This is Board Week again. We find out transfers next Monday, so don't send anything after Friday or it may not get to me. I have a feeling I may be leaving even though it has only been one transfer here.
This was a fast week.
On Tuesday we had district meeting with a district I hadn't been to before, it went very well. Near the end he had Elder Johnson read the account of Captain Moroni making the Title of Liberty
"And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—aIn memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole."
But when he read "Rent his coat" Elder Fulcher, the District Leader, took of his suit coat, and then ripped his white shirt and tie off his chest. It was pretty epic. (And he had another white shirt and tie on underneath.) And then we all wrote on the back of his shirt what we're fighting for. It was pretty cool.
On Wednesday I got to go to Elder Fowers' District Meeting. The cool thing about that is that a year ago, I was Elder Fowers first district leader. And now, he is my district leader and I am his zone leader. It was a really good meeting too, but it didn't have any shirt-ripping-off action there.
On Friday we had ZLC with President Sagers, which was awesome as always. We talked about how to work with the ward and stake leadership more effectively.
On Saturday we were going to visit a former investigator and there were some teenagers from the next door complex that we stopped to talk to. One girl had a lot of questions and we talked for a little bit and she told us that she and her mom are looking for a church. Her mom got there and knew who we were, and she was happy to see us. She told us that she used to go to the church with her cousin, and she had enough of a basic knowledge we wonder if she may be a less-active member that is just not on the roster. We are going to teach them on Wednesday.
This weekend is the annual Arlington City Nativity Celebration, hosted by us at the StakeCenter. It is going to be really cool, I am excited to be involved. There are going to be nativities set up from all around the world, and musical groups from all over Texas. It will be a lot of fun, and I will take pictures.
So last week I told y'all about how we had a meeting with Elder Bowen
earlier that morning. On Tuesday we had our zone conference with him, and it
was awesome.
The zone conference was in Colleyville, where
Elder Johnson was trained. The night before (Monday) he remembered a very
important piece of information about Colleyville. Colleyville is home to the
one and only Costa Vida in Texas, and it is owned by a member. And we were
instructed to eat lunch before our meeting, so we decided to take the
missionaries we were driving, Elder Ash and Elder Lilo, to Costa Vida. They are
from Kentucky and Hawaii (I bet you couldn't have guessed that with a name like
Lilo) so they have never heard of Costa Vida before, so we decided to educate
them in its awesomeness. We got there and there were already 8 other
missionaries there, 4 from Colleyville, and 4 from Arlington (who we were not
expecting to see there). The thing about this Costa Vida is that because it is
the only one in the mission, a lot of missionaries know about it, especially if
they served in Colleyville, so they all wanted to go. Well, long story short,
within 15 minutes of us arriving, over 30 more missionaries showed up. It was a
mad house. And remember how I said the owner was a member? He gave every one of
us 50% off. What's better than a smothered sweet pork burrito? A smothered
sweet pork burrito that only costs 4.50. Plus blessings for the member, because
I am confident God rewards that kind of charity.
So after our lunch we went to the church to have
our meeting. Our zone was asked to do a musical number, so we practiced that
before. We did Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy, acapella, and it was awesome.
We had about 10 of us singing. and 4 of the elders and a sister are Polynesian,
so it had that awesome poly tone to it. It was awesome. Elder Lilo performed it
in the MTC a couple times, so he came up with the style and things we did to
it. It rocked.
Then we had our meeting. It was so good. Elder
Bowen talked about a lot of the same things he did in our Zone Leader Meeting
the day before, but of course he did some different things too. He talked about
our relationship with Abraham, and the application of the covenants to us. He
talked about our divine potential and really what we are here sharing with
people. And he talked about the oath and covenant of the priesthood.
We have an investigator I don't think I have
ever told you about, I will call her Vanessa. She is literally, the most
converted non-member I have ever met. She has been with her husband for about 3
years now, and he has been less active for like, 15 years. When they first met
she told him that she didn't want anything to do with his cult, and he said
that's fine cause he doesn't go anyway. And that's how it was for a long time.
