"The Best Two Years - the sequel?"

(The movie "The Best Two Years" is a Mormon genre movie about male missionaries in Holland, one who is anxious to convert people and the other who has almost given up on missionary work after a friend of his goes home and marries this Elder's girlfriend. We see some parallels here but in all fairness we hope our son has compassion for his own weaknesses as well as for the unseen weaknesses of others.)

Monday, January 26, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

Well, I did it. I wrote my companion a letter rebuking him for his actions that he has committed; the letter was written under prayerful direction of the Spirit. I felt that it was something that needed to be done, because when talking about sleep, his responses do not follow some of his actions. It was slightly embarrassing when Spanish elders came to our door and were wondering why he was not awake. I knew that something needed to be done. I wrote the letter, not out of anger, but out of concern. I wrote not spoke, because I would be able to write calmly. I wrote it yesterday, questioning his thinking. So far, he has not really avoided me. He has withdrawn a bit though. Yesterday, during the spiritual thought for the members who fed us, I bore testimony of the Atonement. I said what I needed to say and ended my thoughts. Silence pervaded for a while before the members spoke and then I looked at my companion, asking for comments. His reply, "Yeah, I agree." Now that I have rebuked him, it is now my task to love him even more. I pray for him, hoping things will be alright. I feel right in my own actions.

Meanwhile, I am still blind about this area; I have no clear vision. I have yet to weekly planning with him to help our companionship unity (even more, I have not done companionship study). Without these, I am blind, though I am taking small steps before I introduce the idea of weekly planning. However, I am doing all that I can to help this area grow. I have started to take note at the end of the week of those who are investigators, less actives, recent converts, those we need to visit, and potentials. It allows me to have a definite list of who we need to see, though I have no clue what each person needs unless I have been directly involved. Thus, to help myself it will do for these coming weeks of the transfer do what I am about to do next.

We have an investigator, a media referral, who is from South Africa, but has not been there in many years. His father is a recent convert in another state, hence how we got the referral. He was a bit surprised, as he told us, when we knocked on the door. Previous missionaries had tracted into him before, but they knocked very loudly and would not take no for an answer. This investigator is definitely interested in joining and finding a community that will support him spiritually. Add that to another reason why we need to do our home teaching and visiting teaching and be thankful for such program. We talked of what he needs to do in order to be baptized and we talked about the church. He already loves the Church, because of what they do for his father. We got through only two points of the Restoration, mainly about families and prophets. He loves the family aspect of the Church and connected the idea of families to prophets and apostasy. He caught on when people apostatize from the prophets, the family disintegrates. Though we do not have a specific return appointment, he is planning for us to return this week. We need to give the Proclamation to the World to him. We also need fellowship and the bishop here would be good for that. After all, the investigator knows the bishop quite well; the work at the same place, though not the same job.

We have a Persian (?) Book of Mormon for our Persian (?) family. We have not seen them this past week.

We have a set of investigators (relation unknown) who have some affiliation with the Jehovah's Witnesses, either from current or past experiences. We taught them once, though it was more of a question and answer session of opinions. It was the question of blacks and the priesthood. We explained it then and that we do not know all the reasons why it occurred and explained all that we could. The man of this set accepted our answer. We should visit them this week, though it is rather difficult. They want us come by 5 to 6, our dinner time. It would be fine if we could move our dinner appointments forward., though, we have a sliver of openings.

We have the nine year old who wants to be baptized. He is part of a family of recent converts. I am not sure what he needs, though, again, he needs visual aids. He also needs his family to help him to understand the gospel truths and teach him. I wonder if they are holding family home evening. When we have dinner appointments with this family--- which takes 3 hours (from the time we get there, the mother is still cooking for another hour or so and then an hour for us to eat)--- we need to have a lesson or attempt to.

We taught an Arabic family this past week. They were referrals from the Spanish elders and we contacted them. It was not a good time when we initially contacted them, but we gave them an Arabic Book of Mormon. We obtained an Arabic Restoration pamphlet. When we came over this week, they were curious and lots of questions. They were not Muslims, but Christians. I did not feel the Spirit as much in the lesson. They were asking a lot of questions and we were trying to understand them for at times the words they said did not match with our definitions. The wife, in the end, was more interested than the husband.

