In Christ Alone

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

It is not getting too cold, though it is definitely cooling down. The mornings are a bit chilly, but I have my electric blanket and portable heaters to help.

We should be getting a phone upgrade quite soon, so perhaps phone reception will improve. I can only hope, because there are a lot of phone calls that need to be made and it can be a hassle just to drive to a more receptive area, especially with restricted miles. But, I am learning to deal with it. It is definitely a hassle.

That is an interesting strategy to teach people about the action of prayer. I never would have thought to do that, but I will definitely keep that in mind. Thank you for the tip. 
(Turn the tables and ask if you wanted a Muslim to pray about the Bible how would you want them to pray? Would you want them to humble themselves, clear their mind of distractions, find a quiet place, read through the Bible and ponder what they read, etc? Then maybe the same should be done when asked to pray about another testament of Christ?)

I am still in the ward (congregation) that I was in before I moved to the basement apartment, the White Oak Ward. I really do love the people here. There are so many nice things about the ward and the people. Despite the imperfections, it is an excellent ward. I do love the area, seeing how green it is and how there is a lack of sidewalks (for the most part). I love the environment and definitely do not miss the environment in California. It was too much concrete and not a lot of green. And I am sorry for making a missionary homesick. (there is a missionary in Lemoore, CA who knows Seth is in Virginia where he is from)

Glad to hear all that Mom is doing. It sounds like she is doing a lot. I am glad that she is doing a lot for the sister missionaries. I am glad to hear visiting teaching and home teaching is going well. It sounds like Joy and Tim had a successful birthday party for Avery (his niece turned one). The joys of parenting? And keep on fighting Dad! (reference on taking on the administration and school board  where  his dad works over the loss of his dad's bilingual stipend, Sacramento is backing him up) 

I know that talking about forensics is not normal, but it definitely felt normal and I felt as though somebody related to me. It was great. That was a major highlight of my week of last.(see his previous post)

I have heard the soundtrack to Schindler's List and I absolutely love it. It is power in the violin. I missed out on the Ensigns. They are so great and I wished I knew how much good they were as I do now. And thank you for keeping my music bookmarks. You are always welcome to play one when you miss me (especially the opera, ha, ha).(His mother couldn't stand it when he played opera music when she was in the room!)

So, what an up and down week, but a good week as well. I am doing fine personally and that is much as that goes. Biking on last Monday went well, except my back tire went flat and it was difficult going up hills with such a tire and not knowing it was flat. But, the area we biked in was gorgeous. I will get pictures up as soon as I can. 

I went on a day-long exchange with the zone leaders and it was great. (Zone leaders are young missionaries as well but usually have spent more time serving in the mission. They oversee other missionaries in a given area.) It was very uplifting. I was able to cook dinner for a family that was in need. I was going to cook spaghetti and the family had everything, but they used it up. Instead of cooking spaghetti, I cooked sausage and minced cilantro and garlic. Once the sausage was cooked, I rolled it in the cilantro and garlic. It was very delicious and everybody liked it. As my companion said, "At first, you could taste the cilantro, then the garlic, and then the sausage." So, I know how to cook sausage, grilled cheese, and spaghetti. I am slowly learning. I am also learning about spices and herbs. Members having been feeding us a lot, which is great. 

One visit we were talking to this part-member family, specifically the member mother, and she was telling us about how she makes certain food from scratch and how to use herbs as medicine. She does not trust doctors and tries to avoid them. She likes to use herbs and such to cure sickness and when she cannot get rid of it, she goes to the doctor. She knows how to diagnose, so she just needs to get a prescription when she goes to the doctor. It is definitely a skill I would love to learn. 

This past Saturday was the Virginia Day to Serve. The stake put on a 5k run for food and I got to control traffic again. I love controlling traffic for whatever reason. It is absolutely fun. Then, I did "river" clean up. I am not sure if we did the correct area, but supposedly it was. And we definitely did not do the river. We cleaned the side of the road. I found pieces of a tire, some metal thing, and other trash. 

