The Spirit

     I have had the blessing of teaching our Institute classes for the last 2 weeks, we are studying the Joseph Smith History, in the Pearl of Great Price.  It has been an amazing experience. I thought my testimony of the JSH was strong, but as I have prepared and taught these last 2 weeks, I have been most grateful for how the Spirit has taught me.
     Last week, the lesson was The First Vision, and the 9 things we learn from the 1st Vision. As I studied and read and prayed, I felt once again, that sweet confirmation of the Spirit, that it is all true. So do you know the 9 Things we learn from the First Vision, let me share what they are.
  1.God answers sincere prayer of those who ask in faith.
  2. Satan is a real being, with real power
  3.  The Power of God will always be greater, stronger, then the power of Satan
  4. God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to Joseph Smith
  5. God the Father and Jesus Christ are 2 separate, distinct, beings, with bodies of Flesh and Bone
  6. The Lord commanded Joseph Smith, not to join any of the Churches, because they were all wrong
  7.  Gods church was not on the earth at the time of Joseph Smith
  8. God knows us by Name, and knows who we are and the roles we play in the establishment of the Kingdom of God, we are His children and He knows us individually, by name. 
  9.  Satan also knows our name and our divine destiny, and will use whatever means he can to try to thwart us from attaining our divine destiny and will stop at nothing, to stop the work of God

one of the Pictures from the video

 We had the greatest discussions in each of the classes and the Spirit was so strong as He bore testimony to each of our students of the truthfulness of the First Vision. At the end of the lesson, I had put together, with the help of the dear friend, Janice ( cause' of course you know how technically skilled I am,  ha, ha), a video of the Sacred Grove to the music of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing "Oh how lovely was the Morning".  The pictures were from some we had taken 1 1/2 years ago, when we had the blessing of going to the Sacred Grove, who knew 1 1/2 years ago, that I would be showing those Pictures to a wonderful group of young adult institute students half way around the world, who will probably never have the opportunity of visiting the Grove themselves. We all cried as we watched. I am so grateful that the Lord sends us the Holy Ghost to teach us.

     This week, we talked about the Persecution Joseph went through and how he stayed strong and true to the things he knew were right. We talked a lot about some of the persecution we all go through today, especially here, from non-members and especially preachers from the other churches on the Island, we talked about how we can stay strong to our testimonies. Once again the spirit taught all of us, and we had a great lesson.
     I am learning so much, as I prepare my lessons. Starting in the fall (August to be exact), we will be back teaching at the College of Micronesia. We will have 2 institute classes at the Palikir campus and 1 class at the Pohnpei Campus. We will be studying the New Testament, I am excited to learn about the New Testament and the life of Christ, as I study to give my lessons.