A Lesson from the Redwoods - Our Spiritual Environment
A Lesson from the Redwoods – Our Spiritual Environment
President Quinn’s Weekly Message
California Santa Rosa Mission
August 4th, 2025
It was good being with you on the transfer call last night. This is an exciting week as we will welcome 14 new missionaries to CASRM on Wednesday. Please be sure to extend a loving welcome to them. We will also celebrate the departure of 12 missionaries who are honorably completing their missionary service in CASRM. We will miss serving with you. We wish you a joyous reunion with their family and friends.
This last week Sister Quinn and I visited the Lady Bird Johnson Grove located 20 miles north of Eureka. It offers a beautiful 1.5-mile hike through a redwood forest. The redwoods are majestic and beautiful. The forest is also full of ferns that line the trail and sit under the tall redwoods. I highly recommend the hike for a p-day activity for any missionary serving in the Eureka Zone. Take a lunch and enjoy one of the many redwood forests in CASRM.
During the hike, I learned from one of the placards on the trail that the morning fog is crucial for the survival and growth of coastal redwood trees. Redwoods absorb water directly from fog through their leaves and canopies, supplementing the water they get from the soil. I learned that redwoods receive 30-50% of the moisture they need to survive from fog.
Since my visit to the redwoods, I have thought several times about the power our environment has on us. The entertainment we seek, the friends we associate with, the websites we visit, the cleanliness and order of our homes, our hobbies, extracurricular activities, and employment all combine to make up the environment we live in – and correspondingly the influence of the Spirit in our life.
Several years ago, I spent a week in Korea on a business trip. On the final evening of my trip, we visited a karaoke bar to celebrate the successes of our project. As the evening went on, the owner of the establishment sent young Korean hostesses to our table to encourage my colleagues and clients to drink more alcohol. Soon the conversation around the table became casual and inappropriate. I recognized I was in an environment offensive to the Spirit. Upon realizing this, I excused myself from the table and returned to my hotel room. As I knelt in prayer later that evening to end my day, I felt again the Spirit. It was a powerful lesson on the influence my environment has on me for feeling the strength and influence of the Spirit.
Think about the last time you were in the temple. The cleanliness, order, and beauty of our temples create an environment where we feel the Spirit. Great care is taken by the Church and temple workers to see that a temple is a place worthy of the Spirit. The Lord has instructed:
“Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;” (D&C 88:119)
Please ponder the instruction given in the scripture above. This instruction given to us by the Lord for His temples is a pattern worthy of emulation and application in our life. How can you choose to apply it? What changes in your life will create a more spiritually nurturing environment for you?
We can enjoy a temple like experience each day by being careful in the choices we make – choices that will invite the Spirit to “always be with us.” Amulek shared this truth to the Zoramites:
“And this I know, because the Lord hath said he dwelleth not in unholy temples, but in the hearts of the righteous doth he dwell;…” (Alma 34:36)
I invite you to consider the influence your choices have on the environment you live in. Like the beautiful and majestic redwoods found across CASRM, I testify your righteous choices will create the spiritual nourishment and environment required to grow and stand tall in a joyful Christ centered life.
Love,
President Quinn
(630) 881-4030