tour of the factory (there were videos because the factory wasn't running at the time). We were able to learn a lot about the creation of Jelly Beans and even 'test' Jelly Beans from different parts of the process. I saved mine to get a picture. The Yellow one is the inside Jelly part. The orange one has the shell but has not been polished and the red one has been polished and has the stamp on it.
I love the flying Jelly Bean in the background
There were cute welcome signs near the entrance
After the Jelly Belly Factory we headed to the Oakland Temple. It was beautiful. We were told in Church that morning that you are able to walk around the Temple terrace and that it was a beautiful view of the city. Unfortunately the temple was under construction so we weren't able to go on the terrace but we still saw quite the view from the hill of the temple. We also walked into the visitors center and talked to one of the Senior Missionaries about our trip. She helped us come up with some ideas for what to do with the rest of our trip.
The temple grounds were gorgeous.
One view of the city from the Temple.
I love the area of light!
Inside the visitors center they had a lovely Family Proclamation area
As soon as we finished exploring the Temple grounds we headed for the park area. We were really excited about was a fairytale park. Apparently they take different stories and create images from them. Sadly it was closed but we found some fun things outside and around to take a pictures of. The other area we went to explore was a Japanese Garden. It was taken care of by volunteers but would have been much lovelier with constant care but it was a fun find and a nice little stop for our Sunday afternoon.
Today in Relief Society we had an amazing lesson taught by my lovely roommate. The topic for this lesson came from conference it was a talk by Elder Hales Stand Strong in Holy Places. He talks about the challenges that we face in these latter days and the importance of standing in holy places and wearing the armor of God. There was one part of the talk that I found thought provoking.
"In January of 1982, I spoke in a devotional on the BYU campus in Provo, Utah. I invited the students to imagine that the Church was on one side of the podium, and the world was just a foot or two away on the other side. This represented the 'very short distance between the world was and where the Church standards were' when I was in college. Then, standing before the students 30 years later, I help up my hands in the same manner and explained, 'The world has gone far afield; [it has traveled; it is nowhere to be seen;] it has proceeded way, way out, all the way out of this [building and around the world]. ... what we and our children and our grandchildren have to remember is that the church will remain constant, yet the world will keep moving- that gap is [becoming] wider and wider... Therefore, be very careful. If you judge your actions and the standards of the Church on the basis of where the world is and where it's going, you will find that you are not where your should be."
In my mind I see a house (the church) and a tent (the world). The house is constantly changing but foundation is the same, it is unmovable like the morals taught in church are the same though revelation (thereby change) is always present. On the other hand the tent is constantly moving from place to place like the world's ideas of morals are always changing they are not steady and can come down at any time the same way a tent might when it comes under pressure. We are blessed to have a church that has a strong foundation. It is able to withstand the opposition that presents itself.
I read an amazing conference talk by Elder Ashton the other day called 'On Being Worthy'. He starts of by talking about the meaning of the word worthy and the way we determine our worthiness. Often we are under the impression that we decide whether we are worthy or not. While that is true we are not the only ones who judge our worthiness. Elder Ashton states "We do not have to be hindered by self-Judgement. All of us have the benefit and added wisdom of a bishop and a stake president to help us determine our worthiness..." We are not alone, we have the wisdom of others to help us find our way.
Elder Ashton defines worthiness as "a process, and perfection is an eternal trek. We can be worthy to enjoy certain privileges without being perfect". Today in Relief Society we were talking about Temples and being worthy to enter the Temple. We came to the conclusion that as long as we are making an effort to be perfect we are worthy of the Temple and the blessings that come from visiting the Temple.
Sometimes I struggle with where I am in the gospel. I often feel that I am missing something because I judge my worthiness through comparison to others. I know that this is not wise and that it is a result of pride. Elder Ashton addresses this struggle in his talk.
"Perhaps we all live under some misconceptions when we look at each other on Sundays as we attend our meetings. Everyone is neatly dressed and greets each other with a smile. It is natural to assume that everyone else has his life under control and doesn't have to deal with dark little weaknesses and imperfections. There is a natural, probably a mortal, tendency to compare ourselves with others. Unfortunately, when we make these comparisons, we tend to compare our weakest attributes with someone else's strongest. For example, a woman who feels unschooled in the gospel may take particular note of a woman in her ward who teaches the Gospel Doctrine class and seems to have every scripture at her fingertips. Obviously these kinds of comparisons are destructive and only reinforce the fear that somehow we don't measure up and therefore we must not be as worthy as the next person. We need to come to terms with our desire to reach perfection and our frustration when our accomplishments or behaviors are less than perfect. I feel that one of the great myths we would do well to dispel is that we've come to earth to perfect ourselves, and nothing short of that will do. If I understand the teachings of the prophets of this dispensation correctly, we will not become perfect in this life, though we can make significant strides toward that goal."
I have only addressed a few of the ideas from this talk but I would suggest that everyone go through and read this talk because I feel like is is something that everyone should hear.
