Stake Message: Oct. 25, 2020

 Dear Canoga Park Stake,

A short movie created by the Church and used by missionaries in the 70’s contained this quote: 

“Our birth is but a sleep, and a forgetting. The soul that rises with us – our life's star – hath had elsewhere its setting, and cometh from afar. …trailing clouds of glory do we come, from God, who is our home.”  (William Wordsworth)

We testify that it is true that each person, including you, has come from God and is a child of God. You are loved and valued. So valued that God your Eternal Father sent His perfect son to bring you home. The more you understand about this wonderful plan to bring you home, the easier it is to feel that everything is okay despite any challenging physical circumstance you may face (even a pandemic).

We ran across a lecture from a Church series called “Hope Works” that we thought you would find uplifting. We attached beautiful music to the end of the lecture and provide it as a message of inspiration to you today at https://youtu.be/iXi-Rzw5Pc0

Wishing you the best,

Your Canoga Park Stake Presidency

Stake Message: Oct. 18, 2020

 Dear Canoga Park Stake,

You’ve heard the refrain before “had this been an actual emergency…”  Well, go ahead and bring it on!  The New Canoga Park Stake is ready.  Okay, there are some areas where improvements can be made.  But a great deal of caring ministering was done this week for the Great California Shakeout emergency response drill.  Hundreds of text messages and phone calls were made to check on friends and simulate how we can respond in the event of an actual emergency requiring a rapid contact of church members.  Ward leaders checked lists, and compiled reports, forwarding them to the stake.  And a stake report was transmitted to our Los Angeles Coordinating Council Area Seventy.

This year has taught us that we need to expect the unexpected, and preparation can make a huge difference in our ability to meet the challenges of life. As Dante wrote: "The arrow seen before cometh less rudely." 

We express our deep gratitude to everyone who participated in the drill this week—both making contact with others and responding.  If somehow you didn’t know about the drill or have an opportunity to participate or were not contacted, we will try to do better next time.

Our stake message this week will assist us all in doing better as caring ministers.  Please view and take this message to heart. This video can be viewed at https://youtu.be/eb9yJemGz7s

Wishing you the best,

Your Canoga Park Stake Presidency

Stake Message: October 11, 2020

 (message from President Grasteit)

Dear brothers and sisters of the New Canoga Park Stake,

I hope we were all was able to witness and absorb the flood of revelation and spirituality that was unleashed during last weekend’s conference. What a blessing it is to have a living prophet, apostles and other amazing church leaders that lead us to Christ. I was riveted and inspired by the speakers and feel closer to my Savior for having participated in the conference. I implore anyone who was unable to view the conference to set aside time this week to do so. I am on my second go around and am finding gospel gems that I missed my first time through. 

One principle in particular that gripped my attention throughout the conference was the idea of being prepared both temporally and spiritually. 

Elder Bednar, in the Saturday morningsession said this, 

“Some Church members opine that emergency plans and supplies, food storage, and 72-hour kits must not be important anymore because the Brethren have not spoken recently and extensively about these and related topics in general conference. But repeated admonitions to prepare have been proclaimed by leaders of the Church for decades. The consistency of prophetic counsel over time creates a powerful concert of clarity and a warning volume far louder than solo performances can ever produce.

Just as challenging times reveal inadequacies in temporal preparedness, so too the maladies of spiritual casualness and complacency inflict their most detrimental effects during difficult trials.”

Let me ask you a few question brothers and sisters:

From a temporal perspective, how prepared did you feel when this pandemic began?

• Did you have enough food, water and other essentials to meet your needs for an extended period of time? Do you now?
• Did you have a back up supply of any necessary medications? Do you now?
• Did you have some savings set aside? Do you now? 

From a spiritual perspective, how prepared did you feel when this pandemic began?

• Did you have spiritual reserves born of daily prayer? Do you now?
• Did you have spiritual reserves born of daily scripture study? Do you now?
• Did you have spiritual reserves born of weekly family home evening? Do you now?
• Did you have spiritual reserves born of ministering to your fellow man? Do you now?

If you answered “no” to any on these questions don’t fret, set a goal and improve one area at a time. Bishop W. Christopher Waddell, first counselor in the presiding bishopric, taught this in his address last week:

 “The Lord does not expect us to do more than we can do, but He does expect us to do what we can do, when we can do it. As President Nelson reminded us in our last general conference, “The Lord loves effort.”

My wife recently updated our 72-hour kits and I made a trip to the Home Storage Center at the Bishops Storehouse to buy additional long-term food items. We have both felt an increase of peace in our lives knowing we are progressing in our preparedness. Brothers and sisters, let’s make the effort together to improve both our temporal and spiritual preparedness. 

President Nelson reminds us:

“The future will be glorious for those who are prepared and who continue to prepare to be instruments in the Lord’s hands.”

This week’s message comes from our beloved prophet. This is the address he shared during the Women’s session on Saturday night. Enjoy! The talk can be viewed at https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2020/10/37nelson

Your brother in Christ,

President Grasteit

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

(from President Benning)

Don’t forget that you can participate in a meaningful community project for the next couple of weeks. The project consists in creating simple cards to encourage those in our community who are facing difficult challenges at this time. I know that at least one primary age group and their families are participating.  It’s not too late to do your part too.  All the instructions can be found at

canogaparkstake.org/JustServe/Hope of the Valley - Cards of Encouragement - JustServe.pdf