Tuesday, last week's P-Day. We picked up another set of missionaries after e-mailing and had lunch. We did our shopping and then headed to the Church. We played the game Risk, which my companion is really good at playing. It was my first time playing and I inherited the Asian continent in my first go round. If you ever play Risk, Asia is most difficult to hold onto, because you are so spread out. But, I lasted for a good while despite inheriting Asia. It was a lot of fun and it opened up my companion a bit more to me. We had dinner. Then, we had the Book of Mormon class. Nobody showed. Some people forgot. We need fliers to encourage people to come and to attend the class. It is not enough to have it announced. We need to sell it and to encourage the members to attend with friends. 

Wednesday, we had zone conference and had to pick up the biking set of elders. We were nearly late, though there were people who were later than us. It was a good conference. President Wilson spoke to me on the side and told me to love my companion. Oh, and we talked about online proselyting. Why? Well, we still have no iPads and our mission president and his wife seem to have no hope that it will come to us soon, but at least we can prepare for them (and thus, the answer to why). So, we went over that. I do not know if you know, but they changed the referral system. We still get a text from headquarters, but we receive no information. All the information is online. We no longer are calling a machine to update, but we have to go online to update our referrals. It is time consuming and I do believe it may cause a stir of murmuring from missionaries that do not have the access to technology unless they go out of their way. It is a bit of a hassle, I do admit, but it is requiring a lot more faith on our part and a lot more devotion. It is a good new system. From online proselyting, we discussed the plan of salvation with President Wilson. There were lots of questions from the elders about deep doctrine ideas. After zone conference, we called this area's single mother investigator to confirm our appointment. Well, she decided to do some research and talk with her pastors and now she no longer wants to meet with us, not even to discuss the things of which she heard.

(Surprise, like the pastors were going to tell her good things about Mormons. Or that everything on the internet is true, though we have admitted that mistakes have been made.) So, she is no longer interested. That night we had our three hour appointment.

Thursday, we volunteered at the health care center (that place I called an adult home, which is incorrect, I believe) where our Powhatan-to-Gayton recent convert is.  She was asleep when we were there. Missionaries have been volunteering there for a while. I was glad to be able to help. I helped with those there that needed help playing Bingo. It was fun. We had dinner, then we went out to Goochland (nicknamed Gayton West) with the Spanish elders. The car got stuck in mud, but through our efforts, we were able to get our car free. We tried to see a few people, but they were not home or wanting us to come by. 

Friday, we saw some recent converts. We read from the scriptures with them and helped them to understand. One of them generally understands what is taught, but the other does not. That night we were able to have a lesson with our South African investigator. 

Saturday, we did our progress record. While he did the record, I did more family history and listened to some of the things that LDS Charities is doing. I absolutely loved it. I am quite amazed about what the Church is able to accomplish. Later that night, we visited a less active who is returning and also needs help in understanding the scriptures. 

Sunday, we had church and our meetings. We tried to see some people before heading out to Goochland for dinner. It was a nice dinner. We visited the less active who has the Shiba Inu. He is going through some hard times and we offered to help him in things that he needs help. He was appreciative of that. I am trying to figure him out to see how we can help him progress spiritually.

With the situation with my companion, I have been turning to the Lord for help and guidance. I have been trying to draw on all my sources of help. As I have been relying on the Lord, I have been a lot happier. It is much better than Appomattox. Think of it this way: the people of Limhi and the people of Alma. The people of Limhi relied more on others than the Lord, which was in part why it took a while for them to be relieved of their burden. The people of Alma, on the other hand, relied more on the Lord and though their burdens were not automatically taken away from them, they were a lot happier and their burdens were lightened. I am relying on the Lord a lot more and using prayer as a strength. We have access to the heavens through prayer and it is such a strength. I am definitely persisting in not giving up and in trying to be obedient; hence, I am fighting like a dragon.

Tout va bien!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

Yep, Just Like a Box of Chocolates!

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

I definitely miss Tappahannock. I am in the Gayton Ward, the west end of Richmond. It is a bit like Woodbridge; the many shops, the many suburbs, the many apartments. We do have the country, but it is an odd addition to the Gayton Ward. It takes time and miles to get there. Sisters used to cover that area, but they no longer do and that change is recent. That area definitely needs missionary attention and there needs to be a balance to both sides of the area. 

We are doing a Book of Mormon class here, though today will be the first day for me. Of course, I can envision a lot of things to do for this class (PowerPoint, activities, etc.), but I do not have those resources available and have yet to see what is being done in the class. 

