Tag: Nov 2016

Missionary Work

December 20, 2016

This month’s sacrament meeting theme is missionary work.  There couldn’t be a more appropriate theme for my family and me as we just dropped our son off in the Provo MTC.  What an emotional experience.  It is a little surreal to think that I won’t see Spencer for 2 years (104 weeks, or 730 days or 17,520 hours).  In the past 18 1/2 years I haven’t gone more than one week without seeing Spencer.  I love Spencer and am missing him like crazy.  I know many of you have sent a son or daughter off on a mission and can identify with the feelings that this sacrifice brings.  As I think about missionary work, I really think about a love story.  Not the kind of story that Hollywood would want to tell, but a quiet, persistent love story.  I know that missionary work is all about loving people.  Loving perfect strangers, or sometimes even harder loving our neighbors or family members.  To love enough to challenge each other to be better.  To love enough to overcome our fear that someone will reject us or laugh at us.  To love someone enough that we don’t judge, gossip, or whisper their shortcomings.  Jesus Christ is the perfect example of love and missionary work.  In Matthew 22:37-40 it reads “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Unconditional love is the key, it is the “first and great commandment”.  It is the higher law that Jesus Christ established when he completed the atonement.  It is the basis for all things good.  If unconditional love motivates us, we will all be amazing missionaries.  We will see the good in everyone and work hard to make bad men good and good men better. Just as Spencer, Trent, Tyler, Brady, Austin, Bradyn, and Dax learn and grow and enjoy the blessings of missionary work.  We too can enjoy those same blessings.  I look forward to the day when I see Spencer again, I hope that I can report to him that I have successfully incorporated missionary work into my life.

-Bishop Applegarth

Sister Barbara Honey

December 20, 2016

First Couples Mission, 1991-1992 Sister Barbara Honey and her husband Leon went on a mission to the San Paolo, Brazil mission where her brother was the Mission President. They sold their home in order to be able to go on that mission. There were also many miracles that transpired that allowed them to go.

Brother Honey was the financial secretary, and Sister Honey was the executive secretary. Their whole mission was spent in the office. They learned Portuguese and were in that mission for a year and a half. Sister Honey took care of the missionary information board, wrote transfer letters, and helped write letters from the Mission President to the parents of missionaries.

One of the interesting things that happened on the mission was that Brother Honey was asked to take all of his piano tuning tools with him to Brazil, and once there, he tuned all of the pianos in the San Paolo mission. He had the skill, and the local people would have had no way of getting the pianos tuned otherwise because of the expense. Sister Honey said that the traffic in San Paolo was wild. If there wasn’t room on the side of the road where people were driving, they would cross into the lanes for oncoming traffic to go forward! She never drove–she was the navigator and used a guide book to help find the way around the mission district.

Sister Honey enjoyed the missionaries. She also enjoyed the flowers in San Paolo, where there were “bougainvilleas that were every shade of color you can imagine.”

Second Couples Mission, 2000-2002 Sister and Brother Honey went together on their second mission to the Denver Colorado South Mission. They were in Woodland Park, Colorado the whole time. She said it was beautiful there at 8,000 foot elevation.

The mission in Colorado was strictly a proselyting mission. Sister Honey remembers one family in particular with which they used pictures to teach the lessons to a nine-year-old boy. Eventually, the whole family returned to church. She also remembers a woman who had had a stroke. She and Brother Honey used to read the Book of Mormon with her. Eventually, they were able to go to the Temple with her when she went for the first time.

Many miracles happened along the way throughout the time of their mission. One was when they really needed more money and Sister Honey’s sister-in-law sent $1,000 to help them. Sister Honey felt really blessed by that.