Yesterday, we taught a family that I was really unsure that was ready for the gospel. Luckily, I did not oppose my companion on going to visit that family , because they were definitely ready. Then, as we were leaving another new investigator's place, we ran into another person, who was moderately receptive. It was good, excellent even.

All is well. Enjoy conference! (He is referring to a church-wide conference held Saturday and Sunday, October 5th and 6th, in five different sessions where we hear from our prophet, twelve apostles, and other general leaders over the church.)

Love,

Elder S. Todd

Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. 
-Vince Lombardi

Does God Answer the Prayers of Those Who Pray Frivolously?

September 23, 2013Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

I am forgetting which weeks are what. (Well, I definitely am losing myself in the work). The lady did drop us, which was unfortunate, and did so over the phone. She said that she was set and that she had received no answer about reading the Book of Mormon. So, she figures it is just best to stick with what she has. My idea is, okay, so she knows me and my companion, but I can work around that. I will keep her in mind and every new pair can go visit her and help her progress. (Don't get us wrong we read, study, and pray about the Bible but when someone asks you to pray for an answer to your prayer, how would you pray? If you really wanted an answer don't you think you would clear your mind of distractions, pray with real intent, humble yourself before the Lord and perhaps even fast? Yet, when asked to pray do you really think God is going to answer a prayer where your mind is made up, where you made no effort to study and ponder, nor made any effort to humble yourself before Him? If we are going to learn anything from God don't you think it will take some effort, experimentation, and pouring out our soul before Him? Yet who is willing to do this?)

I have heard about the Utes (University of Utah) winning. I heard about it several times yesterday. In fact, I even told my companion I would be hearing about it through your email as well. It is really good news and it really did make me think of home. Even in Virginia, the rivalry is there (between the U of U and BYU). 

I did hear about Denice's mom through Denice herself (Denice is a friend of Seth who is a member and her mother has decided to join the church). Denice has been emailing me a bit. I also got a few letters from Sister Oberst and Aurora Oberst. I will definitely try to correspond back. I have some letters to work on, but that is fine, I am not at all late (I got the letters just recently). 

It sounds as though Mom is really busy taking care of Sean's house. Maybe they will notice a difference when Mom leaves. I am glad to hear that they are taking care of Mom, which is really nice of them. It is good to hear how Sean and family are doing. It brightens up my day.

I am using my manners. I try to be as professional as I can. (Also, nice reference to Ecclesiastes.) (. . . there is a time for everything under the sun) I say thank you and do all the proper things even with my companion (though my companion could use some manners). I try not to be late, but it does factor into some people talking too much and you cannot get them to be quiet to say, "Okay, lesson is over. Who would like to say the prayer?" (I do not say that; I make light of what I am saying). I know to be careful of what I say and try to be a respectful person. 

Even yesterday, my companion and I went to an investigator's house and his pain in the neck friend who disrespects God was there. (He was the same guy about a month or so ago that tried to question us and annoy us and derail the lesson.) This guy was really after me, trying to push my buttons. I simply ignored him, because there were other people there that wanted to talk and were trying to make conversation. My companion finally pissed him off by saying, "God is your dad." That guy got so angry and left. It was awesome. (Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. Acts 17:29; And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Galatians 4:6)

But, my week went fairly well. There were some bad times, but all is well. Last Monday, we had a district hike and most of the district came. The place we went to was Caledon State Park and it was absolutely beautiful. (My companion and I are planning on going back to go biking.) There were some areas that were quite nice. Hopefully, I will be able to send pictures of the area.

The charitable man was supposed to be baptized this week, but unfortunately, he did not. He said that he quit tobacco; he said that he accepted the Book of Mormon and our teachings. He said that he wanted to be baptized, but the day of his baptismal interview, he did not show up. He had personal business that took too much out of his time that he could not have made his baptismal interview. We understood, "Yeah, he is a busy man." What is extremely frustrating is that he has not contacted us since and he has been ignoring us. I am trusting these people to be honest and I try to make them honest. May God work things out. 

