My HEROes

I was asked to speak in church again, but directly to the kids.  Here is that talk:

I’ll have to admit I was kind of shocked and surprised when Brother Brown called me to speak in church, because coming from a ward of over 1000 you speak in church once and your pretty much set for the next 2 to 3 years, although I guess I should have seen this coming because a couple of weeks ago my husband woke up really sick on the day he had to teach and he was frantically going through the ward list trying to find someone to cover for him last minute and Brother Brown graciously accepted even on his wife’s birthday.   So I guess it’s only fair I speak in church to repay the favor.  Oh and brother Brown thanks for giving me a few more days notice than you were given.

For those of you who don’t know me I’m sister wood, and we’ve been in the ward about a year now and I have the amazing opportunity to spend each Sunday with all the wonderful kids in primary.  I hope bishop doesn’t mind me sharing this but after he had called me in to the primary he said something to the effect of if Christ were to come to our ward he would be down in the primary and I believe that..  Those kids have such sweet spirits and I’m truly blessed.

Ok so with that little introduction I have been given special instructions to speak directly to all you children out there about the scriptures, so adults you are off the hook, and kids I want you all to look at me get your listening ears on like this and try to stay awake and listen and I’ll try not to be to boring ok, and I pray for the spirit to touch our hearts today. 

I want to tell you a story. So I guess I should start like all good stories start with once upon a time when I was a baby I stopped breathing, which is not very good because your body needs air to stay alive.  So when I stop breathing so my dad and my uncle had to quickly give me cpr or blow air into my lungs so I could breath, and rushed me to the hospital.  When I was got to the hospital my heart stopped beating, I wasn’t breathing, and I actually died for a few minutes, which being a mother I’m sure must have been very very scary for my family.   My dad gave me a blessing and I’m sure the doctors where working really hard to save my life and by some miracle my life was saved, and I’m living my happily ever after, and my dad has always been my hero ever since.

Today I’m going to talk about some of my heroes and they all come the scriptures.  I want you to close your eyes and think about your hero or heroes for just a moment. Ok open them.   What makes a hero?  Do they have to have to have a really cool costume and wear tights?  Do they have to be able to fly, or see through walls, or be very very strong.  Well I think heroes are so much more than that and I hope from these example you too will see what make a true hero.    

On hero is Moses:  The story of moses is in Exodus.  When moses was a baby his mother put him in a basket and put him in the river to save his life, and an Egyptian princess found the baby and wanted to keep him and save his life and called him moses which means saved.  Moses grew up as a prince and later was told by God to save his people from slavery.  With great faith and by the power of God Moses parted the red sea so his people could walk on the dry land to their freedom.  Later Moses went into the mountains to receive the 10 commandments that we follow today.  Our favorite commandment in our house is Honor thy mother and father” right girls.   

Daniel:  Daniel was an honest and a hard worker and the king put him in charge of the whole country.  The other servants of the kings got really jealous and tried to get Daniel in trouble, so in order to get Daniel in trouble they tricked the king into passing a law that they knew Daniel would break.  The new law was that everyone had to pray only to the king and if they pray to God they would be thrown into the lions Den.  Pray was so important to Daniel he continued to pray to our heavenly father even though he would be punished by the king and thrown in with the lions with sharp claws and teeth.  Because the king was tricked he had to punish Daniel and through him in with the lions, and worried about him all night and hoped that he would be saved by the God he prayed to.  The next morning the King called out to Daniel to see if he was still alive and Daniel told the king that God had sent and angel to shut the mouths of the lions and he wasn’t hurt and the king passed a new law for everyone to respect the God that saved Daniels life.

Nephi:  Nephi is a great hero in the book of mormon.  He obeys his father and the lord and is obedient no matter what.  He risks his life in order to go and get the plates which were the scriptures to them.  He builds a ship, and endures being abused by his brother many times, but always trust in the lord, and follows the commandments. 

We read in 1 Nephi 3:7

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

Joseph: we can learn about Joseph in Genesis.  Joseph was blessed with a gift of interpreting dreams and was favored by his parents, and when he was given a coat of many color, so his jealous brothers sold him into slavery. Jealousy seems to cause a lot of problems in the scriptures, so we should learn from others mistakes and try not to be jealous. Joseph worked hard as a slave and when his master’s wife lied and said Joseph tried to hurt her he was thrown in prision and was a prisoner for many years.  Even though Joseph was wrongfully punished and lived many years as a slave and then a prisoner he had faith in the lord, and eventually he was able to use his gift of interpreting dreams to save and entire nations from a drought and famine and loved and forgave his brothers, and saved their families too.

