Monday, December 26, 2016

December 26, 2016, "Serving Him"


Email to Family and Friends
           We had a white Christmas! So our car has been out of commission for the past week and will for at least the rest of this week. So we have been biking, walking and getting rides to every we're we are going! Hahaha it's been so fun! Especially with the storm yesterday. It truly is a winter wonderland ;)
          The couple who is getting married and baptized this weekend just moved right across the street from the church, which is right next door to us. So we are total small town neighbors now haha. I love it!
           The past few nights I have been rededicating myself to the Lord to be a fully consecrated missionary. I began to notice a little complacency in my life, and I had to put a stop to it. I love all of you!

"Serving Him"

           I have really enjoyed this years Christmas Initiative! It has given all of us amazing opportunity to serve every single day of this month. One of my favorite scriptures that I'm sure most of us can quote from memory is "when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." (1) I love those words!
          Elder Bednar once said, "Serving Him requires all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. Consequently, selflessly serving others counteracts the self-centered and selfish tendencies of the natural man. We grow to love those whom we serve. And because serving others is serving God, we grow to love Him and our brothers and sisters more deeply. Such love is a manifestation of the spiritual gift of charity, even the pure love of Christ.
    “Pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure.” (2)
    "We come to know the Lord as we are filled with His love." (3) I love all of you and hope you had an amazing Christmas season! Merry Christmas and a happy new year! In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Philip R. Bredsguard
917 Amoretti St Thermopolis, WY 82443 

Notes
  1. Mosiah 2:17
  2. Moroni 7:48
  3. “If Ye Had Known Me” By Elder David A. Bednar, October 2016 General Conferance

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Tuesday, December 20, 2016

December 19, 2016, "Servant Leadership"


Email to Family and Friends
           I would like to make  a slight correction to my last email, I was told 3 different transfer news, haha I didn't know what it was tell I call President directly. I am not training, but my new companion has been out almost as long as I have. He is from Thatcher, AZ. Haha he is a goofball! He has the best dry humor.
           On our way up to Lovell, WY to drop Elder Lester off for transfers, haha how do I say this... WE HIT A DEER!! These things are evil!! They will just jump out at you while your going 60 miles an hour on an icy road in packs or herds what ever you call them haha. Luckily I slightly swerved through them and just wacked one in the head with my drivers side mirror. Elder Lester and I had a good laugh though. Especially as not even two minutes later after that another one jumps right out in front of us! Haha good times, good times.
           There was a big storm that hit our mission, we were told to stay in our house as much as possible. Soooo Elder Simmons and I went biking in it haha, but to be fair Thermopolis wasn't hit to bad. It only got down to the -20's. 
          The day before the storm we helped Lori and Lane load up and unload 8 TONS of hay haha. The picture doesn't do it justice. Haha we'll get to do it again in 3 weeks :) It's been a fun week!

"Servant Leadership"

           For a few days in this past week, I had the privilege of spending a few days with my Zone Leaders as I awaited the arrival of my new companion. While I was there I was blessed to have great conversations with my newest Zone Leader, Elder Tucker. This man is a leader, he knows how to make everyone feel special. That's how I want to be. So of course I want to know how. We talked about two topics more than the rest. The first is that the true leader lives by the Golden Rule.
          The people who everyone look up to treat people with kindness and respect. They know each person is a child of Heavenly Father with divine potential for whom the Savior suffered and died. President Ezra Taft Benson taught that the Golden Rule is “the formula for successful relationships with others” (1)
          The second is one I really enjoyed learning more about, it being something that was highly discussed back home in Life Leadership. It is the ideal of servant leadership. I was reading a talk by Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone of the Seventy entitled, The Incomparable Christ: Our Master and Model. And in it he said "We will find that those who have the most profound impact on our lives are those who use their leadership roles to serve. Those who are selfish, arrogant, or prideful are loathe to serve but quick to seize power. They love control, domination, and obedience by compulsion. …"
    "Servant leadership is based on a profound respect for the children of men. It requires leadership traits that do not demean, debase, or otherwise cause those we lead to feel inferior. Servant leadership lifts, blesses, and changes lives in a positive way."
    "Servant-leaders exercise the following traits and practices in their roles. They:

•Understand the value of every human soul.