Also, do not get Sprint, ever. I understand that it is cheap, which is good for our Church, but do not get it unless you want to lose your sanity. In our residence, we do not have reception as well as most places in Virginia. Perhaps it is due to the trees, I do not know, but still, you expect to have service. I volunteered myself to call the Sprint place to get help on how to fix our phone. It was rather ironic, because the help called another department and their call dropped on them. Other than that, they did not help and I was so confused by their instructions. I felt literally drained from talking to them. Please forgive me if I sound negative, especially in the last two paragraphs or so. I am keeping a positive outlook, because it is in God's hands and things will work out.

We had zone conference (this is when missionaries get together from a wide area to discuss things) this past week. It was nothing too interesting, until, of course, President Wilson ( the mission leader) spoke. I learned a few things. But, funny that you mention manners, because we were extremely late to zone conference for a very good reason. So, a recent convert's sister (the sister is not a member) was sick and the recent convert needed somebody to deliver medicine and Gatorade to the sister. We did so and had a nice discussion and first lesson. The sister was not too interested, but at least we planted a seed. It was a real life application of what was practiced during zone conference. President Wilson thanked us for helping, though she needs her home teachers or visiting teachers to do the delivery next time. (Members are assigned to visit a certain number of members of the congregation to see how they are doing and if they need anything. All of this gets past back to other leaders and ultimately to the Pastor.) (By the way, please do your home teaching (men) and visiting teaching (women). I am beginning to see how important it is.)

On Saturday, I helped a family move (out of the ward into a close, but distant ward). Their new place that they are renting is in a basement of members. The place is not that bad, because the land they are on is huge. It is acres upon acres. Interestingly enough, the people that own the land grow pumpkins and cantaloupe to claim their land as farmland and have reduction on property tax (even though they do not sell the pumpkins or cantaloupe). The man of the house (which I believe the family that owns the house is an elderly couple) builds coffins and transports the deceased (I believe to the morgue). On the way back, my companion and I got a ride back from the member's brother. He has a major in forensic science, though, due to the economy and job availability, he does not have a job in it. He still knows a lot. We talked about CSI and how those types of shows are just entertainment. I still like watching them even with what I know and that is how I view them, which it makes it possible for me to look at, say, the autopsy scenes during CSI. He talked about the CSI effect, or the effect of these types of shows on the public, to which I surprised him by speaking about it and sharing what I know about the CSI effect. We also talked about the different ways of packaging evidence, which all depend on the crime scene. (For example, you would package evidence from a crime scene in a river differently from an arson crime scene.) He was quite surprised by my knowledge, to which I explained that I took forensic science in high school and that I want to be a forensic psychologist. He actually took a psychology and law class, which was awesome to hear about what he did (he had to diagnose certain serial killers). He told me that he hopes that I have a stomach for the job (which I do believe I do; it is just other stuff that I will have to get used to). He gave me the suggestion that it would not be a bad idea to intern while in college. It was so great to actually engage a conversation with someone, which is something I am not too skillful at. It was great practice and plus, it was a normal conversation (Let's put it this way, it was normal for Seth. Not all of us know about the different ways of packaging evidence, let alone care.).

Yesterday, sacrament meeting was quite different. The bishop decided to have nothing, but special musical numbers. He wanted us to listen to the Spirit and learn from the Spirit. The music was absolutely beautiful. Someone did a soul and Southern Baptist version of Amazing Grace, which was quite interesting for most people (I absolutely like it). I do admire music. I love the violin in particular. I think of the violin as a window into human emotion. There's some beautiful examples of the violin, though I think of one  that has really powerful violin music, which is the soundtrack to Schindler's List. I believe they used the violin, if not the cello, but I am pretty sure it is the violin. I do admire the bagpipes as well for its power and our heritage. (My companion, unfortunately, does not like the bagpipes). 

Oh, and I love the Ensign (the church magazine for adults). I have been reading a lot from the Ensign, even older editions. Man, I missed out on a lot and I love reading them. If there are any at home that are still around and you do not want them, save them for me when I get back. I love the Ensign and they are absolutely good and I am not saying this because I am just a missionary.

The man who got baptized recently is doing well. We showed him a video of the temples and he is so excited. His fiance who is a member is also excited for him. He got confirmed (an ordinance done by those with authority to bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost and to confirm them members of the church) yesterday and was so excited to continue to progress in the gospel. He is so spiritually open and spiritually minded. Some of his friends of other denominations basically tried to sway him, but he knew that they did not know for themselves. It was amazing.

All is well.

Love, 
Elder S. Todd

Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds. -Gordon B. Hinckley

Hope is the Anchor to the Souls of Men

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom, (You may wonder why Elder Todd always addresses his parents this way. The answer: we don't know, he's always been apologetic so he can't put Mom first without thinking he's offending Dad or conversely. So we referred to ourselves as his parental advisers in our last letter to him.)

I plan on getting a haircut this week, just in case you were wondering. I have not been able to, but do not fret, I will get it done. (His hair grows fast and instead of laying down, it sticks straight out. So once a month we would have him cut his hair.) I did mention this idea to my companion, to which he says that my hair is short and that I had a haircut last month. For which I replied, "Hair does grow."

Yes, we did have a baptism yesterday, which was amazing. It was my first baptism in the mission field and the first baptism I ever performed. The person I baptized was the mormon.org referral and he is a bit taller than I and also a bit heavier (he is very muscular). Plus, the water was not as deep as it could have been. So, needless to say, he was thoroughly washed of his sins for I had to dunk him four times to make sure he was entirely immersed. (Seth is fairly short so I can imagine the trouble he had trying to get the man's whole body under the water without dropping him. See his FB page https://www.facebook.com/ElderSethTodd to learn more about baptisms in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)

My week was good for the most part. I went on exchanges with one of the missionaries in my district and we found many potential investigators. We have a two return appointments, though one did not turn out and my companion and I will have to try to talk to him again. The other we have yet to see. Though, I also did go out with the zone leaders and that is where it gets interesting. So, before I first got here, my current companion had this mormon.org referral that he went to see and he saw her and had a return appointment on Monday. That return appointment was during a week that I was here. She cancelled and said she was not interested. I always wanted to meet with this lady, because, well, no reason really other than everyone needs to hear the gospel. My companion did show me her house, but I, honestly, forgot which house other than the street. This street was where the mormon.org referral lived. My companion and I tracted (LDS vocabulary for knocking on doors) the last half of it. Now, with the zone leader, I decided to tract the first half. First, three doors, nobody home or not interested. Fourth door, it was that lady. She rejected us, but then we offered to share a message about Christ. As we shared a message from the Book of Mormon and Bible, it slowly turned into questions about the Book of Mormon which lead to the first discussion, the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She did question us with the statement, "Where is it in the King James Version?" We would show her and explain. We got to the point where she said she would pray to know if God wants her to read the Book of Mormon. So, my companion and I have a return appointment. What is funny is that she asked us, "Did anyone send you?" The zone leader spoke up (he did not know the whole story), so his answer was, "No." That is true, nobody did send us (well, except, God), but I know it might be interesting when she sees my companion again. When the zone leader and I left, I explained the story, which he started to laugh. (We hope he explains why the one missionary said "No.")

We have another baptism this upcoming week. My companion gets to baptize him. The man is the charitable man, who has so many stories of how he has helped people plus other stories. I do enjoy his stories. He told us about where he lives and that there is a homeowners association. The homeowners association has brought him to court several times. He told us about a time where he repainted his door. The paint he used was the same color, type that was originally on the door. The association brought him to court, because it was against the rules to paint your house without a petition from the neighbors, with them saying it would not offend them. The judge was on the man's side, because it was the original color (so, the association lost). That is one of his many different stories that he has. He also quit chewing tobacco recently, which was excellent. He is definitely prepared.

