Week 35

Week 33 Simple, yet significant efforts

I was given the opportunity to study a talk this week and I wanted to share my thoughts

My assignment this week was to read A Home Where The Spirit of The Lord Dwells, by President Henry B. Eyring. This talk allowed me to recollect on a zone conference we had with our previous mission president, President Bateman. He shared the importance of making our homes a Celestial environment and that as we do so, we will be able to receive the Celestial blessings the Lord has prepared for us. This talk explained many ways we can and should do that. In the very beginning he shares "You will find some of your greatest joys in your efforts to make your home a place of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and a place that is permeated with love."

The two words that jump out to me are; Efforts & Permeated. The Lord knows perfectly that we are not perfect. He understands that no matter how diligent we try to make our homes faith filled and centered on loving Jesus Christ, we cannot do so "perfectly". The joy is not promised as we have a a home filled with the spirit and Love of the Lord... It is promised in our "efforts". As we simply, yet significantly Try to apply these eternal principles we Will receive the blessing of great joy.

The word permeate, has a synonym of the word "riddle". Meaning, to peirce with many holes. Similar to our souls and our homes, we too, are pierced with many holes. We sin, we go through trial, we strive through tribulation. Well what we need to do with these holes and these places where much or little improvement is needed, is fill these holes. Fill our holes with the very Spirit and Love of the Lord. Just like mentioned before, it is not through our final result in which we receive the blessing of great joy, but it is through our diligent "efforts". We must strive to permeate our lives with the Love of our Savior Jesus Christ.

HAVE THE MOST BLESSED WEEK

-Elder Shua Newbold️️

Week 31 LOVE EVERYTHING

Hello!! I love you!! All of you!! ️

This week was pretty wild, transfers hit super quick and now I'm 4 hours out from St. Louis in Danville Illinois! There are parts of this area that have Indiana in it! So some lessons are scheduled for 6pm then after that lesson we head to the next lesson...also at 6pm haha (2 different time zones)

Anyways I'm running out of time here shua always is, but here is something from my studies recently! 

I was invited to study the talk "Where Will This Lead?" a little while back and the talk began with a line that beyond stood out to me. "We make better choices and decisions if we look at the alternatives and ponder where they will lead.". This is a very simple, straight forward statement. But it is so true. How often are we truly pondering alternatives rather than just using our instinctive knowledge to assume quickly which decision is better for us at any given moment??

Further into the talk, a story is shared as follows:
The setting was a beautiful college campus. A crowd of young students was seated on the grass. The speaker who described this circumstance said they were watching a handsome tree squirrel with a large, bushy tail playing around the base of a beautiful hardwood tree. Sometimes it was on the ground, sometimes up and down and around the trunk. But why would that familiar sight attract a crowd of students?
Stretched out prone on the grass nearby was an Irish setter. He was the object of the students’ interest, and the squirrel was the object of his. Each time the squirrel was momentarily out of sight circling the tree, the setter would quietly creep forward a few inches and then resume his apparently indifferent posture. This was what held the students’ interest. Silent and immobile, their eyes were riveted on the event whose outcome was increasingly obvious.
Finally, the setter was close enough to bound at the squirrel and catch it in his mouth. A gasp of horror arose, and the crowd of students surged forward and wrested the little animal away from the dog, but it was too late. The squirrel was dead.
Anyone in that crowd could have warned the squirrel at any time by waving his or her arms or crying out, but none did. They just watched while the inevitable outcome got closer and closer. No one asked, “Where will this lead?” When the predictable occurred, all rushed to prevent the outcome, but it was too late. Tearful regret was all they could offer.

...
Well all I am going to do from here is INVITE you to ponder which character in the story best represents you. (the crowd watching, the squirrel, or the dog) then ponder how you will act in future when a situation similar, metaphorically speaking, occurs.

I love you all. And more importantly Our Savior Jesus Christ loves you. He cares about you. He listens to you. Heavenly Father lives and He loves. I am so grateful for this opportunity, this sacred privilege I have to serve as a missionary for Him. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is infinite. We must strive each and every day to help each other and hold each other accountable for utilizing this special sacred gift in our lives daily.

️️️ All of my love from Danville Illinois!!!

-Elder Shua

(beautiful skies, I cut my eye brow in half, got drenched from a lovely bipolar weather bike ride)