My new companion is Elder Taylor, who is from Modesto, California. (Seth's Great Grandfather Boyd Henry Todd and his family were some of the first members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Modesto, California.) To say that things are going well between us is a false statement. It took me until Sunday to figure what is his problem. I have yet to find motive as to why is he such. I am extremely upset, not at the Lord, but at him. He does not believe in planning; no, not even weekly planning. In fact, I overheard him say that instead of planning for the next day, he just goes by the Spirit. That infuriated me with a fiery indignation that I just wanted to come out of the bathroom, crying out, "Oh, you sloth! Repent of your wicked ways!" I wanted to go to each and every scripture about slothfulness and rebuke him.

The thought came to my mind, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of." So, I stayed in the bathroom, trying to calm down. I have been trying to make decisions, which at one time, I made the wrong decision, thinking it to be good.

I am however persisting in asking what we are doing and he did ask me what we should do tomorrow. Well, it is rather difficult when I do not know our investigators, the area, and such. I am slowly learning the area; then again, so is he. He has only been here for a transfer. I looked at our area book, which does not give me much information. 

I sent you a letter that I wrote on Wednesday that I sent later. I was angry when I wrote it. I do have a library card, but, whether it is temporary or not, I am not exactly sure. I am sending you a letter soon, concluding some matters of discussion and inviting you to family home evening. I definitely need support, or encouragement. I have been trying to love my companion. I wrote little notes telling him to have an excellent day and told him the things he does well. Nothing much of yet has happened. I do plan on seeking advice from the mission president and when I go on exchanges with the zone leaders (because my companion is the district leader), I plan on seeking a blessing to help me for the coming weeks. During planning tonight, I do think I should talk to him and I pray that I will be calm.

Thanks for the quotes. It really does fit into this past week. I push forward.

Monday. Elder Henstrom and I had to do many, many chores. Laundry, packing, cleaning, etc. I received a haircut that day from one of the daughters of the members upstairs; she did a military haircut, something she wanted to do when she first cut my hair. She was surprised about how quickly my hair grew and how thick it was. After the haircut, I was not so sure what to think. It did remind me of the haircut I had received in Woodbridge. I am quite happy with my haircut. We said goodbye to our single mother investigator and headed to the branch president's house. We had dinner and we had a really good time. I enjoyed it and that is when I received the shirt of which you saw. I love it; I do believe there is a proper balance to hunting and saving the environment.

I quickly packed that night. Everything was stuffed full, because of my quick planning. I had to figure out how to put my bare necessities (toothbrush, etc.). 

Tuesday, we said a few more goodbyes and then we headed to transfers. I was put with where I am now and who I am with. We received another car, because our previous car had reached the mile limitation for missionaries. We inherited somebody's car, which is close to its expiration. According to my companion, we did not receive any information about our allotment, so we do not have an allotment. Right, we will go with that. We had dinner with a member who has a wife who speaks Portuguese (and she is a member). They are nice people and I knew that I would love this area. We saw a recent convert, whose son has a desire to be baptized. I was merely introduced to them.

Wednesday through Saturday, I began to realize what my companion is doing and I have yet, like I have said, to understand why. I learned that he loves deep doctrine, which, okay, I had another companion that also liked deep doctrine (and I loved that companion), but it seems off-putting for some reason. I am probably a bit frustrated. I mainly decided to put my head down and endure (go week by week). I have been trying to figure out how to love my companion. There has been too much wasted time, spots that I disliked, because I know how quickly time passes. We received many referrals. Some interested, others not. I am grateful for these referrals, because they give us something to do. We were able to get new investigators, one of whom is a single mother with one kid. She is not able to go to her church often, because it is on the other side of Richmond.

My companions is excellent at asking questions, which is great and that is what we needed. I used scriptures, which she needed. I know that if we couple this together, we would get work done. 

I had dinner with the bishop and I have met the ward mission leader.

We went with one set of the Spanish elders to take them to the country, so that they can try to find those that are Hispanic and speak Spanish. It was during this time that I learned that the country area needs our attention. We were talking to a member who has Spanish names (but does not speak Spanish) who thought the area would never see missionaries again. We are working with a less active in this area who is a retired photographer. He is a nice guy, but slightly depressed. I liked his dog, which is a Shiba Inu. 

We have run into many Arabs, who are Muslims. I have met people of other cultures. I absolutely love it. We have a new investigator who speaks Persian (or Farsi). We had an Arabic Book of Mormon, which we were able to give away. I ate at a Mongolian themed grill (members took us out to it), which was quite amazing. I saw, as we passed the mall on Short Pump, a world store, whatever that means. I am excited, because of the different cultures that I see here. 