I am taking pictures. I have been trying to upload them, but the frustration part is that they will not upload. The upload keeps on being interrupted. So, I will keep at. (His camera has a very large megapixel resolution.)

I will stick with the U (University of Utah) at this current time, but it was good to talk to the sheriff member to get advice (This happened the week before). I definitely feel as though the mission will prepare me for my future. I have been feeling that a lot.

Sean went through his surgery? Wow, I did not know it was that soon. I am glad that it sounds like it went well. I am sorry Mom is going stir crazy as she is taking care of the children while Sean recovers.

I heard about Veronica, but not the others. Denice (former LMCHS student, now at West Hills Community College) emailed me for some advice for her mission papers. And I heard that her mother is on date for baptism. That is really neat and awesome!

I am glad to hear that Dad has a good class this year and I hope that keeps up. I am excited to hear about you two each and every week. I am also glad to hear that my dog is being taken care of. She usually keeps warm at night. Which reminds me, what material do I need to obtain to survive winter? Also, do you know of any simple recipes that have little materials that do not require a crockpot (for we do not have one yet and I do think about it) and do not require an oven (we do not have an oven, but we do have a toaster oven)? If you do, thanks. If not, it is all right. I will find some on my spare computer time.

All is well.

Love,

Elder S. Todd

Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but from washing away from it all that is not gold. 

- Leo Tolstoy

God Is Preparing People - Fearlessly Sharing

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

Indeed, all is well. I am glad to have a planner again, because I know what is going on. I had previously lost my planner (of course) and never did find it. It was rather unfortunate. Everything is looking up and I am feeling spiritually uplifted. I'll get to that later to address my week and to address what is going on back at home.

This week we have two investigators continually progressing towards baptism. One in fact, just yesterday, had his baptismal interview (questions regarding faith, repentance, Jesus Christ as Savior, the Restoration of Authority) and he had passed. This was the mormon.org referral that my companion and I had received. His baptism will be next Sunday, which will be his third time going to church as well. He had wanted to be baptized as soon as possible. The other man (the charitable man) is going to be baptized on the 21st, though we have barely taught him. Whenever we do teach him, it ends up as he is telling all these different stories about how he is helping the homeless and many other funny stories. The member who found him are dating, but it looks as though they might end things. Even if it does, he still wants to be baptized. Other than that, my week has been an interesting one. Some investigators did cancel on us for this week, but we are trying again this week. We did some bits of service, though one appointment of service did not exactly turn into service. You see, our new place used to have good cell phone reception and now we have no reception, wherein we cannot receive or send text messages and phone calls. The people had canceled on us, but we did not know until we got there. So, the people fed us lunch and the son, who is a senior in high school, was talking to us. My companion ended up teaching trigonometry to one of the daughters, but I could not help. I was doing nothing until I realized our car tires' needed to be pumped. I learned to do that, but still I was doing nothing. The son ended up showing his sword collection (actual swords with metal and such) and then we ended slicing fruit with one of the swords. If anything, I was fellowshipping the son. (Most of the family are recent converts since February, including the son.) That day was pretty much interesting and a lot of work did get done. Also, this week I was able to talk to a member who is a sheriff. He does not think that anything interesting happens on his job, but I find it fascinating. I told him what I wanted to do and then he talked about his brother who is a psychology professor at BYU. I also talked to this member who has so many mission stories that are amazing and he has a deep relationship with God, but, unfortunately, he has not been coming to church due to work. I was able to talk to him for a quite long time and he gave me advice as to what I should do when I do become a forensic psychologist.

