These are the items that each kit has in it. The items with an asterisk can be purchased at the dollar store.
*Mint Candy/chewing gum Lemon Drops
Lip balm - unscented *Lotion - unscented 10 oz
*Hand sanitizer - unscented *Imodium anti-diarrhea tablets
Biotene oral rinse 8 oz or less L-lysine (vitamin isle)
Port pillow 4x7
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Sunday's lesson was facilitated by Sister Tammy Ward. This lesson was based on Elder Echo Hawk's talk given this past conference on Sunday Morning.
To begin this lesson, Sister Ward asked the women in the RS room to separate into 4 groups. Each group was given a question and asked to find insights to share with the rest of the sisters regarding that question.
Sister Ward made the comment that it is wonderful that we as sisters can make comments and have a safe place to share our thoughts and ideas.
Group 1 ~ Question: What is forgiveness? The answers this group came up with were as follows:
Forgiveness is:
- Letting go
- Moving on
- That it takes time
- That we need the atonement to achieve it
- It is remembered no more
- Look for other's perspective
- Not being angry
- Love those who have wronged us
- Laying our hurt at the Savior's feet
Group 2 ~ Question: How do I forgive?
- Through the atonement
- Humility
- Love of the Savior
- Prayer
- Faith
- Example of others
- Allow yourself to feel and acknowledge it's okay to have negative feelings as you work through it.
Group 3 ~ Question: What happens to someone when they do not or cannot forgive?
- They become miserable
- They become bitter
- They are unhappy
- They cannot progress spiritually
- If we do not forgive, we cannot be forgiven
- We need to pray to find a way to forgive
Group 4 ~ Question: What advise do you have for someone who is struggling to forgive?
- Don't have expectations
- Know that it takes time to forgive
- Talk to the other person
- Look at our self
- Pray
- Ask for a priesthood blessing to help them
Sister Ward then asked everyone, "What has helped you to forgive? and How do you apply these to your life?" We were then asked to write this down on our papers.
She then asked, Who do you need to forgive? As we all know, and many answered that we need to forgive everyone. Sister Ward suggested that we make a list of people in our lives that we need to forgive. She told of how she has done this in her life and it has helped her greatly. When you are able to clear the names off of your list it gives you peace.
It was also suggested that we ask Heavenly Father to help us to know if there is someone we could have forgotten so that we can make sure that we are doing all we can to forgive.
Sister Ward then told of a time when she was very angry and she didn't know why. She seemed to be angry with everyone. She finally took it to Heavenly Father and she asked Him why she was so angry. She finally realized she had buried feelings deep regarding the divorce of her parents. As these feelings were brought to the surface, she was able to deal with them and forgive those that were involved and realize that the divorce didn't have anything to do with her as a small child.
In Elder Echo Hawk's talk he stated, "We can all receive unspeakable peace and partnering with our Savior as we learn to freely forgive those who have trespassed against us. This partnering brings the Savior's power into our lives in an unmistakable and nervous-to-be-forgotten way."
The next question asked was, "Is there a time when you have had to forgive someone?
Sister Merlyn Kent told of how her father was such a great example to her of this. She said that he was always able to forgive others. Then she told of a time when her family had been hurt deeply by someone. She was having such a hard time forgiving. Then she thought of her father and she was directed by the Spirit to think of this person and how they had been raised. As she thought about it, she was able to see that due to this person's life they didn't understand what they had done to her family. She was finally able to forgive and has even been able to tell this person that she loves them.
Katie Hess told of how she was always able to forgive through her life. But then someone hurt her siblings deeply. Then she had a hard time. However, this last Spring Katie was in an accident where she gravely injured a young woman. This young woman's parents were so willing to forgive Katie and she was shown by example what it is to be forgiven. She was taught and humbled.
Sister Ward taught how humility is truly an answer to forgiveness. She then told of how when she was a young woman she had been addicted to drugs and was seeking a place to get clean. She left her home and moved back east to New York to live with her father to try and achieve this, not knowing that her father was deeply into drugs and had even been dealing them. He was finally sent to prison and Tammy moved into her grandmother's home and was finally able to stop her addiction. Her grandmother knew the hurt Tammy's father had caused the family. Tammy's grandmother visited him in prison and gave him a book called "As A Man Thinketh." She told him that she forgave him and told him she loved him. He cried to think that she would do this for him.
Sister Stringham told of how she has a sister that has been hurt and cannot forgive the person that hurt her. She told how it is causing great problems for this sister and her children in their lives.
Sister Christina Smith said, "When we choose to not forgive, sometimes because of the bitterness that it causes it can be to our own condemnation. She also said, that it is bad when you don't forgive because you tend to stay in the hurt and you don't progress, but everyone else moves on."
Sister Ward ended the lesson with a final story. She told of how when she was young, her brother used to really pick on her. He was down right mean. She has never been close to this brother. Then when she was praying about who she needed to forgive, his name came to her. So one evening she was sitting on her bed and she invited his spirit to sit with her. He is not dead, but lives elsewhere. She said she felt as if he was next to her. She apologized to him about everything that had happened when she was small and told him that she forgave him. As she finished talking, her phone pinged that she had a text. It was from her brother. She had never gotten a phone call or a text from this brother because they weren't close. In the text he asked her if she was able to speak for a few minutes. When she answered in the affirmative, he called her. He told her that he had been in the shower and that he had gotten the impression that he needed to call her. He asked her if she was doing okay and if everything was alright. She was able to talk to him and she told him that she forgave him for all of the mean things that he had done to her. They were able to talk and started building their relationship again. They were both blessed by the forgiveness process.
This was a wonderful lesson. I would encourage anyone that has not read the talk by Elder Echo Hawk to do so.
