What We Love . . . Determines What We Become

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

Do not worry. I am alive and well. I did not have the chance to email yesterday, because I had to mow somebody's lawn before today. Time set aside for emailing had to unfortunately be used for service. We had actually pushed emailing back some time, but yesterday, while fun, turned out to be hectic. This week has been okay and also hectic at times. I did not want you to worry, though I knew you would and the call from Elder Burton confirmed it. I tried to send at least one line, but time was not our side. But, according to my companion, this is okay, because we had to do service yesterday.

 I have yet to move to my new address. Why? Well, as we were packing up, putting our stuff away, my companion noticed a bedbug on his bed. We were quite curious to see if my mattress had bedbugs and we turned it. They were there. Now, you may be wondering how I could not tell they were there. I had bites mainly on my right arm and a few on my left, but I had honestly thought they were from mosquitoes. I had heard from the mission office that the bites would be along my vein. So, I had my reasoning and did not think much about it. So, moving is on hold until today when Elder Medsker is coming to check out the place to see if there are anymore. We covered the mattress in plastic mattress covers and I had to sleep on it until we threw it away. We threw it away yesterday, so I slept on the couch last night. I washed all my clothes and we believe we got rid of many of the bedbugs. Elder Medsker will come to test it out. We have new furniture at the new place and it will be fun moving in (sort of).

This week has been okay. Our mormon.org referral is still in Texas, but he wants to turn his life over to Christ. In fact, we called him, then a few days later he called and said that he wanted to be baptized. He is on date, though we will have to push the date we set a week back since he has yet gone to church, meaning that he did not go to church in Texas. Investigators need to go to church at least three times in order to be baptized. 

The Baptist lady was not the one that wanted the gas money, but with her, she just wants to talk and does not want to convert. The lady that wanted the gas money is doing well and she came to church this past Sunday. She reunited with an old friend that recently was baptized (before I got here) and it went well. The one that was recently baptized brought her husband to church.

The man from Trinidad still loves to talk about his previous life in Trinidad and he showed us the many guns that he had. On one visit some family dropped by to shoot guns, which ended our lesson pretty quickly. And one family member preached what he had believed. It seems as though people love preaching to us; I believe that this was the third or fourth time somebody preached to us. 

Our charitable man who helps out the homeless is doing well. He has been struggling a bit, but he believes that the Book of Mormon is true. He has read it all the way through and is reading it again for a second time to understand it better. He has been attending church the past two Sundays and recently came to Sunday School. This man wants us to teach the homeless and wants to bring us to them. He also plans on giving them rides to church in a couple of weeks. It will be interesting to see these people as well any atheist friends that he has come to church. 

Sunday was pretty good. We had five investigators come to church, which was amazing. My talk (sermon) was wonderful. I wrote my introduction and I created an outline for the rest. Pretty much, I prepared and then I relied on the Spirit the entire time. I spoke, paused a couple of times to gather my thoughts, nervous as all get out, because I did not write anything. When I sat down after my talk, I was like, "Ah, man, I blew it, it was awful." No. Not at all. I got so many compliments on my talk. In fact, one person asked me to send the talk to him. I said, "I did not write anything. I have an outline. I do not know exactly what I said." He still persisted and eventually, I will send my talk to him and send Mom a return letter and a letter to my TRC from the Missionary Training Center. 

Service has been great. With the Mormon.org referral gone (to Texas), we decided to mow his lawn. We borrowed a member's lawn mower and it kept on clogging. The grass would not spit out, so we had to give up. And then it rained for a few days. (We had some awesome storms with lightning shooting across the sky and to the ground.) Yesterday, we had to finish it before Marcus L. returned, so we had to do what we had to do. (I got to use a riding lawnmower. What ingenious laziness!) I helped build a wall out of drywall and I did pretty well. It was quite interesting to go and do something new. Also, drywall is very fragile.

My exercise is basically what exercises I feel like doing that day. I made a list of exercises before I left and took it with me, but now I cannot find such list. So, it pretty much is whatever I feel like doing. There is a room for exercise here in my current apartment (the bedbug apartment), but there is not much to do and my companion hates to go there. My new place does not have anything, so I will continue to do whatever I do.

I have gotten a haircut. I know my hair was and is getting long, but everybody said it was short. Do not worry, I knew it was long. My companion suggested that I get a free one from an elder, but I turned it down. I rather be safe and get a haircut from a licensed person. So, we went to the family history center to these nice ladies to get referrals and they referred a hairdresser at my complaint of having long hair. (They also thought my hair was short, so I had to mention my hair as long). One of the ladies decided to give me unnecessary money to go get a haircut, so pretty much I went to the referral and talked to her a bit. I will return there soon.