I am glad to hear how Sawyer (his 1 yr. old nephew) is doing. It sounds like he is doing great and that he had a fun time. I am glad to hear that Coda (an older female Boxer dog who Sawyer rolled on, stepped on, dove on, etc.) took it pretty well in seeing that she was the stepping stone and the pillow. Coda is just all big and fluffy. Sawyer seems to be quite adventurous and curious. I am happy to hear about Carly and that she is being taken care of. I do miss her (as I do miss my family). It is good to hear that Trevor is back. A mission is such a blessing in so many ways. One way is that I do not have to be involved in politics; it is sad to hear what dealings are going on with Lemoore. But, I am glad to get away from the politics and just focus on the Lord and the mission of which I have been called. I believe Mom's hair looks great. (His mother has a beautiful short haircut that his dad just raves about.)And that is such an amazing story that you shared(His Dad shared a story of a distraught female member of the church who wanted a blessing a few years ago. His father holding the priesthood gave her a blessing which she later confirmed came true as spoken by the Holy Ghost.). Truly, the Lord will fulfill his words whether He speaks it or it comes from the mouths of his servants. Thank you for sharing that; it really helped put a nice touch to my spiritual high.

This weekend was stake conference (a stake conference is when several congregations in a geographical area meet to hear from leaders over that area. This happens once a year.) and we had Elder Homer and Elder Holstrom of the Presidency of the Seventy come and speak. Two topics that were repeated were personal conversion and missionary work. It is so important to be personally converted unto the Lord and not to the Church. It does sound weird to say, but it is true. Our devotion is to Christ and the Church helps provide the way wherein we know how to follow Christ and direct our paths to His way and not man's way. I do hope that makes sense. In that way, I have been reflecting on how converted am I and I do feel personally converted unto Christ. In fact, I am at the point where I feel it is important for me to dedicate my life to the Lord. I do know that there will be sacrifices made and that there will be trials in my way, but it will never be easy, only worth it. I know that at the end of my two years, this focus will have to be balanced with the worldly cares (school, job, etc.). It may take time, but I know now this is the time to first seek the kingdom of God and everything else will be provided. With missionary work, members should give the missionary's referrals even if you know the people will say no. Why? Because they might actually say yes. It may seem odd, but there are people out there ready for the truth and we just do not know it. The Lord knows and we have to go seek them out for we know not who they are.

This week has been great. All is well.

Love,

Elder S. Todd

There is a sacredness in tears. They are not marks of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues.  They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and unspeakable love..-Robert Frost

It's Not Always Easy To Be A Missionary - Struggles and Success

September 3, 2013

Dear Parents, Mom/Dad

Do not think that I am trying to worry you on purpose or that I am putting you guys second. Last week on Monday was an unusually busy day wherein we had to do service. Yesterday, was, of course, Labor Day. The reason I am typing an email out so late is for the fact that my companion is a district leader and he had a meeting to attend to. I was helping another missionary while my companion was away with this other missionary's companion. I am working on sending cards out. I know that I am late in sending Reagan's, but believe me, I am trying to do everything in due time and I plan on sending out a card as soon as possible. Believe me when I am trying to do everything in my own power and in the schedule of the things to work things out and do what is necessary.

With the new place, we have new furniture, so that means new mattresses. We both figured that to avoid the problem we would leave the plastic mattress coverings on the new mattresses. It has been working fine. Mattress pads are over the mattress and sheets are on top of it all. The backpack satchel is lasting for a long while. I am not bike still, though my companion would like to ride bikes for our exercise. We are slowly getting that started. Our new living arrangements are quite nice. It is much bigger than our previous apartment. That is major plus on top of other things. I have to wash dishes by hand (and I am the only one that washes dishes with soap; my companion rinses with water then puts it back) and I have to go to a laundromat or another elders' apartment in order to do laundry. So, it is all good. I make sure my clothes are not being taken; I keep an eye on them.

