The Emporer's Son

So this week we had the upmost privilege to have Pres. G come to our lil branch for our district conference weekend. Yesterday he gave an AMAZING talk that I will just share a part with yall this week and the more sacred part of it next week when I have more time and Im not spending so much of my internet time downloading videos from lds.org ;)

So he told of a story of an Emporers son who made a proclamation to an entire kingdom to bring all the eligable maidens to the palace on such & such date to do a task. The maiden who completes this task will be chosen to be his bride.

One maiden whos mother worked in the palace wanted to go with all her heart. She had seen the Emporer's son and had fallen in love and wanted to try. So she went, inspite of her mothers concerns, to try to win the heart of the emporers son. 

Each maiden was given a seed and told to plant the seed. In 6 months time, the maiden who has the most beautiful flower would be chosen to be the next princess, the bride of the Emporers son. 

The maiden went home and planted the seed with tenderness and care, watering it often and giving it plenty of light. After several weeks, nothing happened.

2 months passed by, and despite her consistency and work, nothing happened still.

3 months and she became desperate. She looked at the gardens of the other maidens who had the most beautiful flowers and became incredibly sad.

When the 6 month finally came, and the day of the choosing was at hand, she still had nothing. Not even a sprout from the little seed that was given her.

Her mother told her not to go, not to put herself through this but the maiden was determined, if only this would  be the last time she would see the Emporers son.

So going to the palace, with her best dress and her flowerless pot, she stood among the other maidens with their flowers, their roses, their tulips, their daisies and all manner of gorgeous flowers. 

The Emporers son started the chosing, going forth among the maidens of the kingdom with their potted flowers. 

To the surprise of the young maiden, who had brought the flowerless pot, the Emporers son chose her.

When she asked him, "why did you choose me? when all the other maidens in the kingdom have beautiful flowers in their pots?"

The Emporers son smiled and replied, "The seeds that every young maiden were given, was a sterile seed. The seed that would grow from the pot of the maiden chosen to be my bride is the flower of integrity."

And so, because of the honesty of that young maiden, she was chosen to be the bride of the Emporers son. 

I loved this story! Of course it has princesses and princes but theres another thing thats even better. the lesson of integrity that is more beautiful than a beautiful lie. 

I hope we can all be a little more honest this week, and do a bit better showing our integrity and becoming guardians of this noble virtue.

this is a pic of our baptism last week! her name is m and she is a true brazilian pimenta! ;)