I believe you mentioned record keeping in the last email. Record keeping is really important. We have the area book, which helps us to keep track of the lessons and progression. We have the numbers in the planner, which help track our progress as missionaries. Nobody is a number; it is just a way for us to track how we are doing as missionaries, what we can improve on, and how we can help others.

Interesting on the sister missionary getting sick where you live. Recently one of the sister missionaries here got sick and she had to lie in bed all day.

As for my dog, I am glad that she is doing fine and I do miss her a bit. Take good care of her. I do not see many Boxers here. I have seen only two. Why do people like little dogs so much?

Love,

Elder S. Todd


The Calling of an Authorized Missionary of Jesus Christ

August 19, 2013 - Miracles - Service - Servants of Jesus Christ



Dear Parents,

It is so good to hear from you, even if it is a small letter as this. (All that I have received is the postscript, which I am grateful for and I am not sure if there is more. In any case, I am grateful.) I got mom's letter and I do plan on writing back as soon as possible. I also got Mom's invite to Google Plus, which I do not believe that I will be able to go on. I do thank you for that. I am sorry to hear that you are dealing with ants. They seem to be quite a bother.

My week here has been one of the best thus far. My companion and I had received a "mormon.org" referral. We did not have a set appointment and so we decided to go knock that door after doing service. My companion had forgotten his dress shoes and so we had to drive back to our apartment to get his shoes. We got there and knocked on his door. It did not look as though anyone was home, but we tried anyway. The thought came to my head to expect a miracle. I rang the doorbell and the door swung open and this muscular black man is at the door. We gave our statement as to who we are, "We are servants of Jesus Christ." He replied to us, "Come on in." Well, that does not happen that often and I was quite honestly expecting the door to close on us, seeing that the last Mormon.org referral cancelled on us. I was taken aback and we went inside. He was talking to his friend that referred us to him on the phone and she was happy that we were there. We shared the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Spirit was there strongly. He wanted to be baptized, to read the Book of Mormon. We called him a few days ago and he said he was ready to turn his life over to Christ.

The same day, we had an appointment for this Baptist woman, but that day was not the right day for her due to unfortunate circumstances. Despite this, we decided to try a few people nearby who said that they might be interested. We saw this girl who we had given a pass-along card and who had invited us back to talk to her family. She brought her mother, who told us, "I already know of the Mormon church and I am not interested." We persisted and asked her if there was anything we could do for her. She told us, "No, there is not anything... Well, do you have gas money?" We gave her some and it softened her heart where she let us in and told us a few personal stories of how she came to believe in Christ. My companion and I shared our testimonies of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. She pulled out a Book of Mormon that she had found on the ground one day outside her little townhouse. She said she felt full and we made an appointment to come back. As we were leaving the neighborhood, there was a man on a bike, who shouted at us, "Mormons!" We stopped our car and rolled down the window. He told us where he lived and invited us back. (We believe we met with him again and he tried preaching to us.)

The next day many of our appointments fell through, so we decided to try a few referrals. We got two new people who are potentially interested, though one of them was not a referral. God has helped us find new people and has shown us who is prepared. This week has been a miracle in that way. And while, yes, it was disappointing to not see them at church this Sunday, I was comforted in that fact that I had sowed seeds.

I did more service on Saturday for an Eagle Scout project. This young man that I was helping decided to put on a 5k Run for Canned Food. People would come to donate canned food and join the race. It was huge success for the young man, because a lot of non-members were there. I was a race marshal along with my companion. I had to go in the middle of traffic and stop it, so that the runners would be able to cross the street. I even helped other joggers, who were not part of the race, cross the street. Nobody wanted to kill me for stopping the road, which was great. Though, there was this man who was not going to wait and took his opportunity to go when he could. But, it was a lot of fun helping people cross the street. I walked the race at the end to pick up the signs that pointed the way.

I have been assigned to give a talk this upcoming Sunday on preaching the gospel. I am really excited and I have a few quotes down. I am not writing anything, but the introduction. I have created an outline, but other than that, I will rely on God and tend to the talk throughout the week. I also realized a few things this week about me personally. I love to sing and I have been learning some of the hymns. I learned Master, the Tempest is Ragingand I am working on A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief and School Thy Feelings. I do want to learn other hymns and other musical songs (though that will be a long while away). It also struck me that I should be a forensic psychologist and on the side, be a victims counselor. I feel as though the Lord has helped me realize a few things and I know that the Lord will help provide for me.

