Our First Sunday Service at Home

When the First Presidency announced a new resource to help Church members and their families study the scriptures at home: Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families,  our family counseled together to include it in our daily family morning devotional as part of our homeschool program. Since we have been studying together as a family in January 2019, we have deepened our testimony that our  home is the best place to live, learn, and teach the gospel. In other words, ministering begins at home.

So when gatherings of church members were temporarily suspended worlwide because of conditions related to COVID-19, leaders asked members to hold Sunday meetings in their homes. Our family morning devotional that we do everyday as part of our homeschool program prepared our whole family for this trying and difficult times. We had an added measure of the Spirit in our home when my husband and 12 year-old son administered the sacrament. In our closing hymn, we couldn't hold back our tears while singing "If the Savior Stood Beside Me".

We are so blessed that we have church supported programs that help us, parents make our home a defense and a refuge from the world. Striving to have a well-ordered home, we must keep bright the spark of testimony and build faith within each heart. We have been taught to organize ourselves and prepare every needful thing and to establish a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of order, a house of God.

It has never been easy but truly, a home is more than a house or a room to live in. As Latter-day Saint homebuilders, our greatest challenge is to bring up our children in light and truth—to develop the spiritual nature of each family member. Our greatest role is as a teacher. May we make our homes havens of peace and happiness where all enjoy growing, being together and striving daily to press forward in our covenant path.

    

    Photos taken on 16 March 2020, our            first Sunday Service at home