Elders,
I love summer storms. I like the smell and the cool humidity in the air. It is great. I hope that you are all having a great week. Tomorrow is August and thus we descend towards the end of summer and towards the start of football. I really enjoy college football…
This past Sunday we shared together with Ken about Elder Uchtdorf’s talk “Missionary Work: Sharing What Is in Your Heart”. We had a great discussion around the simple “guilt-free” ways to share the gospel. They are simply:
- Draw close to God
- Love others
- Be a disciple of Jesus Christ
- Share what is in your heart
- Trust the Lord
From this we see that much of missionary work isn’t about being a religious freak. It is about becoming what God wants you to be and that your example will spark interest in others and give rise to natural conversations from the heart. Then it is up to the individual to act and for God to persuade.
A couple of quotes that I loved from the talk are:
- Ask yourself, “Do I really believe in Heavenly Father?” – What do you think? When was the last time you did an introspection and reached out in faith to ask this question of yourself? It may be scary or terrifying to reach deep and ask yourself, but it is at the root of everything we believe. Finding Him and believing in Him are one of the great challenges of our day.
- Walking the path of discipleship takes practice—each day, little by little, “grace for grace,” “line upon line.”Sometimes two steps forward and one step back. – I like this because it is reality. Life isn’t an Ensign article. It is tough and we shouldn’t beat ourselves up because of our imperfections. Work and improve. Accept setbacks and don’t let a setback turn into a funk that you can’t escape. You were built to succeed – especially through hard times and failures. It is all about your perspective.
Our quorum member Aric Muhlestein posted this on Facebook a couple of days ago. It struck a chord in me and I asked him for permission to share it with you:
Three years before I got injured I had the opportunity to listen to Chad speak at the Cottonwood high school baseball auction. A year before I got injured I had another opportunity to listen to him at the Taylorsville baseball auction. I started following him after the Cottonwood high school baseball auction. Two months after I returned home from therapy my stake had him over to speak to the youth at a youth conference. I didn’t realize that he would make such a great impression on me. Over the last 19 months it is been one of the hardest challenges of my life.I have had many ups and downs and Side to side. However it is also changed my perspective as Chad has indicated in this video. I love the way he says that heavenly father is looking for hands that are dirty and not hands that are clean. What do your hands look like? What are you doing in your life to change your perspective? I would’ve never been a person to say that challenges are fine. I think in life we need to make sure we grow. The way we grow is the changing of our perspective in life. I look at the news and everything that is going on around us. I wonder why can’t we all just get along. Life is already hard enough.Each of us does have different perspectives and if we sit back and listen to each other I think we would be amazed at what we would learn. There is good happening all around us. Have you done any good in the world today? If not, find something good And put your hands to work. Thanks Chad for Sharing this video.
https://www.facebook.com/chad.hymas/videos/10216357724476641/
There are a couple of calendar items this week:
- Thank you for those helping to clean the temple. If you want to go, let me know and we still have slots available on Thursday and Friday. It is a cool experience – one that only comes around every 15 months or so. Mac – our newest Elder – what do you think? Want to come help clean?
- Saturday August 10th – Food truck night over at the Taylorsville City Hall. Come around 6:30pm and buy some dinner, bring a lawn chair, play some games, and socialize with friends and neighbors. We had a great time last year.
- Sunday August 11th. A special Stake Conference will be held at 10 am at the Stake Center. It will also be broadcast at the North and West buildings. Elder Ulisses Soares will be presiding. No ward services will be that day. We are responsible for cleaning up the chairs in our building.
- Friday / Saturday August 16th-17th. Ward Family Campout. We’ll provide breakfast and you bring your dinner and family for a fun night up the canyon near East Canyon reservoir. We’ll be in the same place as last year. I’ll send out more information next week.
Have a fantastic week. Ponder some of the things Aric mentioned and think about your faith in God. Love all you guys. I appreciate the good men that you are.
Keep it up!
President Oldroyd
801-573-6828