David:  David was a very brave and courageous boy, and agreed to fight a giant even when all the soldiers in their armor were too afraid.   He had faith in the lord and was able to kill  the giant with just a slingshot and stone.

Job:  Job was very bless with many things, and always honored and worshiped our heavenly father.  Satan thought that the only reason Job was good was because he was richly blessed, so heavenly father allow Job to lose everything he had even his health.  Job had very painful soars all over his body and was in pain in his body and in his heart because he had lost his family, but even though everything was horrible for him he still loved heavenly father so he was blessed with even more than what he lost. 

Captain Moroni:  captain Moroni is a great hero in the book of mormon.  He was a young warrior that led his soldiers to great victories, and always prayed and followed the prophet.  Even though he was at war and his enemies were wicked he still loved them and tried his best to find ways to win battles without killing his enemies.  He is a hero in so many ways and I love how he fought for what he loved.  He ripped his coat and wrote on it,  lets read it from the scripture alma 46:12 it’s good.-- In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.  That was called the title of liberty.  Moroni was a very righteous man it even says in the scriptures in

alma 48: 17 Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto ^aMoroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the ^bdevil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men. 

These are just some of my heroes and we can learn to be heroes too just like them.  We can learn forgiveness from Joseph, we can be courageous like David and Daniel, we can be obedient like Nephi when he says I will go and do.  I like that, Kids next time your parents ask you to do something I want you to try and say I will go and do mother or father.  I bet they will really like that.  We can endure and always love the lord like job, and we can always hold our families dear and fight for what is important to us, pray and always follow the prophet and try to live so righteously that satin will have no power over us like Moroni

Kids the scriptures are filled with so much excitement and adventure and really great stories of heroes and examples of how we can live our lives so we can make it back to heaven.  In 2 Nephi 32: 3 we are promised we will be guided and directed by our loving heavenly father so we can find our way back home to heaven it reads.

"Feast upon the words of Christ;

for behold, the words of Christ

will tell you all things what ye

should do."

(2 Nephi 32:3)

I know some of you can’t read yet and that’s ok.  Try to remember some of the stories I have talked about today.  Ask your parents, your older brothers or sisters, or teachers to tell you about their heros and their favorite scriptures.  You know something pretty cool all the songs you learn in primary are from the scriptures.  “I will go I will do the things the lord commands” sound familiar that’s from Nephi 3:7.  So try to learn the songs and you will be learning all about the scriptures ok.

I want to tell you about one more hero.  The greatest hero of all time and I hope he will become a hero to each of you today.  Look up her behind me.  That’s Jesus.  Jesus Christ is my greatest hero.  He died for us so we can all be saved.  He is the perfect example of who we should strive to be.  He walked on water, calmed the ragging sea, healed the sick, made the blind man see, raised the dead, he is the perfect example for us, A true super hero full of love, compassion and power.  Brothers and Sisters, boys and girls I want to bear my testimony that the scriptures and true.  I love them.  I know that by studying and pondering them everyday we can BE filled will the spirit and guided and directed in all thing.  The lord loves us and wants to communicate with his beloved children so open your scriptures and let his words fill your mind and heart and be showered in his goodness and love.  I’m so grateful  for a little boy named joseph who love the scriptures and followed the council in James “ if any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God, which led to the restoration on the only true church on earth and the wonderful book of mormon.  I love being in primary.  You kids are perfect.  I love each one of you and you are all my heros.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.   

My Talk On Trusting The Lord

Good morning Brothers and Sisters. Well normally when my husband is asked to give a talk we end up having to move so he can get out of it, but I guess after spending 8 month remodeling our house he’s a little to tire to pack up and run, so I guess it’s a good thing to be asked to give a talk on such short notice because now I don’t have to move for the 15th time, oh and I guess it’s nice to be on time for a change too.

Well for those of you who don’t know us we are the Woods. I have three girls; Kiora, Kylee and Kamryn, and an adorable butterball named Benjamin, the only grandson out of 8 granddaughters on my side so I’m sure he’s bound to show up to church in nail polish one of these day with all those girls poor guy. Then there is my husband Tim the tall handsome one sweating bullets and then there’s me, Sharla. My husband and I met 13 years ago and we were in this ward while at Ea in 02 , and then we moved back for about 6 months while I was in the teaching program at NAU, so that explains why we look familiar to some of you. My husband and I both work from home in our pjs, and are in school and we are happy to be back in this ward. I think that’s about it if you want to know more just come on over and we would love to tell you more as we unpack some boxes.


