Month: March 2020

Elders,

Good morning! Snow, two days in a row? Ah spring in Utah. The funny thing is that my kids are on spring break this week and so we are just letting them be teenagers and sleep in. Yesterday I am talking with one of them and mentioned the snow and she said “What do you mean, it didn’t snow…” I had to show her pictures (that I had sent to my Louisiana team) to convince her. We’ll see if they see the snow today.

How did your first Sunday sacrament go? It was a special experience for me. I am sure that it will become commonplace the more that we do it, but it was a real honor to administer the sacrament for my family. That personal experience of standing in for the Savior in breaking, blessing, and passing the emblems of the sacrament was touching. An added bonus was getting to have my whole family (that live with me) together for the sacrament. That hasn’t happened for a long time.

The bishop has authorized us to perform the sacrament for our families again this Sunday as well. I hope that you take advantage of this opportunity to fill your house and your lives with sacrament of our Savior.

Missionaries: With the church recalling many foreign missionaries we have two that have recently made their ways home. Mack Muhlestein is back and in quarantine before getting reassigned to a state-side mission. Tommy Keys has completed his mission in Japan, is home in quarantine, and will not be reassigned. Since we are not able to hear from them in a sacrament meeting or visit with them personally, the bishop has suggested an inverted missionary parade. It will give everyone an opportunity to get out of the house and show our support for these great young Elders that have served the Lord faithfully – all while practicing appropriate social distancing….

Here is how it will work…

From 12:00 – 12:15 on Sunday, pack everyone in the car and join the parade. You will want to be driving on the same side of the street as the house – so you will need to go down Timpanogos to drive past the Muhlestein house (6378 S Timpanogos Way) towards the clubhouse. Elder Mack will be on the porch of their house and you can wave to him and yell any words of encouragement and thanks. From there continue down Timpanogos and then go up McKinley or Everest so that you can come back DOWN Mt Hood and drive past the Keys’ house (6384 S Mt Hood). There, Elder Tommy will be on the porch of his house and you can wave and send any words of encouragement. 

If all goes well, this will cause a bit of a traffic problem on Ivory way as families intersect – but we can all figure out how to merge and make it work. Set an alarm on your phone for 12:00 on Sunday. Do it now or you WILL forget ?. 

I hope that you will come and participate and make a long parade of cars circling the neighborhood. I know it sounds a bit different – but let’s give it a try. Crazy times call for crazy experiments – why not an inverted parade?

This week in our Come Follow Me we are studying Enos – Words of Mormon. We are also preparing and building up for the following week (April 4,5) for General Conference and then Easter. I started my study of these chapters this week with maybe not as great an attitude – Enos prays and then a lot of “I didn’t write much”… I have come out of it with a new found love for these chapters and the authors. Not everyone can be a Nephi or a Jacob and write as much as they did, with the detail, passion, and style. Enos chose one very powerful episode from his life and shared it with us. It is a powerful lesson on the grace of God, the atonement, and the power of prayer. The authors in Jarom and Omni, were not prolific writers. They didn’t “journal every day”. They wrote only a little but their words and messages have endured the centuries. Our efforts too – even if small can have long term rippling effects.

Stay safe. I hope that you are adjusting well. If you are struggling (it is harder than I thought) please reach out to your ministers / ministering families / your leaders. We are all in this together and with each other’s help we’ll grow closer as a ward family and make it through these challenging times. A phone call, a text, an email, or a note on a plate of cookies can change the day for someone – maybe even the person doing the service. Writing to you has been a great blessing for me – whether you read it or not it blesses my life.

Thank you for all you do. Reach out if I can be of service. I have an extra computer monitor if someone who is now working from home realizes that the laptop screen is just too small to be productive all day long. 

Thanks again!

