Revelation 20-22

Today Nicole volunteered to be "bound". We discussed how being bound affects a person's freedom because they can't move or make choices.John the Revelator is one of the few prophets to see the end of the earth. He writes in Revelations 20-22 about the binding of Satan during the millennium and he will not have power to tempt or deceive people. But after the millennium and before the final end, Satan will be loosed and is allowed once more to "deceive the nations". John sees the destruction of one last demonic army and the final judgment for all of God's children. He hears Christ deliver a message echoing the ones delivered to the seven churches in Asia: "He that overcometh shall inherit all things". Finally, he sees the faithful Saints who did overcome and are dwelling on the earth in celestial splendor.

Revelation 5-9: A Book with Seven Seals

In his vision, John saw the throne of God. He also saw that God held a book that was sealed with seven seals. Christ was the only one worthy to open this book, which He did, one seal at a time. As He opened each seal, John saw a vision of what was contained in that part of the book. We learn in D&C 77:6-7 that the seven seals symbolize one thousand years of history. Thus, what John saw as each seal was opened symbolized events that occurred during that thousand years of history. When the 1st seal was opened, John saw a man with a crown riding a white horse and conquering. This represents Enoch, who helped his people conquer their enemies and establish a city of purity and righteousness symbolized by the white horse.
The second seal revealed the violence, death and destruction that occurred in the time of Noah and the flood.
The third seal represented a time when God's people were affected by famines. Abraham and Jacob's families were very much affected by famines.
The fourth seal reminds us that the time between 1000 B.C. and Christ's birth was a time of warfare among the covenant people. The fifth seal revealed what faithful Saints of John's day were then encountering-giving their lives for their testimony.
The sixth seal pertains to the dispensation in preparation for the Savior's Second Coming.
The seventh seal is the Millennium.

May Reading

This month's reading:
Week 1: Revelation 1-7
Week 2: Revelation 10-15
Week 3: Revelation 17-22
YOU DID IT!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday from Sister Moberly

This month we celebrated our April birthdays with Sister Moberly donating her world-famous cinnamon rolls for our birthday breakfast- (well I think they are world famous-haha!) They were an absolute hit with all the kids! Thank you Sister Moberly!!
Happy Birthday to Kaity & Jennifer (above) and Tristain, Stuart, Natalie & Nicole (below)

We got to finish cooking them at seminary and the whole classroom smelled divine!!

Dallin...please don't spill your hot chocolate today. -Ooops...too late:) haha!!

Missionary Work

Today we talked about 1 Thes 2:5-12 and discussed the characteristics of a good missionary. Then the different grades got into groups and made puppets and performed a skit about missionary work incorporating some of their Scripture Mastery scriptures. Natalie, Kendra & Nicole displaying some of our missionaries and converts-ha!! The biggest challenge was our short stage! Alessandro did a great job as the evil influence-haha!!

Christ's image in our countenance

Today we studied Colossians. We read Paul's powerful testimony of Christ and how it gave him strength, courage and conviction. We demonstrated this by having Matt stand on a footstool. Matt chose some friends to help support(deeply root) him. Then we had Chloe and Nicole try to knock him off the stool, but they weren't able to do it because he had the power he needed to stand strong.Next, Tiffany physically prepared herself for a trip to the Artic! She put on layers and layers of warm clothes to protect herself from the elements. Then we read Col 3:12 and learned what Paul taught the saints to "put on" to prepare themselves spiritually and be able to have Christ's image in their countenance. We also read Alma 5:14 and Moroni 7:48.

Valley of the Sun!!

We took advantage of Spring Break and travelled to Mesa, AZ for the Church's Easter Pageant held outdoors on the Mesa Temple grounds. The pageant was started back in 1928, the year after the temple opened. There was a volunteer cast of over 450, live animals and beautiful music. We had a wonderful time and are so grateful for our safe trip!