But something changed, and she was invited to church by his sister, and she
came a couple times and fell in love with the gospel. Now she says things like
"I'm just so much happier than I have ever been before," and "I
don't know why, but I just want to tell everyone else about how great this
is." She told us that when she was first taught the Word of Wisdom she
thought it was dumb and there was no reason for it. But Elder Larson, one of
the first to teach her, told her to quit trying to take their word for it and
trying to convince herself of its truth or being false, and just ask God. So
she did. and after a while she got over it. She told us that now she believes
it, even though she's not really sure why. And last time she drank a sweet tea
it made her sick to her stomach, so she has taken that as further testimony.
She is as solid as they come. She is waiting until her sister-in-law is in town
to be baptized. So as long as the world doesn't end on 12/21/12, she'll be
baptized that night. :) which it won't. As President Sagers would say,
"That's all hokey pokey anyway."
Here's my challenge for y'all for this week.
Read Doctrine and Covenants 84:33-44 and ask yourself "Am I living up to
these covenants?" They apply to both men and women.
This morning was a really cool morning. We had the opportunity to have an extra zone leader meeting at Hurst, because Elder Shayne M. Bowen of the 70 is here, and he wanted to meet with the Zone Leaders before the rest of the missionaries. We had a really good meeting and he taught a lot. He started out talking about the principle of Agency.
It was cool, because most of the time when we talk about agency we are talking about the things that we do. Whether or not we do homework. Whether or not we practice piano. Whether or not we see a movie. Whether or not we go to church. But there is more to it than that. He talked about receiving the Holy Ghost for example. He asked if it is possible for someone to be baptized by the proper authority, and have hands laid on their head (again, by the authority)
"And also all they who receive this priesthood receive me, saith the Lord" D&C 84:35
and have the blessings given and everything done correctly, but the person does not receive the Holy Ghost, even though the words spoken are "receive the Holy Ghost." Of course, the answer is yes, it is possible to not receive it. Why? Because God has given us our agency. Just because we do something doesn't mean we choose to receive the blessings. Because God loves us, he will not force the Holy Ghost on us. He will not force us to be sanctified, purified, and receive that guidance he wants to give. We have to choose to accept that. And choosing to accept that is more than just going through the motion. It has to do with changing our nature.
He later talked about how Laman and Lemuel walked just as far as Nephi. They helped build the boat. and they had to leave their things behind too. But when all was said and done, after everyone had put in a lot of work, Laman and Lemuel did not receive the blessings. Although they put forth the effort and did what was required, it was not enough. They did not believe it and they did not choose to receive those blessings. The question then is, are we going through motions and doing things without putting everything into it and choosing to receive the blessings?
Now it's my turn to elaborate a little. We can go through the motions and not really believe it and mean it. But we cannot really mean it if we do not do the act. The perfect example I can think of is this. "I have accepted Jesus as my savior, I have been saved. Even though I break the Sabbath every week, and drink, and smoke, and break the law of chastity, and support others who break the law of chastity, I know that Jesus dies for my sins and I have been forgiven." By the way, this is much more common than you may think. If someone really, truly loves Christ, and has accepted Him, their actions will show it. Not eventually, but now. Doctrine understood changes behavior. If nature is changed, behavior is as well. You see, you cannot live the "spirit of the law" without living the "letter of the law."He said it Himself. "If you love me, keep my commandments."
Ok, so back to Elder Bowen, it was awesome. We were able to learn a lot from him. I really enjoyed it. I'm excited for our next meeting with him tomorrow.
So now for the other end of the spectrum. Right after getting fired up about missionary work and everything, I got a voicemail from the mission office. So I called Sister Brown back and she starts asking me some questions. She needed to double check my parents' email addresses, my home address, and my home ward information. And then the question that deems this phone call the "trunkie call." "What airport do you want to fly to when you go home in 4 months? “And seriously, that's how it is worded too. So that is the other end of the spectrum, the fact that in 3 1/2 months I will be on a plane. Which can be potentially dangerous to a drive to do missionary work. So now I get the fun part of my mission. Where I keep it all laid out on the table and see miracles. Like I heard President Sagers say before, I'm going to be the kind of missionary that when I wake up Satan says "Oh no... He's up again."