Sister Honey loved her missions–she has very fond memories of those times in her life

Elder Jorgensen – Nov

December 20, 2016

Elder Jorgensen North Carolina Raleigh Mission Office Address 5060 Six Forks Rd Raleigh NC 27609-4428 is still serving in Fayetteville. They were hit hard by the hurricane in North Carolina. They have had record rain and flooding. Members and missionaries have been busy doing service. For the next few weeks they will only have the sacrament and a spiritual thought on Sunday. They will then go to the surrounding towns and help with clean up. Elder Jorgensen told us this is a great opportunity for the people to associate with missionaries and members of the Church.  Elder Jorgensen loves his mission and loves serving the people of North Carolina!

Elder Ison – Nov

December 20, 2016

Elder Ison Montana Billings Mission Office Address 1848 Rimrock Rd Billings MT 59102 is happy serving the people of Montana!  He had the opportunity to work with a sister from church headquarters in preparing using technology for missionary work.  He said it was great to have the extra training and input and wanted to remind all of us that we can all be missionaries everyday just by using the technology that we are on every day in our lives.  (cell phones, laptops, tablets, computers, etc.)  He issued his family a challenge to be more missionary minded since we are all on our devices every day to make sure that we share something whether it be a quote, talk, picture etc.  of something pertaining to the gospel, so I figured we all as a ward family could benefit from this challenge.  Elder Ison loves being a missionary and is so grateful for the opportunity that he is getting to serve and for all the great support he has had

-Kristie Ison

November Missionary update

December 20, 2016

elderdaxdavis

Elder Davis Ohio Columbus Mission Office Address 19 Clairedan Dr Powell OH 43065 Returning Dec 28, 2016

elderbradywheeler

Elder Wheeler Australia Perth Mission Office Address PO Box 185 Tuart Hill WA 6939 Australia

eldertrentseely

Elder Seely California Redlands Mission Office Address 7000 Central Ave Highland CA 92346  -In the MTC

elderjessee

Elder Jessee Korea Seoul South Mission – In the MTC

elderapplegarth

Elder Applegarth Sierra Leone Freetown Mission – In the MTC

LDS.org in my life

December 20, 2016

I have enjoyed helping you all understand some of the tools on LDS.org these last few months. This segment brings that series to a close as I help you see ways to use this knowledge in your day to day lives. For next month’s topic I need your input. I want to know what you want to talk, or learn about. Help me know how to help you. Please email me, or post a comment here. Thank you for your continued support!

During the last two months I have taught you how to access the Ward Directory, the Ward Calendar, the Ward Newsletter, as well as where to find all The Church publications in several formats. So now that you can find all that information how does that help you? In my previous two articles I tried to include a few examples, but I would like to discuss here some examples from my life where each of these things helped me.

Let’s start with the Ward Directory. This is a very handy tool that I use all the time. I mostly use it with the LDS Tools App on my phone, though I do use it on the computer as well. There have been several times when I’ve needed to know who the president of an organization is, so I pull that up on the Ward Directory. Just a few weeks ago my wife wanted to drop something by another member’s house, so on the way back from church we pulled up their address on the Directory and were able to get directions right to their door. Having the app installed on my phone is extremely convenient because if I get a call from a number not in my contacts it will automatically check it against the numbers in the Ward Directory and have a popup with the name if there is a match. When I first got this calling, I used the Ward Directory on LDS.org to generate mass emails.

Several people have asked me why there is no calendar section in the newsletters. The answer is the Ward Calendar on LDS.org, which can also be accessed with the LDS Tools mobile app. If I ever hear about an activity I make sure it is posted on that calendar. I used it not that long ago when the Bishop asked me to make a flyer for the Fall Social. While making it I forgot what time the event was, but after a quick look at the Ward Calendar I had all the information that I needed. If you ever have a question about a ward or stake event the first place to look is the Ward Calendar on LDS.org, it has the most up-to-date information. If you don’t see the event you are looking for use the Ward Directory to contact the president of the organization that is hosting it. Because there has been such interest you will see a new section in this month’s newsletter with highlighted events.

As you may guess one of my favorite sections of LDS.org is the Newsletter. I spend many enjoyable hours each month getting it together for you 🙂 I know that about 40 people visited each of the previous issues, and more visited October’s then September’s. I hope that those numbers continue to grow as you help your friends find their way here and read what I believe are inspiring messages. Since each newsletter has the same theme as Sacrament Meeting it is a great place to start if you are called on for a talk.

