Family Marching Orders

Just before General Conference, we sat in fast and testimony meeting and listened to Brother Puzzle, our upstairs neighbor and landlord, bear his testimony. For those who are unaware, "General Conference" is a bi-anual, church-wide meeting, broadcast all over the world, in which our Prophet and other church leaders speak to the church and reveal to us those things that the Lord would have us focus on, and "fast and testimony meeting" is a meeting held the first Sunday of each month in the LDS church, where anyone who feels inspired is invited to come up to the pulpit and bear a short, heartfelt testimony of the truth of the Gospel and the Savior.

In his testimony, Brother Puzzle said that he liked to think of the counsel given at General Conference as our "marching orders" for the next six months. The spirit was present and strong. We took his idea to heart and decided to create a list of goals or commitements taken from the messages of our general authorities and call it our "Family Marching Orders" for the following months. We'll continue it as a righteous family tradition. We want to share this list with you!

Family Marching Orders
October 2008 – April 2009

Simplified Lifestyle
We commit to living a simplified life style. We will keep a monthly budget, live within our means, eat healthy meals, exercise often, and keep our spiritual fuel tanks full through personal and couple prayer and study.

Sacrament Preparation
We commit to prepare to take the sacrament each week by going to bed by 11:00 PM on Saturdays, waking up by 7:00 AM, leaving early for church, not talking/texting before and during the meetings, singing the hymns, dressing appropriately, and having a broken heart and contrite spirit.

Study Basic Gospel Principles
We commit to include the Book of Mormon in our personal study and family home evening studies, as well as focusing on strengthening our testimonies and knowledge of the basic principles of the Gospel. We will each take turns preparing a lesson for Family Home Evening.

Hope and Laughter
We commit to inspiring hope in others and ourselves through all our words. We will not speak negatively! We will not be discouraged by the world or the actions and ideas of others. We will laugh often and not “sweat the small stuff.” We will not postpone our joys in life.

Unity
We commit to fostering unity in our family and with others through consistent and sincere prayer, study, family home evening, and inclusion of our testimonies of the Savior in all we do. When we pray, we will focus on joining our faith together, praying for each other, reporting to the Lord, and acting on any revelation we receive.

Deference and Sacrifice
We commit to being slow to judge, quick to forgive and always giving a soft response. We will minimize our personal demands and maximize our personal sacrifice.

World Awareness
We commit to staying aware of what’s going on in the world and local community and making our opinions count by voting.

Building Friendships
We commit to reaching out to those we associate with. We will invite one couple a month to dinner.

We're so grateful for the leadership of the Lord's church that guide and counsel us today. We pray for them continually. We're grateful to be members of that church and for the spirit, harmony, and love that it brings into our home. Hooray for righteous traditions!!

President and Sister Monson

The First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints