Armor and Foundation - 12-25-23

 Jace!!

I'm so glad you called today! I love seeing your face! And yes, I do miss your big bear hugs as much as you miss giving and receiving them!

Baylee said the MTC was quite a challenge for her as well. I think it is for most missionaries. You are all doing something you have never done before! It's all new and totally different than how you have been living! It's ok to be scared and sad and even doubtful. 

But! Wasn't it Elder Uchtdorf who said, "Doubt your doubts, not your Faith." He actually said:

      

"Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters—my dear friends—please, first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. We must never allow doubt to hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love, peace, and gifts that come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." October 2013, Come Join with Us

Always remember what brought you here. Always remember, Heavenly Father and our brother, Jesus, love you! And they love everyone around you. Even those who make you crazy! President Nelson gave us all some very simple advice in this last conference: "Think Celestial!"

He said:

"Today, to assist you to qualify for the rich blessings Heavenly Father has for you, I invite you to adopt the practice of “thinking celestial”! Thinking celestial means being spiritually minded."

He continued...

"When you are confronted with a dilemma, think celestial! When tested by temptation, think celestial! When life or loved ones let you down, think celestial! When someone dies prematurely, think celestial. When someone lingers with a devastating illness, think celestial. When the pressures of life crowd in upon you, think celestial! As you recover from an accident or injury, as I am doing now, think celestial!" October 2023, Think Celestial!

I know you remember the talk, but it may be worth reading the whole thing again...as well as his other recent talks. All of his "One-Liners" are pretty profound and uplifting.

We had a nice Christmas Eve Sacrament Meeting yesterday. the Primary kids got up and sang Stars Were Gleaming the Christmas Bells.  I was invited to sing with them on the first verse of Stars Were Gleaming but I sang the words from Infant Holy, Infant Lowly. It was so fun to sing with them!  Then a couple who were recently reactivated spoke. the brother shared a lot from President Nelson's Think Celestial talk.  The sister shared the children's Christmas story about the 3 Trees. 

3 evergreen trees, on top of a mountain, dreamed of the grand things they would be made in to, but when they were cut down each was made into something different: a manger, a fishing boat, a couple of beams.  Each was disappointed, but ultimately discovered they had been made for a glorious purpose: to cradle the baby Jesus, to carry the Lord and his disciples and to be made into a cross, that, while at first seemed dirty and horrible, came to remind people of the Atonement made by the Savior.  The message the sister wanted to share was that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us.  We may not understand what it is right now, but we can have faith that whatever we are working through is leading us to what He wants for each of us.

Sherri Jensen, our choir director shared the included picture with us. It is taken from Ephesians 6:12-20.  Usually, we only look at verses 13 - 17, but start at 12 and go through 20, realizing this is Paul speaking about his life as a lifelong missionary, an apostle of Jesus Christ.

This has always been a favorite scripture of mine as well as Helaman 5:12.  

You need your Armor and your Foundation in order to succeed!

You can do this!!!

I love you!!!

Mom

JACE - Merry Christmas Everyone!!! 12-26-23

 Hey Everyone!

Week two is officially come and gone, and Christmas with it. It's been an interesting time here, and, while I'm so glad and inspired every day, it's quite rough missing a Christmas with the family for the first time. My district peeps definitely help the process, though. We have a lot of fun and they are pretty good at being a little family away from home. They had us busy the last couple of days for both Christmas Eve and Day. Got to partake of the sacrament, or course, which always puts a little pep in the step. Then we had choir to prepare for the general authority devotional that was prepared for us on Christmas. We ended up preparing 2 songs, both the one we had sang the week prior and a new one called "Bless This House." We also got to watch a Nativity and then later that night missionaries who were brave enough to perform did so. Some were good and some were awesome, but the one that spoke to me the most was an Elder had written a song from Simeon's point of view of not expecting the Lord to appear to him in the form of a baby. He introduced his song and reminded us that Christ and the Holy Ghost speak to us in ways, but mostly the unexpected. Then we had Christmas Day, which started with the devotional with Elder Quentin L. Cook. The air and the spirit are just so different when in the presence of one of the Lord's chosen witnesses. We then spent time together as a district and had a couple concerts. One of them was the Truman Brothers, and I can proudly say I wasn't expecting a Christian Pop group to come and perform in the MTC, but it was just what I needed! When I had called the family earlier, the conversation and being able to see everyone was great. But when it came time to end, I said goodbye and everyone hang up. Except me and my Mom. She knew I wasn't ready to hang up yet. But she was willing to stay there with me as long as I wanted. Mom, I love you sooo much and wish I could give you and everyone else a huge hug. Remember to squeeze and love the ones you cherish when you can. Here's to pushing forward and growing stronger in the Spirit. Guess I'll speak to y'all next year! 

