Month: May 2019

Elders,

Welcome to Wednesday. I hope that you had a great Memorial Day weekend. It was great to be back in quorum last Sunday. Ken led us in a wonderful lesson as we talked about how our homes are like castles and what we can do to fortify them and deal with the invaders that are diligently trying to storm through and destroy us. If you didn’t get a chance to read Elder Rasband’s talk “Build a Fortress of Spirituality and Protection”, take a few minutes and feel the spirit of his message and testimony.

We have a service opportunity this Saturday. We are looking for a couple of Elders to come down to Camp Haven (about 2 hours away) and help clear the road of branches. If you could spare several hours this Saturday, I’d really appreciate your support. It starts at 8:00 am and ends in the afternoon. Please let me know if you are available to help.

This week we are studying about preparing ourselves for the future and the prophesies of the Second Coming. Whether it is preparing like the wise virgins – filling the oil in our lamps one drop at a time, building up our fortress walls like Captain Moroni,  or taking our “talents” and multiplying them – we have a responsibility to prepare and make the best out of our time here on earth. I really appreciate all that you all do to help our quorum, ward, and community be a better place. 

Elders, there are many in the ward and neighborhood that are struggling. As we prepare for fast Sunday this coming Sabbath, please take a moment to consider who you can fast and pray for specifically. Your specific fasting, faith, and prayers will go a long way to helping to lighten the burdens of those in our midst – especially if we don’t just fast and pray, but also listen and then act on the promptings we receive.

Thanks for your friendship. You are all great men. Please let me know if there is anything that the quorum can do to help you and your family.

See you on Sunday,

President Oldroyd
801-573-6828

Elders,

First off, I want to apologize for missing the past two weeks. I had good intentions but things just didn’t work out. Between vacation and a work trip my time just disappeared. This weekend is the Memorial Day weekend. It is traditionally the start of summer and many times we gloss over the meaning of Memorial Day. It was first observed  in May 1868 to celebrate the sacrifices of the Civil War. In 1971 it was made a national holiday. We celebrate all of those that paid the ultimate price in the service of our country. I hope that during the weekend you find some time to talk to your family about why we celebrate Memorial Day. I encourage you to take 10 minutes to listen to this presentation called “Remember Me” by Jocko Willink a decorated hero, author, and podcaster. https://youtu.be/8c_MxHNOUmE

This last Sunday Nick taught us in Sunday School about the parable of the laborers. He shared portions of Elder Holland’s talk from the April 2012 conference https://www.lds.org/study/general-conference/2012/04/the-laborers-in-the-vineyard?lang=eng. It is a beautiful parable about the love God has for each of us and that no matter where we are on the covenant path – even if we don’t think we can even see it from where we are – that he loves us and is anxious to apply the atonement in our lives – to heal us – to purify us – to make us better men, husbands and fathers. 

I was studying this morning and found myself wrapped up in the story of Mary and Martha. This is part 3 of the story. The scene was a dinner at the home of Lazarus just a few days before Jesus was crucified. I’m sure that his upcoming ordeal weighed heavily upon Jesus. He was there with his apostles. He had previously told his apostles that he was soon to be killed, but they hadn’t internalized that yet. They thought Jesus was invincible and that surely he would not lose his life. Mary had heard the same message. She believed and she acted to show her love and acceptance of Jesus as her king and savior. She took an incredibly expensive box of nard (perfume) and anointed his feet with the oil and washed his feet with her hair. It is a deeply touching and symbolic scene of love, devotion, and faith on the part of Mary. Jesus recognized her gift and prophesied that “Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.” (Mark 14:9) It begs the question for each of us – How do we show our love and devotion to the Lord? 

This coming Sunday our lesson in quorum will be led by Ken on the talk from Elder Rasband in the last conference titled: Build a Fortress of Spirituality and Protection https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2019/04/56rasband?lang=eng

We also have 2 service opportunities coming up soon. If you can help with either one, please let a member of the quorum presidency know. The opportunities are: 

June 1 – Camp Haven day of service. It is at our stake’s property near Indianola. It starts at 8:00am and will run for a good portion of the day. We’ll be cutting back branches from the road and putting them through the chipper. We need a couple of men for this one. If you can spare a Saturday, please let us know.

July 29th – Aug 4th to clean the Jordan River Temple each night from 10-12:30 am. While it isn’t until the end of July, we are being asked to turn in our roster by the first of June. Cleaning the temple is a pretty awesome experience. If you haven’t done it (or it has been a while) and you have a current recommend, I encourage you to take advantage of the opportunity.

A final reminder – We are asking everyone to take a ward survey. The leadership of the ward would like to get a pulse on the ward and get anonymous feedback on what we can do to make your church experience more meaningful. If you haven’t already taken the survey please follow this link and take the survey. http://bit.ly/w9survey

Men, life is great. You play an important role in your family and in our ward family. Thank you for being an example for me and my family. 

See you on Sunday!

President Oldroyd
801-573-6828

Elders,

Tomorrow (Thur) is our Elder’s Quorum activity over at the clubhouse. Mildred Barlow is going to share “Her Life, Laughter, & Learning”. The dinner and program will be at the clubhouse at 7:00pm. Please contact either Doug Moore 801-231-2636 or Scott DuVall 801-808-6505 if you have any questions. Hope that you and your better half are able to join us. I wish that I could be there but I have another engagement.

Last Sunday we were able to have a discussion around temple and family history with the Relief Society. Nick Bassett led the discussion and challenged us to do something today. It could be something as simple as getting your churchofjesuschrist.org / familysearch.org account setup. It could be taking 10 minutes to do a quick batch of indexing (that is what I did). Or, just downloading the familysearch tree app on your phone. There are so many simple little things you can do. I hope that you’ll take the challenge and do a little something today. 

At our house we had several extended family members in from out of town. As we talked over dinner tonight, we ended up in a long discussion around family histories, telling stories, and sharing the familysearch tree application. Our extended family would rather do pretty much anything other than talk about church or go to church, but there we were – talking all about our family tree and what it will be like to get to know them and their “actual” stories once we meet again in heaven. It was a great way to talk about important things and build relationships.

This Sunday we’ll have a Sunday School – Come Follow Me lesson on Matthew 18, Luke 10, and John 7-10. I don’t want to impose on Kris’ lesson, but I really loved studying John 9 this morning about Jesus healing a blind man on the sabbath. I had a couple of insights that I hadn’t thought of previously. Maybe I’ll write about it a little next week if we don’t get to discuss it on Sunday.

Thank you for making “Sunday Snacks” a big success. Thank you for coming and sharing your treats and conversation. It was a great afternoon. I hope you all enjoyed it. We’ll organize another one soon. Let me know if you have any suggestions on how to make it even better.

Thank you for being great men. I appreciate all the good you do.

Thanks,

President Oldroyd
801-573-6828