last night our ward relief society put on yet another awesome activity, this one was harry potter themed and i was in my element! the organisers asked me to be one of the "professors" for the evening and teach the "defence against the dark arts" (how to keep satan out of our hearts and homes) class... so fun! i totally channeled professor trelawney for my costume, even though i am feel aware that dark arts was not her forte. (was anything her forte? haha)
the evenings flyer
little "ron weasley"decked out in his harry potter threads. what a cutie!
my classroom ready to go
diagon alley all set up, the two other classes down the hall were herbology (basic gardening tips to grow helpful herbs) and patronus pet care (how to look after animals in the home) plus a pit stop at the three broomsticks for hot chocolate and cookies.
my little handouts were simple, a quote from harry potter and a candle. "happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”
keeping this forever hahaha.
as each of the sisters arrived, we were sorted into houses with the sorting hat, so we could go in groups from class to class. we ended in the hall, decked out with amazing decorations and an epic feast.
the girls spent hours and hours making things and setting up the chapel did not leave one thing undone. it was so amazing! they had even made a mini wand for each place seeting, to be taken home and had set up a table with display items from each book and set up a honeydukes lolly store for dessert. what an effort! this was my favourite though, the owl with his cases and broom with hogwarts letters flying all over the place on fishing line.
i was asked to make pumpkin pies as well, one for each house table, which i happily did... i had so many people comment on them and was thrilled! (you can find the recipe
here, it seriously is the best, but you
need to use canned pumpkin or it just doesn't taste right.)
my little classroom setup, i was really happy with it!
it was an amazing evening, loved by everyone who attended.
anddddd here's my spiel, enjoy!
Hi everyone, thanks for joining me this evening! I’m going to spend the
next 10 or so minutes telling you how you can defend yourSELF against the dark
arts… which is keeping the adversary out of our homes and our lives.
Martin Luther King once said: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only
light can do that.”
Our best defence against the dark arts, the way to keep the darkness out
of our lives, is to fill them with light. Especially the light of the gospel!
We don’t have a great deal of time together this evening, but I would just like
to give you a few pointers of how we can do just that!
1. Read your scriptures, regularly and faithfully. Set aside time to do so
and make sure you do it! You wouldn’t forget to brush your teeth and reading
your scriptures is as important to our “spiritual hygiene” as brushing your
teeth is to your dental hygiene! Get to
know the people and the stories. As you love the scriptures instead of seeing
reading them as a chore (which we all have done once or twice in our lives) our
understanding of them will increase and we will learn more, daily! If we teach
our children to love the scriptures, they will grow up knowing that they are
loved by the Lord. As it says in Proverbs 22:6 “Train up
a child in
the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
2. Pray
daily, as often as you need to. When we have a problem, are we as quick to
kneel as we are to text? Think about that for a moment! Our father in heaven has given us the gift of prayer and
wants us to tell him everything! Our problems, our fears, our desires and our
joys. Pour your heart out and know that he is real, he is there and he is
listening to our every word. All we have to do is go to him in prayer.
3. Make
time to attend the temple. Schedule a time to be there and then do not change
it. Make it as important as your hair appointment (says me haha!). Heaven is
full of the light of the Lord and the temple is the closest we can get to
heaven here on earth. In her talk “Keeping Covenants Protects Us, Prepares Us, and
Empowers Us,” from the April 2014 General Conference, Sister
Rosemary M. Wixom, Primary General President said, “Temple ordinances lead to the
greatest blessings available through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. They
are those ordinances necessary for our exaltation in the celestial kingdom.
As we strive to keep our covenants, our feelings of inadequacy
and imperfection begin to fade, while the ordinances and the covenants of
the temple come alive. Everyone is welcome to walk that path to eternal
life.”
4. Regularly attend your church
meetings. (Including Sunday School people!) Church is not a museum for saints,
it is a hospital for sinners. Go to church not for others, but for yourself. It enables us to renew our covenants each week by
partaking of the sacrament and allows us to learn more of the gospel and the
teachings of the Saviour. If for any reason you cannot attend every week, go as
often as you can. If you are away one Sunday, watch a conference talk, listen
to one, read the scriptures… do what you can to create the Sabbath where you are.
The Lord knows our hearts and understands our circumstances.
5. Try to keep your family close
physically and mentally. There are so many awful things in the world
today, beating down our doors and trying to sneak their way in, to destroy our
homes and families. To strengthen your family and cultivate peace, remember to
have weekly family home evening. Decide that on your chosen night, your family
will be together at home for the evening.
Sister
Linda S. Reeves boldly declared: “I must testify of the blessings of
daily scripture study and prayer and weekly family home evening. These are the
very practices that help take away stress, give direction to our lives, and add
protection to our homes.” As soon as your children are old enough to
understand, give them a responsibility so they realise the importance of family
time. Time with family is precious and is never time wasted.
6. Be mindful of what you do each day. Sometimes we need to look at what we
are doing, to prioritize certain thing over others. To focus more on our
personal growth, instead of spending time on things that perhaps are not really
necessary in the scheme of things. When we put the Lord first, everything else
will fall into place.
I do want to finish by saying that just because we do these things it
doesn’t mean that our lives will be easy or problem free. Dark days will come. Life was not meant to be easy and we
WILL be tested. But we can choose how we react. On the dark days, find a
distraction, and most importantly, ask for help. You can pray, write down your
feelings, call a friend for support, sing, watch a favourite movie, read a
book, get outside and go for a walk, or even keep a gratitude journal. This is
an excellent one. It’s hard to see the bad when you are focusing on the good.
As Helen Keller said, “keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the
shadows.” But most importantly, try to lift yourself from that place. Replace
the darkness with light and reach for the things that will raise you up. Jeffery R Holland said, “Expecting a trouble-free life
because you are a good person is like expecting the
bull not to charge you because you are a vegetarian.” By choosing the Lord, we can keep the darkness at bay, but on the days
when darkness and doubt come in, we need only remember, that “Happiness can be
found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the
light.” A very wise man by the name of Albus Dumbledore said that.
