Great Faith Has a Short Shelf Life!

Hello Everyone,

I cannot believe that it is already October! It is amazing how quickly this year has gone by, and how much I have grown and changed. The past two weeks have been amazing, and memorable to say the least.


Once a transfer the Mission Leadership Council gets together to plan the upcoming zone conference, based on the circumstances and challenges leaders see throughout the mission. On Wednesday we gathered in Brigham City to plan and council. Prior to our meeting we all studied "The Everlasting Covenant" by President Russell M. Nelson. In it he said the following "Once we make a covenant with God, we leave neutral ground forever. God will not abandon His relationship with those who have forged such a bond with Him. In fact, all those who have made a covenant with God have access to a special kind of love and mercy. In the Hebrew language, that covenantal love is called hesed (חֶסֶד)." God's love for his children is infinite and unconditional." Said President Nelson, "... And for those who make covenants, and keep covenants, with God have a special access to his love." The focus of the meeting was helping the mission understand and develop a culture of covenant making and keeping!


Two weeks ago now we had some emergency transfers. That always sucks. We also had a few Elders who went home. It was sad, but the lesson is do what you are supposed to on the mission, because that's what you say you'll do when you accept your call.


This most recent week started off with our zone conferences. Our mission does two zone conferences, one for the north part of the mission (Logan), and another for the south side of the mission (Ogden). The focus and training of both are principally the same, but it is fun to be able to see how the missionaries on either side of the mission take that instruction, or how spiritual either meeting may be. President Scheltinga focused his main training on priesthood keys, and alignment with God. President broke down the leadership of the church into a pyramid with God and the Savior obviously at the top. He then went through each major leadership assignment, and functions, down to individual ward leaders. President Scheltinga's point was that there are many leaders in the church, and many who do not hold Priesthood keys. For example general authority seventies do not hold priesthood keys, but general authority seventies set apart and delegate priesthood keys to stake presidents. How can they do this if they do not hold priesthood keys? The reason being is that under the first presidency or president of the quorum of the twelve apostles direction, they can act under their delegated authority. One of the primary functions of the seventies in the church (D&C 107:34)! Another example is the calling and setting apart of Bishops. Stake Presidents submit a request to the first presidency for a certain man they think could fill the role of bishop. Once authorized, the first presidency lets the stake president know they are authorized to ordain and set this man apart as a bishop. While the stake president does hold keys, he doesn't hold the office of bishop in the aaronic priesthood. Yet under prophetic direction can ordain someone to that office. I found this very fascinating to hear and was interested to see how the church operates. 


This weekend was conference weekend. Which was amazing! But it was a very busy weekend for us. Along with President Scheltinga, Elder Abbott and I allocated and distributed 80 tickets our mission received from the area presidency. On top of that we had about 80 more tickets missionaries received from their stakes back home, or the stakes and wards they currently serve in. We were able to coordinate travel arrangements and plans for the missionaries going to the conference, which felt like a total nightmare, but worked out super well. We had to meet each group on the train in Ogden and hand them their tickets. We were fortunate enough to go to the saturday evening session of conference, which was my 2nd time going, my first was several years ago when they still did the priesthood sessions. After the session we had to book it from the conference center to the 8:08 pm train. We realized we lost the Chinese speaking Elders, so I had to run back and get them, luckily we all made it back to Ogden. We got In & Out on the way home and spent the night at the mission home. In the morning we got up early and left Ogden at 7:15 for the Sunday morning session.  The Sunday morning session is one of my favorites, because we get to listen to music and the spoken word, and President Holland's remarks. Going to general conferences is always one of my favorite parts of the mission. There is a special spirit in the conference center. I also got to see 5 general authorities, which is always fun. 

 

Love you all, 


Elder Glenn




Spiritual Thought:

Writing my weekly update/report I decided to save most of the spiritual points and save it for my spiritual thoughts this week. With conference weekend I was able to learn a lot, and I struggled to decide what I would share that maybe of some value. I felt as if the biggest take away or the theme I recognized were the principles of faith and repentance. I still am in a toss up over what I want to share, and will likely wait until I can study and reread the talks to do so. While oscillating on this I thought of what I learned from the last conference and how it has changed me since, or what I learned from the last conference and didn't fully apply to myself and discipleship. Elder Eyring in his October 2005 conference address "Spiritual Preparedness: Start Early and Be Steady" says the following "...Great faith has a short shelf life. We could decide to persist in studying the words of Christ in the scriptures and the teachings of living prophets. This is what I will do. I will go back to the Book of Mormon and drink deeply and often." General conference is a great time to learn, be spiritually edified, and have a renewed sense of faith and hope. But too often we put the things we learn off, and procrastinate applying spiritual principles, when the hurry and worries of life set in. As a result we forget such things, and subsequently fail to apply them. Or as Elder Eyring said "...great faith has a short shelf life." We would all do well to recognize the shelf life of our faith and trust in gospel principles, and apply them before they "expire". Not by way of their fallibility, but because of our deficiency to fully understand their significance. 



Pictures:

1) Newly renovated Logan tabernacle 

2) The drive up Sardine Canyon (Up to Logan) 

3) Lunch with Ethan and Noel

4) Peggy's Baptism 

5-10) General Conference 












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