Last month I showed you how to access the online scriptures, and just about everything The Church has ever published. One thing that I didn’t mention is that most are available in several formats. Most are available in mp3, so no matter where you are or what you are doing you can listen to the scriptures, your Sunday School or Relief Society lesson, the Ensign, a General Conference talk, Preach My Gospel, and much much more. Many publications, such as the scriptures and lesson manuals, are in epub and pdf which helps you read them off-line or on certain devices – like Kindle. My favorite feature of the Android App Gospel Library is once you have downloaded the text for an item you can use Text to Speech to listen to it without downloading the mp3. This has helped me many times listen to a lesson before I either participate, or give it, on Sunday. I shared last month how online notebooks have eliminated my need to print out Sacrament talks. I also have found it very handy to use the highlighting features when I prepare a lesson. I also make sure that every phone I buy has HDMI capabilities so I can mirror my screen on a TV and let others in a class I am teaching read along with my highlights.

I have also found that having access to archived church magazines helps me prepare Family Home Evenings. I grew up in a house that had at least the last 20 years of all 3 church magazines on hand at all times. Now with a few clicks I have access to all that material, and more – without taking all the physical space or subscription fees. This makes it very easy for me to get coloring pages, cartoons, and stories to help my young kids understand Family Home Evening topics. Have you ever seen the five disk sets for the hymnal or the primary songs? Most of the songs are available, for free, in mp3 format on LDS.org (with and without vocals). This has helped me immensely preparing primary lessons, and also when a branch I lived in had no pianist. Something else that has helped me teach my family the gospel is the illustrated children’s version of the Standard Works (i.e. Book of Mormon Stories, etc.). You may have seen them, they look somewhat like comic books. The Church has narrated them and made them into video files, which can all be downloaded from LDS.org. These are great little “cartoons” for kids to watch on Sunday. When I was part of the Young Men’s Presidency in my last ward all the lessons included several options of Mormon Messages to accompany each section. I found these to be a great way to get people involved and thinking about the topic of the lesson.

These are just some of the ways I have used the tools on LDS.org in my life, and in my callings. I implore each one of you to think of how you can more fully utilize these amazing tools that The Church has provided to you for free. I look forward to hearing your suggestions for next month’s article!

Halloween Ward Activity

December 20, 2016

On Wednesday the 25th everyone had fun at the church as the Cub Scouts hosted a Chili/Soup cook-off and had a cake sale fundraiser. Lots of people dressed up and it was a great time. Most of the cakes sold for between $30 and $60 with a few getting as high as $100. There was fresh cider and homemade root beer. A great time was had by all.

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Missionary Service

December 20, 2016

“A man who is full of the love of God is not content with blessing his family only, but thinks about all of the people in the world, anxious to bless the whole human race.” Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Vol. 4, pg. 227.

“Generally speaking, the most miserable people I know are those obsessed with themselves; the happiest people I know are those who lose themselves in the service of others. By and large, I have come to see that if we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves.”   Gordon B. Hinckley, Whosoever Will Save His Life, Ensign, August 1982.

“We are waiting now for soldiers; who’ll volunteer?”2 Of course, the great thing about this call to arms is that we ask not for volunteers to fire a rifle or throw a hand grenade. No, we want battalions who will take as their weapons “every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.”3 So I am looking tonight for missionaries who will not voluntarily bind their tongues but will, with the Spirit of the Lord and the power of their priesthood, open their mouths and speak miracles. Such speech, the early brethren taught, would be the means by which faith’s “mightiest works have been, and will be, performed.” We Are All Enlisted By Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Ensign, November 2011

Church-service mission opportunities are available to nearly everyone over 18. Our circumstances matter so much less than our willingness to serve, and the Lord needs all our willing hearts and hands to serve His children and accomplish His work. Everyone Has a Place to Serve, LDS.org