Nothin' Like the 4th o' July in TEXAS!
Date
July 4, 2016
Area
Flower Mound 3rd Ward
Companion
Elder Jacob Parsons
Nothin' Like the 4th o' July in TEXAS!
Well, happy 4th of July! IT is an awesome holiday that we have to
reflect on the freedoms hat we have and the sacrifices it took to get
us there. We truly are blessed to live in a country where people are
so passionate about the things that they think about and that we can
be that passionate without risking imprisonment or death by the
government.
Here in Flower Mound, we are making a lot of progress! We have an over
aged child, Bradon, on date for baptism on the 30th of July. He has
has been progressing the past few weeks and we got the grandfather
involved so hopefully this will actually go through. The family is
notorious for stopping things last second. He is a super smart kid! I
love him! He picks up on things really quick and is super smart.
There is another man that we are teaching named Chris Tarrantino. He
has been prepared by the Lord! He is super humble right now and is
actually keeping commitments! He isn't far a long, it will be a long
journey for him, but it will be a most joyous one!
I will need to say that this last week there was not much to it
besides getting a new mission president. I had a fairly normal week,
nothing incredibly exciting setting aside getting a new mission
president.
President Whitney is awesome! He is shorter than I expected, about 5'
5-7" and is super humble, funny and spiritual. He expressed thoughts
to us such as "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." And many other
thoughts that are full of humility, love, and wisdom. I can't wait to
get to know him better and develop a deeper love for him.
Elder Parsons is growing! He is becoming a better listener and a
better teacher. He definitely tries my patience, I would be lying if I
said he didn't. But he is so awesome! He is so wiling and eager and
loves to work hard and be obedient. I love working with him and I
learn so much.
I had some thoughts that I wanted to express in this letter, and I
actually had this whole letter written but then it somehow got deleted
so I had to start over and stretch my patience some more. As I was
starting this new letter, I had another thought come into my mind
about what to write to you all today; something different than what I
had anticipated to write about. I will write on the other ones at a
separate time. The subject on which I wish to write is sacrifice.
Sacrifice is something that has meant something different in many
different contexts all throughout time. Adam was commanded to
sacrifice to God. It is a simple fact so deal with it. Sacrifice, in
some way shape or form, is central to everything that we do. Sacrifice
is something that we as Americans are very familiar with, but do we
truly understand that impact of that sacrifice that those before us
have made. If you know me, you know that I love history. I love
history so much I thought about getting a Ph.D. In history just so I
could learn a l the history stuff. During the time that America has
been a country, starting July 4th 1776, our country has been involved
in 8 major conflicts/wars and one on going military action dubbed,
'The war on Terror." 3 of those wars have been fought on American
soil. We one those. We have lost ship[s, towers, men, women and
children in bombings and attacks that took place with no warning and
on civilian targets and military targets. We have lost thousand of
innocent lives in attacks on our own soil and on the soil of other
nations around the world. However, since the Civil War, there has not
been a single battle of any war fought on U.S. soil. that is largely
due to the men and women that have sacrifice to fend of the evil of
Hitler , communists and other people seeking to destroy our freedoms.
It is to those men and women that we owe a great deal to. I mentioned
this last 4th of July, but inthe end of the movie "Saving Private
Ryan," A dying Tom Hanks acting as a caption saving a now only son of
a mother said to private Ryan "Earn this." If he could, he would
probably have elaborated and said, "Earn the sacrifice that we have
made. Make your life something worth these fine lives. many men died
so you could live today. Be grateful and earn it." I am eternally
grateful for the sacrifice of many, many men and women and their
families.
With that said, I would now like to turn my attention to a different
sacrifice. What is called, the ultimate sacrifice. I speak of the
sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us. His Atonement. The Atonement
enables us to be resurrected and live again to return home to the
presence of our loving Heavenly Father. It enables us to be cleansed
from sin and endure through the hard times that we have. It is the
most pivotal event in the history of this world. However, we cannot
have access to this Atonement, if we do not sacrifice of ourselves. We
need to live the gospel of Jesus Christ that is, faith in him and his
Atonement, we need to repent, we need to be baptized and receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost by proper authority and we need to endure to
the end. Now, I would like to focus on faith and repentance. These two
principles make up enduring to the end. These two principles are
inseparably connected with each other. You cannot have the pure form
of one without the increase of the other. To repent is to change our
thoughts, behaviors, attitudes, views and even environments to allow
us to have a Closer relationship with our Heavenly Father. This also
brings our will for our lives in line with his. This will take
humility and sacrifice on our part. The only thing that prevents us
from repenting and aligning our will without Fathers is our own pride.
So, to that I say, repent! Change! Become better today than you were
yesterday and fulfill your potential. It takes time and you will learn
line upon line and precept upon precept but you will eventually get
there if you keep trying. I promise. I do need to mention that you
cannot knowingly sin against God and say that you will repent later.
That is playing with fire and you will most assuredly burn yourself. I
know that this is true. Sacrifice brings us blessings. It takes
sacrifice on some level to live the commandments as revealed to us. As
you do these things, the Holy Ghost will be with you.
Keep the Faith and Hurrah for Israel!
