Fasing and Fast Offerings

I was responsible for teaching the lesson today in Relief Society. It was a bit nerve racking because I was in front of women that knew there gospel topic. Other than one other time, this was my first time teaching. Teaching about the Fast Offering was a great experience for me. It made me remember principles that you just do and forget why. It made me real feel better about fasting and it not be about food but about gaining more spirituality plus helping others. Below are a few excerpts from my lesson.

I believe in Visual Aids and they should be used in 5 out of 6 lessons. It touches another way in which people learn, me is one that learns from them.

I bought a clear bow, 7 white golf balls, and 7 pink (breast cancer) golf balls. I got two volunteers and asked them to get all of the white balls below the rime of the bowl. The volunteers took out the pink golf balls bringing the white balls below the rime of the bowl. So after all the pink cancer balls were gone, it was like when we fast we are taking the bad out of our body. Like the cancer we take it out and we are healthy again.

Summary:
Sincere fasting be one way to “empty” ourselves of unrighteousness so we can be filled with the Holy Ghost
1.They read and mark Alma 22:15 together. It says:And it came to pass that after Aaron had expounded these things unto him, the king said: What shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit crooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day? Behold, said he, I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy.
Explained that this verse contains the words of a king who repented for rebelling against the Lord. The king offered to give up his kingdom and all his possessions in order to receive the Spirit of God (the Holy Ghost).

What did the king really need to give up to feel the Spirit? (See Alma 22:18.)
Just as the pink balls needed to come out of the bowl before the bowl could be filled with white ball, the wickedness in the king needed to leave before the king could be filled with the Holy Ghost.

What do we need to do to be filled with the Holy Ghost? (We need to rid ourselves of unrighteous thoughts and actions.
2.How can sincere fasting be one way to "empty" ourselves of unrighteousness so we can be filled with the Holy Ghost?
Even though our stomachs are empty when we fast, we can be filled with the Holy Ghost. Being hungry for food when we fast is not wrong, especially if it reminds us to “hunger and thirst after righteousness, [so we can] be filled with the Holy Ghost?(3 Nephi 12:6 - And blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.)
--From - Lesson 10: Fasting--Hungry or Full, Preparing for Exaltation: Teacher's Manual--

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Next My favorite quote that we read was from Elder L.Tom Perry

"We Give Out of Love"

“It is our understanding of the principle of love that encourages us to give generously to the fast offerings, a wonderful, revealed system in which on the first Sunday of each month, we voluntarily refrain from eating two meals and contribute the cost of those meals to our bishop. He then has the resources to help him help those in need. The system is mostly painless, and it raises our appreciation for those who are without and provides a means to satisfy their daily requirements. May the Lord continue to bless us with the desire to love one another and give generously based on the principle of the fast.” Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “Building a Community of Saints,” Ensign, May 2001, 36.

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WOW.... I had not thought of the Fast Offering as giving love. That makes me give the fast more meaning to me and that bit of resistance to hold back some is gone.