I feel sorry for the sisters and I hope that everything will work out for them. It is rather unfortunate what they have to deal with. (The sister missionaries in Lemoore live in an area that is not the best but finding housing is difficult when your renters can change. They have been broken in once. We, Elder Todd's parents bought and hung some shades on a kitchen window that could be seen through. We are going to cover another window that is missing a slat in its curtain.) Our housing person is extremely stressed as of now, seeing as so many people are coming in and he has to work on 22 apartments this week for people getting in. I am glad one of the elders (we took in a sick male missionary, see FB Elder Seth Todd) kept my dog in good company. I am sorry that it sounds like people are getting sick. Here, one of the elders had to go to the hospital, because he was coughing up blood. Cause? Bronchitis. 

I am happy to hear that Reagan had a good birthday. It sounds like she had fun and I am glad it went well. It so crazy how everyone is going grow up while I am gone. Glad to hear that LMCHS has extremely improved(API score 892, top five schools in the valley). That is amazing. And how did you hear about Mr. Whiting ( a former high school teacher who had a baby boy with his wife)? And if you can, tell him that I said congratulations! And I snickered at the thought of the Fortner family in a hotel with the dogs, but hopefully everything will work out for them. (They found a house with a beach view to rent, lucky).

So, everything seems to be getting busier by the minute. It seemed like the first week here was extremely slow, but it has been going so fast. This past week we have had two people on date (commitment to be baptized and confirmed a member), which is amazing. We may have another person on date as well, but we have to wait until the next visit to officially select a date. One person we have to push their date back, because he has yet to go to church and I do not think he went this week. He came back from Texas for a few days (he is engaged to the person who referred him on mormon.org) and then he bailed on us to go back to Texas to visit her. I hope that everything is okay, because he has not communicated much to us. We have been teaching a lot of people. 

The man from Trinidad is quite interesting; he was drunk one time while we were there and he was going off on that the leaders are seeking their own pay and that we needed more money, support, and praise (not sure who he is talking about, we have an unpaid lay ministry and the missionaries are not seeking praise.). Other than that, he still needs to work on a few things and do a few things before he is going to change. He does not read the Book of Mormon on his own and he attended church only once.

The charitable man is going to be baptized on the 15th (he is the other person who is officially on date). We have only taught the Restoration. Whenever we teach him, it ends him telling us all these amazing stories about how he is helping the homeless or some other awesome story. Eventually, we will teach him. He loves the Church and has a testimony. I am so happy that things are working out for him.

The woman and her daughter are still keeping at it (the woman is the person who wanted gas money). The daughter wants to be baptized and is excited to be baptized, though she wants to pray about the date. She also needs to attend church. The mother needs time and I am a bit afraid. She believes deeply that she already has, even after explaining the restored priesthood authority and giving her daughters priesthood blessings. She is quite proud of her baptism and showed us her certificate. The mother will have to come to the realization about the priesthood authority on her own Restoration of the Priesthood.

We unfortunately had to drop an investigator family. They seemed nice, excited. The man wanted to give a speech to the youth of the ward, but he needed to attend church. We invited and he did not show up. We call him, it rings, the man "picks up" says hello, then it drops exactly at 45 seconds every time. When we dropped by on a good night, the lights are on and we knocked. Their kid bangs on the door and then we can hear the door locking. It is rather unfortunate, but I believe they are afraid of commitment, (Most of us may have closed the blinds, refused to answer the door when someone is going door-to-door. We pretend not to be home. The answering machine at the Todd home even blocks numbers of annoying people who constantly call when told that we are not interested. However, in this case, which happens all to often to LDS missionaries, they had been invited in, the individuals seemed genuinely interested, then "Bam" this kind of response. Perhaps a paid minister from another church has "warned" them of Mormons, or they simply don't have an interest. In either case, it would be nice if people would answer their door and give an explanation. There is a lot of false information passed around about members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, sometimes some things are true but just need an explanation, and then, there are those who sincerely no longer have an interest. We get it. So please, if you invite missionaries in, please be courteous. If they seem too pushy tell them so. Talk to them honestly.)

That sums up my week.  I do not want you to worry. I am alive. I am working on things and it is crazy.

Love,

Elder S. Todd

P.S Thanks for the many quotes.