Here we are after the performance. We teased Jordan that he was accompanied to the pageant by his "harem"!

Brother Stefl made arrangements with his friends, the Hamel family, in Chandler who graciously hosted us for the night. We all loved staying with them and were so grateful for their amazing hospitality! Sister Hamel even had cookies, milk and other treats for us when we got to their house late that night!! Jordan was especially glad they had a son, Dallin, who was his age, played the guitar and was someone we'd all love to have in our seminary class! (Actually I think all the girls were glad too-haha!!)

Here we are before saying goodbye! I couldn't find Sister Hamel for the picture at first. (She looked like one of the seminary kids!-ha- but she's in front between Jordan and Kaity)

Dallin and Sister Hamel

Back at the show....a Roman soldier was wondering what Jordan was up to!??

Chloe's big sister Alicia was able to join us..we all love her! Here the girls, with Rachel and the surrending officer!!

Jordan, Tris and Rhi with some of the cast

Chloe, Alicia and Rachel

Luckily Kendra's family was in AZ and they sat with us during the performance! This is Kendra (middle) and her AZ friends!

Nicole

Alicia and Rachel

Sister Robles and camera shy Sister Sitze were so wonderful to help chaperone and drive the youth!!

Nicole & Natalie

Abi, Chantel & Kaity

Meryl & Deidre

Rachel

Jordan, Tristain & Rhiannon

Hanging out after breakfast at the Hamel's gorgeous home

Dallin, Deidre and Chantel

Chantel, Kaity & Meryl

Natalie

Chantel

The "party" room!! haha!!

Meryl & Kaity (and maybe Deidre-haha!)

April Reading

Keep reading...you're so close!
Week 1: 1&2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon
Week 2: Hebrews
Week 3: James, 1 Peter
Week 4: 2 Peter, 1,2,3 John, Jude

Happy March Birthdays!

Birthday wishes go to Deidre and Chantel. We love you!

The Master Builder!

I put Dallin in charge of building our temptation-resisiting "WALL". Everyone contributed their own blocks of ways to resist the tempations they are faced with. We had blocks of prayer, singing hymns, scripture reading, having good friends, using self control, etc. Russell, Chloe and Natalie threw some temptation its way, but it stood strong and didn't break or tip over. We talked about 1 Cor 10:13 and how God won't allow us to be tempted above what we can bear and also how He always makes a way for us to escape! We learned how staying way far on the Lord's side (behind our wall) will keep us safe!

Irish Beauty

Deidre takes the cake for her love of St. Patrick's Day! We had many wearing green today, but Deidre stole the show! We all love you Deidre!!

Thanks for the photo McKay!!

Our Little Mermaid!!

Chaparral High School swim team had a 20 hour swim-a-thon Saturday to raise money for their team. They started at 4:00 am and ended at midnight. They asked the kids to each sign up for at least one shift of two hours, so they would have kids swiming the entire twenty hours. They were supposed to get either flat rate pledges or by the lap. The coaches told them that they didn't have to swim any particular number of laps, but just had to keep moving while they were in the water. Chloe not only decided she was going to do the whole twenty hours, but set a goal to swim a thousand laps of the pool during that time. She was the only one on her team that made it the whole twenty hours and was still swimming till the end! She'll be swimming to Catalina next!!

(Thanks to Chloe's mom-Kayla- for this!!)

The Temecula Stake Public Affairs Council was involved in putting together a Special Games for the Temecula community. The games were held Friday March 13th at Chaparral High School and many of our seminary youth participated. Those that did loved it! (Matt got his picture in the paper -see below). We are so blessed to live in an area where our members and stake make such a positive difference in our community!!

Chaparral High School student Matt Lester, 17, helps Murrieta Valley High student Jimmy Foglesong, 19, across the finish line during a race that was part of the Temecula Special Games. The event featured a variety of noncompetitive games and sporting events for developmentally disabled students. (Photo by Andrew Foulk - For The Californian)