Also, thank you for all that you do for me and for sending me the list of birthdays. I now know when to wish people happy birthdays!

I hope everything is going well.

Love,

Elder S. Todd

Footnote to the above post which is a letter our son sent to us:

My son received a postscript to a letter that I had written him in the form of a short email. The letter that I thought I had sent him was in a draft folder. The postscript message had a different signature message than the original letter. So it was quite interesting to see him mention the word miracle twice in his letter. The letter that was sent to him that he received after writing the above letter included the following quote from Albert Einstein: "There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; or you can live as if everything is a miracle." Also note, that his mother always chooses a quote from Pinterest to include in his letter. That quote is what you see included in this post. Notice that it is a quote from Ezra Taft Benson and also mentions "miracles." Was it just a coincidence that we sent him those particular quotes unknowingly to him or was it inspiration? I would think it was the latter. Life is full of miracles. -Stephen Todd, Seth's Father

Monday, August 12, 2013 - the Sun still Shines - Understanding People

Dear Parents (Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom),

Well, this week was okay, but that is just all right. All is well! Even when it is raining, the sun is still shining on the other side of the clouds. Lessons went okay and investigators are somewhat progressing. One of our investigators wants time away from us, but I understand, seeing as that he is dealing with the possibility of losing one of his last living relatives. You know, I have come to see that I put a lot of emphasis on understanding people, which I believe is a good thing. By understanding people, you come to find their needs and where they are at in life, which is when you teach people and not lessons. That there, is a big key, because people are so different. I talked to this man who came from Trinidad, who saw Hitler when he was little, and was a soldier and I see that he is a very spiritual man. His needs are totally different from another investigator who has doubts about certain things. With that article portion you shared, (http://www.realclearreligion.org/articles/2013/06/01/time_for_some_mormon_myth_busting.html) I do tolerate a lot of people. I have been blessed by the Lord with humility and optimism. Truly, there is hope for everybody.

Well, I talked to President Wilson, the mission president and had a nice interview with him. I did not have any questions or concerns this time around, but maybe next time. I looked at the blog and I figured I should mention the name of the mission president, seeing as his name is President Wilson, not President Bradley. Maybe his first name is Bradley, I do not know. When I saw that I thought I had the name of my mission president wrong and then I went to check. It is alright. I am glad to know that I am loved and missed. I miss a lot of people, especially my family. I think back on some things, at times, but I press forward. 

I miss you Mom and Dad, but the months are already going by. It is insane as to how fast time is flying by. I heard that you two are counting down the months already from a little birdy (23 months). All will go by as it should. I am glad to hear both of you, Mom and Dad, are doing fine. I am glad to hear that Mom enjoyed babysitting and that Dad is getting ready for what looks like his last year.

My companion, Elder Meibos (My-bus), is good. We are getting along fine and I have no quarrels with him. Yes, he is a bit odd, such as stating that it is okay to double dip and that it is okay to drink out of the milk jug (which if I ever need milk, I buy my own). But, he is a good person. He is a studious person and loves to make jokes. We support each other so that we can do the best that we can. If anything, we are united as companions and know what might be best for the people. When I upload pictures, which I am assuming to use the account that you sent, you will actually see him in a tie dye shirt with my zone leaders, Elder Braithewaite (who will be in the middle of one of the pictures) and Elder Felt. (We went to see the Chancellor Battlefield)(Missionaries have the morning and afternoon to shop, do laundry, and to sightsee. Virginia has a lot of historical places of interest to Seth.). And I know my pictures are not the best; I will do my best to make them look good.
I have plenty to eat. I do not eat much at the apartment, except maybe for lunch. Lunch, sometimes the members provide and most of the time the members provide dinners. There is good food here and fish(We still can't believe he eats fish since he wouldn't at home.). I do not complain or murmur for I have enough. The members are so kind. We talk to them to set up appointments and they offer dinner sometimes. Or sometimes, we talk to them and they bring up dinner and it is a free meal. Yesterday, the bishop's wife of the ward (local congregation, more than one congregation may utilize the same building) that I am in, gave us free food. She had wanted to give it away, because she had enough. She had a lot of food because one of their daughters got married and there was a lot of food and cake left over from the reception.

Sorry to hear about Chloe (his sister Bria's dog). I am glad that she is doing okay, but, wow, a foxtail up her nose. I wonder how that got there. Well, I am glad that it was not Carly (Seth's Boxer), but I am so glad that Chloe is doing okay after that. Hope the dogs are doing well and continue doing well. 