Oh, and I have been adopted. There is another recent convert here, who absolutely loves the missionaries. Funny thing is, she was found in Powhatan, but later had moved into a different adult home in Gayton and was baptized. I had talked to her on the phone before in Powhatan for she was looking for a missionary (the second Appomattox companion that I had). So, it was great to finally meet her. When new missionaries meet her, they become adopted into her "family." Thus, I have been adopted. She recently had her arm amputated, but she keeps on going.

Sunday, church was great. We taught gospel principles and will teach it next week as well. I am excited for that. We contacted another referral who is an adolescent. I was so happy to meet him and give him a Book of Mormon. I noticed on his shirt there was the seven candlesticks (the menorah), typically seen in Hanukkah. Yes, he is Jewish. We were not able to schedule another appointment with him at the time, but I hope he calls. Have I ever told you it is a goal of mine to have a Jewish friend? Yes, I was happy to meet this fellow for two reasons as evident above. We were able to find another new investigator when we sought two other people in an apartment. We were called over and asked the typical questions, "Are you Mormon? Is beer a sin? How many wives are you allowed to have?" Slowly, this person who had called us over wanted to know more.

Monday, well, Sunday we found out the P-day was changed to Tuesday. My companion felt sick (whether he was or not, I am not going to judge), so we did not get out much. We received some new referrals that day as well. They are great potentials. We visited the recent convert who has a son who wants to be baptized. He is a crazy kid (granted, he is nine) and was all over the place. I really do think we need visual aids and luckily, they have a tablet. I suggested that to my companion, who, honestly, did not seem all that enthused, but we will try it.

I am going to push through it and fight through persistence and calm negotiations. I think of the people of Limhi who "like dragons did they fight" for their own lives and family. I am going to push hard to make sure that this area stays alive and thriving. I will love my companion.

How do you say all is well in French? I only know all is well in German, Alles wohl. Is it tout est bien?

Tout est bien! (Tout va bien!) Alles wohl! All is well!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

Introspection: Accepting Who I Am

And ye shall be holy men unto me. . . 

                                          -Exodus 22:31 

    For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.  -Mosiah 3:19

Monday, January 12, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

I am getting the picture, or at least the message God seems to be sending me. I have had you, wife of the members upstairs, and our single mother investigator tell me, in essence, the same thing. Everyone has been telling me the same thing. I have a lot of potential, yet I do not see it.

I have changed a lot and not into the person I had envisioned myself at the very beginning. At one time, I envisioned a person who was a person who could be a talker, a person who can be noticed. Yet, through the mission, I have accepted that I am not a talker. In fact, I love to be quiet. Quiet, to me, gives me an anchor, a place inside myself to pray to God and to rely on God. I love to listen. I have learned that I have a strong, stalwart soul. I am a person with determination with gentleness in heart. I often thought it was weakness, but it is strength. I am a man of belief. I love reading the Law of Moses, not only because of the aspect of law, but also of the moral principles that extend to principles of the higher law. When I say a man of belief and then discuss the law of Moses, I point the fact that I look for moral principles, a cause to defend religion in general. I hope this all makes sense.

I do have lots of knowledge. I rather not brag that I am smart. I have much more to learn. I have felt shunned because I have knowledge.

I am serious about changing my music that I like to hear. I am absolutely in love with Bollywood, folk songs from different cultures, operas, musicals, music from 30's and 40's and some from the 50's, and the other things. I know I will have to watch less shows than I did when I was home. Yes, television has been, in the past, time to take a breather from stress. I will have to watch less now. I have to strike that balance. I have to make sure I read my scriptures. I have to make sure I pray often. I have to make sure that I am obedient. I have realized how I am dependent on God and I cannot lose the relationship I have with Him.

I am afraid to offend you. I made mistakes before and I have been yelled at for them. I do not respond to yelling and I cannot stand yelling. I cannot stand the fighting that goes on. I have been afraid to tell you that I have lost things on the mission. But, here it goes. I lost the hats that I had; I am mad about losing the hat I got last year. But, this year I received ear muffs and they will do. I think the worst that you would see, but what I learned to be a blessing, is that I lost my electric shaver charger. Yeah, I did. But, the good news I use a manual razor now, which is quite excellent. It allows me to remove my finer hairs on my face, which the electric shaver could not get, no matter how much force I put into it. So, blessing in disguise; no more peach face. (Yes there has been discord at home. At times, he has made some upsetting mistakes but nothing of a serious nature. There are things we wish he could do better. There are things, so many things he has accomplished and done well. He is absolutely right about the razor. Getting rid of the peach fuzz with a razor blade is a dream come true. No more baby face. Ear muffs won't do. We will expect that he keeps his entire head warm in Virginia's cold weather.)

