Month: June 2019

Elders,

Good morning! It is just another beautiful day here in the Highlands. These are the best days of the summer, when you can sleep with the windows open with a slight cool breeze. You have an anticipation of the heat to come but for now the evenings are so pleasant.

This past Sunday was tumultuous. We had a beautiful sacrament service as we learned and felt the events that the youth and leaders experienced during youth conference. As difficult as the situation was, I believe that everyone is coming through it with a deeper reverence for the forces of nature and a stronger bond of unity and a testimony of miracles. The darkness has turned to day and both Scott and Chloe are recovering so quickly. Chloe was home last Saturday and Scott could be home as early as today. 

We had a great lesson and discussion in our quorum meeting as well. Ken led us as we talked about President Nelson’s talk “We can do better and be better”. We had so many great comments and ideas. Members suggested multiple different points of view that I had not considered. I came away better for the discussion. 

We talked through how the word repent and repentance has such a strong and powerful feeling of being punitive. It brings up negative thoughts, feelings, and images. The word has dark overtones that we all seem to fall into. It is really about an invitation to change and to improve. It isn’t a demand for perfection or a terminal sentence. It is a process that we can go through to become a little more like our Heavenly Father.

Ken posed the question “What does repentance look like on a daily basis?” There were lots of comments and insights. If you’ll indulge me, I’ll share mine.

I am a software engineer by trade and one of the patterns that we follow is Agile-Scrum. This is a way of time boxing your work and efforts so that (in theory) at the end of every Scrum (usually 2 or 4 weeks) you know you have worked on the most important pieces of the project and have something that is delivered and could potentially be deployed. Inside of the Scrum you have various “ceremonies” that you participate in as part of the development process. You have a daily standup, sprint planning, backlog grooming, sprint review, and sprint retrospectives. These ceremonies enable the process to be self-sustaining and continuously improving.

We can take a look at this from a spiritual perspective. We have a one week sprint that culminates in our opportunity to take the sacrament each week. It gives us a time to review and reflect (sprint review and retrospective) on our week and think about the successes and how we might do things better. Each day we get to have a daily standup which for me is an opportunity to say what happened yesterday, what I’m planning on today, and what is in my way. For me, it is in studying the scriptures and prayer where this occurs. And for me this is what daily repentance looks like. It is the quick daily checkin, discussion, and plan that I have with God. It isn’t that I don’t have big things to deal with and big issues that I need to work on, but those elephants in my life  can be broken down into elephant carpaccio and the changes can occur in small ways every day.

Maybe this is just the software engineer geek in me coming out, but I see this process of continuous improvement working not just in software design and development, but in my life as well and the daily small wins and conversations help me “do better and be better”.

This Sunday is a 5th Sunday and we’ll join forces with the relief society and hear from the bishopric. They always have great things to share and things to teach us. I hope to see you all there.

It is a privilege to get to rub shoulders with each of you. I learn so much by your examples. Thank you for being men of God and worthy holders of his priesthood. You are great men.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

President Oldroyd
801-573-6828

Elders,

Hello from from sunny, muggy, hot Louisianna. I’m down here on business and had an opportunity to enjoy a real crawfish bol (not boil). It was quite an experience. The good people down here are very welcoming and kind. I hate being away from home and in the sweltering heat, but the sleepy town of Baton Rouge right next to the Mississippi isn’t all that bad.

We continue to hear good and positive news from our heart patients. Pam Oka’s surgery went well and she’ll be in the hospital for about a week. Brad Woolley is making steady progress as well. We are 2 for 2 on heart surgeries this month. We are grateful for skilled doctors and nurses, faith, and prayers that are so needful in situations like this.

This week in Come Follow Me, I’ll have to admit, I haven’t been able to study and read. My work has drained me – from the redeye flight Sunday night until now there has been very little stopping or sleeping. I was going to just crash on the bed tonight and not create the message this week, but I am glad that I made an effort to study. The rewards are great. This week’s study is about the final hours of our Savior’s life. It includes the mockings, trials, scourgings, and ultimately the crucifixion. There is a lot there to make us sad or frustrated. On the other hand it can give us hope as well. We see great examples of charity and love from the Savior even during this impossible situation.

One scripture that was called out in the manual is Mark 15:39 and the question associated with it is “How has reading about the Crucifixion strengthened our testimonies that Jesus is the ‘Son of God’?” The scripture says: “And when the centurion  which stood over against him , saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God”. 

As difficult and dark as that experience was, the spirit and power of Jesus Christ was able to reach out and touch the heart of this roman guard. My heart too was touched by reading even just a bit of the account. I can testify with the centurion that Jesus is the Son of God and the atonement of Jesus Christ allows us to anchor ourselves to God and His son. 