I helped with an interfaith service event where at one of the church buildings, they were giving school supplies and clothes to children in need (this was on Saturday). I helped direct traffic as cars were coming in, which was fun. It was not too busy. Most of the time I was singing hymns (specifically, Welcome, Welcome Sabbath MorningNow Let Us RejoiceMaster, The Tempest is Raging) and some songs from Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables (which is quite sad, because I do not remember most of the lines from the songs and I do miss the songs a bit). I waved to a lot of cars, because I felt great and a lot of people honked their horns or waved back. Then, it rained, or poured down on us.

All is well.

Love,

Elder S. Todd

Fredericksburg, VA, August 5th, 2013


Dear Parents (Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom),

I love that quote that you sent me. 

You ask what is happening to me and I will tell you. The Lord has blessed me with so many opportunities to grow. It is amazing. I was not too comfortable with talking on the phone and the Lord has blessed me with an opportunity to use the phone. To explain, there was a female recent convert that we had to teach and answer her questions, but we had a male (16 and above) member scheduled to come and he cancelled. (Missionaries like to have members present.) So, I had to use the phone (I was on exchanges with an Elder Braithwaite) and I was calling others at the last minute. Nobody could come. We got to the house of the recent convert and the member who cancelled on us called back at the last minute saying he could come. 

And there are so many opportunities of where I am growing. I am in the midst of writing in my journal about all of it and then sending a letter telling you my own personal conversion, but I am still stuck on the part of writing in my journal. Eventually, you will know. Also, what I have learned is that a conversion is not a checklist and that it is an ongoing process throughout life. 

Sounds like the blog is doing great. I am glad that it is providing opportunities to spread the gospel message. Service, which I am glad you two are doing, (his parents did some community service the night before for a children's garden and museum in a nearby town) is also another great opportunity. Before I got here, one of our potential investigators was found that way. Through service! It is amazing that what we do can help open doors to people to see the truth about us. We are a kind people who love to give service. 

I have been talking to Bria (his sister, in Utah) about her new friend. (His sister is currently dating a non-active duty marine who works at the same resort where she works. He is not a member of the church but is open to it.) I have been addressing things with her and I hope I can help her out through these weekly emails. It is amazing that she used a handgun (Her boyfriend taught her to shoot a Glock gen 4 .40 caliber handgun at a gun range.). Maybe someday I will watch the video of it.

So, this week has been amazing. We were tracting (knocking on doors) and we ran into this wonderful elderly lady. It was about 5:00 PM and we had no dinner plans. This lady feeds us dinner, which was wonderful, and dessert, which was even more wonderful! She listened to us and we will return to her house sometime this week with a member. 

Even more amazing, is this man who was found by a member. He has so many stories about how he helped the homeless. He accepted the baptismal invite, but we are going to wait a bit before we set up a date. He does not sleep much (he only sleeps for about 2 to 3 hours each night) and he was willing to read the Book of Mormon. Last time I checked, he was on Ether and I checked two days after we met with him. He was unable to go to church due to an unfortunate family event, but hopefully we will meet him soon. 

There was a really nice storm where there was lightning and torrents of rain. I got soaked, but before I went out into the storm, we were able to talk to a non-member. We talked to this non-member in his sun room and you could see the lake that he lived by. The other side of the lake soon disappeared and you saw some amazing lightning. 

Yesterday, I bore my testimony and that went well. I love bearing my testimony, because it helps me be a better speaker and it helps grow my own. Also, yesterday, I talked to an non-progressing investigator and he had a rude friend. His friend thought we were trying to force religion and force people to come to our church and all of this nonsense. All I could do was bear my testimony, which he called garbage and said I need to study other people's religions before I force others into ours. (Seth has written college papers on the churches of Christianity and Islam.) So, I said in my heart, "Let God judge between me and thee and reward thee according to thy deeds." It is all you can really do in that situation and I am not at all bothered by it. It is an opportunity to talk to others and bear testimony of the divinity of the work.

The same recent convert that I was talking about earlier, well, the day before she was telling us and the member that we were with a certain story that happened to her. All I will say is that she was a victim of a crime and what she said basically touched upon my personal values. I prayed to Heavenly Father about it and I can tell you that I remember comforting words. What they were, I cannot say what they were. I heard them in my head and then they were gone. But, it was so comforting. Spiritual moment of the week.

All is well. I hope to hear from you two soon. I love you.

Love,

Elder S. Todd