So, now these deep feelings have gone out and I have confessed what I have lost, it is due time to tell you a few important items. I found those different language Book of Mormon books in the apartment here. Oh, did you look at the audio book? Did you see the letter? I am not concerned, I find it interesting. Now, for the main item of business. Yes, I am being transferred. And so is my companion. Yep, it has happened again. So, where I go, I will find out tomorrow.

Monday, after our P-day, we had a lesson with a man who we had not seen in a month. He was asleep when we knocked, but he allowed us to come in. We taught the Plan of Salvation. He seemed alright with the ideas and concepts. He did not object, but it seemed evident by his conduct at the end, when he gave his two cents. I do not remember what he said.

Tuesday, we saw the recent convert who lives down in King William. My companion and him get along, a lot. So, when we were teaching him one of the new member lessons, he and my companion went off into many tangents. Some about orange juice, some about tomatoes. The recent convert is an excellent man and he has a great understanding of the gospel. He definitely is hungering after the word. Our appointment that night with the man who I am still wondering how much he understands fell through. But, he progressed last week, which was great. He remembered concepts, which is a step in the right direction. We were able to find that out through some questions we asked. (An important step in teaching as well as conversion is to check for understanding and if necessary to reteach. This hopefully will avoid future misunderstandings.)

Wednesday, we had district meeting. I shared a spiritual thought from Exodus 22:31 and connected it to Mosiah 3:19. To me, it spoke about the contrast of the holy and carnal, which is greatly expounded in

Mosiah 3:19. (Side note: I love the law of Moses. It is great. I realize that is a very just form of law, but couple it with human nature, you receive a law that can easily fall into error. To me, in order for the judges or rulers to use this law, they have to rely and have dependence on God.)

We moved furniture into a new apartment here in Tappahannock for the branch is about to receive Spanish speaking missionaries. (English speaking missionaries will replace us.) That took some time. We went from there to home to an appointment we had in Warsaw (the sisters handed somebody to us) and then to the church for the appointment fell through. We were able to check on the person who is on date. He had come home from the hospital, but the very next day, he went back for tests for about ten days. He did have a stroke and his eyesight is blurry. He was weak when we saw him. He could not read, but I remembered that we had the Book of Mormon on CD. So we went to retreive it and gave it to him. The senior couple gave him a discman to use.

Thursday, we did not have much success this day.

Friday, we planned. All day. We decided that we would do a more effective planning session, so that we would have more effective lessons. Well, we will not see the results of it, but I loved doing it.

Saturday, we saw our investigator who I am not sure how much he understands. We taught him some more things. He is actually deciding which church he needs to go to. He is progressing. We saw our single mother investigator with some members. It was a great lesson for the most part of it. We taught her about discipleship. We had a good discussion. We felt as though we resolved her concern about hyprocrisy in churches in general. Then, she turned the tables on me. My companion and I did not know what to do. It was awkward. How did she do that? Well, she started discussing myself, about how I have great potential. She said that I would adjust well while my companion would have a hard time. We received our calls while at her house.

Sunday. My companion and I gave a talk. We were given this assignment on Saturday at 6:00 at night.  I wrote mine out, at least to how much I could write out. I did not have a lot of time to construct much. We were assigned to talk on missionary work. (Surprising, right?) More importantly, member missionary work.

I decided to write my talk as if I was in a one on one conversation. I told them that they were the same as I, but they had a power greater than I. I told them to expect miracles and to have courage. Then, I told them three examples from White Oak, Powhatan, and Appomattox involving three of my investigators and member missionary efforts. I told them they had the power of being a friend, of being an example. I invited them to invite their friends, coworkers, and if all options were exhausted, then pray for missionary opportunities. I invited them to get to know our investigators and to invite them into their homes. It was good.

Not much happened that day. We spent a lot of time with the members upstairs.

Alles wohl!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

2015: Visiting the Sick, the Elderly, Single Parents, and the Machines

Monday, January 5, 2015

Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

I am going to send off two packages this week, one of them containing an important letter to you. I pray that you will understand what I am trying to state in that letter.

