Hello Family, Friends, and other Children of God! I rejoice with you in the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I thank y'all for what you do, but mostly I thank you for who you are and the little ways you make this world a better place!
This week has been interesting to say the least haha. We are so blest here in little Ole Hope Arkansas. We feel like the Lord is having us direct more of our attention to member relations, retention and activation. This week we really had some amazing experiences with the members.
(So I got to give a little shout out to my comp Elder Patterson. There were some really neat experiences this week and man he is so kind and compassionate. He has helped me to stay positive and in the words of Dory "Just keep Swiming" or as we say it in the Mish "Just keep Working".)
OK so as far as the members are concerned we were able to teach the Gold family again! They are progressing leaps and bounds in they journey toward to the Temple! I am so happy for them!!! Not only have they read the entire temple book, but they had really good questions about it all too. It is such an amazing experience to help them, and what's better is they fed us dinner! Can Life get better? I submit that it cannot! Dinner and spiritual experiences are da best.
Anyway we were also able to help Brother Paul this week. Paul has a really cool "hobbie". He helps the local museum in Prescott which is housed in an old train depot. We were able to help him set up a new shelf and got to check out the cool archives that they have. I felt like a rich kid in a candy store. It was so cool looking over the old books and posters that they had. They had so many neat things in there I could spend days there. Brother Paul is also super into the Civil War so after we helped him he took us on a Civil War tour around the town of Prescott. Prescott is where the battle of Prairie De'ann took place. He told us all about it and it was so neat. He also took us to lunch, so that was awfully kind of him.
Oh and a little side note, Paul has probably the coolest house that I have ever seen in my life. It is a log cabin in the middle of a Forrest that he owns. He has a spring pond in his back yard and tons of land for his 5 horses. Paul and Robin are some of the coolest people I've met. Such a neat couple.
Saturday we went back up to Prescott and helped Sara move into her new home. It was really nice to build relationships with her and her family. We are hoping to fully reactivate her and her family. Please pray for them.
OK so not to rant or anything, but Contention is firmly of the Devil. That is how he works. He works on the children of men to contend with anger one with another and it is NO good. We read in 3rd Nephi 12:22 that whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of his Judgement. This is different then what is recorded in Matthew 5:22 which reads whosoever is angry with his brother "without a cause" is in danger of the Judgement. This makes it clear that we should not be angry with our brethren and sisters. We should act out of love and respect for them and help each other out. I firmly believe that if we went out of our way to do one loving act each day and help each other out then the world would be 1000 times better. Do not, Do not , DO NOT let contention into your hearts. There are 2 things that push the Holy Ghost away and that is sin and contention. It drives him crazy and he leaves immediately. Trust me I have seen this from many experiences in my life. Please learn from my mistakes and live a more peaceable life. Trust me you will be blessed beyond measure.
Phew.... Sorry for all that seriousness, but I had to throw that out there.
Anyway I want y'all to know that I know that God lives. He is our Father literal in every sense of the word. Just think of it, out of the millions of titles God could go by such as "almighty, King, Ruler" etc, He has asked us to call him Father. Doesn't that just blow you away! What an amazing doctrine, and what is even more amazing is his Love for each of us! God really is our Loving Heavenly Father. We read in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
I know that My Savior is real. He really lived, atoned, died, and rose the 3rd day. He did this for each of us. Because of the Atonement that he performed for each one of us we knows intimately what, and how we feel, and he knows just how His Amazing Grace can heal us.
Please my beloved Brothers and Sisters, Please don't go through life without Jesus walking with you. It is such a lonely road without him. He doesn't want you to walk alone. He knows how hard and lonely this life can be, and He wants to help you every step of the way. He truly is the Prince of Peace. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27
I love you all so much. Even though I may not know you individually, I know that God does. Whatever you are going through, whatever challenges you are facing, I promise you that God is ALWAYS there for you. Please pray to Him. He wants to hear from you. You are his child and you mean the world to him.
God be with you always, and Hurrah for Israel!
Sincerely yours,
Elder Skyler Glen Larsen
P. S.
Sorry for the lack of pictures. I will repent and get more this next week. I love this one picture of Jesus and I wanted to share it with y'all.
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