First Talk

Well, we made it half way through her first year in Primary as a Sunbeam, but last week, Hadley finally had to give a talk during the opening exercises of Primary. I was way nervous because I had no clue how to get her to do it. What was worse was that the topic was rather involved which made it harder to make it short and sweet. She had to talk about how the principles and ordinances of the gospel lead me to Jesus Christ.

I took time to practice it with her only once before church since it took me a little to write what she was going to say. She ended up blaring into the microphone for the bulk of it and she didn't repeat the words as well as when we practiced and the whole time I had to juggle between holding the mic so she wouldn't put her mouth over it, switching the pictures she was holding up and the paper we were reading off of. It was a pretty funny experience all together. THe important thing is we survived and hopefully, the next go around won't be until the end of the year and she'll be more manageable with a less involved topic ;0) Here's what she was saying if you could understand her at all.

-We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; Second, repentance; Third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; Fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

-Faith - A commandment is when Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ ask us to do something. When we obey the commandments, we show Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that we trust them. We show our faith when we obey. Just like Lehi and Nephi and the Liahona. The Liahona showed them where to go, but only worked when they had faith and trusted in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

-Repentance - When we do something wrong, it always hurts us and often hurts others. We may think the hurt will go away if we ignore it. But left alone, the wrong will continue to hurt us and make us sad. Just like when you get a splinter in your hand, if you don’t tell anyone and try to remove it, it gets infected and continues to hurt and make you sad. Heavenly Father wants us to be happy. Jesus makes it possible for us to repent through his Atonement so we can heal and be happy again.

-Baptism - When we are baptized, we make a lifelong covenant with the Lord. A covenant is like a two-way promise to do what is right and become more like Jesus. In return we will be blessed for our good choices. We remember our promise when we take the sacrament at church each week. We remember Christ and his Atonement when taking the bread and water.

-Holy Ghost - After being baptized, we receive the Holy Ghost. It’s like our conscience helping us choose between right and wrong. You could also think of it as the Coach of your baseball team. He tells you what you should do. Sometimes people have a hard time understanding the hand signals that are given by the coach and we make mistakes. You could’ve run when you should’ve stayed. You could’ve swung when you were supposed to bunt. You could’ve pitched a fastball instead of a curve ball. The umpire is Jesus Christ and he wants us to listen to our coach so he doesn’t have to say, “You’re out!”

-Principles are teachings that come from God. Ordinances are things we do when we live God’s principles. We need to remember that if we follow his teachings of Faith and Repentance and be a part of the ordinances like Baptism and the laying on of hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost, we will be happy and become more like Jesus.