The scriptures are powerful witnesses and testimonies of the Savior. I hope that you can make the time; take the time, to follow the Come Follow Me outlines. They are a fantastic way to study and learn more about the relationship that Jesus has with our Heavenly Father and the relationship that we can have too. Even a little bit of studying is inspirational, uplifting, and testimony building.

This Sunday Ken will be teaching us from President Nelson’s conference talk: “We Can Do Better and Be Better”  https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/04/36nelson?lang=eng I know it is a talk that has been mentioned frequently since conference, but I believe I still have nuggets of wisdom to gain from the talk and the process of counseling together over the talk seems to bring them out for me – and I thank you in advance for your comments and insights.

Thank you for your love and support. I quite often am reminded of my limitations and inadequacies, but I feel of your strength and it makes me a better person.

Thanks,

President Oldroyd
801-573-6828

P.S. Now I can go get some sleep.

Elders,

Wednesday just snuck up on me and as I checked my to-dos I realized that I had not written to you all yet. I don’t know if it is approaching the big 5-0 or what, but time just seems to accelerate faster and faster. Regardless, today was a beautiful day. I didn’t spend too much time outside but what time I had was perfect. I feel for Dan Dresser. He has been anointed the bicycle fixit specialist for all the missionaries (why missionaries can’t do simple bike repair is beyond me) and changing tires, tubes, adjusting brakes and cables. I spent a good while getting two of our bikes repaired and usable. One daughter has been riding her bike for several months and never told me that she had no brakes until she couldn’t pump up her tire any longer so as I replaced the tube, I checked the brakes and both were so worn down they couldn’t grip. It was fun to get a chance to be the fix-it hero instead of Wreck-it-Ralph.

In quorum we talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how it related to the three gardens – the garden of Eden, Garden of Gethsemane, and the Garden Tomb. We talked about how we worship God the Father through his Son and our brother Jesus Christ. We also talked about how the Atonement of Jesus Christ descends below anything we may have done in our lives and clears the way for us to throw off that burden and come alive in our Savior. I felt like we had a good and lively discussion. I love the heart of John Haberle.

Yesterday (Tuesday) Brad Woolley had his surgery. From all signs he is doing very well. There are concerns but nothing out of the normal range. You can follow his recovery at a blog that Marlene setup to convey such information: https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/everyonelovesbradleyp

Next week Pam Oka undergoes heart surgery as well.

Elders – thank you for your fasting and prayers on their behalf as well as the other kind things you do. This Sunday is Come Follow Me: Matt 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, and John 18. All of the gospels talk about the last supper and the subsequent events in the Garden of Gethsemane. Reading the different accounts of the same event one right after another has been eye opening and thought provoking. I love the image of an angel coming to strengthen Jesus Christ in his time of greatest agony and sorrow. I think of the sleeping apostles, of the valiant but boastful Peter… There are so many great things, characters, and lessons in these chapters, I encourage you to drink deep.

Thank you for taking care of each other and for being the great men that you are.

Father’s day is Sunday – that doesn’t mean you sleep in later than noon and skip church. Come on over and show gratitude to your Heavenly Father. 

See you soon,

President Oldroyd
801-573-6828

Elders,

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers this past weekend on fast Sunday. We have many brothers and sisters suffering in several ways. Your efforts to “bear one another’s burdens… mourn with those who mourn, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort” make a big difference. 

In my Come Follow Me studies this week I came across something I hadn’t noticed before. In John 15 Jesus teaches that he is the vine and we are the branches. He continues to teach that branches can’t bear fruit without vine. And then in verse 7 he says: “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, yes shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” There is a foot note on the first “abide” that points to problem-solving in the topical guide. Problem solving? Huh? At first it didn’t seem to fit in my head, but then it started to sink in.

What if abiding in Jesus really is ultimately a lesson in problem-solving? Often, we think of the gospel as a single thing, or maybe a defined – rigid set of steps. What if it really is more of an individual learning exercise where we learn through study, experimentation, example, and sometimes failure? – solving problems? I think that the Savior is inviting us to develop a deep and very personal relationship with him in a very personal and individual way. He then gives us a couple of leads to follow to help us get going on developing our relationship. Verse 10 talks about keeping the commandments. Verse 12 talks about loving and ministering to others. Verse 14 instructs us to become friends with Him.

There’s plenty of food for thought here in John 15. I hope that you enjoy digging into this chapter and would welcome any insights that you would like to share.

This week John Haberle will lead our lesson. We’ll be discussing the talk by Brother Callister – The Atonement of Jesus Christ ( https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/04/45callister?lang=eng ). I encourage you to read it and come ready to share your insights into the Atonement and how we can apply it in our and our family’s lives.

Have a fantastic rest of the week. Let’s meet on Sunday.

Thanks,

President Oldroyd
801-573-6828