team institute! i'm soo sorry that it is Sunday night and i am just now posting! thought i'd show ya a few pics so that you'd believe that i actually went and risked and had sooo much fun trying knew things - i may have screamed like a girl on the rapids!! :)

no laughing at how cute my hair is!!

Okay, now for the real and serious stuff!!

Genesis 12-23. Abraham. Sarah. Isaac. Melchizedek. wow.

we know the stories here about Abraham. we know that he was asked to sacrifice Isaac. we know that this is a symbol of Christ. we know that Abraham, of any man, knew truly what he was asking of his only begotten son because Abraham had been on the altar as his father tried to sacrifice Abraham's life to the idol gods. we know that Sarah was not laughing as the angel told them of her long awaited blessing of having a son. and we know that this picture is probably wrong and that Isaac was probably a man in his thirties who willing went upon the altar because of his faith and devotion.

thus, we need to learn more about who these people truly were. we need to determine how our lives need to be altered to be worthy of being their heirs to all the blessings and responsibilities they enjoyed.

make sure you have a pen and journal/notebook

MELCHIZEDEK

one morning i woke up at 4:30ish - against my will - and grabbed my scriptures to read some of the Book of Mormon. i randomly opened to Alma and was reading in chapter 13 about the Melchizedek priesthood and this man. i was in the half awake/half asleep mode and pondered a lot...here are some of the musings:

the Melchizedek priesthood was named after Melchizedek, a righteous, and obviously amazing high priest during the time of Abraham. It was named after him, only because the true name of this priesthood may not have been said with the respect it needed; the priesthood of the Son of God.

• do i treat the men who hold this level of priesthood power with the respect and regard and honor that i do the Son of God?
• do i expect them to carry and act equal to the holy priesthood power that they hold?
• do i live so that i will be equally yoked with a man who knows and treasures and keeps sacred this power?
• do i live in a way that inspires and influences the men in my life and sphere to recognize and remember what a gift and honor it is to holy this sacred power?
• what can i do to be better at excepting more from this power in my life?
• what more can i do to be aware that this is a daily blessing i get to have influence me?
• as a woman, created to give birth and nurture children and thus hold a portion of this power, do i live worthy to it?
• do i live knowing and acting in accordance with what i have and what i am?

He also created a society that had been the wicked of wicked and through Melchizedek's influence and powerful teaching, these people became worthy to be translated. WOW!!

CES Old Testament Manual p. 67-68

"Possessing both the kingship of Salem (which Josephus and many other ancient and modern authorities have identified as Jerusalem) and the keys of the high priesthood, Melchizedek was able to effect might changes among his people. Thus, he modeled the roles fulfilled by Jesus Christ as prophet, priest, and king. Melchizedek preached repentance to a group who had waxed strong in iniquity and abomination, who had all gone astray, and who were full of all manner of wickedness (Alma 13:7). The people did repent, and Melchizedek established peace in the land (Alma 13:18). Like the Savior, Melchizedek was an instrument in God's hands to redeem his people from spiritual death and destruction" (Prophets, Priests, and Kings, Andrew Skinner).

ABRAHAM

"Some of the ancient rabbinic sages . . . coined expressions like 'as if an altar was erected in his heart' to portray those individuals who were willing to do all the God required. Some of them well understood that sacrifice was first made in the mind and heart of the offerer. Their exemplar was Abraham. He had erected an altar in his heart long before he reached Moriah . . . Long before any of us were sent to this earth, Christ understood the principle of true and total sacrifice" ( Prophets, Priests, and Kings p 38).

Circumcision of Heart

"Perhaps our trials increase though our obedience becomes more exact and our performance more exemplary. Sometimes life becomes grossly unfair" (p. 41).

"The Lord said that those who profess discipleship 'must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son. For all those who will not endure chastening, but deny me, cannot be sanctified (D&D 101:4-5)' ' (p. 42).

"Besides the Savior, Abraham is the standard for mortal so live by. He mirrored the behavior of the Father on the one hand and the Son on the other. He faced contradiction and maintained his absolute loyalty to Deity and eternal principles. Such tests are given to mortals and are calculated to allow us the opportunity to demonstrate our loyalty just as Abraham demonstrated his. God doesn't want much - he wants everything. And he desires with all his soul to give us back everything he possess. We are asked to give up all in order to receive in infinitely greater all" (42).

" 'Why did the Lord ask such things of Abraham? Because, knowing what his future would be and that he would be the father of an innumerable posterity, he was determined to test him. God did not do this for His own sake for He know by His foreknowledge what Abraham would do; but th purpose was to impress upon Abraham a lesson and to enable him to attain unto knowledge that he could not obtain in any other way. That is why God tried all of us. It is not for His own knowledge, for He knows all things beforehand. He know all your lives and everything you will do. But he tries us for our own good that we may know ourselves; for it is most important that a man should know himself' " (p. 43).

SARAH

"Josephus tells us that Sarah 'loved Ishmael, who was born of her own handmaid Hagar, with an affection not inferior to that of her own son' (Antiquities of the Jews, 36). When Isaac was born, Sarah 'saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking' (Genesis 21:9). What a dilema for Sarah. She loved the boy Ishmael, and she knew that Abraham loved both Hagar and Ishmael, his son. But she feared for the well-being of Isaac. Isaac's life and Ishmael's eternal salvation would have been in danger. The promises of the birthright could have been lost. Sarah pondered the dilemma and made a difficult decision" (Daughters of God, S. Michael Wilcox ).

Compared to Emma: My Story and how Emma Smith took and and loved the of her second husband's affair. How do we nurture this character within ourselves and those around us?

ISAAC

Bible Dictionary: Isaac

He laugheth. The son born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age, the child of promise, and the heir of the promises (Gen. 15: 1-6; Gen. 17: 15-19; Gen. 18: 9-15; Gen. 21: 1-8). The main interest of his life gathers around his birth, the sacrifice on Mount Moriah (Gen. 22), his marriage (Gen. 24; 25), and his dealings with his sons (Gen. 27; 28). There are numerous references to him in various parts of the Bible (see especially Gal. 4: 28; Heb. 11: 9, 17, 20). In character he appears to have been a peace-loving shepherd, of great personal piety, full of affection for the members of his own family. In D&C 132: 37 we are told that Isaac is now exalted and sits upon a throne with Abraham and Jacob. Cf. Matt. 8: 11.