HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Hello Elders,

Don't forget to make your wife or mom breakfast in bed this Sunday!

Last week we learned much from Brother Farnsworth. First he taught our quorum how to council on the lesson material. This was a great experience and hopefully all present learned a lot. In conclusion of the council we were challenged to increase our daily spirituality through an active management of our daily thoughts and actions. As a follow-up, we will discuss the results of this challenge during our week.

Continuing with the training, we will council on chapter 9 this week. Joey Snider will be conducting the lesson and will present the following question for council: What was the last spiritual experience you had and what was happening in your life that allowed you to have it? Now, for the council to really work and to understand the background to the question we all need to properly prepare by reading the lesson before hand. So, here is the link and please take the time to read it:

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=88021b08f338c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=335720596a845110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&hideNav=1&contentLocale=0

Secondly, we had the opportunity to hear from Brother Farnsworth on the principles of finance. During his fireside he taught us some very effective methods of managing money in tough times. His training included 10 steps to improve our finances:
1. As a family, form a financial partnership with the Lord
2. Decide where you want to be financially
3. Figure out where you really are
4. If you find yourself in a hole, then stop digging
5. There are only 2 ways to get out of a hole: earn more or spend less
6. As a family, decide to become an on-purpose spender
7. Prayerfully create an on-purpose spending plan
8. Include a debt elimination feature in the plan
9. Faithfully pay a full tithe and offerings
10. Save a little money and food every month, no matter what
The most important tool he gave us was a small notebook that he committed all of us to use in keeping track of every expenditure we made during the month of May. This is a vital step in helping us with step 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. He also informed us of the website http://providentliving.org/ which has useful debt elimination tools and planning info. We hope all will accept his challenge to follow these steps and use these tools!

The spiritual thought for this week comes from Brother Farnsworth's during his fireside: "I am absolutely sure that the Lord does not care about money...only how we use it."

We love you all and look forward to seeing you in quorum.

Bryan
Sam
Joey
Jon