I’d like to begin by sharing with you this scripture found in
(Isaiah 12: 2) “ Behold, God is my salvation; I will
trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord God is my strength and my song.

Today I have been asked to speak on trusting in the lord.

I would like to share with you my own personal story about trust. It’s a good one
I remember several several years ago I was at a youth conference in the mountains and the leaders had set up an obstacle course through the tree winding up and down the mountain and we were expected to find our way to the end of the path and if we did we would be handsomely rewarded I think it was with some ice cream or something like that, or a brownie. oh and we had to do this all blindfolded in the middle of the night.

My first thought was um impossible, there is now way I was going to make it through that mess of trees and sharp cliffs and rocks, in my flip flops, in the dark—I’m afraid of the dark. I just couldn’t see how I could make it to the end and I really wanted that ice cream.
After reluctantly being blind folded I was told not to worry that I would have a guide with me the whole time and that there was a rope that if I held on to it would lead me where I needed to go. Ok that sounded a lot better,
I remember thinking ha ha very funny leaders making us believe we had to do all that on our own in the dark--- good one.

So my hand was placed on the rope and the other one was firmly gripped by my sweet loving guide. At first we were doing pretty good I could feel sharp rocks under my feet and I was a little unsteady a few time but this was pretty easy I thought, but then as we kept going the trail got harder and harder steeper and steeper but my sweet guide was there to help me safely make it through. I remember how sweetly and softly she would say watch out there is a tree here, watch your step, here, hold tight to me this part is slippery. A couple of time my dear sweet guide had slipped and fell herself and I felt so bad as I called out to her helplessly to make sure she was ok. Then near the end I hear her say oh no the rope has been tangled up in the tree ahead you will have to let go and take both of my hands so you could get through the thick forest. I immediately grabbed tightly to her hands, ducked and dodged several branches and then she said here we made it past the hard part you can grab back onto the rope you are almost there. I remember climbing up and up and up this steep mountain and my poor guide slipped and fell and few more times and I remember thinking several times this is kinda creepy can I take the blind fold off are we there yet? Than finally we had made it to the very top of this mountain the rope had ended there was no were left to go, but the strange thing was we were alone. I could hear my friends voices below laughing and I’m sure enjoying their sweet reward, but here I was alone with a defective guide who had gotten us both lost. In frustration I sat down in the pitch black, alone waiting for my guide to figure out what went wrong. I couldn’t understand how we could have gotten lost we were told that if we followed the rope it would take us were we needed to go but our rope ended at a dead end.
I remember calling out to my guide asking if I could take off my blindfold and help her but no one answered. Hello are you there I called out, but I was alone.
How rude she taken our only flashlight and had left me blindfolded on the top of a cold, dark, creepy mountain all alone. I remember patiently waiting and reassuring myself I’m sure she will be back any moment with help but no one came it was just me all alone. I sat there in despair hoping that I wouldn’t be eaten by some wild beast, and I wondered why none of my friends hadn’t noticed I was missing and sent a search party to come rescue me.
After about fifteen minutes of sitting in the cold bitter desolation with my blindfold still intact because I was told not to take it off I hear this deep masculine voice call out to me are you lost? And I thought what any typical teenager would have Umm no I just like to hike up steep rocking mountains in flip flops in the middle of the night with a blind fold on. Duh of course I was lost. Almost tearfully I told him I was lost and I had a guide that clearly wasn’t very good at hiking who might be lost someone in the forest as well and I needed help. Then he told me that I needed to trust him and he would carry me down the mountain safely back to camp. Of course I was a little hesitant at first but I didn’t have any other choice. As we got closer and closer I could hear cheering and clapping for me and I was allowed to take off my blind fold as every was saying you made it back good job.
I was likened to the lost sheep and the rope which I had let go for only a moment was a representation to the iron rod.

That experience has stayed with me every since as a reminder of how cunning and deceptive satan can be. I couldn’t believe that I was trick. my guide was so sweet and she appeared to want to help me. She held my hand every step of the way and let me to believe that I was safe. Just like my guide satin will use every trick in the book to bring you down.

I placed my trust in her and she led me aware from the word of god without a fight.

Now this is a story of what not to do. I admit I was tricked I had placed my trust in the wrong place. I guess I should have given stricture head to the scripture in 2 nephi 4: 34 O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh.