Love y'all.

Sincerely,

Elder Buchanan

JACE - First Week in the MTC!! - December 19, 2023

JACE - December 19, 2023 - First Week in the MTC!!

Hey Everyone!

I've made it through the first week of the absolute blessing that is the MTC. The Spirit is so strong here and the people I've met here make the time so much better. The beginning was a bit of a rush, with barely any time for even doing personal and companion study like we're supposed to. They had us fully booked with workshops and devotionals. We met our Branch Presidency on Thursday night and they made the District Leader, Zone Leader and Sister Training Leader assignments. And to my dismay at the time, I was chosen as District Leader for my district. I was getting pretty overwhelmed already and then to have that dumped on me was kind of a lot. But now that I've had time to adjust to it, it is quite the interesting experience. On Sunday was the time we had a sense of peace in our schedules. Being able to take the sacrament is always a great time, and they had what they call a go and do experience. They give us a few hours to be able to sit and listen to the Spirit and we study some prompt they give us. I was marking some of Alma the Younger's repentance story as I caught Alma 36:26 out of the corner of my eye. It speaks of how Alma was able to bring more people to the Lord because of the past mistakes he had made. I had the great impression of "What Jace did in the past was stupid and a mistake, but what Elder Buchanan knows now will use what he learned from those mistakes for good." Just remember there is no length that the Savior can't reach to get to you. He will always be there for you. Make sure guys have a Merry Christmas and I'll talk to y'all next week!

Love,

Elder Buchanan

JACE - Just Getting Started!

Just Getting Started!

December 12, 2023

 Hello Everyone!!!

Officially as of Sunday evening, I am a part of the work! My setting apart was an amazing experience I will never forget. I could definitely tell the Spirit was there and I am where I'm supposed to be. Home MTC is kind of a drag though. Don't get me wrong, a lot of good was there, but sitting in front of a computer to learn for 9 hours was awful. I'm so glad I had only the one day. I get to go to the real thing tomorrow, and I'm so excited to meet my companion and the rest of my district and actually get to know them better. Not much else to write, butI would like y'all to ponder something. When was the last time you felt the Spirit? I pray that we can all find the places we need to be to feel Christ's love for us. I say these things in His name, Heavenly Father's Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Jaxon - Service Mission Time!!!

Mon 4/15/2019 8:36 AM

Hey Everyone!!

Sorry it has been a while since I've sent out an email. I just felt like I didn't need to send out any more being that I was home and not much was happening with my life anymore. Well, now I can say that I will de doing something and my life won't be a boring waiting period anymore! I will now be serving a Service Mission at the Church Office Building from Monday-Friday just like an 8-4 work day. Then, I have the opportunity to work at the Jordan River Temple on some Saturdays! Is that cool or what?

Just this past weekend, we were actually taking tours of the Church Office Building, Bishops Central Storehouse, and the Family History Center in Riverton, UT. The cool thing about the service mission is that I get to choose which place I get to serve in and I get to choose what I am doing in these places!

We're just getting things started, so that doesn't mean that I'll be able to start serving super soon. I still have to be released as a teaching missionary, I have to get sent another packet in the mail from HQ (I guess you could say that), I'll be getting a new name badge, and so forth before I actually become a service missionary. Plus, I have to get a little membership basically for UTA so that I can just be able to use the buses and TRAX stuff when I need to. Right now, we're just waiting on an email from the service mission leaders answering some questions we had about things like serving in the temple and what kind of attire I would be wearing.

One thing about this service mission that isn't necessarily the greatest thing to have is being up to date on technology and entertainment here. Temptations are obviously strong being back home and I know that I'm going to need to keep working hard to keep those temptations away. However, I am going to be staying with some family and I can actually be able to go to things like family reunions and so forth!

I hope things are going good for everyone else, wherever y'all may be or whatever y'all may be doing! I'd like to be able to get more emails next week so that I can talk with more people. I hope everyone's staying safe as well! Don't want any accidents to come up about anyone. Alright, well, that's all I've got for this week, so I hope to hear from y'all next time!

Elder Buchanan