•Have an inborn or developed sense of caring for others.

•Are quick to volunteer to take pressure off someone else.

•Rush to the aid of someone who is going through an embarrassing or humiliating experience.

•Treat all people on a basis of equality.

•Do not feel that tasks they expect others to do are too demeaning for themselves.

•Are not offended by disruptions of people who are themselves going through emotional traumas or stress.

•Expect more from themselves than they do from anyone else.

•Are quick to compliment, give credit, and build up those who perform a given task.

•Judge people by their potential, not necessarily by one single negative experience.

•Do not take credit for someone else’s achievements and love to share credit for any of their own accomplishments.

•Get the facts before finding fault or criticizing another person.

•Help all people feel they had a real part in the success of a project.

•Detest practical jokes or statements that focus humiliation or attention on one soul.

•Always constructively criticize in private and compliment in public.

•Are absolutely honest in their work.

•Are equally fair with all under their direction.

•Are always willing to listen to both sides of a quarrel, discussion, or issue. They know it is a pretty thin pancake that has only one side. …

•Make themselves accessible to all, not just those with position or power."

          Something I have been doing, and that I would encourage all of you to do, is just focus on one of these bullet points and just for today, do your best to apply it. I can promise you that as you do so, you will see a more Christlike son or daughter of God in the mirror. Any problems or issues you are having now will seem minor. You will start to receive grace for grace, until you are "purified even as he is pure." (2)
          God knows us and loves us, that is why we call him Father. He wants us to live up to our fullest potential. And only he knows how great we become, that is why he is so patient with us, and that is why we should be more patient with others and with ourselves. Let us not waste away our lives, may each and everyone of us repent and "come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny [ourselves] of all ungodliness, [that we may be] sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, that [we may] become holy, without spot." (3) In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, amen.

Elder Philip R. Bredsguard
917 Amoretti St Thermopolis, WY 82443 

Notes
  1. The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [1988], 447
  2. Moroni 7:48
  3. Moroni 10:32-33
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Tuesday, December 13, 2016

December 12, 2016, "I Will Give Unto You Success"


Email to Family and Friends
           TRANSFERS- Elder Lester will be going to Belgrade MT!! I have love serving with him these past few weeks! He is an amazing missionary. 
          I will get the privilege of staying here in Thermopolis! (Read the following message to see why I am so exited) This is my second home now haha, this will be my one and only area haha. By the end of this up coming transfer I will have been here 7 1/2 months. Haha I was just telling President Wadsworth, that I could stay here my whole mission! I love this town, I think I'm best friend with almost everyone. 
          I will be a trainer again, I will be finishing a missionary's training that came out with Elder Lester. The following message has some exiting things that has happened this week. Again I love each and everyone of you very much. I appreciate all the support again!

"I Will Give Unto You Success"

          "Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success." (2) The past few months I have been taking this scripture from Ammon very literally. 
          The past few transfers have been a little tough for me with companions who were struggling. Emotionally it has been a rollercoaster.  But I have been trying to be patient and endure these minor afflictions with hope. And I can say that this has all paid off.
          We now have 8 of our dear friends getting baptized on specific days in January! And also 4 others that should be picking a date to be baptized this week, in January. We also have 2 weddings that will be happening on New Years Eve from less active members. And yesterday at church one of the priests in the Branch brought a friend who is interested in joining the church (his mom is a less active). And just this morning a sister in the Ward gave a very interested referral to us! 
            And now I can declare with Ammon "we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have suffered every privation; yea, we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world--not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God."
          "And we have entered into their houses and taught them, and we have taught them in their streets; yea, and we have taught them upon their hills; and we have also entered into their temples and their synagogues and taught them; and we have been cast out, and mocked, and spit upon, and smote upon our cheeks..."
          "And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some."
          "Now behold, we can look forth and see the fruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are many; yea, and we can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us." (2)
          I don't believe this is a message only to missionaries! I believe and know that if we can all bear with patience our afflictions, the LORD will give us success. He didn't place anyone here to fail. We are all sons and daughters of the most high God! May we never forget how powerful we really are.
          This is the church of Jesus Christ! It is the truth! I know God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ live. They are real and they love us and want the best for us. May we always retain a remembrance of His eternal sacrifice, and our true potential. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.