Thank you for being willing to purge my Facebook and for the encouragement for exercising. Thank you for your awesome help as parents.

Monday, we did our normal P-day activities. We tried seeing a few people with little success. 

Tuesday, rolled around. We had a bit of a late start. My companion was not feeling well and I needed him to rest. He rested and then we went off to visit people. We tried to see some people who we have not seen in a while. Unfortunately, they were not home.

 

Though, we were able to contact the elderly man and his grandson who are interested while the man's wife is not (the wife who is a Christian, saying that man cannot see God). It was bad timing. One of their sons arrived. I was able to talk to the son. He has much potential. He is curious. We had to do a quick little message. The wife was kind to us. When we starting to leave, the son asked for a Book of Mormon. Bad timing. His grandmother, the wife of the elderly man, said, "Oh no, that is alright." It was awkward and I yearned to give the Book of Mormon. Yet, I understand that if I had given it to him at that time, it would have gone awry and it would not have been done under the right spirit. When she said that, I was quite upset.

We were able to have a lesson with our investigator who is on date. We were able to teach him the first part of the commandments. He showed fair understanding and was ready to live them. We pushed his date back, which is going to be pushed even further. He has medical problems and was recently admitted to the hospital. We sent missionaries to him, which he really appreciated. 

Wednesday, we checked up on an elderly member, who is a sweet elderly lady and has been having health problems of late. It was good to check up on her, to see how she is doing. Her health problems are recent and she has not been coming to church due to them. She is doing alright, able to get around somewhat. Again, we tried more people. We had a meeting that night to discuss what goals and plans we are making for the ward mission plan. We discussed what we wanted to accomplish and the activities that will help us. After that, we headed inside and did little.

I set the phone for 11:55 pm, so we could celebrate the New Year.

Thursday, we planned. We tried to see people and succeeded in some aspects. We saw another elderly woman, who loves our visits.

(C) Intellectual Reserve Washington, D.C. Temple

Friday, we had zone meeting. They want us to invite less actives and recent converts to the temple. It is now going to be recorded as temple invites. One thing I realized is that I tend to focus on the one. One individual at a time. I realize that it is okay to have differences in the gospel in the sense of how people minister, go about things, etc. I always think of Jude who at the end of his epistle talked about how "some have compassion, making a difference" and "others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh."

From there, we had tour of a metal shop from a member in the branch. It was for the husband of the senior couple who help us in Tappahannock. He knew what was what. It was a stressful tour. My companion, heavily curious, wanted to try a lot of the machines, machines one should not mess with. I had to keep on calling him. He would pick up things. But, we have a nice trade-off. I tend to be his voice of reason and memory while he tends to be my mouthpiece (though at times I can probably handle it). There is a member who tends to talk a lot and very loudly where I cannot handle it due to a sudden headache. When she calls, I call for my companion.

Saturday, we had our usual lesson with the single mother investigator. We talked about being in the world, but not of the world. The kids were doing odd, crazy, loud activities. It honestly was hard to focus. It was an okay lesson. However, we noticed that in the prospect of changing denominations, she feels vulnerable and she obviously wants to do this full kindheartedly, without hypocrisy. It some ways, I do wonder if I am pushing and she is pulling back. Some comments she made seemed to hint at that. However, I see that we are only being bold, inviting her to act. If there is any indication from her children, it is time for her to decide. (Funny note. Her daughter stated several times that she was a Catholic, but later said, "I'm Catholic Christian Mormon.") Again, it is time for her to pray to know the truth. 

Sunday, we had two lessons about family responsibilities and responsibilities of a father. I learned a lot.

Alles wohl!

Love,

Elder S. Todd

P.S. I have a lot to think about. As I made this year, I realized how split this year is. I have six months of certainty. Then, I have six months of uncertainty. I do not like uncertainty. What I am trying to do is make a smooth transition, or at least a transition that is smooth as possible. I do not want to be hindered by my dark past and I do not want to be paralyzed by my future. Yet in some ways, it seems that I am paralyzed. I need feedback and help, so that I can focus more on the mission. I have found my identity on the mission, one that I had always had sought for in the past. I am looking for a new year to begin my actions based on that identity. Changes are coming to pass. Mistakes may be made, but I will pick myself up and go forward.

(c) 2015 Intellectual Reserve, 

Hot Chocolate in the Rain?