This email is going to be different. I don't feel like there were any real stories to tell or updates to give. I am doing well, my companion is awesome, and we are working our tails off. I love being a missionary. But because I don't feel like there's much to tell y'all about with things that are happening, I'm just going to talk about... I don't know what. This is being fed by the things I see around me in Texas, in the world, in people I know and care about, and in complete strangers. But I feel like it will apply to everyone in some way.
We'll see where this all goes.
In this life we face many different situations. Many situations that bring us happiness, and also that bring us sorrow. Situations that bring us stress, and some that bring relief. Some that bring us health, sickness, prosperity, poverty, pleasure, pain, and a multitude of other opposites. Why? Why do we have to face so much opposition?
Many times we have situations in life that are difficult to handle. We don't know what to do, what to say, what to think, or what to feel. We get so caught up in the moment of stress that we just want to freak out, lash out, or shut down. We draw ourselves away from those who love us most, and many times we lead ourselves into darkness, and out of light. The worst part is, we may not even realize it. We still go through our days, minute by minute, until it's been weeks, and then months, and then years have gone by and we don't even realize that we've not been walking in the light. And it is simply because we have desensitized ourselves. It starts with little things. Usually contention of some sort. It leads to anger, fear, and hurt. Communication stops. Without communication, not only can a relationship not grow and become stronger, but it shrinks, becomes weaker, and eventually switches to an opposition, as opposed to cooperation. And the problem is, we are always sure we are right. But the truth of it all, is that we are all unclean, and we all have need to repent. That is the solution to every problem in this world. Repentance. Humbling ourselves enough to submit to the Lord's will, and to stop doing things that are wrong, and start doing things that are right. We all have weaknesses, they come in a variety of ways. But we cannot overcome them alone. If we pull away from those who love us most, we will fall. We learn a lot from the Fall of Adam and Eve, because it is a type and shadow of our personal falls. We all die spiritually, (meaning removing ourselves from God's presence) and we all must repent in order to walk in the light.
This applies not only to our worldly interactions, but our relationship with God. So ask yourself, "How is my relationship with God?" And then ask yourself again, "How is my relationship with God?" and this time be even more honest with yourself. Kneel down and ask God how your relationship is. This is not meant to form some sort of guilt or shame, because that's not my job, but that is the job of the Holy Ghost, so if it happens, ask God why, not me. And be humble enough to learn.
Not apply it again to the interactions with other mortals. Ask about your relationship with your family. Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters. As we live more righteously every aspect of our lives is positively influenced. every aspect. Not a couple, not one or two. All of them.
I don't know why I wrote about this. I don't want to sound preachy, but sometimes we have to. Like Elder Holland said in Conference a year ago, "This is a life-and-death contest we are in, so I am going to get in your face a little, nose to nose, with just enough fire in my voice to singe your eyebrows a little-the way coaches do when the game is close and victory means everything."
Not that I am anything compared to Elder Holland, but I do know at least one thing. This is the Lord's work. Victory means everything. To quote him again, this time from last month, (he is giving a non-scriptural elaboration as to what the Savior may have said to Peter on the shore of the sea)"What I need, Peter, are disciples-and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world."
Now how does it apply to us as Saints? Well, it has a huge impact on those around us. Not only in sharing the gospel and trying to be a member missionary, but in a more natural way than that. In April 2001 Elder Holland shared a short experience"A young returned missionary sister from Hong Kong told me recently that when she and her companion asked an investigator if she believed in God, the woman replied, "I didn't until I met a member of your church and observed how she lived." What exemplary missionary work! Asking every member to be a missionary is not nearly as crucial as asking every member to be a member! Thank you for living the gospel."
(Can you guess which apostle's talks I listen to the most?)
We need to live the gospel. Period. That is the only way to get out of this Hell we are in now, as individuals, as communities, as families, as a nation. Some of us are in it worse than others. And some of us are deluded to think we're not at all. Living the gospel will do more to help us and those around us than anything else we can do. Keep the commandments. Have Faith. Repent. Make and Keep covenants. Always remember Christ. It really is pretty simple.
Again, sorry if this came across as preachy. But take it how you will. It's all true.
