Jaron~Church Talk~Honesty!

Jaron and his buddies from our ward after church.......they love walking home together after church!  On a side note~Toby and I have a new calling to teach the 9 year olds in our ward together.  It is a pretty big class!  Mikenna is in our class - for a few more months until the first of the year!  Jaron had his Life rank board of review for scouts after church as well.  He passed it!  :)  He has 4 more required merit badges to get and then he can start working on his Eagle project!

Jaron gave a talk today in sacrament meeting about being Honest. He prepared the talk by himself, and delivered it very well. He had me in tears! I was so proud of him! He bore his testimony saying he knew that our church is the true church, and that he has a testimony of being honest and that if we are honest it can bring us and those around us great happiness and peace.  He had a lot of great compliments after church from friends and ward members that he did a great job.  Toby and I are very proud of him and for the example he is setting for his sisters!  Here is his talk.

Honesty

Honesty is something that God wants us all to use. It is a kind thing to do and it is a part of God’s plan. When you are trustworthy, you must be honest. When you are dishonest, your not just hurting the one your lying too, your hurting yourself. Being dishonest can also be a habit. You can get used to lying so much, you almost do it all the time. And if your honest to other people, people will trust you. They will not lie back to you. In Doctrine and Covenants 51:9, it says,

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It at times can be hard to be honest. You may be tempted to lie, to make things easier, to trick someone, and to get out of trouble. But you must tell the truth. As Heavenly Father and his son would. This story was told by President Pacheo once.

President Ruben Dario Pacheo of the Caracas Venezuela Third Branch and his family strongly desired to go to the temple. “After much sacrifice and spiritual preparation, his family raised enough money to go to the temple. President Pacheo sent his daughter to the bank to get 500 U.S. dollars. [He said,] ‘My wife took the envelope [containing the U.S. dollars] and put it away without counting the money. The night before leaving, I asked for the money and noticed that the envelope was unusually heavy. We counted the money. They had given us $4,065. I was astonished. … The bank receipts indicated a purchase of only $500—that meant that the bank had erred some $3,500 in our favor!

“‘Some nonmember friends at our home that night tried to persuade us to use the money to enjoy our trip to the United States. … I myself had never seen so much money in my life. However, I energetically said, “We cannot keep this money because it is not ours. The purpose of our trip to the temple is to make covenants with the Lord. What good will they do if we are dishonest?”

“‘We returned the money to the bank; they had noticed that they had lost the funds but had no records indicating to whom it had been paid. Some bank clerks asked me that day, “Why did you do it? Nobody knew that you had that money.” My only answer was: “Because I am a Mormon”’” (quoted by Mario G. Echeverri, “Venezuela,” Ensign, Feb. 1977, 30).

 TESTIMONY