Monday, December 29, 2014

Hanukkah Menorah

Shalom Aleichem, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,

If Hanukkah starts on December 7th next year, then I feel more so inclined to celebrate Hanukkah. I am excited. (December 7th is his birthday.) 

I honestly did not eat the Ho's Ho's.

 (A family tradition is for Santa to put Hostess Ho Ho's in Christmas stockings. This year some of them had a foul chemical taste. So we warned our son and his companion about this. Needless to say it is a tradition that has ended.) My companion, on the other hand, ate them, even if they did smell. I could smell it and I was not up to eating them. The unfortunate thought of it is even if they did not smell, they might still have that chemical in them. And who knows what is that chemical. So, my companion did not care whether or not it had it. He ate all of them. I even gave him mine. (I hate to waste and seeing that he was willing....)

I, unfortunately, understand what you mean by the immaturity of the missionaries. ( Many missionaries are still teens when they go out. Having a little fun is fine. Some pranks maybe. But we have been tired of goofy shots of missionaries.) Believe me, I understand. Some are not bad, but others are bad. I have been the victim of immaturity once or so, but I understand to act my age and when something I do is enough. Humor for me is a very hard thing to tackle. I do not understand humor and it takes very fine humor to make me laugh. Yet, for whatever reason, some people call me funny. I do not understand. (And you are not the only one that despises the text speak of which insults the finer language of English, or what used to be the finer language of English. This was a reference to missionaries writing home as if they were texting friends with their text shorthand. Most don't but some do.)

Thanks for the tip about children. I will use them for the single mother investigator's child who wants to be baptized. 

You will not believe what I discovered this past weekend. On Saturday, after accomplishing the task of our progress record, I decided to do my usual task of inputting information on Ancestry. I have been looking at all the hints I have for each person, which is a bear of a task. But, through this task I discovered something really, really cool. Let me take you back into our history. As you know, widowed Ellen Jackson Carter, mother of John Carter, after traveling across the plains, had married William Stewart Seely. Now, I had discovered this through William Stewart Seely's mother, Mehittabil Bennett, of whom I was inputting information. William's brother, Justus Wellington Seely, had a son, whose name was Orange Seely. If you go down his descendants, you will reach (and it took a while to figure this out) Elder Dallin H. Oaks. Now, mind you, I am not claiming we are related at all, but I am just noting this fact of interest. (I discovered this through a PDF file that is a document on Mehittabil Bennet, Justus Wellington Seely, and Orange Seely.) (Elder Dallin H. Oaks is an apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Apostles direct the affairs of the church as a quorum, under the direction of the First Presidency and by assignment. Elder Oaks has represented the church in defending religious liberty including the controversial birth control under "Obamacare." He is a former Supreme Court Justice in Utah.) 

Elder Dallin H. Oaks (center) (C) Intellectual Reserve 2013

By now, you are probably wondering about my week. Monday, we had the usual P-day activities. I happily cleaned the bathroom; it needed it really bad. We saw our investigator of whom we are still unsure of what he is understanding. We taught him twice this week and he still has made no indications of what he understands. I remember we even asked a question about the Restoration and he stared at us with a smile. It is hard to say what will happen. We have plans on teaching him, but what to do is the hard question. I cannot say what he is interested in, because his walls are blank and empty. He has cassette tapes, but I cannot tell you what the music is. But, perhaps, it will be something that can draw conversation.

Tuesday, we had the all-day mission conference. There was many, many musical numbers and many good talks (or training sessions). One that has really stuck with me is one about hope. When we say, "I hope..." it conveys uncertainty; when we want to say we hope for something, we should rather say, "I know...." This conveys more faith and hope. It shows that we hope as a surety. I tried it out and I believe it gives more power to willpower. There was a member-- a recent convert in the lower county of the area-- who had a fever of 100 degrees. On Saturday, he text us that and told us he might not be coming to church. In reply, I almost put "I hope," but catching myself, I put, "I know you will obtain better health." Sunday, he came to church with normal temperature (may be a little sick, but he had better health).

I was able to see some old companions that have not gone home. I met the sisters who are in White Oak and obtained information on the area. After this conference, we went home. Our appointment with our "on date" person cancelled; we have not been able to see him this week and his baptism has been pushed back. Also, on Tuesday, the festivities of opening presents started. The members upstairs' son and his wife were going to Arizona for Christmas. Thus, the opening of presents began.

