The 2016 Elders Quorum (EQ) and Relief Society (RS) lesson manual is Teachings of Presidents of the Church - Howard W. Hunter. This completes the series of all of the Prophets up to President Hunter, so my guess would be that next year we will be studying Gordon B. Hinckley.
The lessons are taught on the 2nd and 3rd Sundays of the month, with a total of 24 lessons. The updated Calendar feature on LDS.org automatically plugs in all of the lessons for you when you create a new class calendar for EQ or RS. It's a nice feature.
This week we held a combined Priesthood meeting since a few people were still out of town. Typically the 1st Sunday is taught by a member of the EQ presidency, and it is open to any topic of choice. I decided to use the section on the Life and Ministry of Howard W. Hunter from the manual, and there was plenty of material to discuss.
One of the interesting facts in the manual was that President Hunter wasn't baptized until he was twelve because his father would not give his permission.
Because Howard had not been baptized, he could not be ordained a deacon when he turned 12. “By that time, all my friends had been ordained deacons,” he said. “Because I wasn’t an official member of the Church, I wasn’t able to do many of the things that they did.” Howard was especially disheartened that he could not pass the sacrament: “I sat in sacrament meetings with the other boys. When it was time for them to pass the sacrament, I would slump down in my seat. I felt so left out.”Eventually his father did give permission, and was baptized himself about 8 years later.
As President of the Church, President Hunter extended two invitations to all members of the church - to follow the Savior's example, and to look to the temple of the Lord as the great symbol of our membership. He dedicated two temples during the 9 months he was President - the Orlando, Florida and Bountiful, Utah. I was able to attend the dedication of the Bountiful Temple, and remember the wonderful feeling on that day! I have loved being able to continue to go to the Temple and learn and feel the Spirit while being there.
This turned out longer than I thought, and didn't take very long! Hopefully I can keep it up as the year goes on!
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