Elder Philip R. Bredsguard
917 Amoretti St Thermopolis, WY 82443 

Notes

  1. Alma 26:27
  1. Alma 26:28-31
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Tuesday, December 6, 2016

December 5, 2016, "Eternal Life"



Email to Family and Friends
           Our Zone Leaders unexpectedly called us up and went on an exchange with us. Elder Berret (my old District Leader) came down to Thermopolis, while Elder Lester and Elder Tucker went to Powell ( that's over 2 hours away). Haha our next door neighbor and really good friend Brad gave us some MREs for lunch. They were actually really good! 
          While we were on our exchange we get a random phone call at 9:00 at night. Elder Berret answers haha and this guy (we have no idea were he lives or how he got our number, he has a Colorado number) is asking him for a scholar of the Book of Mormon, someone who has had dozens of years of experience.  Elder Berret looks at me with big eyes and just hands me the phone. I have no idea what is happening at this point. JR (the guy on the phone) go through the same thing with me, but I told him I'm no scholar but I feel I have a good understanding of the holy scriptures. After a little bit he started to trust me. To be honest I thought this was a prank at first.
          JR is a Jew who used to be Christian and we share a common favorite scripture John 17:3 (see first line of lesson below). We are best friends now. I have had many very long phone calls with him. He knows the Bible very, very, very, very well. I not sure quite yet how he stumbled upon the Book of Mormon, but in his reading of it, it is contradicting his belief, but explains every question he has had over the years so simply and clearly that he can't deny it and he is just blown away. Now he has some concerns that are very interesting about the God head. He is asking questions I have never heard before that I need to know. I know in my gut that God is trying to help me come to know Him, His Son, and The Holy Ghost ALOT more than I previously have. I can't even tell you a hundredth if the situation, but I feel I have explained it enough. 
           I love all of you! Thank you for all your wonderful support and packages. If any are willing to help I am in a desperate need of some stamps. It is much appreciated :) Thank you all!

"Life Eternal"

          "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (1) This is my favorite scripture. I think Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–85) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explains it best. He pointed out the difference between merely knowing about God and knowing Him:
          “It is one thing to know about God and another to know him. We know about him when we learn that he is a personal being in whose image man is created; when we learn that the Son is in the express image of his Father’s person; when we learn that both the Father and the Son possess certain specified attributes and powers. But we know them, in the sense of gaining eternal life, when we enjoy and experience the same things they do. To know God is to think what he thinks, to feel what he feels, to have the power he possesses, to comprehend the truths he understands, and to do what he does. Those who know God become like him, and have his kind of life, which is eternal life” (2).
          This is life eternal (the purpose of our existence) to know God Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Over the past few years I have come to know my Father and his Son close enough to call them my very best friends. They are literally with me and they help me through every circumstance. And I know that is not, and will never be unique to just me. But is available to everyone.
          I would exhort all of you, to come to know the only true God even more. Nothing else take priority of this duty each one of us have. 
          "I close now with this counsel to the Lord’s priesthood servants. Ponder deeply and diligently in the scriptures and in the words of living prophets. Persist in prayer for the Holy Ghost to reveal to you the nature of God the Father and His Beloved Son. Plead that the Spirit will show you what the Lord wants you to do. Plan to do it. Promise Him to obey. Act with determination until you have done what He asked. And then pray to give thanks for the opportunity to serve and to know what you might do next."
          "I testify that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live. They are resurrected and glorified beings who love us and watch over us." (3) I know them, and I know that you do and can know them as well. May God bless each and everyone of you this Christmas season. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.


Elder Philip R. Bredsguard

Notes


  1. John 17:3
  1. Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [1965–73], 1:762
  1. Act in all Diligence, President Henry B. Eyring, April 2010 General Conference 

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