Love, your missionary son and brother, Elder Jefferies
Elder Shepherd, Elder Parsons, Elder Reveli and I wrapping 3,000
hotdogs this morning.
reflect on the freedoms hat we have and the sacrifices it took to get
us there. We truly are blessed to live in a country where people are
so passionate about the things that they think about and that we can
be that passionate without risking imprisonment or death by the
government.
Here in Flower Mound, we are making a lot of progress! We have an over
aged child, Bradon, on date for baptism on the 30th of July. He has
has been progressing the past few weeks and we got the grandfather
involved so hopefully this will actually go through. The family is
notorious for stopping things last second. He is a super smart kid! I
love him! He picks up on things really quick and is super smart.
There is another man that we are teaching named Chris Tarrantino. He
has been prepared by the Lord! He is super humble right now and is
actually keeping commitments! He isn't far a long, it will be a long
journey for him, but it will be a most joyous one!
I will need to say that this last week there was not much to it
besides getting a new mission president. I had a fairly normal week,
nothing incredibly exciting setting aside getting a new mission
president.
President Whitney is awesome! He is shorter than I expected, about 5'
5-7" and is super humble, funny and spiritual. He expressed thoughts
to us such as "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." And many other
thoughts that are full of humility, love, and wisdom. I can't wait to
get to know him better and develop a deeper love for him.
Elder Parsons is growing! He is becoming a better listener and a
better teacher. He definitely tries my patience, I would be lying if I
said he didn't. But he is so awesome! He is so wiling and eager and
loves to work hard and be obedient. I love working with him and I
learn so much.
I had some thoughts that I wanted to express in this letter, and I
actually had this whole letter written but then it somehow got deleted
so I had to start over and stretch my patience some more. As I was
starting this new letter, I had another thought come into my mind
about what to write to you all today; something different than what I
had anticipated to write about. I will write on the other ones at a
separate time. The subject on which I wish to write is sacrifice.
Sacrifice is something that has meant something different in many
different contexts all throughout time. Adam was commanded to
sacrifice to God. It is a simple fact so deal with it. Sacrifice, in
some way shape or form, is central to everything that we do. Sacrifice
is something that we as Americans are very familiar with, but do we
truly understand that impact of that sacrifice that those before us
have made. If you know me, you know that I love history. I love
history so much I thought about getting a Ph.D. In history just so I
could learn a l the history stuff. During the time that America has
been a country, starting July 4th 1776, our country has been involved
in 8 major conflicts/wars and one on going military action dubbed,
'The war on Terror." 3 of those wars have been fought on American
soil. We one those. We have lost ship[s, towers, men, women and
children in bombings and attacks that took place with no warning and
on civilian targets and military targets. We have lost thousand of
innocent lives in attacks on our own soil and on the soil of other
nations around the world. However, since the Civil War, there has not
been a single battle of any war fought on U.S. soil. that is largely
due to the men and women that have sacrifice to fend of the evil of
Hitler , communists and other people seeking to destroy our freedoms.
It is to those men and women that we owe a great deal to. I mentioned
this last 4th of July, but inthe end of the movie "Saving Private
Ryan," A dying Tom Hanks acting as a caption saving a now only son of
a mother said to private Ryan "Earn this." If he could, he would
probably have elaborated and said, "Earn the sacrifice that we have
made. Make your life something worth these fine lives. many men died
so you could live today. Be grateful and earn it." I am eternally
grateful for the sacrifice of many, many men and women and their
families.
With that said, I would now like to turn my attention to a different
sacrifice. What is called, the ultimate sacrifice. I speak of the
sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us. His Atonement. The Atonement
enables us to be resurrected and live again to return home to the
presence of our loving Heavenly Father. It enables us to be cleansed
from sin and endure through the hard times that we have. It is the
most pivotal event in the history of this world. However, we cannot
have access to this Atonement, if we do not sacrifice of ourselves. We
need to live the gospel of Jesus Christ that is, faith in him and his
Atonement, we need to repent, we need to be baptized and receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost by proper authority and we need to endure to
the end. Now, I would like to focus on faith and repentance. These two
principles make up enduring to the end. These two principles are
inseparably connected with each other. You cannot have the pure form
of one without the increase of the other. To repent is to change our
thoughts, behaviors, attitudes, views and even environments to allow
us to have a Closer relationship with our Heavenly Father. This also
brings our will for our lives in line with his. This will take
humility and sacrifice on our part. The only thing that prevents us
from repenting and aligning our will without Fathers is our own pride.
So, to that I say, repent! Change! Become better today than you were
yesterday and fulfill your potential. It takes time and you will learn
line upon line and precept upon precept but you will eventually get
there if you keep trying. I promise. I do need to mention that you
cannot knowingly sin against God and say that you will repent later.
That is playing with fire and you will most assuredly burn yourself. I
know that this is true. Sacrifice brings us blessings. It takes
sacrifice on some level to live the commandments as revealed to us. As
you do these things, the Holy Ghost will be with you.
Keep the Faith and Hurrah for Israel!
Love, your missionary son and brother, Elder Jefferies
Elder Shepherd, Elder Parsons, Elder Reveli and I wrapping 3,000
hotdogs this morning.
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