Wednesday, the heavens opened their floodgates and it rained hard. As much as I love rain, the rain threatened our plans for the day. We had planned, with the sisters, to do the hot chocolate stand that day. The rain could easily destroy and wipe away our plans. I prayed and felt that we were still able to do the hot chocolate. My companion, on the other hand, still had some doubt. We needed to pray. We set a time when we would make a final decision. 

In the meanwhile, we boiled water and filled up the cooler. We finally prayed as a companionship about the rain. I continually prayed. By the time we had to make a decision, it was still raining. Going on faith at this point, I said that the hot chocolate stand will go on. As it neared about noon, the rain stopped. It halted. It was more of a sign for us that God had our back and that the hot chocolate stand must go on. 

It would later rain while we did the stand. It was a successful event, full of good memories. In the beginning, I held the sign to allow people to know what we were offering and at no cost. It was during this time, I earned my dollar, because somebody felt bad for me. I later held an umbrella over the hot chocolate as it rained. I smiled and waved until my left hand, which was holding the umbrella, cramped up. That was extremely painful. I received a lot of honks, waves, crazy people, and smiles from people. It was successful in passing out the He is the Gift cards. Who knows what will come from it.

Later that night, we had dinner with the choir director of the ward. I had salmon, crab dip, and other food. My stomach was hurting a bit afterwards. There was more opening of presents. That was when I received the new suit, which is pinstripe (and I do not mind). It fits me quite well, just needs to be tailored a tad. I really like it.

Thursday, I got up at midnight. I put up our stockings and organized our presents. Then after a while, I went to bed and some time after, I fell asleep. In the morning, we opened our presents and spent time in the morning with the members upstairs. We went over to the elders' quorum president where I Skyped you. It was good to see you, Bria, and Carly. It was good to hear from my sister, Bria. And did I look surprised when Joy unveiled her big news?( She announced she was pregnant with her third.)

From there, we went to the members' upstairs family gathering. There was a "Chinese Auction" and it was a lot of fun. The festivities continued at their home, later that night.

Friday became a point of contrast. I usually recover from lack of sleep, or my own waking up, or some kind of disturbance of sleep. Last year, I felt great even after waking up at midnight on Christmas. On Friday morning, I woke up more exhausted than I have ever been before. Friday became the pinnacle of exhaustion. I did my usual routine, but during studies, I needed rest. That morning, we had to help a member floor the bathroom of our WWE fanatic's trailer for his parents. At this point, I became extremely grateful for my herniated disc and my now inability due to restriction to lift heavy objects. If the floor of their trailer and their trailer in itself was any indication that something was wrong, we rightly picked up on that hint. The toilet and the floor was bad. Now, I can only imagine, because I even seen a bad toilet myself arriving in a new area. Seeing as I was not able to do much, I stood outside, guarding the member's tools, as he so directed me to do. 

After flooring the bathroom, the member received a call from his father, who needed help dragging a deer out of the woods. So, off we went to his father and into the woods. We took a four wheeler and found his father and the dead deer. It was a rather solemn moment, if solemn is the right word. My companion and the member dragged the deer from its spot, up a hill, and to the four wheeler. Then, we headed back to the road, wherein the father took over. The deer was skinny and the hooves were falling off. The deer was diseased and its quickened death turned to be a mercy. From there, we, after cleaning ourselves, ate at a new Mexican restaurant to try it out. I have to say that I was not too impressed with the place and the Mexican rap that was blaring did not help.

That night, the senior couple had a few more candidates for baptism that needed to be interviewed by my companion. It was a tricky situation, but I did agree with my companion's decision. I felt the sustaining witness of the Spirit. Two of the three passed. This caused an upset for all three, wherein they were not baptized. This we learned on Saturday.

Saturday, we saw our single mother investigator after we cleaned our apartment and completed our progress record. We talked of revelation and told her that she needs to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true and if Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. It went well and it got what we needed to say out. She asked questions and we answered. Meanwhile, her two kids were wrestling each other and going crazy. The single mom told us to ignore them; she had told them where they needed to be. One of the kids ended up crying, because she got hurt. The single mom explained to them what they did wrong, what they should have been doing, and now, we are owed apology letters. 

Sunday, we had our meetings in the morning, we had church, and we watched an Eagle Scout of Honor. We helped the wife of the members upstairs finish decorating for Christmas and we had the Christmas Eve dinner that night. Yes, Christmas was on schedule, but everything else was a bit behind.

Thank you for the pajamas and items of fun. It was a nice, simple Christmas.

Alles wohl!

Love,

Elder S. Todd