The whole point of Family Home Evening is to teach you about the gospel, bring you closer to the spirit and to bring your family closer together. All these can be accomplished even in a Single’s Ward setting. For in a Single’s Ward where often the members are living away from their families, the ward becomes, in essence, their second family. In these cases it is just as important to have this Monday night ritual of gathering together, to learn more about the gospel, come closer to the Spirit of God, and come closer as brothers and sisters in the ward.
With this said, my currant calling in my Singles Ward is being on the Family Home Evening Committee. In trying to magnify my calling I am always on the look out for new ideas for possible Family Home Evening activities.
The other evening I found one. I was on a family camp out, and for a special treat one night my sister showed us all how to make ice cream by putting the ingredients in a small ziplock bag (two tablespoons of sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla, one cup half and half cream.). Then we put that small sealed ziplock into a gallon sized ziplock which held a ¼ cup of rock salt and was filled half way with ice. We sealed the gallon ziplock and then shook it, rolled it on the table, shook it some more, until the ice melted and the Ice Cream froze.
It was so much fun to watch the little children each shaking their gallon ziplocks making their own Ice Cream. It was hard work, yet so much fun as testified by all the squeals of joy, and laughter. As I watched these small children, I saw in my mind a bunch of single adults doing this at a Family Home Evening activity.
Thinking of Elder David A Bednar, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint’s April 2007 General Conference Talk entitled, “Ye Must Be Born Again” where he gave the Allegory of the Pickle talking about the Conversion Process, I saw how the activity of Ice Cream making can be likened unto the gospel of Jesus Christ for the spiritual lesson.
Faith could be likened unto the Half and Half Cream. It is an active ingredient that facilitates action. It is the thickening agent in the Ice Cream, and in our lives.
“Faith is a principle of action and of power, and by it one can command the elements and/or heal the sick, or influence any number of circumstances when occasion warrants (Jacob 4: 4-7). Even more important, by faith one obtains a remission of sins and eventually can stand in the presence of God.” Bible Dictionary, Faith
Repentance can be likened unto the sugar, for the gift of repentance is one of the sweetest parts of our gospel. And like the process of obtaining Sugar from sugarcane repentance takes going through the fire of godly sorrow before we can obtain the sweetness that comes with the joy of Forgiveness.
“Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.
And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!
Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.” Alma 36:18-21
Baptism is like unto the vanilla. As vanilla changes that which it is added to, and gives it a new flavor from which it can never afterward be separated, so to when we are baptized, we become born again, as someone new. We take upon us the name of Christ, and are therefore new creatures. Clean and pure, with a brand-new flavor for the world we live in.
“And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;
And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.” Mosiah 27:25-26
The Gift of the Holy Ghost is like unto the rock salt. It is clean and pure, and it is an active ingredient that is necessary for the quickening process to make frozen Ice Cream from the liquid ingredients.
“When we invite the Holy Ghost to fill our minds with light and knowledge, He “quickens” us, that is to say, enlightens and enlivens the inner man or woman” Keith K. Hilbig, Quench Not the Spirit Which Quickens the Inner Man, Liahona, Nov 2007
And lastly though we have made all the preparations to make ice cream, there is one final ingredient that must be present. Ice. Only, once we have added the ice, to the salt and then shake the bag diligently, that the quickening can take place, and the ice cream can come to be.
“Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a clove of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.” 2 Nephi 31:20
And so with Faith, Repentance, Baptism, The Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End, we shall obtain Eternal Life, which is the great gift God can give.