As I was preparing for this talk I first I thought to myself of course I trust in God but then I thought about it a little more I asked myself, do I have doubts, well yeah, do I have fear, un huh, do I worry, am I stressed. All of these feelings come from not fully trusting in the lord.

I found the statement from Author James B. Cisneros interesting “why is it that we have more faith that the pieces of a puzzle made in Taiwan will fit together than we have that the pieces of our lives that are presented to us by God will fit together.

I know sometimes I find myself thinking I don’t need this piece, I don’t need this sickness, this heart ache, this trial lord, but just like the pieces of a puzzle every piece is essential to be complete even the ones with rough edges. I find great comfort in the chapters 121 and 122 in D&C
“All these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good”
“My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
“And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes”


Another example of having a limited perspective would be like taking a little rock and placing it directly infront of your eye—it looks huge, in fact it’s all you can see now just move it away just a little bit and see that it fits within your hand and its not that big, now take it a step further and throw that rock on the ground at the base of a mountain and step back, now in comparison that rock that once was so big it was all we could see is now so little and insignificant-- a tiny pebble compare to that great mountain. Our challenges and trial in life are like this rocks, when we only focus on the problem not trusting in the lord, who sees the big picture, it’s like holding the rock right infront of our eyes. All we need to do is have faith and trust in our heavenly father and allow him to mold and shape and purify our lives.

The world and satan would want you to believe that your trails and struggles are too big that you do not have the power to overcome them, that you are all alone, but this isn’t true. These struggles are our greatest blessing just in disguise, so we should stop going around looking for gifts all wrapped up with shiny red bows, because The lord places countless blessing and gifts right before your eyes all we have to do is just move that rock so you can see them. The scriptures tell us with God all things are possible.

We are never alone. We have a cheat sheet so to speak with the scriptures, our parents, teachers, and leaders. Our prophet and countless examples of great men and woman of tremendous faith and trust in the lord, even the greatest of them all, Jesus Christ who had perfect faith and trust when he said not my will but thine oh lord. We have nothing to lose by trusting in the Lord, he allows us to challenge him to prove it to ourselves to truefulness of the gospel as found in Alma

And if you still have those pesky little fears and doubt know that we have a guaranteed victory and he will make weak things strong as promised in Ether.

When we have these fears, doubts, worry, and stress this comes from satan and can immediate be dispelled with complete trust in God.

I love the saying when Satan tries to remind you for your past just remind him of his future.

As I was preparing for this talk I kept thinking to myself out of all the topics why this one? Why Me—I’m sure I’m not the only one who has thought why me when ask to give a talk. As I was writing and rewriting praying and searching I kept receiving the impression to share our recent experience but I kept say no thanks, but it wouldn’t go away, and I’m sure this is mostly for my benefit so I apologize. Several months ago we were living what I thought was the perfect lives, my husband had this amazing career, I was working from home, we were living in this huge, brand new gorgeous house, we has every luxury at our disposal, shopping, parks, zoos we were comfortable, complacent and in our surrounding and we were selfishly enjoying a charmed live, what we were told was happiness by the worlds definition.

Then we came to the temple dedication here and you youth are just so amazing and the prophet was here and then during the dedication I got this overwhelming impression to move back this was home.

Then almost immediately fear and doubt rush in and I begin rationalizing “how” we won’t have jobs, a place to live, what about the economy, I’m pregnant scheduled for a c-section and Mt. Graham doesn’t have the equipment or technology, you know you used to work there.

Even my husband tried talking me out of it saying “how are you going to survive without all your shopping. For months I tried to talk myself out of it. I didn’t want to give up all that I had—sound familiar, but I kept hearing over and over fear not I am with thee. Now try to imaging
here I am with our heavenly father but what about this or that, I’m scared, I don’t understand how, and here is mighty powerful God who has moved mountains, parted the sea, raised the dead, healed the sick, brought my very soul into existence. I’m sure you can clearly see who won this one. So we did it .we took that blind leap of faith putting all our trust in him knowing he see the big picture.

Now I don’t share this will you because it’s grand or amazing, it’s nothing of the sort, but in hopes to testify of the truthfulness of the gospel and that it’s lead by inspired men of God who follow the spirit even down to assigning a topic for a talk in sacrament. It’s so comforting to me to know that no matter where you are or the ciaos around you the gospel is true, Heavenly father is there he is constant, never failing, never changing, and he will always always be there for you all you have to do is trust in him and believe. The Lord said in D &C 88“Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” I testify these things are true in the name of Jesus Chirst Amen.