President Oldroyd
801-573-6828

Elders,

What a week! It is amazing how quickly things can change. At times like these it is easy to feel like we have lost control. We are such creatures of habit. We have a routine for this and a routine for that. Now, so many of those routines have been disturbed. It would be weird if we didn’t feel a bit out of sorts after all of this. That feeling of being out of control can be assuaged by our faith and belief in our Heavenly Father’s plan and in his Son Jesus Christ.

Many things have changed in the past two weeks, but one thing we can control is our relationship with the Savior. Don’t let the changes and pressures upset your relationship with Him. He said “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27) Making time for studying his words and for quiet contemplation and prayer will help make everything else a little easier. He is a sure foundation that we can build upon and hold onto as things around us are in commotion.

April Conference is coming in two weeks. It will be a memorable and historic conference in many ways. We have been encouraged to prepare to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Joseph Smith’s first vision. I have been doing some study and preparation (not as much as I probably should) but I came across a talk from Elder Uchdorf shortly after he was made an Apostle. In his talk from April 2005 titled “The Fruits of the First Vision” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2005/04/the-fruits-of-the-first-vision?lang=eng he talks about how the purpose of prophets is to bring us closer to our Savior – to have more faith in Him. He said “we come to believe in Jesus Christ through the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith”. The reality of the Joseph Smith’s vision increases our faith in Jesus Christ – and this is something we could all use a little more of today.

This Sunday our bishop has authorized us to have the sacrament in our home with our immediate family. The prayers can be found in D&C 20:77,79. It can all be done by one priesthood holder that is a priest in the Aaronic priesthood. Guidelines for the sacrament are available in the general handbook of instruction in section 18.9 – https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/general-handbook/18-priesthood-ordinances-and-blessings?lang=eng#title_number27. I encourage you to read through it in your preparation for sacrament this Sunday. This will be a unique and significant experience for you and your family. I hope that you will take advantage of this opportunity.

Elders, continue to reach out in ministering and love to those around us – even through our new favorite term of “social distancing”. Reach out to our loved ones and reach inward to our Savior. He loves you and will help calm you through the changes taking place around us.

Let me know if there are things I can do to help – from TP to Priesthood Blessings.

God Loves you. I know it to be true,

President Oldroyd
801-573-6828

Elders,

This has certainly been a week of changes and upheavals. The Corona virus is the talk on everyone’s lips from our Nation’s President, to every news outlet to our own Prophet. Our Stake President sent an email out to all of the members of the stake. On the off chance that you did not get the email I’m quoting it below:

Dear Members of the Westland Stake,

Under the direction of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve, beginning immediately, all public gatherings of Church members are being suspended worldwide until further notice.  This includes:
* Stake conferences, leadership conferences, and other large gatherings
* All public worship services, including sacrament meetings
* All ward and stake activities

I will be counseling with your bishop to determine how to make the sacrament available to members at least once a month.  More to come on that.

It will be critical that each of us reflect on our ministering efforts to care for one another. We should follow the Savior’s example to bless and lift others.  Please consider extra efforts you can make around your ministering assignments during this time.

We love you and the Lord loves you, and testify that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the best source of joy and peace in every circumstance.

Sincerely,
The Stake Presidency

It is quite a significant event to have all of our church meetings cancelled. It seems more than a coincidence that we have been studying the Come Follow Me manual for the past year. We are better prepared for this event than we would have been a year ago. It is easy to see the hand of the Lord in the preparations.

Please consider President Barlow’s plea to step up our ministering efforts – formal and informal. Our Father in Heaven loves each one of us and has prepared several ways to help care for his little flock and the grand plan of ministering is one such vehicle. Certainly the pandemic is not to be taken lightly, but at the same time we should not panic and work ourselves up into a frenzy. A cool head and common sense will serve us all well. Watch for signs of anxiety and/or depression in our friends and family. Be attentive and help things go well. If you recognize the symptoms in yourself, please reach out.

