Because we speak often of their innocence, we too often assume Eve and Adam were clueless when they left the garden. But in reality, they had been prepared and taught from the very beginning.

President Monson and son Clark fishing. Photo from President Monson's biography, To The Rescue. Though President Monson often stayed late at the office, he was a dad when he was home. He mowed the lawn with the help of the boys. He planted a vegetable garden and enlisted the children to pull weeds; he took them bowling and to the movies, swimming at the Deseret Gym, sleigh riding in winter, and to the Pioneer Day parade in the summer. For the parade, they set up chairs in front of his father's printing enterprise on Main Street and cheered for President Monson's brother Bob when he rode by on his horse, positioned on the front row of the Ute Rangers and carrying the organization's flag. Often, President Monson took the boys fishinhg and duck hunting, two of their favorite passtimes.

INTRODUCTION: Please e-mail me with suggestions, questions, concerns and comment at tedgibbons@yahoo.com. I would love to hear from you.

INTRODUCTION: My mother was mostly blind during the final years of her life. A passionate reader, a woman who loved to sew and mend and cook and clean, her infirmity made the favored activities of her life nearly impossible. She did learn to crochet by touch, and made over one hundred Afghans for her grand- and great-grandchildren in those final years, but they were years lived in temporal darkness. But through it all she glowed! There was a source of light in her, a shining certainty, that enabled her to see more clearly than any of those whose love and compassion brought them to her side to read to her and to visit with her and to reminisce with her. The real light of the world, rather than being dimmed by her handicap, increased its brightness and radiance as the weeks and months passed by, until it seemed there was no darkness in her at all. More than any person I have ever known, she knew what Jesus meant when he said, “I am the light of the world.”

“Is this a prank?” Steve “Dusty” Smith wondered. He was surprised—and confused—but then-President Uchtdorf had just one question for Smith: would he share his story?

Matthew 25

One of the messages that the Book of Mormon sends to us across the years is that parents (particularly fathers) have an obligation to bless their children and to teach their children and to bear testimony to them. The Book of Mormon contains several chapters in which men like Lehi, Alma, Helaman, and Mormon are engaged in this work. When we read such things in this book, we must do more than believe the doctrine: we must follow the example. In fact, we will devote a lesson to this matter lesson #29 when we study Alma 36-39. This present lesson and the next will focus on what seem to be Lehi’s final admonitions to his children. Nephi tells us this of these teachings:

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

There may be days or seasons when we feel like we’re not getting much out of church. Here are a few ideas to improve our Sunday worship experiences.

Being a mother in a mixed-faith marriage has given Ashli unique insight into agency, eternity, and God’s never-ending love.