*CANCELLED*
We planned to hear from Kurt VonElm on the 19th (7pm – Clubhouse). According to the direction from our leaders, we will be postponing this to a date TBD. Can’t wait to hear Kurt’s stories but we need to proceed with caution.
*CANCELLED*

I guess you all are stuck with me for another week or so until a new Elder’s Quorum president can be called and sustained. It has been a great pleasure and joy getting to work alongside each of you. It has been a tremendous experience for me and I will miss the frequent interaction with all of you.

This week in Come Follow Me we are studying Jacob 1-4. We get to hear from a new religious leader of the Nephites. We get a great look at his personality. He is someone I can relate to. There is something about his reluctance to call the Nephites to repentance. He loves his people and knows that he needs to talk about some difficult subjects with them. You can feel the reluctance in his words. I am not a prophet but I have had some thoughts banging around in my head for a few weeks that I want to share.

We haven’t talked a ton about pornography in our quorum meetings, but it is something that I feel we need to address. In our quorum I am sure that there are several of us that have been caught into this addiction. It is so easy to get into and get trapped. Once it starts, the guilt, the shame, and the addiction kicks in to put you into a cycle that pulls you away from the peace and light and joy of this life. It convinces us that we don’t have a problem, we can always stop, and that it isn’t a big deal. Step by step satan convinces us to keep our addiction in the dark and away from everything and everyone we love. We become convinced that if we talk to the Bishop and try to clean it up that we’ll be embarrassed, punished, and that our life will be ruined.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Our Bishop is there to help – not to criticize, belittle, or embarrass. He is there to point us to the Savior who can heal us. The atonement is there for you, me, and everyone. No matter what we have done, we are not “too far gone” for the atonement to reach us. He is there. He lives. He helps. He heals. He saves. Elders, if this is something that you are caught up in, please get help. Talk to a trusted friend or confidant. Ultimately talk to the Bishop. He has keys to help you return from the darkness. He is a fantastic man that is kind, loving, and desperately wants to help get build a healing relationship with the Savior.

Even with all of this trouble and commotion surrounding us, life is good. You are great men doing great things for your family, friends, and neighbors. Thank you for letting me tag along with you. Reach out and minister to those around you and if there is something I can do to help, please let me know.

Stay safe,

President Oldroyd
801-573-6828

Elders,

Happy Thursday! One of my co-workers says that she can prove that Thursdays are the best day of the week. She claims that you are close to the weekend and that fewer “fires” jump out on Thursdays than any other day of the week. She may be right or just have too much time on her hands… Regardless, It is great to get to write to you again and tell you what great men you are.

Last week Jason gave a great Sunday school lesson and talked through some of the Isaiah chapters of the Book of Mormon. With this week’s come follow me study we close out the life of Nephi and get ready for his brother Jacob. Studying the BofM this year has been memorable for me. Maybe I have just paid more attention, but the book has come alive in new ways for me. I hope that your studies have been good as well.

We have a lesson change for this Sunday. Farrell is going to give our lesson. He will be using President Nelson’s talk from last conference “The Second Great Commandment” ( https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/10/46nelson?lang=eng ) as the basis for the lesson. I hope that you get a chance to review the talk prior to our quorum meeting.

The Shober family is sponsoring a blood drive in honor of their daughter Heather Shober who died during childbirth in May of last year. It will be held at the West Jordan City Hall (8000 S Redwood Rd) Monday March 23 from 3-8pm. Giving blood is a wonderful way to serve others and doing it for a purpose is even better. A great show of support for their family would be appreciated. I have donated blood for years and loved the way it made me feel. Unfortunately, last year I was permanently banned from donating due to a thyroid issue. Please donate if you can.

Coming up on March 19th will be an opportunity to hear about Kurt VonElm’s military experiences. The fireside will be over at the clubhouse from 7-8pm. Potluck signup sheets will go around in quorum on Sunday. Kurt is a great neighbor and I can’t wait to hear more of his experiences.

Elders, it is great to be part of a quorum. You inspire me to be better. Thank you for all that you are and do.

See you on Sunday!

President Oldroyd
801-573-6828